[poofyhairguy]

Windows 7, ick.

Actually I threw together a Windows 7 XBMC HTPC recently to try it (so I can help people on here) and it worked really well. Now that Eventghost is no longer needed, it is a pretty smooth experience.

Would I use it? No, switched back to Linux as soon as I was done because I love that appliance feel and the ability to use NFS with my Unraid server.

I just think its unfair to judge XBMC based on Linux's difficulties. It is not XBMC's fault that LIRC is a pain and Alsa is a pain.

[misterpink]

That's a good one. With my luxury car I get in and turn the key and the car operates perfectly without any extra effort on my part.

While XBMC is very good, it does not nearly have the ease of use, especially in the HTPC realm, to qualify as a luxo-premium product.

The fact that I can't go out and buy a PC and get good performance, including lossless audio streaming with the XBMC Live image, without tweaking drivers, settings, infrared controlsets, etc, makes your comparison a bit laughable.

laughable is a bit harsh.

I can see what you're saying here though - part of the luxury car experience is having your ass wiped for you - and there certainly is none of that going on with xbmc (altho it has come a long way). A better comparison to me would be that xbmc is more like the supercar you built in your garage. You know, the one you built yourself every evening and on weekends using plans, ideas, blueprints, parts, information, etc. collected from fellow car enthusiasts all over the world. It out accelerates and out handles the sh*t out of your neighbors' production sports car sure - but when the same neighbor says "hey where can I get one of these that does everything this does!" - you can't just point him to the local bmw dealer.

[vskatusa]

As a long timer user of XBMC (under windows), I can say with confidence that it has the best user experience - WD TV and popcorn hour have best price point / feature set in terms of HARDWARE / COMPATIBILITY to play most of the codecs.

Hence BEST PRICE POINT FEATURE + XBMC = KICK ASS

Let us not digress about merits of xbmc - everybody knows it is the best - The only down side is that it does not have TV epg like windows 7 media center.

[poofyhairguy]

I can see what you're saying here though - part of the luxury car experience is having your ass wiped for you - and there certainly is none of that going on with xbmc (altho it has come a long way). A better comparison to me would be that xbmc is more like the supercar you built in your garage. You know, the one you built yourself every evening and on weekends using plans, ideas, blueprints, parts, information, etc. collected from fellow car enthusiasts all over the world. It out accelerates and out handles the sh*t out of your neighbors' production sports car sure - but when the same neighbor says "hey where can I get one of these that does everything this does!" - you can't just point him to the local bmw dealer.

Good call.

[Hannes The Hun]

[misterpink]

xbmc needs more xzibit.

[BEKO86]

I retired my old xbox with XBMC back in 2006 when it would no longer play the files that I wanted to watch, I had it connected to my Pioneer 426XDE (which I still own, upgrading to FullHD doesnt always give you a better picture IMO).

Since then I have used 360's, PS3, many different media streamers/transcoders. I thought a WDTV Live would be a cool little box and do everything I want, oh how wrong I was. Its slow unresponsive, doesnt play all the files that I throw at it, many H264's stutter (not network as I have a USB drive attached too). If you compair many of todays media players to the early versions of XBMC you really appreciate how ground breaking it was back then and STILL is to this day.

Hence why I have decided to stop messing around and go back to XBMC, all the twaeking and messing with XBMC is part of the fun!