XBMC 12.0 'Frodo' Released: PVR-Support, HD Audio and More
fluor2 writes "Team XBMC have released XBMC 12 'Frodo.' Features for XBMC 12 include: HD audio support (including DTS-MA and Dolby True-HD) via the new XBMC AudioEngine (OS X/iOS not yet available), live TV and PVR support, h.264 10-bit (aka Hi10P), 64-bit support in OS X to match the 64-bit support in Linux, improved image support, support for the Raspberry Pi, initial support for the Android platform, improved AirPlay support across all platforms, improved controller support in Windows and Linux, advanced filtering in the library, video library tags to complement movie sets, advanced UPnP sharing, and more!"
..that haven't been working since at least RC2.
This annoys me because the interface is such a f*ck*rse to operate with the mouse.
It's OK Bender, there's no such thing as 2.
The live TV/PVR "functionality" is still dogshit, apparently shoehorned in at the last minute. I've used it with NPVR and MythTV backends and it doesn't do the most basic things like pause or rewind. Other than that it's lovely.
There is no genuinely free media player currently available, but from the options that are available, XBMC seems like a far more bloated option compared to good old mplayer.
Just look at the dependencies for the XBMC port on FreeBSD (`make pretty-print-run-depends-list pretty-print-build-depends-list -C /usr/ports/multimedia/xbmc`, with all `make config` flags disabled):
This port requires package(s) "aalib-1.4.r5_6 atk-2.0.1 avahi-app-0.6.29_3 bitstream-vera-1.10_5 boost-libs-1.48.0_2 ca_root_nss-3.14.1 cairo-1.10.2_5,2 cdparanoia-3.9.8_9 compositeproto-0.4.2 consolekit-0.4.3 curl-7.24.0_1 damageproto-1.2.1 dbus-1.4.14_4 dbus-glib-0.94 dmidecode-2.11 dri2proto-2.6 eggdbus-0.6_1 enca-1.13 encodings-1.0.4,1 expat-2.0.1_2 fixesproto-5.0 flac-1.2.1_3 font-bh-ttf-1.0.3 font-misc-ethiopic-1.0.3 font-misc-meltho-1.0.3 font-util-1.2.0 fontconfig-2.9.0,1 freeglut-2.8.0 freetype2-2.4.11 fribidi-0.19.2_1 gamin-0.1.10_4 gdbm-1.9.1 gdk-pixbuf-2.23.5_3 gettext-0.18.1.1 gio-fam-backend-2.28.8_1 glew-1.9.0 glib-2.28.8_5 gnome_subr-1.0 gobject-introspection-0.10.8_3 gtk-update-icon-cache-2.24.6_1 hal-0.5.14_20 hicolor-icon-theme-0.12 icu-50.1.1 inputproto-2.0.2 jasper-1.900.1_10 jbigkit-1.6 jpeg-8_4 kbproto-1.0.5 lame-3.99.5 lcms-1.19_1,1 libGL-7.6.1_2 libGLU-7.6.1_1 libICE-1.0.7,1 libSM-1.2.0,1 libX11-1.4.4,1 libXau-1.0.6 libXcomposite-0.4.3,1 libXcursor-1.1.12 libXdamage-1.1.3 libXdmcp-1.1.0 libXext-1.3.0_1,1 libXfixes-5.0 libXft-2.1.14 libXi-1.4.5,1 libXinerama-1.1.1,1 libXmu-1.1.0,1 libXp-1.0.1,1 libXrandr-1.3.2 libXrender-0.9.6 libXt-1.1.1,1 libXtst-1.2.0 libXxf86dga-1.1.2 libXxf86vm-1.1.1 libaacs-0.3.0 libass-0.10.1 libbluray-0.2.2,1 libcddb-1.3.2_1 libcdio-0.83_1 libdaemon-0.14 libdrm-2.4.17_1 libexecinfo-1.1_3 libffi-3.0.11 libfontenc-1.1.0 libgcrypt-1.5.0_1 libgpg-error-1.10 libiconv-1.14 libltdl-2.4.2 