Building a Mac Home Media Center, Part 1: How To Get iTV Capabilities Today, For Less
Date: Nov 10, 2006
The idea of the Mac as the heart of a home media center originated years ago when Steve Jobs first announced the idea of the Mac as a "digital hub" connecting you to your photos, music, and video content—and the devices that create and play all your digital media. However, the true potential of this concept is only now fully realized with the inclusion of Front Row on almost every Mac that has shipped in the past year. And also the preview of iTV, a set-top box due sometime in the first quarter of next year that promises to stream music, video, photos, and more directly to your TV. The three articles of this series examine how to expand on Apple’s digital hub concept to create the best Mac media experience in every room of your house.
iTV
Apple’s preview of the iTV in September illustrated some of its potential and its interface, but left many details to speculation. So let’s examine the basic facts that Apple presented and that have slipped out from reliable sources. First, we know that iTV (or whatever Apple ends up officially naming the product) won’t ship till sometime next year. Although many people expect it will be announced as a shipping product at MacWorld in January, there is no concrete evidence that this is the case. Apple has avoided making non-Mac specific announcements at MacWorld in recent years, so it’s quite possible that we might not see the iTV release until a later press event. Saying quarter one 2007 could mean that we might not see it before the end of March, which gives Apple ample padding for any snags in the product’s final development.
We also know that iTV will be managed almost exclusively by an Apple IR Remote and that it will feature an interface very similar to Front Row. In fact, one could easily speculate that its interface is actually Front Row 2, which is expected to ship with Mac OS X Leopard (also slated for release in the first quarter of 2007). Other facts that have come out indicate that iTV will be a single Mac solution, meaning that the setup of the unit is most likely done from a single Mac and that the Mac will be the only source of digital content that iTV can access. This prevents easy access to content on a broad range of computers.
Beyond the interface, we know the form factor (a half-height Mac mini enclosure) and the ports that it will include: HDMI, S-Video, Composite Video, digital optical and stereo component audio, Ethernet, and USB. The first three are for connecting to various video inputs of a television (be it analog or digital), the second for connecting to a home theatre stereo receiver or a television’s audio input, and Ethernet for connecting to a wired home network (along with wireless connectivity of an unspecified variety).
We also know that the iTV will sport a small internal hard drive. This drive likely won’t be used to actually store any digital content over the long term as an iPod does. Rather, it will probably be used as a buffer solution, storing content as it is streamed from the computer until either all the content is stored for playback (similar to how QuickTime and other video files embedded in a web page are downloaded to the browser cache and played from there after a significant portion has been received) or it will store just a segment of upcoming data to smooth out any potential jerkiness or stalling due to slow network performance.
Although this hasn’t explicitly stated, it has been implied that iTV will enable streaming of content only in your iTunes and iPhoto libraries. This means that if you have video stored outside of iTunes or stored in formats that iTunes doesn’t allow you to import (such as Windows Media and DivX), you won’t be able to view it through iTV. Although in many cases, you will be able to convert content using the appropriate software (such as VisualHub), doing the conversion can be time-consuming and might not always be successful.
Finally, we know that the ultimate price of an iTV will be $299.
Is iTV the Best Solution?
The iTV unit will no doubt ease the process of using your TV to view digital media from your Mac. However, I’ve already been asked whether I think it’s the best solution and whether I’ll order one as soon as it hits the market. Setting aside my hesitation to buy any piece of technology as soon as it is released, there are arguments to be made both for and against connecting a Mac directly to your TV instead of purchasing an iTV.
In favor of iTV are the following:
- Ease of setup: you don’t need to worry out of the box about things like video resolution (this is a potential issue more for digital TVs than analog CRT models).
- Smaller form factor: no external power brick; no trying to fit something too big into your entertainment center.
- Simple management: iTV will be controlled via the Apple remote, but any management will almost certainly be done on the computer that it is paired with. You won’t have to worry about hooking up a keyboard or use the Mac OS X standard interface to change settings or make updates (a particular concern on analog CRT TVs, in which a standard computer interface often flickers or is blurry—although Front Row’s interface takes CRT television into account and displays fine on almost all TVs).
