I must say, I've heard plenty of hype over XBMC, and I have used it before on a xbox. It worked fine on there. Since then I've used Mediabrowser with WMC and love it. Lately though it seems to slow down a lot. Plus now that I've moved everything to unraid, the HTPC is JUST a HTPC, so running windows+WMC+Mediabrowser seems to be a complete waste of resources.

 

I was wanting to dual boot Win7 and XBMCbuntu, or OpenElec. Neither seems to work with bluetooth out of the box, which is annoying, but I COULD get past that. Last night I started to set it up for a test drive over the next week. Other than having to work around not using a keyboard for anything, I couldn't get audio to work.

 

Every time I started a video, I would get "Cannot initialize audio device". I cycled through every setting, analog, digital, hdmi, all of them, and none would work. So I hit google and started searching for answers. What I found was about 15 different "work arounds" to make it work. This is not optimal for me, so once again, XBMC went on the back burner.

 

NOW, I told you that story to ask you this(Ron white anyone?), what frontend do you use. What would you change about it? Is it fast/slow? Play nice with customization? Whatever your answer, does it just work?

 

Also, I think it'd be cool to see some screenshots of the different setups people have.

XBMC.

 

'Just works' using the live distro on an Asrock ION box.

 

Things I don't like (I'm not yet running Eden, perhaps these have been fixed) :

 

- Scraper isn't 100% reliable, even when metadata is pre populated using a 3rd party manager like Ember. I also have strange things happening occasionally - I have one TV episode that is constantly detected as 'new' every update. I have about 300 entries for it now.

 

- Database is 'locked' whilst running an update and all updates are flushed through in one go at the end. In the meantime you can't see new items as they're added or make changes that would involve updating the database. Not a big deal until your library gets big enough that a scan takes a while.

 

- ..might be fixed by the mySQL backend but I still havn't found a way to migrate my database between versions / to mysql that will keep the watched flag intact.

 

It's fast enough, GUI navigation can slowdown on occasion and scraping is slower than I'd like. Fault of the hardware more than anything. Video playback is fine though offloaded using VDPAU. Nominally though I never touch it and it just ticks over. Other than the odd scraping mishap no problems and my other half uses it more than me and has no complaints about navigation / usability via a logitech remote.

 

I'm keen to try and shuffle over to openelec once they release a stable Eden build. Hopefully squeeze a bit more out of the hardware and they seem onboard with the concept of smooth upgrade / in app upgrade paths.

Just works for me.

 

I use an Apple TV gen 1 with a broadcom crystal HD card.  The distro (forget the name) is built for the ATV and is generally updated once a month, when I reboot it will pull down any XBMC and any distro updates automatically.  Plays 1080p without a problem.  Only complaint is that the CPU in the thing is pretty small so you can't use an overly fancy skin unless you like sluggishness.

 

As far as the media catalogging capabilities of XBMC, it will do it but it is nowhere near what Plex will do.

 

Been contemplating getting a gen 2 Apple TV to play Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, and install the Plex plugin then use the Apple TV gen 1 to play the uncatalogged folder and anything else Plex throws its arms up about.

XBMC works well for me.

I have an ASROCK ION nettop and a HTPC using a MSI Speedster A4R with a 2.4GHZ Mobile Core 2 Duo chip/4GB RAM. SSD.

I use the HTPC most since it's in the Living room.

Actually I have 2 HTPC's one for XBMC and another Win7. The netrop is in the bedroom. It's there mostly for meditation music since I never watch movies in bed.

 

I use XBMC for all downloaded or ripped media. I love it, it just works. I was able to get rid of every other media playing device in the house for this. It was/is the answer to all my current needs.

 

I like that it uses ubuntu. I was able to compile in mp3fs, samba a torrent client and use it as a small file server for all my music. This way if I am updating the unRAID server, I still have my music accessible (and backed up).

 

 

I have three different media player PCs running XBMC.  All needed some configuration for sound to work.

Two older units are connected via hdmi, sound is also via hdmi.  The third via VGA video output, sound via optical output. 

The two older are running xbmcfreak 10.1.

 

The newest, is running 11.0 XBMCbuntu (Eden) needed an X11.conf file modeline to be compatible with my projector.  It is a Barco 1208 CRT projector running at either 720p or 960p and since it did not get recognized as capable of that resolution, the highest resolution XBMC would output on its own initially was 640x480.  The added modeline section fixed that... 

 

 

 

 

Just worked, but I did not like it nearly as much as Win7+WMC+MediaBrowser+Media Center Master+TMT+MPC-HC, so I switched back, currently running this on 4 machines 

XBMC on my AsRock ION 330 running Linux Install of 9x or some version like that. Just works so I never updated it. Maybe I should some day.

 

I use Ember to do all my scraping for my media only because I'm to picky to let my PC do anything for me other than play my videos.

 

I don't use it for anything else simply because I have iPads and laptops in the house if I need to do any surfing.

Openelec version of XBMC on Zotac ND22 and Acer Revo.

