We’re teaming up with CenterStage
You may have already heard, but if not, it gives me great pleasure to announce our partnership with the CenterStage group. We’ve been in talks for a while, and it feels great to be able to announce this publicly.
If you do nothing else, check out the amazing Flash demo of the interface design. That, my friends, is the interface that’s being developed for Plex as we speak. Enrique has already been hard at work at enhancing the skinning engine. I’ve seen some really early demos, and they look amazing. There is lots of work to do, but the end result will be a lovely front-end experience that looks great.
We’ve added a forum on our site to discuss this partnership, and I’m sure we’ll have more related announcements in the coming weeks and months.
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Happy Thanksgiving Elan and everyone celebrating it! I make a toast to all the things done..."
Let me the first to say….outstanding
Thumbs up to Elan, Plex, and CenterStage developers… this just made my weekend.
Will the existing gui be available as an alternative, or is the app being rewritten to use this gui exclusively?
Although the new gui looks nice, it will probably give me the same issues that current alternative skins do, and I’d rather not be forced to use the new gui if it stops me using the app in the way I do now
For example, I want to be able to just drop into whatever directory, find a file and play it. Having my content organised by a seperate program isn’t to my benefit, and benefits like imdb lookup are rarely useful with Anime
@DS: We have no intention of breaking compatibility with any of the existing skins. Rather, we’re adding functionality and fixing bugs. Also, note that we’re just talking at the moment about the interface, not about the BackStage component.
Ok, thats good then. Can’t lose!
As for backstage, I was just going by the centerstage page
@DS: We’re all about win-win propositions
hott.
Elan and crew! AWESOME!!!!
That interface demo is incredible! The organization and simplicity looks perfect! This is great news!
I don’t know why I keep thinking it can’t get any better… then I visit this web page and here goes Elan again, doing his thing, blowing OUR MINDS!!!
… so where do we download the demo ;o)
I’m looking forward to fan art, I got a few contributions of my own
Seems huge! I like the outstanding CenterStage concept, and I applaud the fact that in the same time the other skins will still be supported! We all have our habits sometimes
@elan: Very great news!
Your job is the reason why I still using MacOs for HTPC.
CenterStage “PLEX POWERED MEDIA CENTER”, should that not read “XBMC POWERED MEDIA CENTER”? Give credit where credit is due, right?
http://www.blogherald.com/2007/09/03/give-credit-when-credit-is-due-skip-the-middle-man/
And…. CPU usage on this main screen will be….?
@Macdim
Over 9000.
@Powered by XBMC
Don’t worry my little flame bait, we’ll give XBMC credit in the same ways boxee does, right in the about/thanks page of the app.
So will this new product be known under the name CenterStage? Two forks of xbmc merging sounds good to me. I love the new navigation of the UI. Its just along the lines of what I’ve been thinking about for the last few weeks (was thinking of eventually designing a new skin for Plex). Anyway, look forward to this. Great job guys. Whats the timeline on this by the way (so that I don’t get my hopes up thinking it’ll be something coming very soon if its like 5 months away).
p.s - whats the cpu load with this new UI? It looks like it might be kind of processor intensive (only a problem for us mac mini users playing 1080p movies since we are already maxing out our cpu with these files)
@platanito21
Plex is going to be the media center (engine) and Centerstage is going to the be skin (fancy car body)
Don’t worry it’ll run on your Mac mini, all of us are using mini’s so we also would be bummed if it didn’t work on one.
Great. Teaming up with Centerstage crew whose development of Centerstage has been nothing but glacial. Their last release was June 10, 2007. Does not bode well.
Well the CenterStage crew arent about development anymore, they are sticking to what they do best and that is UI and user analysis and conceptualization. Plex and the gang to the backend and provide their skill set to that work and in tandem they review the whole application and make it better.
Sounds like a winner to me. Each group is doing what they are best at it seems.
