Newbie needs help with media capabilities

A

astacun

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Hi,

Newbie here. I just ordered my first Mac and I want to use it as a media center pc among other things. I was reading the Mac Home Theater on September's issue of Macworld and it recommends some software and hardware. Does anyone here have experience with 3rd party remotes, front row alternatives, EyeTV Hybrid and iEye Captain? Thanks in advance.

Astacun
 
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The EyeTV Box does an excellent job of bringing TV to the mac. The picture quality is much better than comparable cards for PC (like Pinnacle) and very acceptable when viewed from about 2 metres away, and absolutely fine when farther away. Newer boxes also create a new menu in front row so it integrates seamlessly with FrotnRow. I would look out for this front row capability in many products, as it makrs the future of where macs and media center will be. We are at a very young stage here, though, so be warned.
 
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MacBook Pro | iMac(2.1 G5) | MacBook(2.16 C2D) | MacMini (1.67 CD) | iPhone 4 | iPad (3rd Gen)
Media Central is a pretty good alternative for front row. Recently they have released an improved version with lots of new features. I have not yet tried any of the other software you have mentioned :(
 
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I tested out MediaCentral and must say, it has a lot of features, that I probably will never use, but they are there. But the graphical interface of frontrow is of course, Apple-style, and nicely nested into the system.

MediaCentral sometimes is just to techie in it's approach which I don't like when sitting comfy in my sofa.
 

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