Kodi: Difference between revisions

Line 1:

~~{{Infobox Software~~

~~| name = XBMC~~

~~| logo = [[Image:XBMC Logo.png|100px]]~~

~~| screenshot = [[Image:XBMC Main Screen.png|250px]]~~

~~| caption = XBMC Home Screen~~

~~| developer = [http://sourceforge.net/project/memberlist.php?group_id=87054 XBMC Developers]~~

~~| released =~~

~~| frequently_updated = yes~~

~~| programming language =~~

~~| operating system = [[Xbox]], [[Microsoft Windows]], [[Linux]], and [[Mac OS X]]~~

~~| platform = [[x86 architecture]]~~

~~| language = International (multiple languages)~~

~~| genre = [[media player (application software)|Media player]], [[media center]]~~

~~| license = [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]]~~

~~| website = [http://xbmc.org xbmc.org]~~

}}

'''XBMC''' (formerly named "''XBox Media Center''") is a [[free and open source software|free and open source]] [[cross-platform]] media-player and entertainment hub. Initially created for the original [[Xbox]] game-console, the team behind XBMC development have recently ported the XBMC software to run natively under the [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X]], and [[Microsoft Windows]] operating systems.

XBMC supports a wide range of multimedia formats and includes features such as playlists, audio visualizations, slideshows, and weather reporting, and an expanding array of third-party plugins. As a media center, XBMC can play most audio and video file formats, as well as display images from virtually any source, including CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives, the Internet, and LAN shares. Through its [[Python (programming language)|Python]] based plugin system, XBMC has expanded to include features such as television program guides, [[YouTube]] and [[Apple Computer|Apple]] movie trailer support, and [[SHOUTcast]]/[[Podcast]] streaming. XBMC also functions as a gaming platform by allowing users to play Python-based mini-games on any operating system. In addition, the Xbox version of XBMC contains the ability to launch console games, homebrew applications such as emulators, and a free alternative to [[Xbox Live]] called [[XLink Kai]].

XBMC as a whole is distributed under the [[GNU General Public License]] (with a few libraries used by XBMC licensed under the [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]]). XBMC is a hobby project that is only developed by volunteers in their spare-time for free. It is not produced, endorsed, or supported by [[Microsoft]] or any other vendor. As a result, XBMC for Xbox, like all homebrew Xbox applications, requires a [[modchip]] or [[softmod]] exploit. As such, the legality of running XBMC on the Xbox is disputed.

~~==History==~~

~~{{See also|Xbox Media Player}}~~

XBMC is the successor to the popular [[Xbox Media Player|Xbox Media Player (XBMP)]] software. XBox Media Player development stopped on [[December 13]], [[2003]], by which time its successor, XBMC, was ready for its debut, renamed as it was growing out of its 'player' name and into a 'center' for media playback. The first stable release of XBMC was on [[June 29]], [[2004]], with the official release of XBoxMediaCenter 1.0.0. This announcement also encouraged everyone using XBMP or XBMC Beta release to update, as all support for those previous versions would be dropped, and they would only officially support version 1.0.0. Some new things in XBMC 1.0.0 included the addition of the Filezilla FTP Server, DHCP Support, the ability to configure additional settings from the xboxmediacenter.xml, a new version of [[MPlayer]] was packaged and the embedded [[Python (programming language)|Python]] was given the ability to draw GUI Elements.

With the release of 1.0.0 in the middle of 2004, work continued on the XBMC project to add more features, such as support for iTunes features like DAAP and Smart Playlists, as well as lots of improvements and fixed. The second stable release of XBMC, 1.1.0, was released on [[October 18]], [[2004]]. This released included support for more media, file, container formats, as well as video playback of Nullsoft streaming videos, karaoke support (CD-G).

After two years of heavy development, XBMC announced a stable point final release of XBMC 2.0.0 on [[September 29]], [[2006]]. Even more features were packed into the new version with the addition of RAR and zip archive support, a brand new player interface with support for multiple players. Such players include PAPlayer, the new audio/music player with crossfade, gapless playback and ReplayGain support, and the new DVDPlayer with support for menu and navigation support as well as ISO/img image parsing. Prior to this point release, XBMC just used a modified fork of [[MPlayer]] for all of its media needs, so this was a big step forward. Support for iTunes 6.x DAAP, and Upnp Clients for streaming was also added. A reworked Skinning Engine was included in this release to provide a more powerful way to change the appearance of XBMC. The last two features include read-only support for FAT12/16/32 formatted USB Mass Storage Devices up to 4GB in size, and a brand new "skinnable" 3D visualizer.

