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The Answer to Theater View for OSX Is JRemote for AppleTV?
glynor:
Now that an App development environment for AppleTV is finally announced... I think the real answer for Mac users who want a 10-foot, on their TV, environment for MC is really: porting JRemote to AppleTV.
Sure, Theater View would be cool, but you'll need to port the whole darn thing to OpenGL/Metal (probably via converting it to use something like Unity engine), and how many people out there in the world really have a Mac hooked up to the TV in their living room?
If you actually go through the trouble of building a HTPC, you probably mostly want to game with it, which means it is probably a Windows PC. Sure, the Mac Mini is nice but... Again, how many of those people are there? On the other side of the argument, though, AirPlay does make it easy to broadcast from a Laptop up to the screen. I've often wished for a Mac version of Theater View for exactly that reason (though I just switch to my Windows VM and go).
I think porting JRemote to AppleTV is a much better target. And probably easier to boot. Thoughts?
mwillems:
I think this may be part of where they're headed with Pretty Face. But I think the goal of pretty face is cross-platform porting (i.e. a universal interface on all platforms). If that universal interface happens to look a lot like JRemote, all the better.
Related to your suggestion: Bluestacks can potentially provide a pretty good solution for mac users already. I haven't tested bluestacks on a mac, but assuming it works like the windows version, Gizmo runs 100% perfectly with bluestacks, and JRemote almost runs on bluestacks (it loads but playback doesn't work quite right). Obviously that leaves linux in the cold, but bluestacks could potentially already be a solution on the mac side (or could be with a little JRemote tweaking).
That said, given that Chrome now provides a framework to run android apps on any platform that runs Chrome, it seems like ARCwelder compatibility might be the path of least resistance, really. Massaging the existing android app so that it works in an already cross-platform environment seems like a low-investment high-reward proposition. Obviously then you're beholden to the whims of Google, but...
FWIW, though JRemote doesn't currently work at all with arcwelder. Gizmo almost works with ARcwelder (loads but playback doesn't work correctly).
On a related subject I hesitate to mention bluestacks because it won't run on Linux, but Gizmo currently works perfectly with bluestacks, and JRemote almost works with it (it loads but playback doesn't work correctly). So for folks looking for a large screen interface on OSX, bluestacks will get you there if you're willing to use Gizmo, and it could
glynor:
I was assuming that the primary reason to get a "big" interface would be to put the interface on a TV, so running it on a computer isn't really directly relevant. You may be right about "Pretty Face" but, again, that would only help people who actually connect a Mac to a TV, which has got to be a tiny percentage of users. And, even if BlueStacks could work to solve this, it would still require a mouse interface (and probably keyboard) which is pretty much the opposite of the idea of Theater View.
Porting JRemote to tvOS would seem to be even simpler, as all of the code underneath should work already (assuming that Xamarin will support tvOS, which I assume they're furiously working on now). You'd have to do some re-thinking on UI design, of course, but...
mwillems:
--- Quote from: glynor on September 10, 2015, 09:01:18 am --- And, even if BlueStacks could work to solve this, it would still require a mouse interface (and probably keyboard) which is pretty much the opposite of the idea of Theater View.
--- End quote ---
Bluestacks is a general purpose android emulator, and so has access to various android IR apps. I'm pretty sure I read that someone's worked out an IR remote control solution for it, but I can't find the details right now. I was mostly just throwing it out there as something for folks who wanted a potential short term solution (admittedly an imperfect one).
blgentry:
--- Quote from: glynor on September 10, 2015, 09:01:18 am ---I was assuming that the primary reason to get a "big" interface would be to put the interface on a TV, so running it on a computer isn't really directly relevant. You may be right about "Pretty Face" but, again, that would only help people who actually connect a Mac to a TV, which has got to be a tiny percentage of users.
--- End quote ---
You've said this twice, about people not connecting Macs to TVs. Aside from the gaming aspect, which I don't think is super applicable to a home theater environment, why do you say this? I don't have much direct experience with this, so this really is an open question. My gut feeling is that lots of people either have Macs connected in their home theaters, or really WANT to have them connected there.
My experience with JRemote is limited, but I was quite impressed. How do you see JRemote for Apple TV (JRfATV) integrating with a system? Will it be both remote control and end point? I.E., would audio stream from the Mac running MC to the ATV? What about video?
Personally, I'd like to have audio and video directly connected to the machine that outputs audio and video. So I'd want an HTPC of some sort, Mac, or Linux, or maybe Windows, directly connected. That way no network weirdness and no transcoding would happen.
I'm really not trying to shoot your idea down. I'm trying to understand it in the context of my experience and my personal expectations. ...and I have a feeling I'm going to learn something in the process, so that's good. :)
Brian.
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