RussianMac is the latest company to release a Mac clone and test Apple’s resolve to stop companies from selling its operating system. On its Web site, RussianMac says that a full version of Mac OS X Leopard comes pre-installed on its computers. The company also confirms that the operating system is able to receive automatic system updates from Apple once installed.

Ethical judgments aside It’s interesting to see another Mac clone manufacturer pop-up, can we expect other to wade in and check the water? Again without passing judgment either way as to the legitimacy of selling non-Apple PC’s running OS X it does raise a serious question.

Wouldn’t Apple stand to profit by selling their own universal X86 version of OS X?  Of course that’s for Apple to decide themselves but if I’m a Apple shareholder that’s a question I want answered. Has that possibility been explored (I’m sure it has) and if the decision was made not to move forward on it, why?

B.Greenway

Full Support for H.264 Broadcasts

EyeTV now fully supports digital television H.264 broadcasts in standard TV and HDTV resolutions. More and more countries are adopting the H.264 video compression standard for digital television. H.264 provides excellent picture quality at lower data rates than MPEG-2, thus reducing the amount of bandwidth required per channel. The end result is that television stations can broadcast more channels, while using the same number of transmitters.

Closed Captions Support in QuickTime Format Exports (North America only)

EyeTV now supports the exporting of ATSC/NTSC Closed Captions for use on iPhone, iPod, and Apple TV. The Closed Captions are also supported for playback in QuickTime and iTunes.

Separate Deinterlacing Options for Standard TV and HDTV

EyeTV now has separate deinterlacing options for Standard TV and HDTV.

Improved On Screen Menus

The text used in the On Screen Menus has been updated for improved readability. Errors and messaging have also been improved to help users troubleshoot problems.

Unplayed Recordings Badge

EyeTV now displays a badge over the thumbnail of recordings that have not yet been viewed.

Hardware Support

Support has been added for the TerraTec Cinergy T USB XXS.
Support has been added for the Digital Everywhere line of FireWire tuner products (FireDTV C/CI, T/CI, and S2).

Misc bug fixes are also included but not listed in on the site. Stop by Elgato and grab it here.

Matt Brinkhoff

Some users on the Apple support forums are reporting that they have noticed increased responsiveness and even some fixes for crashes when using the 5GHz band with 802.11n transfers.

AppleTV owners can update their boxes by choosing Update Software from the Settings screen. The download time will depend on your connection speed and how many others are greedily pulling down the update. This is the second AppleTV update so far this year.

Matt Brinkhoff

Quicktime 7.4.5

QuickTime 7.4.5 includes fixes that enhance reliability, improve compatibility with third-party applications, and address security issues. This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users.
For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798.

iTunes 7.6.2

iTunes 7.6.2 provides bug fixes to improve stability and performance.

Front Row 2.1.3

This Front Row update provides for bug fixes and improved iTunes compatibility.

The new versions are available immediately via software update or if you would prefer you can download them direct from Apple here:

Quicktime 7.4.5 for Leopard
Quicktime 7.4.5 for Tiger
Quicktime 7.4.5 for Panther

iTunes 7.6.2

Front Row 2.1.3

The most interesting update for MacHTPC readers is likely to be also the most disappointing. Unfortunately it appears that the Front Row update does not add any features or fix any of the outstanding bugs. The version bump seems to be aimed at maintaining compatibility with the new Quicktime and iTunes packages.

Matt Brinkhoff

One obvious feature that users have noticed is the addition of a “Genres” tab to the My Movies list. Some users at the Apple support forums have reported issues with wireless after upgrading to 2.0.1. It seems to primarily affect users that are running 802.11n on the 5GHz band. Switching to 802.11b/g compatibility mode seems to have taken care of the issue for some users but if you’re loving your n-wifi you may want to hold off on the update.

Matt Brinkhoff

I ran across this over at Gizmodo but on the off chance anyone missed it the first go-round, I thought it was interesting enough to share again. In a nutshell Touchpad.app allows you to use your iPhone or iPod touch as a touchpad to control a networked windows/linux or mac computer.

I’d love to try this out but as I don’t have a iPhone or iPod touch; I’ll just have to live vicariously through you, in comments, below, go ahead, I won’t bite. btw be sure not to miss the “detailed mac instructions“

B.Greenway

Some of their goals for future updates include: Port of Python scripting support, adding official OS X port remote control options/support, AC3/DTS mix-down support and a Port of XBMC Virtual File System features (SMB, FTP, UPNP, etc.). I’m not sure where all this will lead but the project does appear to have the kind of community support a media center front-end needs to be successful, with the Official XBMC OS X user and developer forums receiving over 50,000 page views since mid December of last year; it’s clear we’re not the only ones interested in the project.

B.Greenway

Quick update on my front-end du jour, distantDVD. Tom over at VisualUnderground has released distantDVD version 0.06b that includes: Support for native display resolutions of; 1360×768, 1280×1024, 1280×720, 1024×768 and 800×600.

In addition to the wider range of supported native resolutions, distantdvd-006b now supports for MP4 and MKV files for highdef media and material bought from the iTunes web store.

Native 1024×768 support is a big plus for you plasma owners. Check it out at VisualUnderground.

B.Greenway

Long story short MediaCentral 2.0 (now $29.95) only offers a 5 minute demo of the software and overwrites your previous version. Once I realized this I of course immediately tried to find my 1.2.1.dmg but to no avail.

equinux didn’t have the older version available for download over the weekend so I was stuck with the proposition of paying $29.95 for something that I (1) didn’t know was worth the upgrade and (2) had no way of verifying all the functions mentioned, actually worked.

I find it a bit disconcerting that no warning of the 5 minute “demo” was mentioned before my files were overwritten, but that’s neither here nor there.

For those of you that go ahead and pay-to-play for version 2.0, please give us your thoughts, apparently they updated several functions. In the mean time I’ll carry on enjoying distantDVD.

B.Greenway

I just ran across something that some of you Front Row users might find pretty useful. Remote Buddy is utility that allows you to take your Front Row remote beyond the usual up,down,select type commands, giving you new functionality and ways to use the FR remote in ways you might not have considered before.

The software scales available commands based on what application is running, what the developer calls behaviors. The Remote Buddy software comes pre-loaded with behaviors for iTunes, Keynote 3, PowerPoint, Photo Booth, QuickTime Player, EyeTV 2, DVD Player, VLC Media Player and Real Player among others.

The latest Macs ship with a remote control that allows you to control Front Row and a couple of Apple’s applications. Beyond that, you can’t do much else with it, though.

Remote Buddy fundamentally changes this. It gives you control over the rest of your computer via the remote control and also improves the available functionality in those apps that already supported the remote control by themselves.

A 30 day trial of Remote Buddy is available from IOSPIRIT.

B.Greenway