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{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}
{{Mininav|[[Kodi Foundation]]}}
{{Infobox Software
{{Infobox software
| name = XBMC Media Center
| logo = [[File:Logo-transparent bare 256px.png|220px]]
| logo = [[File:XBMC Logo.png|100px]]
| screenshot = [[File:Kodi.gif|300px|link=|Confluence skin home screen]]
| screenshot = [[File:xbmc_911.png|250px]]
| caption = [[Confluence]] skin home screen
| caption = XBMC Media Center Home Screen
| developer = [[Kodi Foundation]]
| developer = [http://xbmc.org/about/team/ Team XBMC]
| released = June 29, 2004
| latest release version = {{Latest stable software release/XBMC}}<!-- Release version update? Don't edit this version, just click on the version number and go to that page to edit it instead! -->
| Stable release = {{Current version}}
| frequently_updated = yes<!-- Release version update? Don't edit this page, just click on the version number! -->
| Preview release = {{Future_version}}
| latest preview version = [[Neutral build]] from [[Subversion (software)|SVN]]
| programming language = ''Core:'' C++<br />''Add-ons:'' Python v3
| latest preview date = [[Nightly build|Nightly]] (codename: "''?''")
| operating system = [[Windows]], [[Mac OS X|macOS]], [[Linux]], [[Android]], [[iOS]]/[[tvOS]], [[BSD]]
| programming language = [[C++]] (and with [[Python (programming language)|Python Scripts]] as [[Plug-in (computing)|plugins]])
| operating system = [[Xbox]], [[Microsoft Windows]], [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X]], and [[Apple TV|Apple TV OS]]
| language = 72 languages<ref name="weblate_lang_list" />
| platform = [[PowerPC|PPC (PowerPC)]], [[IA-32]]/[[x86 architecture|x86]], and [[x86-64|x86-64 architecture]], ([[ARM architecture]] support is also in development)
| language = [[Internationalization and localization|International (multiple languages)]]
| website = [https://kodi.tv/ kodi.tv]
| genre = [[Media center|Media Center]], [[media player (application software)|Media Player]], [[Digital media receiver]]
| license = [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]]
| website = [http://xbmc.org xbmc.org]
}}
}}
'''Kodi'''® (formerly known as <span style="font-weight: 600;">XBMC</span> or <span style="font-weight: 600;">Xbox Media Center</span>) is an award-winning, free and open source media player/entertainment hub application that runs on an exhaustive list of computers, mobile devices and HTPCs (Home theater PCs) which natively use no less than seven (7) different operating systems. It follows a [[wikipedia:10-foot user interface|10-foot user interface]] design specification which targets usage as a media player in a living room setting—or any other space where groups of people consume media without having someone seated near the player controls—using a handheld remote control as the primary input device. Its graphical user interface allows the user to easily browse and view videos, photos, podcasts, and music from local file storage, optical discs, the local network or the internet using only a few buttons. The Kodi project is managed by the non-profit '''[[Kodi Foundation]]''' and developed by volunteers located around the world. As of Summer 2022, more than 1,600 software developers have contributed to Kodi (in the form of 111,800+ individual changes to the codebase, which opened in 2003),<ref name="openhub" /> with roughly 60 core developers whose regular participation helps to steer it. Now, thanks to the generosity and dedication of over [[Translations|200 volunteer translators]], Kodi is available in 72 languages and useful no matter which continent you're on.
'''XBMC Media Center''' (formerly named '''Xbox Media Center''') is a [[cross-platform]] [[free and open source software|free and open source]] [[Media player (application software)|media player]] and [[home entertainment system]] [[application software|software]] with a [[10-foot user interface]] design for the living-room [[Television|TV]]. The [[graphical user interface]] framework allows the user to easily manage video, photos, podcasts, and music from a computer, optical disk, local network, and the internet using a [[remote control]].<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref><ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review">{{cite web |url=http://www.tvharmony.com/blog/archives/2004/09/xboxmediacenter.html |title=XboxMediaCenter Review |date=2004-09-16 |author=Timmeh |publisher=TVHarmony.com, Inc.}}</ref><ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
Kodi® ''(then called "Xbox Media Center")'' was originally created as a media center application for the first-generation Xbox game console (no longer supported) but is now officially available as a native application for [[Android]], [[BSD]], [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X|macOS]], [[iOS]]/[[tvOS]], and [[Windows]] operating systems, running on most common processor architectures.
It is an alternative to [[Microsoft]]'s [[Windows Media Center]] and [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[Front Row (software)|Front Row]], similarly to [[MediaPortal]] and [[MythTV]], and has a [[Skin (computing)|skinnable]] and user-configurable interface.
XBMC was originally created for the first-generation [[Xbox]] game console<ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review">{{cite web |url=http://www.tvharmony.com/blog/archives/2004/09/xboxmediacenter.html |title=XboxMediaCenter Review |date=2004-09-16 |author=Timmeh |publisher=TVHarmony.com, Inc.}}</ref><ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>, but it is now available as a native application for [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X]] ([[Mac OS X v10.6|Snow Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.5|Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.4|Tiger]], [[Apple TV]]), and [[Microsoft Windows]] operating systems.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web |url=http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-softmod-your-xbox...for-FREE/ |title=How to softmod your xbox...for FREE |date=2007-01-18 |author=VzjrZ |publisher=Instructables}}</ref> There is also a bootable [[Live CD]] and [[Live USB]] version referred to as "''[[XBMC#XBMC_Live|XBMC Live]]''".<ref name="xbmc.org">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/lcapriotti/2008/09/18/xbmc-live-atlantis-beta1/ |title=XBMC Live Atlantis Beta1! |author=Luigi Capriotti |date=2008-09-18 |publisher=xbmc.org}}</ref><ref name="http">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/lcapriotti/2008/11/15/xbmc-live-810-atlantis-released/ |title=XBMC Live 8.10 (Atlantis) released |author=Luigi Capriotti |date=2008-11-15 |publisher=xbmc.org}}</ref> In addition, [[source code]] from XBMC is used as a [[Software framework|application framework platform]] for others projects to base their media center software on, and today at least [[Boxee]], [[MediaPortal]], [[Plexapp|Plex]], and [[Voddler]] are separate [[derivative work|derivative products]] that are all known to initially have [[fork (software development)|forked (copied)]] the [[Graphical user interface|GUI (Graphical User Interface)]] and media player part of their [[Computer software|software]] from XBMC's source code.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
==Overview==
== Introduction ==
XBMC supports most common audio, video, and image formats, playlists, audio visualizations, slideshows, [[weather forecasts]] reporting, and third-party plugins. It is network-capable (internet and [[Local area network|LAN]] shares). Unlike [[proprietary software|proprietary]] [[media center]] applications like [[Windows Media Center]] from [[Microsoft]], or other free-software media center applications such as MediaPortal and MythTV, XBMC Media Center does not yet include native [[Digital video recorder|DVR/PVR TV-recording functionality]] or an [[Electronic program guide|EPG TV-Guide interface]] of its own, it does however offer the possibility to integrate such functionality through third-party plugins.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/flossmediacenter |title=10 most prominent FLOSS projects compared |date=2008-09-18 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref><ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