The release of XBMC 2.0.1 on [[November 12]], [[2006]] contained numerous fixes for bugs that made it through the 2.0.0 release. This also marked the change from CVS to SVN (Subversion) for the development tree. Development on the SVN Trunk is continuing which is currently 'pre-2.1', and once it goes through the [[bug bash]] and feature lockdown process will become XBMC 2.1.0.

~~==Features==~~

~~===Audio/video playback and handling===~~

XBMC can play media from CD/DVD media using the Xbox's built-in [[DVD-ROM]] drive. It can also play media from the Xbox's built-in [[hard disk|hard disk drive]], or stream them over [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]] shares (Windows File-Sharing), [[ReplayTV]] [[digital video recorder|DVRs]], [[Universal Plug and Play|UPnP (Universal Plug and Play )]] shares, [[XBMSP]] ([[Xbox Media Stream Protocol]]) shares, or stream [[iTunes]]-shares via [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]]. XBMC can also take advantage of the Xbox's Ethernet network port and a broadband Internet connection if available, using the [[Internet Movie Database|IMDb]] to obtain [[thumbnails]] and reviews on movies, [[CDDB]] (via [[FreeDB]]) for Audio-CD track-listings), and album-[[thumbnails]] via [[Allmusic|AMG]], it can stream Internet-video-streams, and play Internet-radio-stations (such as [[SHOUTcast]]). XBMC also includes the option to submit music usage statistics to [[Last.fm]] and a weather-forecast (via [[weather.com]]). 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 480p/576p [[SDTV|standard-resolution]] videos and output them to [[HDTV|720p or 1080i HDTV]]-resolutions.

~~===Format support===~~

XBMC can be used to play/view all common [[multimedia]] formats. It can decode these in software and optionally pass-through [[Dolby Digital|AC3]]/[[DTS Coherent Acoustics|DTS]] audio from movies directly to [[S/PDIF]] output to an external audio-[[Audio amplifier|amplifier]]/[[Audio receiver#Hi-Fi .2F Home theater|receiver]].

~~:'''Supported formats:'''~~

~~:* '''Physical media''': [[compact disc|CDs]], DVDs, [[Video CD]]s (including [[DVD-Video]], VCD/SVCD and Audio-CD/CDDA)~~

:*'''[[Video format]]s''': [[MPEG-1]], [[MPEG-2]], [[H.263]], MPEG-4 [[MPEG-4 Part 2#Simple Profile .28SP.29|SP]] and [[MPEG-4 Part 2#Advanced Simple Profile .28ASP.29|ASP]], [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC|MPEG-4 AVC]] ([[H.264]]), [[HuffYUV]], [[Indeo]], [[Motion JPEG|MJPEG]], [[RealVideo]], [[QuickTime]], [[Sorenson codec|Sorenson]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Cinepak]],

~~===Video playback in detail===~~

XBMC uses two different [[multimedia]] player 'cores' for video-playback. The first is a ported version of the [[open source]] [[cross-platform]] player, [[MPlayer]], which is known for playing practically all common media-formats. XBMC handles all [[codecs]] and [[Container format (digital)|containers]] normally supported by MPlayer (all [[FFmpeg]] supported codecs and also several external ones with the help of proprietary [[Dynamic-link library|DLL]]-files.

