Slashdot Mirror
XBMC V11 Eden Has Been Released
New submitter themib writes "After only two release candidates XBMC v11.0 Eden has been released. The latest version contains many updates and new features, including: Addon Rollbacks, Confluence improvements, Dirty region rendering, a new JPEG decoder, movie scraping, better network support, a new upgraded Weather service. This announcement also heralds the new XBMCbuntu Final."
I find it bizarre that iOS has a version of XBMC when it can only be run on jailbroken devices.
Meanwhile, Android devices, which actually compromise the majority of the market these days, could run XBMC out of the box with no modifications, and there seems to be zero interest in creating a version for Android. It would even be allowed on the official Android market.
Still, considering the heritage of the project, maybe this all makes sense....
It's eating up a lot more CPU than 10.1 did, and it's causing stutter in the same 1080p content that v10.1 played with no problem.
XBMC FAIL.
I'm not having these issues at all. Anonymous Coward FAIL?
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
I've tried a few versions of XBMC (and have 11 downloading in the background, just to take a look), and I never really understood the big deal about it.
With the original XBox, okay, cool, you had a fairly high-functionality networked media player running on a $99 console gaming system. Neat.
But on a modern PC? Running a variety of programs to handle each individual media type in a manner I prefer for them doesn't present any sort of burden to me or to the system. I have no real reason to stay within the context of a single program that can do-it-all - I just make a new desktop shortcut to my preferred handler of format-X, and bam, I have it always instantly available to me.
So tell me, Slashdot - What have I missed here that makes XBMC so impressive?
You're missing a wife. Because mine (despite having a masters in engineering and a CCIE) is completely unwilling to use a PC connected to our home theater. She wants to access media the same way she uses a DVR, and with the same remote. XBMC provides that experience. Plus it works with Airplay.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
It's not quite your stated ideal, but I'm happy with XBMC running on a rooted Apple TV. Cheap, easy and the videos look fantastic (without having to run iTunes or transcode anything!).
99% of my library is in MKV format, which WMC does not care for
Apparently, WMC as-shipped lacks MKV support (how dumb can MS get?), but it can be added later. Use this Google-obtained advice at your own risk, etc. Our media server is a Synology box which runs Linux and handles many formats.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
For the Metadata on movies and TV shows I've found a 3rd party tool works best. Ember is what I use and I really like it. there are others, you can find them in the 3rd party tools section of the XBMC forums. While you're at it check out Sickbeard, SABnzb, and maybe Couchpotato. There's another tool for music too but it's apparently not well supported and I've had no interest in it. The bitstreaming works on windows with the right build but honestly DTS is fine for me right now and I believe it will downsample THD etc. as needed.
Anyway, lots of good stuff out there for XBMC!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
I think the power of XBMC isn't in the default installation. It's in the streaming add-ons that are available.
I've got one installed called freecable. It lets me stream from any TV episode that's available on basically any TV show's website. ie: The official CBS website will stream episodes of CSI. On XBMC, I just go to Free Cable -> CBS -> CSI -> Full Episodes. My wife and I are seriously thinking of getting rid of our cable subscription completely. Haven't watched anything that wasn't streamed through XBMC in several months.
With XBMC v10, add-ons are easy to install and update, via repositories. v10 add-ons (and repositories) seem to be compatible with v11, so there's a lot out there already.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.