libmad-0.15.1b_2 libmicrohttpd-0.9.23 libmodplug-0.8.8.4 libmpeg2-0.5.1_1 libogg-1.3.0,4 libpciaccess-0.12.1 libplist-1.8 libpthread-stubs-0.3_3 libsamplerate-0.1.8_3 libsndfile-1.0.25_2 libssh-0.5.2 libvolume_id-0.81.1 libvorbis-1.3.3_1,3 libxcb-1.7 libxml2-2.7.8_5 lzo2-2.06 mesa-demos-7.6.1_1 mkfontdir-1.0.6 mkfontscale-1.0.9 mysql-client-5.5.29 ncurses-5.9_1 p5-Unicode-Map8-0.13 p5-Unicode-String-2.09 pango-1.28.4_1 pciids-20121208 pcre-8.32 perl-5.14.2_2 pixman-0.24.2 pkgconf-0.8.9 png-1.5.14 policykit-0.9_6 polkit-0.99 popt-1.16 printproto-1.0.5 py27-imaging-1.1.7_1 py27-sqlite3-2.7.3_2 py27-tkinter-2.7.3_3 python27-2.7.3_6 randrproto-1.3.2 recode-3.6_8 recordproto-1.14.1 renderproto-0.11.1 rtmpdump-2.4_1 samba34-libsmbclient-3.4.17 sdl-1.2.15_2,2 sdl_image-1.2.12_1 shared-mime-info-1.0_2 sqlite3-3.7.14.1 taglib-1.8 talloc-2.0.7 tcl-8.5.13 tcl-modules-8.5.13 tiff-4.0.3 tinyxml-2.6.2_1 tk-8.5.13 xcb-util-0.3.9_1,1 xcb-util-renderutil-0.3.8 xdpyinfo-1.3.0 xextproto-7.2.0 xf86dgaproto-2.1 xf86vidmodeproto-2.3.1 xineramaproto-1.2.1 xorg-fonts-truetype-7.5.1 xproto-7.0.22 yajl-2.0.4_1" to run.
This port requires package(s) "aalib-1.4.r5_6 atk-2.0.1 autoconf-2.69 autoconf-wrapper-20101119 automake-1.12.6 automake-wrapper-20101119 avahi-app-0.6.29_3 bitstream-vera-1.10_5 boost-libs-1.48.0_2 ca_root_nss-3.14.1 cairo-1.10.2_5,2 cdparanoia-3.9.8_9 cmake-2.8.9 cmake-modules-2.8.9 compositeproto-0.4.2 consolekit-0.4.3 cups-client-1.5.4 curl-7.24.0_1 damageproto-1.2.1 dbus-1.4.14_4 dbus-glib-0.94 dejavu-2.33 dmidecode-2.11 dri2proto-2.6 eggdbus-0.6_1 enca-1.13 encodings-1.0.4,1 expat-2.0.1_2 fixesproto-5.0 flac-1.2.1_3 font-bh-ttf-1.0.3 font-misc-ethiopic-1.0.3 font-misc-meltho-1.0.3 font-util-1.2.0 fontconfig-2.9.0,1 freetype2-2.4.11 fribidi-0.19.2_1 gamin-0.1.10_4 gawk-4.0.2 gdbm-1.9.1 gdk-pixbuf-2.23.5_3 gettext-0.18.1.1 gio-fam-backend-2.28.8_1 glew-1.9.0 glib-2.28.8_5 gmake-3.82_1 gnome_subr-1.0 gobject-introspection-0.10.8_3 gperf-3.0.3 gtk-2.24.6_2 gtk-update-icon-cache-2.24.6_1 hal-0.5.14_20 hicolor-icon-theme-0.12 icu-50.1.1 inputproto-2.0.2 jasper-1.900.1_10 java-zoneinfo-2012.j javavmwrapper-2.4_3 jbigkit-1.6 jpeg-8_4 kbproto-1.0.5 lame-3.99.5 lib
If you're forced to watch a lot of hi10p stuff (thanks, bandwagon-jumping fansub groups!) you may want to grab this patch:
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/2064
it enables multithreaded decoding of hi10p content (and *only* hi10p, it won't enable multithreading for anything else, where it could potentially be buggy). Since there's nothing at all capable of hardware decoding hi10p at present, this is a huge boon for those of us trying to watch HD hi10p files on little media server boxes. It takes typical hi10p files from 'visibly jerky' to 'nearly perfect' on my zotac box. OpenELEC 3.0 rc2 has this patch built in, as it comes from an openelec dev; other XBMC users might want to add it to their setups.
