sam9s HTPC Project! powered by XBMC!!

[amit.nagar]

Nice arrangement .....mindblowing

 

[GVRAVI]

@GVRAVI, did you make sure that your system was booting before yo plugged in the card, coz seem unlikely that just plugging and then simply unplugging will create such a problem. Need few more details like as baiju said, activity light?, fan working, anything on screen .....

Activity light was not blinking. I removed RAM and switched on the system it was giving long beep. SMPS fan and processor fans found working.

 

[sam9s]

Friends, XBMC update ....

Finally went in to the plunge of upgrading to EDEN after testing it on my VM machine for a week or so .....

1. BD ISO native support is there, but its kinda hit and miss and I could not find the reason behind it ..... I have like 5,6 full BD ISOs but only 3 worked, rest just didnt play under XBMC, reason unknown/could no figure out.

2. Is HD Audio not supported out of box ..??? I thought it was ..... is there an add on plugin that need to be installed over EDEN to get HD Audio ...???

3. Changed my default skin NIGHT to AEON NOX, which is now by far the best skin I have come across. The amount of customization is just too good and its polished no nonsense skin.

4. Much faster, in all respects. SMB shares on my NAS were found far quickly than DHARMA. The images were also loaded much faster ..

5. Program Add ons are organized in a much better manner.

6. Native torrent support with rTorrent, utorrent and Transmission via Add Ons.

....

One of the very nifty add on I discovered was trakt.tv. Its a bit like sharethe.tv but has much much more features and is more social in its nature .......

From the web site ...

trakt is a TV show and movie recommendation service. We're different than other sites since we automatically keep a record of what you are watching and don't rely on manual check ins. We are a social platform with a strong community emphasis. Just browse around the site and you'll see how the community drives the content. Everything from trending shows and movies to personal recommendations are directly influenced by the trakt community.

trakt is also a great way to keep a comprehensive history of all tv shows and movies you have watched. Use one of our supported media center plugins and start sending us this data automatically. Once it's setup, we'll keep tracking your history effortlessly in the background.

I am using it an it really works and it pretty addictive ........ What ever movie/TV show you are watching gets updated on the fly to their website and then you can have your own widget that displays the same .... (one in my sig) ...... people with XBMC this is a must try ... check out my profile ...... I just created today so it does not have much Movies and TV shows listed ....... but you will get an Idea.

sam9s's Profile - trakt

You can also sync you entire XBMC collection and share ...

sam9s's Movie Collection - trakt

will update more on EDEN as and when I keep finding more stuff for it .....

Regards
Sammy

 

[baijuxavior]

HD audio support is available in XBMC 12 Frodo only. For Eden you can try HD audio patch. But I suggest you to try Frodo Alpha versions. The latest is alpha 5. I'm using v4 and has not experienced any problem. Index of /snapshots

 

[haisaikat]

its good to know about this new feature of getting your movie watch list updated on the fly but I my opinion would this not hamper with people's privacy like everyone on earth knowing that you are watching what, if i have to share i can always do that explicitely.

On the HD audio ground, I was disappointed on the Eden on this ground. I reverted back to the older patched HD Audio version and am using it. But one thing I noticed is that with both these versions whenever I try to play any BD disc using the BD Rom it dismisses the attempt within secs as if it is failing to read, no other error message. However if I run TMT5 via WMC everything works great. Any settings I messed?

One update is that I have recently installed the following software XBMC Windows Media Center Integration which helps me launch XBMC from within WMC. I am beginning to prefer this more over launching XBMC as shell. This is because sometimes XBMC crashes if you continuously keep on fast forwarding (using the +10 sec button) for certain video files and then you are left to nothing but log off. In the new way (launching via WMC) I can alsways get back to WMC and relaunch. Moreover WMC provides options to log off as well.

 

[manniraj]

its good to know about this new feature of getting your movie watch list updated on the fly but I my opinion would this not hamper with people's privacy like everyone on earth knowing that you are watching what, if i have to share i can always do that explicitely.

