Xhubįeature-wise, Xhub has the most to offer North American TV viewers.
One-Sentence Summation: The most polished presentation and simplest solution, but with the most limitations on file formats and features. Performance isn't that great to begin with. Additions can harm presentation and performance. Pre-installation attracts developers for additional functionality.Ĭons: Limited file format support out of the box. But the native file limitations probably aren't going to change any time soon, and this is where other options will get their chance to shine. There's also the strong possibility that it will be greatly enhanced with Leopard. Front Row also suffers from its own special version of the spinning beachball of death where opening Movies will bring up a spinning wheel that can not be dismissed and can take more than 60 seconds before actually moving on.įront Row is going to be the choice for a lot of people since it's already installed, which does encourage the development of add-ons like DVD Assist and the fullscreen interface for EyeTV meant to mimic Front Row. avi files due to the live preview of each video to the left. There's also a noticeable slowdown scrolling through a file list with. For example, DVD Assist just opens the the Video_TS folder in the Apple DVD player and the switch is clearly visible. avi files or Video_TS folders), though that will require additional components such as Perian and DVD Assist respectively.Īs soon as you go down this road though, cracks start to show up in the interface since these are essentially workarounds. You can also browse for video files placed in your Movies folder, which allows you to view file types that are incompatible with iTunes (such as. As should be expected, Front Row has the most polished and eye-pleasing interface of the group, and integrates perfectly with the iApps for access to your media.
Front Row sticks with the basics of Movies, DVDs, Pictures and Music and is clearly the easiest to set up since it comes pre-installed on every Mac mini currently shipping (there are trickier, but reasonable options for older Macs as well). Since Front Row is the default choice, let's start there. Finally, it's worth noting that the test system I used for all of my testing is a 1.6Ghz Intel Core Duo Mac mini with 1GB of RAM. TiVo excels at this, seeming less like a computer and more like an appliance that "just works" and is the key to creating a system the everyone will really use. Another aspect we'll be addressing is how comfortable non-technical users feel using it. But the majority of the options we'll discuss here focus on creating a multimedia jukebox where you can access your entire library of movies, music, TV shows, and pictures like the Apple TV rather than recording and watching live television. That being said, even if PVR functionality isn't built into the interface, there are options for getting your stories recorded, encoded and delivered into any of these interfaces.
If PVR is a crucial feature, then your choices become quite a bit more limited when sticking with Mac OS X. One thing worth noting before we dive in to all the options is that you really need to decide if the TiVo-like functionality of a PVR is a crucial feature for you. But is Front Row really the best interface? And Apple seems to realize this, since every Mac mini now comes pre-installed with an IR remote and a 10' interface (an interface that can be used from 10' away, usually without a keyboard and mouse) in Front Row. But the key to this is an interface that allows you to access of this media from the carefully-crafted dent in your couch. Ever since its introduction, home theater buffs have been trying to squeeze a Mac mini between the receiver and the cable box to turn it into a multimedia jukebox (and-to a lesser extent-a PVR). Apple TV is certainly the talk of the town these days, but with its file format limitations and refurb Mac minis going for less than $500, it's worth considering the alternatives.