XBMC : Open Media Center

[Dark Star]

*www.imgx.org/files/17869_aw27o/XBMC_Logo.png​

XBMC (formerly named "Xbox Media Center") is a free and open source cross-platform media-player and entertainment hub. Initially created for the original Xbox game-console, though recently, the team behind XBMC development has ported the XBMC software to run natively under the Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating-systems. XBMC is the successor to the popular Xbox Media Player (XBMP) software.

It can play an entire spectrum of media formats and includes playlists, audio visualizations, slideshows, and weather forecast functions. XBMC has become a mature graphical user interface replacement for the original Xbox Dashboard, and it is currently also being ported to run natively under Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft

*www.imgx.org/thumbs/large/17871_tr4ml/xbmc_ubuntu.png​

Features

XBMC can be used to play/view all common multimedia formats. It can decode these in software and optionally pass-through AC3/DTS audio from movies directly to S/PDIF output to an external audio-amplifier/receiver.

Supported formats/codecs:

• Physical media: CDs, DVDs, Video CDs (including DVD-Video, VCD/SVCD and Audio-CD/CDDA)
• Container formats: AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, FLV, MKV, MOV, MP4, M4A, AAC, NUT, Ogg, OGM, RealMedia RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMVB, 3gp, VIVO, PVA, NUV, NSV, NSA, FLI, FLC, and DVR-MS (beta support)
• Video codecs: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (SP and ASP, including DivX, XviD, 3ivx, DV, H.263), MPEG-4 AVC (H.264, including Nero Digital), HuffYUV, Indeo, MJPEG, RealVideo, QuickTime, Sorenson, WMV, Cinepak,
• Audio codecs: AIFF, WAV/WAVE, MP2, MP3, AAC, AACplus, AC3, DTS, ALAC, AMR, FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE), RealAudio, SHN, WavPack, MPC/Musepack/Mpeg+, Speex, Vorbis and WMA.
• Digital picture/image formats: BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, MNG, ICO, PCX and Targa/TGA
• Subtitle formats: AQTitle, ASS/SSA, CC, JACOsub, MicroDVD, MPsub, OGM, PJS, RT, SMI, SRT, SUB, VOBsub, VPlayer

Video playback

XBMC uses two different multimedia player 'cores' for video-playback. The first is a ported version of the open source cross-platform player, MPlayer, which is known for playing practically all common media-formats. XBMC handles all codecs and containers normally supported by MPlayer (all FFmpeg supported codecs and also several external ones with the help of proprietary DLL-files.

*www.imgx.org/thumbs/large/17870_um5gq/XBMC_Main_Screen.png *www.imgx.org/thumbs/large/17872_hozka/XBMC.jpg *www.imgx.org/thumbs/large/17873_zqckj/xbmc_main_screenshot.jpg​

Gutsy Gibbon 7.10:

deb *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-gutsy/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-gutsy/ubuntu gutsy main

Hardy Heron 8.04:

deb *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-hardy/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-hardy/ubuntu hardy main

Unstable:

deb *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ubuntu gutsy main
deb *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ubuntu hardy main

SVN:

deb *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu gutsy main
deb *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src *ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc-svn/ubuntu hardy main

Home Page : XBMC //

 

[MetalheadGautham]

heard of it.

its this thing that can play any format under the sun.

it has nearly every thinkable feature

still it was restricted by Xbox developers.. such a-holes

Its based on popular decoding engines available today

 

[abhinandh]

was waithing for the linux port to get stabel.now...finally lemme test it.
EDIT: i cant try it cos no 64bit as of now.
and the wiki says that supported os in ubuntu only.(grr....as if it is the only distro in the world)

 

[Dark Star]

Yep even I am pretty much pissed ! Can't people create it multi distro capable !! Even after Ubuntu decreasing popularity people sticks to Ubuntu

*www.imgx.org/files/17874_pxwx6/FF1.jpg

 

[j1n M@tt]

ya people will always stick to Ubuntu wich hav a gud community support and easy of use......

 

[Pat]

Yep even I am pretty much pissed ! Can't people create it multi distro capable !! Even after Ubuntu decreasing popularity people sticks to Ubuntu

*www.imgx.org/files/17874_pxwx6/FF1.jpg

Distrowatch PHR DOES NOT indicate the popularity of a distro!
Like it or not, Ubuntu is the most popular linux distro till date!

 

[unni]

XBMC sounds great. Will definitely give a try. Can it be used with TV tuner cards?

 

[praka123]

why hate Ubuntu?because of Ubuntu ,Linux is spreading more!seriously!Ubuntu supports more hardware ,even some h/w manufacturers are noticing the popularity of this one distro.also deb+apt pwns every other distros!.

I think Hardy is not upto the mark though.

distros which should not be supported IMHO :
mint,ultimate edition etc.reason :it aint gonna help with all multimedia and restricted plugins installed.you have to first familiarize with Ubuntu and FOSS concept.

though I agree that ubuntu !=GNU/Linux.

there are other distros which too are good.but no one got the popularity of Ubuntu!reason -excellent support.

rpm distros are pita whatever you say!it takes more time to have it configured.also distros like mandriva,opensuse mess a lot with default UI features

Debian based distros are unmistakeably the best and easiest!

 

[MetalheadGautham]

why hate Ubuntu?because of Ubuntu ,Linux is spreading more!seriously!Ubuntu supports more hardware ,even some h/w manufacturers are noticing the popularity of this one distro.also deb+apt pwns every other distros!.

