Features and supported formats: Difference between revisions

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Here is a more detailed list of XBMC features, functions and supported audio/video/picture formats.
Here is a detailed list of [[XBMC]] features, functions and supported audio/video/picture formats.
== XBMC supports the following: ==
===XBMC's Addons Manager and addons===
''For point releases, see [[:Category:Point Release]]''
XBMC features several open [[Application programming interface|APIs]] to enable [[third-party developer]]s to create capabilities which extend XBMC with a multitude of [[Plug-in (computing)|addons]], such as audio and video streaming plugins for online sources, widget scripts, skins/themes, visualizations, screensavers, web scrapers, weather forecasts, web interfaces, and more. XBMC developers encourages users to make and submit their own addons to add additional media content and [[value-added service]]s accessible from within XBMC.


=== Supported hardware platforms ===
XBMC's latest point-release, (codename: "''Dharma''"), features a new Addons Framework architecture and Addons Manager GUI client that connects to a [[decentralized]] [[digital distribution]] service [[Platform (computing)|platform]] that serves add-on apps and [[Plug-in (computing)|plug-ins]] which among other things provide online content to XBMC, the "''Addons Manager''" (or "''Addons Browser''") inside XBMC allows users to browse and download new addons directly from XBMC's GUI.
* XBMC for Linux is supported on computers of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_architecture x86 processor architecture] (Ubuntu as reference distro)
** Option to enable MID Moblin support at compile time on XBMC for Linux
** Minimum requirement is AMD/Intel CPU with SSE support and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL OpenGL] 1.4 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPU GPU (graphics)]
* XBMC for Mac is supported under Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) on x86 (Intel CPU) and PPC (PowerPC), as well as the Apple TV
* XBMC for Windows (on XP/Vista/7) is supported computers of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_architecture x86 processor architecture].
** Minimum requirement is AMD/Intel CPU with SSE support and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL OpenGL] 1.4 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPU GPU (graphics)]
* XBMC on Xbox is no longer supported. For a similar program try [http://www.xbmc4xbox.org XBMC4Xbox]


=== Supported output media formats and devices: ===
Many of these online content sources are in [[over-the-top content]] high definition services and use video streaming sites, such as [[Adobe Flash]] based content. XBMC has extensibility and integration with online sources for both free and premium streaming content, and offers content from everything from commercial video, to free educational programming, and media from individuals and small businesses.
* Widescreen (16:9) and normal-TV (4:3) aspect ratio video output support
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hdtv HDTV](High-Definition) and Standard Definition output resolutions (480p, 576p,720p, 1080i, 1080p and higher)
* TV-output: 50hz/60Hz [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ntsc NTSC]-M/J (America/Asia) and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL PAL] (Europe/Africa)
* RCA, SCART, RF Coaxial, S-video, Component/RGB,VGA-output
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ntsc NTSC] playback on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL PAL] TV and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL PAL] playback on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ntsc NTSC] TV
* Analog audio-out (stereo/mono) via phono-connection or scart-adapter
* Digital audio-out (stereo/mono/surround) SPDIF ([http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/catalog.aspx?g=203000000&p=1&c=10&s=0&xlm=0&h=0&r=0 adapter required])


=== Supported physical input media formats and devices: ===
====Plugins and scripts (apps/gadgets/widgets)====
* Play media-files directly from a CDs and DVDs (including DVD-Video, VCD/SVCD and Audio-CD/CDDA)
XBMC features a [[Python (programming language)|Python Scripts Engine]] for addon extensions, WindowXML [[application framework]] (a [[XML]]-based [[widget toolkit]] for creating a GUI for apps / [[widget (computing)|widgets]]) in a similar fashion to Apple Mac OS X [[Dashboard (Mac OS)|Dashboard Widgets]] and [[Microsoft Gadgets]] in [[Windows Sidebar]]. Python [[widget (computing)|widget]] scripts allow normal users to add new functionality to XBMC themselves, using [[Python (programming language)|Python]] [[scripting language]]. Current [[plugins|plugin]] scripts include functions like [[Internet television|Internet-TV]] and [[trailer (film)|movie-trailer]] browsers, [[weather forecasting|weather forecast]] and cinemaguides, [[Over-the-top content]] video streaming services like YouTube, [[BBC iPlayer]], [[Hulu]], [[Netflix]], [[Veoh]], [[MLB.tv]], Internet-radio-station browsers (example [[Pandora Radio]], [[Xm radio]], [[Sirius Satellite Radio]]), online picture sharing sites like [[Flickr]], [[Electronic program guide|TV-guides (EPG)]], e-mail clients, [[instant messaging]], train-timetables, [[home automation]] scripts to [[Front-end and back-end|front-end]] control [[Personal video recorder|PVR]] software and hardware (like: MediaPortal, MythTV, [[TiVo]], [[ReplayTV]], [[Dreambox]]/[[DBox2]]), [[Peer-to-peer|P2P]] file-sharing downloaders ([[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]]), [[IRC]], also [[casual games]] (sometimes also referred to as [[Minigame|mini-games]] or [[party game|party-games]]) such as [[Tetris]], [[Snake (video game)|Snake]], [[Space Invaders]], [[Sudoku]], and much more.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="XBMC-Addons on Google Code"/><ref name="XBMC Zone"/><ref name="Passion XBMC"/>
** (Supported CD/DVD formats: ISO 9660 Mode1/2/XA, UDF 1.02 and XDVDFS/CDX)
* Play media-files directly from any built-in harddisk drive
* Streaming from a computer/server over a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network network] via [[UPnP Sharing|UPnP]], [[Windows File Sharing (samba/smb)|SMB/Samba/CIFS]], [[Media Source FTP|FTP]], or HTTP
** UPnP MediaServer compliant with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)] standard
** Including all [[NAS (Network Attached Storage)]] that support [[UPnP Sharing|UPnP]] or [[Windows File Sharing (samba/smb)|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]]
* iTunes Music Shares via [[ITunes (DAAP)|DAAP]] (network stream from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itunes Apple iTunes 6.x] on Mac or Windows) <ref name="Note5">[[w:Digital Rights Management| DRM (Digital Rights Management)]] protected files are not yet supported by XBMC</ref>
* Stream supported media-files from the internet (if the stream protocol-format is supported) <ref name="Note5" />
* Stream media STORED, (NOT COMPRESSED) directly from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rar RAR] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_%28file_format%29 ZIP] archives
* USB Memory Drives and [[USB Mass Storage support in XBMC|USB Mass Storage Devices]] (FATX/FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 formated )
<br />


