XBMC vs. The World?, looking for an Xbox/XBMC alternative

[doublejbass]

There have been other threads along these lines, but they usually sound more like "waaah waaah waaah please port XBMC to <x>." I'm looking for some guidance from people who have been around the block. Put simply, I love XBMC, I love its stability, mass amounts of codec support, and quality, and general sleekness. I download most of my video, and use it on a daily basis as a thin client video player.

Now, I'm also more than a bit of a fashionista, I suppose. I do NOT end up satisfied long-term with the external hardware of the XBox, the clunky physical design, and the noise production. It will be a big, big project, as nobody seems to make what I'm looking for, but it's of course possible to do heavy hardware modifications to my XBoxes with the following goals: silencing, size-reducing, improving visual design, and of course incorporating the various mods available (LCD, x3IR to enable remote turn-on).

My question is this...for what I use it for:

-Streaming many formats of video off of SMB fileshares (OSX or NAS-based, no Windows server)
-Streaming many formats of audio (Including NSF, SID, MOD) off of SMB fileshares, with a strong visualization engine
-Stable playback, malleable and customizable playback options (regarding resizing, navigation, subs, etc.)
-Generally sleek, stable GUI design, attractive and functional operation

I have no other needs out of my app, I don't care about TV playback, DVR functionality, etc. Do any NON-XBMC solutions (at ANY price) come even CLOSE to this app? From my initial survey, it does NOT look like that's something that anyone else has come close to what Team XBMC has achieved. I'm looking for some guidance before I sink considerable time, effort, and money into XBox hardware modifications and whipping it into shape, because naturally, the XBox does come with SOME internal hardware restrictions (HD video, x264 playback, etc.) that another app on a more open architecture would not encounter.

If this is not the proper forum, I apologize. If anyone has been around the block, I'd love to hear what your take on this is. Thanks!

[Gamester17]

No, at least not 'staight-out-of-the-box' so to speak. Closest I think you can come is by looking at HTPC (Home Theater PC) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Htpc) applications (running Windows or Linux on a x86 PC platform which can be/become expensive). You can probely tweak MediaPortal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaPortal) or MythTV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV) to do most of what XBMC can do, but some thing you won't be able to do with programming the features/functions yourself and adding it to the code, however if you're picky about having a sleek and stable interface then you probebly won't be satisfied with anyone of those two today (both are open source though and keep improving as the months/years goes by, just like XBMC). There are retail (closed source) alternativs to MediaPortal and MythTV that are probebely have more attactive and stable interfaces, (like ShowShifter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ShowShifter), SnapStream Beyond TV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SnapStream_Beyond_TV) and SageTV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SageTV)), but then you sacrifice the flexibility of open source applications/develpment, plus you will probebely not be able to get NSF, SID or MOD audio-files workning under their program.

This holds very true: "Because HTPCs are far from mainstream, a lot of the commonly used software is not user friendly in respect to the average computer user (difficult to set up, not necessarily difficult to use)"

[doublejbass]

Yeah, and it feels like most of the HTPC applications out there as you described are more designed as DVR applications than anything. That was the kind of input I was looking for. I'm not without knowledge (I have two CS degrees and a decent programming background) but that doesn't mean I want to use that expert knowledge to stream a video off of NAS. Thanks for the viewpoint, it's impressive that Team XBMC has been able to do what they have, I'm just kind of shocked that nobody else has come close.

[SleepyP]

it's mostly because the project has had a couple years to mature, and over that time various guys on the dev team have invested crazy many hours into it, as well as responded to feedback from the user community. a look at the changelog usually reveals new stuff appearing every couple days, but often i see stuff every few HOURS. these guys are amazing :)

[WeirdH]

As far as the casemodding goes (you're right, it IS clunky), have you seen sCAPe's work? IMO, it's pretty awesome... And sleek as well!

http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c188/sCAPe_XBOX/XBOX_Hifi_Media_Center/

[sCAPe]

As far as the casemodding goes (you're right, it IS clunky), have you seen sCAPe's work? IMO, it's pretty awesome... And sleek as well!

http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c188/sCAPe_XBOX/XBOX_Hifi_Media_Center/

Thanks mate! I appreciate your feedback! Thanks. :grin:

[Kevlar3D]

I have been using XBMC for the last few years and have been amazingly pleased with it. I had no need for anything else, xbmc is PERFECT... until... hdtv.

