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==The XboxMediaCenter Project==
{{Infobox_Software
|name = Xbox Media Center
|logo =  
|caption =
|screenshot =
|developer =
|latest_release_version = 2.0.0
|latest_release_date = [[October 2]], [[2006]]
|operating_system =
|genre = Media center
|license = [[GNU General Public License]]
|website = [http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/ www.xboxmediacenter.com]
}}
[[Image:Xbmc.JPG|right|thumb|350px|Default XBMC main menu (Project Mayhem 3 [[skin (computing)|skin]])]]
[[Image:Xbmc666.jpg|right|thumb|350px|[[XLink Kai]], a free [[online gaming]] game-console tunneling service, is integrated into XBMC (MC360 skin)]]
[[Image:Xbmc2.JPG|right|thumb|350px|XBMC displaying a music collection (MC360 [[skin (computing)|skin]])]]
'''Xbox Media Center (XBMC)''' is a free feature-rich [[open source]] [[media player]] / [[jukebox]] for the [[Xbox|Xbox™ game-console]] - XBMC [[Computer program|software program]] which plays video, music and displays pictures/images from the Xbox DVD-ROM drive, built-in harddisk drive, [[Local area network|local-area-network]] or the Internet.


XBMC (XBox Media Center) is a [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html free open source (GPL)] multimedia-player for the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox Xbox™ from Microsoft]. Currently XBMC can be used to play/view most popular video/audio/picture formats such as DVD-Video, VCD/SVCD, MPEG-1/2/4, DivX, XviD, MP3, AAC, JPG, GIF, PNG, and most other popular multimedia formats (plus many more less known formats) directly from a CD/DVD in the Xbox DVD-ROM drive or from the Xbox built-in harddrive, XBMC can also play multimedia-files from a computer over a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network local-network] and even stream media-streams directly from the internet. XBMC can parse DVD-Video movies (with and without menus) from ISO/IMG-images and even ZIP/RAR-archives. XBMC has playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations. XBMC can in addition use python-scripts written for XBMC as plugin widgets. All these features enable the Xbox™ running XBMC to fully function as a multimedia-jukebox. XBMC has a simple and user-friendly user-interface, it's easy to use, it's convenient, flexible and offers a great price/performance ratio. (This, The XboxMediaCenter Project is also known as "XBox Media Center" or simply "XBMC").
XBMC is not the successor to [[Xbox Media Player|Xbox Media Player (XBMP)]]. XBMC is a complete rewrite of XBMP by the same developer-team. XBMC was publicly announced in October [[2003]].


*'''Notes!'''
==Features==
**XBMC is a non-profit hobby project that is only developed by volunteers in their spare-time for free.
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 harddisk-drive, or stream them over [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]] shares (Windows File-Sharing), [[ReplayTV]] [[digital video recorder|DVRs]], [[Universal Plug and Play|Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)]] 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 [[All Music Guide|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 [[Audioscrobbler]] and [[Last.fm]], and a weather-forecast (via [http://www.weather.com weather.com]). It also has music/video-playlist features, picture/image-[[slideshow]] functions, an MP3+CDG [[karaoke]] function and many audio-visualizations and screensavers. XBMC can upconvert all 480p/576p [[SDTV|standard-resolution]] videos and output them to [[HDTV|720p or 1080i HDTV]]-resolutions. In addition, XBMC has an integrated front-end for an [[Xbox Live]] alternative (called "[[XLink Kai]]"), enabling you to both control the Kai engine and play system-link/LAN-enabled Xbox games online, without connecting to the Xbox Live service, straight from your console.
**XBMC does require a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox#Modding_the_Xbox modded Xbox] to run on or it will not function), (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modchip modchip] or [http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox-tutorials.php?p=151|#151 software exploit/hack]).
**For a complete list a functions and features see the [[XBMC_Features_and_Supported_Formats/Codecs| supported features/formats list here]].


==2.0.0 Point Release==
==Awards==
The [[2.0.0 Point Release]] of XBMC was released on the 29th of September 2006. Point Release is a stable and as bug-free 'as it gets' version.<br><br>
XBMC won two categories [[SourceForge]] 2006 Community Choice Awards, for [http://sourceforge.net/awards/cca/ Best Multimedia Project and Best Game Project]. Winners were announced at the [[Slashdot]] Lounge at LinuxWorld Expo, Boston, April 5, 2006.


