2010-04-23, 11:31
too expensive and i would never pay a monthly fee
i am happy with xbmc on my computer as my computer is connected to my lcd
i am happy with xbmc on my computer as my computer is connected to my lcd
2010-04-23, 11:51
In my view a mountly fee would be a problem. Perhaps it depends on local market.
Considering what happens with xbmcLive you need manage support cost. Of course it must be allowed to modd it, but doing that must void commercial support. You need to lock the sw somehow.
(With live everyone and his grandma wants to know how to get bleeding edge and all kinds of crap installed without learning anything about linux first. Then they want support when it breaks)
The best solution is perhaps a simple "restore factory settings" funcationality. A boot option that restore the default clone.
You probably want your own PPA server to control the flow of updates. Definitly for xbmc but perhaps also for the OS)
I think renaming files is less important and doing it automactially would create problems. Also, you probably should avoid to explicit targeting illelgal material
If think if version 1 can rip CD and DVD and place them correctly on the library that is more than enough.
If you are targeting consumer market the needs are different from the need of the typicical xbmc forum hacker. Dont include too much crap that cannot be supported with a profit.
Unless you have unlimited time and funds I think it would be a great idea to start with the remote! Get a xbmc remote working out of the box with live.
Search the forum for question about buying and config remote, thre is a market and unlike the box it includes most of the forum users.
Considering what happens with xbmcLive you need manage support cost. Of course it must be allowed to modd it, but doing that must void commercial support. You need to lock the sw somehow.
(With live everyone and his grandma wants to know how to get bleeding edge and all kinds of crap installed without learning anything about linux first. Then they want support when it breaks)
The best solution is perhaps a simple "restore factory settings" funcationality. A boot option that restore the default clone.
You probably want your own PPA server to control the flow of updates. Definitly for xbmc but perhaps also for the OS)
I think renaming files is less important and doing it automactially would create problems. Also, you probably should avoid to explicit targeting illelgal material
If think if version 1 can rip CD and DVD and place them correctly on the library that is more than enough.
If you are targeting consumer market the needs are different from the need of the typicical xbmc forum hacker. Dont include too much crap that cannot be supported with a profit.
Unless you have unlimited time and funds I think it would be a great idea to start with the remote! Get a xbmc remote working out of the box with live.
Search the forum for question about buying and config remote, thre is a market and unlike the box it includes most of the forum users.
2010-04-23, 14:39
sounds like a good idea. Maybe take it one step further and stick a TV tuner in too ready for the PVR merge. There are lots of people who seem happy to buy a freeview (UK telly) PVR but wouldn't think about media center or even know what one was. could be a good way to get extra sales. Probably a lot more setup issues.
I have had friends how have been impressed with xbmc (previously I ran it on xbox now HTPC) but don't want the xbox option because of HD playback issues and don't want another expensive just for plugging in to the TV.
Some have looked at popcorn hour boxes and the upcoming boxee box and I have talked them out of it by explaining the virtues of xbmc for them to end up using some TVersity or other streaming sytem setup for their 360s & PS3s or just burning everything to DVD. So there must be a market for this thing (surely boxee did their research on this and found the same) but I don't know how keen people will be on paying a subscription, it would put me off.
Hope you keep the momentum on this.
I have had friends how have been impressed with xbmc (previously I ran it on xbox now HTPC) but don't want the xbox option because of HD playback issues and don't want another expensive just for plugging in to the TV.
Some have looked at popcorn hour boxes and the upcoming boxee box and I have talked them out of it by explaining the virtues of xbmc for them to end up using some TVersity or other streaming sytem setup for their 360s & PS3s or just burning everything to DVD. So there must be a market for this thing (surely boxee did their research on this and found the same) but I don't know how keen people will be on paying a subscription, it would put me off.
Hope you keep the momentum on this.
2010-04-23, 18:39
As long as with the new remote design you want to put out there we have a way of using our universal remotes with it too...
2010-04-23, 19:31
$150? That'd be pretty impressive, particularly with a dedicated remote. The WinMCE remote, while effective, isn't exactly the best item for wife/mother approval.
