nessViewer (64 bit) & Photos App support

The 64-bit version of nessViewer 3.7 for Mac is now extended to even more "Photos App" support: whereas previously the media center could already access the "Photos App" media (by the way also the 32-bit version), you can now also import the media of the "Photos App" into a media show with the 64 bit version. But not only the media of the "Photos App" but also media from Aperture, Final Cut (Pro), iMovie, iPhoto and Photo Booth.

The import of the "Photos App" media in a media show is especially important because the "Photos App" exports media without GPS data: if, for example, a picture with GPS data is dragged & dropped from the "Photos App" on the desktop, then the GPS data is missing. This makes obviously no sense - thus the media show does not support drag & drop from the "Photos App" into a media show drawer.

Once you have imported the media of the "Photos App" in a media show, you can drag & drop the media from the drawer on the desktop (or anywhere else) - with GPS data. Although a small detour, but without data loss.

nessMediaCenter 1.7 available in App Store

One week after Mac OS X 10.10.3 (Yosemite), nessMediaCenter 1.7 is now available in the App Store.

Back in February we had begun to integrate the media of the new "Photos App" in the media center and to offer pre-release versions. At the end of March, we then released the official version on our download page, which is now available in the App Store too.

Although the integration of the "Photos App" media is certainly one of the most important new features - Apple has finally not so often a completely new product that replaces Aperture and iPhoto - this version includes also other important changes: in addition to an improved GPS location (country, city, street), which is now displayed in media presentations too, the availability of DLNA media servers has been improved and an error in the image representation has been fixed.

nessMediaCenter 1.5.2 & nessViewer 3.5.2 for Mac available

In this version we have internally overworked the MediaCenter completely: for all media center content (DLNA, Internet, Aperture, iPhoto, iTunes, Miro, pictures and movies folders and volumes), there is a separate class now that manages the access to its content.

Thus, the program code is not only clearer, but also easier to customize and extend: because Apple will apparently stop to support Aperture and iPhoto in the future, "Photo in the Cloud" will probably soon be added as new content. Our opinion on it should be known... but we will continue to support future technologies.

Another major internal change affects (currently only) the iTunes control (both the movie playlists and the music control): so far iTunes was controlled by AppleScript, which was now (for Intel computers) replaced by ScriptingBridge.
In addition to a better and faster control - among other things the start of purchased and rented movies and TV shows (DRM) - we primarily prepare ourselves so to further innovations that Apple might bring us with Mac OS X 10.10.

But we have worked on the user interface in this version too:
1) The search for DVD covers - if no cover and description is specified by "Movie Info" - is now executed in the background so that the scrolling is not delayed anymore.
2) Due to a new provider - FreeCovers - better and more appropriate DVD covers are now displayed. Even if we still prefer manually setup of covers and descriptions by "Movie Info".
3) For folders (e.g. picture and movie folder or volumes) a "combined" preview of the included media will be displayed. The creation of this preview is running in the background too.
4) The "combined" preview in iPhoto albums or iTunes movie playlists will also be running in the background.

In addition, the display duration of pictures in media presentations has been improved - not only for little slower computers, but also for NRW images (Nikon camera RAW format), which are a challenge with almost 30 MB, even with fast computers.

And once again very clearly: DVDs are DVDs and should be stored this way too (and not as movie files). And covers are only searched automatically for DVDs - in contrast to movie files, because their contents and especially filenames might be private. Privacy has absolute priority!

For movie files there is "Movie Info", which allows it to setup manually a cover and description for DVDs, (EyeTV) movies and media shows - without sharing their file names automatically with the global "world". Sadly true: privacy sometimes also has disadvantages - manual editing of covers is of course less "comfortable". But also safer ...

Many thanks to Erik not only for various bug reports in pre-releases, but also for the reference to NRW - unfortunately, this format  is only supported by Apple with 10.7 or newer.

Finally, a note on compatibility: with a heavy heart, from now on our applications are "only" compatible with Mac OS X 10.5 or later for Intel computers - but we would recommend for these computers at least 10.6 anyway. For PowerPC (PPC), however, 10.4 is still supported.

And for those who like to use the latest, there are on request of course still the 64-bit versions which require Mac OS X 10.9 and are based on "AV Foundation" instead of QuickTime.

nessViewer 2.7.3 available

Aperture does not save in the XML file the pictures which lay in contained subfolders - therefore the MediaCenter did not show pictures of folders which only contain subfolders. Now the MediaCenter shows pictures which lay in subfolders.

The structure of Bild-Kino, ARD mediathek and YouTube cinema movies were changed by the providers - this version is adapted to these changes.

nessViewer 2.7.1 available (Aperature, Bild-Kino)

The MediaCenter now supports Aperture, the iPhoto application for professional photographers.

Unfortunately the xml file, which manages the media data, does not contain the movies added to albums or projects. And also some other parts do not work as good as with iPhoto.

Bild-Kino is now offered by the MediaCenter - please note that it is only available in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

And some providers are adapted - mainly for the nessViewer extension, which now offers new playlists at XTra.