=== Supported file/container formats: ===
====Scrapers (web scraping for metadata)====
* Audio-CD (CDDA) playback for normal Audio CDs (including CD-TEXT support)
XBMC has the built-in optional function to automatically download [[metadata]] information, [[cover art]] and other related media artwork online through its [[web scraping|web scrapers]] that looks for media in the user's audio / video folders and their sub-directories. These "scrapers" are this way used as [[Importer (computing)|importers]] to obtain detailed information from various Internet resources about movies and television shows. It can get synopses, reviews, movie posters, titles, genre classification, and other similar data. XBMC GUI then provide a rich display for audio and video files that the scrapers has identified.
* SVCD and VCD (Video CD / CDXA) video, (SVCD/VCD menus are not supported yet)
* DVD-Video directly from Xbox DVD-ROM drive, Harddisk-drive or network
* Blu-ray directory (partial), longest video only, no menus, requires libbluray, linux only
* MPEG, MPG, M2V formats (inc. VCD's .dat and .bin and DVD's .vob)
* MPEG-TS (TY/TS/DV) DVB transport stream format
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD M2T/M2TS/MTS] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray Blu-ray] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD AVCHD] video format) container <ref name="Note5" />
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_transport_stream M2TS] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray Blu-ray] video format) container <ref name="Note5" />
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_VOB EVO] (Enhanced VOB) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD HD DVD] video format container <ref name="Note5" />
* MP4 (MPEG-4 video) container
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LATM#Container_formats LATM] (Low-overhead MPEG-4 Audio Transport Multiplex) for AAC audio only
* RIFF AVI (AVI 1.0) container
* OpenDML AVI (AVI 2.0) container
* [http://www.morgan-multimedia.com/mmswitch/bivx.htm BivX] (AVI with several audio streams) container
* Microsoft ASF/ASX/WMV/WMA containers <ref name="Note5" />
* [http://forum.xbmc.org//showthread.php?t=34 Microsoft DVR-MS (Windows Media Center) containers] /<ref name="Note5" />
* [http://www.apple.com/quicktime QuickTime] QT/MOV containers <ref name="Note5" />
* FLV and SWF (Adobe/Macromedia Flash Video) containers
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NUT_Container NUT] multimedia container
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Standard AVS (Audio Video Standard)] audio/video containers
* [http://www.nullsoft.com/nsv/ Nullsoft Steaming Video (NSV)] containers
* [http://www.nullsoft.com/nsv/ Nullsoft Steaming Audio (NSA)] containers
* MPA, MP2, MP3 and WAV containers <ref name="Note5" />
* AAC, M4A, MP4 (MPEG-4 audio) audio containers <ref name="Note5" />
* RealMedia ([http://www.real.com Real] Video/Audio) RM/RAM/RA/RV/RMVB containers
* [http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ OGG], OGA, OGM, and OGV containers
* [http://www.matroska.org/ Matroska (матрёшка)] MKV containers
* VIVO (VIV) containers
* PVA containers
* NuppelVideo containers
* FLI and FLC containers
* Tracker Mods ([http://mikmod.raphnet.net/#features 18 formats supported]) audio  
* M3U, PLS, CUE, URL, and STRM audio/video playlist and bookmark support
<br />


=== Supported video codecs: ===
Scrapers use sites like [[themoviedb.org]]<ref>http://simonpena.com/blog/mswl/butaca-imdb-and-tmdb/ Butaca IMDb, and TMDb</ref> or [[imdb.com]] to obtain [[thumbnails]] and information on movies, thetvdb.com for TV show posters and episode plots, [[CDDB]] (via [[freedb]] and [[Discogs]], etc.) for audio CD track listings, and [[Allmusic|AMG]] for album [[thumbnails]].<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation"/>
* MPEG-1 (VCD/MPG) and MPEG-2 (MPEG/SVCD/DVD/VOB/DV/TY) video
* [http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=73022 MPEG-4 ASP (H.263)]: [http://www.divx.com DivX (Pro)], OpenDivX, [http://www.xvid.org XviD] and [http://www.nero.com/nerodigital/eng/index.html Nero Digital ASP]
* [http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=96059 MPEG-4 AVC - Advanced Video Coding (H.264)]: [http://www.nero.com/nerodigital/eng/index.html Nero Digital AVC], [http://developers.videolan.org/x264.html x264], and [http://www.divx.com DivX AVC] video
* Microsoft's Windows Media Video v7, v8 and v9 (MSMpeg4/WMV v1, v2, and v3)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VC-1 VC-1 (SMPTE 421M)] Interlaced not yet supported (ffmpeg)
* RealVideo codecs: 1.0, 2.0 (RealPlayer G2), 3.0 (RealPlayer 8.x) and 4.0 (RealPlayer 9.x)
* QuickTime 5.0, 6.0, 6.3 video and audio codecs (QDMC / QDM2)
* 3ivx D4 / 3vi1 MPEG-4 video (inc. MSZH/ZLIB Compressed-Header containers)
* Sorenson v1/v3 (SVQ1/SVQ3) QuickTime video
* Apple Graphics (SMC) video
* Apple QuickDraw (qdrw) video decoder
* [http://www.on2.com On2 Technologies] VP3 (VP3.x), VP4 (VP4.x), VP5 (VP5.x), and VP6 (VP6.2)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Standard AVS (Audio Video Standard)] video codec
* [http://www.intel.com/labs/archive/indeo.htm Intel Indeo] 2 (Indeo2) and 3.1/3.2 (Indeo3) video decoder
* [http://frost.htu.tuwien.ac.at/~roman/nuppelvideo/ NuppelVideo] (NUV)
* VIVO 1.0 and 2.0 (VIV)
* Fraps FPS1 video decoder
* Snow video decoder
* DV50 (DVCPRO50) video decoder, and DV100 (DVCPRO HD) video decoder
* ITU H.261 video
* Creative Labs YUV (CYUV) video
* Supermac Cinepak (CVID) video
* ASUS V1 (ASV1) and ASUS V2 (ASV2) video
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smacker Smacker] video decoder
* Motion Pixels video decoder
* BFI video decoder
* AMV video decoder
* Interplay C93 video decoder
* Zip Blocks Motion Video decoder
* Duck TrueMotion 2 video decoder
* Delphine Software .cin video decoder
* Bethsoft VID video decoder
* QPEG video decoder
* Miro VideoXL (VIXL) video decoder
* Winnov WNV1 video decoder
* LOCO video decoder
* TechSmith Camtasia (TSCC) video decoder
* IBM Ultimotion (ULTI) video decoder
* Autodesk Animator Studio Codec (AASC) video decoder
* Autodesk FLI and FLC Animation


<br />
====Skins (themes)====
Same as the majority of most applications that originated from a '[[homebrew (video games)|homebrew]]' scene, is [[skin (computing)|skin]]-ability in the tradition of modifications and customization very popular among XBMC users. "Confluence" and "Project Mayhem" are the two official [[skin (computing)|skin]]s; "Confluence" is the default since version 9.11, and "Project Mayhem"  was the previous default which is now in its third version, commonly known as "PM3.HD" (''PM III High-Definition'').<ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>