The second video-player 'core' for video-playback is an [[in-house]] developed [[DVD player|DVD-player]] for [[DVD-Video|DVD-Video movies]], including the support of [[DVD-Video#Menu programming interface|DVD-menus]], (based on the free [[open source]] [[Library (computing)|libraries]] code [[libdvdcss]] and [[libdvdnav]]). This video-player 'core' support all the [[FFmpeg]] codecs, and in addition the [[MPEG-2]] [[video codec]], and the [[audio codecs]] [[DTS Coherent Acoustics|DTS]] and [[AC3]] (based on the [[open source]] code [[Library (computing)|libraries]]: [[libmpeg2]], [[libdca]]/[[libdts]], and [[liba52]]/[[libac3]] respectively). One relatively unusual feature of this DVD-player core is the capability to [[on-the-fly]] parse and play [[DVD-Video]] movies that are stored in [[ISO image|ISO and IMG]] DVD-images, [[DVD-Video]] movies that are stored as [[DVD-Video]] ([[IFO]]/[[VOB]]/[[BUP]]) files on a harddrive or network-share, and also [[ISO image|ISO and IMG]] DVD-images directly from [[RAR]] and [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] archives.

~~====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 (eg. movies and recorded [[Television program|TV Shows]]) themselves. This information can be obtained in various different ways, like through [[Scrapers]] (ie. [[IMDb]], [[tv.com]], [[thetvdb.com]], etc.) and [[.nfo|nfo]] files. The Library Mode view allows you to browse your video content by things like; [[Genre]], Title, Year, Actors and [[Film director|Directors]].

~~===Audio playback in detail===~~

For audio playback, XBMC includes its own [[in-house]] developed audio-player: [[PAPlayer|PAPlayer (Psycho-Acoustic Audio Player)]]. Some of this audio-player core's most notable features are [[on-the-fly]] [[resampling]] to the Xbox's native audio frequency (48 kHz), [[gapless playback]], [[Fade (audio engineering)|crossfading]], [[Replay Gain]], [[cue sheet (music software)|cue sheet]] and [[Ogg]] Chapter support.

It handles a very large variety of audio file-formats: [[MP2 (format)|MP2]], [[MP3]], [[Vorbis]], [[Musepack]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[HE-AAC|AACplus (AAC+)]], [[Monkey's Audio|APE]], [[FLAC]], [[WavPack]], [[Shorten]], [[AIFF]], [[WAV]], [[DTS Coherent Acoustics|DTS]], [[Dolby Digital|AC3]], [[CDDA]], [[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]] ([[SNES]]), [[GYM]] ([[Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis|Genesis]]), [[MOS Technology SID|SID]] ([[Commodore 64]]), [[Adlib]], [[YM2149|YM]] ([[Atari ST]]), [[ADPCM]] ([[Nintendo GameCube|GameCube]]). It also supports many different tagging standards: APEv1, [[APEv2 tag|APEv2]], [[ID3]]v1, [[ID3#ID3v2|ID3v2]], [[ID666]] and [[Vorbis comment]]s.

~~====Music Library====~~

The Music Library, one of the XBMC [[metadata]] [[databases]], another key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of your music collection by information stored in your music file [[ID3|ID meta tags]], like title, artist, album, [[genre]] and popularity.

~~===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 you view/read, browse and [[zoom]] the pictures of [[comics]] pages these contain without uncompressing them first.

~~===Python scripts (widgets/gadgets) plugins===~~

XBMC features a [[Python (programming language)|Python Scripts Engine]] and WindowXML [[application framework]] (a [[XML]]-based [[widget toolkit]] for creating a [[GUI]] for [[Widget (computing)|widgets]]) in a similar fashion to Apple Mac OS X [[Dashboard (software)|Dashboard Widgets]] and [[Microsoft Gadgets]] in [[Windows Sidebar]]. Python [[Widget (computing)|widget]] scripts allow normal users to add new functionality to XBMC themselves, (using the easy to learn [[Python (programming language)|Python programming language]]), without having to utilize an illegal copy of the [[XDK]] and without knowledge of the complex [[C++|C/C++ programming language]]. Current [[plugins|plugin]] scripts include functions like [[Internet television|Internet-TV]] and [[Trailer (film)|movie-trailer]] browsers, [[Weather forecasting|weather forecast]] and [[Movie theater|cinema]]guides, [[Electronic program guide|TV-guides (EPG)]], e-mail clients, [[instant messaging]], train-timetables, scripts to [[Front-end and back-end|front-end]] control [[Personal video recorder|PVR]] software and hardware (like: [[MediaPortal]], [[MythTV]], [[TiVo]], [[ReplayTV]], [[Dreambox]]/[[DBox2]]), Internet-radio-station browsers (example [[SHOUTcast]], [[Xm radio]], [[Sirius Satellite Radio]]), [[Peer-to-peer|P2P]] file-sharing downloaders ([[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]]), [[Internet Relay Chat|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.