So i got my HDTV and the xbox displays xbmc fine at 1080i, no complaints but 1080i/720p content will not play. As i understand this is simply a limitation of the 733mhz celeron processor in the xbox.

I have tried all of the linux distros and have found nothing that works like xbmc. Freevo, mythtv, linuxmce etc etc. Xbmc is so easy to use, I programmed my RF remote to work with an IR flasher on the xbox remote control. The Xbox is totally integrated into my entertainment center. I want to move it to my den so it can stream disney movies all day long for the kids (no high def required). I understand XBMC is being ported to linux, eventually i will probably get an appletv and load xbmc on it- once the project gets to that point. But i need something that works as good as XBMC for an extra 3ghz p4 computer with dvi output.

So far the best candidate is Mediaportal... Anyone have any suggestions? I would prefer to stay away from windows based media centers, but i think this may be the only thing that will pass the "wife test" like xbmc has.

I do not PVR any shows or play any xbox games, the only purpose of XBMC in my house is to connect to my NAS and grab movies, pictures and mp3's.

Any suggestions? Thanks for your time

[jmarshall]

Oh, and XBMC is being ported to linux, so if you can wait a few months or so you can just use it there.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[houman]

I chose XBMC because the other media centers are not "matured" enough, sure they play h264 or 720p/1080p, but they miss mkv formats, and are not tuned correctly. I think right now the Tvix 4100/5100 are the best out there.

More info:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=39

[jozwikjp]

Hello,

I have been using XBMC for years.. And Love it..
I recently bought a giant hdtv and want to get more 1080P content..

So I bought a PS3.. So $500 bucks later Not really to my suprise it totally sucks. Even if there system did have good divx and xvid compatibility the user interface for it is horrible.. It takes forever to navigate to what you want.. I read on there forum people saying yeah it play EVERYTHING.. you just have to run it through tversity.. And trans code all your videos?? That sucks.. they quality is much worse your using a ton of resources on your server to play back video on a machine with 7 3 ghz cores?? That is just a recipe for SUCK. Or people say all you gotta do is re render the video in the right format again.. Who wants to do that pain in the ass.. You loose quality and it takes forever..

I have tested a other devices in the past and looked online at features and compatibility but nothing ever can do what XBMC does..

I don't understand why there is such a huge gap and why companies selling media playing devices can't just get it right and just make the crap work.

I think it would be sweet if XBMC could come up with a product with a good formfactor little media center.. It doesn't have to be a DVR just a media center with more powerful hardware then the xbox. It shouldn't have to be crazy hardware though enough to keep the price competitive.. It would be sweet.. And I would have everyone I know buy them.

[Gamester17]

I take it that you have not yet heard of XBMC for Linux (http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/?title=Linux_port_project)?, it is still in early pre-alpha development (so we not offer any end-user support for it yet) but if you are a bit tech savvy or willing to read and learn then with the help of other people in the same situation as yourself you can make it usable for you today already, ...we have a forum for it here => http://xbmc.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=52

PS! If course any company out there are free to use XBMC for Linux (http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/?title=Linux_port_project) as a base to build their own commercial media center product (as long as they follow the GPL licence making the XBMC code part of it open source). That company could sell the hardware preloaded with their derivitive package of XBMC and charge for port-sale support for their product. ...if however any company choose to do so we hope that they will contribue back to our XBMC community by submitting patches upstream to us of any new features/functions they may add. That is how a few companies uses MythTV in their commercial products.

[Broads]

I think jozwikjp, has a fine idea their,

I would love to upgrade my media center so that I can play in full HD.

The Xbox is getting dated and doesnt play HD too well.

What would be uber cool is a box that boots like xbox in 2seconds, ready to play.

