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--- Thread: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 (/showthread.php?tid=148320)
blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - freakwenc - 2012-12-14
Hello Guys just been reading the "Allwinner A10 : Is XBMC ported to MALI-400MP ?" Thread and saw this
(2012-12-14, 02:55)andrego Wrote: I thought so too. Just for kicks, I did a search for the "VidOn.Me" mini PC and found the homepage. There are downloads for the manual and for the "VidOn.Me.apk". The manual has screenshots of the app, and they look like a re-branded XBMC.
So now I'm not sure if it's a (perhaps misguided) attempt at being helpful or an attempt to pass the buck. In any case, it doesn't help us run XBMC in Linux. At most, it (maybe) provides hardware acceleration for a XBMC (-like?) program under Android.
If it really is a re-branded XBMC then I guess it opens up a whole other can of worms (is the modified source available, is this non-attributed commercial use allowed?). Link to the downloads page *removed*. I'm downloading the APK and will try it out shortly to see if it is in fact XBMC. I'll post the results once I've had a chance to test it out.
**EDIT**
I've installed and tested the APK on my MK802-II. I don't have the skill to verify that the binary was built from XBMC sources, but it certainly looks and behaves like XBMC. If it isn't, it's the most convincing knock-off in history. It uses a slightly-modified confluence skin. All references to XBMC have been removed. The "About" screen is replaced with one made by "VidOnMe".
I tested an HD video (720p h264) and it played fine so there is hardware acceleration in play. You can't see the OSD, but it doesn't seem to be using an external player because changing audio/video settings in the GUI seems to have the desired effect when you play the video again.
I sent an email to the VidOnMe company to ask about the availability of source code and if this was an authorized redistribution. I'm not holding my breath but will post the response if I get one.
I've had a quick look at the site and can see they have no mention of xbmc.
More interestingly they claim to have full blu-ray menu capability as part of it as well as part of the android app the ability to choose it as your home screen/dashboard/desktop(depending what you call it).
I've put in a request in for the source code giving them 7 days to respond to the request and linked to the GPLv2 as well as the xbmc website and about section. I'll let yous know if I get any response.
EDIT:
The company is US based aswell so should respond
http://www.whois.com/whois/vidon.me
I've also extracted the APK off the site and it is XBMC no doubt about it. most of the data files match perfectly not to mention the PVR addon has the name addons/library.xbmc.pvr/libXBMC_pvr.h
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - Ned Scott - 2012-12-14
This is the one from that weird mass e-mail that Allwinner sent out, too. This is getting very interesting...
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - N3MIS15 - 2012-12-14
Only mention of XBMC I could find on their site was on the page for their ipad/remote app.
Quote:Control any XBMC based media player
Use your iPhone or Android phone to remotely control any XBMC based media player software in the same WLAN.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - gimli - 2012-12-14
unzip vidonme.apk
grep -i xbmc assets/addons/skin.confluence/720p/*
ls -l lib/armeabi-v7a/libxbmc.so
strings ./lib/armeabi-v7a/libxbmc.so | grep -i xbmc
And you see it clear, that is XBMC.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - lrusak - 2012-12-14
(2012-12-14, 09:30)gimli Wrote: unzip vidonme.apk
grep -i xbmc assets/addons/skin.confluence/720p/*
ls -l lib/armeabi-v7a/libxbmc.so
strings ./lib/armeabi-v7a/libxbmc.so | grep -i xbmc
And you see it clear, that is XBMC.
So now the real question is..... What are you going to do about it?
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - gimli - 2012-12-14
strings ./lib/armeabi-v7a/libxbmc.so | grep codecid
A10: codecid %d is unknown.
https://github.com/empatzero/xbmca10/blob/dd1eb572933e63b04406cfe5c3a04ea255d255fe/xbmc/cores/dvdplayer/DVDCodecs/Video/DVDVideoCodecA10.cpp#L280
So we know whats in there. Without providing the GPL copyright notice and links to the source code they violate the GPL.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - jtermors - 2012-12-14
Why so complicated, look at there manual its no doubt, XBMC:
http://www.vidon.me/download/manual/minipc/user-manual-of-vidmnme-android-minipc-en.pdf
They could be add ad least that its XBMC and if there hardware support work they should share it, right?
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - gimli - 2012-12-14
(2012-12-14, 09:56)jtermors Wrote: Why so complicated, look at there manual its no doubt, XBMC:
http://www.vidon.me/download/manual/minipc/user-manual-of-vidmnme-android-minipc-en.pdf
They could be add ad least that its XBMC and if there hardware support work they should share it, right?
No idea if they coded anything or it is just a compile of XBMC.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - Ned Scott - 2012-12-14
Looks like it's the same people who did this: http://www.dvdfab.com/media-player.htm
That's their XBMC-based bluray software. They don't seem to make it easy, but they did provide the source code for that when asked. Hopefully they'll do the same for this as well.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - N3MIS15 - 2012-12-14
they call themselves "partners" http://www.dvdfab.com/holiday-season-campaigns.htm#minipc_pro
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - gimli - 2012-12-14
(2012-12-14, 10:23)Ned Scott Wrote: Looks like it's the same people who did this: http://www.dvdfab.com/media-player.htm
That's their XBMC-based bluray software. They don't seem to make it easy, but they did provide the source code for that when asked. Hopefully they'll do the same for this as well.
I did ask them today, so lets see how they react.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - gimli - 2012-12-14
strings ./lib/armeabi-v7a/libxbmc.so | grep cedar
_ZThn16_N16DllLibA10decoder14libcedarv_initEPi
_ZN16DllLibA10decoder14libcedarv_initEPi
_ZThn16_N16DllLibA10decoder14libcedarv_exitEP14CEDARV_DECODER
_ZN16DllLibA10decoder14libcedarv_exitEP14CEDARV_DECODER
Intresting, there is more than in empat zeros branch. So they must have done aditional coding.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - davorf - 2012-12-14
I've searched their site, but couldn't find software you're talking about. Maybe they removed it after you mailed'em, to try to hide license breach.
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - gimli - 2012-12-14
(2012-12-14, 10:37)davorf Wrote: I've searched their site, but couldn't find software you're talking about. Maybe they removed it after you mailed'em, to try to hide license breach.
http://vidon.me/download/vidonme.apk
md5sum vidonme.apk
488928857cfec1d8ebac9c07e522c9f1 vidonme.apk
RE: blatant rip off of xbmc in breech of GPLv2 - davorf - 2012-12-14
(2012-12-14, 10:44)gimli Wrote:(2012-12-14, 10:37)davorf Wrote: I've searched their site, but couldn't find software you're talking about. Maybe they removed it after you mailed'em, to try to hide license breach.
http://vidon.me/download/vidonme.apk
md5sum vidonme.apk
488928857cfec1d8ebac9c07e522c9f1 vidonme.apk
Thank you for the link. Just a quick question - if they send you source for this app, could you use it to add hw decoding support in XMBC android build? Is it planned to be included in official android version, when available? Cause I would rather have XBMC on android, if Linux version is impossible to make use of hw decoding, then no XBMC at all.