=== Overview of features ===
:{{Main|Features and supported formats}}
{{#lst:Features_and_supported_formats|intro}}
Through its [[Plug-in (computing)|plugin]] system, which is based on the [[Python (programming language)|Python programming language]], XBMC is expandable via add-ons that include features such as television program guides, [[YouTube]], [[Hulu]], [[Veoh]], online movie trailer support, and [[SHOUTcast]]/[[Podcast]] streaming. XBMC also functions as a gaming platform by allowing users to play mini-games developed with [[Python (programming language)|Python]], on any operating system.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/flossmediacenter |title=10 most prominent FLOSS projects compared |date=2008-09-18 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref><ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref><ref name="XBMC-Addons on Google Code">http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-addons/ XBMC-Addons on Google Code (Addon plugins for XBMC)</ref><ref name="XBMC Zone">http://www.xbmczone.com/ XBMC Zone (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref><ref name="Passion XBMC">http://passion-xbmc.org/ Passion XBMC (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref>
The Xbox version of XBMC also contains the ability to launch console games, and [[Homebrew (video games)|homebrew]] applications such as [[Console emulator|emulators]]. Since the XBMC for Xbox version is not distributed, endorsed, or supported by [[Microsoft]], it means that XBMC for Xbox requires a [[modchip]] or [[softmod|softmod exploit]] to run on the Xbox game-console.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref><ref name="How to softmod your xbox">{{cite web |url=http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-softmod-your-xbox...for-FREE/ |title=How to softmod your xbox...for FREE |date=2007-01-18 |author=VzjrZ |publisher=Instructables}}</ref><ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review">{{cite web |url=http://www.tvharmony.com/blog/archives/2004/09/xboxmediacenter.html |title=XboxMediaCenter Review |date=2004-09-16 |author=Timmeh |publisher=TVHarmony.com, Inc.}}</ref>
=== Add-ons ===
:{{Main|Add-ons}}
{{#lst:Add-ons|intro}}
XBMC [[source code]] is distributed as open source under [[GNU General Public License|GPL (GNU General Public License)]],<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/flossmediacenter |title=10 most prominent FLOSS projects compared |date=2008-09-18 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref> and is developed by a global [[community]] of [[volunteering]] people working on XBMC for free in their [[spare time]] on behalf of others without being motivated by financial or material gain<ref>http://xbmc.org/forum xbmc.org - XBMC official community forum</ref><ref>http://xbmc.nu xbmc.nu - Swedish XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmc.fr xbmc.fr - French XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmc.de xbmc.de - German XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmcfreak.nl xbmcfreak.nl - Dutch XBMC fan site and community</ref><ref>http://xbmcsvn.com xbmcsvn.com - Nightly Unofficial Builds from SVN All Branches</ref><ref name="XBMC Zone">http://www.xbmczone.com/ XBMC Zone (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref><ref name="Passion XBMC">http://passion-xbmc.org/ Passion XBMC (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref>
For additional information about specific add-ons, see the '''[[:Category:All add-ons|All add-ons]]''' category.
==Features==
===Audio/video 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|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, [[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 [[themoviedb.org]] or [[imdb.com]] to obtain [[thumbnails]] and reviews on movies, [[thetvdb.com]] for [[TV Show]] posters and episode plots, [[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 [[SDTV|standard-definition (480i/480p/576i/576p)]] resolution videos and output them to [[HDTV|720p, 1080i, and 1080p high-definition]] resolutions.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/flossmediacenter |title=10 most prominent FLOSS projects compared |date=2008-09-18 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref><ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
===Format support===
=== Video demos ===
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]] digital output to an external audio-[[Audio amplifier|amplifier]]/[[Audio receiver#Hi-Fi .2F Home theater|receiver]] for decoding.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/flossmediacenter |title=10 most prominent FLOSS projects compared |date=2008-09-18 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref><ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
Check out this excellent introduction video (1m 36s) by Lifehacker:<ref name="lifehacker" /><br />
::{{YouTube|T970YM3w1LY}}
:'''Supported formats:'''
A Kodi beginners guide (13m 27s) by forum user fredphoesh:<ref name="fredphoesh" /><br />
:* '''Physical media''': [[compact disc|CDs]], DVDs, [[DVD-Video]], [[Video CD]]s (including VCD/SVCD/XVCD), Audio-CD (CDDA), [[USB Flash Drive]]s, and [[Hard Disk Drive]]s
::{{YouTube|2O4fCGrwrqw}}
:* '''Network/Internet protocols''': [[UPnP]], [[Server Message Block|SMB/SAMBA/CIFS]], [[XBMSP]], [[Digital Audio Access Protocol|DAAP]], [[HTTP]], [[HTTPS]], [[FTP]], [[Real Time Streaming Protocol|RTSP]] (RTSPU, RTSPT), [[Microsoft Media Services|MMS]] (MMSU, MMST), [[Real Time Messaging Protocol|RTMP]], [[Podcasting]], [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]], [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]], [[SSH file transfer protocol|SFTP]], [[Real-time Transport Protocol|RTP]]
:* '''[[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]], [[QuickTime]], [[MPEG-4 Part 14|MP4]], M4A, [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[NUT Container|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]], and [[DVR-MS]] (beta support)
:*'''[[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]], [[RMVB]], [[Sorenson codec|Sorenson]], [[Windows Media Video|WMV]], [[Cinepak]],
:*'''[[Tag (metadata)|Metadata tags]]''': APEv1, [[APEv2 tag|APEv2]], [[ID3]] ([[ID3]]v1 and [[ID3#ID3v2|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
===Video playback in detail===
XBMC uses two different [[multimedia]] player 'cores' for video-playback.
The first 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' supports 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.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
=== Language support ===
{{See|Language portal}}
Kodi includes full support for many different languages by default. Kodi's structure is such that if the language is not available, or not up-to-date, it can be created by signing up at the [https://kodi.weblate.cloud/accounts/register/ Kodi Translations Project].
The second video-player 'core' for video-playback is a ported version of the [[open source]] [[cross-platform]] player, [[MPlayer]], which today is only used as a backup player in XBMC for Xbox and not in any other versions of XBMC. MPlayer which is known for playing practically all common media-formats and XBMC for Xbox handles all [[codecs]] and [[Container format (digital)|containers]] normally supported by MPlayer, (which is all [[FFmpeg]] supported codecs and also several external ones with the help of proprietary [[Dynamic-link library|DLL]]-files.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
Currently the existing supported languages are: Acadian French, Afrikaans, Albanian, American English, Amharic, Argentinian Spanish, Armenian, Asturian, Australian English, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, European Portuguese, Faroese, Finnish, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malayam, Malay, Maltese, Maori, Metropolitan French, Mexican Spanish, Mongolian, New Zealand English, Norwegian, Ossetian, Peninsular Arabic, Peninsular Spanish, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Silesian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese and Welsh.