Yes but what will we call it??? “CenterStage powered by Plex” or just “Plex” with the CenterStage skin set as the default?
I dunno, but have you ever stood back and actually tried to use the XBMC? It is not user friendly at all and entirely non-Mac. I also understand that the CenterStage Demo was done before Plex came along so there are going to have to be changes I guess.
Aeon is pretty but completely unusable. Sure once you set things up Aeon or any XBMC skin can play your media but it is a pain, a real pain. With CenterStage at least I can see the simplicity of it and what it will do for me as a user who just wants to see their stuff and play it. I mean they put in place ideas such as FanArt, they invented it. I think once you use the CenterStage skin as it was intended and envisioned you will wonder why you struggled with the current XBMC setup.
I am sure the CenterStage gang with Mucx and the other guys and their skills will move that skin on once it is established. At least that is my understanding after emailing the CenterStage crew today.
In terms of CPU usage, from my analysis, the more/bigger text in use, the more CPU usage. From that, I conclude that the CPU usage on the home screen will be minimal.
That having been said, a bug in a bug, and we’ll fix it for all skins at some point.
How interesting. I was involved in CenterStage right when they started (voted for the name, etc.). I think I last participated in a thread from 2005 about defining the flow of the app (that ended in this look, precisely).
Very interesting.
Elan: I understand then that Plex will be able to work as a backend to Centerstage’s frontend? (alternative to BackStage). It’s not a skin but an mplayer on steroids? Or is it more than this?
While I find PM3 hostile and traditional in several ways and limited in several others, I do like myself some banner-loving. This is the reason I don’t move to any other skin, really.
@eduo: The CenterStage UI will become an enhanced Plex skin. The reason for this is that David’s UI has some whizz-bang features that are simply impossible to make with skin features as they stand right now.
The skinning enhancements will likely bring a whole new ecosystem of enhanced skins along with it.
well,
i guess this project will go commercial now when centerstage is workin with you? and will there also be all these releases like now?
@ifletcher: Another myth to dispel
Plex will of course continue being free and open source. Open source project + open source project = More open source! Since CenterStage has their own engineering resources, the Plex team (who haven’t ever touched skinning) will keep along the same path they’ve been on, focusing on stability and enhancing integration with the platform.
I like the interface!! It is a cross between Apple TV and XBMC, that just makes sense.
Hi,
as I see most people like Centerstage. For me it looks to much like “Mediaportal”.
I like Plex as it is. The menu is very clear.
I don’t like it, when some menu options disappear in the back. Just look on the screenshot. There I see only speakers und the Word “Music” what is there rest? Videos and Settings? hmmm
The interface of XBMC looks much easier. Just think about woman
and children.
But this is just my opinion.
Bye Sidekick
That is great news, i wanted to use centerstage because of its integration with the mac iApps, but it was way too buggy for me to use as a mediaplayer. combining those features with the xbmc’s stability and ability to play just about any video flawlessly is gonna be nice.
I’d like to mirror Sidekick’s comment. As it stands Plex is really strait forward with the default skin and I’ve long ago taught the younger and female members of my household how to use it. I think great strides could be taken to make drag & drop simple remote mapping for the harmony remotes and xbox 1.0 remote.
Just to reiterate: You will still be able to use Project Mayhem or any of the other skins with the app. If you don’t like the new skin CenterStage is working on, we’re not forcing you to use it
That looks amazing!
Maybe I wont have to be stuck with the somewhat buggy aeon skin anymore
Looks very promising!
Do I dare to ask about ETA?
Awesome! I’m psyched about the integration with iTunes/iPhoto, as well as the general look of the UI.
Amazing!
New skin looks just what this project need in order to run ahead of everything out there. Err… run even more ahead
Elan, crew and CenterStage - Great work! You definitely make the world a better place!
@kainen: dude…. Aeon is in ALPHA state at the moment
Its incredibly non buggy for an Alpha 
New GUI looks great. I hope to see iPhoto/iTunes integration.