==1.1.0 Point Release==
==Running XBMC==
The [[1.1.0 Point Release]] of XBMC was released on the 18th of October 2004. Point Release is a stable and as bug-free 'as it gets' version.<br><br>
At present, the latest 'stable' version of XBMC 2.0.0 FINAL point-release, however because XBMC is an open source software program, it constantly undergoes minor to major changes on a daily basis (sometimes noted by the tags "[[Concurrent Versions System|CVS]]"), with new features, functions and bug-fixes. XBMC's developers public CVS, you can compile your own build everyday to get the very latest XBMC, but CVS builds can be a little unstable sometimes.


==1.0.0 Point Release==
XBMC requires a [[modchip]] or software exploit/hack to run, as it is not an authorized (a.k.a. "signed") [[Microsoft]] product. XBMC can be run as an application, or a dashboard that appears directly when the [[Xbox]] is turned on, it takes approximately ten seconds to fully load.
The [[1.0.0 Point Release]] of XBMC was released on the 29th of June 2004. Point Release is a stable and as bug-free 'as it gets' version.<br><br>


XBMC also includes support for many different languages (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, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.


XBMC supports [[Python programming language|Python scripts]] as [[Widget]] [[plugins]], so users can add new functionality to XBMC (using the [[Python programming language]]) without an illegal copy of the [[XDK]] and without knowledge of the C/C++ programming language. Current scripts include functions like Internet-TV and movie-trailer browsers, cinema and weather guides, e-mail clients, messaging, train-timetables, scripts to front-end control [[Personal video recorder|PVR]] software and hardware (like: [[MediaPortal]], [[MythTV]], [[TiVo]], [[ReplayTV]], [[Dreambox]]), Internet-radio-station browsers (example [[SHOUTcast]], [[Xm radio]], [[Sirius Satellite Radio]]), [[Peer-to-peer|P2P]] file-sharing downloaders ([[BitTorrent]]), [[Internet Relay Chat|IRC]], and mini-games such as [[Space Invaders]] and [[Sudoku]], and much more.


==CVS tree (and daily CVS builds)==
==Format support==
The XBMC project developers uses a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent_Versions_System CVS] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control version control system]) provided by [http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=87054 SourceForge.net] to keep track of the XBMC [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code source code] and changes in those source code files. This allows our developers to be located anywhere in the world and work on the same source code tree, which means that our CVS tree gets updated (with bug-fixes, new features, etc.) by our different developers almost on a daily basis. Anyone can anonymously download the latest CVS source code tree and compile it to try out the current and very latest XBMC build, (there are also individuals and groups on the internet which specialize in releasing such pre-compiled CVS builds so that people who don't have the tools to compile XBMC themselves can download and test/use the latest XBMC). Note! [http://www.xbmc.xbox-scene.com/wiki/index.php?title=Team_XBMC_and_Others Team-XBMC] only release source code and do not release pre-compiled builds of XBMC, nor are [http://www.xbmc.xbox-scene.com/wiki/index.php?title=Team_XBMC_and_Others Team-XBMC] affiliated with any individuals or groups that release pre-compiled builds of XBMC. In addition understand that CVS build can be unstable and buggy so don't complain if they hang/lock or otherwise act in an unsatisfactory way, however feel free to report any bugs you find in the very latest CVS.
XBMC can be used to play/view all common [[multimedia]] formats 'straight out of the box'. It can decode these in software and optionaly pass-through AC3/DTS audio from video to S/PDIF output to an external audio-receiver/amplifier. For a detailed up-to-date list see the "Supported Formats" list in XBMC online-manual [http://www.xbmc.xbox-scene.com/wiki/index.php?title=Supported_File_Formats here]. Currently the supported formats/codecs include:
* '''[[Container format]]s''': [[AVI]], [[MPEG]]/[[MPG]], [[WMV]], [[Advanced Streaming Format|ASF]], [[FLV]], [[Matroska|MKV]], [[QuickTime|MOV]], [[MP4]], M4A, AAC, [[NUT Container|NUT]], [[OGG]], [[OGM]], [[RealMedia|RealMedia RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMVB]], [[3gp]], VIVO, PVA, NUV, NSV, NSA, FLI, FLC
*'''[[Video codec]]s''': [[MPEG-1]], [[MPEG-2]], [[MPEG-4]], [[DivX]], [[XviD]], [[3ivx]], [[DV]], [[H.263]], [[H.264/MPEG-4 AVC]], [[HuffYUV]], [[Indeo]], [[MJPEG]], [[RealVideo]], [[QuickTime]], [[Sorenson codec|Sorenson]], [[Theora]], [[WMV]], [[Cinepak]],
*'''[[Audio codec]]s''': [[WAV|WAV/WAVE]], [[MP2]], [[MP3]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AACplus]], [[WMA]], [[AC3]], [[DTS]], [[ALAC]], [[Adaptive Multi-Rate|AMR]], [[FLAC]], APE (Monkey's Audio), [[RealAudio]], [[Shorten|SHN]], WavPack, MPC (Musepack, a.k.a. Mpeg+), [[Speex]], [[Vorbis]] and [[Windows Media Audio|WMA]].
* '''Picture/image formats''': [[BMP]], [[JPEG|JPEG/JPG]], [[GIF]], [[PNG]], [[TIFF|TIF/TIFF]], [[MNG]], [[ICO]], [[PCX]] and [[TGA|Targa/TGA]]


