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I currently run Windows Media Center on a mac mini. It is a bit silly that I purchase a whole windows license just to run WMC.

Is there equivalent software for the mac ... here are the requirements.

  • Must have a EPG in Australia
  • Needs to support Dual Pinnacle USB tuners
  • Needs to work with a remote control only ... I.e. boot, load app, keyboard and mouse not required for use.
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7 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

Boxee is pretty nifty. You can set it to run on boot, I believe, and it works well with the Apple Remote. It won't run your TV tuner, though.

The EyeTV software might support your tuner. If you buy the hardware, you get a tuner and a remote control, which might meet your needs. But you would need to spend more money.

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At the moment it is looking like the solution is pay $$ and use EyeTV and IceTV – Bruce McLeod Jul 20 '09 at 8:45
up vote 3 down vote

MythTV (as mentioned by phsr) on a mac mini is a popular front end in the MythTV community. With your USB tuners and external disk it should have no problems functioning as a backend, too (OK, commercial flagging and transcoding (e.g. to iPod) could be slow with limited CPU power).

It can use the EIT broadcast episode guides, or you can use shepherd for a web based guide grabber.

It also has a web interface so you can schedule a recording from work, etc. There's even an iPhone frontend.

Edit: See also MythTV on OS X.

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I'll download MythTV and give it a try ... – Bruce McLeod Jul 17 '09 at 3:42
Tried to install it and there are too many moving parts .. frontends backends .. no "official build" it's not ready for something that "might" work on OSX – Bruce McLeod Jul 19 '09 at 1:34
Fair enough, if you're ever considering a Linux box, grab mythbuntu and give it a try. – pgs Jul 19 '09 at 2:01
I want to use my existing box as it is working perfectly with windows, I just need the "missing link" which is software to replace windows media centre. – Bruce McLeod Jul 20 '09 at 8:45
up vote 3 down vote accepted

After much trying of software I have come to the following conclusion.

There is currently no single piece of software on the mac that has the features of Windows Media Centre when it comes to recording and playback of media. EyeTV comes closest with the IceTV guide, however that does not provide the "from the couch" experience I was after.

Boxee and plex are both forks of the XBMC project, and they provide the "from the couch" experience, focused around download or online content such as Hulu or Netflix which is not available outside the US.

For now, I am staying with Windows Media Centre.

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up vote 2 down vote

If you want to boot into Linux, you could look into MythTV.

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I'd rather stick to Windows or OS X – Bruce McLeod Jul 17 '09 at 3:38
up vote 2 down vote

Plex a fork of XBMC has been gaining lots of popularity lately

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up vote 1 down vote

Front Row is about the best you can get, however it won't work with your tuners.

I don't have much first-hand experience with either of these, but I would look into XBMC and Boxee.

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up vote 0 down vote

Boxee has an iPhone remote app

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Boxee is a built on XBMC which does not support tuners yet. – Bruce McLeod Jul 20 '09 at 8:43
While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. – Diogo Aug 9 '12 at 13:40
When answering questions, solely recommending software is discouraged. If a part of your solution involves the use of a particular piece of software, I would consider using this meta post as a guideline. – KronoS Aug 14 '12 at 15:50

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