nessViewer App 1.9.3 for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch (pre-release)

In the pre-release version 1.9.3 of nessViewer App for iOS we have now improved the import of media from the "Photos App": while previously only one picture or video was imported (and then this function must be called again for other media import), multiple media can now be selected and then imported in one step if iOS 8 is installed.

Not only multiple media can be selected (by touching), but eg various lists (collections, moments, bursts, etc.) can be selected and their media added to the import as well. Through "Select All", all the displayed media is added to the import (or through "Clear Selection" removed), making the selection of import media even easier.

After selecting "Import", the so arranged media are imported from the "Photos App" to "nessViewer App" including existing metadata (EXIF, GPS) - and as this may take some time on greater import, a progress bar is displayed during this time. The import folder will then be opened, if necessary, and the imported media can be managed.

The so imported media can then, for example, be transferred to any computer like a Mac (either through an FTP client on the computer or the media server of nessViewer on Mac), or can be transferred to another iOS device through the FTP server and FTP client of "nessViewer App". And of course, all without the use of iCloud...

All beta testers (with registered iOS devices) can download the modified pre-release version 1.9.3 of "nessViewer App" at the nessViewer download page.

Import of multiple media from the "Photos App" with "nessViewer App"

nessMediaCenter 1.7 & nessViewer 3.7 for Mac available

Access to media of the new "Photos App" by the media center is the most important innovation in these versions. In the preferences can be specified which data is made available (albums, moments, collections, media types), which possibly reduces loading time. In early February, we had begun to implement this feature, as the "Photos App" according to Apple will replace the applications Aperture and iPhoto. Those who participate in the Apple beta program for Mac OS X, can install 10.10.3 - this version is required for the "Photos App" and access by the media center.

Another new feature in nessViewer is the display of a map with the GPS position of the captured image and the images in a media show. In the media show map, each image can be displayed in the media show by clicking on the marker. The MediaCenter displays the GPS location (country, city, street) now more accurately (if these data are available) and in the media presentation the GPS position of a picture is now displayed in the bottom center.

In addition, the handling of the DLNA availability has been improved to access DS214play and a presentation can now be started from the selected entry in the MediaCenter.

The media server can now be started automatically when nessViewer is started, so that the shutdown or start of the computer can be setup by the "Energy Saver" (schedule) and the media server is always available after the computer start. Or you can use, for example, VPN to restart the computer...

In the 64-bit versions, we noticed that some images with orientation data (EXIF) were not displayed correctly what we have hereby fixed.

Once Yosemite 10.3 is officially released, we will upload nessMediaCenter to the AppStore - unfortunately it will then still take (at least) about 1 week until the AppStore version will be available. We would like to upload the new version now, which unfortunately is not allowed.

nessViewer media show with a map of the GPS locations

MediaCenter: DLNA availability

Erik informed us about a problem in the media center: if multiple DLNA devices are present, then only the first DLNA device appears in the media center - and this device must not be a DLNA media server, so that although DLNA appears in the media center, there is no media accessible.

Through several trials and protocols, that were issued for test purposes and Erik sent us back, we were able to solve the problem finally.

Especially helpful were there 2 existing DLNA media server (Fritz!Box NAS and DS214play), whereat the Fritz!Box NAS has been disabled for test purposes. In this case, the Fritz!Box NAS still reported itself as a DLNA media server even though it is no media available - and thus DS214play was then not available.
Another problem was DS214play that reports itself twice as device - and only the second device is a DLNA media server.

We have now solved the problems by showing only the first DLNA media server that really provides media. A modified version can be downloaded from the download page.

Many thanks go to Erik, who had the patience to test several attempts and different combinations!

And then there is also bad news for the AppStore customers: nessMediaCenter 1.6.1 was rejected on 27.1. by Apple. Due to a bug in XCode we had to upload unfortunately a corrected version as 1.6.2 on 28.1. - and apparently it takes again a week until Apple will review the new version. And the improved DLNA availability will not be included in this AppStore version.

nessViewer App 1.9.1 for iPhone/iPad/iPod touch available

As previously reported, we have fixed a bug that did not start videos streamed from your Mac (nessViewer media server). This was the case in the FTP client and the access to the media server in the media center.

In addition, we also found a few more "visual" bugs in FTP client, which were also fixed. Disabled buttons are now generally displayed in a better way.

At "Deutsches Fernsehen" in the media center, the Bavarian magazine "Quer" has been added - read more in the blog entry mentioned above. And for registered users, we added even more new content.

nessMediaCenter 1.6 & nessViewer 3.6 for Mac available

The music video portal Clipfish offers for some time also German motion pictures - both are now available in the MediaCenter in 29 categories and can be sorted by criteria (new, best, most viewed). And of course by selecting a category (by "+" and then PLAY or RETURN), e.g the contained music videos can be played continuously.

