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Posted By: Murph Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 01:58 PM
Anyone else using XBMC for thier HTPC who has upgraded to Gotham.

Since the upgrade I'm experiencing stuttering in the sound if I pause video for too long. Nothing similar noted on the Interwebs so it is likely specific to my PC, drivers, etc. but since there are a lot of home theater folks on here, I thought I'd throw out a longshot. Never hurts.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 04:01 PM
I am using Media Browser 3, sorry.
Posted By: MMM Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 05:38 PM
I uped my OpenELEC to the new 4.0 version that XBMC13. I found that it works much better for me. I have an Zoltac Nano AD10 AMD E350 processor. I use to get screen corruption every so often, but that has now gone away. The sound is perfect on all my H.264 .mkv TV shows that I re-encode from the HD PVR that I have. Also, playing any of the movies on it converted from BluRay work without issue too.

Have you tried pulling up the info status on the screen to see in real time what the frame rate, CPU, memory, frame rate and throughput is? I can't tell you what button it is on your remote, but mine is the one beside the '0' on the keypad.

When you upgraded, did you do a clean install as they completely re-configured the back end database and I think I remember them saying that you may run into trouble is you did a standard upgrade.

What device are you running on?
Posted By: wilwom Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 05:58 PM
What language are these guys using? laugh
Posted By: MMM Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 06:26 PM
Originally Posted By: wilwom
What language are these guys using? laugh


It's called Geek-aneese
Posted By: Murph Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 07:19 PM
Thanks for taking the time Matt.

I'm using Win7. I could never get a Linux distro to handshake HDMI on boot up without an extra monitor plugged in and set to mirror. I'm no linux guru though. After a while it was just easier to leave it going to Win7.

I never tried OpenElec though. It may play nicer with HDMI since it's specifically put together to be a media center. Thanks for the idea.

I did do a clean install. They were pretty clear in the install notes that this was a necessity. Who knows if Win7 didn't leave some registry item intact though.

I never thought to check the stats screen. Thanks for that as well.

It's actually sunny tonight but now I have more things to try on a rainy evening. Thanks!!
Posted By: Murph Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 07:31 PM
P.S. regarding language.

XBMC is !!free!! and super popular software that puts all your music, TV, Movies, pictures, etc into an awesome full screen menu on your TV for searching and playing. It plays pretty much any audio or video format without any fuss and it's actually a breeze to install. My issue seems to be a rare thing.

If you have an old beater PC or laptop to spare, it's an awesome way to select and play all your AV stuff from your big screen. If you run it on Linux, you can truly use an old beater of a PC and just add drive space if you have a lot of movies to store. For simplicity, the Win7 version is identical.

It's normally super, super easy to install and use. Don't let the 'language' above scare ya.
Posted By: tomtuttle Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 07:53 PM
What do you use for a remote?
Posted By: MMM Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 07:57 PM
XBMC stands for X-Box Media Center. It was developed originally for the old original Microsoft XBox that ran linux. After someone figured out how to crack boot for the XBox, then it became a very useful and in-expensive at the time PC with a great graphics card that was essentially subsidised by Microsoft as the hardware inside was more expensive than they were selling it for.

But over time, they compiled for other O/S and now they have it running on Andriod, Apple TV, ARM, intel linux, Windows.... Its a really good media center.
Posted By: MMM Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/08/14 08:09 PM
My Zotac comes with a windows Media Center remote. It's nice and small but runs on a pair of CR2032 batteries.

I picked up an AD10 bare system for $109 + $35 for memory, and $15 for a 8gb USB stick. The OpenELEC can run off the USB and it grabs all my media off my NAS via the 1000BaseT ethernet

I also have a couple of the ID80's with the intel Atom D2700 2.13gh 2 core 4 thead. GeForce GT520M video.

I use one of these for my JRiver and link via optical to my receiver for music. Also run my PVR off this with a HDHomerun.
Posted By: Murph Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/09/14 02:02 PM
Originally Posted By: tomtuttle
What do you use for a remote?


I had a USB dongle that I used to grab the IR from my URC remote but I switched that to the PS3 as I almost always use my small, wireless keyboard with a 'thumbable' trackball for my HTPC.

Similar to this one.
Posted By: MMM Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/09/14 03:27 PM
I sometimes wish I had a keyboard.. but then again there is the WAF. But a full sized keyboard would be that much harder to loose between the cushions on the couch.
Posted By: Listener Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/16/14 02:52 PM
i use xbmc but have not upgraded. No issues here.
Posted By: Murph Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/20/14 12:07 PM
Solved:
I updated my sound card drivers to the latest release and the issue seems to have gone away.
Posted By: tomtuttle Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/20/14 04:51 PM
Show-off.

Any opinions on apps that may allow xbmc control via iPad or Android?

Is xbmc a legitimate option to stream high-fidelity music? i.e. to serve as the primary music listening interface?
Posted By: Murph Re: Any XBMC users? - 05/20/14 06:56 PM
I haven't tried the iPad/Android control as my wireless keyboard is always close by but I know you can do it via apps like this.
Official XBMC Remote - Android

XBMC supports FLAC and just about every other format you can think of. With HDMI or optical out from your PC, you can send the uncompressed music, digitally, to your receiver or pre-pro without worrying that your sound card isn't maybe 'good enough'.

So yes. it is excellent as a tool to plant your butt in the sweet spot and use it as a very easy to use graphical menu to listen to your music library.


Edit:
Reread your post and I notice you mentioned "stream". I store my music library on my HTPC that is hooked directly into my AV receiver, so technically, I'm not using it for streaming.

However, I know it is NAS, UPnP and AirPlay compatible. I don't know the details as I never had the need. However, the documentation on thier web page is quiet good if you want to look deeper.
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