[XBMC] A Port By ejp. They Said It Couldn't Be Done. *PRIVATE BETA* *INVITE ONLY*

[ejp]

You might have noticed that I removed the "PROGRESS TUESDAYS" from the thread title. I know it's Wednesday and I was seriously contemplating whether or not I should have an update today.

I had a discussion of sorts with the beta testers as well as other developers about how this news is being received by the NMT community. If anyone's been doing some research, you'll notice we've only posted progress updates in this thread. All the other websites out there refer to this one.

We came to the conclusion that this thread was causing heartache to many, and having a weekly update just makes it worse, which is the opposite of what we want. Personally, it's becoming less fun. I know excal and the other moderators are starting to dread Tuesdays (or Wednesdays at this rate).

So until further notice, there will be no more regular updates. I want to emphasize "regular" so as to not imply that the project is dead. In addition to what I said last week about what we update on, I don't know when updates will come out. I'll go one step further and say I don't know where updates will be revealed.

There are other related communities (forum.xbmc.org?) we want to make announcements to, and I'm sure the NMT moderators won't mind us taking our splashes elsewhere.

With that, I suppose I'll leave the faith of this thread to the moderators. Lock it, keep it open, or delete it.

By the way, there was going to be an update today, but we didn't want to add anymore wood to the fire.

-ejp & The XBeta Team

---

VIDEO

I guess this one counts as a "Wednesday Update". Sorry for the delay -- it was a busy weekend. This video basically shows HD playback with the infamous killa sample. I want to address a couple things.

What will be featured in the update will be at my discretion. It may be a large update. It may be a minor one. It will certainly be something you haven't seen in a previous update. At certain points during development, we may have many features accomplished, but I may only reveal one new feature. We also have features that are at various stages of development while some haven't been started yet. I honestly can't promise what I'll be revealing the next week so, unfortunately, you may disappointed. I'll try not to, though. This is why I don't want to hype it up or down because I simply can't make promises.

The other point I wanted to address is the fact that there are two simultaneous threads now about XBMC-NMT. It was not my intention for this to happen. I can't help but think that the other thread is for skeptics. I really can't comment on that aspect. My mission, as it stands, is to port XBMC to the NMT -- not to make believers out of everyone. If you want to follow along, go right ahead. Otherwise, well, that's up to you. I have and will never want to make fools out of anyone, but to be honest, if you're making it your mission to debunk some phantom conspiracy, then you've already made a fool out of yourself. Also, this is a good post.

Why I'd want to waste my or anyone else's time faking something is beyond me.

---

VIDEO

As discussed, here's "Update Tuesday". I know I'm about a half day late, but if you bookmarked my YouTube account, you would've been able to see the new video about 6 hours ago.

Beta testing and development is going rather smooth, and I can say the same about the interface at this point. XBMC-NMT has been heavily optimized for the 100-series. 200-series owners are reporting excellent experiences so far.

In this update, I decided to show:

1. Navigation is more fluid. I'm using the Confluence skin as a "middle-of-the-road" interface, as it's not too heavy or too light on the graphics. Optimization will continue to accommodate more complex skins with transitions.
2. Various playback functions on SD video: play, pause, rewind, fast-foward, short skip back, short skip forward, long skip back, long skip forward, stop, resume. All of these functions are rather smooth and responsive.
3. Aside from #2, for the OSD, we also have volume control. More OSD functions will be worked on.
4. The Pictures function is just about finished. The video shows all the views Confluence has to offer, and navigation is fluid.

I think this is starting to look more and more like XBMC/Confluence. One of the beta testers said that if it wasn't for the PCH in front of the screen, they wouldn't have known it was running off of it. I think this is a promising remark.


The only other thing I wanted to discuss was the donations thus far. I wasn't expecting to get them, so I didn't know what to do with it. Rather than put it to waste, I decided to divide it among the beta testers. Currently, there's a couple handfuls of us so it didn't amount to much after the division, but at least it's something.

On behalf of the XBeta Team and myself, thank you for your support.

---

VIDEO

I was mostly inactive for the last few months (for those who noticed) because of this. To keep it under wraps, I decided to work mostly alone and seek help outside of the NMT community. Naturally, XBMC needs no introduction.