On the HD audio ground, I was disappointed on the Eden on this ground. I reverted back to the older patched HD Audio version and am using it. But one thing I noticed is that with both these versions whenever I try to play any BD disc using the BD Rom it dismisses the attempt within secs as if it is failing to read, no other error message. However if I run TMT5 via WMC everything works great. Any settings I messed?

One update is that I have recently installed the following software XBMC Windows Media Center Integration which helps me launch XBMC from within WMC. I am beginning to prefer this more over launching XBMC as shell. This is because sometimes XBMC crashes if you continuously keep on fast forwarding (using the +10 sec button) for certain video files and then you are left to nothing but log off. In the new way (launching via WMC) I can alsways get back to WMC and relaunch. Moreover WMC provides options to log off as well.

XBMC natively cannot playback BD disk. You need to run AnyDVD software in the background which will remove the BD encryption and XBMC can playback the same. But I doubt whether XBMC supports even this, I never tried it out but TMT and PowerDVD natively support BD disk playback.
Yes XBMC behaves inconsistently if you fast forward and also I have experienced another unique problem whereby if you leave on PAUSE while movie playback for more than 10 min and then play then the sound stutters and my receiver starts behaving erratically. The only solution is to stop the movie and play again from the same point if I wish to. Hence reverted back to launching MPC-HC from XBMC for movie playback.

Thanks

 

[sam9s]

its good to know about this new feature of getting your movie watch list updated on the fly but I my opinion would this not hamper with people's privacy like everyone on earth knowing that you are watching what, if i have to share i can always do that explicitely.

mmm I might agree to an extent, but whats wrong to share what movie I am playing, its far less privicy breach then FB as a whole in itself.

one update is that I have recently installed the following software XBMC Windows Media Center Integration which helps me launch XBMC from within WMC. I am beginning to prefer this more over launching XBMC as shell. This is because sometimes XBMC crashes if you continuously keep on fast forwarding (using the +10 sec button) for certain video files and then you are left to nothing but log off. In the new way (launching via WMC) I can alsways get back to WMC and relaunch. Moreover WMC provides options to log off as well.

Yes I have tried it, WMC also have intergration with Boxbee, which also you can launch within WMC, but XBMC never have crashed on me while FF a movie, thats strange, the only time I can think off XBMC got "not responding" was when any add on crashed or got stuck while running, apart from it, I am pretty satisfied....so I have stuck with shell integration....

XBMC natively cannot playback BD disk. You need to run AnyDVD software in the background which will remove the BD encryption and XBMC can playback the same. But I doubt whether XBMC supports even this, I never tried it out but TMT and PowerDVD natively support BD disk playback.
Thanks

Yes that was there with DHARMA, where I was running AnyDVD HD and TMT 5 to launch BD ISO from within XBMC itself, and it was working flawlessly. I guess you missed the video I posted on the first page where I have shown this, how it works ......... But with EDEN I thought, they have started supporting natively .... anyway if as baiju said its available with frodo, I might as well wait, it not that I have too many MKVs with HD audio.....


But BD ISO playback was something I was expecting to be flawless....... why 3 played and rest didnt, I have no idea, they all have been created to ISO file via same software "ashampoo". I hope with frodo they rectify this, infact they should now bring BD playback with full menu support as well, that would really complete the XBMC suit as a proper home entertainment application .....

 

[arnprasad]

Hi I got some basic questions on XBMC. I just installed the EDEN version.

(1) When I have mapped a ripped movie and when I see it on XBMC - it gives me basic info like 720, 5.1, AAC. Can you please confirm if this is the actual basic data of my ripped file and not some default data?

(2) The reason I ask is because somehow I dont feel the sound is real 5.1

(3) My AVR is set to make all sounds into 5.1 and it shows DD PLII Movie by default.

(4) So when I play any SD Content including rips or Tata Sky - the display does not change from DD PLII Movie which is my default

(5) But when I play real DTS content like HD channels on Tata Sky or say 10GB rips - the display changes to DTS

(6) Now I am playing this 1 Gig rip of Twister and it shows 720, 5.1 and AAC in XBMC. However the display on my AVR does not change like DTS and remains DD PLII Movie.