'''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 [[proprietary]] media-formats without having to pay license fees.
XBMC handles all codecs and containers normally supported by MPlayer (all [[FFmpeg]] supported [[codecs]] and also several external ones with the help of [[proprietary]] [[Dynamic Link Library|DLL]]-files: RealMedia, QuickTime, WMV9/WMA9, VP4/5/6), and the sources are synced at regular intervals.


The second is a in-house developed DVD-player for DVD-Video movies, including the support of DVD-menus, (based on the open source libraries libcss and libdvdnav). This core support all the [[FFmpeg]] [[codecs]], and in addition the [[MPEG-2]] [[video codec]], and the [[audio codecs]] [[DTS]] and [[AC3]] (based on the open source libraries, libmpeg2, libdca, and liba52 respectively). One relatively unusual feature of this DVD-player core is the capability to parse and play DVD-Video movies that are stored in [[ISO image|ISO and IMG]] DVD-images, and [[DVD-Video]] movies that are stored as [[DVD-Video]] files (IFO/VOB) on a harddrive or network-share, and also images in [[RAR]] and [[ZIP (file format)|ZIP]] archives. In addition the DVD-player core can upconvert all [[DVD-Video]] movies and output them to [[HDTV|720p or 1080i HDTV]] resolutions in better quality than most (if not all) HDTV's native function to upconvert video.


For audio playback, XBMC includes its own in-house developed audio-player: PAPlayer (Psycho-acoustic Audio Player). Some of this cores most notable features are [[resampling]] to the Xbox's native audio frequency (48 kHz), [[gapless playback]], [[Fade (audio engineering)|crossfading]], [[Replay Gain]], [[cue sheet]] and [[Ogg]] Chapter support.
It handles a very large variety of sound files: [[MP2 (format)|MP2]], [[MP3]], [[Vorbis]], [[MPC]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|LC-AAC]], [[HE-AAC|AAC+]], [[APE]], [[FLAC]], [[WavPack]], [[Shorten]], [[WAV]], [[DTS]], [[Dolby Digital|AC3]], [[CDDA]], [[WMA]], [[IT]], [[ScreamTracker|S3M]], MOD (Amiga Module), XM, NSF ([[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] Sound Format), [[SPC700 sound format|SPC]] ([[SNES]]), GYM ([[Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis|Genesis]]), SID ([[Commodore 64]]), [[Adlib]], YM ([[Atari ST]]), ADPCM ([[Nintendo GameCube|GameCube]]). It also supports many different tagging standards: APEv1, [[APEv2 tag|APEv2]], [[ID3|ID3v1]], ID3v2, ID666 and [[Vorbis comment]]s.


<br><br><br>
XBMC handles digital picture/image formats with the options of [[Ken burns effect|panning/zooming]] and slideshows, with the use of [http://www.codeproject.com/bitmap/cximage.asp CxImage]. XBMC can also handle CBZ (ZIP) and CBR (RAR) comic book archive files, this feature lets you view/read, browse and zoom the pictures these contain without uncompressing them first.
 
