Elisa is an open source cross-platform media center connecting the Internet to an all-in-one media player. This overview will walk you through the steps to install Elisa in Ubuntu, and highlight some of the features.

The Ubuntu Media Centre Team have decided to use Elisa as their core infrastructure to push the free software media centre effort forward. Elisa is a open source cross-platform media centre, designed to be as simple to use as possible. The software is in its early days and so is still quite basic in terms of features found in other media centre solutions. However, the project is gaining momentum and is improving rapidly. Here’s a list of some of its features.

Initially I was quite excited by the release of Elisa 0.3.3 from the team at Fluendo. In general, I like the work Fluendo does - amongst other initiatives they have codecs for sale that alleviate any legal qualms you may have about installing "non-free" video codecs from various locations, they have an interesting Java streaming video applet called Cortado and they provide a reasonably priced online streaming service. So, high hopes for Elisa 0.3.3. Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be using this software.

The developers at Fluendo have been working on an open-source, cross-platform media center application called Elisa. Version 0.3.3, which was released last week, includes a complete user interface overhaul that dramatically improves usability.

The Ubuntu Media Centre Team have decided to use Elisa as their core infrastructure to push the free software media centre effort forward. Elisa is a open source cross-platform media centre, designed to be as simple to use as possible.