[revoman]

Hi folks,

because i have many troubles with the windows installation of xbmc (stuttering videos) i'll try the linux version, because i think vdpau is what i need.

Before i can do that i hope someone can answer my questions.
Ok, some things can be found using the search forum function but it would be better for me when i have all informations in one place.

So, let's start:

1. I'm only need movies, tvshows and the weather information.
Is XBMC LIVE installed on a HDD enough or do i need the whole unix installation as well ?

Which version + svn should i use for the best video performance (without stuttering) and sound over hdmi ?

My GC is a NVIDIA 9400GT.
CPU = Core 2 Duo @ 2,67GHz, 4GB RAM

2. I want to use the aeon skin because i love it.
What i have to do ? Only copyying the Aeon folder to the skin directory by using winscp (under xbmc live and xbmc linux full installation) ?

3. At the moment i'm using the mce remote with the mce receiver.
I've read xbmc live does it support without extra installations. Just plug and play. (under xbmc live and xbmc linux full installation)

I've googled and searched for a mce keymap, but i found nothing. Is there a place where i can download the default xbmc mapping of the mce remote ?

4. Is there a way to update the installed xbmc live (or full installation) to the latest svn without problem's or does the current 9.04.1 doesn't need an update to play smooth video with sound over hdmi ?
Under windows i can do this with the xbmc updater.

5. Is vdpau automatically used in the current 9.04.1 xbmc live (and full versions) ?

Many questions ... i'll hope someone can help me.

I'm a little bit frustrated at the moment, because i've spent a long time to play smooth video (dvd iso's and 1080i/p ts streams) under windows (xp and win7).

I hope all the jerky, stuttering video's will gone when i'm using the linux version of xbmc.

Thx in advance

Martin

[Geeba]

I have a similar spec machine - core 2 @2.5Ghz 4GB RAM and windows/XBMC is smoooth

[Nick8888]

1-4. not sure, I dont use live. I was completely new to ubuntu when i first installed the full ubuntu desktop.. now got xbmc, tv headend and sabnzbd going.. used mythtv for a bit but found mysql permission abit tough.. it can be a pain for drivers and things but you would be surprised how easy it is once you get your head around a few things. I imagine it is even easier on xbmc-live as that is its purpose.

5.Yes - but only if enabled in video settings

Dont be scared of linux.. you can always reinstall windows

[prae5]

1. The XBMC Live CD will install everything for you. Alternatively you can follow the step by step instructions at http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=XBMCbuntu for setting it up manually.

2. Correct, copy your skins to .xbmc/skins in your xbmc users folder.

3. I believe this should work out the box in XBMC Live, but i haven't used this for a while. The guide above shows how to install Lirc if you do a manual install.

4. Audio over hdmi shouldn't be an issue with the xbmc live cd. Updating either it or the manual process isn't to difficult.

5. Not sure, i can't remember if the xbmc build included in the live cd supports this or not. If not its easy enough to update.

I'm surprised you had problems in windows to be honest, however if you are using vdpau in linux you should be fine.

[revoman]

I have a similar spec machine - core 2 @2.5Ghz 4GB RAM and windows/XBMC is smoooth

You're a lucky guy.
The only thing that playing smooth is dvd iso's (not all the time, from time to time it's a little bit jerky). Playing 1080i ts files is terrible.
When xbmc starts playing the ts file the cpu load goes up to 60% and the vcpu load will be 90% to 95%.
Framerates between 17fps and 27fps, many drops,...

I have tried everything ... dealing with the settings, several builds, changing hardware, changing graphic card.

No success ... stuttering video using xbmc. Using mediaplayer for example works absolutely smooth without any drops,...

I'll hope linux vdpau will do the job now.

Best Regards

Martin

[revoman]

1-4. not sure, I dont use live. I was completely new to ubuntu when i first installed the full ubuntu desktop.. now got xbmc, tv headend and sabnzbd going.. used mythtv for a bit but found mysql permission abit tough.. it can be a pain for drivers and things but you would be surprised how easy it is once you get your head around a few things. I imagine it is even easier on xbmc-live as that is its purpose.

5.Yes - but only if enabled in video settings

Dont be scared of linux.. you can always reinstall windows

Thx a lot.

Reinstalling windows is not the problem ... i have a fresh image of the machine.

I think i can use the live version (installed on hdd) as well because the only things i need are:

video
tv-shows
weather

Best Regards

Martin

[revoman]

1. The XBMC Live CD will install everything for you. Alternatively you can follow the step by step instructions at http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=XBMCbuntu for setting it up manually.

2. Correct, copy your skins to .xbmc/skins in your xbmc users folder.

3. I believe this should work out the box in XBMC Live, but i haven't used this for a while. The guide above shows how to install Lirc if you do a manual install.

4. Audio over hdmi shouldn't be an issue with the xbmc live cd. Updating either it or the manual process isn't to difficult.