With Flash Lite GUIs in development, I felt I needed to completely trump all current GUIs and jukeboxes. All the work was completely done. We just needed to get it to "work."

Early on, I realized that if I could get this working, this would certainly revolutionize the NMT. If you think about it, we would be instantly backed by the entire XBMC community. That's 7 years of development and a 50,000+ userbase.

I can't go much into detail about this project as this is still in beta. It is close enough to completion that I can offer this to beta testers, but it will be extremely closed, even more so than the Alaska beta (for those who remember). If all goes well, a first public release should be within reach.

All I can discuss is what's in the video:

1. I am running a version of XBMC Live via USB. However, it should just as easilly be installed to an internal hard drive.
2. The default interface (Confluence) can sometimes be sluggish, but optimizing XBMC and the skin is in the works. Simpler skins, such as Alaska, should run smoother.

As mentioned, this is an extremely closed beta. This means:

1. I will NOT be accepting candidates for beta testers. Instead, I will be messaging YOU, offering you a position on the beta testing team. Please do not ask why I haven't chosen you. Please do not take it personally if I don't choose you.
2. I will only speak about development to beta testers, whoever they might be. You can ask as many questions as you like, but I can only guarantee answers to beta testers.
3. I will not be posting the list of beta testers, so beta testers must interact directly with me only.
4. You can NOT buy your position onto the beta testing team. Donations are always welcome, but please understand that they are donations and not payment for any service or product.

I hope this makes a splash in what seems like stagnant water. Things should start to get interesting soon.

Donate?

[werner]

just have to say wow, great work thumbs up, looking forward to it

[Dave_D]

Impressive!

[halfelite]

nice work. looks like you are running some sort of insmod at bootup since it never even hits gaya would be interesting to see how this was done when it comes out.

Hehe and i hope the getting it to work part is the part that needs the sigma libs for audio/sound.

[pippobimbo]

Great work. It seems like my old XBox...

[lundman]

DirectFB and Audio is possible on the A100, so I would have guessed it would be more about willingness to invest a lot of time to sort it out. (and wait for the xbmc port to mature, since back then, it was only for xbox and completely unusable)

The x200 models we have yet to fix audio, so no go there..

[Adrgha]

Wow, this is extremely cool. Keep up the good work!

[tenshu]

Amazing, i'm quite curious to know how you achieve this port.

[Sharro]

I was just begging for a rich ui release date, this gives me something else to wish for.

Million thanks for all the work put into this "It couldn't be done".

Sharro

[Cadish]

VERY impressive! This for sure will have a huge impact!

Only "negative" point: this will probably set my purchase of a A200 back

[Stone]

Amazing - just amazing

I've been trying out XBMC on my desktop - but as I don't have a HTPC obviously I am not using it "productively", but with this I would very much do so

If you could consider the Rapier skin - which I find superior for XBMC - a dream would come true

Cheers,
Stone

[jacksback]

This is awesome news. I was actually just starting to look at going the HTPC route because I really miss my old XBMC enabled Xbox.

I'm actually surprised how responsive it is in your video. Good job man!

Do you have an A200 or C200 to test it on and would there be a major performance increase?

[ejp]

(05-11-2010 08:05 AM)halfelite Wrote:  Hehe and i hope the getting it to work part is the part that needs the sigma libs for audio/sound.

I'll get a playback video up. It runs well, but I guess I'll let all of you be the judge of that.

(05-11-2010 09:20 AM)Stone Wrote:  If you could consider the Rapier skin - which I find superior for XBMC - a dream would come true

Just like XBMC, you'll be able to use any XBMC skin in existence.

(05-11-2010 09:22 AM)jacksback Wrote:  Do you have an A200 or C200 to test it on and would there be a major performance increase?

I don't have either, but I suspect there would be a performance increase. I'm not sure if it'll be major though. I'll have to check with my beta testers.

[tenshu]

I bet it would be, hardware is way faster in comparison.

[jacksback]

(05-11-2010 09:28 AM)ejp Wrote:  I don't have either, but I suspect there would be a performance increase. I'm not sure if it'll be major though. I'll have to check with my beta testers.

I have both...........................waits patiently for his invite