Windows Media Center, often called WMC, was a media hub for your PC, letting you watch movie & music files from various sources such as files and DVDs for example, record TV etc. All these tasks are interconnected in a way that you can access it in any other Windows-based device in your home network.
By Download.com staff / April 01, 2015. VLC Media Player for Mac is a powerful and efficient app for playing all kinds of media in multiple formats right on your. Elmedia is a universal player for virtually any media format – DivX, WMV, FLV, SWF, AVI, MOV, MP4, MP3, etc. Launch any movie or animation – the video player reads it on your Mac. It also offers a format change and allows you to adjust the playback speed.
Quite sadly, Windows Media Center has been discontinued; you need to look for some alternatives be it Windows 8 or Windows 10. Likewise, if you are using Linux or Macintosh and want a Windows Media Center-like solution to use as a media hub, you too need to check out alternatives. In this post, we’ve created a list of 7 best Windows Media Center alternatives that would definitely help you in the long run. Kodi When you’re looking for a Home Theater software, Kodi should be the first option you’ve to go for! This Free & Open Source software was earlier known as XBMC and was popular since its launch.
Kodi can let you do a lot of things such as playing local storage files, streaming web media content from services like YouTube, Spotify and Pandora Internet Radio etc. It also comes with PVR — recording TV Programmes using corresponding hardware which makes Kodi a superb and adequate alternative for Windows Media Center.
Another factor that attracts users is that you can make use of Kodi for playing Python-based mini games. Apart from media hub-based features, Kodi is quite customizable in terms of looks and productivity. Availability of its can help you make Kodi look like you wish, the large collection of and plugins make management of your media quite easier.
For instance, you can stream content from other services by installing suitable add-ons & other stuff. It has to be noted that Kodi requires a PC with efficient graphics-based configuration to give you the best media experience. As of now, Kodi is available for Windows, Linux, Android, Macintosh and iOS as native applications that you can use quite safely. Altogether, Kodi is an awesome Windows Media Center alternative.
Price: Free 2. Plex Simply put, Plex is a Media Center solution with some limitations — you can’t record TV or watch it live! In spite of these two limitations, Plex is an awesome software to keep your media organized while having support for a wide range of media formats.
One of the prominent features of Plex is networking, which lets you access content in almost every device you have, regardless the platform. Plex also comes with sharing options, including a community for those media-lovers. Thus, Plex is a sense-making choice when your requirement is a Home Theatre PC which can be expanded to other devices of yours. Simply put, Plex can be used as a typical media player in the front-end while the back-end works as a solution to get an easy-to-access collection of your media files. Also, when it comes to online media streaming, Plex offers a sort of integrated approach, with support for YouTube, Vimeo, CNN, TedTalks etc. Plex is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, along with streaming-oriented applications for Android, iOS, Windows Phone and Windows 8. Hence, if you’re looking for a Windows Media Center alternative with easier organization methods, Plex makes sense, we believe.
It’s to be noted that Plex also comes with an impressive User Interface that is at the same time usable. Price: Free, Premium Subscription available 3. MediaPortal MediaPortal is yet another HTPC (Home Theatre PC) Media Center that can be a superb alternative to Windows Media Center. MediaPortal lets you do a lot of things such as watching and recording Live TV, playing normal kind of media files from storage as well as DVDs & Blu-rays, listening to music files as well as radio, stream media files to PCs or HTPC devices that re in your network.
When these features are combined with the superb User Interface and the easy-to-access organization method of MediaPortal, the tool proves to be an adequate WMC alternative. Talking of the online streaming section, you can install corresponding plug-ins to stream content from popular services. It has to be noted that MediaPortal is based on Kodi, despite the fact that you won’t judge so by looks! Eminent one among the features of MediaPortal is the ability to control the software using a multitude of methods like PC remote and Kinect. Nevertheless, MediaPortal is available to Windows only, though open-source and free!
However, in your Windows PC, MediaPortal can do just magic, with all its user-friendly features. Altogether, MediaPortal is a typical & impressive WMC alternative, given that you need it just for your windows PC.
Price: Free 4. Emby Emby is called the open media software and we will have to iterate the saying if we are to check out superb features, offered by the free Windows Media Center alternative. With native apps and supported-apps for popular platforms, Emby is a reliable solution when you need to store and organize your media as well as to access it from a multitude of devices. Emby was formerly known as Media Browser and it had limited features and capabilities back then. Now, after the update, Emby has received a lot of features like Cloud Sync and Folder Sync, features that enhance viewing experience, playback improvements etc.
