Look to the download page for the good stuff. We wish to thank our community for helping to make XBMC what it is. Several new skins and plugins have been created since Babylon, be sure to check them out as well.

For the developers, this is where the fun starts. To quote the great Linus Torvalds, “A release is not so much of a birth of a new version, it’s more of a laying-to-rest of an old one. It’s also an end to a fairly quiet period.” It’s now open-season for us to start looking forward and begin merging in all those new features that have been brewing. Enjoy our latest offering as we get back to work!

As a brief aside, we’re looking to recruit a talented web developer as well as a graphics designer for a few future endeavors. If you’re interested in more detail and have serious skills (no weekend warriors please), drop us a line.

Update: It looks like there’s a problem with the live installer causing installation to fail. Please hold tight while we look into it.

Update #2: Turns out the live issue was brought on by a last-minute upstream change.  We’ll get this fixed ASAP, though due to the holidays, we ask for your patience.

Update #3: Download links updated for 9.11 repack. Installer should now work correctly.

Read on for the condensed changelog:

GUI:

Improved XBMC GUI Skinning Framework making it even more flexible and powerful
Powerbutton follows “shutdown function” in settings/system/power saving
Updated translations for most languages (help is always wanted with translation)
Skinnable Weather Plugin API enabling third-party Weather Plugins (Python Scripts)
Edit button for RSS feeds in settings, (needs RssTicker script installed, see SCRIPTS section below)
New screensaver option to turn off the screen (using VESA DPMS)
Always On Top option to advancedsettings.xml when XBMC runs in Windowed Mode
Better support for multi-monitor setups
Settings have been re-organized and cleaned up to sync with new features

Playback:

High Definition, Surround Sound, and Subtitle Flagging and Filtering in Video Library
Added support for SingStar and UltraStar Karaoke Lyrics Format
Updated FFmpeg (libavformat and libavcodec) audio/video codec and demux library
Speed up RAW image loading and handle more file extensions
Implemented better WAV/PCM handling on 64-bit operating-systems
Added support for additional tags in CUE sheets (Genre/Year)
Added support for MPL2 (Blu-ray) subtitles format
Added support forVPlayer subtitles format (which unfortunately is still in use)
Added support for RTMP (Flash) live video streams, plus skip, pause, and resume feature
Added proper MMS/MMSH streaming client (libmms) support
Added audio and subtitle delay pop-up to the GUI (similar to volume control)
Improved Commercial Skipping, EDL (Edit Decision List), and SceneMarker support
Options for smoother video playback (syncing the video to the refresh rate of the display)
Smart Playlists support for video resolution, aspect-ratio, codec, audio, and subtitles
Extension of ExternalPlayer enabling multiple external players based on file-extension
Added overlay renderer for dvd/vobsub/xsub

Library:

Performance improvements to SQLite (database) queries (help is always wanted here)
Support for movie sets and a sortorder tag in the Video Library
UPnP MediaServer compliant with DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standards
Ability to view pictures over UPnP in XBMC, also loads of fixes to the UPnP library
Added scan for new content command to HTTP API, extended XBMC.updatelibrary call
Reorganized MythTV directory structure to separate TV Shows from Movies
Support importing MythTV movies into the Movies Library (including scraping)
Added support local actor thumbnails (store as actor_name.tbn under .actors directory)
Scrape studio info for TV Show/Season/Episode, info is available via studio field item
Changed handling in Scrapers and NFO replacing «thumbs» with multiple «thumb»
Added library update on resume if we are coming from suspend/hibernate
Ability to scrape and scan TV Shows into the video library by air-date via TheTVDB.com

Scrapers:

TheMovieDB.org (TMDB) movie scraper upgraded to version 2.1
Added Movie Trailer scraping from dtrailer.com to TheMovieDB.org scraper
TheTVDB.com TV Shows scraper scraper improvements and enhancements
MTV (Music Videos) scraper improvements and enhancements
New freebase music scraper (with Artist FanArt support via htbackdrops.com)
New Polish music scraper combining allmusic.com,merlin.pl, and lastfm.pl
New mymovies.dk (Multilanguage) movie scraper (*commercial)
New fdb.pl (Polish) movie scraper
New cinefacts.de (German) movie scraper
New filmdelta.se (Swedish) movie scraper
New world-art.ru (Russian) movie scraper
Updated imdb.cn (Chinese) movie scraper
New cine-passion (French/English) movie scraper
Fixes and additions for the mymovies.xml scraper

