While we are moving quickly to get new features into 11.0, the time has come for a maintenance release for Dharma. We recommend that all users update to 10.1 as soon as possible to increase stability.

The main focus of this release is to address a bug that could cause XBMC to freeze when updating a skin. We have held back skin updates from the main repository because of this, but now that it is fixed, they will begin rolling out in a few weeks.

This is intended as a bug-fix release only, no new features have been introduced. Notable fixes include:

• If an in-use skin was updated in Windows, XBMC would freeze
• Some RTMP streams in Windows did not play
• Included add-ons have been updated
• The correct referrer is now used for downloading add-ons, improving dependency statistics
• Crashes during playback on ATI hardware in some circumstances have been fixed
• Hardware decoding improvements for OSX
• Various small fixes

In addition, XBMC Live has been updated with the most recent packages, one of which includes a fix for the annoying SMB+Windows Live Essentials bug.

Those interested may check out the full changelog.

Updating

Windows and OSX users should download and install as usual, all user data will be kept intact.

Ubuntu and XBMC Live users can use ‘apt-get update && apt-get install xbmc’ to update.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the last post. Apparently there’s enough interest to justify some technical ramblings every now and then. As promised, here is a follow-up to address the popular questions and comments. Next up after SCALE will be a few words about add-on stats. Read more…

I promised an update a few weeks ago and here it is. Better late than never! There’s lots to discuss about what’s going on with XBMC development work. So how about this.. I’ll provide an overview as to what’s in the works, then respond to any questions/comments in a follow-up post. This information is aimed at our more technical users interested in the bleeding edge, so if you’re not interested in development, you may want to sit this one out. This is also a test-run for future posts. In the past, I have avoided writing technically as much as possible because it may not interest many of our readers. If there is a demand for more, we’ll make it a regular thing.
Read more…

We expected a good amount of interest from the last post, but the response was overwhelming.

As a result, we have been hard at work fixing bugs and adding missing features from the first release. So here it is, v2 of XBMC for your AppleTV2/iDevices.

Update: A last-minute build-bug caused the SMB+Live Essentials fix to be left out. This is fixed now, users still experiencing this bug should update to get the fix.

Changelog:

• GUI speedup
• Webserver enabled
• RTMP support
• AC3/DTS Audio Dialogs
• Rotating for the iPhone and iPad
• Black and Dim screensavers working
• Bluetooth Support
• SMB shares with Windows Live Essentials should work.
• Sleep timer works
• Add-on updates now working
• Decrypted ISO playback works
• Thumbnail creation fixed

This question of 1080p display has come up very often, so here’s the answer: XBMC can decode 1080p video but for now the ATV2 is limited to display 720p output. Its still unknown whether this is a hardware or software restriction.

For more FAQ see this page.

Update Instructions:

AppleTV2: Connect via SSH in and run “apt-get update && apt-get install org.xbmc.xbmc-atv2′”

iOS: Upgrade through Cydia.

The XBMC developers are hard at work on non-apple related features as well, expect a post in the next day or two outline what else we’ve been doing.

The XBMC team is proud to present our first ARM-based release, and it’s a big one. Scott Davilla, with the help of Edgar (gimli) Hucek and Zeljko (amet) Ametovic and several other developers and testers, is finally ready to pull the curtain off of his fun little secret.

You know that $99 tiny form-factor powerhouse that would be just perfect if it could only run XBMC? Now it can.
Or how about that iPad that is just begging to be used as a real portable media center? Now it can.
And while we’re at it, put your iPhone4 to work using XBMC as well. Why? Because we can.

These are not initial ports, and they are not early development snapshots. Here they are: full XBMC installs and source code, ready for consumption.

AppleTV2

This thing may fit in your pocket, but don’t underestimate its power. Unfortunately, it is seriously lacking in capability due to its limited feature-set revolving around rentals and iTunes. Where’s the fun in that?

iPad/iPhone4

What good is a tablet that makes you play by its rules? We at XBMC want our media our way.

Availability

As you might have guessed, you won’t be seeing XBMC in the app-store any time soon, since it directly competes with apple products. XBMC will only be installable for those of you with jailbroken devices. If that’s you, head to the wiki for instructions for the atv2 or ipad/iphone.

Update: There was a typo in Sigma’s press release and our resulting post. Their XBMC port was done on the SMP 8656 which supports Open GL ES.  GLES will also be supported on Sigma’s recently announced SMP 8910, so this may be a potential target for XBMC as well.

For those asking “Will a potential XBMC port be possible for my xyz Sigma-based device?”, it is only a possibility if GLES 2.0 is supported.

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For those who may have missed the previous post, Sigma Designs announced last week that they have begun work on porting XBMC to run on their next-generation SOCs, and showed off their nascent project at the 2011 CES. After meeting with a few Sigma employees, I wanted to give more detail into what is going on.

Sigma hired a 3rd party company to do their initial port, which is shown in the picture below. A proof-of-concept is up and running on their SMP8656, and while the GUI is choppy and playback is still not working, it is an impressive effort so far. There was a significant amount of interest in the port from CES attendees, who quickly appreciated XBMC’s rich experience compared to the user interfaces usually found on Sigma-based hardware.

Sigma has also expressed an interest in working directly with XBMC developers rather than using an outside company. This leads to the possibility of full-time XBMC devs, which would be a win for everyone involved. We are looking into our options. If the collaboration succeeds, it is quite possible that some turn-key XBMC solutions could be in the works in the not-so-distant future.

This is getting interesting!

To answer a few questions:

• The collaboration has just begun, the above is subject to change.
• Don’t expect to see a Sigma-based XBMC solution on shelves in the next few months. These things take time.
• The capabilities will depend on the SOC used, nothing is set in stone yet.
• Sigma takes the GPL seriously, as do we. We do not foresee any problems.
• XBMC may be launched as an application, or run as the main front-end, depending on what the vendor wants.

Today Sigma Designs announced(pdf) that they are working to bring XBMC to their popular line of system-on-a-chip models (their new SMP8656 in particular). For those not familiar with Sigma, they are a major player in the set-top box market and their SOCs are the heart of many products from Popcorn Hour and WDTV, as well as countless other consumer media devices

We believe this could lead to many interesting things for XBMC. Not only do we benefit from the source code from their port, but any company interested in developing hardware for XBMC now has another fine choice. Judging by the amount of times we’ve heard the question “does XBMC work on Sigma hardware?”, there is a great amount of interest.

A few of the XBMC developers, myself included, will be checking out their initial port first-hand at CES this week, as well as meeting with some of their developers and project managers. We will keep you updated as details emerge.