I'm planning on learning Flash later this year and I was thinking about starting a little project dubbed "MacTV", which would basically be a souped-up version of Front Row. I think Front Row is pretty cool, but it lacks a few nice features like TV recording, better access to audio, etc. This idea started from an idea I had for a simple Mac Mini-based media center. The recipe is as follows:
-Mac Mini (1.42ghz, 1gb ram, combo drive, Airport, Bluetooth)
-Pioneer DVR-K05L DVD burner (8x, dual-layer)
-Hitach 7200rpm 100gb 2.5" hard drive
-Front Row Enabler
-Griffin Technology AirClickUSB remote control
-Apple DVI to Video Adapter (s-video or composite output)
This is a simple media center that would let you watch iTunes movies, listen to iTunes music, watch DVD movies, and watch iPhoto slideshows. The added benefit is that it's tiny. This is a great solution for a dorm-room or apartment-based home theater - add on a standard CRT TV set (tube or flat-panel) and plug the Mini into the s-video and stereo RCA inputs or add some computer speakers and voila, instant miniature media center. BTW, iTunes movies look just fine on a normal 4:3 non-HD television, with the exception of certain dark scenes (like the night scenes in the first episode of Lost, Season 1 - you get a lot of posterization, like purple and black blocks in the background). Engadget has a nice shot of what I'm thinking of.
I'm just going to ramble about some ideas I had for the rest of the post, so feel free to read on...
Then I got to thinking about other things. How would you load additional content, like new music or purchased iTunes videos, to the "Mini Media Center" from another computer? How could you control this without needing a keyboard or mouse? And, most importantly, how coud you integrate TiVo-like functionality? TV recording would be a must if you're really going to blow $700+ on a Mini for your media hub. So I added a couple other pieces to the recipe:
-EyeTV or Hauppauge recording hardware/software
-Better remote (Keyspan IR remote, ATi TV Wonder, etc.)
-miniStack Firewire hard drive (matches the Mac Mini, use it to save TV recordings - up too 500gb per drive)
The main problem is that so far I haven't found any TV recording software that will work on a TV screen and be legible. 800x600 on a standard television set from my PC laptop is somewhat readable, but there's no way I could easily manipulate a computer monitor-based interface for recording TV. Additionally, the software that is currently available, such as EyeTV 2, doesn't integrated everything like Front Row does (music, movies, photos). Thus task #1 becomes "design a unified user interface".
There are some other design considerations here. First, that the Mini will not play or record high-definition material. From what I've read, the Mini isn't quite powerful enough for that yet. Second, that the Mini will not be hooked up to a high-definition television set. I'm sure you can imagine the quality of a standard broadcast cable TV recording on a 42" high-definition plasma TV through s-video. Ugh. Another thing to consider is that the Intel-based Minis are most likely on the way, and possibly with an improved media center front end, supposedly code-named Kaleidoscope. If that happens, then this whole project would be pointless. I'd be a happy man though, especially if it really had a 3.5" hard drive!
A couple other things I'd really like are (1) a UPS (battery) similar to the miniStack, so you could toss it under your Mini and still have power-outage prevention, and (2) a miniStack-style TV recorder. I think it'd be neat to add a few of those building blocks to the Mini and have a sweet system...think of a Mac Mini stacked on top of a 500gb miniStack on top of a dual-tuner Mini-clone box on top of a UPS Mini-clone box. That'd be pretty sweet. There are other issues as well, such as how the Mini would switch television stations for recording if you're using a cable box and how you could get a universal remote such as the Logitech Harmony series to work with both the Mini and your home theater equipment.