=== Supported audio codecs: ===
Users can also create their own skin (or simply modify an existing skin) and share it with others via public websites that are used for XBMC skins trading and development.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="Passion XBMC"/><ref name="XBMC Skinng Project">{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/projects/xboxmediacenter |title=XBMC Skinng Project |work=Sourceforge.net |accessdate=2010-02-13}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Black Market">{{cite web|url=http://blackmarket.ictcsc.net |title=XBMC Black Market |work=Blackmarket.ictcsc.net |accessdate=2010-02-13}}</ref><ref name="teamrazorfish.co.uk">http://www.teamrazorfish.co.uk MediaStream</ref><ref name="blackbolt.x-scene.com">http://blackbolt.x-scene.com Team Blackbolt</ref> Many such third-party skins exist that are well maintained by the community, and while some skins are originals with unique designs, most initially begin as a [[clone (video games)|clones]] or an exact [[replica]] of other multimedia software interfaces, such as DivX Connected, [[Apple Front Row]], [[Windows XP Media Center Edition|Windows Media Center Edition (MCE)]], [[MediaPortal]], [[Meedio]]/MeediOS, HDeeTV, [[Kaleidescape]], [[Wii Menu|Wii Channel Menu (Xii)]], [[Xbox360#Software|Xbox 360 Blades (MC360)]], [[Xbox360#Software|Xbox 360 New Xbox Experience (Xperience)]], and others.<ref name="Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins"/>
* CDDA (Audio-CD) playback
* WAV/WAVE (WAVEform) and PCM audio format
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiff AIFF] (Audio Interchange File Format) audio
* MPEG layer I, II, and III (inluding [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-1_Audio_Layer_II MP2] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mp3 MP3]) audio <ref name="Note5" />
* [http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ OGG] ([http://www.xiph.org/ogg/ Ogg Vorbis audio codec])
* WMA - Windows Media Audio v1 and v2 (WMA1 / WMA2 / DivX Audio v1/v2) <ref name="Note5" />
* WMA - Windows Media Audio 9 (WMA9) <ref name="Note5" />
* WMA Pro Audio Codec (Windows Media Audio 9 Professional)<ref name="Note5" />
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realaudio RealNetworks RealAudio] codecs: 1.0 (14.4), 2.0 (28.8), SIPRO, COOK, COOKER, DNET and ATRAC3
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital#Dolby_Digital AC3] 2.0 or 5.1 and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital#Dolby_Digital_EX Dolby Digital EX] 6.1 or 7.1 audio in video (AC3 digital cable [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF S/PDIF] pass-through)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital Dolby Digital AC3] and AC3-WAV/AC3-CDDA 2.0 and 5.1 audio in video software decoded to stereo analog-out
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital_Plus Dolby Digital Plus] (a.k.a. E-AC3), and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD Dolby TrueHD] 7.1 audio software decoder
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital_Plus Dolby Digital Plus] (a.k.a. E-AC3), and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_TrueHD Dolby TrueHD] 7.1 audio in Blu-ray rips via digital cable [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF S/PDIF] pass-through
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Theater_System DTS (Digital Theater System)] 5.1 and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Theater_System#DTS_variants DTS-ES] 6.1 audio in DVD-Video (DTS digital cable [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF S/PDIF] pass-through)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Theater_System DTS] (DTS and DTS-WAV/DTS-CDDA) audio in DVD-Video (software decoded)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)] profiles: Main, LC, HE, LTP, LD, ER, and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding#Extensions_.26_improvements aacPlus v1/v2 (AAC+ SBR/PS)] audio <ref name="Note5" />
* M4A and MP4 (MPEG-4 Audio) (including Nero Digital MP4) <ref name="Note5" />
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QCELP PureVoice (QCELP)] audio decoder
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Standard AVS (Audio Video Standard)] audio codec
* [http://flac.sourceforge.net FLAC] (Free Lossless Audio Codec) audio
* [http://www.wavpack.com WavPack] lossless audio
* [http://www.musepack.net MPC] (Musepack, a.k.a. Mpeg+) lossless audio<ref name="Note6">Exclusive to our integrated audio/music-player ([[PAPlayer]])</ref>
* [http://www.monkeysaudio.com APE] (Monkey's Audio) lossless audio
* [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shorten/ SHN] (Shorten) lossless audio
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALAC ALAC] (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) lossless audio <ref name="Note6" />
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_Lossless_Packing MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing)] / Packed PCM (PPCM) audio decoder
* AMV audio decoder
* Sonic audio decoder
* AIFF/AIFF-C audio dcoder
* Macromedia ADPCM decoder
* Creative ADPCM audio decoder (16 bits as well as 8 bits schemes)
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellymoser_Asao_Codec Nellymoser ASAO decoder]
* True Audio (TTA) decoder
* TrueSpeech audio decoder
* Intel Music decoder
* QDM2 audio decoder
* Delphine Software .cin audio decoder
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8SVX 8SVX] audio decoder
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midi MIDI] music using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiMidity Timidity]
* Tracker Mod's audio, see list below:
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdLib Adlib] (AdLib and Sound Blaster OPL2/OPL3 and Dual OPL2/OPL3) FM audio
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_SID SID] (Commodore 64 tunes) audio
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST YM] (ATARI ST) audio
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsf NSF] (Nintendo NES Sound Format) audio
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPC700_sound_format SPC] (SPC700) audio
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.GYM GYM] (SEGA Genesis) audio
** [http://www.halleyscometsoftware.com/in_cube.html ADX/AST/ADP/DSP/YMF/HPS] [http://www.cri-mw.com/example/example_e.htm CRI MiddleWare] and Gamecube [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADPCM ADPCM]) audio
** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module_file MOD]/AMF/669/DMF/DSM/FAR/GDM/IMF/IT/M15/MED/OKT/S3M/STM/SFX/ULT/UNI/XM
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/vgmstream vgmstream] playback of 51 more streamed audio formats used in video games:
** aax, asd, asr, ass, bgw, bh2pcm, capdsp, ccc, dcs, de2, emff, fag, gbts, gca, gsb, idsp, idvi, isd, joe, kraw, mihb, msvp, mwv, omu, p2bt, pdt, rnd, rwar, rwav, sap, seg, smp, spd, spsd, spw, ss7, ssm, thp, vgs, vs, waa, wac, wad, wam, xa2, xmu, xsf, xvas, ydsp, ymf, zwdsp
<br />


=== Supported picture/image formats: ===
The flexibility offered by XBMC skinning-engine is also useful for third-party companies who wish to make derivative work of XBMC as it makes it easy to rebrand the environment or make deeper changes to the look and feel of the user interface.
* CBR/CBZ comic books (RAR/ZIP archives renamed)
* BMP picture/image
* JPG/JPEG picture/image
* GIF picture/image
* ICO picture/image
* PCX picture/image
* PNG picture/image
* RAW picture/image
* TIF/TIFF picture/image
* TGA picture/image
<br />


