X-OOM Media Center for Wii: Product Review

X-OOM Media Center for Wii: Product Review
April 17, 2008
Last weekend, I happened to pick up, the Media Center for Wii from X-OOM. This software package promiced on the box to make much of the media on your home computer available on your Wii over your existing home network Since the move, the computer is in a new room, separate from the living room, and way too far for even the longest available audio/video cables. If we wanted to watch something on the TV, I would have to buy some connecters and cable, and string the wires along the wall, across the room, around the door frame, and to the TV. That's a lot of work, not to mention a lot of wires. A Media Center software package that would make audio, video, pictures, and other media available on a gaming console that I already own would be a brilliant idea. There were a few growing pains getting it running, and it still leaves a bit to be desired. First, some full disclosure. My computer meets the minimum system requirements with room to spare, but my Windows XP installation is starting to show a little bit of wear. It's probably coming due for a re-install. And I've been putting off a full hardware and software upgrade for close to a year. But still, it's hardly a write off just yet. It still runs smoothly, it's clean of viruses and most spyware, and crashes are few and far between. The Media Center for Wii is a media center package that you install on your home computer. Once installed, you can specify which folders you want it to scan for media. When running, the Media Center transmits your IP address, and other connection credentials to the X-OOM server. Using your Wii Internet Channel, you connect to an X-OOM URL, which loops back to the media center service running on your home computer, giving you access to the media center user interface, and all the media in your library. The installation went smoothly, but the setup was when I first started running into problems. On the first startup, the program opens by default into the Media Files wizard. This wizard allows you to select the directories on your system where you keep your files. I wasn't interested in pictures or audio files, so I skipped ahead to movies. When the program started scanning the directories, it crashed. I had to retry a couple of times. Finally, I figured out that you have to give the wizard a directory for each media type; pictures, audio, video, and movies, otherwise it will crash. The first time I made the mistake of specifying the My Pictures directory for the image folder. With roughly 3000 files, the software didn't crash, but it took a long time. So I canceled that scan, and set up an empty directory for media, and copied the movies I wanted into that directory. In the wizard, I specified the same directory for each media type, and finally was able to load my movie into the library. The problem now was that I now have all my pictures in the library, and no way to remove them. I was finally able to start up the Wii, and see if the software would work. The photo viewer shows photos, and that's really all I can say about it. It's more than a little cumbersome. It takes some convincing to get it to move ahead to the next photo. You're better off using the Wii's Photo Channel there. The audio player worked as expected. It actually works, for one thing, unlike the Wii Photo Channel's MP3 player, which has no control whatsoever, and can't play MP3s anymore if you decide to upgrade. But I'd anticipated the video being the real test. The software has two separate categories for video files: videos and movies. The icon for videos is a handheld camera, like a camcorder, and the icon for movies is a film reel. So I figure the Video category is intended for small home videos that you'd take with your digital camera, and the Movies category would be intended for larger media, like downloaded content. The first thing I noticed was that there's no easy way to snap to full screen. The software manual says to put the cursor in the center of the play area, and "press the A key", which I assume means the A button on the Wii remote. The problem is that this full screen feature only works for "video" content, and not for "movie" content. clicking A in the play area in Movie mode stops the movie, and returns to the archive menu. To get full screen, or anything that approaches fullscreen, you have to zoom in, and use the directional pad to center the image. The second problem I noticed the first time I had to use the washroom during the viewing. There's no pause button. There's stop and play, but no way to pause a movie or a video. When you're fully zoomed in, you can't see the control panel at the bottom, so you have to zoom out, take note of the timestamp, and stop the video. Not that remembering the timestamp will do you any good, because moving the slider to find where you left off is an exercise in futility. But, I muddled my way through, and was able to view the entire movie. The video drags a little bit, but that can be forgiven, considering that it's transmitting a 300+mb file across a wireless network. My TV is also a little on the old-ish side. With audio/video cables, you'd likely see the same jittery quality on your average tube. Midway through the movie, my wife decided that she was going to watch something else on the computer. Bad idea. While she was watching her video, my video started to lag and stutter big time. So as long as you're not doing anything intensive on the host PC, it's fairly seamless... most of the time. But as soon as you try doing two things at once, your system is going to have problems serving up video. I should mention that the software is marketed for use with the Wii, but really it works in pretty much any browser on the network. I started up my laptop, and went to the same URL, and was able to use the same interface in both IE and Firefox. It probably wouldn't work on the DS browser, since there's no sound or flash support. The URL resolved to the local IP address for my desktop, and the port number