Even if it does run on Android, try not to get your Frodo mixed up with your Froyo. That never ends well.
...
Okay, unless you like short hairy people covered in yogurt. I guess i shouldn't judge.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Does this somehow get my MKV files on my computer to play on my TV? Lots of features, but lots of confusion as to what XMBC actually does, if you've never touched it before.
Morphing Software
Can someone explain why should we care about this profile?
From what I see there is no hardware decoding for it yet, so it doesn't seem like something I'd use for the moment. Is there anything that hi10p provides that the previous profile couldn't achieve with a slightly larger file size?
has anyone watched frodo (hobbit) using frodo(XMBC) on frodo(Android)?
Xmbc is lime Windows Media Cenyer Edition + Roku + a few other things. Comparing it to a command line player is just silly. That's like comparing a $2 million luxury RV to a bicycle.
mplayer is great. I use mplayer DAILY. It's in no way similar to XMBC though.
I really really wish they'd add some sort of functionality to separate the media server/player portion of XBMC from the front end, and allow you to run it as a service. I have a HTPC hooked up to my surround sound system, and I absolutely love the android XBMC app. It lets you browse the entire media library and queue up stuff, and even has album art and everything.
The only problem is, I have to turn on my TV, log in to my HTPC, start XBMC (or go to task manager, kill the process, then relaunch if XBMC has hung up like it seems to do 30% of the time), and then go to my ipad/android device to queue up music. I really don't even care about the PC interface, since as someone put it earlier, 'the interface is a f*ck*rse to use with a mouse'. Well, I mean I have an IR remote and everything, but the interface is still less than fun to putz around in from the couch.
The apps on a touchscreen though are stellar. if only I could run XBMC as a service and cut out 3-5 minutes of bullshit every time I want to play some tunes!
There is no marking as broken as a matter of course on version update as far as I can discern. If anything, the add-on would simply not be moved into the new versions repository - i.e. current users won't be affected, but it won't (initially) be available to new users until the author has tested and approved it for the new repository.
Youtube plugin is working fine in 12.0. The only issue I've experienced with XBMC's break/fix of plugins is that while you are alerted that a plugin as marked broken, there isn't a corresponding alert that it has been fixed.
Trying to become famous by taking photos. Visit my homepage please.
It always perplexed me why the standard XBMC release has taken 12 major versions spread over a decade before the media centre software included any support for TV viewing/recording at all. From what I can see, pretty well every other media centre software supports that, so to miss it out for so long made it hard to recommend XBMC to people who wanted a single setup for all their media needs.
Yes, I know the Live TV/PVR functionality was available as an extra install prior to XBMC 12 and I must give a shout out to Pulse-Eight here, who nicely packaged up XBMC with the Live TV/PVR stuff included for pre-12 versions, though of course I guess they won't be needed for version 12 onwards now.
However, the fact that you had to go outside of xbmc.org for what many might think should be core functionality probably meant that not a lot of people have considered XBMC as a replacement for their DVR until this version 12 release. Personally, I use tvheadend for my backend which is turning out to be quite a slick Web interface (though I wish it had guided wizards to make the setup flow more obvious). I still think Web interfaces are the way to go for initial setup and EPG use - it allows you to use any Net-connected device to manage your PVR setup.
Frodo was the nickname of one of the developers who started XBMC.
