An update to the Mac Mini Video Server project using new new 4.0 release of DVDPedia.
DVDPedia Version 4.0 ($18 US)
Back in March of this year we did a show on building a Video server out of a Mac Mini (
March 9th Episode 152) Since that episode we can conservatively say at least 100 listeners have built a similar server based on the software and hardware we used. At the heart of the video server was a software application called DVDPedia. The software at that time was at version 3. It worked quite well but was missing a few refinements that can turn your Mac Mini into a world class video server.
Recently the team at Bruji software released version 4.0 that took the software to the next level and may make you want to consider building a Video server of your own. Our setup has not changed but for completeness we will list it here:
Hardware:
Software:
- RemoteBuddy ($13) - With this application you won't need a mouse or Keyboard to access video playback features.
- DVDPedia ($18) - An incredible application for cataloging and playing your DVDs
- Apple DVD Player
For this quick review we are only going to talk about the new features and leave the basic discussion to Episode 152. The big new feature for version 4.0 is the
full screen interface. In this mode you can now bring up details about your movie selection, search for movies based on Studio, Rating, Actors, and Directors. They have added a nice animation when you select details about the selected movie. This is a great way to quickly find movies in a large library. By the way, to use version 4.0 of DVDPedia you must be running OS X 10.4. The other big feature for us is support for multiple disc sets. Now you can have one entry and link multiple discs. When you select play a floating menu pops up with all the discs associated with the movie. This keeps the interface clean and concise. There are numerous performance improvements that will make navigating a large library much easier. The full list can be found at the
Bruji website.
Looking ahead the team at Bruji has some great new features in store for version 4.1. The starring field in the full screen details view will be extended to span two or three lines. Another common request is to display the summary in details. One of the issues is scrolling through a long summary. They are working on a way to make it flow properly. And a feature Ara would like to see is the ability to display two rows of DVD covers in the full screen menu. It helps get through the library faster.
