Mac Mini Home Theater » plex

Plex and Snow Leopard? Not ‘Snow’ Fast! Issue with Remote

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:03:17 +0000

: Snow Leopard Plex compatibility

Ready to upgrade your Mac Mini Home Theater to latest operating system offering from Apple? Might want to hold of 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade for just a bit. It appears that there is an issue with Plex and the Apple Remote where any button presses while in Plex continue on to the operating systems’ default behavior. What exactly does this mean? Pressing the Menu button will take you out of Plex and launch Apple’s Front Row application. Additionally, the “up/down” buttons will change the system volume. I’ve been able to verify this on my own system, and I would advise holding off on upgrading until this has been fixed.

The Plex developers are aware of this issue and have even started a Snow Leopard forum so you can submit additional issues or monitor the status of the fixes.

http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?showforum=44

Controlling Your Mac Mini

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:32:43 +0000

You’ve gone through the effort of ripping all your CDs and DVDs, you’ve hooked up the Mac to your TV and Receiver, but how do you plan to control the computer now that you’re sitting on your couch? Below are a few different suggestions for how to control your Mac Mini HTPC (home theater PC). The “best” option really depends on your needs, but I’ll try to help guide you through the options.

Keyboard and Mouse

The Apple Wireless Keyboard is a great option if you NEED to have a keyboard in the living room. The Mac Mini does not come with a keyboard, so if you’re going to pick one up, this is a good way to go. Because the Apple Wireless Keyboard uses bluetooth, you get a decent range and the Mac doesn’t need to be in “line of sight” (meaning you can put the Mac Mini in a cabinet or another room). They keyboard is a bit bulky to use primarily for navigating through the Plex interface, and the bluetooth can be finicky, but having the full range of keys available to you is great if you use the Mac Mini to browse the internet from your couch.

Tip: Get to know your keyboard shortcuts and you can do almost everything without a mouse. My personal favorite: Command-Spacebar — This brings up the “Spotlight Search” tool and you can use it to launch applications by typing the name (autocomplete will assist). Easy way to pull up Safari, Plex, etc without having to switch to the mouse.

Apple Remote

The Apple Remote is simple yet surprisingly effective. Even though it only has 6 buttons, the functions of the remote’s buttons change based on what application or screen you are on. It is essentially all you need to navigate the most popular Media Center applications (Boxee, Plex, XBMC, and FrontRow), and all of them have built-in support for the Apple Remote immediately.

This remote can also pull double duty as you can toss it with your Apple laptop to control your presentations in Keynote or PowerPoint. You cannot program any of the remote’s buttons, so what you see is what you get, but for those who don’t like messing around with keyboard and learning-type remotes, this definitely gets the job done.

Universal Remote

This one is kinda of cheating, but any programmable remote should be able to learn the commands from the Apple Remote, in fact, several remotes I’ve seen recently already have pre-set commands for the Apple Remote built in. The universal remote gives you more flexibility and helps prevent the “remote shuffle” where you have a lineup of remotes on your coffee table. A good Universal Remote will let you control your TV, Receiver and Mac Mini with a single remote.

I tend to prefer the Harmony Remotes from Logitech. They have a great web interface for setting up all your components and allow you to customize the buttons using a web gui. Once you’re done, you sync up your remote by connecting it to your computer with a USB cable.

Some of the more advanced remotes come with separate IR blaster base stations. What these do is allow you to put your Mac Mini in a cabinet or another room with the IR blaster, and the Mac will be able to receive commands from the remote even through walls. I use a remote from Universal which allows me to put the Mac Mini in a closet with the rest of my electronics and still control everything from the living room.

iPhone

It didn’t take very long for the iPhone App community to realize the iPhone makes a pretty good remote in and of itself. The iPhone/iPod touch has several advantages:

You almost always have it with you
It has a rechargeable battery (which I tend to charge nightly)
It can work over the local WiFi network so it does not need line of sight.
The screen can change based on the device or type of input you are trying to control.

There also a few drawbacks to the iPhone as a remote control

The Wifi tends to drop out when you close apps, and can take some time to reacquire
If you always have your iPhone with you, how will other people control your system?
Some of the user interfaces have buttons that are too small and it is difficult to control by touch alone (you need to look at what you are doing.)
It’s not possible (without a lot of money and or time) to control other devices with the iPhone (no IR blaster). As such, you could end up doing the remote shuffle.

With the above pros and cons, here are some of the Apps I’ve played with.

iPhone-Snatch

Right now, Snatch is my GoTo app for controlling the Mac Mini with the iPhone. Snatch requires you install an app on your Mac Mini which must be running at all times. From there, you can connect to the Mac Mini and use the iPhone as either a touchpad for the mouse, or as wireless keyboard. Also, a Plex “plugin” has recently been released for Snatch which gives you a very professional looking and feature complete remote for controlling Plex.

For those who are even more creative, Snatch allows you to create your own custom button layouts and mappings. An interesting premise, but the built-in features plus the Plex skin work fine for me.

View the gallery for more images.

iPhone-AirMote

AirMote is similar to Snatch, but not as flexible. AirMote comes preconfigured with a handful of remotes for common apps (such as Front Row, Keynote, iTunes, etc). It also has a very cool interface for creating your own remote which is much easier than Snatch. However, for the amount of features, I’d stick with Snatch. For a full review of Airmote, check out the AirMote Review on Lunch.com

iPhone-Boxee

Finally, Boxee for iPhone. This app rocks! It still has the same limitations as the other iPhone apps in regards to the Wifi dropping out and not being able to control other devices, but this app alone makes me want to use Boxee (although, overall, I still prefer Plex). Pictures speak louder than words, so check out my video of the Boxee app on iPhone.