Skins:

Confluence is the new default
PM3.HD set to secondary
Removed legacy PM III (farewell old friend)

Windows-Specific:

Changed from Open GL to DirectX for GUI and video rendering.
Added Crash Dump for Windows
Support Milkdrop visualizations

Linux-Specific:

Added support for Debian building and packaging to the XBMC SVN
External libraries options when compiling XBMC for Linux making it more distro agnostic
Support for PPC (PowerPC) processors in XBMC for Linux (OpenGL support required)
Avahi Zeroconf (Zero Configuration Networking) for XBMC webserver
Added DeviceKit.Disks integration
Added DeviceKit.Power and ConsoleKit.Manager integration

OS X Specific:

Logitech Harmony Universal Remote support
Added support for CoreAudio API and removed the PortAudio API code
AC3 and DTS digital audio pass-through to SP/DIF on Apple TV (thanks to CoreAudio)
Support for running external Applescripts
Support for command-tab application switching
support for OS X Spaces (virtual desktops)

Live-Specific:

New installer with disk partitioning support, network setup and language selection
Uses Beatzeps08’s variation of duduke’s great “spinner black” usplash theme! Thanks Beatzeps08!!
Based on Ubuntu Karmic
NVIDIA drivers: 190.53 (VDPAU included on supported GPUs)
ATI/AMD drivers: Catalyst 9.11
Includes the magic tvheadend package, which brings live TV in XBMCLive
The plugin “SVN Repo Installer” is also included, thus installing new scripts/plugins/skins will be easier

The same speech still applies; we’re still looking for quality bug reports and good translations. Also please use the proper channels if you wish to be helped, not the comments below.

See the download page for RC1.

As always, head on over to the download page for the latest and greatest. The Ubuntu PPAs will be updated soon. Give it a go, and be sure to submit quality bug reports if you have any issues. Also, please keep great the translations coming!

Please Note: The comment section below is NOT a support forum. You are welcome to voice your concerns here but please use the proper channels if you wish to be helped.

A ‘Confluence’ is the coming together of many things into one point, and the skin lives up to that for sure. Jezz_X started it as a progression of his MediaStream_Redux, but it has evolved into something entirely different from its origins. You’ll surely notice that it shares a home-screen ‘blade’ with MediaStream, a settings screen feel with Aeon, views from many other skins, etc. In short, he’s used ideas from existing skins to make a coherent amalgamation that is both sexy and easy to use. Feel free to visit the gallery for screenshots or the forum to discuss the skin.

Confluence 'Fanart' View

Soft String Freeze

Also for this release, the settings cleanup is in the final stages. For the most part, we’ve reorganized and renamed everything that needed attention. All that’s left now is the finishing touches. As a result, you may notice that some of your settings have reverted to the new defaults. Please double-check this before submitting bug reports.

While strings are not completely frozen yet, we ask at this time that translators begin submitting their translations, paying special attention to the settings and Confluence. There should be no new strings and no drastic changes from here on out, only tweaks where they are needed.

Skin Freeze

We’re introducing a skin freeze for this release in an effort to improve the experience of users and alleviate some of the stress for skinners. From this point on, the XBMC skinning engine should be considered frozen, meaning that only bugfixes will be committed. We ask that all skinners take this opportunity to be sure that your skins work with Beta1. Starting with Camelot, the skin gallery will reflect the skins that work in the current STABLE version of XBMC. If skinners wish to link to skins that work on unstable versions of XBMC, they should make the distinction VERY clear on their skin page and optimally link to their forum for all necessary information. We hope that this will help to clear the confusion for the many casual users of XBMC who don’t visit the forum, but want to see the skins that will work in the latest stable version.

Downloads

As always, head to the download page for the latest stable and pre-release versions. Update: All versions should be up and in working order now. There was a packaging accident which disabled vdpau in linux builds. This has been fixed, and PPAs and Live builds are now ready.

Thank you to all of you who reported quality bug reports, we closed a whopping 103 tickets between the version tags!

Please keep in mind that this is an early alpha build, and it should be treated as such. While it’s not likely to burn your house down or eat your pets, it’s likely that testers will run into a few bugs. If this happens, please search TRAC to see if someone else has already reported it. If not, you may submit a QUALITY bug report. Keep in mind that the reason for releasing alphas/betas is so that we can get a better feel for what bugs are out there. If you don’t report them, we can’t fix them.

