XBMC vs aTV Flash
#1
I'm wondering what the current differences are between XBMC and aTV Flash/Media Player in terms of supported formats that can be played without buffering/sound/other problems. Can anyone compile a list of formats that aTV Flash/Media Player and XBMC support fully?
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#2
well for one the main difference is about $39.95
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#3
Big Grin 
Jezz_X Wrote:well for one the main difference is about $39.95
Lol Laugh yeah that is definitely a biggie. That and supposedly ATV flash has a browser
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#4
It does but I don't think you can use the browser to stream much? I have been wondering what extra this software does as well.
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#5
i mailed and asked them and got the answer that u cant play rar archives on the ATV flash so now that is out of the question!
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#6
hmm, differences in types of media files that each one can play? I know there's a price tag difference, but, I'm more interested in which file types and media formats each one can play. XBMC can't play some, and I'm pretty sure Firecore can't play some. How could I compile a list when neither lists its compatible file formats and media types?
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#7
There is a page on the wiki containing info on supported formats and codecs:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBM...ats/Codecs

However there is a note at the top of that page which states that it is "incomplete". I'm not sure if that is with regard to the list supported formats / codecs - it probably is though as it was last updated in 2008 (edit: re-checked this and I was wrong; last update to supported formats/codecs was actually Jan 2011 - to add BluRay support to the list. my bad). In any case, as stated on this page of the wiki XBMC uses MPlayer as its core player for video/audio so you can probably just check the MPlayer support page for supported codecs for more up-to-date info on this. Personally, I've never come across a video file that XBMC can't play (any failings in this area have generally been due to hardware limitations rather than codec support)

The supported codecs/formats of ATV Flash are listed (in minimal detail) at the bottom of the ATV Flash homepage. If you need more detailed information from ATV Flash I'd suggest that you ask on the Firecore forums. I can't say that I know either way, but I'd be surprised if ATV Flash supports codecs which XBMC doesn't. Any differences in playback performance are most likely to be due to a combination of the properties of the source file (e.g. bitrate, or method used to encode the file), and resources necessary to play back the file. I can't claim to know much about ATV Flash, but my guess is that it may play back some files more smoothly than XBMC as it is less feature-rich and so ties up less resources elsewhere. Having said that, I'd imagine that any such differences are minimal.
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#8
Thanks for this info! Guess it'll be trial and error. Some file formats on XBMC are choppy or have buffering issues, so will try them under aTV Flash and see how it goes.
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#9
procrastinator Wrote:/ codecs - it probably is though as it was last updated in 2008. In any case, as stated on this page of the wiki XBMC uses MPlayer as its core player for video/audio so you can probably just check the MPlayer support page for supported codecs for more up-to-date info on this. Personally, I've never come across a video file that XBMC can't play (any failings in this area have generally been due to hardware limitations rather than codec support)

Ignore that, mplayer in xbmc died a long time ago.
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#10
davilla Wrote:Ignore that, mplayer in xbmc died a long time ago.

whoops! Sorry for laying out some very dated and wrong information there. Blush
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#11
I have been running XBMC for the last 6 months or so mostly for video plugins. I decided to try ATV Flash Black yesterday for the $20 sale price. So far for me it is useless. The one thing I wanted to do with it was read UPnP and it doesn't support it (my fault for assuming it did I guess). Haven't tried the browser and don't care to, also don't care about Last.FM. The one thing I like is the fact that the UI is seamless with ATV just wish it had some purpose for me.
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