FrontRow (+Perian, srt support) in 10.4 is the only reason why I don’t use Leopard.
Just wondering if you are going to keep most of the XBMC code or what? How do yall plan on merging the two?
Im seeing this as a bad thing more than a good thing, unless all of the XBMC code will stay and only visual changes will be made.
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. XBMC and the skinning engine are are insanely well written and useable. Centerstage has been at a standstill for years and have almost no functionality compared to XBMC. I just hope this goes well.
@Jakob Metzger: As I’ve written above, the CenterStage UI will become an enhanced Plex skin. There’s no intent to throw out working code. Based on your comment, I think you’ll see this as a good thing
@Jakob: To reiterate what Elan reiterated, you will continue to be able to use the skins you have grown to love. This will become a new (default) option for Plex.
Once again, to be ultra clear, the work being done with CenterStage is simply to provide you with a new (awesome) skin option. The guts remain Plex.
Sound groovy? Everyone gets what they want in this model!
And so it begins.
What people _needed_ was XBMC for the mac. The end.
This can only end badly. XBMC is a good thing because it _just works_ and is simple and fast.
This is just fancy crap. Why does everything have to devolve to this ? Why can’t you just be happy with the thing that works and not try to build up something into some end-all be-all “I’m sure I can make money from this somehow” project.
You won’t. It won’t. Epic fail. XBMC or irrelevant.
I Just re-read the comments above …
To the ass clown that complains about XBMC not being “mac like” - go to hell and die.
The mac is a means to an end - a way to run XBMC on modern hardware. Nobody cares about “mac like” or anything to do with your gimmicky crap. Altering the UI to be more mac-like would be a major loss and I hope nobody seriously considers your childish complaints.
God damn I wish you had to solder in a mod chip to get osxbmc to work - that would weed out all the retards.
I’ll just wait around now and see what other “innovations” your faggy focus group mindset decides to graft onto a perfectly workable media player. How about a “My Plex” website section where we can socially network with our media files and write on each others comment walls ? Is there some way we could have a web 3.0 RoR Ajax Soap module plugged into this ? Because my CEO thinks we really need to explore that avenue. You fucker.
@ugh
Feel free to move over to the XBMC site. They’re still making the plain XBMC for Mac (and Linux et al.) I’m sure you won’t be missed here. A win-win!
@ugh
You really aren’t someone who appreciates a Mac. Nearly all Mac users celebrate it’s differences from Windows and PC boxes. And you don’t appreciate a team of people working on a project for the benefit of everyone, who try to do the best for their users. There’s no point you being here, move along.
Great!
We’re building a bridge, so it’s inevitable that trolls take up residence beneath it. While I love freedom of speech as much as the next person, I have a pretty low tolerance for offensive comments. So feel free to disagree, voice your concerns, but if you’re just being plain offensive, you’ll likely see your comments disappear into thin air.
@ugh
you stupid fucktard. If you don’t want something cool looking on your tv AND is simple to use, then you obviously don’t have a fancy tv, friends or girlfriends to deal with. Go back to your WoW blog you ass clown. Nerds like you love being the only one who knows how to do anything, you sound like the guys in my IT department.
“I wish you had to solder a mod chip in to get it to work” —- give me a fucking break, what a douche bag!
@tetrakis: While I appreciate your passion, I really must insist on civility here. Any further vitriol will be deleted unceremoniously. Let’s just turn the other cheek on this one.
The OTHER cheek?….owch!
….sorry, just trying to break some tension here.
It appears the download link is not working at the moment
Will there be an update to support the iPhone Remote App?
Can’t wait to try this out…
Apple TV-support, anyone?
Wow, I can’t leave you guys alone for a moment. I’m on vacation for a week, then I log on only to see “CenterStage” ?!?!?.
I certainly hope the original PM3 GUI remains intact and useable. I tried CenterStage before and I found the entire interface kludgy and plain ugly. The main menu graphics look like they were slapped together with cheap clipart.