~~===Dashboard function (game/application launcher)===~~

XBMC has a "My Programs" section which functions as a replacement [[Xbox Dashboard|dashboard]] to launch [[List of Xbox games|Xbox games]] (retail and [[Homebrew (video games)|homebrew]]) and [[Application software|applications]]/[[List of emulators|emulator]] directly off the Xbox built-in [[harddrive]], all from a nice [[GUI]] with [[thumbnail]] and list options. This fully replaces the original [[Xbox Dashboard]] from [[Microsoft]], and with the exception of flashing new [[BIOS]] to an Xbox [[modchip]] it also features all extra functions that other [[Homebrew (video games)|homebrew]] [[Xbox Dashboard|dashboard]]s have.

~~===Language support===~~

XBMC also includes support for many different languages. XBMC's structure is such that if your language is not available, or not up-to-date, then you can easily make your translation by editing an [[XML]]-file, which can be submitted to the project's database for use by others. Currently the existing supported languages are [[Brazilian Portuguese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Simplified Chinese]], [[Traditional Chinese]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[English language|English]], [[Esperanto]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Hebrew]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Maltese language|Maltese]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Turkish language|Turkish]].

~~===Skins and skinning-engine===~~

A mainstay of Xbox [[Homebrew (video games)|homebrew]] applications is [[Skin (computing)|skin]]-ability in the tradition of case modifications. XBMC is noted as having a very flexible [[GUI toolkit]] and robust [[Software framework|framework]] for its [[GUI]], using a standard [[XML]] base, making [[Theme (computing)|theme]]-[[skinning]] and personal [[customization]] very accessible. Users can create their own skin (or simply modify an existing skin) and share it with others via public websites dedicated for Xbox and XBMC skins trading. "Project Mayhem" is the official [[Skin (computing)|skin]]; which is now in its third version, commonly know as "PMIII" or "PM3". Many third-party skins exist and while some are original designs, most are [[Clone (video games)|clones]] or an exact [[replica]] of other multimedia software, such as [[Front Row|Apple Front Row]], [[Windows XP Media Center Edition|Windows Media Center Edition (MCE)]], [[MediaPortal]], [[Meedio]]/[[MeediOS]], [[HDeeTV]], [[Kaleidescape]], [[Xbox360#Software|Xbox 360 blades (MC360)]], and others.

~~===Xbox specific features and functions===~~

~~====XBMC Trainer Support (game cheats mods)====~~

XBMC for Xbox also has the ability to use and apply Xbox [[Trainer (games)|Trainer]] Files. [[Trainer (games)|Trainers]] are small files that allow for in game value [[Mod (computer gaming)|modification]] (such as [[cheat code]]) through altering retail functions in game values by way of using [[Terminate and Stay Resident|TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident)]] keys.

There are many things that can be [[Mod (computer gaming)|modified]] including ammunition, extra-lifes, or even how high a character can jump. Trainer support in XBMC for Xbox was achieved through collaboration with [[Team Xored]]. This collaboration began in December 2005 and came to fruition in January 2006 by successfully integrating the [[Team Xored|Team Xored Trainer Engine]] into XBMC.

~~XBMC for Xbox can run trainers with the following file extensions: *.ETM and *.XBTF.~~

~~====XLink Kai (Xbox Live online-gaming alternative)====~~

XBMC for Xbox has an integrated [[Front-end and back-end|front-end]] for an [[Xbox Live]] alternative (called "[[XLink Kai]]"), an [[online gaming]] platform, enabling you to both control the [[XLink Kai|Kai engine]] and play system-link/LAN-enabled Xbox [[Online game|games online]], without connecting to the [[Xbox Live]] service, straight from your console.

