XBMC August 2012 Cycle
As mentioned previously, we have now moved into a monthly development cycle, in which we merge new features at the beginning of the month and then perform bug fixes through the rest of the month. This means, at the end of every month, developers, bug-reporters, and those willing to deal with potentially highly unstable builds can try a snapshot from the current development cycle, and the organization, in turn, will have a more stable and predictable development process. For those of you who would prefer a stable version of XBMC, we will always recommend the most recent stable release (XBMC 11.0), but for the brave, you are welcome to try the end of the month build. To give an idea of just how unstable/alpha these builds can be, there will almost certainly be months in which some platforms won’t actually have usable builds. As always, we recommend you backup your userdata folder before upgrading.
With that said, let’s review some of the more notable changes in the August Changelog.
Touchscreen Keyboard Optimization
With the push into tablets and the continued support of iOS devices, it’s becoming increasingly critical that XBMC provide a better user experience for touchscreen input. As such, the first feature of this month’s Cycle is a refactor of our GUI Keyboard to allow for native onscreen keyboards. This means the keyboard that you see while using other software on iOS will be the same keyboard you see while using XBMC.
Artist-based Smartplaylists
For those who are not aware, XBMC Smartplaylists are a sort of filter that should not be confused with something like an iTunes Auto Playlist, as they behave differently. An iTunes playlist is typically a list of songs meant to be played in order or randomly, one right after another. An XBMC Smartplaylist is merely a filtered list from which one can pick an individual song or video, and once the song or video has ended, the user will be returned to the list to select another item.
The vast majority of dev Montellese’s GSoC work this summer has been dedicated to speeding up and refining Smartplaylists so that searching and filtering your content is faster and easier than ever before, and all done in real time. This month, he added Artist-based Smartplaylists, so that users can sort and filter their music by topics such as artist, genre, moods, styles, born, bandformed, disbanded, died, biography, and instruments, with the potential of adding even greater filtering support in the future.
Conclusion
As always, this is merely a sample of the many changes this cycle. For a full list of all the August changes, feel free to take a look at our list of August milestones. Also, keep an eye out for both the September Cycle and regular stories on the blog, as we’ve quite a bit of upcoming news. Or, if you are feeling a bit brave and a bit lucky, just start downloading.
- Windows and OSX (64bit OSX will be available in the morning US time)
- Apple TV and iOS installation instructions (also available in the morning US time).
- Given the additional complexities of distribution, builds for Linux are not currently available at XBMC.org.
Finally, a note for those of you who are tracking and submitting bugs. You may notice that Github has an “Issues” section. The Team would very much appreciate it if you did not submit bug reports through that section, but rather continued to use the forums and Trac. At the moment, the Team is using Issues as a concise means of grouping and identifying particular bugs that they gather from the forum and Trac sources. Thanks for your help!
Would it be possible to please include the git revision you build the pre-compiled binaries from in this post so those of us that compile for Linux can be on the same build (which would be considered one of the most “stable” of each month)?
Thanks
Nice. What about native Android keyboard(s)?
It looks like it’s going to be quite a bit more difficult in Android due to the way the API works. We can’t currently commit to a time frame on it.
@Doug
As clarification, I meant on each monthly update post, not just this single item.
What’s the status on the Official Android App? Last time I tried it, the app still had a number of annoying bugs and won’t even work with these in-progress builds.
What’s news about audio dsp support, and xbmc remote develop?
Nice work guys keep up the good work!
So now that releases are done in cycles of single months, and you state that it is too difficult to provide a build for XBMCbuntu, am I supposed to compile my own? Seems like XBMCbuntu users are left out in the cold now. I have tried apt-get update/apt-get upgrade, but that does not fetch the new features you are releasing each month.
Robert please reread the first paragraph of the post. There are no monthly releases. This is mainly to improve development. If you feel adventurous you can compile the current version for your Linux distro. If there is a new stable release, you will surely get it via XBMCbuntu’s package management…
@Robert
These aren’t releases. They are development builds designed to allow users to mess around with new features, so long as they are willing to deal with constant breaking.
@natethomas So linux users are left out in the cold? Why can’t the git source be updated so we can use apt-get to update our installs? Or is that not how it works?
@Doug
Every stable monthly is tagged in github so you find them yourself
https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/docs/README.linux
@Robert
I agree it has been like this for a while. I use OpeELEC now which is a little more up to date with their beta stuff. I don’t think XBMC devs wants to spend the time doing this for XBMCbuntu.
@Martijn
I had not noticed that! Thanks Matijn. Please disregard my previous posts.
@Robert
Robert, I think the general approach for Linux users is if you’re running the development build, you should be experienced enough in Linux to checkout the git source and compile yourself so you can submit meaningful bug reports/help fix issues.
apt-get is used for the stable builds (the monthly builds are viewed as alpha releases), used for people who just want a stable HTPC. I see the target users of the repo as people who view their XBMC computer as a more awesome DVD player rather than a computer in its own right.
Yes PLEASE! Also a PPA for monthlies would be greatly appreciated.
Chiming in again with a request for monthly builds to be pushed to a PPA. You’ve already got nightly builds, so this shouldn’t be a lot more effort!
Kinda feels like a slow news month considering what is looming around the corner ;)
Pretty amazing what you guys do, though. Just gets better and better….
Will XBMC make the Google Play Market this year? Would be nice to have a capable network streamer.. winamp for android can’t do it and Mixzing can only play a single file at a time over smbfs. My2c
Yay Audio output on HDMI via WASAPI is functional again. THANK YOU !!!
Why not rename Smart Playlists to something like Advanced Filters or similar so it won’t confuse people? When I think of a “playlist” I think a simply a list that can be played in sequential or shuffled order.
When I hear that something is “smart” I think of something like iTunes Genius feature in iPod / iPhone. iTunes Genius automatically generates a playlist of songs from the user’s library which are similar to the selected song based on music taste from an online database.
The MusicBrainz database have a “similar songs” tag feature which XBMC could use to create similar music playlist which is something that I would think would be a better use of the “Smart Playlists” name, don’t you?
I can’t wait for the future :-) I will put on my sunglasses (3D), because the future looks bright.
Just downloaded the OSX version and installed “over” my existing Eden install. Unfortunately, it doesn’t open and I receive the error message that there is some form of version conflict. I am running OSX Lion. Can anyone confirm that it is working for them and any idea what I would need to do?
@Maximilian
I have to agree. I would not have guessed smart playlists to be what it is. I had always assumed they were something like Maximillian is talking about. I do like the name of “advanced filter” or even “smart filter” better. It seems less confusing.
Hey guys is there/will there be an alternative to m3u playlists ?
In other words, what can I do if I want to play my episodes in an order which I want to set ? The good old m3u playlists don’t work correctly since Dharma :-(
I added ppa from https://launchpad.net/~nathan-renniewaldock/+archive/xbmc-nightly
and after some minimal fighting with shell (had to install some deps etc from same ppa, did first xbmc-bin), i was able to install these nightlies all the time. But beware, sometimes for a week or so Mr. Nathan has problem with building so you must wait to get latest nightly again.
Check out http://www.xbmcfreak.nl The owner of this site publishes on a regularly interval experimental XBMCbuntu builds.
His latest one: http://www.xbmcfreak.nl/en/xbmcbuntu-12-04-with-pre-frodo-mid-august-release/
@Maximilian
I guess part of the problem is that for Audio it is a proper playlist.
Any news on OpenMAX Player for Android and Android nightlies of XBMC?
It seems some 7 channel audio in this version cannot be down mixed to 2 channel? I lost some dialog in some movie.
Seems that the search function is broken. When entering youtube or vimeo and I try to search, the search executes right away before I have time to enter anything in the search dialog.
AFAIK, here is status: https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/1281
@Oby
Thanks for the information.
Hi does anybody know if this release or future releases will be able to play content with the Dolby Digital + audio track? I still have a couple of hd-dvd movies with this audio track and it would be nice if this audio format is supported. Thanks in advance.
To me the momentum is going the wrong direction. I’m not complaining as I’m not developing, just expressing my concerns. Yes, the Linux versions are available, but majority of contribution is on android and osx/ios side. If ouya takes of, that might be a nice platform for the XBMC. But all the others I don’t get. And maybe the ATV. But why would someone run XBMC on a tablet or a phone? I have literally all of the XMBC rainbow of devices in my household, but only the HTPC Linux will ever be running XBMC.
Just saying. Recently I have started to consider abandoning the XBMC because the packaging hasn’t evolved much. When the time for the next HW upgrade takes place, I will consider my options. Supporting too many platforms on a thin community like XBMC is IMHO not a good idea…
But for something positive as well, I really love the way that XBMC communications has developed over the past year or so. It’s surely super nice to read what’s happening. Maybe that’s my problem after all, that I’m seeing more than before.
I agree with “dig_it”. I have 2 XBMC-HTPCs, 1 for the TV, 1 for the projector. Its just awesome, everyone envies me ;)
But every time I read news about XBMC on iOS/Android, I just think “WTF is this? Who at all needs XBMC on his phone/tablet?”.
I bet 99,999% are using XBMC on TV and projectors, the other 5 people are using XBMC in phones/tablets just to see that its working and to show his friends what his phone/table is capable of.
So please guys, you are doing a great job and I’ve already donated some money to you, but please, don’t forget what XBMC was developed for. (A Ferrari doesn’t have to be able to dive ;) )
@FiroPyro
You guys are aware that development for XBMC for Android was primarily financed for the Pivos XIOS DS, a media center box designed to be connected to the TV, right?
