An updated beta version of the SageTV media center software is now available. Among many other updates, SageTV v7.0.13 Beta brings the following new features:

• Category view in the Video Browser, with options to edit categories and also parental ratings for imported videos
• Merged SageTVTranscoder with latest public version; should resolve many transcoding issues; we also added transcoding profiles for H264 MKVs
• DVD/BluRay Watched tracking (STV update is needed for UI functionality, will be available soon)

For the release notes outlining the enhancements and updates of v7.0.13 check out the SageTV community forums.

Hot on the tails of Plex, XBMC also gains hardware acceleration after Apple finally released their Video Decode Acceleration Framework Reference to third-party developers. This means Mac OS X 10.6.3 users can now offload all that video decoding to their GPU freeing up the CPU to do other things.

Here is a snippet of Team XBMC’s announcement:

We are very happy to announce that Apple’s new API (VDADecoder) for exposing GPU accelerated H.264 decoding under OSX 10.6.3 is present and fully functional in svn (r29729 and above) trunk builds of XBMC for Mac, and will appear in the next stable version. Now, non-CrystalHD equipped XBMC for Mac users that can enjoy the pure pleasure of accelerated H.264 decoding that was enjoyed by XBMC for Linux (VDPAU/VAAPI/CrystalHD) and XBMC for Windows (DXVA/CrystalHD) users. The VDADecoder API will handle all H.264 video content including that in m2ts containers. The last bit is very important as it means accelerated video decoding of decrypted Bluray m2ts files that are in H.264 format. Bluray can be one of three formats, VC1, MPEG-2 and H.264, with about 75 percent being in H.264 format. There is no word yet on accelerated VC1 decoding but since VDADecoder interfaces to low level Nvidia VP3 functions which can handle H.264 AND VC1/MPEG-2 content, we might see VC1/MPEG-2 support added to VDADecoder API at later date.

Also, while performance is fantastic with VDADecoder, there is still room for improvement. Running XBMC for Mac under Shark (Apple’s profiler) shows that about half of the CPU usage is now due to copying and converting the video frame from UYVY422 (VDADecoder’s native format) to YUV420P (XBMC’s internal format). Future work on the XBMC rendering path will allow passing decoded frames directly up to our renderer and thus skipping the copy/convert step. Stay tuned :)

Keep in mind that just like Plex this only applies to Macs equipped with a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 320M or GeForce GT 330M running OS X 10.6.3. Current supported models:

• MacBook (Aluminum) shipped between October, 2008 and June, 2009.
• MacBooks shipped after January 21st, 2009.
• Mac Minis shipped after March 3rd, 2009.
• MacBook Pros shipped after October 14th, 2008.
• iMacs which shipped after the first quarter of 2009.

As stated, to get this functionality right now, you need to get the svn (r29729 and above) trunk builds of XBMC for Mac. To do this run the # svn co http://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/trunk command. Or you can wait for the next stable version of XBMC to be released soon.

If you try out the new SVN please share your thoughts in the comments and questions in the community forums.

Thanks to the hard work of Ryan of the Plex team the latest Plex binary is now integrated with the VDA framework, providing high definition GPU decoding in Plex for devices with NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 320M or GeForce GT 330M. To reap the fruits of Ryan’s labor, just download the binary and install it into Plex.app/Contents/MacOS.

Download: Link
Source: Plex

While not nearly as crotch-hardening as this afternoon’s official launch of the Nexus One phone by Google, I’m pleased at what the Boxee team has just given a tease on: The Boxee Box Remote.

Unfortunately, no details have been shared about the device. All they’ve revealed is that it has a QWERTY keyboard on its underbelly, wireless of some sort, and sleek as hell.

If I were a gambling man, I’d bet the Boxee Box Remote will only be shipped in box with the Boxee Box (hence the name). I hope not, but we’ll see.

UPDATE: It looks like Engadget has gotten hands-on with the Boxee Box at CES.

Rapier, one of the sleekest, most polished, most professional looking XBMC skins gets updated to version 3.0. You can download it at http://xbmc.org/skins/rapier/

Other XBMC skins are available http://xbmc.org/skins/

XBMC is by far one of the best media center software available. While not as social-centric and internet savvy, as it’s kindred Boxee it still packs a powerful, stable punch.

Adam Pash at Lifehacker posted some pretty good step-by-step instructions on how for $200 you can get XBMC on your TV using the Acer Aspire Revo ARH1600-U910H nettop computer.

It’s small, light-weight, and does a better job at playing 1080p content than computers that cost 2-3x as much.

via XBMC 9.11: RC1 ready for testing.

Oh… did I mention the Boxee Box powered by D-Link? Hmmm.. Looks like Boxee has done a lot with the $6M catalyst they spoke of back in August.

via The Boxee Beta

XBMC — XBMC releases the first official alpha (9.11) version of their new media center software release. Along with the features below, expect your usual alpha version bugs.

• DirectX has replaced OpenGL for Windows
• Numerous skinning engine updates which allow for use of some fancy new skins
• Many improvements to the video player which allow for much smoother playback
• Switch to Core Audio on OSX
• Many VDPAU improvements under linux
• Many platform-specific customizations
• Much Much more. We will be showcasing the new features here on xbmc.org as the final release approaches.

Go try it out!: http://xbmc.org/download/