On a local network, nothing will transcode with a PC/Mac client, nor anything a device supports (and everything does h264 these days, and most do XviD). It remuxes if it has to but leaves the streams alone. Also over a local network the transcoding can have a huge bitrate and look fine. Admittedly it requires a beefy server. Remote streaming obviously gets a lower bitrate but you're trading quality for quantity with the ability to browse terabytes of media.
Look, I'm aware it isn't for everyone. I'm not going to respond to everyone here, but I guess "I know it's the best solution for many people" wasn't a good enough disclaimer.
I have to think that while something like Plex would be better for a lot of people, XBMC still gets used on name recognition alone. If you have more than one device that you watch media on (TVs, Roku, tablets, phones, whatever) why wouldn't you want a central server managing the library, downloading metadata, saving watched flags, holding resume times, and serving up video to the devices? I turned a friend on to Plex from XBMC and he's amazed at how often he stops watching in one room and resumes in another. I love it too. I can't count the times that I've started watching something on the iPad in the kitchen while cleaning up and then going into the bedroom to finish on the TV. That's a way bigger feature to me than getting "the real deal" running everywhere I need it.
The people above wanting this for Google TV...check out Plex, it may be exactly what you're looking for.
Sorry to not gush for XBMC, I know it's the best solution for many people and I truly appreciate the heritage and the fact that it's the foundation for Plex, but until they have a centralized server (if ever), I can't even consider it for myself. And no I'm not going to jump through hoops to get it.
I think Microsoft is just sitting back waiting until Windows 8 comes out. Most people will learn about the new Windows and Metro no matter what, then they just have to be shown the phone that works like what they [now] already know (and, for Microsoft's sake, hopefully like).
While I think they should have both, consider this a failing of all other manufacturers not standardizing on a common port to compete with the iPod dock. The fact that I plug one wire into my iPod in the car and get audio, power, and control is a beautiful thing. Maybe there's a chance now with Micro USB becoming standard. The iPod dock and the consistency it provides accessory manufacturers is a huge advantage for Apple.
Also remember that we're coming up on 4 years since the iPhone came out and was ridiculed for not supporting Flash. 4 years of vastly increasing mobile computing power and memory. 4 years for Adobe to get its act together. 4 years to see why HTML5 video and animation is important.
4 years. If this is what we're seeing now, just imagine what Jobs was shown way back when the decision was made.
Oh I know, and it may just be familiarity at this point but I still prefer Firebug. I'd rate Firebug a 9, Webkit tools 7 or 8, and IE9 a 4...not good but not completely useless like it used to be. At least there's a lifeline for those IE specific issues. Eh, maybe a 5, the script debugger is greatly improved and the network tools may actually be the best.
I'll pretend you didn't say anything about needing Expressions or Dreamweaver and recommend Firebug for playing with CSS on the fly. I've moved to Chrome for my personal browsing but it'll be a while before I use anything but Firefox for my main development work.
I'm so glad the IE team made the decision not to worry about the ACID test. It's only PR for geeks who'd rather care about a single number than attempt to judge on real world use.
IE9 is a solid browser which will of course fall behind with the slow IE dev cycle. But if they keep the pace from IE7 through IE9, IE10 will blow the others away.
What about libraries far larger than 32GB, or even a TB? How about the fact that you could start watching a video on your iDevice and then pick up where you left off on your Mac automatically? Still fucked up?
That's right. It wasn't until the memory expansion pack came out (4MB!) that games attempted 640x480...like Turok 2 and Perfect Dark of the top of my head. Pretty much destroyed the framerate in PD though, which wasn't that great to begin with. (On a side note the XBLA port rocks!)
Think Mac Minis or Nano-ITX boards. You could make a damn small box which for many (most?) people is more desirable than expansion room. The case could also be dead simple with the most complicated thing being the holes to attach the board.
The problem is it isn't just manufacturers looking for cheaper labor and then shipping their product right back to us. It's companies exporting to other countries who need a local presence.
Sure, if you'd like, leave the tinfoil hat on. I'm happy to provide data to MS (well, I would be if I used IE). I've become very interested in usability so it makes me jealous to read about all of the data they get to make decisions with. Just read this blog entry and look at all of the percentages they know about real world usage and how they used that for the IE9 UI overhaul.
A few examples:
over 97% of IE sessions have 5 or fewer tabs
54% of people have 2 or fewer items on their Favorites bar (we ship with 2 by default)
The most commonly used item in the Status bar was “Select Preset Zoom” used by 1.6% of people
As a web developer, I'm happy to say that in my limited experience so far with the IE9 beta, MS *finally* got it right. Unfortunately it will still be years before the damage done by its predecessors is undone.
It's amazing how much of the geek community is completely at a loss for why Apple is so successful. Somehow it's impossible that the user experience they provide is what people want so it must be their marketing.
Slashdot Mirror
On a local network, nothing will transcode with a PC/Mac client, nor anything a device supports (and everything does h264 these days, and most do XviD). It remuxes if it has to but leaves the streams alone. Also over a local network the transcoding can have a huge bitrate and look fine. Admittedly it requires a beefy server. Remote streaming obviously gets a lower bitrate but you're trading quality for quantity with the ability to browse terabytes of media.
