Post by: Gamester17 on October 01, 2003, 01:31:00 AM
This project is what the active official Xbox Media Player developers has been working on in secret for the last 4-6 months. This does not mean the Xbox Media Player is dead, official and unofficial developers will still be adding new code and maintain it but the lead developers will be focusing on XBMC. Remember that XBMC and XBMP are hobby projects and are only developed by volunteers in their spare-time for free.
New and big differences compared to XboxMediaPlayer:
- Entire new fully skinnable GUI engine
- Easy switching between skins (if exist)
- Dynamic loader for multiple cores/engines
- Music database with search feature
- Sort files/folders by name, size or date
- File Manager for DVD-ROM/HDD/Network
- Virtual Keyboard
- CDDB and album cover/info lookup
- Movie calibration per resolution
- UI calibration
Things that are not supported in XBMC yet:
- DVD-movie playback
- Audio Visualization
- Matroska file container
- Windows DLL's (WMV/WMA 9)
- FTP-Server
- SHOUTcast
- TV-Guide
Note! Normal retail Xbox's require a modchip with hacked a BIOS for XboxMediaCenter to run.
Official website: www.xboxmediacenter.com
Official Mirror: www.xboxmediacenter.de
Offical XBMC Forums: XBMC Forums
SourceForge Project Site: XBMC
Post by: MrSelfDestruct on October 01, 2003, 05:09:00 AM
Post by: MrSelfDestruct on October 01, 2003, 05:17:00 AM
Edit: Nevermind, I dont think they have released it yet. It doesnt look like they have, judging from the content on their website. Man....I cant wait for this
Post by: Gamester17 on October 01, 2003, 05:36:00 AM
But you can have both installed on the same Xbox without them conflicting
Post by: SniperKilla on October 01, 2003, 05:45:00 AM
there just hasent been a point release yet
Post by: JayDee on October 01, 2003, 06:00:00 AM
Gamester17 is the project manager for xbmp/xbmc
Post by: manekineko on October 01, 2003, 07:51:00 AM
| QUOTE (gimpsta @ Oct 1 2003, 03:06 PM) |
| I'm all for supporting new applications in the homebrew scene, but doesn't this seem kinda silly? To me it sounds like XBMC is a glorified XBMP. Why don't they just incorporate these features into a new release of XBMP? Therefore, allowing more time and focus on one single application. Maybe Im totally missing the point of this, hopefully I am proven wrong and we see two very great applications come out of this. |
It appears that XBMC is a total code rewrite of XBMP, with lessons learned from the first time around applied here.
They've added a couple notable changes that would be core changes to XBMP, making it easier/better for them to do a rewrite than just to add on to the old code. For example, I haven't seen the skinning system yet, but it sounds a lot more flexible than the old one, maybe a la Winamp 2 vs. 3. Similarly, the dynamic loader for engines and cores sounds like a plugin system to me, though I'm not sure about that.
It really seems like this is XBMP 3.0b, if I wonder anything, it's just why they didn't call it XBMP 3.
Post by: pyskoyly on October 01, 2003, 08:11:00 AM
Post by: falser on October 01, 2003, 08:44:00 AM
Post by: heinrich on October 01, 2003, 09:17:00 AM
| QUOTE (KiLaHuRtZ @ Oct 1 2003, 01:06 PM) |
| Why? Why not work on XBMP and release a 2.5? Why start a new project, personally you should stick with one app and make it better. |
XBMP, to the best of my knowledge, is really just a combination of the early xbmp, and yamp. This seems to be a re-do of the project, where the devs can take what they learned, and make a better program all together.
BTW, a cvs build is up in the xbins xbmp ftp's.
Post by: MrSelfDestruct on October 01, 2003, 10:27:00 AM
| QUOTE (heinrich @ Oct 1 2003, 06:17 PM) |
| BTW, a cvs build is up in the xbins xbmp ftp's. |
Call me a newb......but what exactly is a CVS build? My impression, is that it is an "incomplete" version, that the user must complete them selves. Is my assumption correct? Can I DL it and use it, or do I need knowledge on programming and such in order to make a "CVS build" work?
Post by: falz on October 01, 2003, 10:51:00 AM
| QUOTE (MrSelfDestruct @ Oct 1 2003, 01:27 PM) |
| Call me a newb......but what exactly is a CVS build? My impression, is that it is an "incomplete" version, that the user must complete them selves. Is my assumption correct? Can I DL it and use it, or do I need knowledge on programming and such in order to make a "CVS build" work? |
No. A CVS build works perfectly, it just isn't something that's "official" from the XBMP/XBMC team. Each CVS build is fully working from the archive, just like any xbox homebrew app. It simply fills in the gaps between "official" releases.