(7) 12 years back when I had a DVD of Twister I remember the sound effects were pretty impressive on my Akai home theatre - of course since then I have matured into a more mature HT setup - but today somehow with this AAC rip file played via XBMC- I somehow didnt feel it was proper 5.1 - of course I am getting sound from all 5 speakers - but somehow it seems like my AVR is artificially making it 5.1 and its not real 5.1 from source as it was not as scary as I remember from 12 years back!!

(8) So long story short - should my AVR display change from default setting to something different like it does with real DTS feeds when I play AAC files as well?

thanks and I apologize for the long post - just cant seem to ask my question in 1-2 lines:sad:

 

[baijuxavior]

Yes the movie has 5.1 audio but it is in aac format which your avr can't decode. In xbmc audio system settings, set speaker configuration to 5.1 and deselect 'aac capable receiver' if it is already selected. Now xbmc will decode the 5.1 aac and send it to avr as multichannel pcm. Your avr should now show MULTI IN instead of prologic. If you are using optical out, then xbmc will convert the aac audio to Dolby Digital in real time and your avr will display Dolby.

 

[sam9s]

@arnprasad

1. The info that XBMC provides is accurate, else what's the point of providing them.
2. DD PLII algo converts a 2.0 sound source to 5.1.
3. AAC format usually AVRs cannot decode, so the decoding has to be done at source end. If your AVR is showing DD PLII means its not receiving proper surrounded signals. If the decoding is done at the source end and AAC is sent to AVR it would show "Multi Channel Audio"

So yes your AVR should change if the source plays something like a DD or DTS file, But not AAC, in that case if the decoding is done at the source end, the AVR would should Multi Channel Audio,"

 

[manniraj]

Yes I have tried it, WMC also have intergration with Boxbee, which also you can launch within WMC, but XBMC never have crashed on me while FF a movie, thats strange, the only time I can think off XBMC got "not responding" was when any add on crashed or got stuck while running, apart from it, I am pretty satisfied....so I have stuck with shell integration....

Sam

Did you try the issue I am facing pausing of the movie for sometime like say 10 min or more and play it. My avr starts blinking and the sound is broken. I do not face this issue either with MPC-HC or Potplayer. I am running Dharma edition with HD audio patch.

thanks

 

[haisaikat]

Sam

Did you try the issue I am facing pausing of the movie for sometime like say 10 min or more and play it. My avr starts blinking and the sound is broken. I do not face this issue either with MPC-HC or Potplayer. I am running Dharma edition with HD audio patch.

thanks

i am also getting similar problem after pausing for some time and trying to play again. picture stops and go and so on. have to stop playback and resume to fix. using Eden Beta 3 HD Audio Patch

 

[sam9s]

Sam

Did you try the issue I am facing pausing of the movie for sometime like say 10 min or more and play it. My avr starts blinking and the sound is broken. I do not face this issue either with MPC-HC or Potplayer. I am running Dharma edition with HD audio patch.

thanks

i am also getting similar problem after pausing for some time and trying to play again. picture stops and go and so on. have to stop playback and resume to fix. using Eden Beta 3 HD Audio Patch

You are talking about 10 minutes, I have paused my movie for as long as half hour when while watching I suddenly get hungry, pause my movie to get something like maggie or Grilled sandwitches .... ...

Though I have not yet tried this on EDEN, as its recently installed, but with DHRMA, never had any problem .....