 

 

At first I used a Linux and XBMC install. I had to monkey around to get the ir remote and screen size to work properly.

 

I switched to Openelec andt it just worked. Haven't looked back. Now that Eden is out I will try XBMC again. I would suggest giving both a go. Prod version of Openelec is based on Dharma Though. I've been running the dev version without problems just be careful if you go that way.

XBMC just  works..

 

running it on a 2010 mac mini, iPad2, 2x MSI nettops, an Acer Revo, and an asus homebuilt.

using just XBMC on Acer Revo Ion running OpenElec dist - it just works - no messing with it...

 

Myk

 

Guess I'm in the same boat Joe L is in! I've attempted to use XBMC on numerous devices and it never wants to work right.

 

I'm getting ready to move my HTPC over to a new case, and I'm going to tinker with it more then, see if I can't get SOME version of XBMC to work.

 

I'm moving to a Antec Fusion Black 430 HTPC case, got it for a (I think) sweet deal on ebay, $57 for the case and a Scythe Ninja Mini Rev B heatsink. I've seen the case for around $150-180, and know the scythe was around $20-30 when it was available.

 

Since the Antec case supports turning the HTPC on and off from the remote, I'm planning on using that feature as right now my HTPC stays on most of the time, mainly because of the load time of Windows + WMC/Media Browser. Sleep has never seemed to work good with my HTPC, it takes longer for it to wake up from sleep than from power off. Don't know if its the MB, Windows or what.

 

Anywho, this is why I'm looking at moving to a XBMC install, with something like openelec or xbmcbuntu, for the quicker load times. I noticed loading the live version of xbmcbuntu I went from power off to browsing XBMC in around 9-15 seconds(guestimation). At any rate, A LOT faster than with Windows. From power off I generally hit the power button, and go make something to drink, check my e-mail, browse the forums for a minute, then start to browse the htpc, to make sure everything is settled and loaded. Sad thing is, nothing extra really loads on startup to slow it down.

 

I love MediaBrowser, and it has always just worked for me, I absolutely LOVE the interface. Just don't love the load times.

never had issues to get the hardware running

sometimes an extra line in the advanced settings but that is quickly found

 

running all my xbmc's with a mysql database and it works a charm

 

Just updated them all to eden

 

only thing i just need to take care off is the extra menus i need to make in the xml files and make sure i change the standard ariel.ttf to a more complete ariel font so that Thai letters are also displayed ....

 

and now i am tinkering to get "last added" to work with smart playlists so the wife can find back the last dlded movies in the thai movies selection ....

 

with a database of 4700 movies and 33000 tv series that is not always so easy ...

 

for the rest it just works

 

 

Guess I'm in the same boat Joe L is in! I've attempted to use XBMC on numerous devices and it never wants to work right.

I guess I should clarify..

As installed from XBMCbuntu XBMC defaulted to analog audio and the highest resolution it thought my VGA device could handle.  Unfortunately, the modern MB could not query the EDID

My theater has a "vintage 1994 CRT projector" and the vga hardware on my MB does not recognize it can handle 1080p resolution. 

(Although I usually use it at 960p, or 720p)

The BarcoGraphics 1208 features a display compatibility from VHS video of 1,280x1,024 pixels, up to 2,500 by 2,000 pixel workstations

• Horizontal autolock scan frequency range of 15-135 kHz

Even though it is 18 years old, it easily handles HDTV resolutions.  It definitely does not have an HDMI connector, it does not even have a component video input, as it pre-dates that standard.  It has composite video, S-video, and VGA.  The VGA inout has a horizontal scan rate from 15-135 kHz and a vertical scan rate capable from 37-155 Hz.  With a  120Mhz bandwidth resulting in a max resolution of 1600x1200p. (easily HDTV capable)

 

Because my modern motherboard could not query the display for its resolution, it defaulted to the 640x480 resolution.  Oh, it worked, but the image was nowhere near as detailed as it  could be.

 

I had to add a  few configuration lines in one file on the XBMC client to let it know my projector could handle the higher resolution I desired.  I also had to go into XBMCs setup and configure it to send the audio output to the diigital audio output.  That was just a few clicks on the mouse.

 

On the other two XBMC clients, all I had to do is in their setup change the audio to use the HDMI output.  It was as simple as clicking on the choice in the setup screen.     

 

XBMC is my favorite "front end" as it gives my wife the ability to easily access the media on my unRAID server. having the same interface regardless of where she accesses our media collection is a huge bonus.

 

Joe L.

Ah, so you are in better condition than I am.

 

Out of Analog or Digital, and the 10 or so options under that, I tried every combination and none worked. I'm going to dig out my ps/2 keyboard and play with it once I get everything setup in the new case. Case is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, so I probably won't get to mess with it again until Friday night.

 

Like I said, just never had luck with XBMC. Hopefully this time I'll prevail! I do need to research the different themes and see if I can find one I like. Confluence is ok but I'd prefer a coverflow over a list. Again, haven't messed with it enough, it might have the option and I haven't found it yet,

Ah, so you are in better condition than I am.