==Limitations==
*XBMC can currently not play any audio/video files protected/encrypted with [[Digital Rights Management|DRM (Digital Rights Management)]], such as music purchased from [[ITunes Music Store]], [[MSN Music]] or [[Audible.com]]. Workaround: 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]], [[Unfuck]], [[FairUse4WM]], [[DRM2WMV]] or [[DRMDBG]]).
*[[Universal Disk Format|UDF (Universal Disk Format)]] file-system limitation: XBMC only support UDF version 1.02 (designed for [[DVD-Video]] media), which has a maximum file-size of 1GB (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 2GB file-size limitation, which cannot be bypassed.
*The Xbox built-in harddrive is formated in [[FATX]] which has a 4GB 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. [[FAT]] does not either support all ACSII 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 and share them over a [[Local area network|local-area-network]] instead.
*With its 733Mhz [[Intel Pentium III]] and 64MB [[shared memory]], the [[Xbox]] does not have enough hardware-resources (not fast enough [[CPU]] nor large enough [[Random access memory|RAM-memory]]) to play 720p/1080i resolution-native [[HDTV]] video (at 1280x720 and 1920x1080 pixels), (like [[WMVHD|WMV HD]]). XBMC can however upconvert all 480p/576p [[SDTV|standard-resolution]] movies and output them to [[HDTV|720p or 1080i HDTV]] resolutions in better quality than most (if not all) HDTV's native function to upconvert video.
* Again with its 733Mhz [[Intel Pentium III]] and 64MB [[shared memory]], the [[Xbox]] does not have enough hardware-resources (not fast enough [[CPU]] nor large enough [[Random access memory|RAM-memory]]) to play [[H264|MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)]] encoded videos with [[H.264#Profiles|Cabac and Deblocking]] if the video-resolution is higher than 352x288 pixels. Workaround: If you encode your [[H264|MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)]] videos without [[H.264#Profiles|Cabac and Deblocking]] then the [[Xbox]] hardware can handle up to 480x576 pixels video-resolution. It is best to encode your videos to [[MPEG-4|MPEG-4 ASP]] (like [[DivX]] or [[XviD]]) instead. The video's native-resolution can be anything up to 960x540 pixels (a.k.a. [[Half Resolution High Definition|HRHD]] resolution), when encoded like this.
* Xbox games must be stored on the HDD, or on a DVD, in order to run.  You cannot play a game stored on a networked computer.
 
==Legality==
Although XBMC is licensed under the [[GNU General Public License|GNU General Public License (GPL)]], it is written for use with [[Xbox Development Kit|Microsoft's XDK]] and so is not legally available as an executable program to non-official Microsoft game-publishers. Users are encouraged to compile their own [[Executable|binaries]] from the public CVS repository using the [[Xbox Development Kit|XDK]], rather than downloading a questionable illegally released [[Compiler|executable]]. XBMC's full [[source code]] is however legal 'as is' and is available on [[SourceForge]].
 
==External links==
 
===Official sites===
* [http://www.xboxmediacenter.com XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) official website]
* [http://www.xboxmediacenter.de/ XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) official mirror-site]
* [http://forum.xboxmediacenter.com XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) official community forum] (for posting help/support requests, bugs and development discussions)
* [http://manual.xboxmediacenter.com XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) 'new' official  online-manual] (wiki-based user-guide, uses the same Wiki-engine as Wikipedia)
* [http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wacko/ XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) 'old' official  online-manual (wiki-based)]
* [irc://irc.efnet.net/xbmc XBMC official IRC chat room (on EFnet)] (use an [[IRC]] client like [[mIRC]] to join the #xbmc channel)
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc/ XboxMediaCenter (XBMC) official SourceForge.net project] (CVS/source-code/patches//tools/bug-tracker/feature-requests)
* [http://freshmeat.net/projects/xbmc/ freshmeat.net: Project details for The XboxMediaCenter Project]
 
===Modifications===
* [http://www.xbmcscripts.com/ XBMC Widget Plug-in Scripts] (Python plugins which adds additional features and functionality to XBMC)
* [http://www.xbox-skins.net XBMC skin download site]
* [http://www.allxboxskins.com another XBMC skin download site]
 
===Articles &amp; Reviews===
* [http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20040511/ Review on Tom's Hardware Guide (tomshardware.com) "Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center"]
* [http://www.tvharmony.com/blog/archives/2004/09/xboxmediacenter.html Review on tvharmony.com]
* [http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/c635c6f39986c010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html?s_prop18=how2 Review and HOW-TO on Popular Science (popsci.com)]
* [http://www.surrealroad.com/digital/archives/2005/xbox-media-center/ Review by Digital Intermediates]
* [http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review in Hardcore Gamer Magazine (Volume 1, Issue 3, August 2005)]
* [http://www.powerpage.org/archives/2005/10/why_your_next_i_1.html O'Grady's PowerPage Article: Why Your Next iMac may be an Xbox]
 