~~==Running XBMC for Xbox==~~

[[Image:Mc360-screenshot-1.jpg|thumb|right|300px|MC360 skin for XBMC displaying the media blade]]At present, the latest 'stable' version of XBMC for Xbox is 2.0.1 final point-release which was released on [[November 12]], [[2006]]. Since XBMC for Xbox is an [[open source]] software program, its development [[source code]] is stored on a publicly-accessible [[Subversion (software)|Subversion]] server. This code is constantly updated on a daily-basis by developers so the Subversion repository often contains more features than the most recent 'stable' release. Accordingly, [[executable]] builds from the Subversion repository are often released by [[third-party developer|third-parties]]. It should be noted, however, that [[executable]] builds from development versions typically contain bugs not present in the most recent 'stable' release versions of XBMC for Xbox.

XBMC for Xbox is not an [[authorized|authorized/signed]] [[Microsoft]] product, therefore a [[Xbox#Xbox modding|modification of the Xbox]] is required in order to run XBMC on a [[Xbox]] game-console. XBMC for Xbox can be run as an [[Application software|application]] (like any Xbox game), or as a [[Xbox Dashboard|dashboard]] that appears directly when the [[Xbox]] is turned on. It takes approximately ten seconds to fully load XBMC for Xbox.

~~==Programming and developing==~~

XBMC is a non-profit [[open source]] [[hobby]] project that is developed only by volunteers in their spare-time without any [[monetary]] gain. The team of developers working on XBMC encourage anyone to submit their own [[Patch (computing)|source code patches]] for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix [[software bug|bugs]].

XBMC is a cross-platform software application programmed in [[C++]] (and some [[Assembly language|Assembly]]), XBMC uses [[DirectX|Microsoft DirectX]] multimedia [[Software framework|framework]] on the Xbox, (as the [[Xbox]] does not support [[OpenGL]]), and the [[SDL|SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer)]] framework under XBMC for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating system. Some of the XBMC [[Library (computing)|libraries]] are also written in [[C (programming language)|C programming-language]], but are used with a C++ wrapper and loaded via XBMC's own [[Dynamic-link library|DLL]] loader.

~~===Xbox development environment===~~

The Xbox [[operating system]]/[[BIOS]] is [[Win32]]-based but does not have all of the resources or capabilities of a full [[Microsoft Windows]] operating system, (for example: [[DirectShow]], [[Windows Registry|registry]], nor [[Dynamic-link library|DLL]] are natively supported on the Xbox). Because of the constraints on the hardware and environment of the Xbox all software development for XBMC are focused on reserving the limited resourses that exist, the main hindrance of which is the amount of available [[random access memory]] at any one time.

~~====Operating system====~~

*The Xbox does not have an operating system per-se, instead it only has a basic BIOS

**Everything else must go into the XBMC executable and its ([[XDK]] and own-made) [[Library (computing)|libraries]]

*Only a single [[Thread (computer science)|process-thread]] ([[executable]] [[Computer program|program]]) can run at any one time on the Xbox

*[[FATX|Xbox hard drive file-system]] (FATX) has many limitations, among them a filename maximum of 42-[[Character (computing)|characters]]

*The Xbox has four [[USB]] ports but the [[XDK|Xbox SDK]] (a.k.a. XDK) does not contain a full USB-[[Stack (data structure)|stack]]

**if one wanted to add support for USB hardware-devices one would have to make it for oneself

~~====Compiling====~~

*[[XDK|Xbox SDK]] (a.k.a. XDK) [[Software Development Kit]] (with [[Library (computing)|libraries]]) is required to [[compiler|compile]] XBMC

*Also required to compile (and [[computer programming|program]] in) XBMC is [[Microsoft Visual Studio .NET]] version 7.1

*XBMC's code also contain four multimedia-player cores which have to be [[compiler|compiled]] separately

**None of those require XDK to be compiled, they are instead compiled with [[MinGW]]/[[MSYS]]

~~==Limitations==~~

~~===Cross-platform (software) limitations===~~

~~This is a list of current software limitations in the XBMC code.~~

*XBMC can not play any audio/video files [[Encryption|protected/encrypted]] with [[Digital Rights Management|DRM (Digital Rights Management)]], such as music purchased from the [[iTunes Music Store]], [[MSN Music]] or [[Audible.com]]. Workaround if legal in your country: Before playing the file in XBMC, first remove any DRM protection/encryption from the song or video with a [[Third-party developer|third-party]] program before you try to play it, e.g: [[JHymn|hymn]], [[FreeMe]], [[FairUse4WM]], [[DRM2WMV]] or [[DRMDBG]]).

