MediaCentral HTPC Front-End for the Mac Outshines FrontRow
By David Walker |
February 3rd, 2006 
I know I’ll draw the ire of Apple enthusiasts (which is a fun past-time, incidentally), but it appears that MediaCentral has out-Appled Apple (via PVRblog). FrontRow, Apple’s foray into a HTPC style front-end for newer iMacs, looks nice and plays nice, but is somewhat lacking in codec support and functionality. The guys at Equinux saw a need and have created a compelling replacement.
MediaCentral has a Web TV engine that boasts compatibility with QuickTime Webstreams (of course) but also supports Real and Windows Media Player webstreams as well. On the codec front, it supports Quicktime movies, DV movies, DivX, Xvid, MPEG-1/2/4 and MP3 and AC3. It integrates nicely with iTunes and can even detect when an iPod is connected to play music directly from there. It also has support for eyeTV devices and can playback locally ripped DVDs. It supports the ATI Remote Wonder remotes, but ufortunately, does not yet support the Apple remote. How much for this Apple-trumping front-end? Put your wallet away as MediaCentral is completely free.
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