The entire UI is keyboard-navigable — which means the universal remote already sitting on your coffee table can drive the whole thing. No proprietary app, no special gadget. Use whatever's already in your hand.
Because every screen is fully keyboard-navigable, anything that can send a keystroke can drive Media Centaur. That includes the universal remote already on your coffee table — so the thing you use to turn on the TV can just… run your media center. Nothing proprietary to install, nothing extra to buy.
A Flirc USB receiver teaches itself the buttons on the remote you already have and emits plain keystrokes. Point it, press, done — the remote on your coffee table now navigates the library.
Already have a Bluetooth remote that emits keystrokes? Pair it and its direction and select buttons drive the exact same focus — no IR receiver, no cable, no setup beyond pairing.
There's no companion app and no required gadget. Media Centaur never asks you to adopt its remote — it adapts to the one in your hand by listening for the keys it already sends.
It all funnels into one keystroke-driven focus system, so a new control device "just works" the moment it sends keys — no bespoke integration per remote, gamepad, or dongle.
The remote magic isn't a remote feature — it's a side effect of one decision: every action in the UI can be reached by keystroke. Arrow keys move focus across rows and grids; Enter opens; Esc backs out. Build the navigation that way and any keystroke source inherits it for free.
Directional focus, select, and back — the small, predictable vocabulary every keystroke device maps onto. Learn it once on a keyboard and your remote or gamepad already speaks it.
A controller is just another keystroke source. D-pad to move, A to select, B to go back — a peer option for the couch alongside your universal remote, with no second UI to learn.
Dark-first, large artwork, and focus states designed to be obvious from ten feet back — so driving it by remote from the couch feels natural, not like squinting at a desktop app. And at the desk it's still just crisp at arm's length, where you reach for the mouse like you would in any normal app.
Whatever has focus stands out unambiguously — a clear, high-contrast indicator on top of generous artwork. Navigate a season, jump between episodes, open a detail view, all without hunting for the cursor.
It's the same readable focus no matter what's driving it: your universal remote or a gamepad from the couch, or — at the desk — the mouse and keyboard you'd use in any normal desktop app. One navigation model, legible at any distance.
Downloads the latest release, verifies its checksum, installs atomically, and sets up a service unit. Your universal remote (via Flirc or Bluetooth), a gamepad, or mouse and keyboard at the desk — all first-class from the first launch.
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/media-centaur/media-centaur/main/installer/install.sh | sh
Watches your directories, identifies titles via TMDB, downloads artwork; low-confidence matches wait for review.
Learn moreLaunches mpv locally, resumes where you left off, auto-advances episodes, world-class subtitles.
Learn moreMonitors TMDB daily for upcoming movies and new seasons of the shows you own.
Learn moreSearch and queue downloads via Prowlarr. Entirely optional; bring your own indexers.
Learn moreEvery change appears instantly via Phoenix LiveView. No polling, no refresh button.
Learn moreThe whole pipeline end to end — watch, identify, art, review, track, play.
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