Impressive: The new XBMC Media Center

One of XBMC's most innovative modifications is that thanks to VDPAU, the media player can now use Nvidia's GPU to decode video files. The software also supports new video codecs and formats, including M2TS, M2T, MTS for Blu-ray and AVHCD and EVO (Enhanced VOB) for HD-DVDs. MIDI support via Timidity is also included. On the audio side, Dolby Digital and Dolby TrueHD are among the audio software decoders supported by the new version. And thats not all: the TRAC page lists a further 51 formats that XBMC can handle.

Developers of what was originally known as the XBox Media Center, have also been tinkering with karaoke support. The latest release utilizes CDG data, reads song text files in the formats LRCv1 and LRCv2 and files songs by numbers for easy selection. RAR and ZIP-Archives with karaoke content will play without being opened.

XBMC 9.04 runs on PPC architecture, accepts HTTP directories as source of playable content and the UPNP Media Server conforms to the standards of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA). For the Linux variations, the software now supports Soundserver PulseAudio. Yet its not only the engine that has undergone a revamp. With FanArt and optimized Skinning framework, the software has a sharp, aesthetic appeal. The list doesn't end here. A complete and detailed list of all changes can be found at TRAC.

A live CD is available for download here. PPA packages for various Ubuntu versions and of course the source code can be found in the Subversion Repository. OpenSuse users can also install the software by integrating an external repository. For legal reasons, the XBox version is not available on the XBMC website.