Open Source Alternative
Find alternatives for   

Home
Software Directory
business
communications
databases
development
education & science
games
graphic applications
internet & networking
multimedia & audio
security & privacy
system utilities
web development
Suggest software
Contact
Links
Advertising
In the News
About


Free Storage with Dropbox
Click here



Top 10 Commercial
1. Visio
2. Photoshop
3. Dreamweaver
4. AutoCAD
5. iTunes
6. Movie Maker
7. MS Project
8. Norton Ghost
9. Nero
10. Publisher
Top 10 Open Source
1. Dia
2. OpenOffice Draw
3. FreeCAD
4. StarUML
5. Quanta Plus
6. NeverNote
7. zNotes
8. RedNotebook
9. Clonezilla
10. Avidemux

Open source media center alternatives


Open sourceAll of us knows about Microsoft Window XP Media Center Edition (MCE), but what actually makes up a full featured media center? There are a couple of main features and then a few less important ones.

The main features
The media center belongs in our living rooms and should replace most of the equipment connected to our flat screen (preferably high definition) TV. Thus the main feature of the media center should be to allow us to watch TV. It should be able to receive TV signals form cable, satellite dish or a standard TV aerial - and it shouldn't matter whether the signal is a digital video broadcast (DVB) or analogue. Secondly, it has to be able to play DVDs.

So now you are able to view everything just like you normal TV and DVD player. But in order to replace all equipment connected to the TV - it has to be able to record TV as well - just as any old vcr or digital video record (DVR). And in order to compete with today's high-end DVRs, it has to be able to record one program while you watch another - or watch a previously recorded program. Also recordings should be scheduler through an electronic program guide (EPG), so that you don't need to consult your tv-guide booklet.

These features are all supported in MediaPortal for Windows, MythTV and Freevo both for Linux.

The other features
the following features are not as important as the main ones - but nevertheless they are important for making it a true media center.

Playing your favorite music or navigating through your photos through your media center is essential for sharing your own taste and creations with friends and family visiting. Many media centers also have additional applications that allow you to check the weather and play games - all on your big screen tv in your living room.

Again these features are supported by the open source projects previously mentioned.

But what about MacOS?
Now we have listed the main and additional features that will make up a perfect media center, but none of the mentioned projects are available for MacOS - is this really true?

After extensive research we have not been able to find any open source media center projects for Mac that support the main features. However, two projects exist that does allow you to play video, watch photos and listen to your music. These are: CenterStage and iTheater. But until they support standard television viewing and recording, they are not considered as a full media center. We hope that this will change - or that other projects appear to fill this hole in the MacOS open source environment.

Tags: media-center dvb dvd dvr mce
Published: March 7, 2007

March 10, 2007 Asher wrote:
Come on! There is a programme called MediaCentral for Mac OS X which has all the features. It is not "Open Source", but neither WMC is. MediaCentral costs only about £15, and has even more features than WMC will ever provide.

March 10, 2007 . wrote:

Asher: This is a page for open source alternatives. From what I understand of this article, it doesn't say that there are no alternatives on OS X, just that there are no open source alternatives like MediaPortal, MythTV and Freevo

March 11, 2007 Jeremy Malcolm wrote:

A MythTV front-end exists for MacOS. This does mean that you need to have a Linux box somewhere else in the house, but it allows you to watch your recorded videos anywhere in the house where you have a Mac (if your network is up to it).

July 28, 2007 Anonymous wrote:

MediaPortal too slow

May 14, 2008 CaptJosh wrote:

Given that the MacOS is currently based on a modified BSD Mach kernel, under OS X using MythTV, including the back end, should be a matter of taking the source and recompiling. You would also need a database it could plug into, IIRC, something like mySQL or postgreSQL.

February 1, 2009 Edwin Rajadurai wrote:

Check out XBMC!

March 18, 2009 Anonymous wrote:

actually, MacOS has free alternative to front row - PLEX

August 10, 2009 Mena wrote:

i love XBMC!

July 18, 2010 Anonymous wrote:

December 2, 2010 Anonymous wrote:

ummm BOXEE ... hello

April 26, 2014 Anonymous wrote:

Comment (optional - html tags will be removed)
Name (optional)
E-mail (optional - will not be shown)
Fraud, spam and flames will be removed



Follow osaltcom on Twitter