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Hi davilla,
I don't think it's fair to say there are differences between Plex and XBMC in terms of OSX compatibility. Up to this point, the differences between both have been fairly insignificant. I mean Elan makes it a point to deliver a media center that is mac centric by trying to simplify some of the things that can be intimidating for inexperienced users. The Plex Media Server certainly makes things easy for anyone to add new content to their TV screen. In the same spirit, integration with iLife and Apple applications were a focus of Plex. I can see how it can be difficult for a "simple" user to understand that his Media center cannot access his iTunes or IPhoto content seamlessly. XBMC users and devs alike tend to forget that the majority of users out there have no clue, and can't figure out for the life of them what ls -la means...
I believe this is the appeal of Plex, and this is what Elan and his team are shooting for: A product that requires a minimum setup out of the box, and that is integrated with the environment it is running on (iLife, Applescript). The difference between Plex and XBMC is a philosophical one. XBMC being multiplatform, there is less time and less focus on platform specific features, specially on the mac side. I have benefited greatly from your awesome work over time, but the bottom line is there very little interest for Mac specific developments (Although your current little project might change that).
Personally, I have tried Boxee, and gave up as all the Social thing wasn't for me, and I was not sure how long Boxee would remain free. I moved to Plex, and was very happy until I became greedy, and realized I could get all the nice things I wanted running XBMC, and investing some time in tweaking it to my liking. Once I was done playing with skins, settings, no one in my household noticed I was running something different until I switched to Aeon.
To make a long story short, Plex tailor to 80% of the Mac crowd, the people who came to mac because its simple efficiency. And then there are the rest of us, always looking to fix something, who are too happy to tinker with XBMC, svn builds and python scripts. I am not sure if my post will make sense to you, but to me that is the extent of the differences between the two...
Keep up the good work, and yey!!! on that Applescript commit today. Peace.
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The stretching issue happens with the svn releases, not babylon 9.04.1.
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@migueld:
That stretching looks strange to me, but because you're using Mediastream I can't tell whether or not it's correct or wrong. Mediastream does some dodgy stuff with it's PAL folder that is basically completely broken - it only worked originally because it was equally broken in the code. With the code fixed, MS looks strange in some modes. Deleting the PAL folder will help.
Does the calibration screen show the square is actually a square?
Some screenshots in PM3.HD would be interesting.
As to some of your other points:
1. There is no Test Resolution button anymore.
2. XBMC remembers the window size (the window is arbitrarily resizable) but currently doesn't remember the position (or screen). Just haven't had enough time to get on to that. It may not remember if you switch using "\" and close XBMC (setting may not be saved) - will take a look at that. Will also get positioning saved. I don't have dual screens, so may have ro rely on someone else to fix that up.
@all: Thanks for your responses - we appreciate any and all things (big or small) to help make XBMC better on specific platforms, as often they apply equally to all platforms, as most of the above do.
Cheers,
Jonathan
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garyi
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In my evangelising of XBMC the main sticking point for anyone is initial set up. Understanding that Videos is infact files and not movies or tv shows, although actually it is, is very confusing even for computer savvy people.
The onus is on the person to understand SMB, to understand that adding souces adds them to videos and that the rest is something to make them look nice. Yes yes for us its clear and simple but for others not so.
IMO there should be a button, 'add your stuff' click it and it presents with available sources, SMB, FTP the lot. The user picks their folder then the helper asks whats in there, or why can't it look at the first few files automagically. interrogate a few scrapers and suggest to the user whats in there? Returning to the home menu and the movies or tvshows or music is highlighted with a icon saying 'new content added'
Hide the videos into the settings menu and call it files not videos. Get rid of the games menu for most people its pointless.
Its these sorts of things which could be considered the mac way, but in reality is the same for all OSes really, making it easy for those not technically minded.
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@garyi: While I agree about the videolibrary (and musiclibrary for that matter), the complaint about video vs movies/tv is really a skin problem.
There is no problem with that in PM3.HD for instance, or many other skins (Rapier, and most Jezz_X skins.) Agreed regarding the tvshow.
Cheers,
Jonathan
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garyi
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Hi John, of all the skins PMD is by far the most complicated to use. Sorry but there it is.
Fundamentally if its an issue of the skin then is it not an issue of the programme? As far as I can see one always has to add the sources via 'videos' then flick to a different view to make um look all pretty like, such as flicking to library mode in PMD, or going to movies etc in other skins. The underlying problem still exists, and that is one of the library and of how people add to it and get their data scraped.
There is a degree of geeking that must occur, name conventions and folder conventions being one of them, but XBMC (And indeed plex right now) add a further layer of geeking with what is then required.
More over most skins coming our right now require even more geeking with the requirement to have latest 'builds' which may or may not go totally pear shaped and this seems to be an issue of the fact there is rarely a 'proper' release*
*Please understand I love the geeking, and I love the final output, but the OP asked of specific OSX related issues, and I guess I am speaking of general issues with how XBMC is percieved by those simpy not the geek way inclined.
For me being able to tap into my iphoto library is neither here nor there. A lot of people will be doing what I am, using XBMC as the primary source in a home media centre, the data is stored in the garage, the mini is controlled by a remote, iphoto is not on the mini. In other words if proper OSX intergration is wanted then you are going to have to do the plex server thing so I can pull pictures in from aperture on my other computer.
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garyi
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When I moved from PLEX to XBMC the only thing I really missed was easy access to my aperture picture library, resident on another mac.
I would consider that important.
And I would love XBMC to be able to play music out of my UPNP device, but thats a personal wish and not related to OSX
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I'll second both aperture and iTunes integration. As it is, I don't use xbmc for pictures at all b/c all of my photos are in the aperture database. I'd actually love to be able to access my aperture library from my linux HTPC as well.
I think an auto-update feature would be great. A simple checkbox in the settings along the lines of "enable beta builds" would be sufficient to limit updates to releases or svns. I believe plex uses sparkle for their auto updates.
Not necessarily OS X specific, but I think plex had a good idea with its emulation of the iTunes app store type idea. Using the svn repo installer could certainly be simpler, IMHO.
And of course hardware acceleration would be awesome.
noumenon