*The [[ISO 9660]] and [[Universal Disk Format|UDF]] reader [[Class (computer science)|class]]es in XBMC do not support reading [[Multisession#Sessions|multisession]] authored CD/DVD-media. That is XBMC can only read the first [[Multisession#Sessions|sessions]] of a [[Multisession#Sessions|multisession]] burnt CD or DVD media disc.

~~===Xbox-specific limitations===~~

~~These are Xbox hardware and Xbox operating system specific limitations that do not affect XBMC for Linux nor Mac OS X.~~

*[[Universal Disk Format|UDF (Universal Disk Format)]] file-system limitation: XBMC for Xbox only supports UDF version 1.02 (designed for [[DVD-Video]] media), which has a maximum file-size of 1 GB (meaning if you burn a DVD-media in a newer UDF version with a video that is larger than 1GB, XBMC will not be able to play that file), same goes for UDF/ISO hybrid formats (a.k.a. UDF Bridge format). Workaround: Burn all your CD/DVD-media in [[ISO 9660]] format, which is the most common standard for recording CD/DVDs. Unfortunately [[ISO 9660]] has a 2 [[Gigabyte|GB]] file-size limitation, which cannot be bypassed.

*The Xbox built-in harddrive is formatted in [[FATX]] which has a 4 GB file-size limitation, and only supports file/folder-names up to 42 characters, a maximum of 255 in total file-structure character-depth and a maximum number of 4096 files/folders in a single subfolder, plus in the root of each partition, the maximum number of files/folders is 256. [[File Allocation Table|FAT]] does not support all [[ASCII|ASCII characters]] in file/folder names (like for example < > = ? : ; " * + , / \|¤ &). XBMC will automatically rename any files/folders you transfer to the Xbox by these limitations. (None of these are XBMC issues that can be fixed as the limitation is in the Xbox itself). Workaround: Store your files/folders on your computer or a [[Network-attached storage|Network-Attached Storage (NAS)]] device/box which support [[Server Message Block|SMB/CIFS]], [[FTP]] or [[UPnP]] and share them over a [[Local area network|local-area-network]] instead.

*The [[USB flash drive]] (USB [[keydrive|key-drives/memory-keys]]) reader/writer [[Class (computer science)|class]] used by XBMC for Xbox currently has a few limitations as well. It is limited to USB flash drives and [[harddisk]]s compatible with [[USB Mass Storage Device Class]] following the USB 1.1 standard, with a maximum size of 4 GB. It can read and write to FATX formatted flash drives, but can only read FAT12, FAT16 (including VFAT), and FAT32. [[NTFS]] formatted drives are not supported yet.

*With its 733 MHz [[Intel Pentium III]]-like [[CPU]] and 64MB [[shared memory]], the Xbox has neither a fast enough CPU nor sufficient amounts of [[Random access memory|RAM]] to play 720p/1080i resolution [[HDTV]] video. However, XBMC can up-convert all [[SDTV|standard definition]] movies and output them at [[HDTV|720p or 1080i]].

* The Xbox is now able to play [[H264|MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)]] encoded videos with [[CABAC]] and [[deblocking]] if the video-resolution is under 720x400 pixels. For instructions, [http://www.wikihow.com/Properly-Encode-H.264-Video-Using-Megui-for-an-Xbox-Running-Xbmc click here]. If videos are encoded without CABAC and deblocking, then the Xbox hardware can handle up to 720x576 pixels video-resolution. If encoding with [[MPEG-4 Part 2|MPEG-4 ASP]], then the video's native-resolution can be anything up to 960x540 pixels (also known as [[High-Resolution High-Definition|HRHD]] resolution).

*Lack of RTMP support.

~~==Ports==~~

Due to the dated hardware of the Xbox and a desire to expand the project's end-user and developer-base a PC port now exists. Through the processing power of modern PC hardware, XBMC is able to decode [[high-definition video]] up to 1080p, bypassing a major limitation of the original Xbox version of XBMC. However, as with the Xbox version, XBMC for PC does not currently support hardware video decoding, thus placing the entire load of the video decoding process on the system's CPU.