used. Theoretically, since I've got dynamic DNS set up for my server, I could set up my router to route traffic on that port to my Windows machine, and access the media center outside using my URL. Videos would be painfully slow, but pictures and audio would work. Don't bother trying, though; the port is closed. And X-OOM foresaw this sort of thing, and protected media content with a pin number. But I think it could work. And yes, I did view the code of the PHP page that was loaded. It looks like it loads flash content from an external URL. I'm pretty sure it's just the user interface. I don't imagine that there's any file conversion going on over there. It really wouldn't make much sense anyway, since your average home network runs at a beautiful 10Mbps internally, but drops to residential broadband speeds once it hits the world outside. For the first viewing, the software took a little getting used to. It was a little cumbersome, but all in all, it got the job done. For the next run, I decided to try using the video library instead of the movie library. I used the media center viewer that is built into the media center software. In the archive, there is no way to see the full filename of an episode. So with quite a few videos in the archive, the only way to find a specific video was to start playing it. I figured I could use the queue feature to queue up videos, and have them set up in order. I queued up the first five or six videos, and then returned to the Wii to see how it went. My queue was empty. It doesn't save a queue across sessions. So there's no way I can find to easily see the full filename of a video, or to organize them into a playlist that can be saved for future use. But one thing that did work was clicking the play area to snap to full screen. Sorta. I still had to zoom in a bit, and center the image in the browser. There are a few other "would be nice" features missing from the media center as well. The Browse Library function shows you what filenames are in your library, but doesn't let you do anything with them. You can't add, remove, or view any of the files listed. The Library Settings section looks like you're supposed to be able to update your media files. You can add directories, or add and remove individual files. But it doesn't seem to have any affect that I can see on the library itself. The Help files say that the Library Settings are supposed to update automatically whenever you make a change, but so far I haven't seen any of this. And I have over a thousand images in the MyPhotos library that I can't seem to remove. The only way I can find to remove content from the Media Center for Wii is to physically remove the file from the directory. Which doesn't seem very practical at all. The X-OOM Media Center for Wii works as advertised. It does exactly what it says it does on the box, but it leaves a bit to be desired. Hopefully when I get around to upgrading, some of the issues I've experienced will go away, like slightly jittery video, and the inability to use the computer at the same time as it's serving videos to the Wii. Other things are severely lacking in the software itself, like the ability to pause, or control the slider with any kind of precision, being able to use playlists, or read the filename of the media. Also, having better control over the media library itself would be nice. Some of these problems might be fixable with patches, assuming X-OOM is planning on releasing any patches in the near future. Also, in the help files, I noticed that they mixed up the screenshots for the Library Settings, and the Program Settings pages. Other nice features that I haven't had a chance to play around with yet include the ability to add RSS feeds for Web radio, Web TV, podcasts, and other general RSS feeds. These can also be shared with other users, so there are feeds already listed in the library. The Media Center for Wii is an interesting software package. It's not licensed by Nintendo, and doesn't actually install any software on your Wii. Instead, it's intended to work almost entirely on your PC, making your files available to the Wii Internet Channel. This is facilitated by an external URL leading to an X-OOM service. The manual and the help files insist that only the data required to make the thing work is transmitted to X-OOM. As long as X-OOM remains in business, and chooses to keep the service up, this software should work fine. But once they decide to retire their server side of the product, you've got a $50 coaster. But then, most PC software is slated to the same fate these days. Part of me regrets spending 45 bones on this software package. But that's about 66% buyers remorse, and only about 33% disappointment with the product itself. Still, when I weigh it against the prospect of having to buy cables and connecters, solder them together, and string them across my apartment to get the same effect, that 33% starts to fade away. I'm not entirely disappointed by the Media Center for Wii. It sets out to do much of what the Wii had promised back when it was released. And while I don't doubt that Nintendo would be capable of much the same feat, the fact that it's been left to a third party without even bothering to get a Nintendo license is a bit telling. Frankly, with the exception of actual games, for all it's flaws, the X-OOM Media Center for Wii is one of the first products out there that actually uses the Wii to its full potential. It's not perfect, and don't be surprised if you hit a few snags setting it up. But once you're past the initial pain, it does exactly what it sets out to do, albeit ineloquently. **UPDATE: Since my hard drive crashed, I've re-installed X-OOM Media Center for Wii as part of the recovery process. After I installed the software, an update was available that includes at least one feature that I'd complained about before: a pause button. I'm still in the process of running the updated version through its paces, but the addition of the pause button alone is a vast improvement. I'm planning to write a new review once I've given it a thorough shake down.

