Archive:Intro FAQ

What is XBox Media Center?

XBMC (XBox Media Center) is a free, open source (GPL) multimedia-player. Originally for the Microsoft Xbox™, it is in the process of being ported to Linux.

What Can XBox Media Center Do?

• XBMC can be used to play/view the most popular video/audio/picture formats, and most other multimedia formats (including many more less known formats).

Including:

• Video - DVD-Video, VCD/SVCD, MPEG-1/2/4, DivX, XviD.
• Audio - MP3,AAC.
• Picture - JPG, GIF, PNG.

Which can all be played directly from a CD/DVD in the XBox DVD-ROM drive or from the XBox's built-in hard-drive, XBMC can also play multimedia from a computer over a local-network and media-streams directly from the internet.

• XBMC can play DVD-Video movies (with and without menus) from ISO/IMG images and even ZIP/RAR-archives.
• XBMC has playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations.
• XBMC can in addition run python-scripts written for XBMC as plugin widgets.
• XBMC has a simple and user-friendly user-interface, it's easy to use, it's convenient, flexible and offers a great price/performance ratio.

All these features enable the XBox™ running XBMC to fully function as a multimedia-jukebox.

Notes

• XBMC is a non-profit hobby project that is only developed by volunteers in their spare-time for free.
• XBMC does require a modded Xbox to run on or it will not function), (see modchip or software exploit/hack).
• For a complete list a functions and features see the supported features/formats list here.

What features does XBMC have?

See the complete list of supported features.

Does XBMC support or feature this and that function...?

See the complete list of supported features/formats here or try it yourself and find out!

You might also want to look in the manual.

Exactly which media formats can XBMC play?

See the complete list of supported features/formats here, if it is not listed there then XBMC does not support it (yet)!

What media codec versions can XBMC play?

Again, See the complete list here

Does XBMC support [High Definition (HD) resolution media?

Yes and no, but the answer is a little more complicated than that.

XBMC for XBox

In general, it can not play native HD format videos, but can upscale SD or lower format video to HD resolutions

A standard XBox (with the XBox HD AV Pack) is capable of outputting HD signals. XBMC can quite easily upscale all low-resolution videos (like retail DVD Movies) to 720por 1080i.

Unfortunately, the XBox's 733Mhz Intel Pentium-III CPU, is to slow to play native HD video (Microsoft® and DivX® recommends a 2.4 Ghz PC + 384MB RAM for 720p MPEG-4 playback!). This means that you might only get maybe 10-20fps (frames per seconds) displayed which would appear so jerky because of all dropped frames that it will be un-viewable.

Upgraded Processor

It is possible to upgrade the processor in an XBox (for example, with the DreamX-1400 from FriendTech, to one which is at capable of decoding some native HD videos (i.e. those encoded with MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 ASP (H.263) at up to 720p). FriendTech do offers trade-in). Note! You must enable/setup your HDTV settings in Microsoft dashboard, (on NTSC Xboxes).

XBMC for Linux

Since all the components in a Linux based PC can be upgraded, the limit on resolution will be dependent on the exact hardware in your system.

List of standard supported HD resolutions

On a standard XBox the following HD formats are supported:

• 480p output at 480p (Not Scaled).
• 480p output at 720p (Upscaled).
• 480p output at 1080i (Upscaled).

The following formats are NOT supported, at any output resolution:

• 720p.
• 1080i.

These will attempt to play, but will drop so many frames as to become, to intents and purposes, un-watchable.

Can I listen to MP3 music while playing Xbox game

No, XBMC can not run in the background of Xbox games, (nor any other Xbox applications, emulators, dashboards or tools).

When you lanch/start a game (or other applications, etc.) XBMC gets completly cut off so you can not continue using any of XBMC features or functions. Reason for this is that the Xbox can only run one executable/process at a time (so two executables can not share resources on the Xbox), this is a limitation in the Xbox BIOS that we/you can not do anything about. A workaround to this is to use third-party homebrew software on your computer that can converts MP3 files to WMA then transfer those to the Xbox (under "E:\TDATA\FFFE0000\MUSIC\") plus updates Microsoft's soundtrack database ("st.db"), that way it will be just like you ripped those songs from a AudioCD with the Xbox using Microsoft original Xbox dashboard and you will be able to play the songs in all Xbox games that support such Xbox soundtracks. Some application that can do that are; Virtual Xbox CD Ripper, Xbox Soundtrack Manager and Soundtrack Editor.