~~A [[Mac OS X]] port and a Windows port of XBMC has been started by a few community volunteers. Currently, they are in the early stages, but development seems to be progressing rapidly.~~

On [[May 29]], [[2007]], the team behind XBMC put out a call for developers interested in porting XBMC to the GNU/Linux operating system. Since a few developers on Team-XBMC had already begun porting parts of XBMC over to GNU/Linux using SDL and OpenGL as a replacement for DirectX, which XBMC was using heavily on the Xbox version of XBMC.

On [[May 21]], [[2008]], Elan Fieldgold, the Team-XBMC member who was working on the Mac OS X port of XBMC left the XBMC project. He forked the source code and start a new project called Plex (previously informally known as OSXBMC) but said that he will continue to collaborate with most Team-XBMC members behind the scenes.<ref>{{cite web | last= | first=Elan | url=http://www.osxbmc.com/2008-05-21/exodus/ | title=Exodus | year= | publisher=Plex | date=2007-05-21 | accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref> Recently, the Plex project (formerly known as OSXBMC) announced that they have teamed up<ref>{{cite web | last= | first=Elan | url=http://www.osxbmc.com/2008-07-13/were-teaming-up-with-centerstage/ | title= Plex (formerly OSXBMC) teaming up with CenterStage | year= | publisher=Plex | date=2007-07-13 | accessdate=2008-07-22}}</ref> with the [[Center Stage (disambiguation)| CenterStage]] group in order to enhance the skinning functionality of Plex and bringing their (Center Stage) next-generation interface to life.<ref>{{cite web | last= | first= | url=http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?showtopic=497&view=findpost&p=3643/ | title= Plex + CenterStage FAQ | year= | publisher=Plex | date=2007-07-14 | accessdate=2008-08-08}}</ref>

~~===Official ports and names of XBMC===~~

* XBMC for Xbox

* XBMC for Windows

* XBMC for Mac, which in May 2008 was forked into OSXBMC (soon after renamed to [http://www.osxbmc.com/ Plex]) and then merged with [http://centerstageproject.com/news.php?id=222 CenterStage] in July 2008

* XBMC for Linux

~~==Legality==~~

While XBMC's [[source code]] for all platforms is made publicly available by the developers under an [[open source]] ([[GNU GPL]]) [[license]], the developers themselves are legally unable to distribute [[executable]] versions of XBMC for Xbox. This is because XBMC for Xbox requires Microsoft's commercial software development kit in order to compile. Thus, the only publicly available [[executable]] versions of XBMC for Xbox are from [[Third-party developer|third parties]], as a result, precompiled versions of XBMC for Xbox may be illegal to distribute in many countries around the world. XBMC binaries for all other platforms that XBMC supports (Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows) are however legal to distribute.

~~====Copyright====~~

The XBMC software is licensed under the [[GNU General Public License|GNU General Public License (GPL)]] by the developers, meaning they allow anybody to redistribute XBMC under extremely liberal conditions. However, in order to compile the XBMC into [[executable]] form, it is currently necessary to use the [[Xbox Development Kit|Microsoft XDK (Xbox Development Kit)]] which is only available to licensed developers and the resulting code may only be distributed by them. Accordingly, code compiled with an unauthorized copy of the [[Xbox Development Kit]] may not be distributed legally. A third-party project called [[OpenXDK]] is concerned with producing a replacement for the Microsoft XDK. While this could potentially allow legal [[Binary file|binaries]] of XBMC to be compiled, it would require significant changes to the XBMC source code.

For audio and video codecs which are not natively supported, XBMC provides a [[Dynamic-link library|DLL]] loader [[Fork (software)|forked]] from the "[[avifile]]" open source project which can load [[Third-party developer|third-party]] made DLLs to decode unsupported formats. This is potentially legal if the user owns a licensed copy of the DLL. However, some third-party XBMC builds incorporate all available third-party DLLs that XBMC can support, and the redistribution of these without a license is copyright infringement.