Pulseaudio works fine on Fedora.
What you should have said was the pulse doesn't work on YOUR hardware for YOU.
When I tried XBMC about a year ago, there were numerous problems. There was problems with the packages not working with the most recent version of Ubuntu. After the install, there was random seg faults throughout the UI, involving everything from playing video to navigating the UI to indexing video files. There was also the huge issue of it not recognizing more than 75% of my library, and then the 25% of the library that it did "recognize", it mislabeled about 75% of that as well. So then there is the issue of the content that it did correctly identify (about 10% of my library) alot of that content would not render using their playing tool. After about a day of playing with it, I uninstalled it. I tried another solution called "Boxee" and found the same class of problems exist with it too.
I will say that in the span of two days I wrote an indexer to scan my 20TB library, put the files into a mysql database, and then wrote a front end for it (all in PHP), which then I can use to one-click pop mplayer fullscreen (in -slave mode), and it also does the same with Youtube videos (using Chrome with fullscreen options, and youtube-dl to queue / download the video files and add them to my library). It has a lot of other features, but I will say that is a lot faster to find my actual content, and does not attempt to mislabel anything, and in the end I have a pretty scalable solution.
Just another reason I wish cable cards were more widely used. XBMC, MythTV, UbuntuTV and handful of other programs support live TV and cable cards that have a much better interface than the cable boxes given out by cable providers.
I installed the RC3 version a few weeks ago and been pleased with it. I have a stand alone MythTV backend and 2 frontends, so now I don't have to use Mythfrontend any more since LiveTV did not work unless it was a combo backend/frontend. I like how you can see what will be recorded next on the home screen, and I can make changes to the recording scedule which I cold not do in the Mythbox add-on.
But it is not perfect. Commercial skip does not work for MythTV recordings, and the system is very slow to get working when it first starts as it queries the MythTV backend which takes a few minutes for you can watch anything.
no
Pulseaudio is garbage and everyone knows it. To get sound to work right under Centos the first lines of the instructions where how to disable and remove pulseaudio. After that all my audio problems went away.
The real quesion and mystery is why distrubutions still use it at all.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
I've lost count of how many luxury RV's I have seen stuck in my cities eternal traffic jams as I cycle past.
"Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
I've completely uninstalled Pulse with all XBMC Linux installs. If you just want a dumb HTPC box get OpenELEC which is a distro built from the ground up just to run XBMC.
Sure, most of the time I like small things, especially small, dedicated single purpose software that does one thing well. I watch all of my porn with mplayer. For the home entertainment system, though, scheduling TV recordings, etc., clicking a the menu an integrated suite is much nicer.
Pulseaudio is garbage and everyone knows it.
Who is this "everyone" you speak of? As I said, I use Fedora, and I"ve been using pulse since I started using it. Not had much trouble with it, in fact they've fixed stuff that didn't use to work:
1. HDMI Audio, when I first started using it, I had to manually set up which HDMI output for pulse to use (a la 1:3, 1:5, 1:7), now that's fixed, it's automatic now.
2. Switching ouputs on the fly works properly now. For example if I'm running an application, I can switch it from HDMI out to Analog audio on the fly. That didn't use to work properly and you had to restart the application.
To get sound to work right under Centos the first lines of the instructions where how to disable and remove pulseaudio.
WHAT instructions from WHOM? There are some cranks out there who have an unjustified hate for pulseaudio, often because they only tried it when it was new, untested and needed work and have been using alsa for so long they don't understand anything else.
Need I remind you that CentOS is using older packages than Fedora and thusly would not be benefitting from any recent fixes. With pulse I can have multiple applications use sound and route them as I please. And if one must be s stickler for alsa, pulseaudio emulates it/provides a compatibility layer.
I can't stand Gnome3 or Unity myself, but they actually "might" be perfectly usable and intuitive desktops environments for some.
Well from what I've read the latest incanation of Fedora is garbage too. So since only you seem to disagree with me. Pulseaudio is still garbage and should have been abandoned long ago.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification