[davilla]

Media Center or Application, it's two mints in one Please keep in mind that XBMC usage is two fold, a) standalone media center and b) application. This dual nature is platform wide (osx, linux and windows).

A standalone media center usage is typically IR remote driven, the application usage is typically keyboard or mouse driven. XBMC need to function well in both environments and this does present some challenges in making the GUI widgets and windows make sense.

[jmarshall]

Let's be clear, though, that we're certainly not against a window-based preferences panel for AdvancedSettings.xml. Indeed, that would be great, should someone wish to do code it up. It sounds like a great project for someone who wants to get started on XBMC without having to bother about drowning in the actual xbmc codebase - it's a separate, external XML file, and needn't have much interaction with XBMC itself at all.

However, it should be clear that anything in that file should be exactly what it's named! If you need to change something in there, then you need to be very much in the minority of people. If most people need to change things in there, then it needs to be in the UI.

We're currently on a settings purge, targetting the UI settings first and foremost. Some of these have simply been killed off, as we saw no use for them fullstop. Others have simply been relegated to advancedsettings.xml as we know that some users will want to change them, but the vast majority will be perfectly happy with the out of box defaults.

If you know of a setting in advancedsettings.xml that needs changing by many users, then please let us know.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[sandman4sure]

One of the useful things Plex does that XBMC doesn't is it's (on by default) "fakefullscreen" borderless window rendering mode.

This allows for a few useful things: growl notifications work properly, cmd-tab shows up properly, and it prevents the mouse from being absolutely captured, allowing other 3rd party "hot corner" utilities (like teleport) to work correctly.

What do you mean with "growl notifications work properly"?
I'm using build 23239 now, and the growl notifications appear on top of xbmc. With Plex I thought they never showed (like Plex was always on top, even in fakefullscreen mode)

I prefer not to see notifications when watching a movie though...

[dafranca]

my 2cents:

If the XBMC team gool now is to hit the mass, them the XBMC team may need a expert and express(dumb) modes, where on the express mode you have a config tools with a step-by-step walk throuth guide for easy configuration.

[seedzero]

my 2cents:

If the XBMC team gool now is to hit the mass, them the XBMC team may need a expert and express(dumb) modes, where on the express mode you have a config tools with a step-by-step walk throuth guide for easy configuration.

The devs are currently focusing on settings for the application (removing redundant settings, moving rarely used settings to advanced settings.xml etc,).

[davilla]

What do you mean with "growl notifications work properly"?
I'm using build 23239 now, and the growl notifications appear on top of xbmc. With Plex I thought they never showed (like Plex was always on top, even in fakefullscreen mode)

I prefer not to see notifications when watching a movie though...

The fullscreen behavior has been changed. Previously the default was to set the window level to be above everything else. Now it's set to normal. That means OSX notifications (and growl) will pop up above XBMC and also command-tab works to switch between app windows.

If you go into the "Window" menu bar you will see some new settings to control if XBMC goes on top of everything. Right now this setting is not remembered (on the list).

There is also a setting in advancedsettings.xml that is default on the AppleTV,

<osx_gl_fullscreen>true</osx_gl_fullscreen>)

this uses a different method that "captures" the display for xbmc usage. With this enabled, when XBMC is fullscreen, it owns the display. Required under the AppleTV and Launcher sets this up when installing XBMC. If you set this and run XBMC under an OSX box and XBMC hangs, the only way to recover is to ssh in and kill XBMC or power cycle the computer. User beware.

Adding a feature to alter the window level when playing a video is possible, make a trac ticket to request this ability.

[pecinko]

XBMC for Mac seems to always get the short end of the stick with respect to being OSX "compatible" and I'm not really sure why.

I am glad you came with this question, as I am always uneasy commenting someone's hard efforts without possibility to contribute from my side.

I would suggest:

1. Full support for iLife
2. Mac simplicity
3. Ease of use
4. Mac look and feel

Although I am not sure if above is necessarily Mac centric:
Ad 1 - I keep my libraries on Linux so, this support should be platform independent
Ad 2 - Simple and easy to use interface. Settings should be clear and better organized. Although not ideal, I like the way Boxee is organized. Plex UI is, IMHO, NOT the way to go.
Ad 3 - This is mostly regarding current files and library view in XBMC. There should be only one view, with option to choose "download missing information from internet". XBMC should extract or read info from media files or nfo's. This info should be kept in library and supplemented with scraper data as needed.
Ad 4 - Default skin is first thing user or reviewer will see. I used PM3 as my default skin for some time, but maybe it is a time to do a face lift. At least Mac-look theme for existing PM3 would be nice.

As already proposed, skins with "latest svn needed" should be discouraged. I am not sure however how this could be solved. Stable released on 4 months basis or something like maybe. Maybe keeping skins for stable releases in repo. Those should user be able to download from UI, while keeping svn based skins in forums.

However I hope to see more Mac oriented sites reviewing XBMC as media player/server solution, not PLEX.

Hope this helps,
P.

[mcai3db3]

Quick question on this one...

Recently I moved from Plex w/PlexAeon to XBMC w/Aeon Showmix.

I basically decided I was fed up of waiting for Plex to release support for automatic flags and XBMC seems to have a community that is much more suited to me, i.e. helpful with little hacks and plugins here and there. I have no need for the Plex app store thing, just got in my way.

Anyway, I downloaded the KillaSample file over the weekend and tested it out on my MBP and Mac Mini, under each application. I found that my Mac Mini (2.1ish Ghz) dropped an amazing amount of frames in XBMC (200+) and dropped something like 150 in Plex. I tried the same on my lovely amazing brand new MBP 17", I got 15 dropped frames in Plex (at the very beginning of the clip), and around 100 in XBMC.

