Best media center

by **snarb** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 3:24 pm

There's a bunch of solutions out there. Which one do you prefer? Why? What are the pros and cons? Anything missing from them all? How do they compare to Windows solutions? What does the ultimate media center look like? Please leave a comment, feel free to rant and rave. Just let it all out. You won't be banned...

by **ilovric** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:08 pm

I cast my vote for other (Xbox Media Center).
But XHub is best media center option on Mac, so one my vote go also to XHub :lol:

by **clarkee** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:22 am

XBMC is really the best media centre i've seen that's free, although you do need an xbox (not for long, they're doing a linux port). for the mac though, xhub really is the leader of the pack (imho)

by **andreasmax** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:54 pm

Until now I used FrontRow, but it was slow...
It also did not support other Quicktime codecs or Video_TS folders. Also my wife never get used switching bitween FrontRow and EyeTV.

So far, XHub is the best as I know.

by **Tinkerbuns** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:04 pm

Without a doubt the best media center I've ever used, and still use today, is XBMC for Xbox. It has the nicest and easiest to use interface, the best customization and it is the most feature packed media center out there today. It can play back every codec imaginable. Since it runs on a first gen Xbox though, it's starting to show its age. With only a 733 MHz processor and 64MB RAM, the Xbox cannot playback HD content properly. I would eventually like to switch over to XHub and a Mac mini but until XHub takes a few queues from XBMC, like customization and more plugins, I will stick with XBMC for the time being. I look forward to seeing further development on XHub and will definitely be keeping a keen eye on it. It has the potential to be the best media center, on any platform.

by **Tinkerbuns** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 3:18 pm

Few things that I would like to see in XHub eventually:

1. Being able to create custom folders under Video
No aliases in Movies folder please. Having to go into your Movies folder to watch TV Shows does not make sense. TV shows aren't movies ;-)

Being able to create custom folders under Video would be great. I would also suggest renaming the "TV" menu to EyeTV, since that is what it actually is.

2. IPTV or Joost support
This is a big one. Streaming, streaming streaming!

3. Lyrics support in iTunes
Creating a plugin that will show lyrics while playing back a song. The lyrics will have to be embedded in the song before hand.

4. YouTube
Having access to your YourTube account and having the ability to playback your videos.

There are still many more features I would like to see, these are just some of the bigger ones I would like incorporated into XHub eventually.

by **atomicwedgie** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:56 pm

Xhub is the best right now but if the boys at Center Stage get their grind in gear, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. They are using VLC as a backend and it has some advantages (like better OSD and zooming)

by **NewMedia** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:36 am

I put Other (SageTV) Sage uses it's own tv tuner software and is very professional. Once it is up and running it looks and acts just like commercial PVR with all the goodies, but then you also have the full media center in it as well that will house all of your music, movies, pictures, games, etc.. It is fully customizable as well. It major drawback is NO EYETV HYBRID support, at all. One of THE most popular tuners for mac out there... funny thing is the windows version of SageTV does support the EyeTV Hybrid (as hauppaug950). So for now, Xhub is the winner because it does support everything I need. My guess is that with how much Fabian develops Xhub it will shortly take over as the best media center out there.

by **xiannic** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:46 pm

XHub is the best for Mac, simple to use, good features and active development, i've used 6 or 7 over the last few weeks as I struggle to find the perfect HD media centre.

However...

XBMC is still far and away the best media centre out there, and be it not for the XBox being unable to handle HD content would reign supreme. With ongoing development on the Linux conversion of XBMC, it is only a matter of time before it will be available for us Maccites (intel ones at any rate).

If imdb lookup was introduced into XHub I think it could well be a contender.

by **mailbox04** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:07 pm

My favorite is Sofa Control. You can control almost all applications on your Mac via Remote control with full EyeTV integration.
Xhub is more stylish but crashes and I have no TV Guide available.

by **laracroft** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 4:53 pm

I like many media center. But if i asked to choose my best media center.
I choose XHub.
Cheers

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