Other features of Emby include availability of parental controls, feature to detect DLNA-based devices and a variety of dedicated apps that can let you take media anywhere. Availability of Emby can be classified into three — its Emby Server, TV Apps and Mobile apps. Emby server is available for Windows, Linux and Mac whereas the TV Apps offer a wide range of support including Android TV, Chromecast, Samsung Smart TV etc. Talking of mobile apps, you can find apps for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. In the end, we would say Emby is rather a sleek Windows Media Center alternative you can find. Price: Free 5.Universal Media Server Universal Media Server is a great software to keep your media contents well-organized in a manner that you can have access to your movies, music or anything else from various devices such as TV! Thus, Universal Media Server will be a great alternative when the prominent intention of yours is to stream your media to different kinds of devices you have.
UMS offers support for any DLNA-compatible device out there; on the other hand, if there is no DLNA support, you can use the web-based interface to move on. Talking about extension of productivity, Universal Media Player offers a lot of plugins to choose from! For instance, it is possible for you to use an extension for external services such as Google Play Music. Also, there’s a plugin that lets you find information from IMDB when you are watching media content.
Universal Media server supports plethora of devices such as xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Roku 3, etc. Price: Free 6. OpenELEC OpenELEC is the popular short form for Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center.
It is an operating system that turns your computer into a fully-fledged Home Theatre (powered by Kodi). If you have a PC with lower configuration, you can install OpenELEC Operating System in it and just start organizing and watching your favorite media, like never before. In addition, if you have a Raspberry Pi or Apple TV, you can have separate builds of OpenELEC. OpenELEC can do a lot of thing such as movie organization, TV show management, music player, picture browser and the ability to record TV programmes and other stuff. When combined with the large collection of add-ons, it’s really Christmas with OpenELEC. And, yes, OpenELEC is actually a more developer-oriented alternative, only for the people who have a PC to spare for media management — setting up OpenELEC is a task of 15 minutes, by the way. Price: Free 7.
OSMC We are actually glad to make this list an Open-Source list and here comes the last member of list. OSMC believes in the minimalistic approach towards design and it’s just awesome to be with OSMC when you have TV Shows, Videos, Music and other kinds of media to play.
Another thing that we loved about OSMC is the availability of an App Store that lets you customize OSMC as per your needs, by installing required plugins and all. Also, there is a wide range of support for media files, meaning that you would be able to play almost every kind of popular media formats you come across. In addition, OSMC comes with a flagship device that can extend media experience to a new level — Vero, it’s called! OSMC is now available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux; and it has support for Raspberry Pi, Apple TV and Vero. In short, we just loved OSMC — though last in list, it’s top in our favorite-list.
And, what we loved most in OSMC is the minimal yet classy User Interface design that makes sense in the end. So, you need a clean alternative — just go for OSMC. Price: Free SEE ALSO: Well, do you think any other Windows Media Center alternative deserves space in this list? If so, do let us know! We are waiting for your comments. Tvheadend is crap.
Its needlessly complex, hopelessly unintuitive, documentation omits more than it includes and what little support is available online is incapable of acknowledging TVH is an over-rated pile of steaming manure. You’ll see claims that someone configured it in five minutes whilst most spend days surrounded by the hair they have ripped out in frustration before giving TVH away as a bad joke. TVH was developed by linux geeks who delight in making things as complicated as humanly possible. In time-honored linux fashion, what passes for documentation is merely a list of headlines and previously unheard of terms with no explanation. Avoid TVH like the plague unless you have nothing else to do with your life for the next two years.
There is no denying that Mac OS X has a wonderful assortment of default programs that can play all your media file with great ease. However, every now and then, people tend to look for 3rd party softwares that will get the job done for them. For instance, if you do not like the default video player that is available on Mac OS X, the good news is that you can replace it with something better, something that will get the job done for you.
Today, we look at, one of the best video players of 2018 available in the market for Mac. Of course, as a potential consumer, you have the right why you should spend your money on this media player, and nothing something else, and that is exactly why we are going to review Elmedia Player. Contents. Elmedia Player Features Elmedia Player is rich with features that you can use, so that is why I thought it would be a nice idea if you just look at the features before you decide to use this media player. At least this way you will have the proper idea that you are actually investing in a good media player or not.
The features listed are below. You Can Stream Media One of my favourite parts about Elmedia Player is that you can actually stream media (videos, and music ) from Elmedia to all the devices that support Apple’s AirPlay. This is great because it gives you another level of cohesion, and you are actually able to enjoy the media wherever you want. I know it might not seem like a big deal, but a lot of people have been looking for this feature in several other media players, and finally have a media player that can meet your demands is a blessing to say the least. Built-In Web Browser / Video Downloader. Grab Screenshots or Create Stills Another rather unique feature of Elmedia Player is that it allows you to grab screenshots from videos, but if you don’t want to make do with just one screenshot, you can actually go ahead and create stills for yourself using an assortment of images. I know this might not matter to a lot of users, but there is a fair share of people who are always looking for these features, so it certainly is a great thing to have this feature.
