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Tag Archive | "Media"
INFOGRAPHIC : Class Of 2011 : Social Media Yearbook
Posted on 08 August 2011.
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VLC Media Player 1.1.11
Posted on 16 July 2011.
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols without external codec or program.
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VLC Media Player 1.1.10
Posted on 06 June 2011.
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols without external codec or program.
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How To Transfer Music & Other Media To Your iPod Or iOS Device [Linux]
Posted on 03 June 2011.
Unless you’re using the 4th generation device (or iPad) you shouldn’t have any issues transferring media, provided you’ve got the right software on your side. Unfortunately iPod Touch 4, iPad and iPhone 4 users running iOS 4.1+ won’t be able to use this method until the vital libgpod library used by
Getting Penguins To Talk To Fruits
Note: If you’re using a non-iOS device, e.g. iPod or iPod nano, you do not need this – skip to the next section below. If you are using an old iPod Touch (1G, 2G, 3G) or iPhone (1G, 2G, 3G) then you do need this.
In order to get Linux and your iPhone or iPod Touch (old ones, remember) on speaking terms you’re going to need to download libimobiledevice. Once you have installed this package, your Apple device and Linux operating system will play along nicely.
Visit
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libimobiledevice1
Note the 1 at the end of the command! There are other packages available for OpenSUSE,
On most distributions the device will mount itself automatically. If it doesn’t you’ve either not installed the above package or will need to mount the device according to your distribution’s guidelines.
You now have filetree access to your device. Prod around if you want, you’ll find your camera images in the DCIM folder if you want to quickly copy and paste them to a local folder for backup.
Note: don’t delete anything from the DCIM folder (or any location, really) as this does not update your iTunes database. Your iPhone will think the files are still there and you’ll have to manually delete a bunch of fuzzy thumbnails later.
Transferring Music & Video
From experience, there’s only one program I would recommend for this task –
Here I’ll be sticking to Banshee as it is the standard music player for Ubuntu 11.04, but if you’re using an older version or different distribution you’ll need to grab the appropriate one at the
With your iPhone (or iPod Touch) connected and mounted, start up Banshee. Click on your device in the left hand sidebar and Banshee will display a page which allows you to determine whether you want manual or automatic music sync – manual is always best.
Next you’ll need to add music to the Banshee database. Simply choose Media then Import Media then decide on whether to import your entire library or simply the selection you want on your device. There’s no support for .FLAC, .OGG, .APE or similar so make sure you’ve
With your music imported, choose your default Music playlist. Next simply select the artists, albums or single tracks you would like on the device (Ctrl+Click for multiple choices). The next step is simple – drag your chosen artists, albums and so on to your device listed under Devices in the side menu (e.g. iPhone). Banshee will immediately begin transferring files, and your device should notify you that a sync is in progress.
Note: This probably sounds obvious, but please don’t unmount or disconnect your device whilst sync is in process. You will probably corrupt your device’s database file and cause all manner of headaches.
That’s pretty much it, and it works just the same with video only you’ll need to make sure your device supports the video format you are trying to sync (supported filetypes include: .MP4, .M4V & .MOV).
Conclusion
It’s a shame that gtkpod hasn’t updated for the latest Apple firmware, but it’s hopefully only a matter of time. With a powerful program like Banshee at the helm, controlling your media is a pretty straightforward task. You don’t quite get the same functionality as you’d get from iTunes (firmware updates are the big one there, I think) but it works. At least for some. Banshee also works on Windows and OS X, for those of you who are desperate to leave iTunes behind.
Have you got an iPhone but also run Linux? Are there better tools out there than Banshee? Maybe you’re an iTunes refugee? Have your say in the comments below!
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How To Transfer Music & Other Media To Your iPod Or iOS Device [Linux]
Posted on 03 June 2011.
