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.

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"

MediaCenter & the new Photos App from Apple

The new Photos app from Apple is now integrated in a pre-release version of the media center. This allows access to the media of the Photos app, as it has been already available for the iPhoto media.

5 days ago, a pre-release version of Mac OS X 10.10.3 (Yosemite) has been released for developers which now gives you the long-awaited Photos app. How Apple had announced some time ago, iPhoto and Aperture will probably not be developed further, but replaced by the Photos app. Therefore, we have set ourselves immediately to the media center integration of the Photos app.

After the installation of the pre-release version of Mac OS X 10.10.3 and the first Photos app launch, the iPhoto media were easily transferred. As far as we can tell, the new Photos app is stable and makes a good impression. Who knows iPhoto will quickly find one's way.

In a pre-release version of nessMediaCenter and nessViewer, "Photos" is displayed in the media center main menu if the photos library in the pictures folder exists. In the media center preferences either only "Photos" or "iPhoto" and "Photos" can be activated.

On YouTube a demo video can be watched which demonstrates and explains - among some other newer features - the access to the media of the Photos App.

We will continue to test the pre-release and see how far Apple extends the new photos app. So far it would only be desirable from our point of view the ability to sort the media also by title - this is possible in iPhoto, but is absent in the Photos app.

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 & nessViewer 3.4 for Mac available

In the past the media center and media presentation were (only) controllable by keyboard, Apple remote control and "NV Remote" on iPhone and iPod touch.

Now the media center and media presentation can additionally be controlled by trackpad, (magic) mouse and mouse / scroll wheel.

The media center can be controlled by swiping up & down, clicking the left mouse button to select (or open / present) the current entry or moving up one level by clicking the right button.

The media presentation can be controlled by swiping right & left to select the next & previous media entry (or to jump forward & backward if just one movie is selected) or by clicking the right mouse button to show the presentation menu.

More of these (gesture) events - like rotating and zooming - will be implemented in the 64 bit versions.

nessMediaCenter 1.3.6 & nessViewer 3.3.3 for Mac available

Arte and ARD mediathek videos can now be played without the Flash player. These are really good news because Flash is a security risk in our opinion.

The Austrian internet offer has been extended and offers now "Aktuell" (news) and "Am Punkt" (political discussions). For the Austrian, Dutch and Swiss internet offer we added images and informations at the overview (similar to the German internet overview).

Additionally we adapted some internet provider offers, so now everything is available again.

If you are using the adult offer, then you should also download and install the extension. Meanwhile more than 1600 links to videos of several providers have been added to the collection, which is now also available at the media center of nessMediaCenter and nessViewer. The collection is also available in the integrated browser (as before) and can now be sorted by newest entries.

nessViewer App 1.7.1 for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch available

On 2/14/2013 we uploaded nessViewer App 1.7.1 - unfortunately it was rejected by Apple. After some discussions and changes suggested by Apple, we uploaded it again 3/3/2013 - and it was rejected again.
After some more discussions, nessViewer App 1.7.1 is now available.

Beside some provider adaptions, the major change is that the following content is now only available for registered users: ARD, Arte and ZDF Mediathek, cinema movies in German and English, entertainment / serials and music.

Our original idea was to offer an app with very much content and features free of charge - and that the people will help us by e.g. clicking "Like it" at the start window. Unfortunately this did not work.

From now on we will send the registration data (free of charge) only to people who do also something for us - e.g. by clicking "Like it" or by reporting about the app in a blog.

nessViewer & DLNA

The pre-release of nessViewer now integrates DLNA as a first step.

After opening the DLNA window by the toolbox or file menu, a window is displayed which allows it to start DLNA. If the firewall is activated then incoming connections for nessViewer must be allowed.

After the DLNA start, all available DLNA devices are shown in the drop down menu.

If the selected device supports media (e.g. a media server like Serviio or NAS volumes), then "Browse" will show the root content. Folders can then be opened and media like movies or pictures presented.

Particularly pleasant is the feature to select multiple media and then to present these media continuously.

So far the following devices have been tested (and work):

• Fritz!Box NAS Media Server
• PlexMediaServer
• PS3 Media Server
• Serviio Media Server
• Twonky Media Server (modificated nessViewer version from 3/21/2013 13:35)
• XBMC UPnP Media Server (modificated nessViewer version from 3/21/2013 12:10)

At the moment we are testing further DLNA devices like BluRay player. If beta tester will find problems, we will updated the pre-release just in time. Experiences or problems can be send to us by email.

For the future further features like a DLNA media server or DLNA remote control are imaginable. An integration in the media center might also be possible.