Can XBMC run in the background of a game?

No, The XBox is only capable of running one program at any time (including any other Xbox applications, emulators, dashboards or tools).

Can I start games, applications or emulators from the network?

No.

Can I start games, applications or emulators from an ISO/IMG image?

Yes.

Where can I suggest/request a new feature or function to be implemented into XBMC?

You can log a NEW feature/function request in our RFE Request Feature Tracking System, (you must register and be logged-in on SourceForge.net before you can do this). Just make sure that you first remember to search for existing "Feature Requests" before logging a new request! You should take note that we guesstimate that 99% of all new requests XBMC users post have already been requested before so it is imperative that you search thoroughly! You may also post a copy of your suggestion in the feature-suggestion section of our community-forums if you want it open for discussion, however, again you must search there too before you can post, (we do not enjoy reorganising duplicate posts). Please respect that your request only counts as a suggestion, there' s no guarantee that it will implemented soon or ever. Known that almost all users think their own ideas is the most important, and a very common comment is: "if you only add these features then XBMC will be perfect for me". Note! Only one feature per RFE Request and Forum Thread is allowed (for easier manageability).

When will this and that feature or function be supported by XBMC?

Tomorrow, in a year, never... who knows! XBMC is a non-profit hobby project that is only developed by volunteers in their spare-time for free, none of us get paid to develop new features/functions/formats/codecs for XBMC meaning we foremost prioritize the things we ourselves what to see and use in XBMC. XBMC development is driven by the tasks that are important to the individual developers. If there is a feature that is important to you, the best way to get it implemented is to undertake the task yourself, otherwise you as an end-user of who do not yourself contribute source code patches to the XBMC project have no rights to demand new things to be implemented and get no garantees that some specific thing will be prioritized before something else, you may however suggest/request for things and if you ask nicely then maybe someday a developer might like your idea and implement the thing you asked for. We do appriciate your ideas, opinions and feedback if they are presented in a good way, so it is possible to lobby for something specific, just don't be a jerk about it, arrogant and 'pushy' people will most likely just be ignored (or even banned if they step over the line which we consider to be acceptable). Known that almost all users think their own ideas is the most important, and a very common comment is: "if you only add these features then XBMC will be perfect for me". If you can not accept the possibility that your thing might never make it into XBMC then you just have to bite the bullit and learn how to program C/C++ to be able to code it yourself, (see the "Appendix D: Development Notes" section of this manual).

Where can I request/suggest a new codec-decoder or file-format to be implemented into XBMC?

The answer (and explaination) to this question is so long that we had to put it in separate page, see; Codec and Format requests.

When will this and that codec-decoder or file-format be added and supported by XBMC?

The answer (and explaination) to this question is so long that we had to put it in separate page, see; Codec and Format requests.

Is XBMC affiliated with Microsoft?

No, XBMC, The XBMC Project and its members are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft.

XBMC is only a software program that is made by Team-XBMC (ie, the members of the The XBMC Project) as a free third-party product that any person can install and run on the Xbox™ game-console hardware (which is manufactured and sold by Microsoft Corporation).

XBMC, The XBMC Project (and its memebers, Team-XBMC) and the services (including developer tools, resources, download areas, files, source code, product information, documentations and communication forums, collectively called "Services") provided by us has nothing to do with Microsoft by any assosiation or affiliation what so ever.

XBMC is not approved by Microsoft to run on the Xbox, in fact installing/running XBMC on your Xbox may very well void your warranty! Microsoft does however have similar products to XBMC for the Xbox called "Media Center Extender for Xbox" (a.k.a. "Xbox Media Center Extender Kit") and "Xbox Music Mixer", which are both very limited feature/function-wise in our own humble opinion.