I have been seriously contemplating unix but havent a clue on it, I can learn, but in the process I will get the wrong components, and spend over the odds, and in the end I guess unix is an OS and so, like windows will take an age to boot.. (probably remember I havent a clue about unix..)

So It would be a great idea if someone can build a small lightweight bit of hardware that runs xbmc from boot. I'd buy one for sure.


I would like to think a mini / nano ITX platform could handle it...

[rcrh]

While its well established that XMBC is THE BEST media player out there, I'm wondering what people think is the second best player.

When you consider all of the HD content floating around it makes me wonder if the Xbox hardware is simply getting too old.

So, if I want all of the glorious interface goodness of XBMC, all of the format choices of the XMBC, all of the SMB streaming goodness of XBMC, AND h264 (720p) output, where would you suggest I look?

Thanks in advance for your open-minded opinions.

[C-Quel]

2nd best = XBMC Linux :)
joint 2nd = XBMC OSX :)

[gzusrawx]

XBMC linux (even in it's current form it's far better than any alternative I can think of)

[topfs2]

I would have to say XBMC-Linux too :)

If you want a more "mature" product I'd say Windows MCE but it's main attraction is seamless TV support...

Other thing to check out is Elisa Media Center
http://elisa.fluendo.com/
Wich is kinf of neat, although xbmc-linux wins the fight.
The interface is much more polished in xbmc, you almost doesn't need the regular desktop environment.

[derchris]

Hi,

I was going to open a thread like this.
At the moment I'm more then happy with my Xbox and XBMC. There is nothing better then XBMC at the moment.
But as many many others I now have different need to an Media Center, which is HD content.
It doesn't have to be UltraHigh 1080i HDTV content.
I got some mp4s which the Xbox and XBMC are struggling to play.
So I'm on the lookout for an alternative. I heard that XBMC is currently in the make for Linux. What is the current state on that, is it usable?
Apart from that, does anybody know of any hardware solution which could act as a Media Center, but has almost the same functions as XBMC.
I heard of some Digital HD Receivers which all have some kind of Linux os on them, and they all play HD content, but you are almost on your own when you want to add stuff to it.
XBMC should partner up with some hardware manufacturer to build the next gen Media Center :)

[eduo]

Well. I mentioned this somewhere else. To me the solution is obvious:

Have XBMC run on embedded Linux, of a CramFS partition and able to talk with specialized media chips.

I have severa mediaplayer HD cases (like Freecom's Mediaplayer 350 WLAN). The interface in all these things is absolute crap. Always. Sometimes it's obvious they tried, unsucessfully, to make it better.

If XBMC ran in these platforms (fancy effects aside, might not be possible in these limited-cpu platforms) it would force those that chose to remain independent to at least match the features.

Newer multimedia HDs handle a slew of formats through specialized chips. They only lack a decent interface.

It's not like I care, since I can now run OSXBMC in my Mac Mini and, very probably, will be able to get an Apple TV with it soon.

[Avictus]

Has anyone ever tried MediaPortal? I tried MythTV for a bit, but it's horrible if you want non-geeks to able to use it without calling you at work every ten minutes to ask you questions about it. :)

After that, I tried MediaPortal, and I really liked it. The PC I was running it on died and I haven't replaced it yet. Now I'm going to give XBMC a shot. I don't have an HDTV so the XBox's lack of HD abilities doesn't really concern me.

I was under the impression (could be the wrong impression) that MediaPortal was a port of XBMC to Windows. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it.

[Nick8888]

Media Portal is based on a much earlier version of xbmc but is not very similar these days. I havent used media portal much but I dont think it even comes close to xbmc.

As for mythtv being hard to set up.. i installed mythbuntu control centre the other day and found it pretty simple. had a couple of channel scanning issues but nothing too hard to get past.

With the current work elupus is doing on mythtv integration into xbmc I dont think anything even comes close to xbmc on linux as a home theatre solution.

[Avictus]

I've always heard that XBMC was way ahead of MediaPortal, but I never had an Xbox. I just bought an Xbox last night along with an X3CE specifically for running XBMC. I'm really looking forward to it as I've heard nothing but good things about XBMC. The homebrew community is much larger than I thought (or at least used to be), with a lot of great software. I'm also looking forward to the N64 emulator. I thought I was going to have to give up emulating anything later than a SNES by moving to an Xbox.