I think Hardy is not upto the mark though.

distros which should not be supported IMHO :
mint,ultimate edition etc.reason :it aint gonna help with all multimedia and restricted plugins installed.you have to first familiarize with Ubuntu and FOSS concept.

though I agree that ubuntu !=GNU/Linux.

there are other distros which too are good.but no one got the popularity of Ubuntu!reason -excellent support.

rpm distros are pita whatever you say!it takes more time to have it configured.also distros like mandriva,opensuse mess a lot with default UI features

Debian based distros are unmistakeably the best and easiest!

+1

Although I hafta say Mandriva is NOT bad. Its much much better than SuSE and Fedora. It is the best RPM based distro as its URPMI rocks and provides apt like functionality.

 

[infra_red_dude]

Been trying it out.. its been great.. I dunno whether its me or XBMC.. but I failed to find the navigation controls (play, stop, next, prev. etc.). Has a very professionally designed UI and effects.

Some screenshots (Warning - Each pic is about 400kB) :

*img357.imageshack.us/img357/5748/screenshot3mi2.th.png

*img515.imageshack.us/img515/3403/screenshot1dy1.th.png

*img357.imageshack.us/img357/2186/screenshotyj0.th.png

 

[CadCrazy]

Hmmm mac4lin 0.5 ????

 

[infra_red_dude]

Hmmm mac4lin 0.5 ????

Lol.. of all the things you noticed that??!!! Yeah.. thats Mac4Lin 1.0 Beta2 internal testing build (Short name, right??! )

 

[CadCrazy]

After ver 0.4 - straight to 1.0 ??
Screenshot dekhne ke bad to mujhe bhi chahiye hi chahiye (Kuch galat mat samajhna )

 

[NucleusKore]

Been trying it out.. its been great.. I dunno whether its me or XBMC.. but I failed to find the navigation controls (play, stop, next, prev. etc.).

When watching a movie if you click on the screen you get a control box, if you right click it disappears.

When playing mp3 I could only control by click and right click, no buttons.

Overall I did not like it, interface is too fluid and not user friendly, guess it's made to be operated with a game pad.

 

[infra_red_dude]

When playing mp3 I could only control by click and right click, no buttons.

Yep, thats what I was saying. Well the current version has gone thru a complete re-write, I think...

After ver 0.4 - straight to 1.0 ??
Screenshot dekhne ke bad to mujhe bhi chahiye hi chahiye (Kuch galat mat samajhna )

Yep! A quantum leap to ver.1.0

Lol.. wait for a few dayz...

 

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

why hate Ubuntu?because of Ubuntu ,Linux is spreading more!seriously!Ubuntu supports more hardware ,even some h/w manufacturers are noticing the popularity of this one distro.also deb+apt pwns every other distros!.

I think Hardy is not upto the mark though.

distros which should not be supported IMHO :
mint,ultimate edition etc.reason :it aint gonna help with all multimedia and restricted plugins installed.you have to first familiarize with Ubuntu and FOSS concept.

though I agree that ubuntu !=GNU/Linux.

there are other distros which too are good.but no one got the popularity of Ubuntu!reason -excellent support.

rpm distros are pita whatever you say!it takes more time to have it configured.also distros like mandriva,opensuse mess a lot with default UI features

Debian based distros are unmistakeably the best and easiest!

FOr the First time I agree with you Wholeheartedly Praka

 

[Dark Star]

@ Ani : Does this Media Center do full Screen or not /?

 

[infra_red_dude]

@ Ani : Does this Media Center do full Screen or not /?

Has the option.. but not tried it yet...

 

[MetalheadGautham]

FOr the First time I agree with you Wholeheartedly Praka

I am surprised you do.

Because firstly, RPM based distros are NOT bad. They are a great experience in themselves. Its in the RPM camp where all innovation takes place. Look at Fedora. Its RED HAT who does most of the dirty work on linux to make it more enterprise ready. You can always install apt/dpkg in Fedora and use it. Tonnes of work arounds exist to makr yum similar to apt-get, and most of them are worth the trouble.

Secondly, Mandriva is actually the BEST RPM based distro. It does not have dependency issues like Fedora since it uses the urpmi continer for rpm packages, and ensures apt like functionality. There is nothing wrong with giving a different menu, since users can always fallback to default.

Thirdly, I agree Ubuntu Ultimate Edition may not be upto it, but one can NEVER insult Linux Mint. Its not just Ubuntu + Codecs. If prakash wants to see "proper" mint, let him see the light edition. Linux Mint light vs Ubuntu Main will show that Linux Mint wins. Why ? Because its just easier to use, Feels more comfortable, and has an excellent set of themes. Its the greenish mint look, mint wallpapers, mint themes, mint menu and the mint tools that make linux mint what it is. Infact, after using lots of, and I mean lots of distros, I can safely say Mint appears to be the most friendly to use distro ever designed. In My Openion, linux mint is something like "the way ubuntu should have been".

And one must not forget that there DO exist other great desktop distros as well. Sidux is IMO the best desktop for a non beginner to intermediate stage user. PCLinuxOS is an excellent newbie distro, which is a classic example of a RED HAT based distro which uses .deb instead of .rpm . Slackware is the best example of linux at its sweet best. Vector Linux is the best light weight distro which still manages to offer great tools for nearly everything.

The reason many people like prakash (and me) are happy with debian sid is mainly this: Its pefect for lazy bones. Daily updates, everything automated, and a rolling release, so no need to use a CD to reinstall OS when new version comes out. And its light and has vast repositories. This makes it a perfect canditate for most people.

But, the fact still remains that "true" linux can't be experienced with anything ecept the hardcore category, which includes Crux, Arch, Gentoo, etc.


PS: WTH ? Am I writing a damn article here or what ?

 

[Zeeshan Quireshi]

I'm not saying i Hate RPM Based distros , just that i've got used to the dpkg/apt toolset and am confortable using it .