Unless you’re using the 4th generation device (or iPad) you shouldn’t have any issues transferring media, provided you’ve got the right software on your side. Unfortunately iPod Touch 4, iPad and iPhone 4 users running iOS 4.1+ won’t be able to use this method until the vital libgpod library used by
Getting Penguins To Talk To Fruits
Note: If you’re using a non-iOS device, e.g. iPod or iPod nano, you do not need this – skip to the next section below. If you are using an old iPod Touch (1G, 2G, 3G) or iPhone (1G, 2G, 3G) then you do need this.
In order to get Linux and your iPhone or iPod Touch (old ones, remember) on speaking terms you’re going to need to download libimobiledevice. Once you have installed this package, your Apple device and Linux operating system will play along nicely.
Visit
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libimobiledevice1
Note the 1 at the end of the command! There are other packages available for OpenSUSE,
On most distributions the device will mount itself automatically. If it doesn’t you’ve either not installed the above package or will need to mount the device according to your distribution’s guidelines.
You now have filetree access to your device. Prod around if you want, you’ll find your camera images in the DCIM folder if you want to quickly copy and paste them to a local folder for backup.
Note: don’t delete anything from the DCIM folder (or any location, really) as this does not update your iTunes database. Your iPhone will think the files are still there and you’ll have to manually delete a bunch of fuzzy thumbnails later.
Transferring Music & Video
From experience, there’s only one program I would recommend for this task –
Here I’ll be sticking to Banshee as it is the standard music player for Ubuntu 11.04, but if you’re using an older version or different distribution you’ll need to grab the appropriate one at the
With your iPhone (or iPod Touch) connected and mounted, start up Banshee. Click on your device in the left hand sidebar and Banshee will display a page which allows you to determine whether you want manual or automatic music sync – manual is always best.
Next you’ll need to add music to the Banshee database. Simply choose Media then Import Media then decide on whether to import your entire library or simply the selection you want on your device. There’s no support for .FLAC, .OGG, .APE or similar so make sure you’ve
With your music imported, choose your default Music playlist. Next simply select the artists, albums or single tracks you would like on the device (Ctrl+Click for multiple choices). The next step is simple – drag your chosen artists, albums and so on to your device listed under Devices in the side menu (e.g. iPhone). Banshee will immediately begin transferring files, and your device should notify you that a sync is in progress.
Note: This probably sounds obvious, but please don’t unmount or disconnect your device whilst sync is in process. You will probably corrupt your device’s database file and cause all manner of headaches.
That’s pretty much it, and it works just the same with video only you’ll need to make sure your device supports the video format you are trying to sync (supported filetypes include: .MP4, .M4V & .MOV).
Conclusion
It’s a shame that gtkpod hasn’t updated for the latest Apple firmware, but it’s hopefully only a matter of time. With a powerful program like Banshee at the helm, controlling your media is a pretty straightforward task. You don’t quite get the same functionality as you’d get from iTunes (firmware updates are the big one there, I think) but it works. At least for some. Banshee also works on Windows and OS X, for those of you who are desperate to leave iTunes behind.
Have you got an iPhone but also run Linux? Are there better tools out there than Banshee? Maybe you’re an iTunes refugee? Have your say in the comments below!
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How To Transfer Music & Other Media To Your iPod Or iOS Device [Linux]
Posted on 03 June 2011.
Unless you’re using the 4th generation device (or iPad) you shouldn’t have any issues transferring media, provided you’ve got the right software on your side. Unfortunately iPod Touch 4, iPad and iPhone 4 users running iOS 4.1+ won’t be able to use this method until the vital libgpod library used by
Getting Penguins To Talk To Fruits
Note: If you’re using a non-iOS device, e.g. iPod or iPod nano, you do not need this – skip to the next section below. If you are using an old iPod Touch (1G, 2G, 3G) or iPhone (1G, 2G, 3G) then you do need this.
In order to get Linux and your iPhone or iPod Touch (old ones, remember) on speaking terms you’re going to need to download libimobiledevice. Once you have installed this package, your Apple device and Linux operating system will play along nicely.
Visit
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libimobiledevice1
Note the 1 at the end of the command! There are other packages available for OpenSUSE,
On most distributions the device will mount itself automatically. If it doesn’t you’ve either not installed the above package or will need to mount the device according to your distribution’s guidelines.
You now have filetree access to your device. Prod around if you want, you’ll find your camera images in the DCIM folder if you want to quickly copy and paste them to a local folder for backup.
Note: don’t delete anything from the DCIM folder (or any location, really) as this does not update your iTunes database. Your iPhone will think the files are still there and you’ll have to manually delete a bunch of fuzzy thumbnails later.
Transferring Music & Video
From experience, there’s only one program I would recommend for this task –
Here I’ll be sticking to Banshee as it is the standard music player for Ubuntu 11.04, but if you’re using an older version or different distribution you’ll need to grab the appropriate one at the
With your iPhone (or iPod Touch) connected and mounted, start up Banshee. Click on your device in the left hand sidebar and Banshee will display a page which allows you to determine whether you want manual or automatic music sync – manual is always best.
Next you’ll need to add music to the Banshee database. Simply choose Media then Import Media then decide on whether to import your entire library or simply the selection you want on your device. There’s no support for .FLAC, .OGG, .APE or similar so make sure you’ve
With your music imported, choose your default Music playlist. Next simply select the artists, albums or single tracks you would like on the device (Ctrl+Click for multiple choices). The next step is simple – drag your chosen artists, albums and so on to your device listed under Devices in the side menu (e.g. iPhone). Banshee will immediately begin transferring files, and your device should notify you that a sync is in progress.
Note: This probably sounds obvious, but please don’t unmount or disconnect your device whilst sync is in process. You will probably corrupt your device’s database file and cause all manner of headaches.
That’s pretty much it, and it works just the same with video only you’ll need to make sure your device supports the video format you are trying to sync (supported filetypes include: .MP4, .M4V & .MOV).
Conclusion
It’s a shame that gtkpod hasn’t updated for the latest Apple firmware, but it’s hopefully only a matter of time. With a powerful program like Banshee at the helm, controlling your media is a pretty straightforward task. You don’t quite get the same functionality as you’d get from iTunes (firmware updates are the big one there, I think) but it works. At least for some. Banshee also works on Windows and OS X, for those of you who are desperate to leave iTunes behind.
Have you got an iPhone but also run Linux? Are there better tools out there than Banshee? Maybe you’re an iTunes refugee? Have your say in the comments below!
Read comments:
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Setup A Perfect Media Center With Plex [Mac & Windows]
Posted on 15 May 2011.
If you read through and decide you’d rather check out some of the alternatives, have a look at
Is it a player? Is it server?
Plex produces a media server and client app for Mac OsX, however there is only a server app for Windows currently available. To view your media on the Windows side of things, you can use a Plex plugin. Since Plex is essentially a fork of the XBMC app, there is very little difference in the client/player side of things.
Both Mac and Windows Plex Media Servers can send data to the mobile clients (obviously, there is no media server for mobile devices).
I’ve made a little diagram to help explain this:
Installation
Download and install the appropriate version from
Naming Conventions and Fixing MetaData
One thing that always annoyed me about media center systems in the past has been how utterly incapable they seem to be of identifying my eclectic collection and gathering the appropriate covers / metadata. The secret is to name the files correctly – this
To launch the media manager and see what it’s found, click the taskbar icon (or right click in windows) and select Media Manager. You can then choose between TV and Movies, as well as Music if you chose to import that.
You may find a few odd matches – in that case you can easily right-click on the item in question, and select Fix Incorrect Match. this will bring up a list of possibilities. In general, I found that if the files were actually named correctly a match would generally be found – it was only when I had files that didn’t follow the guidelines that mismatches occured.
The only complaint I do have is that the poster picture can’t be changed by dragging and dropping – it takes a bit of effort to navigate through the options for that – but then again you shouldn’t need to most times if it’s been correctly identified.
The Plex Player App (Mac only)
When your data is sorted, go ahead and launch the main player app (from Applications or the Start menu, not the icon already running in your taskbar). Bear in mind that you can’t use the mouse, as it’s designed for full-screen – so stick to the keyboard or remote. Hit Apple-F to switch to fullscreen, and start browsing through the options.
The movies and TV menus options don’t need an awful lot of explaining really, except for that you can change the view style to cover flow or grid view (my personal favorite) by selecting “right” on your keyboard or remote to bring up the view options:
Plex Online is the place to find plugins – such as the BBC iPlayer (UK only) – that enable Plex to interface with hundreds more free online video sources.
To access the online media content channels that you install, choose Video Plugins from the main menu. I especially recommend
The app also makes a really good interface to YouTube and other social video sites. Just hit Search and type in your query – local media will appear first, as well as tons of internet videos that you can start streaming instantly. I actually found it easier than browsing the real YouTube site, since’s there’s absolutely no clutter and zero commentary from 14 year old idiots. Bonus!
PleXBMC (Windows)
To view your movies on Windows, you will need to install XBMC, then the add-on for Plex. Tim has covered
Conclusion
I have to admit, having all my movies in one central place with all the metadata correct is incredibly satisfying. If you have a large collection you’d love to browse by DVD covers then I strongly suggest Plex. I’ve tried other solutions in the past, but none have handled my movies particular well, and I find the media manager of Plex to be the best overall. It’s a shame there isn’t a native client for Windows yet, but the add-on for XBMC means I can basically have the same fantastic player interface while we wait for the official client. Plex is going to form the center of my living room now, and I’ve even splashed out on the iPad app which let’s me stream any of my collection without format worries.
If you’re having any troubles setting it all up, then feel free to ask away in the comments or
Oh and one last thing – Plex supports
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Banshee 2.0 – A Comprehensive Media Player, Streamer & Podcast Tool [Linux]
Posted on 05 May 2011.
Canonical, the Ubuntu overlords, decided to include Banshee 2.0 with
Get Banshee
For those of you who aren’t already using Ubuntu 11.04, you can get a version of Banshee for your particular distribution over at the
Older versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions (with binary compatibility) can download from the official repository opening up a new Terminal window and typing:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install banshee
For the latest versions, adding the official Banshee repository (as above) is a must.
Streaming & Downloading
Banshee is very much reliant on an Internet connection for much of its feature set. One of the main features is Amazon MP3 Store integration, which appears in the menu bar on the left. Browsing for music is handled simply by the bog-standard Amazon frontend, and whilst a custom interface would have been nice it serves its purpose.
Downloads (free or purchased) from the
Also included are integration with Miro and The Internet Archive. Miro is a fantastic way of discovering both audio and video podcasts, with a hearty selection of media to choose from. Much like the Amazon MP3 Store all previews are handled by Banshee. Podcasts can be subscribed to with Banshee’s in-built podcast tool and you can even add a shortcut link to your favourite shows on the main Banshee sidebar.
The Internet Archive is probably one of the better integrated components, with an ever-expanding database of things to watch, listen to or read. The search interface makes it really easy to find what you’re looking for, and it’s a good job as you’ll have so much free content at your fingertips.
A simple
The daily builds of Banshee currently also include experimental eMusic Store support, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the iTunes music store’s cooler, cheaper cousin“. When this makes it to the stable builds Banshee will come with 2 music stores, and offer a huge selection of tunes.
Playback, Connectivity & Customization
Bolstering the already impressive feature set, presentation and accessible content is the player’s compatibility with other devices. Banshee plays nicely with Apple’s range of portable media players, handy if you need to use iTunes to transfer media to your iPod or similar. If you’ve got a Creative Zen or other MTP device then Banshee will do the trick here too.
Adding music to your library is done via the preferences. Simply point Banshee to your music folder, hit Refresh Music Library and wait for the program to do its thing. Video works in much the same way.
Browsing for music is done via the artist browser, which uses cover art for navigation (though you can always search). Intelligent shuffle has been included as well, with Banshee preferring songs with higher ratings to those you aren’t fond of. Audio playback displays a minimalist description of the track title, artist and album as well as cover art.