When I first downloaded this thing a year and a half ago, I hoped that the look was only temporary and eventually someone with some graphics talent would redesign the GUI, as well as work on a real playback engine. But the whole project went nowhere in a hurry and frankly when OSXBMC came along I thought I’d never had to look at it again…. and then I see this.
I can only hope that this is just a phase this project is going through, and this doesn’t somehow become the default product.
Someone (Bodie I think) said earlier that XBMC is not very Mac like. I agree, but that doesn’t make any less useful or a well designed interface.
I think we’re loosing track of what this entire project is all about: to provide the best media player experience. XBMC does that VERY WELL. The more you change the interface to make it “more Mac like” the more you’re going to dilute it and eventually what you’re going to end up with is a version of iTunes capable of playing AVI and MKV files. Is that what we’re looking for ?
Not me. I happen to think that there is plenty room for such a thing as a dedicated media player. Frankly I don’t care if it runs on a Mac, PC or a Atari computer I just care that it works. If I wanted the “Mac Experince” I’d be using iTunes.
As it stands at the moment, the Mac version of XBMC/OSXBMC/Plex is the most stable and the furthest along in development, but if it drifts too far away from the original intent, sit might alienate some of it’s current users.
@Dudeman: As we’ve stated, we have no intention of breaking compatibility with XBMC skins. And we’re not trying to make the app more Mac-like, we’re trying to make it easier to use
Is there any estimated release date?
^Ditto.
Ok, so if you’re keeping ALL compatibility with XBMC intact and only changing the UI……then WTF is CenterStage doing? Are they just making a skin?
@Przemek: You’ll be the first to know when there is one. As would be expected, the release will be staged.
@JakobMetzger: As I replied to you above “As I’ve written above, the CenterStage UI will become an enhanced Plex skin. There’s no intent to throw out working code. Based on your comment, I think you’ll see this as a good thing”
@dudeman
I fail to see how having a “mac-like” skin somehow dilutes the plex experience. Especially since you can simply interchange it with another skin, if you so prefer. I personally think ALL of the other types of skins (Aeon, xTV, etc.) are too clunky, buggy, and ugly to use, so I stick with the PMIII skin. I’m willing to see what the centerstage UI can do, and if it makes everything nicer, cleaner, more fun than PMIII…then sweet! why such an opposition? the nuts and bolts ain’t changing.
@tetrakis: Thanks for that, I wholeheartedly agree.
@ tetrakis
I agree with you on the other skins, that they are clunky and awkward to use. I only use PM3 as well. I happen to think that PM3 is the best and most useful skin available to XBMC, and I tried quite a few.
However I also tried CenterStage. Not as a Plex skin, rather as the standalone app they made available early in the alpha stage, and aside from the fact that it wasn’t very useful as a media player, I thought the UI look and feel was horrible.
Mind you that how I feel about it. To some, this may be the most beautiful thing, but then again, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
As for getting a Mac-like skin, I already have a Mac like skin, it’s called OS X. What appeals to me about Plex/PM3 is that IT IS NOT Mac, or PC.
When I have guests over for a movie and I turn it on, none can even tell it’s running on a computer. It just looks like a neat, full featured media player, not a Mac or a PC or anything remotely evoking a computer.
Anyway, I’m happy to hear that CenterStage is going to be just a skin, but what I’m afraid of is that development emphasis will be put on this skin at the expense of PM3. I say this because some of the comments that were made here by elan:
“The CenterStage UI will become an enhanced Plex skin. The reason for this is that David’s UI has some whizz-bang features that are simply impossible to make with skin features as they stand right now.”
Does this mean that we’ll see features available only for the CenterStage skin ? We’ll see…..
I dont think people are talking about “Mac-Like” skins less of being Apple related and more of just wanting a CLEAN interface.