===Support===
* [http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?s=64c7fed999e317cc99e26926433d74c0&showforum=62 XBMC community forums @ xbox-scene.com (unofficial but affilated by shared moderators)]
* [http://www.productwiki.com/microsoft_xbox/article/how_to_go_from_xbox_to_xbox_media_center_in_30_minutes.html Transform an Xbox into the ultimate media center in in 30-minutes] [[ProductWiki]] step-by-step guide on HOW-TO softmod your Xbox
* [http://slackerpedia.com/xbmc-mac/ HOW-TO use a Mac to install/setup XBMC]
 
[[Category:Free media players]]
[[Category:SourceForge projects]]
[[Category:Xbox]]
[[Category:Free video software]]
 
[[de:Xbox Media Center]]
[[fr:Xbox Media Center]]
[[it:Xbox Media Center]]
[[no:Xbox Media Center]]
[[pl:Xbox Media Center]]
[[fi:Xbox Media Center]]
[[sv:Xbox Media Center]]

Revision as of 19:45, 2 November 2006

Template:Infobox Software

File:Xbmc.JPG
Default XBMC main menu (Project Mayhem 3 skin)
File:Xbmc666.jpg
XLink Kai, a free online gaming game-console tunneling service, is integrated into XBMC (MC360 skin)
File:Xbmc2.JPG
XBMC displaying a music collection (MC360 skin)

Xbox Media Center (XBMC) is a free feature-rich open source media player / jukebox for the Xbox™ game-console - XBMC software program which plays video, music and displays pictures/images from the Xbox DVD-ROM drive, built-in harddisk drive, local-area-network or the Internet.

XBMC is not the successor to Xbox Media Player (XBMP). XBMC is a complete rewrite of XBMP by the same developer-team. XBMC was publicly announced in October 2003.

Features

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 harddisk-drive, or stream them over SMB/SAMBA/CIFS shares (Windows File-Sharing), ReplayTV DVRs, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) shares, XBMSP (XBox Media Stream Protocol) shares, or stream iTunes-shares via DAAP. XBMC can also take advantage of the Xbox's Ethernet network port and a broadband Internet connection if available, using the IMDb to obtain thumbnails and reviews on movies, CDDB (via FreeDB) for Audio-CD track-listings), and album-thumbnails via 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 Audioscrobbler and 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 audio-visualizations and screensavers. XBMC can upconvert all 480p/576p standard-resolution videos and output them to 720p or 1080i HDTV-resolutions. In addition, XBMC has an integrated front-end for an Xbox Live alternative (called "XLink Kai"), enabling you to both control the Kai engine and play system-link/LAN-enabled Xbox games online, without connecting to the Xbox Live service, straight from your console.

Awards

XBMC won two categories SourceForge 2006 Community Choice Awards, for Best Multimedia Project and Best Game Project. Winners were announced at the Slashdot Lounge at LinuxWorld Expo, Boston, April 5, 2006.

Running XBMC

At present, the latest 'stable' version of XBMC 2.0.0 FINAL point-release, however because XBMC is an open source software program, it constantly undergoes minor to major changes on a daily basis (sometimes noted by the tags "CVS"), with new features, functions and bug-fixes. XBMC's developers public CVS, you can compile your own build everyday to get the very latest XBMC, but CVS builds can be a little unstable sometimes.

XBMC requires a modchip or software exploit/hack to run, as it is not an authorized (a.k.a. "signed") Microsoft product. XBMC can be run as an application, or a dashboard that appears directly when the Xbox is turned on, it takes approximately ten seconds to fully load.

XBMC also includes support for many different languages (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, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

XBMC supports Python scripts as Widget plugins, so users can add new functionality to XBMC (using the Python programming language) without an illegal copy of the XDK and without knowledge of the C/C++ programming language. Current scripts include functions like Internet-TV and movie-trailer browsers, cinema and weather guides, e-mail clients, messaging, train-timetables, scripts to front-end control PVR software and hardware (like: MediaPortal, MythTV, TiVo, ReplayTV, Dreambox), Internet-radio-station browsers (example SHOUTcast, Xm radio, Sirius Satellite Radio), P2P file-sharing downloaders (BitTorrent), IRC, and mini-games such as Space Invaders and Sudoku, and much more.

Format support

XBMC can be used to play/view all common multimedia formats 'straight out of the box'. It can decode these in software and optionaly pass-through AC3/DTS audio from video to S/PDIF output to an external audio-receiver/amplifier. For a detailed up-to-date list see the "Supported Formats" list in XBMC online-manual here. Currently the supported formats/codecs include:

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 proprietary media-formats without having to pay license fees. XBMC handles all codecs and containers normally supported by MPlayer (all FFmpeg supported codecs and also several external ones with the help of proprietary DLL-files: RealMedia, QuickTime, WMV9/WMA9, VP4/5/6), and the sources are synced at regular intervals.