In favor of connecting a Mac to a TV:
- Available immediately: you could build a Mac media center today (or for Christmas) instead of waiting up to six months for the iTV to be released.
- Broad array of video support: installing the software and codecs required to view additional forms of video content such as Windows Media and DivX is easy on a Mac. Once installed, they enable Front Row to play those formats with little trouble. Often, PC users will use these formats for creating video, particularly if it will be distributed via the Internet.
- More storage choices: Front Row can access shared music, photos, and video content from multiple Macs (and PCs). As we’ll discuss in part 3 of this series, a home network enables you to share content among multiple computers in your house and to view them through Front Row, iTunes, iPhoto, and a number of other applications.
- Direct access to eyeTV or other recording technologies: Elgato’s eyeTV software, and the devices it works with, enable you to record video from a TV antenna, cable, or satellite service on your Mac much as a Tivo or DVR device does and view it on your Mac or export it to iTunes (and iPod) or DVD. There is no evidence that eyeTV will have any point of integration with Apple’s iTV (and the potential confusion in that sentence is probably why Apple has said it will be changing the name of iTV when it is released). We’ll profile eyeTV in part two of this series, but suffice to say that when connected to a Mac and TV.
- Alternative media environments: this article talks about software that has the potential to be like Front Row and iTV on steroids, giving you additional options in your Mac media center experience. Needless to say, that software requires a Mac and will not function with iTV.
- Potentially lower cost: if you compare the price of the least expensive Intel Mac mini to the iTV $299 price point, that probably sounds crazy. However, if you already have a recent Mac, you might be able to use it as the center of a Mac media center (even if it didn’t come with an Apple remote). You might also be able to purchase an appropriate Mac using eBay, a used computer reseller, or the classified ads in your local paper for less than $299.
So overall, is iTV for you? Well, that’s up to you. If you’re willing to spend the $299 in addition to the cost of the computer, don’t plan to use video other than that purchased from the iTunes Store, have only a single Mac in your house, want the simplest setup possible, and don’t mind biding your time, then yes, it probably is. However, if you’re more of a power user, want something sooner, have an extra Mac lying around, and want a broader set of video options, you might want to consider building your own media center. And, as you’ll see, it can actually be easier than you think.
About Front Row
You are probably familiar with Front Row, but here’s a quick overview. Front Row combines the digital media power of iTunes, iPhoto, Apple’s QuickTime, and the ability to watch DVD movies from a single, easy-to-navigate interface. That interface, which is reminiscent of the iPod’s interface and the interfaces used by Tivo and many digital cable and satellite providers, make it easy to navigate all the media on a Mac using only Apple’s IR remote control. With each update, Front Row has become easier to use, is more stable, and offers new features.
Front Row itself is very easy to use. Simply press the menu button on the Apple remote and your desktop will be replaced by the Front Row menu, which includes icons for DVD, Music, Photos, and Movies. Use the right and left buttons on the remote to cycle through the options. To select one of the four, just press the play/pause button in the center of the remote. Then use the up/down buttons to navigate through the available selections by using the pause/play button to select items and the menu button to go back to the preceding menu. To exit Front Row and return to Mac OS X’s normal interface, click the menu button on the remote (or the escape key on the keyboard) while at the root menu (the four icons).
You’ll find that all your iPhoto albums and folders are represented under Photos as are all your iTunes playlists (including smart playlists) and music under Music. Any movies that are stored in either your iTunes library or the Movies folder inside your home folder are available under movies (folders in your Movies folder appear as menus that you can browse through). Playing content is as easy as locating a playlist or song or photo album or video and then selecting it.
Aside from being easy to navigate, Front Row’s interface makes use of Apple’s Quartz Extreme graphics layer to deliver a stunning 3D look, complete with previews of videos and photos within folders or albums as you browse. When playing music, album art is displayed, along with other song information (provided that the album art for songs is stored as part of your iTunes library). Equally nice is the oversized text Apple uses in Front Row that makes it easy to read from across the room (even if you are using an analog CRT television).
