Spotlight | Reviews | Current Issue | Newsletter | Subscribe | Contact |
Departments

user friendly

Admin Magazine

Subscribe now and save!

ADMIN - Explore the new world of system administration! Special introductory offer! Order by September 30th to save 10% off the regular subscription price! Each issue delivers technical solutions to the real-world problems you face every day. Learn the latest techniques for better:

  • network security
  • system management
  • troubleshooting
  • performance tuning
  • virtualization
  • cloud computing

on Windows, Linux, Solaris, and popular varieties of Unix.

http://www.admin-magazine.com/

  linuxpromagazine.com » Online » News » Impressive: The new XBMC Media Center  

Print this page. Recommend
Slashdot it! Delicious Share on Facebook Tweet! Digg

Impressive: The new XBMC Media Center

Version 9.04 of the multi-platform XBMC Media Center is released. Codenamed Babylon, the software comes with massive and in part, impressive changes.

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.

(Kristian Kissling)

Comments

no xbox360 for you

NOdaddy.com Aug 11, 2009 10:15pm GMT

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40236

NO Xbox 360 support

waldo22 May 25, 2009 4:12pm GMT

NO, it absolutely DOES NOT support the Xbox 360. Xbox 360 uses a completely different hardware graphics acceleration API called XNA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_XNA.

XBMC would have to be ported to use XNA in order for it to work, in addition to being able to hack the 360 to run unsigned code.

More info...
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9299

Yep

Debianero Rumbero May 09, 2009 9:12pm GMT

Yet, it's support XBOX but they can't host the image for legal reasons.

Google is your friend if you know what I mean

xbox360

Umut Uygar May 08, 2009 2:36pm GMT

Does anybody know if this new version supports xbox 360?

Print this page. Recommend
Slashdot it! Delicious Share on Facebook Tweet! Digg
Wherever you go...

...Linux Magazine goes with you!

Check out the advantages of a Digital Subscription:

  • Access articles by downloading PDFs,
  • find the Linux solutions you need with an easy keyword search,
  • maintain your own paperless archive...

more...

 

In the US and Canada, Linux Magazine is known as Linux Pro Magazine.
Entire contents © 2010 [Linux New Media USA, LLC]
Linux New Media web sites:
North America: [Linux Pro Magazine]
UK/Worldwide: [Linux Magazine]
Germany: [Linux-Magazin] [LinuxUser] [EasyLinux] [Linux-Community] [Linux Technical Review] [ADMIN-Magazin]
Eastern Europe: [Linux Magazine Poland] [Linux Community Poland]
International: [Admin Magazine] [Ubuntu User] [Linux Magazine Brazil] [EasyLinux Brazil] [Linux Magazine Spanish]
Corporate: [Linux New Media AG]