XBMC Media Center

2331 Views 76 Posts PC Software

Kudos: 352,790

Download link xbmc.org/...
This can be the general discussion thread for this free multimedia software.

I got recommended to try this software for my media PC, I quickly installed it and didn't give it much of a chance so I discarded it for a while. Today I stuffed around with it more and it is starting to grow on me. Seems to play everything I have SD, HD files etc.

I spent a lot of time cleaning up all the file names of my movies so they are ready to be scrubbed to add some pretty thumbnails. This part I'll need help with, what plugin do I need to download to get this to work.

Also noticed that there's various skins that you can use which I'll look around to find something I like.

Anyone else here use this software? and what have you done to get the most out of it?

06/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 96,230

Skarteh

Is this different to Windows Media Center?

06/11/2011

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Leave a comment

Kudos: 44,711

MoeMan

Skarteh said: Is this different to Windows Media Center?

this is a can be used like media centre or can be installed as an standalone OS for a media PC, i have played around with this and think it's heaps better than Windows Media centre, there are alot of addons, skins and mods that can be done with it, there is also an App on the iphone and Android which acts as a remote control. by far my favorite skin is aeon showmix skin. check out some youtube videos, you will be impressed.

EDIT*****
Using Ubuntu is a great way to shell your boot up so it doesn't look anything like a PC, you can even have a video playing as a boot here's one i used when added

www.youtube.com/...

06/11/2011

http://www.facebook.com/retro.gamers.mmgn

Kudos: 1,538

Jet

XBMC is great, you won't need any plugins to do what your talking about.

You'll find it does a lot more than add a few pretty thumbnails, it will give you cover art,plot,IMDB rating, streaming trailer to the particular movie ect. Just make sure you have the movies named in a proper format, i.e MOVIENAME.YEAR.mkv or you can use a program called "the renamer" to do it for you. Have fun, its great once you get it set up.

I use this skin
xbmc.org/...

06/11/2011

Brisbane

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

I downloaded that remote app but I haven't been able to get it to work yet.

06/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 44,711

MoeMan

Guyver said: I downloaded that remote app but I haven't been able to get it to work yet.

it took me a few tries to get it going but once you do it's insane and well worth the effort to get it going :P when you get a call it displays on screen "incoming call" or something like that.

06/11/2011

http://www.facebook.com/retro.gamers.mmgn

Kudos: 1,538

Jet

you have to change in the setting of xbmc to 'control remotely' and control via http or something. you'll find them

06/11/2011

Brisbane

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

Jet said: you have to change in the setting of xbmc to 'control remotely' and control via http or something. you'll find them

Is this how you got it going? code.google.com/...
I'm not on my media PC at the moment because it's getting used.
I was trying to get it to connect but I got stuck at password/username input section.

*waits for media PC to be free*

06/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 44,711

MoeMan

www.youtube.com/... this will help. also remember that password is case sensitive,

06/11/2011

http://www.facebook.com/retro.gamers.mmgn

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

moeman said: www.youtube.com/... this will help. also remember that password is case sensitive,

I got lost in all his bumbling around "and all the good stuff..."

It's not working for me I keep getting "can't connect etc etc"
I filled in the username and IP (I assume this is my computers IP address) and the port 8080. No good. Checked the firewall and XMBC has permission.

06/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Leave a comment

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

I'm putting the android app on the back burner for a while because it refuses to cooperate for me.
Anyway I've got the sound options sorted and things are sounding pretty crispy with via the optical out on my PC. Also I like how easy it is to add subtitles to videos, also like how it remembers where you up to on a video after you have exited and come back.
Will be using this to play video files instead of VLC.

I installed the IMBd plugin and I get a thumbnail on the video file but not on the folder that it is in.

07/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 44,711

MoeMan

When i get a chance ill run ya throughit man. it does take a while to get it goin

07/11/2011

http://www.facebook.com/retro.gamers.mmgn

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

moeman said: When i get a chance ill run ya throughit man. it does take a while to get it goin

Thanks thats appreciated, I want to get it working it will be a nice touch to my build.
Glad I'm putting the effort in getting this working it is starting to pay off

edit:

Is there a way to have big ass thumb nails for each movie? I've been through the system settings and I can;t find any options relating to thumbnails.