Connecting Your Mac to Your TV
All current (and many older) Mac models can be easily connected to a television and/or sound system for audiovisual content. In the past, displaying computer output on a television involved purchasing a relatively pricey scan converter or video card support TV output and sacrificing much of the quality of a computer display. Thankfully, things have changed in the past few years.
If you own a digital TV, particularly a flat-screen plasma or LCD model, chances are that you can simply attach your Mac to it. Many digital TVs include support for DVI- or VGA-style video input. Others include support for HDMI, a next-generation video connector. You might need to use an appropriate adapter for the DVI output included on current Mac models. Apple has, however, made this process relatively simple. All shipping Macs include a DVI-to-VGA adapter (traditionally used for connection to an older or less-expensive monitor). A DVI-to-HDMI adapter is also available from Apple (as well as other companies) if you need it.
In many cases, you can simply attach the appropriate cables, and Mac OS X will adapt its display settings to match the TV. With some models, however, Mac OS X might not be able to automatically determine the optimal video resolution and color calibration for your TV or that your TV might require a resolution not supported by Mac OS X. In these cases, you might need to manually adjust the resolution of your Mac using the Displays pane in System Preferences and figure out the appropriate resolution by trial and error. Likewise, you might need to use the Display’s pane to create a custom Colorsync profile for your TV. Apple provides additional information, including information on selecting the appropriate resolution for a digital TV on its Mac mini accessories page (although this applies to all Macs with a DVI port). If you find that you cannot set Mac OS X to an appropriate resolution, DisplayConfigX is an inexpensive utility that adds support for a broader range of resolutions than is available in Mac OS X by default.
If you have an analog CRT television, you can still connect your Mac to your TV without much effort or expense. Apple sells a $19 DVI-to-video adapter that provides both S-Video and composite (RCA) video output. The quality provided by this adapter is surprisingly good for its price (comparable to many higher-priced scan converters). It also offers DVI-to-TV video outputs as opposed to scan converters, which require converting from DVI to VGA before converting to S-Video composite video.
Keep in mind, however, that CRT televisions process data at lower resolutions and quality than virtually all computer displays (be they CRT or LCD). Although the resulting video from Apple’s adapter is more than fine for Front Row, with its oversized fonts and graphics), you will notice that for general computer use, the quality is below almost any computer monitor and likely to cause eyestrain (that is, this adapter is for home entertainment, not using an analog TV as a replacement monitor).
There is another option for those with the money and ample wall space: using an AV projector and either a projection screen or a blank wall as your display. If you choose a good-quality projector, this approach can really give you a movie theater experience at home like little else. As the cost of projectors has come down, they have become an affordable option for home theater systems. Many projectors offer multiple inputs, and several models today include DVI as an input option. Virtually all offer VGA, and most also offer either S-Video or composite video. Although projectors by themselves offer no TV capabilities, most digital cable and satellite receivers offer various video output options (check with your provider). Also, third-party solutions such as eyeTV (discussed in part 2 of this series) can offer you the ability to use your Mac as a TV receiver.
As far as audio goes, all current and recent Macs include audio output that can be connected to speakers, TV inputs, or a home theatre stereo receiver. The lineup of Intel Macs, along with Macs that were introduced late last year, support both a one-eighth-inch miniplug connector (such as that used by standard headphones and computer speakers) as well as optical digital audio output. Previous Mac models typically supported only the miniplug. Adapters are readily available to convert a standard miniplug output to stereo outputs. However, they do not offer the full surround sound support offered by digital audio, although many stereo receivers and other devices that support surround sound can approximate the effect when receiving analog audio input.
Whatever type of TV you are connecting your Mac to, keep in mind that Front Row is only displayed on a Mac’s primary display. If you are working with a Mac mini and your TV alone, this is not an issue because the TV will be the primary display. However, if you are using a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or iMac, the internal display will be considered the primary display. In such a situation, the default solution will be to mirror the same display across both the internal and external displays. Macs do, however, support using multiple monitors as extensions of a single Desktop or working space. If you choose to use a Mac in this fashion, you will need to designate the TV as the primary display, which contains the Dock and menu bar, for Front Row to display on it.
