Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on May 04, 2012 by CyberNet.

In XBMC one of the things that is probably the most important is to get the software hooked up to your personal media. This includes media from all of your various collections like videos, pictures, and music. If you’re new to XBMC you’ll probably be better off adding your first source or two through the XBMC interface, but after that you can make the changes a little more quickly by directly updating the appropriate configuration file. So we will show you both ways.

We will even take things a step further and explain how you can have all your XBMC instances share the same configuration file. With that in place anytime you add a new source to the configuration file that same source will be added to any XBMC instance using that file.

Note that our tutorials below are going to focus on videos, but a similar process can also be applied to music and pictures.

Adding Sources in XBMC

Here are the steps you need to follow if you want to add your media to XBMC through the built-in interface.

1. Go to Videos -> Files -> Add Videos
2. XBMC will let you add sources in one of two ways:
   1. Click the Browse button and browse for your media based on the type of source:
      
   2. If you know the path to your media source you can just enter it in manually:
      Highlight the None option and press Enter:
      
      Enter in the path and select Done:
      
3. Enter a name for your media source at the bottom of the window and press Enter:
   
4. Select the type of media the folder contains so that it can scrape information from the Internet for each of the files contained within the folder:
   

Adding Sources in the Config File

If you have a ton of folders that you want added to XBMC then using the interface above may not be the most efficient and practical method. You can speed things up a bit by editing the configuration file directly. For starters go ahead and close out of XBMC, and then navigate to your profile folder:

• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/XBMC/userdata/
• Windows: %appdata%\XBMC\userdata\

Once in your profile directory find and open up the sources.xml file. If the file doesn’t already exist I recommend adding a source in the XBMC interface first so that you can see what the structure of the file looks like. When it comes to videos you’ll be adding nodes in the <video> section of the file that look like this:

<source>
<name>Movies</name>
<path pathversion="1">smb://192.168.1.10/XBMC/Movies/</path>
</source>

In my particular case this will create a source pointing to a shared SMB/Samba/CIFS folder for movies that I had set up. You can also use paths to local folders or any of the supported source types.

There is one caveat that I should mention about adding media directly through the sources XML file. While any changes you make to the file should be reflected in XBMC once you restart the app you’ll still need to go in and update the type of videos contained in the source. Here’s what you need to do:

1. In XBMC go the Videos -> Files
   
2. Highlight the source you just added, and then open the context menu by pressing “C” on the keyboard. Then select the Change Content option:
   
3. Now you can choose the type of media contained in the source (TV shows, movies, music videos):
   

Sharing One Config File

How about we take a look at sharing the XML file now that you have already familiarized yourself with the file itself. The process is pretty simple, and for a more detailed explanation I will refer you to our guide on sharing configuration files in XBMC.

For more experienced users I will point out that all you need to do is add the following lines to your advancedsettings.xml file:

<substitute>
<from>special://masterprofile/sources.xml</from>
<to>smb://192.168.1.10/XBMC/Settings/sources.xml</to>
</substitute>

Just update the path with the shared location of the sources.xml file. Repeat this process for every instance of XBMC you have running in your house and they should all pick up any sources that you add or remove.

After doing all of this may need to run through the steps mentioned above for setting the content type on each of the sources since that’s not configurable through the sources.xml file, but that’s just a minor step.

CyberNet’s XBMC Guides:

• XBMC: Introduction to Our Upcoming Guides
  Our introduction provides some of the deciding factors for switching from Windows Media Center to XBMC.
• XBMC: Build Your Own HTPC
  Our extensive guide on the hardware we chose for our home theater PCs (HTPCs), the cost, and some tips on choosing the hardware for your own HTPC.
• XBMC: Prepare and Optimize Windows 7
  A helpful list of tips to optimize the performance of Windows 7 so that the system is able to offer as many resources to XBMC as it can.
• XBMC: IR Receiver and Remote (Harmony, Xbox 360, and More)
  If you want your HTPC to operate like a set-top box you’ll definitely want to get a remote control configured, and for me this was a critical step so that I wouldn’t have to be concerned about less tech-savvy users trying to use my TV.
• XBMC: Share and Sync Media/Settings Between Multiple XBMC Installs
  Configuring XBMC to share settings between multiple instances means you’ll be able to stop a show in one room, and seamlessly pick up where you left off in another room.
• XBMC: Fit the Picture to Your TV with Overscan
  If XBMC doesn’t fit your TV screen perfectly there are a couple of steps you can take to get it just right.
• XBMC: Installing Skins
  How to tweak the appearance of XBMC so that it looks the way you want it to.
• XBMC: Custom Home Screen Menu Backgrounds
  Make the backgrounds of your chosen skin/theme a little more interesting by having it flip through artwork from your favorite TV shows and movies.
• XBMC: Dynamic Weather Backgrounds
  If you’re using the Aeon MQ 3 theme you can have it use dynamic wallpapers that change based on the time of day and current weather conditions.
• XBMC: SMB on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)
  I use a Mac to serve up files to my XBMC instances running on Windows, and so my preferred protocol for sharing files is SMB. This guide explains how you can get a XBMC-compatible version of SMB running on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.
• XBMC: Adding Media Sources
  Learn how to add your media to XBMC and turn on the appropriate content scrapers.
• XBMC: Troubleshoot Buffering Issues
  Trying to troubleshoot buffer issues in XBMC can be quite a pain, and so I lay out some of the most common culprits.
• XBMC: Test Your HTPC with High Bitrate Sample Videos
  Want to see how well your HTPC performs? Throw some of these high bitrate 1080p sample videos at it.
• XBMC: More Advanced Settings
  Configure some of the settings that you won’t find anywhere in the GUI.
• XBMC: Stream Hulu, Food Network, and More
  Thanks to add-ons you can stream videos from some of your favorite sources including Hulu, Food Network, HGTV, TWiT, and more.
• XBMC: AirPlay on Windows
  Send videos from your iOS device to any XBMC instance with very little configuration.
• XBMC: Web Interface and Chrome Extension
  As long as you are on the same network as your XBMC box you can control it from any browser using the built-in web interface, or you can install a Chrome extension to make it even easier.
• XBMC: iPhone and iPad Remote
  If you own an iPhone or iPad you can enjoy one of the best XBMC remote control experiences I’ve seen, and it will only cost you a few bucks.
• XBMC: A List of Our Guides, Plus Helpful Wiki and Forum Posts
  A recap of all the guides we’ve written as well as useful wiki and forum post from the official XBMC.org site.
• XBMC: Free and Official iOS Remote for XBMC Released
  This is the free and official XBMC remote control iOS app (optimized for both the iPhone and iPad). It will let you easily control all of the XBMC instances in your house as long as they are all on the same network.
• XBMC: Running XBMC on Startup in Windows 8
  Learn how you can make XBMC start automatically when Windows 8 boots.
• XBMC: Send YouTube Videos From Chrome to XBMC
  Send YouTube videos from your PC to any XBMC instance in a single click.
• XBMC: Aeon MQ 4 Skin
  If you’re looking for one of the best and most popular XBMC skins the Aeon MQ 4 is a great choice.
• XBMC: Android Widget Remote Control
  Control multiple instances of XBMC without ever having to open an app on your Android device!

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on April 08, 2008 by CyberNet.

Lately there have been all kinds of file storing and sharing services popping up. It was just several weeks ago that we wrote about Dropbox, and gave out 50 invites to readers (with many more still trying to get an invite) so that they too could checkout the service. Now yesterday, HP announced that they were getting into the online storage arena by launching a new service called Upline.  In our opinion, this is probably one of the more significant happenings in online storage because a big name like HP is backing it and will surely use their resources to promote it. Another reason it is significant is because while they charge a small fee per month, all subscribers are given unlimited storage.

When I say a small fee, it really is reasonable. Their plans are all unlimited, it just depends on how many users you want to be able to access and use the service.

• Home Plan – available to 1 user for $4.99 per month
• Family Plan – available to 3 users for $6.99 per month
• Professional Plan – available to 3-100 users for $8.99 per month

Because it’s unlimited, you can upload all you’d like whether it be documents or photos to share with friends and family. The other feature that is enticing is that because it’s online storage, users will have access to all of their files no matter where they are, as long as they have an Internet connection. It appears as though they’re not too concerned about bandwidth limitations because nowhere on their site could we find any information on it.