====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 ways, like through scrapers (ie. [[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 you to browse your video content by categories; [[Genre]], Title, Year, Actors and [[Film director|Directors]].<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
===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 (audio)|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]], [[Compact Disc Digital Audio|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]] ([[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]]), [[GYM]] ([[Mega Drive|Genesis]]), [[MOS Technology SID|SID]] ([[Commodore 64]]), [[Adlib]], [[YM2149|YM]] ([[Atari ST]]), [[ADPCM]] ([[Nintendo GameCube]]). It also supports many different tagging standards: APEv1, [[APEv2 tag|APEv2]], [[ID3]]v1, [[ID3#ID3v2|ID3v2]], [[ID666]] and [[Vorbis comment]]s. 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#MIDI applications and .kar files|KAR]] files.<ref name="FLOSS Media Center State of the Art">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/flossmediacenter |title=10 most prominent FLOSS projects compared |date=2008-09-18 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
====Music Library====
== Hardware requirements ==
The Music Library, one of the XBMC [[metadata]] [[databases]], is another key feature of XBMC. It allows the organization of your music collection to allow searching, and creating smart playlists by information stored in your 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.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
:{{Main|Supported hardware}}
{{#lst:Supported hardware|intro}}
===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 [[Digital zoom|zoom]] the pictures of [[comics]] pages these contain without uncompressing them first.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
===Python scripts (widgets/gadgets) and 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 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]]), [[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.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref><ref name="XBMC-Addons on Google Code">http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-addons/ XBMC-Addons on Google Code (Addon plugins for XBMC)</ref><ref name="XBMC Zone">http://www.xbmczone.com/ XBMC Zone (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref><ref name="Passion XBMC">http://passion-xbmc.org/ Passion XBMC (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref>
===Dashboard function (game/application launcher)===
== Official versions ==
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.<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
{{See|Releases}}
Full featured versions of Kodi are available on a number of operating system platforms. Team Kodi strives to keep a consistent feature set and include the full Kodi experience for all versions, even those on low-powered devices.
===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]].<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
===Skins and skinning-engine===
=== Windows ===
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.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref><ref>http://sourceforge.net/projects/xboxmediacenter XBMC Skinng Project</ref><ref>http://blackmarket.ictcsc.net XBMC Black Market]</ref><ref>http://www.allxboxskins.com allxboxskins.com</ref><ref name="Passion XBMC">http://passion-xbmc.org/ Passion XBMC (third-party Addon extensions for XBMC)</ref><ref>http://savvygeek.com/xbmc-skins SavvyGeek</ref><ref>http://www.teamrazorfish.co.uk MediaStream</ref><ref>http://blackbolt.x-scene.com Team Blackbolt</ref>
:{{Main|Windows}}
''Kodi for Windows'' runs natively on Windows Vista and higher. It is a 32-bit application but runs on 64-bit Windows and hardware as well, however it is not yet optimized for that architecture so there is no performance gain when running on 64-bit Windows. 1080p playback can be achieved on Windows based computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it's powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding.
"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'').
Many third-party skins exist and while some are originals with unique designs, most are [[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.
=== Android ===
:{{Main|Android}}
''Kodi for Android'' is a full port of the complete Kodi application to Google's Android operating-system, was first announced and its source code released publicly on 13 June 2012. This is a full port of Kodi's C++ and C source code with all its dependencies to Android with a build-system that was designed to handle multiple processor architectures, like ARM, MIPS, and x86 with the Android NDK (Native Development Kit for Android) without using a single line of Java, and the Kodi.APK is running natively under Android as a Native Activity application.
====User Interface Screenshots from XBMC====
<gallery>
Image:xbmc_911.png|Home Screen of the "Confluence" skin.
Image:Screenshot000.png|Home screen of the "PM3.HD" skin.
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-lives, 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<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
''Kodi for iOS'', which is a full port of Kodi to Apple's [[iOS]] operating-system, was first announced and released publicly on 20 January 2011. It supports both 720p and 1080p hardware accelerated video decoding of H.264 videos, and is compatible several Apple's [[IOS|iDevice]]s that uses Apple A4 or higher SoC processors with a jailbroken iOS operating-system.
====XLink Kai (Xbox Live online-gaming alternative)====
XBMC for Xbox formerly had a [[XLink Kai]] front-end integrated to control that client, but that has been removed in more recent builds.<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
==Official Team-XBMC ports of XBMC==
=== Mac ===
Due to the dated hardware of the Xbox and a desire to expand the project's end-user and developer-base many official [[porting|ports]] of XBMC to computer operating-systems and hardware platforms now exist. Through the processing power of modern computer hardware, XBMC is able to decode [[high-definition video]] up to and beyond [[1080p]] resolutions, bypassing hardware limitations of the original Xbox version of XBMC.
:{{Main|Mac OS X}}
''Kodi for Mac'' runs natively on [[Mac OS X]] with Intel processors with hardware video decoding for H.264.
In most cases XBMC does not provide [[Video Acceleration API|hardware accelerated video decoding]], thus placing the entire load of the video decoding process on the system's [[CPU]]. However, XBMC for Linux does support [[VDPAU]] GPU hardware video decoding, and in nightly builds of the XBMC SVN there is support for 1080p hardware accelerated video decoding via [[Broadcom Crystal HD]] on all platforms except Xbox<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/ |title=Broadcom Crystal HD, It’s Magic |author=Scott Davilla |date=2009-12-29 |publisher=xbmc.org}}</ref>.
The source code for XBMC is constantly updated on a daily basis by developers in a public subversion repository, this publuc subversion repository does therefor often contain many more features and function than the most recent 'stable' releases.
=== Linux ===
:{{Main|Linux}}
''Kodi for Linux'' is primarily developed for Ubuntu Linux. Third-party packages for most other Linux distributions are however available, and it is also possible to compile Kodi from scratch for any Linux distribution as long as the pre-required dependency libraries are installed first.
===XBMC platforms===
* [[XBMC#XBMC_Live|XBMC Live]]
* [[XBMC#XBMC_for_Linux|XBMC for Linux]]
* [[XBMC#XBMC_for_Mac|XBMC for Mac]]
**Compatible with [[Apple TV]], [[PowerPC]], [[IA-32]]/[[X86 architecture|x86 Intel]] and [[x86-64]] based [[Macintosh|Mac computers]] running [[Mac OS X]] ([[Mac OS X v10.6|Snow Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.5|Leopard]] or [[Mac OS X v10.4|Tiger]]).