No noisy unnecessary effects that clogs up the UI. Just clean clear graphics without the distraction of crap. I think thats what people mean when they say Mac-like interfaces. Apple is known for its clean use of the screen and people just want that.
I trust Elan with any and all decisions with XBMC. He has seen a need and been forced to break off of the original XBMC branch to better accommodate the applications users.I was just worried we split from XBMC only to pick up Centerstage as a partner which by my views would have been horrible. I didn’t want Centerstage to be given credit for XBMC’s years of usability testing and great working damn near flawless code.
Elan has this shit under control. I think he meant that the Centerstage dev’s were joining Plex’s team with the last blog post. People were just worried that we were going to go under Centerstages wing but its the other way around.
There is a serious amount of misinformation going on in this thread I think and I hope the Plex and CenterStage guys will clear it up soon. My assessment of it (first looking at CenterStage and then Plex) goes like this…
This comes from an old forum post on the CenterStage website:
“Individually we were never totally crap, the Mac community was crap. Sorry to be so blunt but it is the truth.
There wasn’t even enough support out there to able to make and produce a mediocre Alpha with a ‘place holder’ UI. Do you think we even like releasing that? If the community developer effort was better and the code was better we wouldn’t be releasing crappy Alphas. The Alpha is a product of the community because it shows how much effort the community as a whole put into this. If you want better, then help us out, if not then don’t complain, we will get there eventually. We can only go at this pace until we get more help or eventually reach the code level to produce the final interface (see the UI Demo) we do actually want to release.
At every step we tried to be positive and get people interested in helping us make a Mac based media center. Nobody stepped up, yet the community complains that four guys (only 1 developer btw) couldn’t do it from scratch! Then to drum up some excitement and get developer support we showed the community the interface we wanted, showed them the direction, the final vision of the project and although the response to that interface concept was amazing: yet again nobody stepped up to help make it happen.
So why has CenterStage never moved along at an acceptable pace, why do we get emails/forum posts asking about progress, why do the bitter forum members at AVS still complain? ….who knows because we as a group here never put a foot wrong in trying to make this happen (Im sure picky people can point a finger back at us somehow…such is life). What could we have done differently? The blame is not all on us I feel, we fight everyday…what are you doing?. Ultimately the community needs to take a look at themselves.
So what do we do, what do we do to make a Mac media center happen?”
Although I feel that is slightly harsh, it is a good assessment of where the CenterStage guys were at I feel. Utterly stuck and frustrated. I don’t understand people talking about their Alpha when it was, well, an Alpha and not even close to what they wanted to achieve. I used to email them from time to time to find out what was happening and visit their forums. Not just their forums but all HTPC forums as I am an enthusiast in this area.
So we turn our attention to Plex and the cold hard facts there from what I can tell.
1. Elan and the gang could not use the name OSXBMC or any derivative of the XBMC name.
2. They were told they could not distribute any of the XBMC skins, they had to produce their own.
3. Elan and the crew had some ideas on how to make things better on the Mac.
4. All Elan and the crew were allowed to use and distribute was the code and only the code.
Correct me if I am wrong but that was my assessment from reading forums, blog posts and emailing some questions etc.
So, at the end of the day you ask yourself, do I as a user see and use only code? I don’t, I see and use an interface. Who the hell cares about code…I’m a user, I don’t care about code. Plex needed an interface and CenterStage has a good fully realised concept of one I feel.
So this joint venture the Plex + CenterStage guys have going on here makes perfect sense. Especially when you read the CenterStage guys announcement of it, that this is all about code meeting interface. The CenterStage guys produced an interface concept people wanted and you combine that with the XBMC code (it is only a port after all) which is powerful enough to make something happen now. I can’t fault the logic of that at all.
But hey, guess what, as Elan has stated you can still download and use the old and thoroughly clunky interfaces XBMC has if you want…so why do we still complain again?