Features include:

• automatic backup
• 1-click restore
• access from anywhere
• share with friends
• management dashboard (Professional users only)
• priority support (Professional users only)

In the past we’ve seen services like DivShare come in and offer unlimited storage for free and then we’ve seen them scale back because it was too much to handle. We can’t see HP yanking away the unlimited storage from users for a couple of reasons. First of all, they are charging users for the service. Granted, it’s not a lot of money that they’re charging, but users are still paying. Secondly, HP is a big company and they’ve been around for a while. At the end of the day, they’ve got the resources needed to keep Upline going.

While reading the FAQ, I noticed a few interesting facts. The first is that if you have about 5GB of files you want backed-up, it will take almost a whole day to complete it.  They say that they backup at about 150-250 MB per hour so that one GB takes about 4-5 hours to complete. Another interesting fact is that if you make a small change to a file, Upline will only backup the changes that have been made and they call this differential backup.

Overall, we’d say that this is a rather promising backup and file sharing storage solution.  If you’d like to get started, just go here and you’ll see the different plans with the option to “Buy Now.”

Source: TechCrunch

Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com

File sharing locker Hotfile has agreed to shut down, paying the MPAA $80 million in a settlement. It’s the final culmination of a lengthy battle that was set to go before a jury this week. [MPAA via GigaOM]

Read more…

This article was written on August 14, 2009 by CyberNet.

As you probably know by now, the entertainment industry is still busy trying to sue The Pirate Bay out of existence. If they get what they want and The Pirate Bay closes down, their big piracy problem will not suddenly melt away. It may in fact continue to flourish, with or without The Pirate Bay. Here’s why they are taking the wrong route to eliminate piracy, and more importantly, how they should fix it.

What the industry is doing wrong

• Frequent downloaders will switch, not stop. After a potential closure of The Pirate Bay, illegal downloaders are not likely to stop downloading. Instead, their users will search the internet to find the next big download site. This is the internet, after all. If one download site gets taken down, three more pop up. The industry just may end up making some lawyers very rich while accomplishing next to nothing in their battle against piracy.
• The three-strikes-you’re-out law features punishments that are out of proportion and will lead to encryption. Some countries – France in particular – are thinking about adopting a three-strikes-you’re-out law to crack down on illegal downloading. This plan will make it legal to cut off your internet if you download illegally. First of all, the punishment is out of proportion. It’s like cutting off one’s electricity because they ripped CD music to a cassette to make a mix tape. Secondly, this will lead to pirates encrypting their traffic to circumvent the traffic scanners. (Tor, anyone?) It’s a cat and mouse game.

The weaknesses of illegal downloading

The industry has to be aware of the fact that illegal download sites have disadvantages too. Let’s look at a few examples.

• Fake files are time wasters. When a user is searching for a movie to download, they often have to spend some time separating fake downloads from real files. This can be a pain in the behind.
• Movies are not always formatted the way you want them. Let’s say you want to download a certain movie for your iPod. Are you gonna wait for a 1024×768 movie to finish downloading when you just need a 480×320 movie anyway? Or consider this: you have this new HD home cinema system that can play videos off USB drives. Then you look up the movie you want to watch, but you find out that it’s only available in a 800×600 format.
• Veuillez activer votre copie de Photoshop CS4. When downloading software like Photoshop, people sometimes download a foreign language version because the uploader forgot to mention that he doesn’t have the English version.
• Movie subtitles are either poo, unsynced or unavailable. People who don’t speak English as their native language can chime in on this. While there are a couple of sites dedicated to subtitling movies, you often have to go through a lot of trouble to get good subtitles only to find out that they’re out of sync with the version you downloaded.

Exploiting the weaknesses

Now that we’ve taken a look at the weaknesses of downloading illegally, let’s see how the industry can exploit those weaknesses and make legal downloading more compelling.

• Capitalize on the annoyances of illegal downloading. On legal download platforms, you can get what you want immediately with good subtitles and without having to filter out fake files. Make sure that you rub everyone’s nose in it.
• Offer your digital movie downloads in multiple formats. Offer your movies in different formats. I’m thinking about versions for home cinemas as well as mobile devices such as iPods and PSPs.