Older Mac Models
Although Front Row is officially supported only on Macs that ship with an Apple IR remote (and the accompanying remote receiver built into the Mac itself), it is possible to install it on older Mac models. Although Apple does not support it at the present time, Apple has indicated that Front Row 2, to be included in Mac OS X Leopard (a.k.a. Mac OS X10.5), which is scheduled to ship next spring, will support all Macs on which Leopard can be installed. In the meantime, there is a free utility called Front Row Enabler that modifies Apple’s latest Front Row update package so that it will install on previous Mac models. With Front Row enabler, you can install Front Row on virtually any Mac that can run Mac OS X. However, if you install Front Row on a Mac that does not have the video hardware to support Quartz Extreme, it will not display properly.
In my experience (and the experience of most users), Front Row Enabler works without any problems. However, it does modify certain Front Row files and Mac OS X system files. If you opt to use it, be aware that problems might arise, and future Mac OS X updates might also cause problems with Front Row or other system components as a result. More information can be found on the Front Row Enabler website.
One problem that older Macs have with Front Row is that they do not include support for Apple’s remote. This is not a huge problem because Front Row does support keyboard commands. By default, you can activate Front Row by using the Apple+Escape key combination and you can navigate its interface using the arrow keys on a keyboard (substituting the Return key for the pause/play button and the Escape key for the menu button). There fore, if you have a Bluetooth or wireless USB keyboard, you effectively have a remote, albeit an oversized and ungainly one. You could also use a multibutton wireless mouse, assigning the various buttons to match the appropriate key sequences. Finally, Keyspan makes a series of remotes that can be used to control Front Row.
Another problem for older Macs is that not all older Macs include DVI out support. For Macs offering only VGA support, you would need to purchase an appropriate adapter (if needed) for a digital TV or a scan converter for use with an analog TV. Also, some iBook models include support for composite video out using a special cable plugged into the headphone jack (although not all of them support Quartz Extreme).
Advanced Front Row Tips
Although Front Row is a powerful and slick entertainment solution, there are some things that can improve the Front Row experience. Here are some ways to expand upon Front Row.
- Watch additional file formats. Video files come in many formats and can be encoded and compressed using a number of techniques. As I mentioned, with the right additions to your Mac formats, Apple’s QuickTime technology enables Front Row to handle many common formats (.mov, digital video streams, mpeg and its variants, .avi, and so forth). However, two capabilities are missing in a standard QuickTime installation: Windows media and Divx. You can add Windows media support by downloading and installing Flip4Mac’s QuickTime components. Divx encoding, which can be used in a variety of file types as well as its own file formats, is more problematic. You can download Divx codecs for the Mac and install them. More information on Divx codecs for Mac OS X and Front Row can be found here.
- Storing video content. When you navigate the Movies menu of Front Row, you’ll find that you can navigate through the contents of your Movies folder as well as the video content stored in your iTunes library. You can, however, expand it to include other locations (most typically, a large external hard drive) by placing an alias for the alternate location in your movies folder. To have access to any location on your Mac (including alternate hard drives, mounted network shares, and data CD or DVD disks), you can place an alias of the /Volumes directory in your Movies folder. This is the Unix directory in which all your various types of drives are listed and it is also typically a hidden folder. To add /Volumes, select Go To Folder from the Finder’s Go menu. Enter /Volumes in the dialog box. When the /Volumes folder opens, hold the option and Apple keys down and drag the icon from the title bar of the window into your Movies folder to create the alias. This will allow you to browse any video content anywhere on your Mac.
- Use the Apple Remote to sleep/wake a Mac in your entertainment center. If you install a Mac mini (or other Mac model) as a unit in your home entertainment center, you might want to operate it completely from the remote (as a piece of home theater equipment instead of a computer). Not only can you invoke and navigate Front Row all from the Apple remote but you can also put the computer to sleep or wake it from sleep by holding the play/pause button on the remote for three seconds. Pressing any button on the remote wakes the computer. This approach can also be helpful if you want to use a TV (or external display) with a MacBook or MacBook Pro while keeping the computer closed because you can connect the TV or display, sleep the computer by closing the lid and wake it with the remote.
