QUOTE(shtewps @ Feb 22 2010, 10:21 PM)
Okay, so I don't know about anyone else.. but when the JTAG hack was first announced in August my intimidate reaction was 'zomg i can haz xbmc foar 360?'
Anywho, after some poking around it has become apparent that it isnt even in development! What gives? I thought the 360 would be a perfect platform for XBMC. Is there a specific reason it isnt being developed?
Is there any hope for HD playback, or any type of homebrew media center capability for the 360?
When it comes down to it, the developer's reasoning for lacking this is as follows;
1) XBMC runs on x86 hardware. 360 is PPC hardware. Direct port is not easily (or even moderately) possible due to instructions in codecs, the amount of modifications required, etc. (But, but, XBMC runs on Apple computers, and other odd devices! Yeah sorry, those are either x86 Intel chips, or ARM with native OpenGL ES)
2) XBMC requires 3D acceleration features, even in just the UI (menus, etc) and those aren't mature enough in native-mode code on the 360 in -public- domain. (Again, OpenGL ES on ARM being the odd one out)
3) The percentage of users who could use this port are low, but this is a SMALL FACTOR in the reasoning from the devs. Everyone acts like it's the main reason - see note 1 and 2.
4) Their reasoning is, the cost of a 360 is near that of the cost of a simple set-top box. I debate this, because I require optical or coaxial surround sound, upsampling to 5- or 7- channel stereo, etc, and most HTPCs don't offer these features.
There were a few other small concerns noted in conversations with the developers, but those are their four main concerns, with number one and two being the two biggest contenders, and number four being their largest excuse.
That being said, as it's been mentioned before (yes, there are two or three other threads about this already, too) there ARE some non-XBMC-team developers working on porting the project to the 360 - quite frankly, I would not hold my breath. I would kill to have XBMC360, it was a fantasy of mine as soon as I GOT a 360..but it's just not going to happen any time soon. The amount of change required to port all of this is astounding, and the 3D modes simply aren't mature enough in the public sector.