=== Features available for video playback: ===
====Web Interfaces====
* Full-screen playback display of all supported video formats/containers via a TV
Web Interface addons for XBMC normally allow browsing a media library remotely, to handle music playlists from a computer instead of television. Others allow remotely controlling the navigation of XBMC like a remote for [[Touchscreen remote control|remote controlling]] of an installed and concurrently-active XBMC session running on a computer if it runs on an internet tablet or similar device with a touch interface. And yet other still acts like a media manager to allow modifying metadata and artwork in XBMC's video and music libraries.
* Auto PAL50/PAL60-switching support and auto 4:3/16:9-switching support
* Framerate Conversion (23.98<->25fps), another NTSC <-> PAL workaround solution
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDPAU VDPAU] hardware accelerated video decoding under Linux on NVIDIA graphics
* SQL database with view by file/genre/actor/year/title, sort by year/name/rating and search functions
* Shift-key navigation in lists, (jump to starting letter by holding down shift)
* Selectable options from OSD (On Screen Display) Control Panel during playback
* FFWD (fast-forward) and RWD (rewind ), and PAUSE in AVI/OGM/MKV/MPEG/MPG media
* MPlayer time-based (30sec/5min) or percent-based (2%/10%) seeking forward and backward
* Video-Autorun, auto-plays VCD/SVCD/DVD/CD's with video file(s) upon insert
* DVD-video playback with menus (from DVD, harddrive, network, as IFO/VOB or ISO/IMG DVD-images)
** Region-free DVD-Video playback (with option to force region if and when needed)
* Play supported video files directly from ISO, BIN, IMG, NRG and BIN CD/DVD-images
* Subtitle support (embedded and external)
** AQTitle/AQT, ASS/SSA, CC, JacoSub, MicroDVD, MPsub, PJS, RT, SMI, SRT, SUB, VobSub, VPlayer
** JSS, MLP
* Play internet files/streams from HTTP and MMS (Microsoft Media Streaming Protocol)
* Play RealMedia internet steams of HTTP + RTSP/RDT (Real Data Transport Protocol)
* [http://www.nullsoft.com/nsv/ Nullsoft Streaming Video (NSV)] internet-streams (only if VP3+MP3), (Nullsoft TV a.k.a. [http://www.nullsoft.com/ntv/ NTV])
* Streaming video from a [http://www.mythtv.org MythTV backend] PVR software over network
* Initial support for streaming from [http://www.lonelycoder.com/hts/tvheadend/docs/2_0/index.html HTS Tvheadend server/relay] on Linux
* Streaming video from a [http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/ VDR (via VDR streamdev servers VTP streaming)] PVR software over network
* Streaming video from a [http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun HDHomeRun] DVR box over network
* Streaming video from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreambox Dreambox] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBox2 DBox2] DVR boxes over network via built-in [[TuxBox Stream Client]]
* Streaming video from a [http://www.replaytv.com ReplayTV] (4500, 5000 or 5500 series) DVR box over network
* Streaming video from a [http://www.tivo.com TiVo] DVR box over network (requires hacked TiVo running [http://osdn.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/xbplayer/ccxstream-1.0.15-tivo.tar.gz ccXStream])
* [[Movies (Video Library)|Movie]] information lookup for movie-info and [[thumbnails]]
** Can also extract a specific URL from an [[nfo]] file with same file-name as the movie
* [http://www.themoviedb.org themoviedb.org] meta data information lookup for movie-info and poster [[thumbnails]]
* Support for movie.nfo and movie.tbn (if there is a movie.nfo file in the folder)
** Support for mixed (XML and URL) NFO files for Movies
* Possibility to import movie library information from "[http://www.mymovies.name/ My Movies]" (via the mymovies.xml files)
* Optional media file and/or folder thumbnails for easy localization (see [[My Videos#Thumbnails|thumbnail options]])
* [[FanArt]] backdrop scraping for Movies from [http://www.themoviedb.org themoviedb.org] (a site which you can contribute to)
* [[FanArt]] backdrop scraping for TV Shows from [http://www.thetvdb.com thetvdb.com] (a site which you can contribute to)
* Party Mode playlists and playlist editor.
* Stack multi-file videos option, show/play files with 90% name similarity as one
* Support for local moving trailer files (using the naming standard: "moviename-trailer.avi")
* [[EDL (commercial skipping) and SceneMarker support]] using chapter files
** EDL (Edit Decision List)
** ComSkip .txt (with framerate, like Comskip generates)
** VideoReDo
** SnapStream Beyond TV Smart Chapters (a.k.a. smartskip)
* Switch between multiple audio streams/tracks in DVD-Video, AVI, OGM and MKV/Matroska
** Left, Right Mono and Stereo channel selection available for all two channel audio-streams
* Multiple [[Rendering|video-rendering]] options to optimize playback of your video-formats
* 24FPS 1080p playback (1920x1080@24Hz) and 25FPS 1080p playback 1920x1080@50Hz
* Different Post-Processing filters for better video quality
* Flicker-filter (optional video flicker-filter with five levels, disabled by default)
* Adjust framerate (auto switching refresh rate to match video source frame rate)
* Soften-filter (optional filter to decrease video sharpness and thus artifacts)
* De-interlace filter (for interlaced video) implementation option
* Brightness/Contrast/Gamma controls (only for HighQuality Pixelshader)
* Video resizing/scaling and zooming functions
* Screenshot capture function (including video overlay support and OSD)
* AC3 (Dolby Digital EAX) 2.0, 5.1 and 7.1 pass-through from video to SP/DIF AC3 output
* AC3 (Dolby Digital) 5.1 -> 2.0 software-decoding to PCM stereo or mono out
* DTS (Digital Theatre Sound ES) pass-through from video to S/PDIF DTS output
* Option to output mono or stereo to all speakers (for 5.1 surround speakers)
* Bit-Perfect Audio Playback on Linux/Mac/Windows (removed audio resampling)
<br />