My favorite way of starting projects is to work from end to beginning. By that I mean, define the vision first, then work backwards to get there. Assuming that I had to use current hardware, I think this is the route I would go:
-20"/24"/27"/32" non-HD 4:3 television with s-video input
-Mac Mini (1.42ghz, 1gb ram, combo drive, Airport, Bluetooth)
-Pioneer DVR-K05L DVD burner (8x, dual-layer)
-Hitach 7200rpm 100gb 2.5" hard drive
-Apple DVI to Video Adapter (for s-video output)
-M-Audio Transit (USB soundcard with optical output for surround-sound)
-Receiver with optical input, 5 speakers, subwoofer
-EyeTV or Happauge recording hardware
-Cable TV without a cable box
Here is what I would want it to do:
1. Have a cool, easy interface like Front Row
2. Have two methods of accessing music: either by text selection, but using a better system than Front Row currently uses, or by using CoverFlow, which is like the Best Thing Ever
3. Break it into the following categories: Music, Movies, Photos. Maybe even cut out Photos, as I don't know how useful that would actually be. From there, break it down into like Movies > Watch TV, Record TV, watch recorded TV, watch a DVD, watch an iTunes movie. Either that or break the main categories into Music, TV, DVD, Movies, and Photos. Or even make it user-customizable.
4. Be able to access everything - easily - through a remote, no keyboard or mouse required
5. Have the following functionality:
Basically, I want to be able to sit down on my couch, turn on my TV, wake up my computer, and watch a DVD, listen to music, or see photos. I don't wait a pain-in-the-neck system. I don't want 500 features that I'll never use. I think the whole iLife idea is great; when I got my first Mac (a G4 Cube) a couple months ago, I thought it was fantastic that I could import photos from my camera, click a button, and I got an instant cool slideshow complete with nice music. So this project would basically be building a better Front Row.
Anyway, going back to programming: I was thinking Flash would be a nice way to do this, but I don't know if Flash can interface with iTunes, provide a full-screen interface, etc. I am not familiar with programming Macs at all. So programmers, what would be a good route to go with this?
-Mac Mini (1.42ghz, 1gb ram, combo drive, Airport, Bluetooth)
-Pioneer DVR-K05L DVD burner (8x, dual-layer)
-Hitach 7200rpm 100gb 2.5" hard drive
-Front Row Enabler
-Griffin Technology AirClickUSB remote control
-Apple DVI to Video Adapter (s-video or composite output)
This is a simple media center that would let you watch iTunes movies, listen to iTunes music, watch DVD movies, and watch iPhoto slideshows. The added benefit is that it's tiny. This is a great solution for a dorm-room or apartment-based home theater - add on a standard CRT TV set (tube or flat-panel) and plug the Mini into the s-video and stereo RCA inputs or add some computer speakers and voila, instant miniature media center. BTW, iTunes movies look just fine on a normal 4:3 non-HD television, with the exception of certain dark scenes (like the night scenes in the first episode of Lost, Season 1 - you get a lot of posterization, like purple and black blocks in the background). Engadget has a nice shot of what I'm thinking of.
I'm just going to ramble about some ideas I had for the rest of the post, so feel free to read on...
Then I got to thinking about other things. How would you load additional content, like new music or purchased iTunes videos, to the "Mini Media Center" from another computer? How could you control this without needing a keyboard or mouse? And, most importantly, how coud you integrate TiVo-like functionality? TV recording would be a must if you're really going to blow $700+ on a Mini for your media hub. So I added a couple other pieces to the recipe:
-EyeTV or Hauppauge recording hardware/software
-Better remote (Keyspan IR remote, ATi TV Wonder, etc.)
-miniStack Firewire hard drive (matches the Mac Mini, use it to save TV recordings - up too 500gb per drive)
The main problem is that so far I haven't found any TV recording software that will work on a TV screen and be legible. 800x600 on a standard television set from my PC laptop is somewhat readable, but there's no way I could easily manipulate a computer monitor-based interface for recording TV. Additionally, the software that is currently available, such as EyeTV 2, doesn't integrated everything like Front Row does (music, movies, photos). Thus task #1 becomes "design a unified user interface".
There are some other design considerations here. First, that the Mini will not play or record high-definition material. From what I've read, the Mini isn't quite powerful enough for that yet. Second, that the Mini will not be hooked up to a high-definition television set. I'm sure you can imagine the quality of a standard broadcast cable TV recording on a 42" high-definition plasma TV through s-video. Ugh. Another thing to consider is that the Intel-based Minis are most likely on the way, and possibly with an improved media center front end, supposedly code-named Kaleidoscope. If that happens, then this whole project would be pointless. I'd be a happy man though, especially if it really had a 3.5" hard drive!