* [[XBMC#XBMC_for_Windows|XBMC for Windows]]
**Compatible with [[Windows XP]] and [[Windows Vista]].
* [[XBMC#XBMC_for_Xbox|XBMC for Xbox]]
**Compatible with the original first-generation [[Xbox]] game-console from [[Microsoft]].
====XBMC Live====
'''XBMC Live''' is a free [[Linux distribution]] providing a complete packaged [[media center]] software suite for [[personal computer]]s. XBMC Live uses [[XBMC Media Center]] for all media playback and is implemented as a bootable [[Live CD]]<ref name="xbmc.org"/><ref name="http"/>. As a Live CD, the system does not need to be permanently installed to a [[hard disk drive]], as most modern [[operating system]]s would. Instead, the computer can simply be booted with the XBMC Live CD when media playback is desired. This is a reasonable approach for those who do not need media playback services while performing other tasks with the same computer, or for users who wish to repurpose older computers as media center, and for those seeking a free alternative to [[Windows Media Center]], or for those who simply want to try out the XBMC Media Center software for the first time without having to install anything. The Microsoft MCE Remote and IR-receiver dongle for [[Windows Media Center]] works with XBMC Live directly [[out of the box]], which mean that Windows Media Center users with these can try out the XBMC Live without requiring any additional hardware.
Following the principles of [[Mythbuntu]], [[KnoppMyth]], [[Mythdora]], and [[GeeXboX]]. XBMC Live is also designed to simplify a permanent installation of XBMC Media Center onto a computer to be used as a dedicated [[Home Theater PC|HTPC (Home Theater PC)]] in the living-room, as such the user can directly install XBMC Media Center from the bootable XBMC Live CD to either a [[USB flash drive]] or to an internal [[hard disk drive]] as it comes with a complete ([[Embedded Linux|Linux based]]) [[embedded operating system]]. When installed onto a USB flash drive or hard disk drive, XBMC Live has the ability to save settings and make updates to XBMC Media Center and the operating-system back onto the USB flash drive or hard disk drive that it is installed onto. This is not possible when running XBMC Live off a CD-ROM as they are read-only; any changes to settings are temporary and get reset back to defaults once the system is rebooted.
== Third-party forks and derivative work of Kodi ==
:{{Main|Forks}}
====XBMC for Linux====
'''XBMC for Linux''' is primarily developed for [[Ubuntu Linux]] and XBMC's developers' own "''XBMC Live''" (Live CD Linux distribution prepackaged with XBMC as a preconfigued media center [[software appliance]] operating-system). Third-party packages for most other Linux distributions are however available, and it is also possible to compile XBMC Media Center from scratch for any Linux distribution. XBMC for Linux is currently the only stable version of XBMC to support hardware accelerated video decoding, this is achieved via [[VDPAU]] (on Nvidia's GPU). XBMC for Linux also supports via hardware accelerated video decoding [[Broadcom Crystal HD]] in the latest unstable nightly builds from the XBMC SVN<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/ |title=Broadcom Crystal HD, It’s Magic |author=Scott Davilla |date=2009-12-29 |publisher=xbmc.org}}</ref>. Development version of XBMC for Linux is available at [[Launchpad (website)|Launchpad]] as [[Personal Package Archive|PPA (Personal Package Archive)]] for the standard [[Ubuntu Desktop]] version 8.04 and later, as well as [[deb (file format)|DEB packages]] for [[Debian]].
====XBMC for Mac====
'''XBMC for Mac''' runs natively on [[Mac OS X]] ([[Mac OS X v10.6|Snow Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.5|Leopard]], [[Mac OS X v10.4|Tiger]]), as well as on the [[Apple TV]]. 1080p playback can be achived on [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding via [[Broadcom Crystal HD]]<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/ |title=Broadcom Crystal HD, It’s Magic |author=Scott Davilla |date=2009-12-29 |publisher=xbmc.org}}</ref>.
1080p playback on the Apple TV (a.k.a. "ATV") can only be achived by hardware accelerated video decoding via [[Broadcom Crystal HD]], for which the user have to replace the ATV's internal WiFi adapter with a Broadcom Crystal HD [[PCI Express Mini Card|PCI Express Mini (mini-PCIe) card]]<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/ |title=Broadcom Crystal HD, It’s Magic |author=Scott Davilla |date=2009-12-29 |publisher=xbmc.org}}</ref>.
== History ==
:{{Main|History of Kodi}}
====XBMC for Windows====
'''XBMC for Windows''' runs natively on [[Windows XP]], [[Windows Vista]], and [[Windows 7]], it is a [[32-bit]] application but runs on [[x86-64|64-bit]] Windows and hardware as well, however it not optimized for that architecture so there is no performance gain when running on [[x86-64|64-bit]] Windows. 1080p playback can be achieved on Windows based computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding via [[Broadcom Crystal HD]]<ref name="Broadcom Crystal HD">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/davilla/2009/12/29/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/ |title=Broadcom Crystal HD, It’s Magic |author=Scott Davilla |date=2009-12-29 |publisher=xbmc.org}}</ref>.
====XBMC for Xbox====
'''XBMC for Xbox'''. At present, the latest 'stable' version of XBMC for Xbox is 9.04 point-release version (codename: "''Babylon''") which was released on May 6, 2009. Since XBMC for Xbox is an [[open source]] software program, its development [[source code]] is stored on a publicly accessible [[Subversion (software)|subversion repositoy]]. Accordingly, unofficial [[executable]] builds from the subversion repository are often released by [[third-party developer|third-parties]] on sites unaffiliated with the official XBMC project. 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.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
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.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref><ref name="How to softmod your xbox">{{cite web |url=http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-softmod-your-xbox...for-FREE/ |title=How to softmod your xbox...for FREE |date=2007-01-18 |author=VzjrZ |publisher=Instructables}}</ref><ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review">{{cite web |url=http://www.tvharmony.com/blog/archives/2004/09/xboxmediacenter.html |title=XboxMediaCenter Review |date=2004-09-16 |author=Timmeh |publisher=TVHarmony.com, Inc.}}</ref>
== Kodi Foundation ==
:{{Main|Kodi Foundation}}
{{#lst:Kodi Foundation|intro}}
==Commercial XBMC Systems==
This is a list of third-party companies who sell hardware bundled with XBMC Media Center or XBMC Live pre-install, or sell uninstalled systems that specifically claim to be XBMC-compatible. Many of these of these third-party companies help submit bug fixes and new features back upstream to the original XBMC project.
===AIRIS Telebision===
AIRIS Telebision, sold by Telebision in Spain and designed specifically for the Spanish market, is a [[nettop]] based on [[Nvidia Ion]] chipset, preinstalled [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] base with XBMC for Linux and a costumized AEON skin and Spanish plugins. Other than the modified skin, what is unique with the AIRIS Telebision's XBMC build is that is comes with an [[digital distribution]] service platform that they call their "App Store" which lets users download new Spanish plugins and updates for existing plugins. Telebision also a let users download a Live CD version of their as [[freeware]], which lets you install their Telebision distrobution on any [[Nvidia Ion]] based computer.