We are also still working hard to clean up the settings. Many useless ones have been removed, but there’s still quite a bit of rearranging to do.

There are a host of new features in this release, far too many to list here. The highlights are:

• DirectX has replaced OpenGL for Windows
• Numerous skinning engine updates which allow for use of some fancy new skins
• Many improvements to the video player which allow for much smoother playback
• Switch to Core Audio on OSX
• Many VDPAU improvements under linux
• Many platform-specific customizations
• Much Much more. We will be showcasing the new features here on xbmc.org as the final release approaches.

Known Issues

• Windows: DirectX runtime and Visual C++ 2008 runtime(x86/x64) are required. The installer will be updated to check for these.
• Windows: ‘Windowed’ shortcut opens in full screen
• Windows: Non-functional brightness/contrast
• Windows: Discs inserted before XBMC is launched may not appear correctly
• Windows: Some videos may not play back as smoothly as on other platforms
• Linux: VDPAU de-interlacing is known to be broken

Note: Many of these problems have already been fixed since the alpha1 tag and should be resolved in the next testing release.

Download

If you like living on the edge and would like to try the alpha, head over to our download page. You will always find the most current official builds there. AppleTV users may update via launcher’s downloads.

Update: The Ubuntu PPA and XBMC Live are now up.

Builders, packagers, maintainers take note

The main development path has changed to:  https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/trunk/

If you already have xbmc checked out it’s easy to switch.

Using the svn cli:  ’svn switch https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/trunk’

Using TortoiseSVN:  TortoiseSVN -> Switch -> update the url

If you manage to wreck your repo, just do a fresh checkout and you’ll be building again in no time.

XBOX development will now take place in its own branch. To grab it, checkout: https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/branches/xbox

It’s still a work in progress, but we’re hoping to make this a portal for all things XBMC. In the past it’s been difficult for our users to keep up with the fast-paced development of XBMC as well as the skins, plugins, and everything else that goes with it. As a result we’ve added some new features to help mitigate some of those problems. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Blog-style layout. We’ve been working hard lately to deliver news on the website, but with the old layout it was hard to see. Now the latest news will be staring you in the face, and there should be lots more of it.
• Skin Galleries.  With any luck this will be a radical change for anyone looking for the latest skins. Find out more below.
• Hall Of Fame. This is a place to show off your HTPC. Some people have a hard time imagining a computer in their living room or media room, help us prove to them how great it can be.
• News Submissions. Because we can’t see everything that goes on, if something slips through the cracks you can let us know.
• Skin Blog. Now the skinners have a platform to deliver their latest updates and ramblings. We will make this more integrated and easier to find very soon.

So what’s going to keep these pages from getting just as stale as the old site? The answer is: the community. The best part about the Skin Galleries and the Skin Blog is that the skinners can maintain them themselves. In the past a skin release, for example, has been a chaotic mess of forum posts, sticky announcements, redundant questions and answers, on and on. Our hope is that now a similar release will work something like this: the skinner updates his gallery (pictures, changelog, faq, etc), posts an announcement on the blog about the new release, then heads to the forum for discussion. Because all relevant information is in one place, there’s no need to ask “where’s the download link?” or “what’s changed?”. Now, if you want to see the latest and greatest, just head to http://xbmc.org and take a look. If you’re looking for a discussion, jump over to the forums. So far most of the skinners are on board with the change, and welcome the organization.

Please enjoy the new site and take advantage of the new features (that goes for the skinners as well) but be aware that a few issues are bound to crop up. Everything should have transfered from the old site with the exception of comments made after the final export. Sorry about those, but they’re gone forever.

Please don’t hammer us with requests for changes or fixes, we’ll take care of any issues as quickly as possible.

Please bear with us and our growing pains. The changes should be worth it…

Update: Done!

Yuvalt and elisemory (from boxee) have been hard at work abstracting a few of XBMC’s subsystems (rendering, windowing, input) in order to improve performance on all platforms and make the code easier to work with.

So far work has taken place in a separate branch but in the coming days/weeks the changes will be merged into the main branch. This may mean significant breakage for a little while both in compiling and in running, so don’t be alarmed, and please PLEASE be patient. There’s no need to report build or runtime errors due to this merge. Keep in mind, if it doesn’t build, or if the core functionality is broken, we already know. For those of you who do nightly builds, please take a break for a few days after the merge.

It may take a few days or weeks to settle down, but when the dust settles we’ll have a much simplified codebase that opens the door to fun things in the future.