Look, I'm aware it isn't for everyone. I'm not going to respond to everyone here, but I guess "I know it's the best solution for many people" wasn't a good enough disclaimer.
I have to think that while something like Plex would be better for a lot of people, XBMC still gets used on name recognition alone. If you have more than one device that you watch media on (TVs, Roku, tablets, phones, whatever) why wouldn't you want a central server managing the library, downloading metadata, saving watched flags, holding resume times, and serving up video to the devices? I turned a friend on to Plex from XBMC and he's amazed at how often he stops watching in one room and resumes in another. I love it too. I can't count the times that I've started watching something on the iPad in the kitchen while cleaning up and then going into the bedroom to finish on the TV. That's a way bigger feature to me than getting "the real deal" running everywhere I need it.
The people above wanting this for Google TV...check out Plex, it may be exactly what you're looking for.
Sorry to not gush for XBMC, I know it's the best solution for many people and I truly appreciate the heritage and the fact that it's the foundation for Plex, but until they have a centralized server (if ever), I can't even consider it for myself. And no I'm not going to jump through hoops to get it.
I think Microsoft is just sitting back waiting until Windows 8 comes out. Most people will learn about the new Windows and Metro no matter what, then they just have to be shown the phone that works like what they [now] already know (and, for Microsoft's sake, hopefully like).
And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
http://www.aolnews.com/2010/03/09/petas-euthanasia-rates-have-critics-fuming/
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=peta+euthanasia
While I think they should have both, consider this a failing of all other manufacturers not standardizing on a common port to compete with the iPod dock. The fact that I plug one wire into my iPod in the car and get audio, power, and control is a beautiful thing. Maybe there's a chance now with Micro USB becoming standard. The iPod dock and the consistency it provides accessory manufacturers is a huge advantage for Apple.
Also remember that we're coming up on 4 years since the iPhone came out and was ridiculed for not supporting Flash. 4 years of vastly increasing mobile computing power and memory. 4 years for Adobe to get its act together. 4 years to see why HTML5 video and animation is important.
4 years. If this is what we're seeing now, just imagine what Jobs was shown way back when the decision was made.
Ah, the supply side fairy tale.
http://www.factcheck.org/taxes/supply-side_spin.html
Friggin' Unix, that do-nothing OS.
Oh I know, and it may just be familiarity at this point but I still prefer Firebug. I'd rate Firebug a 9, Webkit tools 7 or 8, and IE9 a 4...not good but not completely useless like it used to be. At least there's a lifeline for those IE specific issues. Eh, maybe a 5, the script debugger is greatly improved and the network tools may actually be the best.
I'll pretend you didn't say anything about needing Expressions or Dreamweaver and recommend Firebug for playing with CSS on the fly. I've moved to Chrome for my personal browsing but it'll be a while before I use anything but Firefox for my main development work.
I'm so glad the IE team made the decision not to worry about the ACID test. It's only PR for geeks who'd rather care about a single number than attempt to judge on real world use.
IE9 is a solid browser which will of course fall behind with the slow IE dev cycle. But if they keep the pace from IE7 through IE9, IE10 will blow the others away.
While the Green Party is interested in ecological issues, they are not really representative of the environmental "green" movement.
http://www.gp.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_of_the_United_States
Meanwhile the modern Constitutional Republic consists of 1 wolf and about 20 sheep voting to have lamb for dinner.
What about libraries far larger than 32GB, or even a TB? How about the fact that you could start watching a video on your iDevice and then pick up where you left off on your Mac automatically? Still fucked up?
That's right. It wasn't until the memory expansion pack came out (4MB!) that games attempted 640x480...like Turok 2 and Perfect Dark of the top of my head. Pretty much destroyed the framerate in PD though, which wasn't that great to begin with. (On a side note the XBLA port rocks!)
Think Mac Minis or Nano-ITX boards. You could make a damn small box which for many (most?) people is more desirable than expansion room. The case could also be dead simple with the most complicated thing being the holes to attach the board.
It's not Google Wave, it's Wuphf!!! (which coincidentally is what this week's Office episode is about) I hope I can link it to my fax machine.
It must be good if Slashdot felt the need to shit on it so quickly just because it's a Microsoft product.
Let's see what a site with quality editorial content says:
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/11/windows-phone-7-already-doomed-dont-let-early-sales-fool-you.ars
The problem is it isn't just manufacturers looking for cheaper labor and then shipping their product right back to us. It's companies exporting to other countries who need a local presence.
And Toyota and Honda assemble cars in the U.S. Sometimes you just gotta do stuff locally.
Sure, if you'd like, leave the tinfoil hat on. I'm happy to provide data to MS (well, I would be if I used IE). I've become very interested in usability so it makes me jealous to read about all of the data they get to make decisions with. Just read this blog entry and look at all of the percentages they know about real world usage and how they used that for the IE9 UI overhaul.
A few examples:
Yeah it's just begging for a backlit Apple logo on the roof, lighting up the sky like the Luxor.
As a web developer, I'm happy to say that in my limited experience so far with the IE9 beta, MS *finally* got it right. Unfortunately it will still be years before the damage done by its predecessors is undone.
It's amazing how much of the geek community is completely at a loss for why Apple is so successful. Somehow it's impossible that the user experience they provide is what people want so it must be their marketing.