There are several extensions included with Banshee from the get-go, including the cover-art downloader, YouTube support and artist information from Wikipedia during playback (in the context window, enabled via the View toolbar). More extensions are listed and
Conclusion
Banshee is reasonably lightweight and responsive, and certainly doesn’t feel as bogged down and sluggish as the Windows versions of iTunes I have used in the past. If you’re searching for an
Have you tried Banshee? What do you think? Any other similar Linux favourites? Let us know in the comments below.
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Banshee 2.0 – A Comprehensive Media Player, Streamer & Podcast Tool [Linux]
Posted on 05 May 2011.
Canonical, the Ubuntu overlords, decided to include Banshee 2.0 with
Get Banshee
For those of you who aren’t already using Ubuntu 11.04, you can get a version of Banshee for your particular distribution over at the
Older versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions (with binary compatibility) can download from the official repository opening up a new Terminal window and typing:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install banshee
For the latest versions, adding the official Banshee repository (as above) is a must.
Streaming & Downloading
Banshee is very much reliant on an Internet connection for much of its feature set. One of the main features is Amazon MP3 Store integration, which appears in the menu bar on the left. Browsing for music is handled simply by the bog-standard Amazon frontend, and whilst a custom interface would have been nice it serves its purpose.
Downloads (free or purchased) from the
Also included are integration with Miro and The Internet Archive. Miro is a fantastic way of discovering both audio and video podcasts, with a hearty selection of media to choose from. Much like the Amazon MP3 Store all previews are handled by Banshee. Podcasts can be subscribed to with Banshee’s in-built podcast tool and you can even add a shortcut link to your favourite shows on the main Banshee sidebar.
The Internet Archive is probably one of the better integrated components, with an ever-expanding database of things to watch, listen to or read. The search interface makes it really easy to find what you’re looking for, and it’s a good job as you’ll have so much free content at your fingertips.
A simple
The daily builds of Banshee currently also include experimental eMusic Store support, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the iTunes music store’s cooler, cheaper cousin“. When this makes it to the stable builds Banshee will come with 2 music stores, and offer a huge selection of tunes.
Playback, Connectivity & Customization
Bolstering the already impressive feature set, presentation and accessible content is the player’s compatibility with other devices. Banshee plays nicely with Apple’s range of portable media players, handy if you need to use iTunes to transfer media to your iPod or similar. If you’ve got a Creative Zen or other MTP device then Banshee will do the trick here too.
Adding music to your library is done via the preferences. Simply point Banshee to your music folder, hit Refresh Music Library and wait for the program to do its thing. Video works in much the same way.
Browsing for music is done via the artist browser, which uses cover art for navigation (though you can always search). Intelligent shuffle has been included as well, with Banshee preferring songs with higher ratings to those you aren’t fond of. Audio playback displays a minimalist description of the track title, artist and album as well as cover art.
There are several extensions included with Banshee from the get-go, including the cover-art downloader, YouTube support and artist information from Wikipedia during playback (in the context window, enabled via the View toolbar). More extensions are listed and
Conclusion
Banshee is reasonably lightweight and responsive, and certainly doesn’t feel as bogged down and sluggish as the Windows versions of iTunes I have used in the past. If you’re searching for an
Have you tried Banshee? What do you think? Any other similar Linux favourites? Let us know in the comments below.
More articles about:
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Banshee 2.0 – A Comprehensive Media Player, Streamer & Podcast Tool [Linux]
Posted on 05 May 2011.
Canonical, the Ubuntu overlords, decided to include Banshee 2.0 with
Get Banshee
For those of you who aren’t already using Ubuntu 11.04, you can get a version of Banshee for your particular distribution over at the
Older versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions (with binary compatibility) can download from the official repository opening up a new Terminal window and typing:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install banshee
For the latest versions, adding the official Banshee repository (as above) is a must.
