Moovida 2.0 to Get Rewrite, Going Non-Free

Image via Wikipedia

The Moovida developers (Fluendo) have explained the slowdown in development of the current 1.0 version: it's being rewritten in a different language and with a different architecture, and there's little time to work on 1.0. The new project will be "open, but not to the same extent that 1.0." It will also offer premium content.

Not good news for the little media center that could. It seems time for a fork of the last Free version.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Exploring Media Centers: Moovida (rajivram.blogspot.com)
• The Rhythmbox Music Store Plugin Has Arrived (Kinda ...) (ibeentoubuntu.com)
• 17 Featured Applications in Ubuntu 10.04 Software Center - Wise Choices? (omgubuntu.co.uk)

Fluendo Media Center Incorporates Moovida and Other Fluendo Products

I've blogged a few times about Elisa cum Moovida, Fluendo's ten-foot interface for a media center. Moovida has been available in the Karmic repositories and in a PPA for folks who want to stay current. I have found it to be an excellent replacement for XBMC, Boxee and MythTV if you don't have a TV tuner. Here's a montage and a video of it in action.

>

Until now, though, you've had to set everything up yourself. Admittedly, this isn't too difficult, but Fluendo has released a full media center version of Moovida which includes Fluendo's DVD player and full codec pack, meaning that you don't need to be concerned about the legality of installing DeCSS or restricted and Medibuntu codecs. It plays just about everything, as you can see below.

Fluendo describes the features:

1. Photos:
1. Slideshows
2. Previews
3. Album handling
2. Video:
1. Support for all major video formats
2. Fluendo DVD Player integrated with all capabilities.
3. Audio:
1. Support for all major audio formats
2. Organize music in playlists
3. Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound System
4. Others:
1. Remote control support
2. Automatic Media Detection using GStreamer
3. Autodetection of media on your network
4. Play Media over Samba & UPnP and DAAP shares
5. Touch Screen support
6. Search

Packages are available for all major Linux systems: DEB, RPM, and generic tarball. Because the product includes license DVD playback and codecs, it isn't free -- it's 40 Euros -- but the price includes a year of support, and longer support contracts are available for relatively little money.

Visit the Fluendo Media Center page to find out more and test drive the interface.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Rhythmbox Music Store Plugin Has Arrived (Kinda ...) (ibeentoubuntu.com)
• Karmic Issues That I've Faced (ibeentoubuntu.com)