nessMediaCenter & nessViewer & Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan)

Meanwhile, we also have installed a pre-release version of Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) to check the compatibilty of our applications.

So far, we were pleased to discover only a very small problem: if a movie can not be played, then the corresponding message is not displayed correctly. What happens almost never (except an internet provider video or a video of a DLNA media server can not be played).
We have now solved this problem in another pre-release version of nessMediaCenter and nessViewer.

We also have improved the Mac App Store (MAS) pre-release version of nessMediaCenter to display an information message if the iPhoto or iTunes libraries can not be accessed because the libraries are stored e.g. on an external volume and the necessary access permissions are missing.

"Tips & Tricks" is now offering additional assistance and answers to questions that users asked us in recent times.

And we have adapted a few internet providers (e.g. DailyMotion).

In the coming days we will continue to test and then hopefully make the final versions available soon.

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.

nessMediaCenter 1.4.2 & nessViewer 3.4.2 for Mac available

Every now and then we learn through user feedback and can improve our applications. This time Michael has convinced us that iPhoto events should be accessible in addition to iPhoto albums in the media center.

iPhoto events are automatically generated for each media import. As long as media belonging together are imported in one step, events are a great feature - but if multiple new media are imported into an album then it is getting complicated. Although you can then connect events, in our view this was far more complicated than simply to use only albums.

In addition, events also offer fewer features: the content of an event can not be arranged manually and multiple events can not be grouped in a folder. If you work for a long time with iPhoto, then many events are generated which results in a long list in the MediaCenter.

However, Michael has convinced us: if you connect for example a camera, then you can simply import the new media - done. Perhaps the new event must be renamed, but using albums is more complicated: first you have to create a new album, then it must be renamed and then you can start to import. Albums are rather a collection of the best shots for Michael.

Two different approaches - both with advantages and disadvantages. Now you can decide which approache you prefer by (de)activating albums and events in the menu settings of the preferences.

Robert has informed us that iTunes playlists are not selectable if playlist folders exist. We fixed that bug.

Some provider adaptions were necessary as well.

nessMediaCenter 1.3.3 & nessViewer 3.2.3 for Mac available (iPhoto / iTunes)

The "iTunes Control" of the media center was improved to fix a iTunes-AppleScript bug and to make the selection of playlists easier:
1.) The last selected playlist remains selected and the playback will not automatically start after the start of the iTunes control.
2.) After the selection of another playlist, the playback of the first track will only start if the playback was already started. Otherwise a cover preview and the number of tracks will be shown.
3.) Next and previous track does not only work again, but will also switch to the last / first track if no previous / last track exists.

A preview and number of movies will also be shown for iTunes movie playlists.

The iPhoto folder and album display was improved as well: a preview and number of media will now be shown.