The CenterStage Project, one of the first, and most promising HTPC projects for the Macintosh is considering dropping Tiger (10.4) support once they get their hands on Leopards developer tools. The move is a logical, with Leopard including all new core-animation, core-data, and other tools. It would be foolish for them to ignore these new enhancements that would better their application.

EntertainMac is always a supporter of using the latest and greatest technologies behind. The switch should speed up development of the application, to where we could see a final product sooner then later. But we also believe that this will cut out a large portion of the early MacHTPC users out there. Those with G4's slower then 867MHz, and with less than 512mb of RAM will be immediately be dropped. Centerstage was nice, as it wasn't restrictive on which systems you could use it on.

Whats your opinion? The project has posted the question on their message boards and are looking for your input.

Today we decided to check in with one of the more promising MacHTPC applications, The CenterStage Project. From what we can see the project continues to make strides towards their online demo, presented a few months back.



We will agree with them that "Stage View" is wow feature from their demo. Scrolling through all your media and artwork in a large screen format. To tease us a little more, stage view has been developed into an interactive flash animation for us to playwith. The final version will be utilizing Apple's Core animation, but we continue to be impressed with CenterStage's demos.

You may download and demo which is packaged in a nice little disk image.

With the WWDC opening tomorrow, the CenterStage Project, (one of our favorite media centers apps) has release version 0.6.2. This release is a giant milestone for the project. It seems like it was just the other day the groups was wowing us with their online demo and screen shots.

EntertainMac has downloaded this release and has been kicking the tires for a few hours now. The Centerstage/Backstage combo comes to us as a 17.6mb download. A quick install and we were off and running. The interface is smooth and extremely responsive. We have encountered a few crashes, but in a Alpha release this is expected. I was pleasantly surprised with the Photo's section.

The developer team over at the CenterStage project have put a lot of effort into making this the most function release to date. The effort really shows. We are looking forward to the next release which should have some GUI changes. The team is also looking for more developers, to keep up / accelerate the current pace. You can keep track of the progress here.

The CenterStage Project guys promised an update. And did they ever make good on their word. The Demo of Centerstage is now online. The graphics are stunning, interface breathtaking and it takes the MediaCenter application to the next level. It was a jaw-dropping WOW.

I was a fan of CenterStage back when they were duking it out with iTheater for the best MacHTPC experience. (Read: When people didn't understand what an Alpha release was.) I loved the community effort and the goal of having an intuitive media app. But with FrontRow released, I moved on and have been living in FrontRow bliss. I have demo'd iTheater, MediaCentral, and the current CenterStage release, but nothing blew me away.

After reviewing the demo online, reviewing the photos, and documentation, I am preparing to switch over to CenterStage when the new beta version is ready. The features go beyond any other media application. It is obvious they have put a lot of effort into the user interface and making everything fit like a glove.

Enter the demo of CenterStage. Now its important to note that the demo, only shows what they are projecting the final product to look like. The beta version of the app should have the majority of these features incorporated.

So here we go... with pictures.

Main Menu
The main menu is a side scroller or beautiful icons for each area. You can quickly navigate to the proper section and get to watching your movie. But the main screen also features several items no other media application has. Along the bottom, you can quickly see the weather, your mail inbox and news reader. It also highlights the last item you were playing, weather it was a movie, or a random CD. the images are easily identifyable and having a seperate section for TV shows is brilliant.

Music
Most of us will be using this module frequent. FrontRow does a great job of using iTunes to sort through music. CenterStage looks like it will go beyond that. You will be able to browse your music by Artist, Albums, Song, Playlist, Genre, Music Video, Podcast, Audio Books. They have also included a radio station and compact disc menu items. I'm glad they didn't over look the radio stations, like FrontRow does. Also included is an iTunes like visualizer. Nicely done!

They have also come up with several ways of browsing your music. They have a side scroller, list view and cd cover matrix. With the ability to ad FanArt the screen takes on the look and feel of the music. This theme is also used on other sections.

Screen Shots:

Movies

Within the movies section you also get your variety of navigation options. The Alpha scroller jumps through DVD Artwork, and a information menu provides more details about the flick. Browsing my Actors or Directors (all gathered from IMDB) makes searching for a specific movie a breeze. A DVD Menu also allows you to check out your latest netflix.

TV Shows
The demo did not include the TV Shows section, however from the high resolution images they provide it appears it will be handled very similar to the movies section, with browsing by show, and fan art views.

Photos
With the exception of MediaCentral, media apps out there have neglected the photo section. CenterStage does an excellent job of handling the photos. Browse by album, library, or last import. I would be nice to see the folders, as a lot of people use them. Once again the sidescroller lets you jump through pictures and enter a full screen slideshow mode. Everything fits nicely. You may also enter a informational screen showing the details about the photo.

The CenterStage Project has something new for us all tonight. After 6PM (UK) tonight they will have 'a lot to look at, download and cast your eyes over.' So get your refresh button polished, and trigger finger ready.

So what are they going to give us tonight?

Perhaps as a subtle hint ala apple's 'Its Show Time' event from last year. The CenterStage logo appears on a red curtain. What could it mean?

It most likely won't be the anticipated 0.6.2, which they are still hacking away at. But they are calling this part 1 of that release. The release of 0.6.2 has been delayed due to extensive user testing and stability testing of the application.

Bravo to CenterStage for taking QA seriously. I wish most apps were released this way, rather then prematurely with bug. Here's the teaser the left in the blog.