=== Features available for audio playback: ===
===Audio, video, and pictures playback and handling===
* Playback of all supported audio-formats via a TV or external audio-receiver/amplifier
XBMC can play media from CD/DVD media using an internal [[DVD-ROM]] drive. It can also play media from an internal built-in [[hard disk|hard disk drive]] and [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]] shares (Windows File-Sharing), or stream them over [[ReplayTV]] [[digital video recorder|DVRs/PVRs]], [[Universal Plug and Play|UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)]] shares, or stream [[iTunes]]-shares via [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]]. XBMC can also take advantage of a broadband Internet connection if available to stream Internet-video-streams like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and [[Veoh]], and play Internet-radio-stations (such as [[Pandora Radio]]). XBMC also includes the option to submit music usage statistics to [[Last.fm]] and [[Libre.fm]]. It also has music/video-playlist features, picture/image-[[slideshow]] functions, an MP3+CDG [[karaoke]] function and many [[Music visualization|audio-visualizations]] and [[screensaver]]s. XBMC can in addition [[Upscaling DVD|upscale/upconvert]] all [[SDTV|standard-definition (480i/480p/576i/576p)]] resolution videos and output them to [[HDTV|720p, 1080i, and 1080p high-definition]] resolutions.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/><ref name="Turbo Charge Your New XBMC Installation">{{cite web|url=http://lifehacker.com/5393227/turbo-charge-your-new-xbmc-installation |title=Turbo Charge Your New XBMC Installation |date=2009-10-30 |author=Jason Fitzpatrick |work=Lifehacker}}</ref>
* SQL database with view music by Top100/Albums/Tracks/Artists/Filenames or Recent Albums
** Also option to sort by Track/Filename/Date or Size and search functions
* Shift-key navigation in lists, (jump to starting letter by holding down shift)
* Karaoke features for music files with audio-visualization overlay support:
** CDG (CDG + MP3, AAC, CDG, WAV, etc.) playback - Play standard CDG karaoke files
** LRC (LRCv1 and LRCv2) - Karaoke text based lyrics file format with .lrc extension
** MIDI (.MID/.KAR) playback - Play MIDI format karaoke files
** Transparent ZIP and RAR files - Play MP3+GDG/MIDI files wrapped in ZIP/RAR files
** Supports song numbering with permanent numbers, which means the song could be selected by number, even if another song is being played. The numbering information could be exported into HTML file and used to print catalogs
** Supports real-time lyrics timing modification, allowing to modify the lyrics-music delay. The delay is associated to the song, and then restored when this song is played again
* [http://www.freedb.org CDDB] album lookup support when playing Audio-CD's (done via [http://www.freedb.org freedb.org])
* Party Mode playlists and playlist editor.
* Gapless, Crossfade, and Preamp (pre-amplification) playback support options
* [http://www.replaygain.org ReplayGain] "MetaData" applification/normalization (loudness control) support
* Thumbnail and album information lookup for Audio-CD's (done via [[scrapers]])
** XBMC cames with music scrapers exist for allmusic.com, last.fm, discogs.com and more
* Display embedded tumbnails/icons (album artwork) if integrated into a MP3 or AAC file
* Optional custom file and/or folder thumbnails for easy localization (see [[My Music#Thumbnails|thumbnail options]])
* [[FanArt]] backdrop scraping for Music Artist from [http://htbackdrops.com htbackdrops.com]
* [[FanArt]] support for Music Artist (Artists/Groups/Bands) for locally stored backdrops
** Support for mixed (XML and URL) NFO files for Music Artist and Album
* Audio-Autorun, auto-plays CDDA and music DVD/CD's with audio file(s) upon insert
* Play internet-files/streams from HTTP and MMS (Microsoft Media Streaming Protocol)
* Play RealMedia internet steams of HTTP + RTSP/RDT (Real Data Transport Protocol)
* Play soundtracks ripped by/in Xbox dashboard (add path "soundtrack://" to XML)
* Play supported audio files directly from BIN, IMG, NRG and ISO CD/DVD-images
* Reads [http://www.id3.org/id3v1.html ID3v1]/[http://www.id3.org/easy.html ID3v2]/[http://www.alpha-ii.com/snesmusic/files/spc_file_format.txt ID666]/APEv1/[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APEv2_tag APEv2] info-tags from audio/music-files
* M3U and PLS audio playlists (inc. option to create/save M3U audio-playlists)
* [http://www.shoutcast.com SHOUTcast] Internet Radio (MP3 .pls playlists) playback support
* Local/native [http://www.shoutcast.com SHOUTcast] recording (to MP3) onto the Xbox harddrive
* [[LastFM|last.fm]] (AudioScrobbler) online-radio submission and playback/streaming support
* Audio Visualizations (several visual generators and a spectrum analyser)
* FF (fast-forward) and RW (rewind), and PAUSE during audio playback/visualization
* Option to output mono or stereo to all speakers (for 5.1 surround speakers)
* Bit-Perfect Audio Playback on Linux/Mac/Windows (removed audio resampling)
<br />


=== Features available for picture/image viewing: ===
====Format support====
* Full-screen display of all supported picture and image formats via a TV
XBMC can be used to play/view all common [[multimedia]] formats through its native clients and parsers. It can decode these audio and video formats in software or hardware, and optionally pass-through [[Dolby Digital|AC3]]/[[DTS Coherent Acoustics|DTS]] audio, or encode to AC3 in real time from movies directly to [[S/PDIF]] digital output to an external audio-[[Audio amplifier|amplifier]]/[[Audio receiver#Hi-Fi / Home theater|receiver]] for decoding.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/>
* Shift-key navigation in lists, (jump to starting letter by holding down shift)
* Picture slideshow, including option for adding recursive to slideshows
* Picture thumbnails (automatically generated on demand)
* Folder thumbnails (automatically generated after entered that folder)
* View pictures directly from ISO, IMG, NRG and BIN CD/DVD-images
* Picture Zooming, rotate, move around, info, pause, next/previous picture
* [http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2/3/9/511&pq-locale=en_US Kodak PictureCD compatible] (auto-launches slideshow on CD insert)
* Auto-launches picture CD/DVD on insert if images in root directory
<br />