I'd be slightly more curious about the monthly fee. Perhaps you could explain more what that fee is for and what happens if the fee is paid. Remember, because this is Open Source Software, once you or anyone has released something into the wild, you can't just yank it back.
I'd be slightly more curious about the monthly fee. Perhaps you could explain more what that fee is for and what happens if the fee is paid. Remember, because this is Open Source Software, once you or anyone has released something into the wild, you can't just yank it back.
2010-04-23, 21:38
eg4190 Wrote:There's definitely a market for something like this, because a lot of my non-techie friends are completely blown away when they see my XBMC setup and want one for themselves, but they would have no idea how to go about building a set-top box of their own and installing XBMC on it and I'm too busy to do it for them.
But one thing to really consider is that the demand isn't necessarily just for the hardware/software work that goes into setting up XBMC, because the end user would also have to do a significant amount of work to sort their media in such a way that XBMC can scrape it.
You'd have a lot of unhappy customers if you just sold the box with XBMC pre-installed, they booted it up into the pretty interface, then they started downloading a bunch of improperly named torrents all into one folder and were shocked when the media didn't scrape properly.
In order to be successful, you'd also have to organize your customer's existing media for them, then install a comprehensive set of sorting/renaming scripts on their computer so they didn't have to worry about the backend at all. And you'd have to offer some kind of ongoing tech support for the issues that would come up.
Agreed 100%. This is what I was getting at.
XBMC isn't the hard part. Getting content for XBMC that works well with XBMC is the hard part. I know I personally spent 40+ hours last year renaming media to work with XBMC, and I am the only person I have ever met in person that is willing to do that.
Helping people get media from the outside world (torrents, usenet) might be too hard- especially if it comes down to teaching normal people how to pirate! The liability of building a for-profit device made to help one pirate things is too great. I don't think pirate content is the answer, unless you plan on working in a nation where the WTO has no authority.
I have often thought the best way to do a box like this is one with a DVD drive that when you put in a DVD scripts would take over and rip the DVD to your library (named and scraped right of course). That way people can acquire media a way that comes naturally- disks- but still enjoy XBMC.
The only problem with such a box is that it would run foul of the DMCA for breaking DVD encryption. Maybe there is a way to get it all set up except one click that the user does so the DMCA onus is on the users.
Of course I will admit that I am ignoring a theoretical group of people- despite all-in-one boxes like the Revo, and XBMC distros designed to be installed on such boxes, that there might be some people who actually are smart enough to pirate/rip/rename content but not smart enough to install an OS to a bare machine. Even though it shocks me to grok that such a group exists, if this demographic is large enough maybe there is money in pre-built XBMC boxes.
Now if you are going to sell a box that does XBMC and tunes TV out of the box then I might buy one. Getting decent Live TV support with XBMC is currently a nightmare....
2010-04-23, 21:49
kaleidescape does exactly what you mentioned. They also have servers and streamers for multi-room setups.
You stick all your dvds in the drive one by one, and it rips them, downloads the info and presents it in a library format.
Apparently rapper fifty cent has it setup with 3000 movies in it.
Although, it is very expensive and doesn't support HD (at least it didn't when checked it out a while ago)
but one really cool thing about it is that you can buy the system with the harddrive preloaded with movie collections (such as all of the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture ever)
The funniest thing about it is that there are two buttons you can push when you stick a dvd in there. There is an import button for dvds you own, and there is a play button for rental dvds lol.
You stick all your dvds in the drive one by one, and it rips them, downloads the info and presents it in a library format.
Apparently rapper fifty cent has it setup with 3000 movies in it.
Although, it is very expensive and doesn't support HD (at least it didn't when checked it out a while ago)
but one really cool thing about it is that you can buy the system with the harddrive preloaded with movie collections (such as all of the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture ever)
The funniest thing about it is that there are two buttons you can push when you stick a dvd in there. There is an import button for dvds you own, and there is a play button for rental dvds lol.