I never said MythTV was hard to install. It just didn't work out as a great solution for use by non-geeks. I thought it was relatively easy to use, but technologically-challenged people who used it had a lot of difficulties with it. My wife wouldn't even bother with it while I was at work, because if she tried, she would inevitably end up calling me for help. That was a couple of years ago, so it has probably come a long way since then.

[Nick8888]

yeh i agree, i probably wouldnt use mythtv unless it was in a xbmc(ish) interface.

[lingenfr]

I have been running mythtv for a year or two. I am currently using mythbuntu. My wife is not a techie and she's got the hang of it. It took her a few weeks, but now she is hooked. I don't think myth is any harder than a tivo or any other pvr. I used gb-pvr on windows and have to say I liked it better for a single pc solution, but it is nothing compared to the ability to have a single (or multiple) backend and serve multiple frontends. I am currently using xbmcmythtv, but it is not quite wife-ready yet. I am hoping for better integration with xbmc as for the other functions it is great.

[jozwikjp]

Ok Just to jump back in this conversation..

I now own a vista media center.. Let me express. It like willingly bashing my head into a rough concrete wall over and over for 2 weeks now..

The main issue is the codec support.. Your mostly on your own ... .. mostly, You have to hunt down all the correct codec and correct versions of the codec to work best with your GPU and the best drivers for the codecs etc.. I consider myself to be quite tech savvy, modded plenty of tivo dtivos xboxs etc.. But after two weeks of trying to find the right codecs that support hardware acceleration I am still stuck.

It makes me feel bad when people actually pay money for software that is majorly advertised and promoted to due a job. Just to find the software is only mostly done, the end user is responsible for hunting down all the right codecs. They even have that on there support sites..

Another bitch.. Why do I need a full bloated OS in order for this hardware to run like a media center. Vista is a huge hog. They should over a media center only installation that will boot and run faster..

Oh on top of all my bitching the thing is still less reliable then my xbox I constantly have to restart the WMC program.. It may or may not record what I have scheduled..

So In total I have under my TV

-1 HTPC
-1 PS3
-1 XBMC

All working together trying to get me my HD pr0n damnit!!

[griffore]

So In total I have under my TV

-1 HTPC
-1 PS3
-1 XBMC

All working together trying to get me my HD pr0n damnit!!

Why not add a mac mini running XBMC? Looks good and runs almost anything you throw at it.

[jozwikjp]

Why not add a mac mini running XBMC? Looks good and runs almost anything you throw at it.

I just read about the Mac XBMC stuff today..
Are you using it?
Do you have to install any codecs?
Will it play some 1080P h.264 MKV action?

If so I would totally switch but not before I ebay off some of this junk..

[griffore]

i have it running on my imac.

check www.osxbmc.com to keep up to date on the effort

[ChoccyHobNob]

I have it running on my iMac and My MacBook. I will soon be retiring my xbox and replacing it with a mac mini, its very close to being as solid as the xbox version and handles mkv files that even vlc stutters over.

[dephyre]

Why not add a mac mini running XBMC? Looks good and runs almost anything you throw at it.

Actually I was wondering, how well would XBMC run on the PS3 (in ubuntu)? That might be best solution HD wise.

[j0nz]

I have run an htpc for a few years not starting out with meedio and then media-portal (http://www.team-mediaportal.com) and lately xbmc and this is what I think.....

#1 requirement, for any HTPC/media player is stability - without it being 100% (or close to) stable then you have nothing. One of the RC of media portal has some serious stability issues (now resolved with the latest version) but without stability you have noting.

Currently I have both a mediaportal and XBMC boxes for different reasons as listed below


Media portal connected to a projector
Watching / recording Live TV


XBMC connected to a standard CRT TV
Simple to connect to a std TV
Easy to take to another location (on holiday with the kids)
Can be noisy (but so can the PC)
Super quick startup