In this run down I am going to go over what it takes to share this content freely through my house with no fuss. If you didn’t check out my post on the nuts and bolts of my system, check that out first. That post explains the wiring and how everything is ... Read more]]> Posted in AppleHome TheaterReviews

The Basics

In this run down I am going to go over what it takes to share this content freely through my house with no fuss. If you didn’t check out my post on the nuts and bolts of my system, check that out first. That post explains the wiring and how everything is connected. This post will tackle the software.

What I’m Streaming

Content gets distributed through network. The content I am sharing is pretty standard, its HD videos, photos, and music. I access this content via two different methods. The first method being the Xbox360 & PS3, and the second being Boxee.

The Nitty Gritty

We are an all Mac household, so If you’re on a PC you’re 360 connection solutions should be much easier. Since Xbox 360 is built by Microsoft it is set up out of the box to play nice with Windows, not the Mac. The 360 does not connect to my Macs by default. Thus lies the first problem with streaming video content from the Mac to the 360.

Connect360

Connect 360 is a third party app that makes the 360 play nice with my Mac. It is a very simple application that only makes minutes to set up (depending on your network configuration). I have also heard many people mention Rivet (but I have never tried them myself). If you’re using a PS3 try out Medialink. All these applications get us about halfway there, as you should be able to see the media on your 360 now and access it.

The Content

This next section mainly concerning video content as music these days is mostly DRM free and should play just fine on your 360. I’ll assume you already have video content on your computer. If you’re looking for content ideas stay tuned for part 3. Sharing video files can be a bag of hurt if you have the wrong file type, codec, bit rate, etc. These are the settings I use to get my stuff up and running on my 360′s. The 360′s should be able to stream H.264, DIVX, XVID, MOV, AVI, WMV, ASF. Check the Xbox support site for more details and limitations on each file type. If your video doesn’t meet the specific criteria for playback, you will have to get all fancy pants and convert your video files. If you have a video format other than MKV skip to the Visualhub section, else keep reading or (If (videoFormat != MKV) { $(‘.VisualHub’).show(); } else { $(‘.nextSection’).show(); }; //he he he).

MKV Files

MKV files were the trickiest files for me to wrap my head around. MKV files, like most video types, are just wrappers for your standard video and audio files. These MKV files are not supported by the 360 and will not play by default. You will need to convert your content to one of the supported formats listed above to play it on the 360. I use awesome application called MKVtools. It takes the guess work out of converting your files for the 360. Select the device: "Xbox 360", video: "Pass Thru", and audio: acc. I use "Pass Thru" to give me the original video quality. The conversion is fast and works pretty much without a hitch. If you buy the full version MKVtools allows batch conversion, which is a really great feature. However, if you’re trying to convert a movie you’ll be out of luck with this application. MKVtools has trouble with files longer than an hour or more.

VisualHub

VisualHub is the Swiss army knife for video conversion. Unfortunately VisualHub is no longer supported or sold. If you don’t have a copy check out VideoMonkey which is trying to become the Open Source answer for VisualHub as it uses much of the same source code. Another option is HandBreak to which I speak to below. For those of us lucky to still have VisualHub: you can simply drop your movie into the queue, select MP4, select "go nuts", go to advanced options, select at max bit-rate of "3600", and convert away. I have found this is the optimal settings for streaming movies to the 360. It is a fine science however, so you may have to tweak the settings every now and again for certain encodes. I use "3600" as my bit-rate as anything higher seems to cause major problems for the stream and in some cases won’t even play.

HandBrake

HandBrake was originally a DVD ripper/converter. It would take your DVD and rip it to many different formats. Today it’s the same program but now it has built in presets to help you convert easier. Also you can now load videos such as 3GP, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOD, MOV, MP4, MPG, and WMV. Select the 360 preset and start converting. Even with the presets selected you can still muddle around with the settings to get optimal performance. I love this program. It is heavily supported and they add stability and features with every update.

Video Exhaustion

Getting your content to the 360 can be more than a little time consuming. However, with the right tools you can view almost any video on your 360. I have a wired gigabit connection from my computer to my 360′s so it makes streaming HD video a breeze. If you are new to this whole video from the internet idea you will be interested in part 3 which will deal with getting content on your computer.

