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) applications (running Windows or Linux on a x86 PC platform which can be/become expensive). You can probely tweak MediaPortal or 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, SnapStream Beyond TV and 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/c1..._Media_Center/

[sCAPe]

Originally Posted by 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/c1..._Media_Center/

Thanks mate! I appreciate your feedback! Thanks.

[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.