Fixing its own weaknesses

The entertainment industry has made some bad moves to protect their outdated business model and because they seem to be afraid of the internet. Now that they’re competing with the illegal downloading market whether they like it or not, it’s time for some radical changes to get the downloader back on their side.

• Make sure everyone can download your movies and TV shows online. Revenue is lost due to piracy since many non-US residents will resort to pirating when they can’t legally download what they want. The solution: iTunes should open up their video store to everyone in the world, not just a few privileged countries.
• Roll out Hulu worldwide. This is a radical move to make and almost impossible to do. But there’s plenty cash in it for the industry to be made. The problem is the same as when you’re buying shows: if non-US consumers can’t legally watch a show on Hulu, they’ll pirate it instead from US sources, where people already have access to it. Open up Hulu for viewers worldwide and ad revenue will rise while illegal downloading plummets.
• Stop yanking shows off Hulu. Sure, they are in their right to do it. They probably want to protect their offline sales as soon as their shows come out on DVD, and that makes some sense. But what happens in practice is that people who never buy DVDs are going to swarm over to illegal download sites. If they don’t pull these shows, they would perhaps be able to monetize potential illegal downloaders. Hulu revenue may not be as big as offline revenue, but as a company I would rather earn ten dollars than nothing. Besides, hardcore DVD fans are gonna buy the DVD anyway.
• Down with DRM. The music industry has been through all this, and the movie industry is doing it all over again. If you lock your content in an effort to crack down on piracy, you’re only crippling the user experience. This tends to drive consumers to illegal DRM-free files because they can’t move their stuff around otherwise.
• Make it really easy to buy stuff from you. Just look at iTunes as an example. You hook up your account to your credit card or buy iTunes vouchers, and then you can start buying. I used to stay away from commercial software but now with the App Store, I’ve found myself paying for iPod apps. If the industry can get such a seamless one-click experience going for them, many people will lose their interest in pirating.
• Experiment with lower pricing. I’ve heard people complain about the supposedly outrageous price of CDs. Since then, CD sales are not what they used to be. Why not lower prices both offline and online and make it up in volume?

These are crucial times for the entertainment industry. Time and money are running out. They’ll either sink if they fail to adapt or swim if they listen to the demands of the consumer. What will they do?

This post was written by guest author Pieter De Decker, who is also the developer of the free USBsyncer and iPodCALsync! Feel free to read past articles that Pieter has written.

[Image via]

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on November 11, 2009 by CyberNet.

I love the fact that Microsoft gives users a free 25GB of storage for files through SkyDrive, but I think they’re able to do that because they don’t provide an easy way for people to upload things. That way most people will never come close to hitting their 25GB limit, but that may change with the free SkyDrive Explorer app.

As the name implies this will make your SkyDrive account accessible right there in Windows Explorer… exactly what I’ve been wanting. From there you can drag-and-drop files into any of your SkyDrive directories, or copy down files that you’ve already uploaded. Once you’ve uploaded a file or folder you can then right-click on it to grab the URL that can then be used to send to other people you want to share it with. This is perfect for sharing music or photos with friends and family! It’s fast, simple, and makes it so that you never even have to visit the SkyDrive site.

Here’s what you can do with SkyDrive Explorer:

• View the structure and contents of folders in SkyDrive
• View files information (type, size, creation date in GMT format)
• Create new root folders and subfolders
• Copy files into the storage
• Delete files and folders
• Copy files from the storage to the computer
• Copy folders and subfolders from the storage to the computer keeping their structure
• Use Drag & Drop for files operations
• Rename files and folders
• Create links to SkyDrive folders on your computer
• Copy URL of the selected object(s) to the Clipboard

The one downside is a limit of the SkyDrive service itself… and it’s that you can’t upload files larger than 50MB. What would be cool is if a future version of SkyDrive Explorer would automatically split files up into 50MB chunks! It’s an awesome app even without that functionality though.

SkyDrive Explorer Homepage (Windows only; 32-bit or 64-bit; Freeware)

Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com