===Lucida TV II===
== Awards ==
Lucida TV II, made by LUCIDQ inc, is a [[nettop]] based on [[Nvidia Ion]] chipset which can be ordered with [[Xubuntu]] and XBMC software installed.
| style="font-size: 1.1rem; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.4;" | Most Likely to Get Users Sued by Anachronistic<br />Industry Associations Defending Dead Business Models
| class="plainlinks" style="background-color: Green; border-top: 0; color: #fff; padding-top: 0; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;" | Editor rating: EXCELLENT<br /><span style="padding-left: 4.25em;">5/5 (100%)</span><ref group="awards" name="mi_archive">Fernández, José. 2013. (Senior Editor, Informer Technologies, Inc.) [https://web.archive.org/web/20140409150429if_/http://macdownload.informer.com:80/xbmc/ “Editorial review: XBMC for Mac.”] ''Mac Informer.'' August 1, 2013. Archived by the Wayback Machine from the [https://macdownload.informer.com/xbmc/ original] on April 9, 2014. ‘''In short, XBMC is still my favorite HTPC app. It looks great, works awesome and it has never caused a problem for me.''’</ref>
[[Myka|Myka ION]] is an [[Nvidia Ion]] based set-top device designed to bring internet television and media stored on the home network to the living-room, it comes pre-installed with XBMC Media Center, [[Boxee]], and [[Hulu#Hulu Desktop|Hulu Desktop]] as applications that can be started from the main menu.<ref>http://myka.tv/myka-ion/software.html Myka ION software</ref>
===Neuros LINK===
{{main|Neuros Technology#Neuros LINK}}
[[Neuros Technology#Neuros LINK|Neuros LINK]] made by [[Neuros Technology]] is an open [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]]-based set-top device and media extender designed to bring internet television and other video to the television, it comes pre-install with XBMC Media Center.<ref>http://wiki.neurostechnology.com/index.php/XBMCLive_On_Link XBMC Live on Neuros LINK</ref>
==Programming and developing==
== Programming and developing ==
XBMC is a [[non-profit organization]] and open source project that is developed only by volunteers in their spare-time without any [[monetary]] gain. The team of developers leading the development of 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]] to the XBMC project.
:{{Main|Development}}
Kodi is a non-profit and free software community driven open-source software project that is developed only by volunteers in their spare time without any monetary gain. The team of developers leading the development of Kodi, ''“[[Archive:Team Kodi|Team Kodi]]”'', encourage anyone and everyone to submit their own source code patches for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix bugs to the Kodi project.
XBMC is a cross-platform software application programmed mainly in [[C++]], XBMC uses SDL ([[Simple DirectMedia Layer]]) multimedia [[Software framework|framework]] and [[OpenGL]] graphics [[Rendering (computer graphics)|rendering]] under XBMC for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows based operating system, however XBMC for Xbox instead uses [[DirectX|Microsoft DirectX]] multimedia framework and [[Direct3D]] rendering as the [[Xbox]] does not support [[OpenGL]]. 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.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
Kodi's source code for all its supported platforms is made publicly available by [[Archive:Team Kodi|Team Kodi]] under the open source GNU General Public License, Version 2 (or later) license. The group maintains a [https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc public Git repository] on GitHub for this source code.
===Hardware requirements===
XBMC has greater basic hardware requirements than a traditional 2D [[GUI toolkit]], but this basically means that it needs [[3D computer graphics|3D]] capable [[GPU|GPU graphics hardware controller]] for all rendering; on the other hand, powerful 3D GPU chips are common today in most modern computers. Other than that, XBMC was designed to be resource efficient and runs extremely well on what (by [[Intel Atom]] standards) are relatively underpowered OpenGL 1.4 [[GLSL]] capable systems that are [[IA-32]]/[[x86]], [[x86-64]] or [[PowerPC]] [[CPU]] based.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref> In order to allow for smooth playback of 1080p high definition content without dropping frames, an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz processor or better is required when decoding purely using the [[CPU]], though hardware accelerated [[video decoding]] using [[VDPAU]] is supported in XBMC 9.04 (and later) under Linux/Unix on [[Nvidia]] graphics hardware.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
===Xbox development environment===
The Xbox [[BIOS]] is based on [[Win32]], but does not have all of the resources or capabilities of a [[Microsoft Windows|Windows NT]] operating system, (for example: neither [[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 resources that exist, the main hindrance of which is the amount of available [[random access memory|RAM]] at any one time.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
====Xbox embedded operating system====
== References ==
*The Xbox does not have an operating system per-se, instead it only has a basic BIOS
<references>
**Everything else must go into the XBMC executable and its ([[Xbox Development Kit|XDK]] and own-made) [[Library (computing)|libraries]]
<ref name="weblate_lang_list">[https://kodi.weblate.cloud/languages/ Languages.] ''Kodi Weblate.'' Accessed on August 18, 2022.</ref>
*Only a single [[Thread (computer science)|process-thread]] ([[executable]] [[Computer program|program]]) can run at any one time on the Xbox
<ref name="licenses-dir_readme">"[https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/LICENSES/README.md Kodi's licensing rules]." ''[https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc xbmc/xbmc] on GitHub.'' Accessed on August 18, 2022.</ref>
*[[FATX|Xbox hard drive file-system]] (FATX) has many limitations, among them a filename maximum of 42-[[Character (computing)|characters]]
<ref name="openhub">[https://www.openhub.net/p/kodi "The Kodi Open Source Project."] ''[https://www.openhub.net/ Black Duck Open Hub], part of Synopsys.'' Accessed on August 18, 2022.</ref>
*The Xbox has four [[USB]] ports but the [[Xbox Development Kit|Xbox SDK]] (a.k.a. XDK) does not contain a full USB-[[Stack (data structure)|stack]], thus if someone would want to add support for USB hardware-devices then they would have to code it themself from scratch.
