Centerstage
Encyclopedia
CenterStage, now obsolete, was a media center
software application with a 10-foot user interface
design for the living-room TV that allows digital content stored on an Apple Macintosh computer running Mac OS X
to be played on a standard television set.
Active development and support of CenterStage is no longer underway in lieu of other media application availability.
The program relied heavily upon the existing iLife
software suite, notably iPhoto
and iTunes
, as well as Elgato
's EyeTV software for television show recordings by reading the media files organised in those applications. CenterStage also reads and plays back file types not supported by Apple in their suite of applications, either by reading the files found in your Home directory folders, or by organising them in the accompanying BackStage application. The user can then browse the Photo, Music, Movie and Television collections that have been stored, managed, and categorized then present them fullscreen on a Television set.
. The project began its life without a name and existed as a large, online forum of users who put forward ideas and even visual concepts for what a Mac based media center should be.
David McLeod then came on board, offering help with the forum and graphic design. McLeod was joined by Adrian Quan, another graphic designer. They both set about creating a CenterStage logo and icons for the user interface. Quan later moved on to other things with McLeod taking full control of graphic design, in regards to the software and the CenterStage website.
Belgian developer, Antoine Duchateau took up the challenge of developing the code for the application, shortly after this, Fabien Lydoire joined development team.
software that was released under the GNU
(General Public License, version 2). For nearly two years the project released sporadic releases, it produced an adequate and fully usable media center software application.
applications do not support. Therefore, BackStage is a supporting application and is not a replacement for iTunes
or any of the other iLife applications. BackStage aids or provides an additional solution for organising and playing file types that Apple's iLife range of applicatios do not cater for.
BackStage assists in adding the synopsis, actors, directors and so on (the meta-data) by performing a web based lookup of that Movie. The user can add a poster or DVD cover. This information is then stored, and can be used in CenterStage. BackStage also supports Movies and TV shows in Xvid
, Avi
or VIDEO TS.
Home theater PC
A Home Theater PC or Media Center appliance is a convergence device that combines some or all the capabilities of a personal computer with a software application that supports video, photo, music playback, and sometimes video recording functionality...
software application with a 10-foot user interface
10-foot user interface
In computing a 10-foot user interface is a software GUI designed for display on a large television with interaction using a regular television-style remote control."10 foot" refers to the fact that the GUI's...
design for the living-room TV that allows digital content stored on an Apple Macintosh computer running Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
to be played on a standard television set.
Active development and support of CenterStage is no longer underway in lieu of other media application availability.
The program relied heavily upon the existing iLife
ILife
iLife is a suite of software applications developed by Apple for organizing, editing, and publishing photos, movies, and music. The suite comprises five applications: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb, all of which run on the Mac OS X operating system....
software suite, notably iPhoto
IPhoto
iPhoto is a digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. and released with every Macintosh personal computer as part of the iLife suite of digital life management applications...
and iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, as well as Elgato
Elgato
ElgatoSystems is a hardware and software manufacturer that makes television viewing and recording products specifically for the Macintosh family of personal computers, including EyeTV software...
's EyeTV software for television show recordings by reading the media files organised in those applications. CenterStage also reads and plays back file types not supported by Apple in their suite of applications, either by reading the files found in your Home directory folders, or by organising them in the accompanying BackStage application. The user can then browse the Photo, Music, Movie and Television collections that have been stored, managed, and categorized then present them fullscreen on a Television set.
History, project information
The CenterStage project was founded in January 2005 by Neil Curry. Curry was seeking help to build a Mac based media center after the release of Apple's Mac MiniMac Mini
The Mac Mini is a small form factor desktop computer manufactured by Apple Inc. Like earlier mini-ITX PC designs, it is uncommonly small for a desktop computer: 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches tall. It weighs 2.7 pounds...
. The project began its life without a name and existed as a large, online forum of users who put forward ideas and even visual concepts for what a Mac based media center should be.
David McLeod then came on board, offering help with the forum and graphic design. McLeod was joined by Adrian Quan, another graphic designer. They both set about creating a CenterStage logo and icons for the user interface. Quan later moved on to other things with McLeod taking full control of graphic design, in regards to the software and the CenterStage website.
Belgian developer, Antoine Duchateau took up the challenge of developing the code for the application, shortly after this, Fabien Lydoire joined development team.
Licensing
CenterStage is an open sourceOpen source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software that was released under the GNU
GNU
GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
(General Public License, version 2). For nearly two years the project released sporadic releases, it produced an adequate and fully usable media center software application.
BackStage
BackStage is used to organise different kinds of media that Apple's iLifeILife
iLife is a suite of software applications developed by Apple for organizing, editing, and publishing photos, movies, and music. The suite comprises five applications: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb, all of which run on the Mac OS X operating system....
applications do not support. Therefore, BackStage is a supporting application and is not a replacement for iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
or any of the other iLife applications. BackStage aids or provides an additional solution for organising and playing file types that Apple's iLife range of applicatios do not cater for.
BackStage assists in adding the synopsis, actors, directors and so on (the meta-data) by performing a web based lookup of that Movie. The user can add a poster or DVD cover. This information is then stored, and can be used in CenterStage. BackStage also supports Movies and TV shows in Xvid
XviD
Xvid is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile . It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi masking, trellis quantization, and H.263, MPEG and custom quantization matrices.Xvid is a...
, Avi
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...
or VIDEO TS.
How CenterStage and BackStage work together
CenterStage and BackStage work together, with BackStage acting as the host. CenterStage is the front end or a means to access your media from various sources which are then presented on your Television set. BackStage is one of the sources that provides media content for CenterStage to access and read from.See also
- Front Row
- BoxeeBOXEEBoxee is a cross-platform freeware HTPC software application with a 10-foot user interface and social networking features designed for the living-room TV...
- iTheaterITheateriTheater: Mac Media Center, now obsolete, was an open source media center application for Mac OS X.Active development and support of iTheater is no longer underway in lieu of other media application availability....
(no longer being developed) - SageTVSageTVSageTV Media Center was a proprietary, commercial DVR and HTPC software for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. It requires that the host computer have a hardware based TV tuner card. The SageTV software has an integrated Electronic Programming Guide that is updated via the Internet...
- PlexPlexappPlex is a partially open-source freeware media player for Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers. It has a 10-foot user interface design for the living-room TV...
- XBMC Media Center