Supports Limitless Audio and Video Formats What is the point of using a media player that does not have the support for the most common video and audio formats? This is something that I have seen many media players go through. They have all the features that a person would normally need, but when it comes to the actual formats, the media players just fall flat. The good thing is that you will not have to go through the same hassle with Elmedia Player as nearly every single audio and video format is supported. Built-in Search For Videos Streaming Without Ads In case you want to play a video from popular video sharing sites like YouTube or Vimeo, press (Command+U) then Copy and paste the URL from the video you’re interested in watching to the field and specify you preferred resolution from the menu shown on the interface.
Then press “Open” to watch the video ad-free. I love watching videos on YouTube, but what I hate the most are the ads. I swear, ads can be a lot more annoying than you might know in the first place. However, the good thing about using Elmedia Player is that you can actually watch YouTube videos without the ads bothering you.
I swear, this feature has made by YouTube experience so much better that I am very much used to this software, and will not want to use a different software in the market. Different Version for Different Needs Last but not the least, the Elmedia Player has different versions of hte same great media player that you can use. There is a website version called the Elmedia Player, and there also is a standard app store version that comes with lesser features, but offers the same great functionality. You can access the App store version by heading over to the link below.
Create And Manage Playlists Elmedia player also lets you create and manage your playlists with ease, simply click the rightmost rectangular icon in the player menu. The buttons at the top right of the menu allows you to search, shuffle, and repeat videos.
Elmedia Player Review Now that we have gone through the features, and everything else related to this media player, we can finally head over to Elmedia Player Review. I will be honest here, I have used this media player for about a week or so, and right from the get-go I had a feeling that this is quite possibly the best video player 2018. There are just so many features available that will keep everyone entertained, and the best part is that it works really, really well. The review is split into different parts, so let’s have a look. Interface The first thing about this video player that i am going to discuss is the interface. As a software reviewer, one of the issues that I have faced with most of the softwares in the market is the interface, and the lack of any cohesion.
The good thing is that Elmedia player does not suffer from this issue. As a matter fact, this is one of the best media players when it comes to interface. It looks amazing in every aspect, and there is cohesion everywhere. You would not feel like you are using a software that is rushed The interface is also very easy to navigate, so that is another redeeming qualities that a person must keep in mind whenever they are thinking about getting a software. Ease of Access Apple users are so used to softwares that provide them the easiest possible experience as far as usability is concerned that they are not looking to move to a different software. This is a challenge that most developers face when it comes to developing a software for Mac OS. The good thing is that Elmedia Player provides you with the easiest user experience.
Everything about this media player is as cohesive as you would wish, and it runs too perfectly. I did not experience a single issue in this software, and I have to be honest, this software works really, really well as far as making things easy for the user is concerned. I was hoping that I don’t run into any issue that would compromise my experience, but I am glad that I did not run into any issue like that. It worked really, really well, and there is no denying that. Features I have said it time and again, the list of features that are available in a software can either make the experience, or completely break it. After all, if you expect the users to buy your software, or product, you should at least give them the proper experience as well.
This is a sad thing because not many people care about this. They are all about developing a software, charging a premium, and not caring about whether the users are going to have a good experience with it or not. The good thing is that Elmedia Player is one of the best video player software when it comes to offering an amazing all rounded experience.
The media player is packed with features. To a point, that it would cater to all the needs that you have from this software.
It might be a bit difficult to understand at first, mainly because finding all the features in one place is not something that a lot of people are comfortable with, but the good thing is that it gets the job done, and you really don’t have to worry about anything to begin with Everything you need from a good media player can be found in this software, and that is how it should be with every single software that is available in the market. Conclusion I have been testing all sorts of software packages for a long, long time now, and I have come across some really, really amazing softwares, and at the same time, I have come across some really disappointing softwares at the same time. The best way to test a software is that whenever you are testing it, test it with no expectations, that way, even if the software is not good enough, there is not a shock. The good thing here is that Elmedia Player offers you so much as compared to what other media players offer you in the market, and just because of that, it happens to be on the top of my list. I can assure you that it works really, really well regardless of how you want to use this software. You will literally not have any issue using it.
Pros. Excellent set of features. Easy to use. Comes with 3 different versions for different user types.
Plays nearly every file format. Cohesive, and simple to navigate interface.