Anyone using XBMC?

[cw-kid]

Hi

Just wondered if there were any XBMC / My Movies users lurking here? Been playing around with XBMC on my laptop (Windows 7) and with the My Movies XMBC scraper. Like the look of XBMC with the Aeon MQ3 Skin but man its a learning curve all round, too many settings and addons everywhere!

[crawfish]

XBMC is great but does have a learning curve. I use it for all my non-Recorded TV library-based video. (I use VLC for non-library, non-Recorded TV video.) I use the IMDB scraper for movies and TheTVDB (the standard scraper) for TV; no idea about the My Movies scraper. The scrapers work great 99% of the time, and when they don't, fixing wrong metadata with .nfo files is fairly straightforward once you read the wiki. The hardest thing for me is getting it to recognize changes to items already in its library. I have to move the files, rescan, move them back, rescan, which is tedious. OTOH, a library that doesn't auto-update is a big strength compared to Microsoft and its innumerable, slow file system grovelers. You do need to understand XBMC works in two modes, File and Library, and certain things like setting and editing sources are available only in File mode. It is possible to set up XBMC so that it coexists with WMC and works great with an RC6 remote using a combination of registry edits and Autohotkey; I've posted some of the Autohotkey script here, at least for starting these programs while shutting the others one down, including iTunes, which tends to eat remote commands when left running, even when it doesn't have the focus. XBMC has much more flexible skip forward/back commands than WMC, easier subtitles selection, and many other advantages that I miss when I use WMC. I'd sum up XBMC as harder to get running satisfactorily, but more satisfactory than WMC when you finally get there. Best thing is no video glitches with XBMC, and that's with hardware acceleration off; with a decent computer, I've found no reason to turn it on.

[cw-kid]

Hi Crawfish

I'm not sure how the libraries are meant to update? I was having issues with the NFO / TBN files for some of my TV Series on video files (AVI) I had to remove the show completely and update library for it to say pickup that a special episode had been added to season 0 folder. It seemed that just updating the library it didn't pickup any changes I had to remove stuff from the library and add it all back in again.

I also can't get TV Series on DVD to display properly or even play in TV Show library. I can play the DVDs however if I switch to file mode. Music library looks amazing with all the extra artist and album data and images so does the movie and TV library the Aeon skin is just pure eye candy.

Still lots to learn and things to figure out, probably take me two years to become an expert again with XBMC.

[crawfish]

Hi Crawfish

I'm not sure how the libraries are meant to update? I was having issues with the NFO / TBN files for some of my TV Series on video files (AVI) I had to remove the show completely and update library for it to say pickup that a special episode had been added to season 0 folder. It seemed that just updating the library it didn't pickup any changes I had to remove stuff from the library and add it all back in again.

That's been the most frustrating aspect of XBMC for me. Using "Update Library" picks up additions, not changes. If I change something through the file system as opposed to from within XMBC, I usually have to move it out of XBMC's library folders, find and use the "Clean Library" command, which is somewhere in the global Settings menu, move the files back, then use "Update Library". Before using "Clean Library", you better make sure all your network storage is turned on first, else it'll forget everything that's inaccessible, and you'll have to add it back.

I also can't get TV Series on DVD to display properly or even play in TV Show library. I can play the DVDs however if I switch to file mode.

I'm pretty sure that's doable, but I can say with certainty everything works perfectly with ripped episode files.

Music library looks amazing with all the extra artist and album data and images so does the movie and TV library the Aeon skin is just pure eye candy.

Still lots to learn and things to figure out, probably take me two years to become an expert again with XBMC.

I've never used Music with XBMC; I'm iTunes all the way for library-based music. For music I play from Windows Explorer, I use foobar2000. I tried XBMC a couple of times over the years but always gave up. This most recent time, I stuck with it out of frustration with WMC's DVD video glitches with Nvidia Fermi cards, which I find occur about once an hour with GT430, GT520, and GTX460 cards on two different PCs and two very different displays over the last couple of years. I'm glad I did. Once set up properly, XBMC is a real pleasure to use.

[cw-kid]

Just posted a quick item on my blog about XBMC.

http://windowsmediacenter.blogspot.co.u ... part1.html

http://thedigitallifestyle.com/w/index. ... ain-part1/

[bobbob]

struggling with xbmc on my raspberry pi at the moment. i think raspbmc isn't working well enough yet but i'll take a read through your blog and see if it helps

[cw-kid]

struggling with xbmc on my raspberry pi at the moment. i think raspbmc isn't working well enough yet but i'll take a read through your blog and see if it helps

I was going to buy a Rasberry PI but there are none in stock at Farnell (UK) What's the speed like / UI response ?

Cheers

[asm495]

I find the Pi with XBMC pretty slow.

I have been looking around for what in the long term I can replace WMC with. Until streaming really becomes practically possible on a daily basis then recording is still required and it looks very complicated to set up any TV stuff.

In addition I still like the server-extender model which isn't really supported. Is it really that hard to create a distributed recorded TV system with media on top?!

[bobbob]

actually for me general navigation seems fine, i'm struggling to set up the library at the mo, possibly a problem with SMB shares. There was supposed to be a patch but maybe it'll get fixed in RC3 which is due any day.

I went a bit crazy and i actually have 3 further opportunities to buy a pi, but i got mine a couple of weeks ago so not planning to take them up. i think it'll be a little while before its stable enough to truly get used but its fun having a tinker.

[bobbob]

I find the Pi with XBMC pretty slow.

I have been looking around for what in the long term I can replace WMC with. Until streaming really becomes practically possible on a daily basis then recording is still required and it looks very complicated to set up any TV stuff.

In addition I still like the server-extender model which isn't really supported. Is it really that hard to create a distributed recorded TV system with media on top?!

i'm hoping long term that dvblink will provide this. they are 90% there now they have made recording indpendent of WMC. also i heard rumours of a dvblink client for the raspberry pi which would just be brilliant. there is a problem with playback of SD channels as the pi has no mpeg2 codec but HD channels actually play fine because they're h.264. i haven't got this far yet though...

[bobbob]

can forward this mail to anyone that wants it?

Dear Bobbob,

Thank you for registering your interest in the Raspberry Pi with us. We are very pleased to tell you that you can now pre-order your Raspberry Pi.

Current lead-times for new orders are in August, depending upon where you are in the registration queue.

While you are waiting for your Raspberry Pi, keep up-to-date with the latest news and information at www.element14.com

Simply click on the link below to pre-order your Raspberry Pi.

[cw-kid]

can forward this mail to anyone that wants it?

Dear Bobbob,

Thank you for registering your interest in the Raspberry Pi with us. We are very pleased to tell you that you can now pre-order your Raspberry Pi.

Current lead-times for new orders are in August, depending upon where you are in the registration queue.

While you are waiting for your Raspberry Pi, keep up-to-date with the latest news and information at http://www.element14.com

Simply click on the link below to pre-order your Raspberry Pi.

I only registered my interest the other week and I haven't had an email like the above, I must be well down the list!

[bobbob]

mmm, that was a day 1 registration, no less than an hour after registration opened.