April 17, 2008

Last weekend, I happened to pick up, the Media Center for Wii from X-OOM. This software package promiced on the box to make much of the media on your home computer available on your Wii over your existing home network

Since the move, the computer is in a new room, separate from the living room, and way too far for even the longest available audio/video cables. If we wanted to watch something on the TV, I would have to buy some connecters and cable, and string the wires along the wall, across the room, around the door frame, and to the TV. That's a lot of work, not to mention a lot of wires. A Media Center software package that would make audio, video, pictures, and other media available on a gaming console that I already own would be a brilliant idea.

There were a few growing pains getting it running, and it still leaves a bit to be desired. First, some full disclosure. My computer meets the minimum system requirements with room to spare, but my Windows XP installation is starting to show a little bit of wear. It's probably coming due for a re-install. And I've been putting off a full hardware and software upgrade for close to a year. But still, it's hardly a write off just yet. It still runs smoothly, it's clean of viruses and most spyware, and crashes are few and far between.

The Media Center for Wii is a media center package that you install on your home computer. Once installed, you can specify which folders you want it to scan for media. When running, the Media Center transmits your IP address, and other connection credentials to the X-OOM server. Using your Wii Internet Channel, you connect to an X-OOM URL, which loops back to the media center service running on your home computer, giving you access to the media center user interface, and all the media in your library.

The installation went smoothly, but the setup was when I first started running into problems. On the first startup, the program opens by default into the Media Files wizard.

This wizard allows you to select the directories on your system where you keep your files. I wasn't interested in pictures or audio files, so I skipped ahead to movies. When the program started scanning the directories, it crashed. I had to retry a couple of times. Finally, I figured out that you have to give the wizard a directory for each media type; pictures, audio, video, and movies, otherwise it will crash.

The first time I made the mistake of specifying the My Pictures directory for the image folder. With roughly 3000 files, the software didn't crash, but it took a long time. So I canceled that scan, and set up an empty directory for media, and copied the movies I wanted into that directory. In the wizard, I specified the same directory for each media type, and finally was able to load my movie into the library. The problem now was that I now have all my pictures in the library, and no way to remove them.

I was finally able to start up the Wii, and see if the software would work. The photo viewer shows photos, and that's really all I can say about it. It's more than a little cumbersome. It takes some convincing to get it to move ahead to the next photo. You're better off using the Wii's Photo Channel there. The audio player worked as expected. It actually works, for one thing, unlike the Wii Photo Channel's MP3 player, which has no control whatsoever, and can't play MP3s anymore if you decide to upgrade. But I'd anticipated the video being the real test.

The software has two separate categories for video files: videos and movies. The icon for videos is a handheld camera, like a camcorder, and the icon for movies is a film reel. So I figure the Video category is intended for small home videos that you'd take with your digital camera, and the Movies category would be intended for larger media, like downloaded content.

The first thing I noticed was that there's no easy way to snap to full screen. The software manual says to put the cursor in the center of the play area, and "press the A key", which I assume means the A button on the Wii remote. The problem is that this full screen feature only works for "video" content, and not for "movie" content. clicking A in the play area in Movie mode stops the movie, and returns to the archive menu. To get full screen, or anything that approaches fullscreen, you have to zoom in, and use the directional pad to center the image.

The second problem I noticed the first time I had to use the washroom during the viewing. There's no pause button. There's stop and play, but no way to pause a movie or a video. When you're fully zoomed in, you can't see the control panel at the bottom, so you have to zoom out, take note of the timestamp, and stop the video.

Not that remembering the timestamp will do you any good, because moving the slider to find where you left off is an exercise in futility.

But, I muddled my way through, and was able to view the entire movie. The video drags a little bit, but that can be forgiven, considering that it's transmitting a 300+mb file across a wireless network. My TV is also a little on the old-ish side. With audio/video cables, you'd likely see the same jittery quality on your average tube.

Midway through the movie, my wife decided that she was going to watch something else on the computer. Bad idea. While she was watching her video, my video started to lag and stutter big time. So as long as you're not doing anything intensive on the host PC, it's fairly seamless... most of the time. But as soon as you try doing two things at once, your system is going to have problems serving up video.

I should mention that the software is marketed for use with the Wii, but really it works in pretty much any browser on the network. I started up my laptop, and went to the same URL, and was able to use the same interface in both IE and Firefox. It probably wouldn't work on the DS browser, since there's no sound or flash support. The URL resolved to the local IP address for my desktop, and the port number used.

