5 Day in Manhattan OS Media Playback

So this is for day 2 of my 5 days in Manhattan OS review, and so far things are going well. Haven’t had any major issues to report. Day 1 focused on the installation process and my first impressions. Today’s focus will be mainly on out of the box media playback since Manhattan OS claims to have a strong focus on making multimedia just work. Because I decided to go about this without adding anything extra and make decision based on what I feel like a new user would.

Video

Manhattan OS comes shipped in with Totem movie player as many Linux systems that employ gnome do, but the real kicker here is that it also comes with VLC a multi-platform media player that can usually play almost anything you throw at it without extra configuration, Hulu desktop which is a stand alone desktop app to access Hulu without having to open up a browser, and Moovida, a media center application with access to many plugin that makes it a very versatile media center. I’m impressed with this selection since I am fan of VLC, Moovida, and Hulu, and it’s nice not to have to go install these myself. The most important application out these three is VLC media player. With vlc media player the average user shouldn’t have any issues with their media files not playing. Also there is PiTiVi a video editor I haven’t used before, but I hear good things about it and it’s included by default in Ubuntu as well. Before we move on I will say while it’s nice to have hulu desktop automatically installed, is it really necessary to do so? I mean is it really something every user will use or want. Just some food for thought plus I’m not really sure on how many people use Hulu’s services.

Audio

In regards to audio we have Rhythmbox a staple on Ubuntu though I must say it looks really good with the default theme compared to how it normally looks. Mind you it isn’t a giant difference still kind of bland but it was enough that I noticed. In addition to that we have jokosher for audio editing, Gpodder for managing podcasts, and a basic recording program. Also vlc, totem, and moovida play audio files as well. Like Ubuntu audio works just fine, though you maybe pressed to find an audio player you like since  Rythmbox may not be to your liking; however it still is a good media player in my opinion and lately I’ve been using it a lot more. Jokosher and gpodder I have not used before, but I hear good things and they get the job done. I like the fact a music editor is bundled with it.

Graphics

Next we have the realm of graphics which  comes with Fspot a photo manager, GIMP a powerful image editor, Pinta a MS paint like program, a font editor, scanner app, and screenshot app. It’s nice to see GIMP added here since Ubuntu removed it as a default program. Their reasons being that GIMP was too much for the average user which I understand though not necessarily agree with. The font manager was an interesting one since well I never used it before. I took it for a spin and found it unintuitive. Since it wasn’t easy to tell what to do with it just by looking at it, but after using it my opinions changed. I now really like the inclusion of the font manager since it allowed me to easily install a font without using the terminal. I kind of feel like it belongs in the accessory category, but thats just me.

Final Verdict

Like Ubuntu, Manhattan OS handles many media formats well and even exceeds Ubuntu in use and easiness since it’s possible to play many formats out of the box. I especially commend the inclusion of GIMP, Moovidia, Pinta, the font manager, and especially VLC though still I think Hulu desktop isn’t needed as default install.

-Not feeling very well today so I may edit this and change things later since I’m not happy with this part of the review. If not the final whole review will have to be that much better.