XBMC for Mac (Now Plex) Redesigned [Xbmc]
Mac only: XBMC for Mac—the open source media center software that offers a more flexible alternative to Front Row—has been renamed Plex, rebranded, and redesigned. Plex's most recent release sports a new logo, a new skin, and a slew of bug fixes. You've already seen how to turn your Mac into the ultimate media center with Plex (and the old, default, Project Mayhem skin). Now, take a look what the rebranded XBMC fork looks like sporting its new name and new skin.
The most recent release of Plex is version number 0.5.14, and you can see the list of bugfixes and improvements in the release notes. The developer explains that:
Odd version numbers (0.5.x, 0.7.x, 0.9.x) will always be bleeding edge versions, and even version numbers (0.6.x, 0.8.x, 1.0.x) will be stable versions. This is identical to the system that Linux used to use. This is the 14th release of the 0.5 series, and I hope it proves stable enough so that we can release the first of the 0.6 series soon.
Even though this version is "bleeding edge" according to this versioning scheme, so far it seems very stable to me, and there's no doubt it's beautiful. Let's take a look.
All of Plex's main menu items have stunning images associated with them. The first menu item you land on by default on the main screen is weather:
But of course you can watch movies:
Listen to music:
Or configure the system to your liking, among other options.
Here's what a movie with DVD art looks like:
When you query IMDB (or another source) for movie details, here's what you get:
Here's a TV show:
To get Plex set up on your Mac, check out our original guide for detailed instructions. Plex is a free download for Intel Macs only running Leopard.
You've already seen how to mod your classic Xbox to run XBMC, run it from a thumb drive, and get social with the Boxee fork for Mac and Linux. Are you an XBMC fan? Which fork is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.