10/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 96,230

Skarteh

Man that Aeon skin looks brilliant. I just ordered an AC Ryan PlayOn!HD2 which I was going to put YAMJ on but mam I'm tempted to make an HTPC...

10/11/2011

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Kudos: 44,711

MoeMan

i'v been saying for a while now i wanna build a HTPC should happen soon though lol

11/11/2011

http://www.facebook.com/retro.gamers.mmgn

Kudos: 96,230

Skarteh

Hard drive prices sort of knacker that haha

11/11/2011

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

moeman said: i'v been saying for a while now i wanna build a HTPC should happen soon though lol

Do it man, once you set it up properly you'll don't know what you did with out it.

11/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 44,711

MoeMan

Guyver said:
moeman said: i'v been saying for a while now i wanna build a HTPC should happen soon though lol

Do it man, once you set it up properly you'll don't know what you did with out it.

i actually stole my kids PC ( my old rig) early this year and played around with it and set it up to the way i wanted.. and i absolutley loved it. i used Ubuntu OS it ran smoother than windows IMO i even had my own custom 20th century fox on startup i loved it.

11/11/2011

http://www.facebook.com/retro.gamers.mmgn

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

I think using windows 7 for a media servers is the way to go, just the standard sharing features make it so t easy to set up. Even better when you have multiple
PCs running windows 7.

edit:

Solved my remote control situation, instead of attempting to get the Android app to work I will use my wireless mini keyboard. It's doing a great job as well, I can either use the track pad but the arrow keys work even better, the rage is good enough for me to be on the couch and that's the main thing.

12/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 32,883

Doles

I'm using a Windows MCE remote for my main MythTV box running Ubuntu. For the rest of them I use the mythmote app on my phone.

12/11/2011

Western Australia | /dev/null is already 98% full

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

Helps if I actually post an image of what I'm referring too [Facepalm]

12/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 44,711

MoeMan

@guyver, i could have told you that lol, i remember you purchased one a while back, and this was the exact reason why i purchased the Rii keyboard lol, also if you have a logitech or other universal remote you can purchase an IR receiever to USB from ebay for about $15 then set your remote to that IR brand.

12/11/2011

http://www.facebook.com/retro.gamers.mmgn

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

Just ran into a bit of an odd problem, it seems that when I open up a folder in XBMC there's no video files how in there. Not sure what happened there. Any ideas on what that could be?

edit:
Finally figured out how to use the scrapers and show thumbnails. It's slowly updating all my folders but I think it will skip past any of the trilogy folders, might have to separate them.

That's what it's looking like so far, would really like to get all the movie info displayed as well. Actors, ratings etc. That would make it really pro looking.

15/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 352,790

Guyver

It took most of the night but I think pretty much all my movies I have on my hard drive running though XBMC now have the proper thumb nail as well as all the movie info. Looks so dam good and I'm pretty happy with the end result, much easier looking at the movie covers than it is viewing folders in Windows.
Having the movie info a plus when it comes to deciding on a movie. Might be a few movies that missed the scrubbing process because of the title name so I'll fix those by adding a custom thumbnail. I had a few problems with box sets so I had to separate them from their grouped folder, which isn't so bad apart from movie sets with different names.
Shame I can't get the TV series to work as well, for some reason it looks like it is not grabbing many of them, so far only the one series is displaying a banner/poster. Any ideas on how I should fix that so it scrubs it properly?

16/11/2011

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 44,485

RSOP

XBMC is great, but im more of a BOXEE kind of person.

Also for your problem, what database are you searching from. I think you have to choose a TV database for TV shows. It may be looking for them in the Movie files online and trying to grab that. Also I find that If I rename the files in a structured way that helps.

eg: Heroes>Season1>A Heroe returns.Ep1

good luck

16/11/2011

www.youtube.com/thepapadumgeek (Melbourne)

12 3 4 Next