If you want to use your Mac as a media center, there's no better app for accomplishing that objective than Plex ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ). This modern media center application features a gorgeous interface, automated and intelligent metadata-fetching capabilities, support for a vast variety of formats, the ability to play full 1080p high definition videos smoothly, an extensible plug-in architecture, and a host of more advanced, powerful features. That's all over, however, because Plex 0.8.3 is out and it brings a whole bunch of important bug fixes to the table, putting the software right back where it was before Snow Leopard came prowling. As with many other applications, Apple's release of Snow Leopard left Plex playing catch-up and though there has been an update or two over the past couple of months to improve compatibility with the latest big cat, Plex's relationship with Snow Leopard has remained strained at best. The most important fix involves the installation of a Candelair driver for the Apple Remote that makes it once again work smoothly with Plex (without also triggering Front Row and controlling iTunes in the background). And that isn't all.
It's called dynamic range compression and it boosts the volume of downmixed 5.1 audio. The fine folks at Plex have finally put in a feature that addresses a longstanding complaint of Plex users around the world-myself included. To enable it, go to Preferences -> System -> Audio and change the Mixdown Volume Boost setting from Disabled to Normal. Once all that is done, go back and play a movie with 5.1 channel audio. You'll also need to change the Digital Output Support setting to Force Digital and then disable the Dolby Digital (AC3) Capable Receiver and DTS Capable Receiver settings.
And turn down the volume, please. And did I mention that Plex is a free application? The update weighs in at 104MB and is worth every iota of bandwidth you spend downloading it. Well, it is, so go ahead and give it a shot.
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