Excellent Alternative to Front Row... And Legal!

[macpastor]

I stumbled upon this application via MacWorld. I loaded it, and actually like it somewhat better than Front Row.

Try it out!

http://www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral/index.html

 

[imacintel]

I have a iMac with FR, but I tried it for th hell of it. IT IS GREAT!

 

[jsw]

And it is free - meaning there's really no downside to trying it out.

I personally don't have a need for it, but the site looks good and I'd give it a shot as an alternative. I'm not all that enthralled with Front Row....

 

[ejohnst1]

Requires 10.4 Tiger just like Front Row.

 

[aa...]

If you guys are enjoying the music side of things more than anything else then Coverflow tops the list for me.

If you cmd-H itunes and just let coverflow go in an out of minimise and full screen it is awesome as a music based media centre and now seems to be bug free. ...albeit without the integration extras.

 

[macpastor]

I enjoy the sound effects better than Front Row, and you can assign your own music to work in the background if you so choose.

 

[rspeaker]

I first tried this on my mini, which I've since traded for an iMac. I prefer the look and feel of Front Row, but have two major gripes: no support for AVI files, and even after today's update, movie trailers take FOREVER to load up. MediaCentral, on the otherhand, does support AVI files, and loads up movie trailers (giving me a much greater selection AND allowing me to pick size and SD or HD) instantly. I have cable internet, so there should be no reason why Front Row takes so long with loading trailers.

Anyhow, MediaCentral addresses my two main issues... but I'd much rather see Apple address them... Front Row looks better, I think. Sorry.

 

[Littleodie914]

I first tried this on my mini, which I've since traded for an iMac. I prefer the look and feel of Front Row, but have two major gripes: no support for AVI files, and even after today's update, movie trailers take FOREVER to load up. MediaCentral, on the otherhand, does support AVI files, and loads up movie trailers (giving me a much greater selection AND allowing me to pick size and SD or HD) instantly. I have cable internet, so there should be no reason why Front Row takes so long with loading trailers.

Anyhow, MediaCentral addresses my two main issues... but I'd much rather see Apple address them... Front Row looks better, I think. Sorry.

Ya, I agree that Front Row looks better too. I just downloaded it because I thought it would be great for my iMac at home, which has got a bunch of my saved VIDEO_TS folders from DVD's we lost a long time ago. Now I can watch them in style!

 

[sunfast]

Might give that a run. Front Row looks very cool and is definitely a pull for me to get a new mac one day. If I can ever afford it

 

[Dunepilot]

If you guys are enjoying the music side of things more than anything else then Coverflow tops the list for me.

If you cmd-H itunes and just let coverflow go in an out of minimise and full screen it is awesome as a music based media centre and now seems to be bug free. ...albeit without the integration extras.

I'm mates with a cousin of the Coverflow guy, funnily enough.

 

[Eraserhead]

Scrolling through the menu's using MediaCentral seems slower than Frontrow, though when advancing through the menus they load faster...

Surely Frontrow plays .avi's if you have the correct codec's so they play in Quicktime installed?

 

[sunfast]

I'm mates with a cousin of the Coverflow guy, funnily enough.

Coverflow is AWESOME

 

[Cabbit]

I think this program is so much better than front row, and it can work with the apple remote. the big seller of course is tv tuner intergration, web tv, and a nice cleen interface that i am allowed to customeise the sounds and stuff. Hello kitty background here i come ^^. it needs a little more work i think some nice icons and previews more like windows mce would be nice, and a radio plug in.

 

[TBi]

I first tried this on my mini, which I've since traded for an iMac. I prefer the look and feel of Front Row, but have two major gripes: no support for AVI files, and even after today's update, movie trailers take FOREVER to load up. MediaCentral, on the otherhand, does support AVI files, and loads up movie trailers (giving me a much greater selection AND allowing me to pick size and SD or HD) instantly. I have cable internet, so there should be no reason why Front Row takes so long with loading trailers.

Anyhow, MediaCentral addresses my two main issues... but I'd much rather see Apple address them... Front Row looks better, I think. Sorry.

There is a way to get AVI's working. If you download DiVX it will install a component for quicktime. Also you can get a XVid Component too.

 

[Cabbit]

This is what i think it sould look like, well obisly a lot better than how i can do it lol. but i like pritty pictures

 

[backupdrummer]

has anyone tried out iTHeater? I thought it had promise but it seems to be kinda dead int hte water.

 

[khisayruou]

has anyone tried out iTHeater? I thought it had promise but it seems to be kinda dead int hte water.

I followed the production and tried it out a long time ago. It was and still is a hyped up piece of garbage. The program is in its pre-alpha stages and not worth trying out. What a shame.

 

[Chundles]

I followed the production and tried it out a long time ago. It was and still is a hyped up piece of garbage. The program is in its pre-alpha stages and not worth trying out. What a shame.

I remember them releasing iTheatre 1.0 but then a few days later they said they were taking it back to alpha builds and released iTheatre 0.11

I've been running Media Central for a while now and it's great. You can't play movies from the iTunes playlists though which is a bit of a bugger so I've created an alias to the folder in iTunes where all my TV shows are and added the alias to the Movies folder. Works like a charm.

 

[mkrishnan]

Thanks for pointing this out -- I think I will try it on my pre-iSight iMac G5 at home.

 

[yoak]

Coverflow is really nice. Makes looking for music sooo much nicer, than scrolling through words

 

[rspeaker]

There is a way to get AVI's working. If you download DiVX it will install a component for quicktime. Also you can get a XVid Component too.

Yes, I've tried the codec already... for some reason on my Intel iMac, it doesn't work. Files "play" in QT, but no picture or sound... just a white screen for the duration of the clip/show. Others on the message board seem to have similar problems with the DivX codec for Intel Macs...

 

[TBi]

Yes, I've tried the codec already... for some reason on my Intel iMac, it doesn't work. Files "play" in QT, but no picture or sound... just a white screen for the duration of the clip/show. Others on the message board seem to have similar problems with the DivX codec for Intel Macs...

Did you get the Intel version of XVid? This is the intel version of the AC3 codec to try out too.

 

[rspeaker]

Did you get the Intel version of XVid? This is the intel version of the AC3 codec to try out too.

I feel like such a noob. Suppose I am, despite using a Mac for 16 months now. I got QT Pro, and on another board someone sent me to get the proper Intel codec for AVI files (I'd been to the site several times, and it appears I overlooked it each time, likely in frustration.) I think I've got everything I need now to make me happy... well, once I find a way to burn iTMS videos to DVD. Thanks for all your help!

 

[macOSX-tastic]

ive played about with it for about half an hour...and ive got to say im really not that enthralled.

TV function hardly works, and most of thie time displays a still image.

plus, you get "equinux" appear everytime you start up, and its not as quick as front row.

it's still useable, but i dont think i will ever have the use for a program like this unless i have an apple remote mac. which is still probably 2-3 years down the line.


i use sailing clicker for all my media needs, and was happy to pay the premium for the vast functionality and integration with my phone. i can even sleep the computer using my phone, and it pauses playback during calls if you so wish!

S