Streaming & Downloading
Banshee is very much reliant on an Internet connection for much of its feature set. One of the main features is Amazon MP3 Store integration, which appears in the menu bar on the left. Browsing for music is handled simply by the bog-standard Amazon frontend, and whilst a custom interface would have been nice it serves its purpose.
Downloads (free or purchased) from the
Also included are integration with Miro and The Internet Archive. Miro is a fantastic way of discovering both audio and video podcasts, with a hearty selection of media to choose from. Much like the Amazon MP3 Store all previews are handled by Banshee. Podcasts can be subscribed to with Banshee’s in-built podcast tool and you can even add a shortcut link to your favourite shows on the main Banshee sidebar.
The Internet Archive is probably one of the better integrated components, with an ever-expanding database of things to watch, listen to or read. The search interface makes it really easy to find what you’re looking for, and it’s a good job as you’ll have so much free content at your fingertips.
A simple
The daily builds of Banshee currently also include experimental eMusic Store support, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the iTunes music store’s cooler, cheaper cousin“. When this makes it to the stable builds Banshee will come with 2 music stores, and offer a huge selection of tunes.
Playback, Connectivity & Customization
Bolstering the already impressive feature set, presentation and accessible content is the player’s compatibility with other devices. Banshee plays nicely with Apple’s range of portable media players, handy if you need to use iTunes to transfer media to your iPod or similar. If you’ve got a Creative Zen or other MTP device then Banshee will do the trick here too.
Adding music to your library is done via the preferences. Simply point Banshee to your music folder, hit Refresh Music Library and wait for the program to do its thing. Video works in much the same way.
Browsing for music is done via the artist browser, which uses cover art for navigation (though you can always search). Intelligent shuffle has been included as well, with Banshee preferring songs with higher ratings to those you aren’t fond of. Audio playback displays a minimalist description of the track title, artist and album as well as cover art.
There are several extensions included with Banshee from the get-go, including the cover-art downloader, YouTube support and artist information from Wikipedia during playback (in the context window, enabled via the View toolbar). More extensions are listed and
Conclusion
Banshee is reasonably lightweight and responsive, and certainly doesn’t feel as bogged down and sluggish as the Windows versions of iTunes I have used in the past. If you’re searching for an
Have you tried Banshee? What do you think? Any other similar Linux favourites? Let us know in the comments below.
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Access Your Media Library On Any Device With QVIVO
Posted on 26 April 2011.
One thing that’s always been tough for me though, was keeping my collection organized and easily accessing my media library. Sure, I have iTunes, but I use it mainly because it’s the best app for keeping my iPod in sync. But isn’t there an app out there that will let me do more with my content? There is, and it’s called
What Is QVIVO?
QVIVO builds your library with cover art, trailers, actors, artists, and more from the files on your computer, and it is capable of playing them all back for you, regardless of format or resolution.
You can also keep your friends up to date on what you love with QVIVO by posting reviews, rating your collection, uploading photo albums to Facebook, and chatting with your friends. That’s right, QVIVO features live Facebook messaging, which means you can chat with your friends about your favorite show while you’re watching it.
Another cool feature of QVIVO is that it works just about everywhere. Apps are on the horizon for the iPad, Android tablets, TVs, and more, so you’ll be able to access your media library and stream from anywhere in your home with any number of compatible devices.
How Do I Get QVIVO?
In order to download and start using QVIVO, you just head over to their
On the next page you’ll see download links for both Windows (XP, Vista, and 7) and Mac (Intel 64-bit Snow Leopard), with Linux coming soon. QVIVO is still in beta, but very soon it will also be available for your iPhone, iPad, and Android devices as well.
Once you sign up for QVIVO, you’ll receive an email with a confirmation link. When you click that you’ll be taken to My Account for the first time, where you can adjust your settings, connect with Facebook, etc.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I really like the look of QVIVO. From what I’ve seen, they’ve done some nice work. I especially like the layout and overall look of the app, as well as how it sorts your content. The social features make it interesting for me, and I’m looking forward to checking out the iPad app. What do you think of QVIVO?