~~====Patents====~~

For most popular video and audio codecs, XBMC includes native support through [[free and open source software]] [[Library (computer science)|libraries]], such as [[LAME]], [[faad]], [[faac]], [[libmpeg2]], and [[libavcodec]] (from the [[FFmpeg]] project). Since these source code libraries are released under free and open source licenses they are legally redistributable. However, some of these compression method algorithms, [[MP3#Licensing and patent issues|such as the popular MP3 format]], are in many countries protected by software patents. Absent a licence, this could possibly make it illegal in certain countries to distribute compiled versions of XBMC which include support for these formats.

~~====Other====~~

XBMC also includes [[libdvdcss]] to support playing back [[DVD-Video]] movies encrypted using the [[Content Scramble System|CSS (Content Scramble System)]] encryption. The distribution of [[executable]] versions of XBMC containing this code is likely to fall afoul of the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] in the [[United States|U.S.]] and the [[EU Copyright Directive]] in [[European Union]] member countries which have incorporated it into national law.

~~==Reception==~~

XBMC won two [[SourceForge]] 2006 Community Choice Awards, for [http://sourceforge.net/awards/cca/ Best Multimedia Project and Best Game Project]. In the 2007 Community Choice Awards, XBMC is a nominated finalist in six categories. Also in the 2008 Community Choice Awards XBMC won an award for Best Project for Gamers.

~~==See also==~~

~~{{portal|Free software|Free Software Portal Logo.svg}}~~

*[[BOXEE]], media player based on XBMC with a [[social network]] aspect

*[[MediaPortal]], a media center written for [[Microsoft Windows]] initially based on forked XBMC code by one of the founders of XBMC.

*[[PLEX]], media center for Mac OS X, based on forked XBMC for Mac code.

*[[List of video players (software)|List of other software video players]]

*[[Comparison of media players|Comparison of (audio/video) media and DVD-Video players]]

*[[List of codecs|List of multimedia (audio/video) codecs]]

~~==References==~~

~~{{reflist}}~~

~~==External links==~~

~~===Official sites===~~

* [http://xbmc.org XBMC official website]

* [http://xbmc.org/forum XBMC Community Forums]

* [http://xbmc.org/wiki/index.php?title=XBMC_Online_Manual XBMC Online Manual (Wiki)]

* [irc://irc.freenode.net/xbmc XBMC official IRC chat room (on Freenode)] (use an [[IRC]] client like [[mIRC]] to join the #xbmc channel)

~~===Scripts, plugins, and skins===~~

~~====Scripts====~~

* [http://www.xbmcscripts.com xbmcscripts.com] (Python scripts which add additional features and functionality to XBMC)

~~====Plugins====~~

* [http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-addons/ XBMC-Addons on Google Code] (Addon plugins for XBMC)

~~====Skins====~~

* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/xboxmediacenter XBMC official skin development and download site]

* [http://savvygeek.com/xbmc-skins/ Compiled skins from the official skin development site]

* [http://blackmarket.ictcsc.net XBMC Black Market] - an unofficial XBMC skin download site

* [http://www.allxboxskins.com allxboxskins.com] - another unofficial XBMC skin download site (currently down?)

* [http://www.aeoncentral.com AEON] - Skin for XBMC (not available on any other skin download site)

* [http://savvygeek.com/xbmc-skins SavvyGeek] - Hosts compiled downloads of some but not all XBMC skins

~~[[Category:DVD]]~~

~~[[Category:Free media software]]~~

~~[[Category:Free media players]]~~

~~[[Category:Free video software]]~~

~~[[Category:Free television software]]~~

~~[[Category:Linux media players]]~~

~~[[Category:Mac OS X software]]~~

~~[[Category:Multimedia software]]~~

~~[[Category:Software DVD players]]~~

~~[[Category:SourceForge projects]]~~

~~[[Category:Windows media players]]~~

~~[[Category:Xbox]]~~

~~[[Category:Xbox Dashboards]]~~

~~[[de:Xbox Media Center]]~~

~~[[es:Xbox Media Center]]~~

~~[[fr:Xbox Media Center]]~~

~~[[it:Xbox Media Center]]~~

~~[[nl:XBMC]]~~

~~[[no:Xbox Media Center]]~~

~~[[pl:XBMC]]~~

~~[[fi:Xbox Media Center]]~~

~~[[sv:XBMC]]~~

Kodi: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:35, 1 September 2008

Navigation menu

Kodi: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:35, 1 September 2008

Navigation menu

Search