While the selection of these applications is a matter of preference, I decided to use both Boxee and Hulu Desktop. Applications such as Boxee, Plex, XBMC and Hulu Desktop cover just about anything you are looking for. The amount of content that is now available on the Internet on-demand makes being snowbound or stuck at home for an extended period a more palatable experience. Other programs or television shows that have been recorded using EyeTV can be placed in the iTunes library and viewed from there as well using FrontRow. Movies purchased through iTunes are maintained in the iTunes library and are easily accessible using FrontRow. Since I don’t yet have a large video library and am invested in physical media, I decided to use iTunes to manage my video library for now. Playback is done using FrontRow and the Apple Remote, which gives a simple TV-based interface. I currently subscribe to several video podcasts and those subscriptions are managed through iTunes. There are numerous applications and ways to capture and manage video podcast content, but iTunes is the de facto standard to do this quickly and easily. For simplicity, I installed VLC Media Player and use that to playback any of these recordings.
Mac media center software#
Something else to consider, FireRecord is still considered beta, so it may not fully support your set top box, so you’ll have to experiment.įireRecord records the video streams in one of three different formats: m2t (HDV Video File), tsp (Video Transport Stream) or tp (Beyond TV Transport Stream), so you will need playback software that supports those formats. Since FireRecord just provides the basic capture functionality, it does not have any fancy program guide interface, you’ll have to manually schedule recordings using the simple interface. The software I located that has the ability to record the video stream is called FireRecord.
Mac media center mac#
The HD set top box that I have from Comcast is connected to the Mac mini using a 9-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable. Once recorded, you can manage these recordings through the library interface, where you can view them, perform basic editing (removing commercials) and even converting them for playback on other devices, such as an iPod or AppleTV.Ī second recording option I have utilizes the FCC requirement that cable set top boxes and satellite receivers are required to provide video output through a standard FireWire connection. Scheduling recordings are as simple as clicking on program and scheduling it for recording. The software includes the first year subscription to the TV Guide service for free. Using the EyeTV software that came with the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid tuner, I have the ability to record any of the local broadcast stations (NTSC) that are fed over my cable provider’s (Comcast) network, along with any of the QAM digital stations.ĮyeTV also provides an easy to use program guide using information from TV Guide.
I have two options and methods for recording TV programs and with these options I could in theory record two different programs while watching a third, although I haven’t fully tested this yet.
Recording television programs from cableĢ. There are several components that I wanted in this system to handle the various needs.ġ.
Mac media center free#
If you have suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave them below. On the software side the debate can intensify as you may have other ideas and suggestions for software that you prefer. In my previous post I described the hardware that I assembled for putting together my Mac mini-based Media Center computer. I’ll describe the software suite that I’ve assembled and am using on my Mac mini-based Media Center computer.
Mac media center Pc#
The Mac mini provides an excellent platform for building a Home Theater PC or Media Center computer, but what software do you need to complete the package and give you the flexibility to record television programs and view Internet content on your schedule.
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