<ref name="lifehacker">Whitson, Gordon. 2012. [https://lifehacker.com/create-a-kickass-seamless-play-everything-media-cente-5900626 “Create a Kickass, Seamless, Play-Everything Media Center: The Complete Guide.”] ''Lifehacker Australia.'' April 10, 2012.</ref>
<ref name="fredphoesh">[https://forum.kodi.tv/member.php?action=profile&uid=66118 Profile of fredphoesh.] ''Kodi Community Forum.'' May 21, 2012.</ref>
</references>
====Compiling XBMC for the Xbox====
*[[Xbox Development Kit|Xbox SDK]] (a.k.a. XDK) [[Software Development Kit]] (with [[Library (computing)|libraries]]) is required to [[compiler|compile]] XBMC.<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref> Also required to compile (and [[computer programming|program]] in) XBMC is [[Microsoft Visual Studio .NET]] version 7.1<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
===Third-party forks and derivative work of XBMC===
XBMC Media Center [[source code]] have over the years become a popular software to [[fork (software development)|fork]] and use as a [[Software framework|application framework platform]] for others to base their own [[media center]] software on, as if XBMC were a [[GUI toolkit]], [[windowing system]], or [[window manager]]. Today at least [[Boxee]], [[MediaPortal]], [[Plexapp|Plex]], and [[Voddler]] are separate [[derivative work|derivative products]] that are all known to initially have [[fork (software development)|forked]] the [[Graphical user interface|GUI (Graphical User Interface)]] and media player part of their [[Computer software|software]] from XBMC's source code. Most of these third-party forks and derivative work of XBMC still help submit bug fixes [[upstream (software development)|upstream]] and new features sometimes get [[backporting|backported]] to the original XBMC project.<ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
==== Boxee ====
== Further reading ==
{{main|Boxee}}
* '''[https://kodi.tv/ Official Website]'''
[[Boxee]] is a free and open source software cross-platform media center and entertainment hub with [[social networking]] features that is a [[Fork (software development)|fork]] of XBMC software.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lifehacker.com/396382/boxee-is-xbmc-with-newer-look-and-social-flair |title=Boxee Is XBMC with Newer Look and Social Flair |author=Adam Pash |date=2008-06-23 |publisher=lifehacker}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.boxee.tv/2008/06/25/why-we-made-boxee-social/ |title=boxee blog - why we made boxee social |author=Avner Ronen |date=2008-06-25 |publisher=Boxee}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.appletvhacks.net/2008/07/03/boxee-mini-review/55 |title=Boxee mini review |author=Apple TV Hacks |date=2008-07-03 |publisher=appletvhacks.net}}</ref> Boxee now supports Windows, Linux, and OSX, with the first Alpha made available on June 16, 2008.<ref name="blog.boxee.tv">{{cite web |url=http://blog.boxee.tv/2008/06/16/boxee-for-mac-is-available-for-download/ |title=boxee for Mac first alpha release is available for download |author=Avner Ronen |date=2008-06-18 |publisher=Boxee}}</ref><ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
* [[wikipedia:Kodi (software)|'''Kodi''']] on English Wikipedia
====MediaPortal====
{{main|MediaPortal}}
[[MediaPortal]] is free and open source software media center written for Microsoft Windows that is initially based on [[forked]] XBMC source code by Erwin Beckers (a.k.a. Frodo, who was also one of the original founders of XBMC) in February 2004. The reason for this fork to Microsoft Windows was to get away from hardware limitations of the Xbox platform that XBMC development started on, mainly because of the Xbox inability to support TV-tuner adapters natively as Erwin wanted [[Personal Video Recorder|PVR]] functionality. Now after several years and innumerable feature changes there has been almost a complete re-design of the source code, however the skinning engine still remains very similar to that of the original XBMC software making it relatively easy for people to port skins/themes back and forth between the two projects, something that is done quite frequently.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.team-mediaportal.com/about_mediaportal.html |title=MediaPortal History as told by Team-MediaPortal |author=Team-MediaPortal |date=2008-09-01 |publisher=Team-MediaPortal}}</ref><ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
====Plex====
{{main|Plex (software)}}
On May 21, 2008, Elan Feingold, the Team-XBMC member who first started the Mac OS X port of XBMC, left the original XBMC project. He [[forked]] the source code and started a new free and open source software project called Plex (previously this Mac OS X port of XBMC was informally known as "''OSXBMC''"), however when leaving the original XBMC project Elan said that he would still try to continue to collaborate with most Team-XBMC members behind the scenes and try to keep Plex skinning engine compatible with XBMC skins.<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><ref>{{cite web|url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=186843&postcount=13|title=XBMC Community Forum: XBMC for Mac forked for a separate project called PLEX (formarly known as "OSXBMC")|date=2008-05-23|publisher=XBMC Community Forum|accessdate=2009-03-15}}</ref><ref name="XBMC is the best media center application. Period.">{{cite web |url=http://www.instantfundas.com/2009/08/xbmc-is-best-media-center-application.html |title=XBMC is the best media center application. Period. |date=2009-08-08 |author=Kaushik |publisher=instant fundas}}</ref>
====Voddler====
[[Category:Kodi]]
{{main|Voddler}}
[[Category:Kodi Foundation]]
[[Voddler]] is a commercial online Movies and TV Show [[video on demand]] streaming service and accompanying software application with media player client, allowing registered users to search and stream movies and TV Shows, similar to [[Spotify]] and [[Grooveshark]] but for videos. The program/service in its ad-driven version is only available in parts of western Europe during the ongoing beta program although the subscription model should be available in almost all countries. Voddler's media player software is called "'''Voddler Player'''" and it is based on XBMC Media Center open source code, which GUI interface it uses as its application framework<ref>{{cite web | last= | first=GrandAnse | url=http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=177:voddler-anvaender-xbmc&catid=37&Itemid=2 | title=Voddler använder XBMC (Uppdaterad!) | year=2009 | publisher=xbmc.nu | language=Swedish | date=2009-07-02 | accessdate=2009-07-02}}</ref><ref name="ComputerSweden">{{cite web |url=http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.238079/premiar-for-ny-svensk-filmtjanst |title=Premiär för ny svensk filmtjänst |author=Daniel Goldberg | language=Swedish |date=2009-07-01 |publisher=Computer Sweden}}</ref><ref name="Bredbandsbolaget">{{cite web |url=http://www.bredbandsbolaget.se/wps/portal/privat/bredband?page=new&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/kampanjer/voddler |title=Bredbandsbolaget Voddler Beta Kampanj |author=Bredbandsbolaget | language=Swedish |date=2009-07-01 |publisher=Bredbandsbolaget}}</ref>
<ref name="Voddler använder XBMC">{{cite web |url=http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=177:voddler-anvaender-xbmc&catid=37&Itemid=2 |title=Voddler använder XBMC (Bekräftat!) |author=Richard Skalsky (a.k.a. GrandAnse) | language=Swedish |date=2009-07-02 |publisher=xbmc.nu}}</ref><ref name="Voddler och tekniken">{{cite web |url=http://www.xbmc.nu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=184:exklusivt-voddler-och-tekniken&catid=49:voddler-allmaent&Itemid=2 |title=Exklusivt: Voddler och tekniken |author=Richard Skalsky (a.k.a. GrandAnse) | language=Swedish |date=2009-08-06 |publisher=xbmc.nu}}</ref>.
====OpenELEC.tv====
[[OpenELEC.tv]] ("''Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center''") is a free [[embedded operating system]] providing a complete media center software suite. OpenELEC is a extremly small and very fast booting [[Linux|Linux based]] distribution, primarly designed to be booted from CompactFlash or other [[flash memory]] card or [[solid-state drive]], similar to that of the [[XBMC Live]] distro but specificly targeted to a minimum [[set-top box]] hardware setup based on an Intel x86 processor and graphics.
==Limitations==
===Cross-platform (software) limitations===
This is a list of current software limitations in the XBMC code.