(Also quietly laughing at the guy talking about years of XBMC usability testing above…give a fresh install to anyone over 40…see how usable they find it, watch them struggle to put their media into it…but again you can still use PMIII as Elan stated, so the argument is moot).
@Bodie: I don’t disagree with anything except point (2) above: We’re still going to be shipping with PM3 until the CenterStage skin is far enough advanced. PM3 is still by far the most compatible and easy to use skin, in my opinion, and kudos to the author for that.
Firstly praise is due to Elan and the great job he is doing leading the team on this effort.
Secondly I’m afraid it’s a bit of a rant at all the people who are venting negative views about what Elan and the rest of the team have decided to do.
Please don’t forget that all the developers and team members (including Plex, XBMC & Centerstage) give up their time for free - and I’ll say that again - FOR FREE - to give the public a FREE product!
I run a software consultancy company so I really struggle with the concept of spending time developing software and then giving it away. As a company we do a fair bit of charity work. But giving away serious amounts of time to Joe Public for free is something I can’t quite grasp. A day here or there for the greater good of human development is about my limit. Would you expect a plumber, carpenter or sparky to pop round after work to do a bit of free work for you? No - I didn’t think so.
So now I’ve reminded you that Elan et all are doing this for free and not charging any of you a single penny. Please remember that when posting less than praising comments on this blog. If you don’t like the decisions that Elan and the team make either live with it or do it yourself. Making constructive suggestions is one thing - telling us all you don’t like the idea because of XYZ is just plain rude.
Again praise due to all the developers involved in making Plex possible (and before somebody points out “don’t forget the XBMC devs” - I haven’t!).
Rant over and soap box put away.
So onto more important things - when’s the next release due? I’m itching to see where you guys are taking this baby!
@stockds
Amen. My thoughts exactly. Those who want to complain are more than welcome to “roll their own” or look elsewhere.
And yes I admit that I check here mostly to see when the next release is out. SO I agree your “more important things”
@symm: It’s coming soon, promise
Good news
Elan, would you clarify:
“We’re still going to be shipping with PM3 until the CenterStage skin is far enough advanced.”
So you’re saying you _will_ be removing PM3 at some point ?
For the pretty fancy new stuff ?
That nobody wanted or needed ?
Nobody can just be content as a under the radar guy that just handles porting and compat issues for something. You always have to serve up some big brand new thing. Always. It never fails.
Nobody wants anything but a working XBMC on mac. Nothing else. Anything beyond that is a mistake.
You are making a mistake.
@annoying: For the love of [insert deity here], if you are happy with PM3, then leave it in your local skins directory and you’ll never even notice when we ship with a new skin.
Bottom line: Unless you’re [a] sending me paychecks or [b] sleeping with me, you unfortunately have no say in my decisions.
Is there a URL of a previous post, or forum item, etc., where I can see where (and why) XBMC told you you couldn’t call this osxbmc and said you needed to (do stuff to differentiate) ?
I don’t understand why they wouldn’t let you just be the official maintainer of the OSX port of xbmc. Don’t they want an osx port of XBMC ?
I want the new “fancy” stuff. So..uh…yeah. Keep up the good work.
Nothing like good old support.
I want the new ‘fancy’ stuff too!
Also, there is still going to be an OS X build of XBMC - but Plex is not it - you can find it at xbmc.org
@annoying: “That nobody wanted or needed” - how is it exactly that you know this?
@annoyed: quit being such a hater. I’m sick of seeing these “nobody wants this” comments. CLEARLY, WE F***ING WANT IT!!!! Allright? got it?
You don’t want it. Fine, great, understood, over and out. Please direct any further similar criticism to the wall next to you.
I also am looking forward to that new skin!
PM3 is the most complete and easy to use skin, but I don’t think it looks great.
So if the new skin will be as complete as PM3 and looks as good as OS X, then it will ROCK!
I think if people just watched The Princess Bride more frequently on the media player of their choice, there would be less emotional turmoil in general.