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.

nessMediaCenter 1.3.4 & nessViewer 3.2.4 for Mac available

Since the last version, the iPhoto and iTunes album overview shows a preview for each entry. We adapted this now for the internet: at German television, entertainment and music, a preview and description will we shown in near future. Currently we are working at the German version...

DailyMotion and YouTube has changed their video setup - we adapted the MediaCenter aka media presentation.

nessViewer App for iOS was adapted as well and uploaded to the Apple App Store - hopefully this time the new version will be available soon. The new version can now be updated for registered devices.

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.

nessMediaCenter 1.3.2 and nessViewer 3.2.2 for Mac available

Apple announced the new iTunes as the world's best way to play media. As far as our test Macs show, it starts protected DRM media now even slower if started from another application like our media center.
But now we found hopefully a final (?) solution to start these media always successfully. Sometimes the grey screen is still visible and the media is played only for a short time, but now after a short delay the media will be played always!

As already posted, YouTube now offers even German cinema movies. Unfortunately movie categories are (as side effect?) not available any more. Luckily we have the movie database with the YouTube movies (and others) in categories.

Last but not least: we improved the GUI (Graphical User Interface) a little bit: the selection and the icons / previews are shown with a small shadow.

nessMediaCenter 1.3.1 and nessViewer 3.2.1 for Mac available

This version allows it to access protected movies and TV shows, which are bought or rented in the iTunes store. The MediaCenter shows at iTunes the corresponding folders and after choosing one movie it will be started in iTunes. Afterwards the remote control can be used to e.g. pause or rewind the current movie.
For optimal usage the video playback should be set to fullscreen at the view menu. This way the movie playback will be closed and the media center shown again after pressing MENU on the remote control.

The iTunes control was over-worked as well for preventing iTunes to come to foreground (and hide the media center) and for selecting always a music playlist.

nessMediaCenter web site available again

Caused by server problems (power blackout) the nessMediaCenter web site and the services were not available for some hours. We solved the problem now and would like to excuse for any unpleasantness.

nessViewer 3.2 and nessMediaCenter 1.3 for Mac available

We added new internet TV content from Austria, Netherlands and Swiss: ATV, ORF, NL1, Net5, SBS6, VeronicaTV, RTS, SF. For French people the video podcasts offered at Swiss Television might be interesting.
These content will be automatically deactivated if the MediaCenter will be opened from another country - but it might be useful to activate it once: we were impressed by the very good documentations and reportages.

"Delete cookies" has been added to the nessViewer preferences at the tab "Media" to increase security and anonymity. According to the docu of Apple, this might also affect other applications (it is called Shared Cookie Storage) - but as far as we have seen cookies from e.g. Safari were not concerned.
Cookies which are necessary to view content are set automatically and removed if the provider has been changed.