:'''Supported formats:'''
** '''[[Data storage device|Physical digital media]]''': [[Blu-ray Disc]] (unencrypted), CDs, DVDs, [[DVD-Video]], [[Video CD]]s (including VCD/SVCD/XVCD), [[Red Book (CD standard)|Audio-CD (CDDA)]], [[USB Flash Drive]]s, and local [[Hard Disk Drive]]s
** '''[[Communications protocol|Network protocol clients]]''': [[AirPlay|AirPlay/AirTunes]],<ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/commit/ae7b0b54384485e85124bc33c0743ed7cad627a4 add airplay implementation from boxee project</ref><ref>https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/447 Airtunes support for ios/osx/linux</ref> [[UPnP]], [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]], [[Apple Filing Protocol|AFP]], [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]], [[Zero configuration networking|Zeroconf]]/[[Avahi (software)|Avahi]]/[[Bonjour (software)|Bonjour]], [[Network File System (protocol)|NFS]], [[HTTP]], [[HTTPS]], [[FTP]], [[Real Time Streaming Protocol|RTSP]] (RTSPU, RTSPT), [[Microsoft Media Services|MMS]] (MMSU, MMST), [[Podcasting]], [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]], [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]], [[SSH file transfer protocol|SFTP]], [[Real-time Transport Protocol|RTP]] and [[Real Time Messaging Protocol|RTMP]] (including RTMP, RTMPT, RTMPE, RTMPTE, RTMPS<ref>http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/ RTMPDump used by XBMC</ref>), [[DHCP]], [[Network Time Protocol|NTP]]
** '''[[Network server|Network protocol servers]]''': [[JSON-RPC]] server, [[D-Bus]] server, [[Web server]], [[FTP Server]], and [[UPnP AV media server]], and a multi-protocol Event Server<ref name="wiki.xbmc.org">http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=EventServer EventServer</ref>
** '''[[Container format (digital)|Container format]]s''': [[Audio Video Interleave|AVI]], [[Moving Picture Experts Group|MPEG]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Advanced Systems Format|ASF]], [[Flash Video|FLV]], [[Matroska|MKV/MKA (Matroska)]], [[QuickTime File Format|QuickTime]], [[MPEG-4 Part 14|MP4]], M4A, [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], NUT, [[Ogg]], [[Ogg Media|OGM]], [[RealMedia]] RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMVB, [[3gp]], VIVO, PVA, [[NuppelVideo|NUV]], [[Nullsoft Streaming Video|NSV]], [[Nullsoft Streaming Audio|NSA]], [[Autodesk|FLI]], [[Autodesk|FLC]], [[DVR-MS]] and WTV
**'''[[Video format]]s''': [[MPEG-1]], [[MPEG-2]], [[H.263]], MPEG-4 [[MPEG-4 Part 2#Simple Profile (SP)|SP]] and [[Advanced Simple Profile|ASP]], [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC|MPEG-4 AVC]] ([[H.264]]), [[HuffYUV]], [[Indeo]], [[Motion JPEG|MJPEG]], [[RealVideo]], [[RMVB]], [[Sorenson codec|Sorenson]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Cinepak]].
**'''[[Audio format]]s''': [[MIDI]], [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]], [[WAV|WAV/WAVE]], [[AIFF]], [[MPEG-1 Audio Layer II|MP2]], MP3, [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[HE-AAC|AACplus (AAC+)]], [[Vorbis]], [[Dolby Digital|AC3]], [[DTS Coherent Acoustics|DTS]], [[Apple Lossless|ALAC]], [[Adaptive Multi-Rate|AMR]], [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]], [[Monkey's Audio]] (APE), [[RealAudio]], [[Shorten|SHN]], [[WavPack]], [[Musepack|MPC/Musepack/Mpeg+]], [[Shorten]], [[Speex]], [[Windows Media Audio|WMA]], [[Impulse Tracker|IT]], [[ScreamTracker|S3M]], [[MOD (file format)|MOD]] (Amiga Module), [[XM (file format)|XM]], NSF ([[NES Sound Format]]), [[SPC700 sound format|SPC]] ([[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]]), GYM ([[Mega Drive|Genesis]]), [[MOS Technology SID|SID]] ([[Commodore 64]]), [[Adlib]], [[YM2149|YM]] ([[Atari ST]]), [[ADPCM]] ([[Nintendo GameCube]]), and [[Compact Disc Digital Audio|CDDA]].
** '''[[Digital camera|Digital picture/image formats]]''': RAW image formats, [[BMP file format|BMP]], [[JPEG]], [[Graphics Interchange Format|GIF]], [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[Tagged Image File Format|TIFF]], [[Multiple-image Network Graphics|MNG]], [[ICO (icon image file format)|ICO]], [[PCX]] and [[Truevision TGA|Targa/TGA]]
**'''[[Subtitles|Subtitle formats]]''': AQTitle, [[SubStation Alpha|ASS/SSA]], [[Closed captioning|CC]], JACOsub, [[MicroDVD]], MPsub, [[Ogg Media|OGM]], PJS, RT, [[SAMI|SMI]], [[SubRip|SRT]], [[SubViewer|SUB]], [[VSFilter|VOBsub]], VPlayer
**'''[[Tag (metadata)|Metadata tags]]''': APEv1, [[APEv2 tag|APEv2]], [[ID3]] ([[ID3]]v1 and [[ID3v2]]), ID666 and [[Vorbis comment]]s for [[audio file format]]s, [[Exif]] and [[IPTC Information Interchange Model|IPTC]] (including [[GeoTagging]]) for [[image file format]]s


=== Other and generic Graphical User Interface (GUI) features: ===
====Video playback in detail====
* Controllable via a [http://www.xbox.com/sv-SE/hardware/d/dvdplaybackkit/Xbox™ Remote Control], a [http://www.xbox.com/sv-se/hardware/x/xboxcontroller-s/ game-pad], USB keyboard and/or USB mouse
=====Video Library=====
* Virtual-Keyboard for manual video/music database searches and settings configurations
The Video Library, one of the XBMC [[metadata]] [[databases]], is a key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of video content by information associated with the video files (e.g. movies and recorded TV Shows) themselves. This information can be obtained in various ways, like through scrapers (i.e. [[web scraping]] sites like IMDb, TheMovieDB, TheTVDB, etc.), and [[.nfo|nfo]] files. Automatically downloading and displaying movie posters and [[fan art]] backdrops as background wallpapers. The Library Mode view allows users to browse their video content by categories; [[Genre]], Title, Year, Actors and Directors.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>
* Flexible XML based skinning-engine with GUI skin-switching (and many skins available)
* Range of different view modes (supports unlimited custom skinner created views)
* Context Menu feature (mapped by default to the TITLE button on the remote)
* View file media listing By List, By Small Icons or By Large Icons option
* "My Files" file-manager, move/copy/delete local and copy from network
* "My Weather" weather forecast feature (done via [http://www.weather.com The Weather Channel])
** [http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=40709 FanArt Backdrop support for Weather] (based on current weather condition)
** [http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=27354 Skin theme/items changes on-the-fly with variables based on date and/or time]
* Several screensavers on configurable timer in GUI to choose from
** Including picture slideshow screensaver, and [[FanArt]] screensaver
* RSS feed in main menu (you can manually disable or change feed in RssFeeds.xml)
* [http://www.python.org Python] Script Interpreter Engine (execute/run Python scripts from within XBMC)
* Idle shutdown-timer, which shutdown XBMC when idle, configurable timer through GUI
* [[Shutdown Menu|Non-idle sleep timer]], shutdown XBMC even if not idle after specific set manually
* Flicker-filter (optional GUI flicker-filter with five levels, high enabled by default)
* Language (XML) files for translated GUI (over 30+ languages so far), switch from GUI
* International-language fonts for the GUI (via TTF-Fonts, configurable in UI-Settings)
* GUI and video calibration (including storing calibration settings per resolution)
* Displays system info under Settings (Build date, free space, IP, temperature)
* Screenshot capture function, to snap shots of GUI (inc. video overlay support)
* Configurable memory cache buffer for video/audio playback, configured in GUI
* Option to safely remove (eject/unmount) external harddrives in XBMC for Linux
* Export entire music/video library into separate files (NFO with TBN images)
<br />


=== Other non-GUI features, functions and options: ===
=====Video player cores=====
* Fully re-mappable keys for [http://www.xbox.com/sv-SE/hardware/d/dvdplaybackkit/Xbox™ DVD Remote] and the [http://www.xbox.com/sv-se/hardware/x/xboxcontroller-s/ controller/game-pad] (via Keymap.xml)
** Including the possibility to map and use all RCA-5 IR codes from a universal remote
* Auto-detection of UDF 1.02, XDVDFS/CDX and ISO9660 - mode1/mode2/XA
* Auto-launch Xbox game-disc on insert with enable/disable optional from within GUI
* Advanced and expert options available via an optional [[AdvancedSettings.xml]] file
* "LaunchPlayer", option to launch external player via [[AdvancedSettings.xml]]
* Built-in Web-Server for remote control of XBMC (http//:xboxIPaddressHere.asp)
** Avahi Zeroconf (Zero Configuration Networking) for XBMC webserver on Mac OS X
* Built-in [[WebServerHTTP-API|HTTP API]] interface so you can build custom remote control applications
* Built-in FTP-Server, connect to it via an FTP client to copy files to/from Xbox harddrive
* DLNA compatible UPnP MediaServer enabling streaming to other UPnP clients
* [http://xbmc.org/topfs2/2009/01/09/pulseaudio-and-xbmc-for-linux/ PulseAudio] sound server support, (only in XBMC for Linux and XBMC Live as of yet)
* Supports Static-IP/Subnetmask/DNS/WINS and alternative DHCP-client for auto config
* Clock/date synchronization from a (NT SNTP) Time Server on the network/internet
* [[D-Bus Server]] supporting MPRIS (Media Player Remote Interfacing Specification)
* Harddrive (HDD) spindown on idle (spin-down disks when XBMC is idle in menu)
* Installed xsession for use in example with GDM and KDM for a XBMC-only session on Linux
* [[Error Recovery Mode]] (Emergency Recovery Console) - Enables the FTP-server if get corrupt XBMC system-files on Xbox.
<br />