5. Not sure, i can't remember if the xbmc build included in the live cd supports this or not. If not its easy enough to update.

I'm surprised you had problems in windows to be honest, however if you are using vdpau in linux you should be fine.

Thank's a lot !

@ALL:
Is there a place where i can download the mce xbmc remote mapping ?
How can i change the resolution to 1920x1080@50Hz within xbmc LIVE (or full install) ?

Thx in advance

Martin

[jonassw]

In my opinion, your happyness with Linux as the host for XBMC really comes down to your willingness to deal with Linux. For me this works fine, since I like Linux in commandline form. I'm not a fan of the Gnome-stuff, but thats purely personal preference.

Some people will tell you it works perfectly out of the box, I however, do not agree with this. There will occationally be Linux-related issues you need to deal with. Usually it's a few minutes on google to get in the right direction thought.

Especially since you want to use Aeon, and that skin requires you to run the SVN Releases, not the 9.04-stable.

To answer your questions:

1. I'm only need movies, tvshows and the weather information.
Is XBMC LIVE installed on a HDD enough or do i need the whole unix installation as well ?

Either will work fine for that.

2. I want to use the aeon skin because i love it.
What i have to do ? Only copyying the Aeon folder to the skin directory by using winscp (under xbmc live and xbmc linux full installation) ?

Yup, thats it. However you need to use the SVN Builds of XBMC to support the Aeon skin.

3. At the moment i'm using the mce remote with the mce receiver.
I've read xbmc live does it support without extra installations. Just plug and play. (under xbmc live and xbmc linux full installation)

This will work out of the box, and if not, it'll work after installing lirc (one command with no post configuration). The keymaps are included in the XBMC install. In my experience they don't really require remapping unless you want to change the defaults. They're located somewhere among the XBMC files. Just use the locate-command to find it.

4. Is there a way to update the installed xbmc live (or full installation) to the latest svn without problem's or does the current 9.04.1 doesn't need an update to play smooth video with sound over hdmi ?

If you do a proper Vanilla installation of Ubuntu you can use apt-get upgrade to handle it. Basicly one command and it's updated.

5. Is vdpau automatically used in the current 9.04.1 xbmc live (and full versions) ?

You need to navigate to Video Settings and select VDPAU as the prefered Rendering Method. So yes, it's "automaticly" used after you've told it to do so.

As a final comment. The Wiki installation guide for XBMCbuntu is way complicated (imho). This guilde: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=53812 is significantly easier (if you're using something thats based on a modern nVidia card)

However you need to finish that guide off by installing x11-util (sudo apt-get install x11-util), or it wont boot directly into XBMC. Besides that the guide is A-OK.

[revoman]

Thank you very much ... i'll try it with UBUNTU.

In the past i've only used REDHAT.
So i know a little bit about linux ... not so much but much more than nothing

Thx in advance

Martin

[revoman]

Ok, i'll try it ... but ones again:

1. Is BT supported, so i can use my Keysonic BT Keyboard ?
2. Ones again ... the MCE REMOTE.

What's the default mapping ?

What does the buttons on the MCE REMOTE ?
What does BLUE, RED, ... 1,2, ... START ...

There's a mappings chart available ?

I need this because i have to reprogram my NEVO SL.

Thx in advance

Martin

[jonassw]

2. Ones again ... the MCE REMOTE.

What's the default mapping ?

What does the buttons on the MCE REMOTE ?
What does BLUE, RED, ... 1,2, ... START ...

There's a mappings chart available ?

No idea about the BT Keyboard - but I assume it'll work if you get the proper drivers and whatnot.

On my Linux box the keymap is located here:
/usr/share/xbmc/system/keymaps
The one for the remote is: /usr/share/xbmc/system/keymaps/remote.xml

[revoman]

Thx a lot...

I've started another thread.

Within this thread a user said:

1080i files doesn't working good with xbmc (vdpau enabled).
1080p files working great.

So i can forget it to install linux xbmc ?

I have many 1080i files on my SAT Receivers HDD.
I want to convert them all to ts stream files to play with xbmc.

Any hint's about 1080i content running under xbmc for linux ?

Best Regards

Martin

[biggles]

If you are going to convert them, why don't you recode them at the same time? Then it doesn't matter how XBMC handles 1080i if you have recoded them into 1080p...

[revoman]

I don't do that because it takes a long time to do that.

Converting the trp to an trs file only need's 5-10 minutes per episode.

Best Regards

Martin

[revoman]

I've tried xbmc live now.
Dreams come true.

CPU Load drops down to 2-5%, VCPU Load is at 2-5%, no drops, 25fps rockstable, absolutely smooth.

I've tested it with dvd iso's and one large 1080i ts file.

So Linux is a must have at the moment for me.

I'll try a ubuntu installation from scratch with a stable svn, aeon, mce remote and i hope i'm able to setup my BT Keyboard as well.

If this points are all clear, i'll stay with the linux version of xbmc ... no need to try it with windows again

Best Regards

Martin