Currently, satirical, cross - the Bavarian magazine "Quer" is now available in the MediaCenter at "Deutsches Fernsehen" - but do not worry: it is spoken "hochdeutsch". In addition to the main media libraries (ARD, ZDF, RTL, RTL Nitro, SuperRTL, VOX), there are of course still also a lot of other interesting magazines... And under "Live Broadcasts (Countries)" at "German" also all public German TV broadcasters…

For Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), there are now new icons in the MediaCenter, which are adapted for Retina displays.

In testing we have found problems when streaming videos from Mac (nessViewer media server) to iOS (nessViewer App for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch). After hours of research, we have found the following solutions: for older iOS versions (4.x to 6.x ?) the older VLC version 2.0.9 must be installed on Mac, because Apple has expanded the M3U8 format without regard to compatibility (and VLC 2.1.x uses this new format). And for newer iOS versions (7.x ? and newer), we have updated nessViewer app - version 1.9.1 can be downloaded for registered devices on our website and will soon be available in the AppStore.

Some providers have also been adapted: e.g. Arte, ATV from Austria, BBC, MyVideo.

nessMediaCenter 1.3.7 & nessViewer 3.3.4 for Mac available

After testing our application with Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), we found only one problem: Apple changed the video format description of protected movies (iTunes DRM). Thus movies selected in the MediaCenter were not presented in iTunes. This problem is now fixed.

The AppleScript command to detect the fullscreen mode of iTunes and to switch to fullscreen is not working anymore. After selecting a protected movie in the media center, iTunes shows a grey screen for a short time and then cancels the playback.
So we added a new Apple remote control command to remote control iTunes: "PLAY hold" switches between  fullscreen and window playback. If the fullscreen playback fails, then the playback can be started again via "PLAY" and then "PLAY hold" will switch to fullscreen.

With iOS 7AirPlay of the media server will not be displayed anymore - Apple do not like the idea that other applications offer AirPlay. We are working on this problem...

nessViewer 3.0 for Mac available

The last weeks many people have sent us feedback to nessMediaCenter and nessViewer - we are impressed about the quality of the suggestions and reports.

Dietmar asked for the option to shutdown the computer via MediaCenter - after selecting the checkbox in the preferences (Center) once and then selecting exit at the MediaCenter, a countdown will be shown and the computer will be shut down after 60 seconds.
By pressing the ESC key or holding MENU on the Apple remote control, the MediaCenter can be closed as before without shuting down the computer.

Thomas (and some others) criticized the handling of alias files. We improved the MediaCenter: aliases to files will now be correctly handled (if the extension is correct). And a hint will be shown if aliases to folders / volumes has been found (but not displayed) which points to the script "Create Symbolic Link". We improved this script, so creating many symbolic links is now much easier.
Nevertheless: symbolic links are a much better solution than aliases. Unintelligible how Apple handles the creation of aliases by changing e.g. the extension "MOV" to "MOV Alias". Either the extension does matter or not...

Many users ask for the feature to mark unplayed movies and to resume to the last play position - a very good idea, but only as an option (and not for all movies). We came to the agreement, that these two features will (only) be offered if the movies are stored in iTunes and iTunes is running. This way everybody can decide on his own whether to use it or not - and we do not have to reinvent the wheel.

Among a lot of other improvements (see News) one last point: the media server offered already the feature to convert movies for iOS or not - but unfortunately "not" was ignored. Shame on us. :-) We fixed that now - so movies can now be easily & comfortable transferred from one to another Mac by a FTP client like Cyberduck.

nessViewer 2.9.7 for Mac available (AirPlay server)

The highlight of this version is AirPlay: presentation of pictures and videos from device (e.g. iPhone) to Mac. That means that both directions are now supported by the media server. (AirPlay is the technology to stream media from device to AppleTV.)
Of course media can be streamed to the media server with every app which supports AirPlay - but with nessViewer App 1.6.6 (available in about one week) e.g. even PDF documents are supported.

But we also improved all other nessViewer components: MediaCenter, media server, media shows, PDF display and web browser.

To name just 2 things: at Google search in the browser, each opened search entries will be called directly (instead of Google redirection). And (among others) YouTube videos can now be automatically presented in lower quality if the internet connection is slow (if "Prefer high movie resolution" at the preferences is unchecked).

nessViewer 2.9.6 for Mac and nessViewer App 1.6.5 for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch available: streaming of DVDs

With these two versions the streaming of media from Mac e.g. to iPad is very well done: no matter what kind of movies / videos (e.g. DVDs, EyeTV movies, AVI / DivX / MOV) we want to stream & watch - with nessViewer no problem. And now this is even possible via Cellular (3G) connection.

Videos of the "Videos App" can now be presented with nessViewer App - just one touch to watch a video or to watch all videos continiously.
Photos of the "Photos App" and videos of the "Videos App" can now be mixed in a media show via MediaCenter and then presented continiously.

Of course internet videos can also be added to such a media show -  enjoy media however, wherever, whenever!

