#Turn Pc Into Mac OS X Leopard#

Recording audio from Skype is a breeze on PC, Mac and smartphones. DISADVANTAGES: Calls have to go through Skype Records video format only, no separate tracks. ADVANTAGES: Free, fast and easy as itвЂ™s built into Skype.

5.99/month after free trial. Restrictions and other terms apply. Plan automatically renews after trial until cancelled. With Fusion Player and Fusion Pro, run nearly any OS as VMs on Mac for.The Apple One free trial includes only services that you are not currently using through a free trial or a subscription. And you probably watch hours of video on Hulu, Veoh, or YouTube.Register now for a free, perpetual, Personal Use license for Fusion Player.

All you need is the right software, and possibly some extra hardware, to give your machine new life as a jukebox, a high-def digital photo frame, a movie theater, and a TiVo clone.The open-source Freevo is one of several great no-cost media-center applications for Linux.You donвЂ™t necessarily need to buy new hardware, and the software part of this upgrade could be easier than you think. If you cant install Chrome on your Windows computer, your computer might be in S mode.You can do all that and more by transforming your PC into a self-contained media center. Offer good for three months after eligible device activation.WouldnвЂ™t it be nice if you could corral all that stuff within one attractive, easy-to-use interface? One thatвЂ™s large enough for you to see (and control) from the couch? And, hey, while weвЂ™re at it, how about adding TV and DVR features to the mix?Google Chrome is a fast, free web browser.

Turn Pc Into Mac OS X Leopard

With it you can view photo slide shows (complete with Ken Burns-style pan and zoom effects), watch DVDs and videos, browse your music library by cover art, and connect to various online services (including movie-download stores CinemaNow and Movielink).WMC also supports up to four TV tuners for DVR-like viewing and recording, and it can archive recorded shows to DVD. For a complete guide to assembling a media center PC from the ground up, see Zack SternвЂ™s excellent вЂњ Build Your Own High-Def PC.вЂќStep one is to choose a media-center programвЂ“though as noted previously, you may already have one.Windows Media Center, a standard component of Vista Home Premium and Vista Platinum, offers a free electronic program guide (EPG) for users who add a TV tuner.The most obvious choice is Windows Media Center (WMC), whichвЂ“despite being a Vista-bundled freebieвЂ“offers a rich feature set and a dazzling interface. So when we talk about turning your PC into a media center, we mean installing software that finds, catalogs, and plays your media filesвЂ“and looks good while doing it.Note: In this guide, IвЂ™ll focus exclusively on ways that you can turn your existing computer into a media center. And Linux users have several free options, including Freevo and LinuxMCE.All of those applications scan your PC for photos, music, videos, and the like, and then present them inside an oversize, TV-friendly interface (commonly known as a 10-foot interface, meaning itвЂ™s easily viewable from the couch). Mac OS X Leopard users already have basic media-center software in the form of AppleвЂ™s Front Row, though third-party alternatives are also available.

It can timeshift and record TV, play videos and music, run fancy slide shows, tune in radio stations (both FM and Internet), and even play games such as Tetris. ItвЂ™s a full-featured program, and itвЂ™s free.If youвЂ™d rather dip a toe in the media-center waters without spending any money, check out MediaPortal, a free application thatвЂ™s every bit as powerful as WMC. Pair it with the $30 SageTV Placeshifter add-on, and you can stream all your media (including live and recorded TV) to any PC with a broadband Internet connection.If you donвЂ™t want to spend any money on media-center software, check out MediaPortal. The $80 SageTV Media Center for Windows offers a more TV-centric experience than Windows Media Center, including an integrated Google Video viewer and instant commercial-skipping.

Relatively inexpensive and easy to install, theyвЂ™re available in both PCI (internal) and USB (external) flavors. Finally, you always have the option of connecting a set-top вЂњextenderвЂќ to your living-room TV, giving you all the goodness of your media center without your actually having the computer there (more on that later).The key ingredient is a tuner. (Unfortunately, it canвЂ™t record shows for later viewing.) DonвЂ™t have 30 bucks to spare? CenterStage is a community-developed program that, among other things, can play recorded TV shows now and promises more TV features (including an electronic program guide) in the future.The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 comes with a pair of hybrid tuners, meaning you can record one show while watching another one live.If your PC happens to be a notebook, you can watch recorded shows while youвЂ™re on the road (and mock fellow travelers who paid $1.99 on iTunes for a single episode of Battlestar Galactica). For that, look to MediaCentral, a $30 program that performs all the best media-center tricks and can play/pause live TV too. But it doesnвЂ™t support TV programming, even if you add a tuner. The OS X-bundled, remote-controllable Front Row serves up music, videos, photos, and DVDs, all couched in a dazzling turntable-style interface.

Plus, itвЂ™s compatible with both Windows and Mac systems ( though the latter require ElgatoвЂ™s EyeTV, sold separately).Notebook users can plug AverMediaвЂ™s AverTV Hybrid Volar Max into a USB port and tune in both analog and digital signals.Want something a little more travel-friendly? AVerMediaвЂ™s AVerTV Hybrid Volar Max is a USB tuner about the size of a flash drive, and it supports analog, OTA, and QAM sources.D-LinkвЂ™s MediaLounge DSM-750 media-center extender lets you access Windows Media Center from your living room, even when your PC is somewhere else in the house.The D-Link MediaLounge DSM-750, for example, is a slim set-top box that connects to your home network via ethernet or 802.11n Wi-Fi. Interestingly, the tuner connects to your home-network router, not to your PC, so it can pipe live TV to nearly any media-center PC in the house. In addition, it comes with a plug-in for watching and recording QAM channels via the Windows Media Center program guideвЂ“a major plus for Vista users.A digital TV tuner for your home network, the HDHomeRun delivers over-the-air and/or QAM channels to any PC in the house.If you need an external tuner, consider the SiliconDust HDHomeRun, which provides a pair of digital tuners for either OTA or QAM broadcasts. But it might also require you to use the tuner software that came with your tuner card to view and/or record broadcasts, as not all media-center programs natively support QAM.The Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 is a PCI Express card that comes with a pair of hybrid digital tuners, meaning they can decode both analog and digital signals (QAM included). (Visit AntennaWeb.org to see whether a simple set of rabbit ears will suffice or if you need higher-end hardware.) If youвЂ™re already subscribing to cable, QAM may deliver the same high-def channels, no antenna required. An analog tuner can receive standard-definition cable or satellite signals, while a digital tuner affords access to over-the-air (OTA) digital broadcasts and/or QAM signals the latter are unscrambled digital channels (usually just local ones, but high-definition) delivered via standard cable.The OTA option is good because it provides high-def channels free of charge (bite me, cable company!), though it requires a decent antenna.

Turn Pc Into Mac For Free