--falz
Post by: john316 on October 01, 2003, 11:33:00 AM
Post by: jp110099 on October 01, 2003, 11:42:00 AM
Post by: heinrich on October 01, 2003, 12:12:00 PM
| QUOTE (Booger Bob @ Oct 1 2003, 03:02 PM) |
| Why not incorperate all these new idea into XBMP? |
Please pay attention - because they are rewritting it from 'scratch'. Its not xbmp, so why would they call it that?
Post by: falser on October 01, 2003, 12:44:00 PM
| QUOTE (heinrich @ Oct 1 2003, 09:12 PM) | ||
Please pay attention - because they are rewritting it from 'scratch'. Its not xbmp, so why would they call it that? |
Considering that it does the same thing as XBMP (play movies and music) and is based on the same ideas I don't see the benefit in changing the name. This is a "code fork" - not a new product. End users don't care what the underlying code looks like, as long as it works and looks nice.
Post by: LEDHaywire on October 01, 2003, 12:53:00 PM
Please include support for us DVD movie playback kit owners pleeease!
Post by: fizgig10 on October 01, 2003, 01:05:00 PM
You want to keep the name "XBMP" and add new features to it? Then go ahead and check out the source code and do it yourself. What? You don't know how? Then shut up and let the nice people (working for free) keep going in the direction they think makes the most sense given their depth of knowledge of the subject is quite a bit more than yours.
I mean come on!!!!
Post by: SniperKilla on October 01, 2003, 01:21:00 PM
Post by: muerte on October 01, 2003, 01:58:00 PM
Post by: orangerhino on October 01, 2003, 01:59:00 PM
Post by: buckwilliamsca on October 01, 2003, 02:57:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| I presume it was because of a problem which is quite common in software. Xbmp probably wasn't designed initially to encompass the vast number of features and capabilities that it has today. Without a complete re-write from the ground up it eventually becomes more and more difficult to implement new features and keep it bug free. They now have the benefit of hindsight and can avoid any problems which cropped up in xbmp. Plus there is the implementation of new core features which wouldn't be possible in xbmp without some major re-writes anyway. Now they can start with a clean slate knowing pretty much exactly where they want to go and how they are going to get there. This should eventually result in a much faster, less resource hungry and more stable app with far fewer bugs. It also makes it easier for the devs to maintain, which is good for us since it means bugs get fixed much faster |
I think this quote said it best, and i think its true. (taken from the xbox media center forums)
Post by: rob1309 on October 01, 2003, 03:10:00 PM
| QUOTE (SniperKilla @ Oct 1 2003, 04:21 PM) |
| heh the screen is like 200x the size of my tv :/ |
yea same here and it kinda annoying lol
the calibration thing is not working correctly, least not the resizing part of it...
it's decent though, i only worry that having 2 projects will slow down progress and make me choose either/or instead of 1 huge cool app
if they use all the cool features and stuff in xbmc, ill get rid of xbmp completely
well maybe not all the way but not use it
its just when i try to seek via remote or control, it doesn't work
i hope it gets to current xbmp state rather quickly
Post by: fizgig10 on October 01, 2003, 03:24:00 PM
| QUOTE (Booger Bob @ Oct 1 2003, 02:02 PM) |
| Some of yall get real anal about questions. Im not bitching about a new media player i just was wondering the reasoning behind making a whole new program, seems like its alot of work. It makes more since now that i know they are completley changing the code. As ive said before, too many assholes on XS. |
In case you thought I was talking to you Booger Bob, I wasn't.
Post by: XanTium on October 01, 2003, 05:35:00 PM
They probably learned alot while coding on XBMP ... that's why they probably decided to remake everything from start. To make it faster more efficient and with cleaner code.
Obvious that XBMP 2.6 wouldn't have been a good name for that.
They *might* have called in XBMP3.0 ... but XBMC is a better name for all what it does and it allows to easily continue to support/develop both releases (for a while).
The most popular xbox homebrew project just gets better
Post by: PuddWakkr on October 01, 2003, 06:04:00 PM
Once you get an actual ff/rw then I'll be a XBMC user for sure.
Post by: ChrisF on October 01, 2003, 08:42:00 PM
I'm pumped.
