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 24, 2012 by CyberNet.

If you’re trying to treat your XBMC install like a settop box there is no doubt that you’ll want to get a remote control working with it. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases it’s not as simple as just plugging in a USB IR receiver and using a remote that was made for the computer. There is a rather extensive wiki page that lists many of the remotes that have been tested and found working, but I wanted to focus on the two that I use.

Tip: Don’t Test Over Remote Desktop

One thing I wanted to point out right away is that you don’t want to test whether a remote control is working through a Remote Desktop (RDP) session. That may be tempting if you are trying to remotely configure a box, but the output of the remote won’t be reflected on the screen when using RDP.

This makes sense if you think about it. With RDP, any locally attached input devices (keyboard, mouse, etc…) are all rendered useless. A remote control is just considered another input device, and trying to troubleshoot through RDP may leave you frustrated and wondering why it’s not working.

IR Receiver:

I’m not going to go too in-depth about the receiver since I already covered it in my hardware guide, but the important thing is for you to have an RC6-compatible IR receiver to have the best chance of getting a remote control working in Windows. You can take a look at the HP IR Receiver I chose back in my hardware guide.

Quickly Get Remotes Working in XBMC:

Generally getting your remote to work can take quite a bit of time, but one developer has really tried to streamline the whole process. Jump on over to the XBMCCustomregis page to see what I’m talking about. From there you can grab the setup file which will make a specific change to the Registry, and will then copy over a lengthy pre-configured Keyboard.xml file to your XBMC profile.

If you don’t trust what the script is doing you can go ahead and run through the settings manually as well. It’s not that hard, but the setup utility is just there to try and eliminate any potential errors.

After you’ve run through the setup you’ll have to switch to XBMC and go to Settings -> System -> Input Devices and turn on the Remote Control Sends Keyboard Presses option.

Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote:

Since I previously used my Xbox 360 as a Windows Media Center Extender I already had one of the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remotes. It is a pretty nice remote, and since I was trying to save some money I wanted to get by with that. There is just a couple of minor Registry changes that need to be made that aren’t covered by running the XBMCCustomregis mentioned above.

In the Windows Registry navigate to the following section:

> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
>> SYSTEM
>>> CurrentControlSet
>>>> Services
>>>>> HidIr
>>>>>> Remotes
>>>>>>> 745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da

And then make these changes:

1. Change the value of CodeSetNum0 to 8
2. Delete the CodeSetNum1, CodeSetNum2, and CodeSetNum3 values.

Just reboot your computer and you should be ready to go. Everything should work on the remote now, but the volume button will still be tied to the TV due to the way Microsoft designed the remote. Lucky for me that’s what I wanted anyway.

Logitech Harmony Remote:

Thanks to the XBMCCustomregis script, getting your Logitech Harmony Remote working with XBMC is pretty painless. All you have to do is add a new device from the Harmony Remote Software and select Computer for the type of device, Microsoft for the manufacturer, and type Media Center SE for the model.

From there you should be able to set this up and configure your activities to control the XBMC. You’ll be able to control all aspects of XBMC as well as sleeping/waking the PC.

Advanced Configuration:

Want to dig a little deeper? You can customize what happens when any keyboard shortcut is executed. The file you need to edit is the Keyboard.xml which is located in %appdata%\XBMC\userdata\keymaps\. If the file doesn’t exist you’ll want to create it, but if you ran through the XBMCCustomregis script that should have already added a very extensive keyboard configuration file.

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 © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on May 01, 2012 by CyberNet.

Yesterday we covered how to install new skins in XBMC, and today we are going to show you how you can customize the backgrounds skins use for each of the entries on the main home screen menu. When I hover over the movies menu, for example, mine will rotate through over a dozen photos that I downloaded of my favorite movies. You can tweak these settings directly from the XBMC interface, but I actually found it to be faster to change the settings in the appropriate configuration file. So I’ll show you both methods and you can pick the one you find to work better.

Sources for Images:

If you are looking for somewhere to get images for your favorite TV shows and movies, I recommend heading over to TheTVDB or TheMovieDB. Each has a vast selection of 1920×1080 backgrounds that can easily be downloaded to your machine.

Update Backgrounds in XBMC:

In XBMC navigate to Settings -> Skin, and there should be an option related to backgrounds or backdrops depending on the skin you are using. Select the menu item you want to modify, and then choose whether you want to set it to a single background image or multiple images:

Now just save the settings, go back to the home screen, and you should see that the changes have already taken effect.

Update Backgrounds Through Configuration Files:

If you are updating all of the various menu items it might be faster if you work directly in the guisettings.xml configuration file. Before making any changes to this particular file make sure you close out of XBMC first. After that go ahead and navigate to your profile folder:

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

And then open up the guisettings.xml file.

Now you need to know what to look for. There is a lot of data crammed in the guisettings.xml file, and the setting names will change based upon the skin you are using. I’m going to provide the names you need for the Confluence skin (the default skin) as well as the Aeon MQ 3.