Lately it seems like everyone I know is switching to the Mac. I actually kind of miss the days where I was the lone Mac evangelist in the room. However I suppose it will be a good thing in the long run that Mac adoption is up. More Mac users mean more people developing great ... Read more]]> Posted in AppleReviews

Lately it seems like everyone I know is switching to the Mac. I actually kind of miss the days where I was the lone Mac evangelist in the room. However I suppose it will be a good thing in the long run that Mac adoption is up. More Mac users mean more people developing great applications for the Mac.

In the mean time many of these new Mac owners are experiencing the joys of switching to a new OS. Several noob Mac owners have asked me the same questions lately, how do I ____, and what are some of the best Mac applications. A good place to start with how to questions is at Apple’s find out how site. They will answer most of the how to questions, but what about a run down of the best apps for your new Mac. That list is here, broken down by categories:

• Apps for everybody
• Video
• Web Development
• The World Wide Web

Apps for everybody

AppZapper

AppZapper touts itself as the uninstaller Apple forgot, and in my opinion they are correct. The idea behind OSX is that you really don’t need and uninstaller. Most of the time you can just drag the application to the trash and be done with it. However this does not always remove preference files and other hidden application files from your system. AppZapper does. Just open AppZapper select the application or drag it into AppZapper, then select zap. Then you will be greeted by a ray gun sound as the app is swiftly removed from your system. This is a must for any Mac owner from the start. AppZapper is not free, but it may be the best 12.95 you will spend on an application.

Quicksilver

“Act without doing.” Quicksilver is an app that is hard to explain in depth. They say its “A unified, extensible interface for working with applications, contacts, music, and other data.” Most users however use it as an application launcher, or as a replacement for a spotlight search. Press control space and quicksilver pops open. Then start typing the application or file you want. The results appear almost immediately. Let me give you an example. Control+Space+F+Enter opens Firefox on my computer. That would have taken me a little longer to find and open the application from the application menu or in the dock. Bottom line, this application saves you time. Quicksilver doesn’t stop at an app launcher, it can be set up to control most of your system. Check out their docs. I also use it to control iTunes with a couple of key presses. Quicksilver is free and should be on every system.

Disc Inventory X

Are you starting to run out of disc space? If your like me you ask yourself, where is all of this space going. It can be tough to figure out what is eating up space on your system, luckily Disc Inventory X makes it easy. Disc Inventory X visually displays a representation of the space taken up on your hard drive. It displays this information in little color coded boxes. Each color represents a different type of file. For example clicking on the red cube may represent an application on your system. You can click on the larger cubes to figure out what it taking up the most space. Then you can figure out if it is something you can part with. On my drive most of the space it taken up with video. I sometimes forget to delete videos I am not longer using, and Disc Inventory X makes it easy for me to find the unwanted videos and remove them. Disc Inventory X is another free app to check it out.

Carbon Copy Cloner

Carbon Copy Cloner is another app that has to do with your hard drive. If you are a good little Apple fanboy/girl then you are using Time machine on a regular basis and have no worries in the world. But what if you do do regular backups or your Time Machine backup fails? What if you want to reinstall your OS and want to make a bootable backup of your current drive? Carbon Copy Cloner can help you with all of these. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a drive start failing on me where Carbon Copy Cloner saved my life. Carbon Copy Cloner can make a perfect clone of your drive. “Clone, synchronize, backup. Schedule and forget it. Try it ’til you trust it.” Great news about it is, Carbon Copy Cloner is free.

Stuff It Expander

By default Mac OSX comes with it’s own zip/unzip software built right in. But there will come a time that you will run across an extension that you will not be able to unarchive. Trust me you will need it so go ahead and get it. StuffIt Expander can decompress files and folders in many compressed file formats, such as .rar, .sitx, .sit, .tar, .tgz, .zip and more StuffIt Expander free edition is really the one you need. If you find you need other formats and more features they offer an deluxe edition at a cost.

Video

VLC

VLC or Video LAN Client. VLC media player is a cross-platform media player and streaming server. VLC will play just about anything you though at it. It easily plays VIDEO_TS & VOB files, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, and stranger formats like MKV files. I use it all the time to play video files in formats that wont play in QuickTime. It has a very good de-interlace and well as surround sound decoder. VLC is free so get it on all your systems.

VisualHub

VisualHub is the "universal video converter for the Macintosh." Visual hub can convert just about any video file you through at it. For example I mentioned earlier I receive MKV files from time to time. If I want to stream these files to my 360 they need to be in a format that the 360 can understand. VisualHub perfectly converts these files while keeping the quality as well as the HD resolution. VisualHub also has presets built in that make it easy to convert your video into the format you need. You can also select the option to stitch several videos together so they play as one video file. I use VisualHub daily. If you want to try out the small version for iPod check out iSquint. iSquint is free and will give you a taste of what VisualHub can do. VisualHub is $23.32 and for me has been worth the money time and time again.