Is there any particular reason this should happen? Ultimately, I haven't noticed any dropped frames issues with most 1080p content on the Mini, but the KillaSample does highlight some concerns.

I was wondering if re-trying this with the default skins may make a difference.

Cheers for the help.

P.S. Another reason that I wanted to leave Plex is that when I made a thread similar to this, I got negative reputation. This angered my greatly. I know there were previous threads, but the reaction was petty to say the least. I feel the Plex team is a lot more interested in begging the world to pay attention, than it is to getting the job done. [/rant]

[davilla]

Quick question on this one...

Recently I moved from Plex w/PlexAeon to XBMC w/Aeon Showmix.

I basically decided I was fed up of waiting for Plex to release support for automatic flags and XBMC seems to have a community that is much more suited to me, i.e. helpful with little hacks and plugins here and there. I have no need for the Plex app store thing, just got in my way.

Anyway, I downloaded the KillaSample file over the weekend and tested it out on my MBP and Mac Mini, under each application. I found that my Mac Mini (2.1ish Ghz) dropped an amazing amount of frames in XBMC (200+) and dropped something like 150 in Plex. I tried the same on my lovely amazing brand new MBP 17", I got 15 dropped frames in Plex (at the very beginning of the clip), and around 100 in XBMC.

Is there any particular reason this should happen? Ultimately, I haven't noticed any dropped frames issues with most 1080p content on the Mini, but the KillaSample does highlight some concerns.

I was wondering if re-trying this with the default skins may make a difference.

Cheers for the help.

P.S. Another reason that I wanted to leave Plex is that when I made a thread similar to this, I got negative reputation. This angered my greatly. I know there were previous threads, but the reaction was petty to say the least. I feel the Plex team is a lot more interested in begging the world to pay attention, than it is to getting the job done. [/rant]

When comparing h.264 performance, make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Plex has exposed something called skiploopfilter (an ffmpeg thing). I think it has a low, medium, high setting. XBMC for Mac can also do this using an advancedsettings.xml setting. Default is to NOT enable the skiploopfilter.

KillaSample is a ridiculous sample, 16 ref frames which is very silly and useless. As far as I know, this sample is the only one that I have ever found like this.

[dailydisco]

EyeTV integration, with the upcoming pvr additions, that should be trivial. It might be trivial now but how about making a trac ticket requesting this and include exactly what you want. I don't have an EyeTV setup but could fake it.

Oh wow! What pvr additions? I am using Plex (came from XBMC on Xbox and sort of drifted over) but I am still baffled by the lack of eyeTV integration. It is the one thing keeping me from seriously considering pulling the plug on cable. I keep eyeTV on my HackPro since I don't want to overburden my mac mini HTPC... but I just don't see the point in buying ANOTHER copy of eyeTV just to stream... when the application isn't even integrated into Plex or XBMC in any useful way other than by launching. If PVR and tuning abilities are added that are useful, that (and your secret project hardware decoder) would very likey push me back fast. I like the app store on Plex... something similar would be really great on XBMC, but truth be told, the streaming quality of Hulu and Netflix is just blah anyway. Always feels cheap... basically use Netflix on occassion... never use Hulu.

[dynamohum]

first time poster - short time reader here.

Personally, I love how XBMC works on OSX. I was a long time user of PLEX and despite its attractions have moved back to standard XBMC, mainly for the more robust support and also because I really never got along with the PLEX skin. It could just be me but I've always found it very counter-intuitive. I also didn't like the perception of how it was being led.

Longer term, I'm going to move to a purely Linux environment (ASRock 330), but this will be an easy transfer due to the multi-platform support you guys support. No intention of tying my flags to one mast when it comes to media centres. Whatever HW we're using, "it's the software stupid" and XBMC rocks.

Oh - and xbmc remote for the iphone is the killer app that trumps any plex/osx specific features .

[BobbyDazzler]

A few points for each from me:

XBMC

+ve

- The XBMC Remote is legendary, it's a shame Plex has broken this through its own path... (not intended as flame-bait)
- Cutting edge stuff - media flagging....
- I like the platform agnostic approach.

-ve

- Long release cycle with skinners doing own things requiring SVN builds etc.
- Faff of installing/updating plugins.

PLEX

- I like the app-store. With it, BBC iPlayer, 4Od, Yahoo Music etc. are a couple of clicks (and far less faff) away.
- Harmony Remote support out of the box. I have a 900 and it's a little slow repeating commands though Anyway tried with XBMC?
- iTunes / Media-server integration, although I'm really wanting a Lightroom plugin, which was promised initially, but isn't done yet.

-ve

- last few releases have been pretty buggy...
- community doesn't feel as welcoming/widespread.

Looks like both are going different ways with library improvements, which might widen the gap between them.

I'd love to see XBMC tidied with the improvements mentioned in the thread for Mac Users. Harmony support (I'm sure I've searched for a forum entry, but not been bothered to faff yet) out of the box would be nice.

XBMC Platform independent Plugin/App/Skin Store?

[jmarshall]

We're working on both of those negatives

Also, the Harmony remote works out of the box. Agreed that it's a bit slow though - I have a 520 and it seems much slower than the standard apple remote. There is a user working on speeding it up - hopefully that will improve things somewhat

Cheers,
Jonathan

[Keyzer Suze]

I would love to see eyetv integrated into XBMC. we use our mac mini to watch stuff and just currently use plex but would use xbmc if we could watch tv through that interface as well.

Another thing I would love to control volume for ac3/dts/aac audio streams - like we used to be able to do on the xbox

hate having to get another remote whilst watching

[OrionCrescent]

Personally, I'm constantly switching between the two - typically when there's a significant release from one or the other.

However, the one thing I miss in XBMC compared to Plex is the background music when you enter a TV show (i.e. the theme music).

Very small - but it grinds my gears