More > JRiver Media Center 21 for Mac
The Answer to Theater View for OSX Is JRemote for AppleTV?
glynor:
--- Quote from: gvanbrunt on September 10, 2015, 03:47:53 pm ---The skin would target the device. That is how it is done on some other platforms I've seen. You can shape it according to the audience i.e. hand helds, 10 foot interface, simple , or complex, etc
--- End quote ---
Aren't there aspects of UI navigation and design that don't translate well to simply "skinning"? I worry that it can't be done well (for the same reasons that Windows 8 failed). That you'll inevitably hold back the UI for one or the other use-case, because it has to be a general-purpose system. In any case, that still doesn't help if there's no way to get the darn thing onto your TV.
If you assume:
1. That the user isn't going to spend $600-1k to buy a full general purpose HTPC.
2. That the user isn't going to buy a single-purpose device from JRiver (like the Id we already have).
3. And you assume they are an Apple user (I put the thing in this board for a reason)
How do you get this UI up on the TV screen? I don't think any of those first two assumptions are out of the norm. I could be wrong, but I'm skeptical.
flight16:
An AppleTV/tvOS version of JRemote would be an absolute dream. I won't repeat everything glynor has said, because his analysis and opinions reflect all of mine. He seems to have a very good idea of the typical user.
I have a unused Mac laptop, Kodi on RPi, and a gaming PC. All are hooked up or could be hooked up to my TV. I have been building computers for 20 years. Yet, I still am crazy about the idea of JRemote on AppleTV.
tl;dr: HTPC = an expensive, complex time-drain. AppleTV = a cheap[er] solution that just works.
I am now using Kodi on Raspberry Pi because it is so simple, and I like it a lot (almost zero config). I also have a Windows Steam box hooked up for gaming. But you know what? I'm not going to install MC on it. It would only complicate things. I would have to mess with start-up options. My PC doesn't do HDMI control out of the box which makes turning on the TV and amp a hassle. The PC's 30 watt idle is a lot in a country where electricity is expensive. I have to mess with IR remotes and drivers. If I build a separate mini htpc I will need to buy another OS, keep it up and running with security updates, etc. It costs time and money. (You can argue any of these points, but I've been dealing with computers long enough to know there's always SOMETHING that doesn't work right and you have to troubleshoot or replace).
Background: I'm your typical family, married, kids, and day job. I come home from work tired and have little time in the evenings. That's why I especially value things that will literally just work. No forum hunting. No fiddling with settings. JRemote is this. I want it on my living room TV for the family to use.
That's why I am dying to see a MC client on AppleTV. I would gladly pay more money to JRiver for it.
Edit: So I just saw Intel Compute Sticks on the JRiver store. I still think tvOS JRemote would be awesome, but now I'm interested in the Compute Sticks, too. $150 is about the max I'd want to spend on this, but it doesn't appear to come with wired ethernet or an IR remote, which will be a deal-breaker. I want the family to be able to pick up a remote from the end table and navigate the HTPC. No tablet or smartphone remotes. And $325 with shipping out of the US is a bit over my budget.
BartMan01:
--- Quote from: blgentry on September 10, 2015, 09:52:13 am ---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.
--- End quote ---
Almost no one in the Apple ecosystem connects a Mac to a TV, they use an AppleTV for that. If you need to connect a Mac to a TV it is done through the AppleTV.
Getting JRemote on the AppleTV would be a huge win in my house. The worst part about using MC downstairs is dealing with the laptop I have there for Theater View.
glynor:
Unfortunately the reviews for those compute sticks were pretty dismal, particularly Wifi performance.
Check AnandTech...
blgentry:
I'm somewhat excited at the prospect of a JRemote style app running on an AppleTV.
My concern is with network transport. If the files don't live directly on the AppleTV (and they won't), then they necessarily have to come over the network from an MC server. If this can be seamless, every single time, awesome. If there are ever any hiccups, it would be a non-starter for *me* personally. That's why I'm willing to have a "real" computer hooked up to a TV: Reliability. I need high reliability; otherwise it ruins the entertainment experience, which is what we all want these for! :)
Actually, there's a second reason as well: Native format of audio and/or video. I'm unfamiliar with how the new AppleTV will work, but I think minimal transcoding is important. That is, if you can send the same audio and video format to the TV and/or AVR without changing format, resolution, compression, etc, you should have a better end product. As long as the AppleTV can do this as well as a real computer, awesome. If not, I'd be skeptical. For video this is more complicated as it's a bit of an open question of whether TVs do better transcoding to their *native* internal resolution, or if an external device does a better job of converting from whatever resolution the video is at to the native resolution of the display. It would be pretty much required for the AppleTV to have fairly granular control over output resolution so you could try to optimize picture quality, as I've just indicated above.
I hope this makes sense.
Brian.
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