The second is a in-house developed DVD-player for DVD-Video movies, including the support of DVD-menus, (based on the open source libraries libcss and libdvdnav). This core support all the FFmpeg codecs, and in addition the MPEG-2 video codec, and the audio codecs DTS and AC3 (based on the open source libraries, libmpeg2, libdca, and liba52 respectively). One relatively unusual feature of this DVD-player core is the capability to parse and play DVD-Video movies that are stored in ISO and IMG DVD-images, and DVD-Video movies that are stored as DVD-Video files (IFO/VOB) on a harddrive or network-share, and also images in RAR and ZIP archives. In addition the DVD-player core can upconvert all DVD-Video movies and output them to 720p or 1080i HDTV resolutions in better quality than most (if not all) HDTV's native function to upconvert video.

For audio playback, XBMC includes its own in-house developed audio-player: PAPlayer (Psycho-acoustic Audio Player). Some of this cores most notable features are resampling to the Xbox's native audio frequency (48 kHz), gapless playback, crossfading, Replay Gain, cue sheet and Ogg Chapter support. It handles a very large variety of sound files: MP2, MP3, Vorbis, MPC, LC-AAC, AAC+, APE, FLAC, WavPack, Shorten, WAV, DTS, AC3, CDDA, WMA, IT, S3M, MOD (Amiga Module), XM, NSF (NES Sound Format), SPC (SNES), GYM (Genesis), SID (Commodore 64), Adlib, YM (Atari ST), ADPCM (GameCube). It also supports many different tagging standards: APEv1, APEv2, ID3v1, ID3v2, ID666 and Vorbis comments.

XBMC handles digital picture/image formats with the options of panning/zooming and slideshows, with the use of CxImage. XBMC can also handle CBZ (ZIP) and CBR (RAR) comic book archive files, this feature lets you view/read, browse and zoom the pictures these contain without uncompressing them first.

Limitations

  • XBMC can currently not play any audio/video files protected/encrypted with DRM (Digital Rights Management), such as music purchased from ITunes Music Store, MSN Music or Audible.com. Workaround: First remove any DRM protection/encryption from the song or video with a third-party program before you try to play it, e.g: hymn, FreeMe, Unfuck, FairUse4WM, DRM2WMV or DRMDBG).
  • UDF (Universal Disk Format) file-system limitation: XBMC only support UDF version 1.02 (designed for DVD-Video media), which has a maximum file-size of 1GB (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 2GB file-size limitation, which cannot be bypassed.
  • The Xbox built-in harddrive is formated in FATX which has a 4GB 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. FAT does not either support all ACSII 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 (NAS) device/box and share them over a local-area-network instead.
  • With its 733Mhz Intel Pentium III and 64MB shared memory, the Xbox does not have enough hardware-resources (not fast enough CPU nor large enough RAM-memory) to play 720p/1080i resolution-native HDTV video (at 1280x720 and 1920x1080 pixels), (like WMV HD). XBMC can however upconvert all 480p/576p standard-resolution movies and output them to 720p or 1080i HDTV resolutions in better quality than most (if not all) HDTV's native function to upconvert video.
  • Again with its 733Mhz Intel Pentium III and 64MB shared memory, the Xbox does not have enough hardware-resources (not fast enough CPU nor large enough RAM-memory) to play MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoded videos with Cabac and Deblocking if the video-resolution is higher than 352x288 pixels. Workaround: If you encode your MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) videos without Cabac and Deblocking then the Xbox hardware can handle up to 480x576 pixels video-resolution. It is best to encode your videos to MPEG-4 ASP (like DivX or XviD) instead. The video's native-resolution can be anything up to 960x540 pixels (a.k.a. HRHD resolution), when encoded like this.
  • Xbox games must be stored on the HDD, or on a DVD, in order to run. You cannot play a game stored on a networked computer.

Legality

Although XBMC is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), it is written for use with Microsoft's XDK and so is not legally available as an executable program to non-official Microsoft game-publishers. Users are encouraged to compile their own binaries from the public CVS repository using the XDK, rather than downloading a questionable illegally released executable. XBMC's full source code is however legal 'as is' and is available on SourceForge.

External links

Official sites

Modifications

Articles & Reviews

Support

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