A couple other things I'd really like are (1) a UPS (battery) similar to the miniStack, so you could toss it under your Mini and still have power-outage prevention, and (2) a miniStack-style TV recorder. I think it'd be neat to add a few of those building blocks to the Mini and have a sweet system...think of a Mac Mini stacked on top of a 500gb miniStack on top of a dual-tuner Mini-clone box on top of a UPS Mini-clone box. That'd be pretty sweet. There are other issues as well, such as how the Mini would switch television stations for recording if you're using a cable box and how you could get a universal remote such as the Logitech Harmony series to work with both the Mini and your home theater equipment.
My favorite way of starting projects is to work from end to beginning. By that I mean, define the vision first, then work backwards to get there. Assuming that I had to use current hardware, I think this is the route I would go:
-20"/24"/27"/32" non-HD 4:3 television with s-video input
-Mac Mini (1.42ghz, 1gb ram, combo drive, Airport, Bluetooth)
-Pioneer DVR-K05L DVD burner (8x, dual-layer)
-Hitach 7200rpm 100gb 2.5" hard drive
-Apple DVI to Video Adapter (for s-video output)
-M-Audio Transit (USB soundcard with optical output for surround-sound)
-Receiver with optical input, 5 speakers, subwoofer
-EyeTV or Happauge recording hardware
-Cable TV without a cable box
Here is what I would want it to do:
1. Have a cool, easy interface like Front Row
2. Have two methods of accessing music: either by text selection, but using a better system than Front Row currently uses, or by using CoverFlow, which is like the Best Thing Ever
3. Break it into the following categories: Music, Movies, Photos. Maybe even cut out Photos, as I don't know how useful that would actually be. From there, break it down into like Movies > Watch TV, Record TV, watch recorded TV, watch a DVD, watch an iTunes movie. Either that or break the main categories into Music, TV, DVD, Movies, and Photos. Or even make it user-customizable.
4. Be able to access everything - easily - through a remote, no keyboard or mouse required
5. Have the following functionality:
Music:
-import a CD
-transfer music from another computer to the Mini (maybe a "Sync" mode)
-play music (individually, by artist, by genre, etc.)
-play random selection (completely random or by favorites)
-burn a CD
DVDs:
-play DVDs
-maybe record DVDs by ripping to an easily-playable format. imo it's better just to leave it on the discs, too much of a waste of time and good hard drive space
iTunes movies:
-play full-screen
Television:
-watch TV
-record TV
-wake up Mini from sleep to record TV
-Burn DVDs with selected recorded shows
-Record entire seasons (no more having to stay up late to watch "My Name is Earl"!)
Photos:
-import photos
-watch slideshows with music
-view pictures
Misc:
-Launch screensaver after a period of inactivity so as not to burn-in TV
-import a CD
-transfer music from another computer to the Mini (maybe a "Sync" mode)
-play music (individually, by artist, by genre, etc.)
-play random selection (completely random or by favorites)
-burn a CD
DVDs:
-play DVDs
-maybe record DVDs by ripping to an easily-playable format. imo it's better just to leave it on the discs, too much of a waste of time and good hard drive space
iTunes movies:
-play full-screen
Television:
-watch TV
-record TV
-wake up Mini from sleep to record TV
-Burn DVDs with selected recorded shows
-Record entire seasons (no more having to stay up late to watch "My Name is Earl"!)
Photos:
-import photos
-watch slideshows with music
-view pictures
Misc:
-Launch screensaver after a period of inactivity so as not to burn-in TV
Basically, I want to be able to sit down on my couch, turn on my TV, wake up my computer, and watch a DVD, listen to music, or see photos. I don't wait a pain-in-the-neck system. I don't want 500 features that I'll never use. I think the whole iLife idea is great; when I got my first Mac (a G4 Cube) a couple months ago, I thought it was fantastic that I could import photos from my camera, click a button, and I got an instant cool slideshow complete with nice music. So this project would basically be building a better Front Row.
Anyway, going back to programming: I was thinking Flash would be a nice way to do this, but I don't know if Flash can interface with iTunes, provide a full-screen interface, etc. I am not familiar with programming Macs at all. So programmers, what would be a good route to go with this?