Tutorial: Media server access setup

On user request we wrote a tutorial how to setup the access of the media server (Mac) via nessViewer App (e.g. iPhone) from outside the local network.

nessViewer 2.9.5 for Mac and nessViewer App 1.6.4 for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch available: enjoy media - wherever, whenever

Beside the streaming of EyeTV movies to nessViewer App, this version stands for "enjoy media - wherever, whenever".

After several tests, the media server can now stream movies to nessViewer App outside the local network. Some routers might need a second port for this.

We would like to thank everybody who helped us to test several routers.

In nessViewer App, the media server can now be accessed by the MediaCenter outside the local network. The server (TCP/IP address or DynDNS name) must be entered in the "Settings App" for this.

In nessViewer App a double touch on a list entry opens now this entry. This way it is much more easy & comfortable to view content.

The MediaCenter and the integrated internet browser support now "SuperRTL Now" on the Mac. And some providers were adapted.

nessViewer media server & EyeTV movie streaming

After even complete cinema movies can be streamed by the media server so perfectly, we are now integrating the streaming of EyeTV movies.

This was a little bit confusing us with the EyeTV solution: it is possible to watch the EyeTV channels of the Mac e.g. on the iPad, but the EyeTV archive is always empty - unless the automatic conversion of all movies is activated and the corresponding movie is already converted. Which means that all movies will exist twice (volume capacity) and the computer is permanently converting (frequent high CPU usage)... and all this just for the case to watch one of the movies.

With the pre-release of nessViewer 2.9.5 and nessViewer App 1.6.4 it is now possible to stream EyeTV movies e.g. to the iPad: as before the movies will be converted & segmented "on the fly" and then streamed. After finishing the streaming (or rather when starting another movie) the old stream data will be removed.

nessViewer 2.9.4 for Mac available (optimized movie streaming)

As already posted, this version offers optimized streaming of movies e.g. to the iPhone via media server.

Movies can now be streamed running MacOS X 10.5 or newer - even long cinema movies will be streamed directly (aka within seconds). And that independent from the movie format which might not be compatible for iOS.

VLC 2.0 should be installed in the application folder to use this new feature.

If Apple's "mediastreamsegmenter" is installed and the movie is already iOS compatible, then the result will be even better since the movie must only be segmented (and not converted).

We also added support for media presentation of Veoh movies.

nessViewer media server & movie streaming

Today there are 2 good news:

1.) Apple's "mediastreamsegmenter" is available for MacOS X 10.7 - as far as registered free of charge as Apple developer.

2.) VLC 2.0 offers the functionality to convert / segment movies.

We extended the code of the media server to use VLC 2.0 for the convertion / segmentation if the "mediastreamsegmenter" is not available.

This means that streaming movies via media server e.g. to the iPad is now available for MacOS X 10.5 and newer - either via "mediastreamsegmenter" under MacOS X 10.6 / 10.7 or via VLC.

Just install VLC 2.0 in the application folder to convert / segment movies and stream them via the media server. The convertion / segmentation is executed in a thread in the background - that way it is not necessary to launch VLC.

Importent: for MacOS X 10.5 the 32 bits version of VLC 2.0 must be installed.

The new version has to be tested some time - if you are interested just contact us.

nessViewer 2.9.2 for Mac and nessViewer App 1.6.1 for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch available

At "Open Files" pictures and videos can be imported from the "Photos App" and files can be renamed.

After the import the files can be found at the "Import" folder - and e.g. can be transfered to other devices via FTP.

At the MediaCenter the media hosted by the media server can now be accessed via the local WiFi.

Please notice that videos can only be presented if the necessary tools are installed (see older posts).

nessViewer 2.9.2 was extended to publish the media server (Bonjour) and to host the previews.

Now the FTP access via 3G is also possible - many thanks to Erik for his iPhone and his time!

We also adapted several providers.

nessViewer App 1.6 for iPad / iPhone / iPod touch available

At length the new version of nessViewer App is available now.

We added a lot of new features:

1.) Create folders and move files to these folders

2.) Add pictures and movies to the "Photo App"

3.) Editable media show entries

4.) Compatibility of media show previews between Mac and iOS

5.) FTP server & client

6.) Live broadcasting and access to local media at the MediaCenter

Especially the FTP server & client is the beef: beside the transfer of media between two devices or the Mac, it is now also also possible to stream media from the Mac to e.g. to the iPad.

This means that - instead of transfering e.g. a large movie to the iPad - the movie can be presented just in time by transfering only small segments time by time.

We also added a help - available at "Open File".

nessViewer goes FTP: share your media between computers and iDevices

The last weeks we did a lot of work:

1.) nessViewer App for iPad / iPhone / iPod touch has a FTP server and client now, so media can be transferred from the computer to the iDevice by an FTP client (like Cyberduck) and media can be shared between two iDevices.

2.) nessViewer for Mac has a media server now, which allows to share media like movies "on the way": just connect to your local computer by WiFi and download your media. If the media is not compatible with iOS, the media server will convert the media before transferring it.

If you are interested just contact us to get the beta versions.