Boxee iPhone App Demo from Andrew Werhane on Vimeo.

If you still want more words, you can check out my full review of the Boxee iPhone App.

Conclusion

That’s about all I’ve got for now. What do I use? Honestly, I use my Universal remote as much as possible when navigating Plex (or other Media Center apps). However, if I need to launch an app or want to look up some stuff on the web, I’ll pull out the iPhone and launch Snatch for the mouse and keyboard functionality. Snatch is a lot of fun to use, but I feel like there’s got to be a way to make it more efficient (like change the orientation to switch between keyboard and trackpad). Anyway, your needs may have different priorities. If I’ve left anything off the list or if you’ve like to share what work for you, please feel free to post in the comments!

Gallery

Plex Plugin: Adam Carolla Podcast

admin — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:35:29 +0000

Screenshot of Adam Carolla Plex Plugin

Plex just continues to get better as more and more developers write apps and plugins to integrate with Plex. A relatively recent addition is a plugin for the Adam Carolla Podcast. For those not familiar with Adam Carolla, he is a longtime radio personality who got his start working the Jimmy Kimmel on KROQ’s morning radio show. He spent some 10 years with Dr. Drew on Love Lines and has had success on Comedy Central with The Man Show and Crank Yankers. After a recent retooling of an FM talk station, Carolla is now sharing his wisdom with a self-funded podcast. The content definitely earns an “M” for mature, but Carolla really shines in his self proclaimed “long format” interviews with an impressive batch of guests.

I typically listen to the Podcast in my car during my commute, but this Plex plugin makes it even easier to pull up the latest episodes of the Adam Carolla Podcast so you can broadcast it through your entire house. Fans of the show as well as anyone interested in some fresh comedic anecdotes should definitely check this out.

Media Center App Shootout: Boxee vs. Plex vs. XBMC vs. FrontRow

admin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:47:52 +0000

Perhaps the most important aspect of a Mac Mini Home Theater is the actual software you use to view your media. The ease of use, stability, and flexibility of the software program is ultimately going to determine if the Mac is a viable solution for you to use on a regular basis. In this article, I primarily weight the pros and cons of three apps which evolved from the Xbox Media Center Project as well as Apple’s own Front Row application. Find out which is my favorite after the break…

Before I begin, I’ll point out that I DO NOT use the Mac as a PVR. I’ve read some great things about EyeTV for Mac, but for the sports I watch, I really can’t get by without DirecTV. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE DirecTV to release a cable card that I could throw into the Mac for a fully integrated app, but I just don’t see that happening. If Elgato would like to send an EyeTV my way, I’d be happy to review its performance with over-the-air broadcasts, but in the US, we just don’t have the same options that are available in other areas. With that said… here are my top picks for a Mac Media Center.

All apps support playing Quicktime videos as well as browsing your music and photo libraries. All apps work well with the Apple Remote and have some degree of iPhone remote control. The subtle differences are what separates each app…

XBMC

XBMC is pretty much where the whole Media Center experience started from. It is cross-platform, so if you liked it on Windows, you’ll like it just as much on the Mac. It also has the most basic feature set, but I believe this makes it the most stable as well.

PROS:

Very stable
Lost of custom skins for unique look and feel
Extensible using “python” type scripts

CONS:

Does not support “Applications” like Boxee and Plex
Not as intuitive to add “python” scripts

Boxee

Boxee is the “social networking” media app which is derived from the XBMC code base. In addition to being a media player, it also shows what people in your network are watching, and it turn, lets others know what you’re up to… sort of like twitter for your Tivo. I’m not a huge fan of this “content transparency” so this isn’t a big seller for me.

PROS:

Best iPhone remote control app. Provides easy “touch” control and two way communication between the phone and the app
Best Pandora integration
Strong “App” support

CONS:

Not a huge fan of “social media” element
Cannot continue watching a movie from where you last stopped off
Navigation isn’t terribly untuitive
Cannot change skins (as far as I know).

PLEX

Plex is specifically an enhanced Mac port of XBMC. It supports several of the latest “App” plugins such as Netflix, Hulu and Pandora.

PROS:

Extensive Application support
Works great with “Snatch” iPhone app for remote control
Clean UI

CONS:

Customized skins not as stable
Applications not as tightly integrated as Boxee (Pandora and Hulu feel “kludgy”).
DVD support is buggy (but you can easily launch Front Row from Plex for DVD playback

FRONT ROW

Front Row has the “cleanest” user interface and very good DVD playback. For integrating with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and iPhoto, it’s tough to beat Front Row. Unfortunately, Front Row does support any of the other Online Application plugins and requires some hassle to play non “Quicktime” movies.

PROS:

Great UI
iTunes Store Purchases
DVD Playback

CONS:

No online content outside of iTunes Store.
Does not play other movie codecs without some tweeking (Dolby Digital h264 files for example)
Cannot customize look

And MY Winner Is…… PLEX!

Plex works great for my needs. If I could have the best of all worlds, I’d love to throw in Boxee’s Pandora integration and the Boxee iPhone remote along with Front Row’s DVD playback. I really like being able to continue where I left off in a movie in Plex and the interface is very clean and intuitive. I do get a few lock-ups and crashes, but I’ve so far been very happy with its performance… even with only 1gb of system memory.

If you disagree, please feel free to let me know which apps you prefer and why.