 

Out of Analog or Digital, and the 10 or so options under that, I tried every combination and none worked. I'm going to dig out my ps/2 keyboard and play with it once I get everything setup in the new case. Case is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, so I probably won't get to mess with it again until Friday night.

I'd try the XBMCbuntu version.  It was pretty easy to install.   

 

Like I said, just never had luck with XBMC. Hopefully this time I'll prevail! I do need to research the different themes and see if I can find one I like. Confluence is ok but I'd prefer a coverflow over a list. Again, haven't messed with it enough, it might have the option and I haven't found it yet,

The "Confluence scheme" has a coverflow listing style, as well as about 6 or 8 other styles.

 

Un-improved Open Elec works well enough on a little Zotec box and also on an older P4 machine. For the front-line machines in the LR and MBR, I use W7 (VLC and ArcSoft players) pointed to a YAMJ jukebox. The ease of use of the W7 machines with YAMJ far outweighs the cool internet scraping done by the Open Elec plug-ins. I'll post jukebox screenshots later if interested.

Yeah I'm in the market for something else. If I can't find something I like as much as MediaBrowser it won't kill me to stick with it, I'll just have to investigate the sleep weirdness, under no circumstances should it take longer to wake from sleep than power on.

 

I'm sitting here playing with XBMC on my laptop(which it just works on for) and I've found how to change the list views. Now if I can get it to go to description from the coverflow, I'll be pretty happy with it. That and recently added would be a plus. I'm slowly finding all the settings, .

 

I think I've used Mediabrowser for so long and the features and settings have grown steadily, I've never had to "look" for them. Guess thats the benefit of being involved in a program nearly since its inception.

 

Now if I can get it to go to description from the coverflow, I'll be pretty happy with it.

System->Settings->Video->File-Lists->Default-Select-Action->Show Information

That and recently added would be a plus. I'm slowly finding all the settings, .

System->Settings->Skin->Home-Window Options->Show recently added

Thanks, didn't want to be spoon fed how to get to everything, I'm willing to nose around it to find out, but it does save me time so thanks a lot!

 

Its not really the views that gets me, I could play around with those until I turn gray and be fine, but the audio bit is annoying. I forgot to dig out the PS/2 keyboard so I could install xbmcbuntu(its in my kids closet) so I'll have to get to that tomorrow. For tonight, I'll continue to play with xbmc on my laptop and see what settings I like so I can easily duplicate them, .

 

Thanks a lot for the suggestions!

 

EDIT: That sounds very snobbish, what I meant was wasn't asking to be spoon fed, but thanks for doing so!

Thanks, didn't want to be spoon fed how to get to everything,

....snip....

EDIT: That sounds very snobbish, what I meant was wasn't asking to be spoon fed, but thanks for doing so!

 

 

They're FREE!!!! eat up! 

Seems the ones I get are bent though!

 

I think I have everything down how I like it. The recently added function isn't 100% how I like it but it works. I'm having trouble letting go of all the features of MediaBrowser and how they work. I guess its more of what I'm use to than not how I like it.

 

Now that I've got the views setup, I get to play with all the add-ons and see what else I can set up.

 

By the way, is there any way to change how the fanart looks? Like the movie posters, any way to add  different looks to them? Not sure if post-processing the images will work with XBMC, but figured everyone here seems just as knowledgable as people on the xbmc forums would be, so might as well ask here!

...I use W7 (VLC and ArcSoft players) pointed to a YAMJ jukebox. The ease of use of the W7 machines with YAMJ far outweighs the cool internet scraping done by the Open Elec plug-ins. I'll post jukebox screenshots later if interested.

 

Very interested in this setup, as I'm assuming you're using YAMJ for unRAID as a plugin. While the native scraping in Eden is much improved, it is still not as advantageous as having it already stored and scraped on the server itself.

Thanks, didn't want to be spoon fed how to get to everything, I'm willing to nose around it to find out, but it does save me time so thanks a lot!

 

Its not really the views that gets me, I could play around with those until I turn gray and be fine, but the audio bit is annoying. I forgot to dig out the PS/2 keyboard so I could install xbmcbuntu(its in my kids closet) so I'll have to get to that tomorrow. For tonight, I'll continue to play with xbmc on my laptop and see what settings I like so I can easily duplicate them, .

 

Thanks a lot for the suggestions!

 

EDIT: That sounds very snobbish, what I meant was wasn't asking to be spoon fed, but thanks for doing so!

You are welcome.  I just struggled with the same issues finding my way around the setup options.

 

The audio can be tweaked, and you can take the time now to get it as you like...  and from what I've read, there is an entire re-write of the audio section of XBMC in the works, so better things are coming in the future.

Using openelec pre eden build r9963 on 3 different zbox hd-id11. Running mysql and shared thumbs.  No real issues and works great.  Windows Eden on my backend computer.  Not as happy with it, but I don't watch anything on it, just for working on adding movies and such.