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UMPlayer – Another Feature Packed Cross-Platform Media Player
Posted on 12 April 2011.
Universal Media Player, or
There are versions available for
Features & Playback
Thanks to the fantastic MPlayer backend, UMPlayer is able to play a healthy number of digital formats without the need for extra codecs. This includes your bog standard SD content, disc-based media (but no BluRay) and HD files (even in containers, like Matroska video). To quote the UMPlayer team:
“It plays most MPEG/VOB, AVI, Ogg/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, RealMedia, Matroska, NUT, NuppelVideo, FLI, YUV4MPEG, FILM, RoQ, PVA files, supported by many native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs. You can watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX 3/4/5, WMV and even H.264 movies.”
Another benefit to using MPlayer is the vast number of output options offered, including X11, OpenGL and VESA (amongst a ton of others). There’s also support for older, outdated graphics cards which should make UMPlayer a decent app to
For an easy-on-the-eyes viewing experience, MPlayer also features shadowed anti-aliased subtitles with support for 12 different subtitle formats (and DVD subtitles too) and various different fonts and scripts. So far, so VLC; and that even goes for the interface (though it does for most media players).
The program is completely skinnable, and there are five to choose from after installation. Despite the Get More Skins link under Options, there’s little to choose from in the official skins gallery so (once again) it’s up to the community to provide the real choice.
Under the hood you’ll find plenty to tweak and adjust in UMPlayer’s options. From custom command line parameters to forcing frame drop to maintain sync, this is a heavily customizable program. Saying that, you won’t find yourself changing an awful lot (if anything) unless you’ve got some specific demands from the software.
Convinced? Well there’s still a couple of extra features that might just persuade you to ditch your current media player yet!
Online Integration
You may have noticed the small search box in the top right of the UMPlayer window in a number of screenshots. This can be used to search both YouTube and Winamp’s
When you search either service your results are displayed in a separate window. Double click a result of your choosing and UMPlayer will do its utmost to launch your chosen video or radio station. It’s a nice, fast way of browsing for media – with a couple of extra services to choose from (Hulu, Vimeo and so on) it would be a killer feature.
UMPlayer can also
Conclusion
Is UMPlayer a VLC-beating media solution? Possibly. That totally depends whether you’re hankering for a dekstop YouTube solution, love
Both are light on system resources. Both can play pretty much everything you throw at them. Both are free! Give it a go for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments below.
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6 TV-Ready Media Center Programs You Should Check Out
Posted on 07 April 2011.
If you’re looking to set up a media center, you need to know what free software is out there. Choose the media center application that works best for you by comparing the best programs on the market.
If you’re looking for a program to watch your favorite videos from the comfort of your couch, you’re going to need a good TV media center program. These programs are designed to be readable and browsable from your couch, and present you with the media on the web and on your hard drive. All vary in terms of features, and all have something to offer. One of them is right for you. This list is by no means definitive, but it does cover most of the major players.
Browse the list, find more information. Try them all out if you have to; after all, all of these programs are free.
XMBC
It started as a media center for the original Xbox, but it’s evolved to become so much more than that. XBMC is considered by many to be the best media center out there, and it’s not hard to see why. Insanely customizable, and giving you quick access to your movies, music and TV shows, it’s simply a hard program to top. Like XBMC, but want more online content? Check out NaviX, the ultimate extension for XMBC. You’ll find lots of streaming content there, so enjoy.
Boxee
Built using code from XBMC, Boxee can seem overwhelming at first. There are TV shows, movies and more to browse, and even an entire App store. Start using it for a while, though, and you’ll wonder how you lived without it. That’s because Boxee allows you to customize everything enough that your favorite videos on the web are only a few clicks away.
Want to learn more? Read 5 things you should do after installing Boxee.