Post by: k_away on October 02, 2003, 12:30:00 AM
when XBMC can do EVERYTHING the current XBMP can do, you guys will shut down the XBMP development right?
so XBMC = the future ?
Post by: spyd4r on October 02, 2003, 02:43:00 AM
great work so far
Post by: Gamester17 on October 02, 2003, 04:21:00 AM
| QUOTE (buckwilliamsca @ Oct 1 2003, 10:57 PM) | ||
I think this quote said it best, and i think its true. (taken from the xbox media center forums) |
I could not have said it better myself.
PS! Remember that XBMC is not yet up to par with XBMP feature wise, so most will not just switch over.
Post by: MrSelfDestruct on October 02, 2003, 10:14:00 AM
, cause im dyin to try this, and see what it looks like. It sounds really cool......
Post by: falser on October 02, 2003, 10:25:00 AM
| QUOTE (MrSelfDestruct @ Oct 2 2003, 07:14 PM) |
| So where can I get the CVS build of this? I have been looking around in the usual places, and I didnt see it there, under the "media players" section. I think someone had said it was in the XBMP folder, in the usual places, but I didnt see anything in there. |
It's in the "other" usual place.
You're not missing anything with this alpha release. I tried it out and basically it's the same thing as XBMP but with a file-browser built in; looks the same, works the same, but isn't feature-complete yet.
Post by: thetruethugg on October 02, 2003, 11:28:00 AM
| QUOTE (falz @ Oct 1 2003, 01:51 PM) |
| A CVS build works perfectly |
No, not the case. CVS builds can be buggy, and have shit broken. Which is why I advise to have a seperate point release install handy incase something is broken and it's pissing you off.
Anyway, XBMC, eh? Sounds good to me. I'm looking forword to a long time usage of that, just as I have experienced with XBMP.
Post by: AnimeCommander on October 02, 2003, 03:02:00 PM
I think they should concentrate on XBMC and get it fully up and running, and then just drop XBMP. Considering XBMC is XBMP just with newer, better features and code.
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on October 02, 2003, 03:15:00 PM
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on October 02, 2003, 03:59:00 PM
Post by: buckwilliamsca on October 02, 2003, 04:42:00 PM
Post by: feflicker on October 02, 2003, 04:56:00 PM
| QUOTE |
| I think they should concentrate on XBMC and get it fully up and running, and then just drop XBMP. Considering XBMC is XBMP just with newer, better features and code. |
I would agree, only because XBMP currently does everything I care about
I keep applying these CVS builds just to stay "current". All of the features I use were added a long time ago!I only want to see XBMC just to have something new to play with, and hopefully it will be more stable with the various media formats...
But, heh, that is just me. Maybe half of the developers don't want to continue, so they will work on and support XBMP, while the others, who want to move on will do XBMC <that is my guess>
Post by: explicitlyrics100 on October 02, 2003, 05:09:00 PM
Post by: Master Bates on October 02, 2003, 08:20:00 PM
It looks great, but what the hell is up with the 7up can? That has to go. I think a little more rounding to the gui might look better too.
The 1080i support doesn't seem to work correctly. I am not sure if this is just still in working stage or not, but it won't fill the screen. I would love to see 1080i support work well.
I can't get the gui screen calibrated correctly, still parts cut-off. I am using a 16:9 tv if that makes a difference. Why is it different than the movie screen calibration?
The CDDB and standard CD support is GREAT! It was a little skippy playing the CD but I am sure they will work that out. That is a great feature. Any plans to access the CD cover DB too and have that pop up like WMP? Would be great, but I am not sure if that is feasable. An eject button for the CD support would be cool.
The file browser is a great feature.
They say they are working on CD ripping, that would rock!
I would like to see support for playing DVD's off the hdd by selecting the folder and having full DVD controll (ie menus).
I know this is an alpha release and they are still doing a lot of work on it. I think the final version is going to ROCK! This thing seems really cool. Keep up thje good work.
Thanks
Post by: dava_bran on October 02, 2003, 09:11:00 PM
Post by: kooks on October 03, 2003, 01:54:00 AM
Post by: mamajo on October 03, 2003, 01:41:00 PM
In case you can't tell I AM CANADIAN!
Post by: assmonkey on October 04, 2003, 12:14:00 PM
Post by: brian417 on October 05, 2003, 06:01:00 AM
Post by: cydonia on October 11, 2003, 11:35:00 PM
