Thread: Are there any front ends that look classy?

ok, now that's better... I got overwhelmed by the millions of skins for many fronts ends so I figured I'd ask. I am a Mac guy and want to run a Mini with XP in parallels (because the mac front ends are behind) so I like a mac look as well as the "classy" look. is there a way to see bigger screen shots?

Also, can this front end control movies, music, nav, phone (bluetooth) AND climate control, without having to swap between aps, by any chance (once again I use a new, high end luxury car as an example)?

And what is this front end? I don't see "mediaportal" in the front ends forum... is this what it's called?

Also, what would the nav look like?

ummm can i just say that that is absolutely beautiful ... where can i get it??

Zach

Ok, found he page but haven't found the skin yet... anyway, this looks sweet! any have a quick answer about integrating all the things I mentioned?

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/news...diaportal.html

I'm downloading it now. I've experimented with MP a little bit and it is not very touch-screen friendly. However, I think it may have a lot of potential if you add in a USB "knob" or two, like the powermate or the one from Phidgets.

Far as I know, Mediaportal does not support bluetooth or GPS, it was created for home theater use so it has a different mission. However I can't help wondering the CarPC community could benefit from building on this foundation, just because there's such a large pool of talent contributing to it already.

Originally Posted by booksix

All the front end's I've seen so far look cheap. Does anyone make one that resembles something I'd find in a Lexus, Mercedes, etc...?

And all those frontends are skinnable so you can give them the look & feel you want.

Want it to look classy? Get to skinning!
Want it to look ghetto? Get to skinning!

Frankly, if I was a developer of any of the frontends I'd be offended if someone called my frontend look & feel "cheap" from someone who has made no effort to do any better.

That's why I mentioned no names. I'm not trying to offend anyone and I have no graphic skills to make a skin of my own. But I'm happy to buy a front end/skin that looks the way I like. I just feel a lot of the skins I've seen so far look like all the skins I hated for winamp (hated that program back when I used pc's a few years ago).

As far as the development of Mediaportal, I think it's a great idea as well. I wish I knew more about programming and all. I'm going to try and learn but as far as something that's already out there, it looks amazing!

Just remember this...

The more graphically "beautiful" something is, the more CPU & GPYU-intensive it will be when loading, transitioning, etc.
That is especially true if you're getting into anything with a 3D interface and/or lots of detail.