@natethomas
take this http://vimeo.com/28436122#at=0
and you don’t have to invent everything from 0
(and hey, WATCH what they show in 1:10 ? ;) )
but maybe I’ve misunderstood “primarily financed for the Pivos XIOS DS”, my english is bad and google-translation isn’t helping me.
@dig_it, @FiroPyro,
XBMC on ARM platforms does not suddenly stop the desktop devs from what they were doing. XBMC has more active development and developers now than it has ever had. It’s completely false to say that the majority of contributions is on Android and iOS (OS X is not an ARM OS). A lot of work is being done, but unless you’re a programmer then most of that info won’t make a lot of sense, so most announcements and such are about things that most people will understand.
The reason for XBMC on ARM (via Android and iOS) is for set-top boxes connected to TVs. Phone/tablet support was only a byproduct of this, and that’s something we’ve mentioned in just about every announcement, FAQ, interview, etc.
@FiroPyro
I’m quite eager to get a stable XBMC on my tablet. With my media stored on a NAS and a shared MySQL database in my home, I can use any of my XBMC clients to keep track of what I’ve seen, and if I start watching something on one client, then have to move and finish watching on my tablet elsewhere, I can start where I left off.
@dig_it
++ with @dig_it, @FiroPyro
Man’s gotta know his limitations. And also what is reasonable.
If Team XBMC gets pulled in every direction trying to support the latest and greatest platform of choice, then the resulting product will ultimately suffer in terms of quality and functionality. Much better to be the Master of one trade, rather than the Jack of all.
What I would like to know is when you will be letting those of us on windows have a 64bit version because you so far only let OSX have 64bit?
and you also went to apple tablets first…..is there some reason you all seem to be having a love affair with apple?
@Existential_Wombat
40+ active developers work on XBMC, not one man. At least two of them work on XBMC for ARM as their full time day jobs, whether Team XBMC supports ARM or not. We only support platforms when there are developers to work on them.
ARM set-top-boxes and the ARM platform are the future for HTPCs. They are not just the “latest toy” or some gee-wiz feature. This doesn’t mean that desktop support is going away anytime soon, but ARM will likely swoop up the majority of installs in the next few years.
@Existential_Wombat
That’s a silly position to take because the more users on all platforms that use XBMC the better off we will all be from the experience and feedback from a much larger set of end users. As @nedscott mentions, “At least two of them work on XBMC for ARM as their full time day jobs” so that is 2 extra full time techs working on SOME bugs that will feed back to the XBMC core to the benefit of all users. More platforms = more users = more developers.
@MONKEY!
A 64 bit version of XBMC for Linux has existed since 2008. Does this mean we’ve been having a love affair with Linus Torvalds? Mac OS X might have a 64 bit version, but it doesn’t yet have support for “HD” audio out, so does this mean we have a love affair with Bill Gates when it comes to audio?
Fun fact, XBMC’s touch support first showed up in Windows.
Great work! Would it be possible to please include a download link to the monthly builds in the “Downloads” page (xbmc.org/download)?
–
Thanks in advance!
This statement requires either a remarkable lack of knowledge or willful misunderstanding. I’m curious which one it is.
XBMC was first ported to XBMC for iOS primarily because the AppleTV 2 was the cheapest ARM device available that was both mass produced and powerful enough to make installing XBMC make sense. The fact that the iPad also happened to run on exactly the same hardware and platform was, at best, simply a happy coincidence.
If you can point to another mass produced, sub-$100 ARM device back in January 2011 that had all the guts necessary to run XBMC at a reasonable clip, you are a smarter person than literally everyone else on the planet.
I’ll be honest, it’d be great to actually have a love affair with Apple, because that’d get XBMC into more hands. Sadly, we don’t have one. Which is why XBMC isn’t in the app store, requires a jailbreak, and quite possibly may never get onto the AppleTV 3 (I have no inside jailbreak knowledge, but it sure doesn’t seem like an ATV3 jailbreak is coming).
As far as 64bit Windows… XBMC is entirely open source. There’s absolutely nothing preventing you from porting to 64bit yourself. Clearly this is important to you, so I will happily await the results of your attempt at the port. Good luck!
First time I heard of it. Sounds nice, but is not available. http://www.pivosforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=784
Can you please guide how to install this August snapshot, I mean I am using these snapshot builds as in a final production environment for my Ihome theater setup. So I have installed xbmc-12.0-Frodo_alpha4.exe on Windows 7 32-bit and have my library scrapped and in order for everything i like. Plus I dont really know how to use GIT hub , so I am just reporting an issue in this build that the screensaver for fanart slide show doesnot work and even after changing and saving settings, it reverts back to the old settings of just dimming the screen, hope it got fixed in the current snapshot release.
So back to my question, do I save my userdata folder, uninstall the previous version and then install this release, or I simply install it over the current existing release and hope everything would run fine.
Your guidance would be appreciated.