== Notes ==
XBMC uses two different [[multimedia]] video player 'cores' for video-playback. The first video-player 'core' for video-playback is an [[in-house]] developed [[cross-platform]] media player, "''DVDPlayer''", originally designed to play back [[DVD-Video]] movies, and this includes support native for [[DVD-Video#Programming interface|DVD-menus]], (based on the free [[open source]] [[library (computing)|libraries]] code [[libdvdcss]] and libdvdnav). This [[FFmpeg]] based video-player 'core' today supports all widespread mainstream formats. One relatively unusual feature of this DVD-player core is the capability to [[on-the-fly]] pause and play DVD-Video movies that are stored in [[ISO image|ISO and IMG]] DVD-images or DVD-Video ([[IFO]]/[[VOB]]/[[BUP]]) images (even directly from uncompressed [[RAR]] and [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] archives), from either local harddrive storage or network-share storage.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience"/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>
<references />
 
The second video-player 'core' for video-playback in XBMC is another [[in-house]] developed [[open source]] player, "''DSPlayer''", which today is only used as an experimental video player in a [[Git (software)|Git]] development branch of XBMC for Windows and not in any other versions of XBMC. This "''DSPlayer''" is a [[Direct Show]] based media player which with the help of [[FFmpeg]] can play practically all common media formats and in addition also make XBMC for Windows handle all formats and [[container format (digital)|containers]] normally supported in Windows with the help of third-party proprietary [[Direct Show]] filters installed on the system.<ref name="github3">https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/591 DSPlayer directshow based player</ref>
 
====Audio playback in detail====
=====Music Library=====
The Music Library, one of the XBMC [[metadata]] [[databases]], is another key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of a music collection to allow searching, and creating smart playlists by information stored in music file [[ID3|ID meta tags]], like title, artist, album, production year, [[genre]], and popularity. Automatically downloading and displaying album covers and [[fan art]] backdrops as background wallpapers.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period."/><ref name="XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier"/>
 
=====Audio player cores=====
For music playback, XBMC includes its own [[in-house]] developed audio-player, "''PAPlayer''" (which stands for "''Psycho-Acoustic Audio Player''"), and this audio-player core's most notable features are [[on-the-fly]] [[resampling (audio)|resampling]] of the audio frequency, [[gapless playback]], [[Fade (audio engineering)|crossfading]], [[ReplayGain]], [[cue sheet (music software)|cue sheet]] and [[Ogg]] Chapter support.
The "''PAPlayer''" audio-player handles a very large variety of audio file-formats, and it also supports most different tagging standards. XBMC also have support for most popular [[karaoke]] computer file formats, and is able to play and display timed song lyrics graphics/text from [[CD+G]], [[LRC (file format)|LRC]], and [[Karaoke|KAR]] files.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art"/>
 
====Digital picture/image display in detail====
XBMC handles all common [[digital camera|digital picture/image formats]] with the options of [[Ken burns effect|panning/zooming]] and [[slideshow]] with "[[Ken Burns Effect]]", with the use of [http://www.codeproject.com/bitmap/cximage.asp CxImage] open source [[library (computing)|library]] code. XBMC can also handle [[Comic Book Archive file|CBZ (ZIP) and CBR (RAR) comic book archive files]], this feature lets users view/read, browse and [[Digital zoom|zoom]] the pictures of comics pages these contain without uncompressing them first.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"/>

Revision as of 07:01, 22 March 2012

Template:XBMC wiki toc Inline Here is a detailed list of XBMC features, functions and supported audio/video/picture formats.

XBMC's Addons Manager and addons

XBMC features several open APIs to enable third-party developers to create capabilities which extend XBMC with a multitude of addons, such as audio and video streaming plugins for online sources, widget scripts, skins/themes, visualizations, screensavers, web scrapers, weather forecasts, web interfaces, and more. XBMC developers encourages users to make and submit their own addons to add additional media content and value-added services accessible from within XBMC.

XBMC's latest point-release, (codename: "Dharma"), features a new Addons Framework architecture and Addons Manager GUI client that connects to a decentralized digital distribution service platform that serves add-on apps and plug-ins which among other things provide online content to XBMC, the "Addons Manager" (or "Addons Browser") inside XBMC allows users to browse and download new addons directly from XBMC's GUI.

Many of these online content sources are in over-the-top content high definition services and use video streaming sites, such as Adobe Flash based content. XBMC has extensibility and integration with online sources for both free and premium streaming content, and offers content from everything from commercial video, to free educational programming, and media from individuals and small businesses.

Plugins and scripts (apps/gadgets/widgets)

XBMC features a Python Scripts Engine for addon extensions, WindowXML application framework (a XML-based widget toolkit for creating a GUI for apps / widgets) in a similar fashion to Apple Mac OS X Dashboard Widgets and Microsoft Gadgets in Windows Sidebar. Python widget scripts allow normal users to add new functionality to XBMC themselves, using Python scripting language. Current plugin scripts include functions like Internet-TV and movie-trailer browsers, weather forecast and cinemaguides, Over-the-top content video streaming services like YouTube, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Netflix, Veoh, MLB.tv, Internet-radio-station browsers (example Pandora Radio, Xm radio, Sirius Satellite Radio), online picture sharing sites like Flickr, TV-guides (EPG), e-mail clients, instant messaging, train-timetables, home automation scripts to front-end control PVR software and hardware (like: MediaPortal, MythTV, TiVo, ReplayTV, Dreambox/DBox2), P2P file-sharing downloaders (BitTorrent), IRC, also casual games (sometimes also referred to as mini-games or party-games) such as Tetris, Snake, Space Invaders, Sudoku, and much more.[1][2][3][4][5]

Scrapers (web scraping for metadata)

XBMC has the built-in optional function to automatically download metadata information, cover art and other related media artwork online through its web scrapers that looks for media in the user's audio / video folders and their sub-directories. These "scrapers" are this way used as importers to obtain detailed information from various Internet resources about movies and television shows. It can get synopses, reviews, movie posters, titles, genre classification, and other similar data. XBMC GUI then provide a rich display for audio and video files that the scrapers has identified.