Theoretically, since I've got dynamic DNS set up for my server, I could set up my router to route traffic on that port to my Windows machine, and access the media center outside using my URL. Videos would be painfully slow, but pictures and audio would work. Don't bother trying, though; the port is closed. And X-OOM foresaw this sort of thing, and protected media content with a pin number. But I think it could work.

And yes, I did view the code of the PHP page that was loaded. It looks like it loads flash content from an external URL. I'm pretty sure it's just the user interface. I don't imagine that there's any file conversion going on over there. It really wouldn't make much sense anyway, since your average home network runs at a beautiful 10Mbps internally, but drops to residential broadband speeds once it hits the world outside.

For the first viewing, the software took a little getting used to. It was a little cumbersome, but all in all, it got the job done. For the next run, I decided to try using the video library instead of the movie library. I used the media center viewer that is built into the media center software. In the archive, there is no way to see the full filename of an episode. So with quite a few videos in the archive, the only way to find a specific video was to start playing it. I figured I could use the queue feature to queue up videos, and have them set up in order. I queued up the first five or six videos, and then returned to the Wii to see how it went. My queue was empty. It doesn't save a queue across sessions. So there's no way I can find to easily see the full filename of a video, or to organize them into a playlist that can be saved for future use.

But one thing that did work was clicking the play area to snap to full screen. Sorta. I still had to zoom in a bit, and center the image in the browser.

There are a few other "would be nice" features missing from the media center as well. The Browse Library function shows you what filenames are in your library, but doesn't let you do anything with them. You can't add, remove, or view any of the files listed. The Library Settings section looks like you're supposed to be able to update your media files. You can add directories, or add and remove individual files. But it doesn't seem to have any affect that I can see on the library itself. The Help files say that the Library Settings are supposed to update automatically whenever you make a change, but so far I haven't seen any of this.

And I have over a thousand images in the MyPhotos library that I can't seem to remove. The only way I can find to remove content from the Media Center for Wii is to physically remove the file from the directory. Which doesn't seem very practical at all.

The X-OOM Media Center for Wii works as advertised. It does exactly what it says it does on the box, but it leaves a bit to be desired. Hopefully when I get around to upgrading, some of the issues I've experienced will go away, like slightly jittery video, and the inability to use the computer at the same time as it's serving videos to the Wii. Other things are severely lacking in the software itself, like the ability to pause, or control the slider with any kind of precision, being able to use playlists, or read the filename of the media. Also, having better control over the media library itself would be nice. Some of these problems might be fixable with patches, assuming X-OOM is planning on releasing any patches in the near future. Also, in the help files, I noticed that they mixed up the screenshots for the Library Settings, and the Program Settings pages.

Other nice features that I haven't had a chance to play around with yet include the ability to add RSS feeds for Web radio, Web TV, podcasts, and other general RSS feeds. These can also be shared with other users, so there are feeds already listed in the library.

The Media Center for Wii is an interesting software package. It's not licensed by Nintendo, and doesn't actually install any software on your Wii. Instead, it's intended to work almost entirely on your PC, making your files available to the Wii Internet Channel. This is facilitated by an external URL leading to an X-OOM service. The manual and the help files insist that only the data required to make the thing work is transmitted to X-OOM.

As long as X-OOM remains in business, and chooses to keep the service up, this software should work fine. But once they decide to retire their server side of the product, you've got a $50 coaster. But then, most PC software is slated to the same fate these days.

Part of me regrets spending 45 bones on this software package. But that's about 66% buyers remorse, and only about 33% disappointment with the product itself. Still, when I weigh it against the prospect of having to buy cables and connecters, solder them together, and string them across my apartment to get the same effect, that 33% starts to fade away. I'm not entirely disappointed by the Media Center for Wii. It sets out to do much of what the Wii had promised back when it was released. And while I don't doubt that Nintendo would be capable of much the same feat, the fact that it's been left to a third party without even bothering to get a Nintendo license is a bit telling.

Frankly, with the exception of actual games, for all it's flaws, the X-OOM Media Center for Wii is one of the first products out there that actually uses the Wii to its full potential. It's not perfect, and don't be surprised if you hit a few snags setting it up. But once you're past the initial pain, it does exactly what it sets out to do, albeit ineloquently.

**UPDATE: Since my hard drive crashed, I've re-installed X-OOM Media Center for Wii as part of the recovery process. After I installed the software, an update was available that includes at least one feature that I'd complained about before: a pause button. I'm still in the process of running the updated version through its paces, but the addition of the pause button alone is a vast improvement. I'm planning to write a new review once I've given it a thorough shake down.