Topic summary
Media center application
A media center application, or simply media center, is a type of multimedia and technological convergence software that is designed to be used on a large screen like a television or a projector. They are intended to be controlled by wireless devices such as a remote, game controllers, or a smartphone connected via Wi-Fi.
They usually inherit the combined capabilities of media playback, digital media library organization and aggregation, connection to a media server, music and video playlist creation, music visualizations, live TV playback, media streaming, among others. They then present the content on a 10-foot interface that is easy to view from a couch or seat, and can have multiple views for browsing media.
Media center applications started appearing during the early 2000s as large screens and DVD players were becoming mainstream, and they provide a solution for personal computers to be used as a front-end interface for large screens. They are the main software application of home theater PCs and can also be seen on regular computers, mini PCs, or digital media players.
One of the first media center applications to be created is Kodi. Originally created in 2002 as a homebrew mod for the original Xbox, it has expanded to many platforms such as Windows, Android, Fire TV, and more. MythTV was released in the same year as Kodi and while mainly used as a live TV backend, it is also a standalone media center application. Once popular among some Windows users, Windows Media Center is included with Windows XP MCE, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 before its discontinuation. MediaPortal, released in 2004, is a Windows exclusive application often considered as a modern alternative to WMC. Other applications include the Plex App, JRiver Media Center's theater mode, NextPVR Player, and SageTV. Discontinued applications include Apple's Front Row, GB-PVR, Beyond TV, and Boxee.
Nowadays, features these applications usually have are incorporated into game consoles, digital media players, and some smart TVs combining local content with streaming content. Digital media players include the NVIDIA Shield, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, and Apple TV. They have largely replaced media center applications for most people, though some users still use these applications for added flexibility or use cases such as enhanced live TV or local library functionality.