Nullriver
I switched from Microsoft Windows to Mac OS for my primary system a bit over a year ago now, and other than what I have to do for my full-time job, I rarely look back. And because I don’t use Windows anymore, I’ve switched to console-only gaming with my Xbox 360. The thing is, Windows and Xbox work so nicely together, so how was I going to get the same thing using a Mac?
Luckily, I found a kick-ass piece of software that has changed everything: Nullriver’s Connect360.
Connect360 is a small piece of software for Mac OS X that, once installed, presents itself as an item in your System Preferences. It’s extremely easy to setup and has no need for overly-advanced options to confuse people who aren’t that technically adept. You simply tell it where your movie files are located on your Mac and whether or not you want photos and music (through iTunes) to be shared, then start it up.
The program remains running in the background, searching for Xbox units on your network. Once it detects one, you’ll get an audible alert on your computer. Follow the easy instructions for attaching to your Mac on the XBox, and you now have access to all of the videos, music and photos from your Mac.
The best part of all: it’s FAST. I’m serving up HD videos from my Mac laptop, connected wirelessly, via Connect360 and they display seemingly flawless on the TV. What’s more, there’s no noticeable slowdown of my laptop, so I can still use it and not cause the video to hiccup at all.
So, how does this relate to TV, exactly? Well, if you’re one of those naughty folks who take to downloading torrents of your favorite shows from the ‘net, the Xbox supports most if not all of the formats they’re encoded in. Watching TV shows on an actual TV — what a concept!
I didn’t even get into how awesome it is to have your entire iTunes catalog and iPhoto library at your disposal via the XBox, but it’s just as you’d imagine. Plus, you can stream Internet radio shows through to your XBox with this piece of software. How cool is that?
The one downside, and it’s a big one: You can’t view movies/shows you bought in iTunes through Connect360.
Connect360 is available for $20 over at Nullriver’s website, though I believe you can try it out for a limited time with a limited number of shared videos/music/photos.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Oct 23, 2008 @ 17:00 EST5EDT
I used Connect360 for about 6 months and was really frustrated with how videos were displayed in a flat file. Thankfully, Rivet is another app that does provide the hierarchical structure in which your videos are stored. It’s available at https://cynicalpeak.com/rivet/.