The latest version of XBMC has been released – bringing it to version 10.0, also referred to as Dharma. Here we provide our hands-on review.
What is XBMC?
XBMC is an award-winning free and open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. XBMC is available for Linux, OSX, Windows, and the original Xbox. Created in 2003 by a group of like minded programmers, XBMC is a non-profit project run and developed by volunteers located around the world. More than 50 software developers have contributed to XBMC, and 100-plus translators have worked to expand its reach, making it available in more than 30 languages.
While XBMC functions very well as a standard media player application for your computer, it has been designed to be the perfect companion for your HTPC. Supporting an almost endless range of remote controls, and combined with its beautiful interface and powerful skinning engine, XBMC feels very natural to use from the couch and is the ideal solution for your home theater.
Currently XBMC can be used to play almost all popular audio and video formats around. It was designed for network playback, so you can stream your multimedia from anywhere in the house or directly from the internet using practically any protocol available. Use your media as-is: XBMC can play CDs and DVDs directly from the disk or image file, almost all popular archive formats from your hard drive, and even files inside ZIP and RAR archives. It will even scan all of your media and automatically create a personalized library complete with box covers, descriptions, and fanart. There are playlist and slideshow functions, a weather forecast feature and many audio visualizations. Once installed, your computer will become a fully functional multimedia jukebox.
Downloading XBMC
You can download a version of XBMC for a number of different platforms, including Mac, Windows and Apple TV. There is even an option for a Live CD, which basically means you boot your computer from that so that you don’t have to install anything if you want to use XBMC.
The download page can be found here.
Installing XBMC
Installing XBMC was very simple and quick (I did it on a Windows machine as that was the one I happened to be on at the time and also the easiest for doing the screenshots).
I have tried it in the past and always found it sluggish. Maybe it was the hardware I was putting it on, usually an old laptop. However, I find the same laptop fine for Windows 7 Ult with Media Centre. Maybe I'll try v10 and see how it goes.
thanks Dave – let us know what you think. I tried the Live CD version today and I was very impressed!
I Installed it on an old PC with Win XP Pro and a P4 with Hyper Threading CPU that I converted to an HTPC by beefing it up with 4GB of RAM and an HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Native HDMI 1 GB DDR3 AGP Graphics Card (H467QS1GHA). It works beautifully infact better than Boxee. In Boxee for some reason the video sometimes slows down even when I play a DVD movie but same stuff works beautifully on XBMC. I even use Playon through XBMC and am quiet impressed with the result. The only problem I have encountered so far is sometimes the video addon does not work it says the script failed and am not sure why its happening, other than that its a beautiful beast.
thanks Vivek – that’s good to hear!
In what way is this a review? Page 1 is copied directly from the XBMC website and page 2 summarises as “Yeah, I haven’t really tried it but I will do at some point. In the meantime, wouldn’t it be grand if you could all review it for me.”
Baaah!
Im sorry you feel that way, but I dont see how it isnt a review? It covers what it is, how to install it, and talks about using it and gives a final comment. That in my mind is a review. Of course though if you would like to point me to your review I would happily take a look it 🙂