Moovida 3D media center makes Boxee, Google TV look old

By Nick Mokey January 27, 2011

With the onslaught of whiz-bang media center interfaces including Boxee, Apple TV, Google TV, and even good old Windows Media Center, it’s easy enough to skip over an option like Moovida. Until you see it, of course.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

In a step away from the flat, tile-based systems used by most of its immediate competitors, Moovida presents titles as a 3D wall of box art, undulating across the screen with every press of an arrow key. Highlight a title and the box art glides up into the foreground on the face of a 3D cube, with a mini player beside it showing a preview, mirrored on the reflective “floor” and everything. Button arrows flip the box around to show, related files, actors, and a synopsis, and the whole interface can be operated with the five-way directional pad on a generic remote control.

This is what a media center built for the horsepower of a gaming PC looks like.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Barcelona-based Fluendo has been kicking around the Moovida name since 2009, but its latest revision, 2.0.3, steps the media player up to a new level with the 3D Diesel engine. The company has dubbed the interface “Moovida Immersed,” a layer of frosting on the old, full-featured Moovida Core. This conventional desktop-style backend makes it easier to import files, automatically identify them from a library of 70,000 titles, and perform other chores you probably wouldn’t want to do on a TV before turning down the lights and switching to Immersed. Amazingly, the Core will handle just about any non-DRM format, so as with the significantly less sleek VLC Media Player, the days of downloading individual codecs are over with Moovida.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Visual slickness aside, there are a few reasons Moovida has some catching up to do with other media centers. For one, there’s no access to streaming content like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu or any other sources, just locally stored files. It also suffers from some usability hiccups, like the inability to manually tag an item outside Moovida’s online library, add your own thumbnail, or simply choose not to show uncategorized files in the Immersed view.

Still, for movie and TV fans with large downloaded libraries across multiple codecs, and perhaps the urge to show off to home theater audiences with a bit of flare, Moovida deserves a look. And it won’t cost a thing. Fluendo offers the software as a free download.

Topics

Managing Editor

As Digital Trends’ Managing Editor, Nick Mokey oversees an editorial team delivering definitive reviews, enlightening…

Computing

Hurry! Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5 have hefty price cuts today

The Surface Pro 9 in laptop mode on a table.

Microsoft's Surface devices are high-performance machines that are designed to maximize the capabilities of Windows 11. If you're on the lookout for Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals, don't miss this chance to get a discount from Best Buy on the latest consumer models, as the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are only available for commercial users for now. The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is on sale for only $800, for $300 in savings on its original price of $1,100, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is also down to $800, for $500 in savings on its sticker price of $1,300. You better hurry with your purchase though, as we're not sure when these offers will expire.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 -- $800, was $1,100

Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 -- $800, was $1,300

Computing

Best SSD deals: Samsung 990 Pro discounts

Samsung 990 PRO SSD over a dark background.

As recently as a decade ago, you would most likely be using HDDs for storage, which tend to be quite slow and take up an absolute tone of space, even the smaller form factor ones made for laptops. If you wanted something a bit more fancy, like a modern M.2 SSD, you'd be paying a huge premium even for smaller sizes like 256GB and 512GB. Luckily there have been huge leaps in technology and manufacturing, and these days you can get your hands on the best SSDs for a pretty good price. Not only does that mean that you can save space, but you can also load Windows and your applications a lot faster, something we expect to see in the best gaming PCs and gaming laptops. If you need a new SSD to upgrade a gaming rig, check out RAM deals and GPU deals as well. If you need something that can swap between multiple devices, you'll prefer checking out external hard drive deals.
Our favorite SSD deal

If you're looking for something that's top-of-the-line and won't break the bank, then the Samsung 990 PRO is probably the way to go. It has the newer PCIe 4.0 standard, which makes it a great PS5 SSD if you can get it a heatsink, and it has a read speed of 7450 Mbps and a write speed of 6900 Mbps, so it's lightning fast. The 2TB model here has been discounted down to just $190 from the original $250, so you're saving a pretty solid $60 in the process. There is a 1TB version that's cheaper if you don't think you need that much, as well as a 4TB model that's great for those who have a tendency to hoard data.

Computing

Best Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals: From $523

Microsoft Surface Go 3 sitting on table.

While the MacBook Air has become synonymous with being a high-quality and lightweight laptop, it does mean that you'd have to be part of the Apple ecosystem. Luckily, there are some great alternatives out there, and Microsoft's Surface lineup is made specifically to compete with MacBook deals. While the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 aren't quite here yet, at least at the consumer level, you can still grab the latest models with some pretty great deals. That's why we've gone out and looked for our favorite Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals and compiled them all here for you to save you the hassle, although if these don't quite do it for you, be sure to check out other great laptop deals and 2-in-1 laptop deals as well.
Microsoft Surface Go 3 -- $523, was $550

Functioning as a 2-in-1 laptop that can switch between tablet mode and laptop mode, the Microsoft Surface Go 3 won't have trouble dealing with basic tasks as it's equipped with the Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y processor and 8GB of RAM. The 10.5-inch touchscreen with 1920 x 1080 resolution is bright and colorful, and its 128GB SSD is more than enough for your documents. The Microsoft Surface Go 3 ships with Windows 11 Home in Mode, so you can start using it as soon as you unbox it. The device also promises up to 11 hours of battery life before requiring a recharge.