The portions of the XML file we will be looking for are going to be in this format:

<setting type=”string” name=”SKIN_MENU_ID“>FILE_OR_FOLDER_PATH</setting>

The SKIN_MENU_ID is what you’ll search for in the guisettings.xml file, and the exact name will depend on the background image you’re looking to modify:

Confluence Theme:

• Weather: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_Weather_Folder
• Pictures: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_Pictures_Folder
• Videos: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_Video_Folder
• Movies: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_Movies_Folder
• TV Shows: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_TVShow_Folder
• Music: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_Music_Folder
• Programs: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_Programs_Folder
• Play Disc: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_PlayDisc_Folder
• Settings: skin.confluence.Home_Custom_Back_Settings_Folder

Aeon MQ 3 Theme:

• Videos: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomVideos_Background
• Music: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomMusic_Background
• Movies: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomMovies_Background
• Disc: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomDisc_Background
• TV Shows: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomTVShows_Background
• Live TV: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomLiveTV_Background
• Games: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomGames_Background
• Pictures: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomPictures_Background
• Weather: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomWeather_Background
• Shutdown: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomShutdown_Background
• Music Videos: skin.aeonmq.3.CustomMusicVideos_Background

Once you’ve found the one you want to update, then you need to put in the FILE_OR_FOLDER_PATH. As you might guess that is the path to a single image or multiple images (if a folder is provided). You can use files that are stored locally on the computer or any one of the remote protocols that XBMC supports, such as SMB, FTP or AFP. Here are some examples of what the paths might look like:

• Local (single image): C:\XBMC\Backgrounds\movies.jpg
• Local (multiple images): C:\XBMC\Backgrounds\Movies\
• SMB: smb://192.168.1.10/XBMC/Backgrounds/movies.jpg
• AFP: afp://192.168.1.10/XBMC/Backgrounds/movies.jpg

After you’re done making your changes you should save the file, and then start up XBMC. You’ll see the result of your hard work:

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 © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

This article was written on May 10, 2012 by CyberNet.

While XBMC is a versatile piece of software there are always a lot of things that advanced users wish they could configure, but the developers can’t possible cram it all into the XBMC interface. That’s where the advancedsettings.xml file comes into play. This file will let you adjust a dizzying number of settings that are not configurable any other way, and gives you even more control over your XBMC experience.

You’ll find the advancedsettings.xml file in your profile folder:

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

Once in your profile directory find and open up the advancedsettings.xml file, or create the file if it doesn’t already exist. After you’ve got the file open you can start changing some of the hundreds of settings that are available.

What settings have I changed? I’ve covered a few in past guides including setting up a media library that is shared amongst multiple machines, and I’ve even provided configuration tips to help resolve buffering issues. I have a few other tweaks that I haven’t mentioned yet…

Video Library:

There are several settings that I change related to the video libraries:

<videolibrary>
<flattentvshows>2</flattentvshows>
<hideemptyseries>true</hideemptyseries>
<recentlyaddeditems>50</recentlyaddeditems>
</videolibrary>

Here is what each of them mean:

• flattentvshows (2): Shows all episodes for a TV show at the same level rather than sorting them by season.
• hideemptyseries (true): Hides TV shows that don’t have any episodes in them. This is especially useful if you delete shows after you watch them.
• recentlyaddeditems (50): Increases the number of items that are displayed in the recently added list.

Splash Screen:

This is a simple setting that disables the splash screen when XBMC is starting up. It’s something a lot of people probably won’t care about changing, but since it is available I thought it wouldn’t hurt to turn it off:

<splash>false</splash>

Debug Log:

I don’t always use this, but if I’m trying to troubleshoot a problem it can be useful. This will let you adjust how much info gets logged:

<loglevel hide="false">1</loglevel>

These are what the various values are used for:

• -1: All logging is OFF
• 0: Normal logging, only logging errors (Default)
• 1: Debug logging
• 2: Debug logging with free memory, frames-per-second and CPU usage shown on screen
• 3: Debug logging with free memory, frames-per-second and CPU usage shown on screen; Plus full SMB logging

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 © 2013 CyberNetNews.com

One of the key updates to XBMC promised back in March was to fix the open source software’s Android capabilities. That’s finally arrived in the June and July cycle of the Gotham build, where XBMC for Android now has Zeroconf support. That essentially lets any Android device act as an Airplay receiver without any third-party workarounds. Further, media launched from an Android browser can now be played by default on XBMC, where it couldn’t before. Other new features from the release include the immediate addition of ripped CDs to the music library, ripping support for AAC and WMA, new settings descriptions, locked profiles and general performance tweaks. Head on over to the source link for more on what the latest XBMC offers, and feel free to download test versions of the software if you like to live on the bleeding edge.

Filed under: HD

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Source: XBMC