Handbrake

Want to convert any DVD into a portable format. Handbrake is the application you need. Insert your DVD of home movies. Select the quality and settings you need and press start, and you will be off to the races. Just like VisualHub, Handbrake contains presets that are already configured to give you the best quality for whatever you will be viewing the video on. Some of my favorite presets are AppleTV, Xbox360, and the PSP. I recently took a trip to Hawaii, in which I converted several home movies to be played on my PSP. I have to say that the quality was amazing on the PSP. Even better than applications specifically made for the PSP. Handbreak is free and a great app.

Perian

Perian, is a great app that makes QuickTime even more useful. They call it the swiss-army knife for QuickTime. Lets face it QuickTime is a great media player, but it can’t handle all the formats and codec’s you through at it. For example DivX wont play by default in QuickTime. Perian add the ability to play more codec’s in QuickTime. Actually it is very rare that I have a video that wont play in QuickTime with the help of Perian. In those case I use VLC. Perian is a free preference pane and is something I add to every one of my Macs.

Web Development

MAMP

MAMP is the One-click-solution for setting up your personal webserver. The abbreviation MAMP stands for: Macintosh, Apache, Mysql and PHP. I use it for any WordPress local install. I have used similar systems on Windows and I have to say that MAMP is much more trouble free.With just a few mouse-clicks, you can install Apache, PHP and MySQL for Mac OS X. MAMP is free.

CSSEdit

MacRabbit, the makers of CSSEdit, make incrediable applications. If you are anything like me, a CSS nut, you will love CSSEdit. CSSEdit is by far the best CSS editor on ANY platform. I give lots of credit to CSSEdit as this program is one of the major reasons I learned CSS. The program made it easy to grab any website and play around with the CSS, and see how they did it. This way of learning helped make me the CSS guy I am today. However this program is not just for CSS noobs. It has many featured that Dreamweaver can’t hold a candle to. I have talked about it before on previous posts, the XRay and Inspector tool makes it easy to find the element you want to update and quickly edit it in real time. The preview uses web kit to give you not only a preview, but how it will actually look in Safari. CSSEdit is roughly $46.00 and is very much worth the price. Also check out Espresso coming soon from MacRabbit as well.

Cyberduck

Now that your have your site ready to go your need a great FTP client. Cyberduck is my favorite FTP/SFTP solution on the mac. Cyberduck is a powerful open source FTP and SFTP client with an easy to use interface. If you can find your way around the finder, Cyberduck should be a breeze for you. I like its easy drag and drop functionality. Cyberduck includes support for multiple FTP connections, resume-able downloads, recursive transfers, bookmarks, and folder synchronizations. It is solid and always works great for me. I recommend Cyberduck to anyone. Cyberduck again is free, one of my favorite words.

The World Wide Web

Firefox

Safari is great. It is fast and comes already on your system. However, if you want more from your web browser, try out Firefox. Firefox extensions alone are a reason enough to make the switch. The extensions give you the ability to add rich features to the browser, and customized how you like it. Firefox has extended support for key shortcuts, such as switching between tabs, live bookmarks and as well as getting a nice speed bump with each version. I did a very popular post last year about my favorite Firefox extensions that is worth a look. Firefox is free and worth a try.

NetNewsWire

Looking for an easy-to-use RSS reader for your Mac? NetNewsWire is the mac daddy of RSS feed readers. NetNewsWire has a familiar three-paned interface. The best part about NetNewsWire is that you can sync your feeds for free using NewsGator. This is great if your like me and am always on a different computer. The interface is clean and simple and comes with several themes built right in. If you want to control your look a bit more, you can create your own theme or download themes others have created from across the net. If you find yourself on a PC (heaven forbid) they have a version for that too. Keep track of all your feeds on whatever system your on. NetNewsWire is free.

Adium

Adium is all your instant messaging needs rolled up into one nice package. If you’ve used Trillian you will love Adium. Adium is an instant messaging application that can connect to AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber, ICQ, iChat, Google Talk, and more. Adium has a very simple and sleek interface. If you like to chat with several people at once, you’ll like Adium’s tabbed messaging feature. A single window can contain several conversations in separate tabs, kinda like Firefox or Safari. You can also update Adium’s functionality and appearance as there are a library of add-ons. Did I mention Adium is free?