First off in case it has crossed your mind, I have not moved over to the dark side. I am still a loyal WMC and WHS fanboy, but I wanted to discuss an example where two completely different technologies can reside in the same household with peaceful coexistence. Not only peaceful, but rather complementary to each other.
I realize that MyMovies has been around for a while and most of what I am going to talk about has been published one way or another. Being a Windows Media Center fan, a WHS fan, as well as an iPad fan, it only made sense that I try to see how these dissimilar platforms can co-exist. I wanted to see if they could complement each other, or if they were destined to stay apart.
Since having so many issues with MyMovies on V1, I was naturally hesitant to install MyMovies on my freshly built new WHS 2011. I tested it on my test system for quite some time before I was convinced it was ready for prime time. That said, once I was convinced, I went and made the plunge, and installed it on my production box. The intent of this write up is not to revisit the excellent reviews that have already been done, but rather talk about how I use it in my particular setup, and more specifically how well it works with my second favorite device, the iPad 2.
Let me first say that my WHS 2011 server is Core I5-2500 loaded with 8 Gigs of DDR3, and my media collection sits on an 8T RAID 5 so speed is somewhat important to me. The last thing I wanted was a bloated program that would consume all my resources making impossible to do the other tasks I wanted to do. The first thing that surprised me was the how efficient and speedy the new version is compared to the version I used on my V1 server. It installed flawlessly absent of a bunch of annoying prompts requiring only one reboot at the end. The same applied for the HTPC clients and everything worked as advertised with no errors during any of the installations.
The next step for me and the real purpose of this write up was integration. I had read the write up on the iPad apps and although it looked cool, but I was not sure how it could benefit me nor did I understand exactly what it would do for me. I had tried the remote control apps before and I was always left with a less than impressed feeling and usually ended up deleting the apps within a day or two after getting them. Still, seeing the screen shots I could not help but give it a try. After all, since what I had seen so far was outstanding, I figured I would plunk down the $6.99 and see what the fuss was all about and to see how effective these two very different platforms would work together. I did not include any pictures of the MyMovies program itself since it has been reviewed several times but rather focused on how the iPad application and how it integrates with WMC, TMT 5, and the MyMovies program itself. I also wanted to see how well it would work with my hardware such as my HTPC’s and my network.
When you get the application installed it asks for your online account information that MyMovies uses to sync up your devices as well as make your collection available for you online. Once I set it up I was greeted with a complete listing of my entire collection. I found that when using the iPad application, it was actually easier for me to scan and search through my collection than versus using Windows Media Center itself. It was very convenient and fast to scroll through the listing, view the trailers, and ultimately make your selection.
After you make your selection, and view the details of the movie, you have the option to actually send it to any of your HTPCs. There is even an actual green button on the application, and once you tap it, you are prompted with the choice of HTPCs (assuming you have more than one). To setup your HTPCs all you really need is an IP address. Unfortunately it does not read the IP addresses off of your system so you will have to manually look them up first. Once you enter in the IP you are set to go.
Much to my surprise, the second I hit play on the iPad, I saw media center on my HTPC (regardless of which screen I was in) fire up and start to play my movie. It worked flawlessly in Windows Media Center as well as with TMT 3/5 and both standard DVDs as well as Blu Ray disks played as they where supposed to.
Next came the most surprising part as once you begin to play your selection, the iPad app switched automatically to display a remote control. Not only did it do an excellent job at controlling my media center, the app was faster and easier to use than my IR remote control and it was not susceptible to any interference or concerns about where you are pointing the device. I must admit the response was fantastic and while watching movies, the experience was much better than I expected and the overall performance was incredible.
Overview of the application.
Once your view your collection, you can can command the movie to start playing on any of you HTPC’s. This does not use Airplay but rather commands the HTPC directly via your wireless network. Setup is very straightforward and there are a few options for tuning the application to your preferences.
While in the application, you can list all actors/actresses by name so that you can view movies they stared in as well as any bio details about them.
The application also let you Lets view upcoming movies by week so you can see what is coming out and allows you to view trailers if they are available.
Summary
I really like this application and if you’re a movie fan as I am, this app could almost single handedly justify the purchase of a tablet. It is a perfect example of cross platform integration that allows you to use an IOS device to control your movie collection that is stored on your WHS, and played back on your Windows Media Center. Having the integrated remote is a great touch and it allows you to do everything from one device. You still have to use your Harmony Remote (or equivalent) to turn things on, switch inputs, and control your volume settings if you are using a receiver, but all the movie controls can be handled from the app. When you take an app like this and add it to the overall MyMovies experience, it becomes a complete solution that is extremely simple to use for the whole family and is a very powerful tool for searching and scanning your content.
Mike…Excellent recap. I just installed th app on my iPad this past weekend and it has worked flawlessly. I even installed the Android app on my Droid X. This is by far the best integration for WMC.