Turn your media library into a real cable TV experience.
Put your videos in folders, open MediaWave2000, and watch TV!
MediaWave2000 is a desktop app that transforms your local video collection into a fully functional fake cable channel system - complete with a scrollable TV guide, "On-Demand" Vault, scheduled programming, commercial breaks, and themed on-screen displays.
If you've ever tried FieldStation42 and wanted something simpler to easily turn your media catalog into a working cable system, this was made for you. MediaWave2000 sets itself up automatically from your folder structure. No configuring schedules, no .json files, just folders!
See FEATURES.md for the full list, but here's the basics:
- Scrollable TV Guide — browse your lineup like the old digital cable you know and love!
- The Vault — on-demand section, like a local streaming library
- Auto-scheduling — point it at a folder, it builds a channel. No config required.
- Commercial system — plays ad breaks between episodes or on a timer
- Three visual themes — 80s set-top box, mid-2000s "Promised Future," and modernized "Sleek Freak" — each with multiple color variants
- Channel logos — custom watermark per channel, with position and size control, timing, opacity and grayscale options
- Companion channels — WeatherStar connectivity, RadioWave TV (music visualizer), NetTV (YouTube playlists)
- MediaWave Converter — companion app to batch-prep files for smooth playback
- Works on Mac, Windows, and in the future, Linux.
- More always being worked on!
Each subfolder in your catalog becomes a channel. The folder name is the channel name. Ad-break folders named Commercials, Bumpers, Promos, or Station IDs are skipped as channels and can be configured separately in Advanced Config.
My Catalog/
HBO/
The Sopranos/
S01E01.mp4
Cartoon Network/
Futurama/
S01E01.mp4
MTV/
music_video_01.mp4
That's it! No metadata files. No renaming. As simple as I could make it :)
- Mac: Open
MediaWave.app - Windows: Run
MediaWave2000.exe
Hit Choose Catalog, point it at your folder, press Watch TV.
- [+ & -] - Channel Up and Channel Down
- [< & >] - Rewind and Fast Forward in Vault
- [Space] - Play/Pause in Vault
- [G] - Guide
- [M] - Menu
- [V] - Vault
- [I] - Info
- [Arrow Keys] - Move Cursor in Menus
Channel logos — drop a logo.png inside a Logos/ subfolder in any channel folder:
HBO/
Logos/
logo.png
Commercials — put short video clips in any folder and point MediaWave at it in Advanced Config. Real VHS-ripped ads work great.
Custom music — drop audio files in User Content/Music/ for the RadioWave TV companion channel, or keep them wherever you have them and just simply point MediaWave to the folder in "Advanced Config".
Full setup guides are in the docs/ folder inside the app.
MediaWave2000 ships with three visual themes, each with multiple color options:
| Theme | Vibe |
|---|---|
| Set-Top Box | 80s/90s cable box nostalgia |
| Promised Future | Mid-2000s digital optimism |
| Sleek Freak | Clean modern flat UI |
Beyond your own library, MediaWave includes three built-in channels:
- WeatherStar 4000+ — a local weather display channel in the style of the classic Weather Channel
- RadioWave TV — plays your music library with a reactive audio visualizer
- NetTV (beta) — paste a YouTube playlist URL and it generates a live channel schedule from the videos
A separate app included with MediaWave2000. Drop video files onto it and it batch-converts them to .mp4, .mkv, or .avi with consistent framing — removes letterboxing, normalizes resolution and audio, handles subtitle burn-in. Useful for old MKVs, weird rips, or anything that doesn't quite play how you'd like.
Requires ffmpeg to be installed. See docs/Converter Guide.txt for setup.
| Platform | Status |
|---|---|
| macOS | Available |
| Windows | Available |
| Linux | In Progress |
| Raspberry Pi | Planned |
- Linux release
- Custom theme support
- EAS-style scrolling message system (in progress)
- NetTV stability improvements (in progress)
- Raspberry Pi lightweight build
- Steam / Steam Deck release (long-term)
Do I need to convert all my files? Nope! Most modern video files play fine as-is. Use the Converter when something doesn't look right, or if you want all your files to be the same format, audio level etc.
Can I use an external drive? Yes, your catalog can live anywhere your system can read — USB drive, NAS, network share, wherever.
Does this connect to the internet? NetTV (YouTube) and WeatherStar 4000+ do, but Your video library stays local.
Is this free? Yes. Free to download, no account required, no subscription.
MediaWave2000 came to be after I realized how cool FieldStation42 was but wanted something that can automatically convert your entire catalog just by the click of a button and it kind of ballooned out to what it is now (with more features coming soon!). I really want this to be something completely customizeable by you and build a community where we can share our setups, custom themes (when implemented), and bring back the golden age of television! This is still a very early beta so feel free to reach out and let me know of anything you found that needs fixing or features you'd personally like to see!
Inspired by the concept behind FieldStation42 — built for everyone who loved the idea but couldn't get it working, and everyone who misses watching cable TV.
MediaWave is a passion project built in my spare time to bring back the nostalgia of scrolling through a TV Guide!
If you've enjoyed using MediaWave and would like to support future development, you can buy me a coffee on Ko-fi:
☕ Support MediaWave: https://ko-fi.com/Mamaweegee123
Support is completely optional, but every contribution helps fund development, testing hardware, and future features. And keeping my belly full :)
Thank you for checking out MediaWave!
NO copyrighted media is included with MediaWave 2000. Users must supply their own legally obtained media files. Pwease >.<
Tune in. Sit back. There's always something on.