One final tip to include here, which comes by way of the folks at Mac OS X Hints is that you can configure Apple’s Speakable Items to support detecting Front Row commands by speech recognition. Doing so takes you to a whole other level of home entertainment that is reminiscent of Star Trek and other science fiction shows. Details are available here.
Front Row Alternatives
Although Front Row is the Apple home media center solution, it is not the only option for Mac users. The commercial MediaCentral offers a package that provides a much broader feature set with a similar interface. MediaCentral also has the advantage of being able to install on a wide variety of Mac models without needing to modify any system files. In addition to MediaCentral, there are two open source projects to provide free alternative media center solutions for the Mac. Although both of them are still in development and only available as alpha releases, they do show some promise.
Media Central
Equinux’s MediaCentral is a commercial application that retails for $29.95. It includes many of the features of Front Row (the ability to browse your iTunes and iPhoto libraries, play DVDs, and play video files stored on your computer) in a full-screen interface that can be navigated from the keyboard, Apple’s remote, or a series of third-party remotes. MediaCentral goes further by offering you full-screen access to Internet-based TV feeds and online video sources such as Google Video and YouTube, can function as a digital TV if an appropriate antenna is connected to your Mac, includes a handful of ’80s-inspired video games, and provides access to Internet-based picture feeds from Flickr and similar sources. The latest release also includes integration with Skype for making computer-based phone calls and Internet chat.
My experience using MediaCentral has been somewhat hit or miss. The interface is very similar to Front Row and navigation as a whole is easy to use. However, the software still doesn’t seem as fully mature as Front Row. Both startup time and the time it takes for certain features to activate are slow. Also attempting to use some features (in particular, viewing large photo albums often causes the application to crash).
That said, there are a number of nice features included that will make it a great competitor for any Front Row user a couple of versions down the road. Things such as the ability to simply copy the Video TS folder from a DVD to a hard drive and have access to the complete contents of the DVD, significantly improved customization options, and the ability to view Internet video content without leaving the media center interface make MediaCentral particularly attractive.
MediaCentral does provide a demo download that you can use to determine whether it meets your needs. The demo is full-featured, but will run for only five minutes at a time.
CenterStage
CenterStage is one of two open source projects to develop a free Mac media center application. Despite being listed as an alpha release, the interface is very polished, and many of its functions work surprisingly well. Its feature set includes the access to your iTunes and iPhoto libraries, the ability to play video files stored on your computer, and access to Internet radio stations. It can be managed using an Apple remote, keyboard, or mouse; and like MediaCentral it can be customized. It also includes a separate application that enables you to organize your digital content independent of Apple’s iLife suite.
Although CenterStage shows a lot of promise, it is still a work in progress. I wasn’t able to get the photo viewing and Internet radio options to work at all, and selecting and playing video is best done using a mouse rather than a remote or keyboard. However, as a whole it does show a lot of promise. Being an open source project, anyone is welcome to download a free copy of CenterStage and although it might not be an ideal solution, if you are slightly adventurous, it is worth trying.
iTheater
Like CenterStage, iTheater is an open source project. It is even less further along in development than CenterStage, but it also shows some promise. Its interface is the least Front Row–like of all three media center applications, but it also has the lowest system requirements and can pretty much run on any Mac that can run Mac OS X. It provides access to iTunes and iPhoto libraries, video stored on your computer, and DVDs. It also includes a weather snapshot feature. The interface is clean and easy to navigate, but cannot be managed by an Apple remote. The current release lacks the capability to choose an iPhoto album (your entire iPhoto library is displayed in random order) and does not organize iTunes content in an effective way. Video playback from item in your Movies folder is impressive however. Although iTheater’s development still has a way to go, its lighter resource footprint and the fact that it can run on a very wide range of Macs might eventually lead it to a fair degree of use and success. Again, like CenterStage, you can download the current release from the project’s website.
Up Next
In part 2 of this series, we’ll look at how to use your Mac as a combination TV and video recorder, including the hardware options and software that you can use to turn your Mac into a single-unit TV with DVR capabilities. In part 3, we’ll go a step even farther and talk about ways to create a home media network that make all your movies, photos, and music available throughout all the computers in your house. In both articles, we’ll discuss the implications for an iTV and Mac-based media center.