*XBMC can not play any audio or video files [[Encryption|protected/encrypted]] with [[Digital Rights Management|DRM (Digital Rights Management)]] technologies for [[access control]], such as music purchased from the [[iTunes Music Store]], [[MSN Music]], [[Audible.com]], nor online stores in [[Windows Media Player]], nor files protected with [[DivX]] proprietary DRM. A workaround to this is to first remove any DRM protection/encryption from the music or video file with a [[Third-party developer|third-party]] program before you try to play it in XBMC, for example with software tools like: [[JHymn|hymn]], [[FreeMe]], [[FairUse4WM]], [[DRM2WMV]] or [[DRMDBG]].<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
*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. Thus, XBMC can only read the first [[Multisession#Sessions|session]] of a [[Multisession#Sessions|multisession]] burnt CD or DVD media disc.
*Without using a third-party plugin there is currently no TV tuner support as of 2009, although adding support for this is currently being developed<ref name="Patch for alcoheca's PVR-Frontend and a plugin for VDR backend">{{cite web |url=http://www.xbmc.org/trac/ticket/5595 |title=Patch for alcoheca's PVR-Frontend and a plugin for VDR backend |date=2009-01-05 |author=alwinus |publisher=XBMC Trac}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref><ref name="How To: LiveTV with VDR and PVR-Testing">{{cite web |url=http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=62696 |title=How To: LiveTV with VDR and PVR-Testing |date=2009-11-27 |author=Swifty |publisher=XBMC Community Forum}}</ref>
*XBMC is currently only available for [[IA-32]]/[[x86]], [[x86-64]], [[PowerPC]], and [[ARM architecture|ARM]]-based [[processor architecture]] platforms<ref>http://tegradeveloper.nvidia.com/tegra/project/xbmc XBMC on NVIDIA Tegra</ref>, and XBMC GUI requires a [[Direct3D]] or [[OpenGL]] 3D hardware accelerated graphics [[Graphics processing unit|GPU]] and device drivers that support [[DirectX]] 9 or OpenGL 1.3 or later with [[GLSL]] in order to [[Rendering (computer graphics)|render]] the GUI at an acceptable [[frame rate]] to the human eye (which 24 frames per second or faster). XBMC is not yet available for the [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]] or [[SPARC]] processor architectures, nor does it as of yet support [[DirectFB]] and [[Direct Rendering Infrastructure|DRI (Direct Rendering Infrastructure)]] hardware accelerated graphics, or any GPU that only supports 2D hardware accelerated graphics.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
===Xbox-specific limitations===
This is a list of Xbox hardware and Xbox operating-system specific limitations that do not affect XBMC for Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows.
*[[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 (Gigabyte)]] file-size limitation, which cannot be bypassed.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
*The Xbox built-in harddrive is formatted in [[FATX|FATX (File Allocation Table for Xbox)]] which has a 4GB (4096 [[Megabyte]]) 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. FATX also does not support all standard [[ASCII|ASCII characters]] in file/folder names (for example < > = ? : ; " * + , / \|¤ &). XBMC will automatically try to rename any files/folders you transfer to the Xbox according to these limitations. None of these file-size and file-name issues are XBMC bugs as the limitations are in the Xbox itself. Workaround: Store your files/folders on your computer or a [[Network-attached storage|Network-Attached Storage (NAS)]] device which supports [[Server Message Block|SMB/CIFS]], [[FTP]] or [[UPnP]] and share them over a [[Local area network|local-area-network]] instead.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
*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.<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
*With its by today's standard old and slow 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 [[HDTV]] videos encoded in native 720p/1080i resolution. However, XBMC on the Xbox can up-convert all [[SDTV|standard definition]] movies and output them at [[HDTV|720p or 1080i]].<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
* 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 (a resolution which is also known as [[High-Resolution High-Definition|HRHD]] resolution).<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
==Reception==
XBMC won two [[SourceForge]] 2006 Community Choice Awards; [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.
==History==
{{See also|Xbox Media Player}}
XBMC Media Center 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, a newer version of [[MPlayer]] was packaged and the embedded [[Python (programming language)|Python]] was given the ability to draw interface elements.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
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 fixes. The second stable release of XBMC, 1.1.0, was released on October 18, 2004. This release included support for more media types, file types, container formats, as well as video playback of Nullsoft streaming videos and karaoke support (CD-G).<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref>
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|USB Mass Storage devices]], and a "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.
On May 29, 2007, the team behind XBMC put out a call for developers interested in porting XBMC to the Linux operating system. Since a few developers on Team-XBMC had already begun porting parts of XBMC over to Linux using SDL and OpenGL as a replacement for DirectX, which XBMC was using heavily on the Xbox version of XBMC.
Development on the SVN codebase is continuing and the versioning scheme has been changed to reflect the release year and month, i.e 8.10, 9.04, 9.11, 10.5, etc.
==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.<ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref>
====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 very liberal conditions. However, in order to compile the Xbox build of 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 (this does not apply to the Linux, Windows or Mac OS X ports of XBMC). 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 however require significant changes to the XBMC source code.<ref name="Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center">{{cite web |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/modding-xbox-ultimate-multimedia-center,807.html |title=Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center |date=2004-11-05 |author=Patrick Schmid |publisher=Tom's Hardware}}</ref><ref name="Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine">http://www.o-sd.com/hardcoregamermag/publicPDF/HGM_Aug.pdf Review of XBMC in Hardcore Gamer Magazine</ref><ref name="How to softmod your xbox">{{cite web |url=http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-softmod-your-xbox...for-FREE/ |title=How to softmod your xbox...for FREE |date=2007-01-18 |author=VzjrZ |publisher=Instructables}}</ref><ref name="XboxMediaCenter Review">{{cite web |url=http://www.tvharmony.com/blog/archives/2004/09/xboxmediacenter.html |title=XboxMediaCenter Review |date=2004-09-16 |author=Timmeh |publisher=TVHarmony.com, Inc.}}</ref>
For audio and video codecs which are not natively supported, XBMC for Xbox via MPlayer 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 for Xbox builds incorporate all available third-party DLLs that XBMC can support, and the redistribution of these without a license is copyright infringement.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
====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. Without a licence, this could possibly make it illegal in certain countries to distribute compiled versions of XBMC which include support for these formats.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
==== Web Scraping ====
{{main|Web scraping#Legal issues}}
XBMC has the built-in optional function to automatically download meta data information and artwork online through its scrapers (ie. [[web scraping]] sites like [[IMDb]], [[TheMovieDB]], [[TheTVDB]], [[freedb]], [[Discogs]], [[Allmusic]] etc.), and there could possible be some legal issues associated with web scraping on some of the web sites that XBMC has the ability to scrape. Web scraping may be against the [[terms of use]] of some websites, however the enforceability of these terms is unclear.<ref>{{cite web
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}}</ref><ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
====Other====