Scrapers use sites like themoviedb.org[6] or imdb.com to obtain thumbnails and information on movies, thetvdb.com for TV show posters and episode plots, CDDB (via freedb and Discogs, etc.) for audio CD track listings, and AMG for album thumbnails.[7]

Skins (themes)

Same as the majority of most applications that originated from a 'homebrew' scene, is skin-ability in the tradition of modifications and customization very popular among XBMC users. "Confluence" and "Project Mayhem" are the two official skins; "Confluence" is the default since version 9.11, and "Project Mayhem" was the previous default which is now in its third version, commonly known as "PM3.HD" (PM III High-Definition).[8]

Users can also create their own skin (or simply modify an existing skin) and share it with others via public websites that are used for XBMC skins trading and development.[1][5][9][10][11][12] Many such third-party skins exist that are well maintained by the community, and while some skins are originals with unique designs, most initially begin as a clones or an exact replica of other multimedia software interfaces, such as DivX Connected, Apple Front Row, Windows Media Center Edition (MCE), MediaPortal, Meedio/MeediOS, HDeeTV, Kaleidescape, Wii Channel Menu (Xii), Xbox 360 Blades (MC360), Xbox 360 New Xbox Experience (Xperience), and others.[13]

The flexibility offered by XBMC skinning-engine is also useful for third-party companies who wish to make derivative work of XBMC as it makes it easy to rebrand the environment or make deeper changes to the look and feel of the user interface.

Web Interfaces

Web Interface addons for XBMC normally allow browsing a media library remotely, to handle music playlists from a computer instead of television. Others allow remotely controlling the navigation of XBMC like a remote for remote controlling of an installed and concurrently-active XBMC session running on a computer if it runs on an internet tablet or similar device with a touch interface. And yet other still acts like a media manager to allow modifying metadata and artwork in XBMC's video and music libraries.

Audio, video, and pictures playback and handling

XBMC can play media from CD/DVD media using an internal DVD-ROM drive. It can also play media from an internal built-in hard disk drive and SMB/SAMBA/CIFS shares (Windows File-Sharing), or stream them over ReplayTV DVRs/PVRs, UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) shares, or stream iTunes-shares via DAAP. XBMC can also take advantage of a broadband Internet connection if available to stream Internet-video-streams like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and Veoh, and play Internet-radio-stations (such as Pandora Radio). XBMC also includes the option to submit music usage statistics to Last.fm and Libre.fm. It also has music/video-playlist features, picture/image-slideshow functions, an MP3+CDG karaoke function and many audio-visualizations and screensavers. XBMC can in addition upscale/upconvert all standard-definition (480i/480p/576i/576p) resolution videos and output them to 720p, 1080i, and 1080p high-definition resolutions.[1][14][15]

Format support

XBMC can be used to play/view all common multimedia formats through its native clients and parsers. It can decode these audio and video formats in software or hardware, and optionally pass-through AC3/DTS audio, or encode to AC3 in real time from movies directly to S/PDIF digital output to an external audio-amplifier/receiver for decoding.[1][14]

Supported formats:

Video playback in detail

Video Library

The Video Library, one of the XBMC metadata databases, is a key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of video content by information associated with the video files (e.g. movies and recorded TV Shows) themselves. This information can be obtained in various ways, like through scrapers (i.e. web scraping sites like IMDb, TheMovieDB, TheTVDB, etc.), and nfo files. Automatically downloading and displaying movie posters and fan art backdrops as background wallpapers. The Library Mode view allows users to browse their video content by categories; Genre, Title, Year, Actors and Directors.[1][8]

Video player cores

XBMC uses two different multimedia video player 'cores' for video-playback. The first video-player 'core' for video-playback is an in-house developed cross-platform media player, "DVDPlayer", originally designed to play back DVD-Video movies, and this includes support native for DVD-menus, (based on the free open source libraries code libdvdcss and libdvdnav). This FFmpeg based video-player 'core' today supports all widespread mainstream formats. One relatively unusual feature of this DVD-player core is the capability to on-the-fly pause and play DVD-Video movies that are stored in ISO and IMG DVD-images or DVD-Video (IFO/VOB/BUP) images (even directly from uncompressed RAR and ZIP archives), from either local harddrive storage or network-share storage.[1][2][8]

The second video-player 'core' for video-playback in XBMC is another in-house developed open source player, "DSPlayer", which today is only used as an experimental video player in a Git development branch of XBMC for Windows and not in any other versions of XBMC. This "DSPlayer" is a Direct Show based media player which with the help of FFmpeg can play practically all common media formats and in addition also make XBMC for Windows handle all formats and containers normally supported in Windows with the help of third-party proprietary Direct Show filters installed on the system.[20]

Audio playback in detail

Music Library

The Music Library, one of the XBMC metadata databases, is another key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of a music collection to allow searching, and creating smart playlists by information stored in music file ID meta tags, like title, artist, album, production year, genre, and popularity. Automatically downloading and displaying album covers and fan art backdrops as background wallpapers.[1][8]

Audio player cores

For music playback, XBMC includes its own in-house developed audio-player, "PAPlayer" (which stands for "Psycho-Acoustic Audio Player"), and this audio-player core's most notable features are on-the-fly resampling of the audio frequency, gapless playback, crossfading, ReplayGain, cue sheet and Ogg Chapter support. The "PAPlayer" audio-player handles a very large variety of audio file-formats, and it also supports most different tagging standards. XBMC also have support for most popular karaoke computer file formats, and is able to play and display timed song lyrics graphics/text from CD+G, LRC, and KAR files.[14]

Digital picture/image display in detail

XBMC handles all common digital picture/image formats with the options of panning/zooming and slideshow with "Ken Burns Effect", with the use of CxImage open source library code. XBMC can also handle CBZ (ZIP) and CBR (RAR) comic book archive files, this feature lets users view/read, browse and zoom the pictures of comics pages these contain without uncompressing them first.[21]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named XBMC is the best media center application. Period.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named XBMC 9.04 delivers impressive media center experience
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named XBMC-Addons on Google Code
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named XBMC Zone
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Passion XBMC
  6. ↑ http://simonpena.com/blog/mswl/butaca-imdb-and-tmdb/ Butaca IMDb, and TMDb
  7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named XBMC 9.11 makes your open source home theater look shinier
  9. ↑ Template:Cite web
  10. ↑ Template:Cite web
  11. ↑ http://www.teamrazorfish.co.uk MediaStream
  12. ↑ http://blackbolt.x-scene.com Team Blackbolt
  13. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Customize XBMC with These Five Awesome Skins
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FLOSS Media Center State of the Art
  15. ↑ Template:Cite web
  16. ↑ https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/commit/ae7b0b54384485e85124bc33c0743ed7cad627a4 add airplay implementation from boxee project
  17. ↑ https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/447 Airtunes support for ios/osx/linux
  18. ↑ http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/ RTMPDump used by XBMC
  19. ↑ http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=EventServer EventServer
  20. ↑ https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/591 DSPlayer directshow based player
  21. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center
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