Hulu Desktop
Simply put: it’s all of Hulu’s videos, from your TV. There’s really not much more to this program; you can’t add your own videos, or watch any videos that aren’t on Hulu.com. This makes it useless outside of the USA, naturally, but assuming you’re in the States and most of the shows you like are on Hulu, this can be a good program to have around. Read more about the Hulu Desktop
Kylo
This one’s a little different. Basically a web browser built for television, Kylo is a pretty good media center in itself. Links to most of the major video sites on the web are easily accessible, and an interesting control paradigm makes for easy browsing. Sadly, Hulu is blocked, but there’s still a lot to discover here. If you want your media experience to be the web, try out Kylo.
Moovida
A slick user interface for browsing your own videos. While lacking in online content, Moovida is a great option for those looking to organize their desktop video collection. Lots of customization options await, so check it out!
Enna
A recent addition to the field, Linux media center Enna comes with some capabilities not seen elsewhere. Support for couchbound book reading, for example and a pretty slick photo browser as well. This exciting new application also gives you access to your local music and videos, so give it a spin.
Record Live TV
Like these desktop clients, but want to record live TV as well? You’re not alone, particularly if you’re paying for cable anyway. There are a number of programs you can use to accomplish this, and all are outlined in Dave’s recent article How to record TV shows to your PC. Check it out.
Conclusion
Know of a tv media center application I missed? Share it below; it might well be featured later. Also feel free to recommend any of the programs for the benefit of our readers, because they love to learn!
Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on MakeUseOf Answers!
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RockMelt: The Ultimate Social Media Browser Enters Public Beta
Posted on 28 March 2011.
Similar to
As far as Facebook integration is concerned, RockMelt automatically logs you into Facebook chat, with your contact list featured subtly on the left hand side of your browser. There you can see which contacts are online and which are idle. You can also selectively add Facebook friends to your favorites, and toggle the view of your contact list to show your favorite friends only.
On the right hand side of the browser you can access all of the apps and feeds that you have added to the browser.
There are two separate Facebook tabs on the right hand side. In one, you can see your friends’ latest posts and update your Facebook status. Interaction with your friends on Facebook include the ability to like and comment on their updates. When your feed is updated, or you have any new notifications, a small badge will appear over the Facebook icon with the number of updates. The second tab features all of your Facebook notifications, and new notifications are visible through a badge with a mouse over the icon.
When chatting with friends, a new window will open up. You are notified of new chat messages with sound notifications as well as badges on the contact’s image in your contact list.
Like with Facebook, adding Twitter to RockMelt will allow you to keep up with your Twitter feed from a convenient window accessible from your apps and feeds list on the right hand side of the browser. With the Twitter feed, you can toggle a sidebar open and closed to reveal links to your replies, direct messages, tweets, retweets and lists.
You can tweet, reply to tweets and retweet them, using Twitter’s native Retweet method.
You can even share a link from Twitter directly on your Facebook wall.
As far as content is concerned, photos and videos are displayed embedded within your feed.
If you want to add multiple Twitter accounts, you can do so by clicking on the settings button in your Twitter feed.
An interesting RockMelt Twitter feature is the ability to search your timeline for keywords, which is a nice novelty feature. The more significant and more useful feature of searching Twitter is, unfortunately, not a feature included in RockMelt’s mini-client.
Some drawbacks we noticed to using Twitter on RockMelt is that to view a user’s profile you have to open it on the website, and if you want to retweet and add your own text to the tweet, you’ll have to copy and paste the original tweet.
Integrated Sharing
RockMelt takes things one step further, making it easy not only to access information directly from your favorite sites, but also making it easy to share content as well. The ‘Share’ button next to the address bar allows you to share links quickly as you are viewing them, directly to your added apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
Have you downloaded RockMelt? Would you be willing to switch from your preferred browser to RockMelt? Let us know in the comments.
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VLC Media Player 1.1.8
Posted on 24 March 2011.
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols without external codec or program.
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XBMC Media Center 10.1
Posted on 11 March 2011.
XBMC is an award winning media center application for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and XBox. The ultimate hub for all your media, XBMC is easy to use, looks slick, and has a large helpful community. Try it now!
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