XBMC also includes [[libdvdcss]] to support playing back [[DVD-Video]] movies encrypted using the [[Content Scramble System|CSS (Content Scramble System)]] encryption. Since it is not a member of [[DVD Forum]], the XBMC project is not contractually obliged to insert [[user operation prohibition]] such as disallowing fast-forward or skipping during trailers and ads in [[DVD-Video]]s. However, without membership in the DVD Forum, the project also cannot make XBMC play [[DVD-Video]]'s [[encryption|encrypted]] with [[Content Scrambling System|CSS (Content Scramble System)]] except by using reverse-engineered code. XBMC therefore uses the [[libdvdcss]] library, which was created by reverse-engineering. The legal status of libdvdcss is questionable in several nations, the distribution of [[executable]] versions of XBMC containing this code is likely to run afoul of the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act|DMCA (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. For example, many [[Linux distribution]]s does not contain libdvdcss (for example [[Debian]], [[Fedora (operating system)|Fedora]], [[SUSE Linux]], and [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]]) due to fears of running afoul of DMCA-style laws, however they still often provide the tools to let the user install it themselves.<ref name="XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation">{{cite web |url=http://www.telematicsfreedom.org/en/2009/10/28/xbmc-architecture-summary |title=XBMC Architecture Overview by Telematics Freedom Foundation |date=2009-10-28 |publisher=Telematics Freedom Foundation}}</ref>
* [irc://irc.freenode.net/xbmc XBMC official IRC chat room] (on [[freenode]] IRC network) (use an [[IRC]] client like [[mIRC]] to join the #xbmc channel)
* [http://www.facebook.com/XBMC XBMC Official Fan Page on Facebook]
* [http://twitter.com/XBMC XBMC Official Twitter Tweets]
Kodi® (formerly known as XBMC or Xbox Media Center) is an award-winning, free and open source media player/entertainment hub application that runs on an exhaustive list of computers, mobile devices and HTPCs (Home theater PCs) which natively use no less than seven (7) different operating systems. It follows a 10-foot user interface design specification which targets usage as a media player in a living room setting—or any other space where groups of people consume media without having someone seated near the player controls—using a handheld remote control as the primary input device. Its graphical user interface allows the user to easily browse and view videos, photos, podcasts, and music from local file storage, optical discs, the local network or the internet using only a few buttons. The Kodi project is managed by the non-profit Kodi Foundation and developed by volunteers located around the world. As of Summer 2022, more than 1,600 software developers have contributed to Kodi (in the form of 111,800+ individual changes to the codebase, which opened in 2003),[3] with roughly 60 core developers whose regular participation helps to steer it. Now, thanks to the generosity and dedication of over 200 volunteer translators, Kodi is available in 72 languages and useful no matter which continent you're on.
Kodi® (then called "Xbox Media Center") was originally created as a media center application for the first-generation Xbox game console (no longer supported) but is now officially available as a native application for Android, BSD, Linux, macOS, iOS/tvOS, and Windows operating systems, running on most common processor architectures.
Kodi can be used to play almost all popular audio and video formats around. It was designed for network playback, so you can stream your multimedia from anywhere in the house or directly from the internet using practically any protocol available. Use your media as-is: Kodi can play CDs and DVDs directly from the disk or image file, almost all popular archive formats from your hard drive. Kodi will scan all of your media and create a personalized library complete with boxcovers, descriptions, and fanart. There are playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations. Once installed, your computer will become a fully functional multimedia jukebox.
An Add-on is another piece of software that can be added to a program to further expand and enhance the features of that program. Imagine a smart phone and all the additional Apps that can be installed to enhance its functionality. Kodi has the same ability and these apps are referred to as Add-ons. Kodi has a growing list of community driven add-ons which can be installed from a common official repository, while still enabling third-party developers to also host their own unofficial repositories for add-ons that any user can choose to add themselves.
For additional information about specific add-ons, see the All add-ons category.
Video demos
Check out this excellent introduction video (1m 36s) by Lifehacker:[4]
A Kodi beginners guide (13m 27s) by forum user fredphoesh:[5]
Kodi includes full support for many different languages by default. Kodi's structure is such that if the language is not available, or not up-to-date, it can be created by signing up at the Kodi Translations Project.
Currently the existing supported languages are: Acadian French, Afrikaans, Albanian, American English, Amharic, Argentinian Spanish, Armenian, Asturian, Australian English, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Burmese, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, European Portuguese, Faroese, Finnish, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malayam, Malay, Maltese, Maori, Metropolitan French, Mexican Spanish, Mongolian, New Zealand English, Norwegian, Ossetian, Peninsular Arabic, Peninsular Spanish, Persian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic), Serbian (Latin), Silesian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese and Welsh.
Kodi is officially supported on a number of operating systems and hardware devices that are designed to be connected directly to a TV. Kodi runs well on what are relatively "underpowered" systems, thanks to hardware video decoding being common on nearly all supported platforms. These requirements don't include what might be required for some "advanced" features, such as PVR, which might require additional hardware.
Full featured versions of Kodi are available on a number of operating system platforms. Team Kodi strives to keep a consistent feature set and include the full Kodi experience for all versions, even those on low-powered devices.
Kodi for Windows runs natively on Windows Vista and higher. It is a 32-bit application but runs on 64-bit Windows and hardware as well, however it is not yet optimized for that architecture so there is no performance gain when running on 64-bit Windows. 1080p playback can be achieved on Windows based computers either via software decoding on the CPU if it's powerful enough, or by hardware accelerated video decoding.
Kodi for Android is a full port of the complete Kodi application to Google's Android operating-system, was first announced and its source code released publicly on 13 June 2012. This is a full port of Kodi's C++ and C source code with all its dependencies to Android with a build-system that was designed to handle multiple processor architectures, like ARM, MIPS, and x86 with the Android NDK (Native Development Kit for Android) without using a single line of Java, and the Kodi.APK is running natively under Android as a Native Activity application.
Kodi for iOS, which is a full port of Kodi to Apple's iOS operating-system, was first announced and released publicly on 20 January 2011. It supports both 720p and 1080p hardware accelerated video decoding of H.264 videos, and is compatible several Apple's iDevices that uses Apple A4 or higher SoC processors with a jailbroken iOS operating-system.
Kodi for Linux is primarily developed for Ubuntu Linux. Third-party packages for most other Linux distributions are however available, and it is also possible to compile Kodi from scratch for any Linux distribution as long as the pre-required dependency libraries are installed first.
↑Informer Technologies, Inc. 2013. “XBMC: Awards.”Mac Informer. August 1, 2013.
↑Fernández, José. 2013. (Senior Editor, Informer Technologies, Inc.) “Editorial review: XBMC for Mac.”Mac Informer. August 1, 2013. Archived by the Wayback Machine from the original on April 9, 2014. ‘In short, XBMC is still my favorite HTPC app. It looks great, works awesome and it has never caused a problem for me.’
Kodi is a non-profit and free software community driven open-source software project that is developed only by volunteers in their spare time without any monetary gain. The team of developers leading the development of Kodi, “Team Kodi”, encourage anyone and everyone to submit their own source code patches for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix bugs to the Kodi project.
Kodi's source code for all its supported platforms is made publicly available by Team Kodi under the open source GNU General Public License, Version 2 (or later) license. The group maintains a public Git repository on GitHub for this source code.
References
↑Languages.Kodi Weblate. Accessed on August 18, 2022.
Kodi Foundation