 

[arnprasad]

@arnprasad

1. The info that XBMC provides is accurate, else what's the point of providing them.
2. DD PLII algo converts a 2.0 sound source to 5.1.
3. AAC format usually AVRs cannot decode, so the decoding has to be done at source end. If your AVR is showing DD PLII means its not receiving proper surrounded signals. If the decoding is done at the source end and AAC is sent to AVR it would show "Multi Channel Audio"

So yes your AVR should change if the source plays something like a DD or DTS file, But not AAC, in that case if the decoding is done at the source end, the AVR would should Multi Channel Audio,"

Hi Thanks. I am playing the file on my laptop and I dont have a dedicated graphics card and using HDMI to connect to my AVR. So is my laptop capable of decoding the signal? sorry I am not a techie -so is this decoding hardware issue like some hardware on my laptop should do it or is it a software issue like XBMC or PowerDVD should do it? Thx

Also sorry about point 1 above. I know its a stupid question - but the reason I asked it is that in order for XBMC to get fanarts and other such stuff - I believe one has to rename the file as Movie name.720p.xvid.aac..whatever...so I thought what was being shown on XBMC was more based on such file names and stuff rather than the actual properties of the file - again all of this is based on the twister sound track not being scary enough

 

[arnprasad]

Also another thing I am noticing with XBMC - I have no prior experience with earlier versions. when I was playing 5-10 gb rips - I notice that the video is choppy and slow and is few seconds behind the audio. Initially I thought it may have been because other programs were taking a toll on my laptop harware. so I closed XBMC and played the same file using GOM player and it played fine. Not sure if its an XBMC issue or more of my laptop hardware being too busy to play it seamlessly

 

[baijuxavior]

Hi Thanks. I am playing the file on my laptop and I dont have a dedicated graphics card and using HDMI to connect to my AVR. So is my laptop capable of decoding the signal? sorry I am not a techie -so is this decoding hardware issue like some hardware on my laptop should do it or is it a software issue like XBMC or PowerDVD should do it? Thx

Also sorry about point 1 above. I know its a stupid question - but the reason I asked it is that in order for XBMC to get fanarts and other such stuff - I believe one has to rename the file as Movie name.720p.xvid.aac..whatever...so I thought what was being shown on XBMC was more based on such file names and stuff rather than the actual properties of the file - again all of this is based on the twister sound track not being scary enough

If you are getting DTS and Dolby Digital symbol on avr, then the hdmi works fine for audio. The problem is only with aac audio which most avrs can't decode in correct 5.1 order. So let xbmc do the conversion and your laptop is enough for the decoding.

XBMC loads file information not from the filename. It uses the movie codec informaion to get audio channel, resolution etc. The name is used only to get movie information from imdb, tmdb etc. The best way to store movies is to put them in individual folders. Rename the folder to Movie name (year). This will take care of the scrapping. For example my movie collection is named like F:\Movies\The Avengers (2012)\The avengers.mkv

Movie is the main folder and while adding video source, select this folder and set the content to movies. Also choose the option like 'movies are in individual folders matching movie name'

 

[arnprasad]

Yes the movie has 5.1 audio but it is in aac format which your avr can't decode. In xbmc audio system settings, set speaker configuration to 5.1 and deselect 'aac capable receiver' if it is already selected. Now xbmc will decode the 5.1 aac and send it to avr as multichannel pcm. Your avr should now show MULTI IN instead of prologic. If you are using optical out, then xbmc will convert the aac audio to Dolby Digital in real time and your avr will display Dolby.

Hi..in Audio system settings - I see Audio stream which already shows 5.1. There is no aac capable receiver to deselect. Then there is "output stereo to all speakers' -which I guess is not applicable since its 5.1, "audio output" is HDMI - so basically I have changed nothing.....what do I do now - since with above settings I wasnt happy yesterday. Thx

 

[baijuxavior]

I think the 'aac capable receiver option' is available in xbmc 12 frodo only. I'm using the alpha version, it is almost stable. But the version is not a problem as aac audio used to work for me with older versions also.

 

[manniraj]

I think the 'aac capable receiver option' is available in xbmc 12 frodo only. I'm using the alpha version, it is almost stable. But the version is not a problem as aac audio used to work for me with older versions also.

Yes thats correct, I use Dharma stable version with the HD audio patch and the AAC format gets decoded by XBMC and I can see PCM 5.1 channel on my yamaha receiver. It works correctly no issues..

 

[sam9s]

Hi..in Audio system settings - I see Audio stream which already shows 5.1. There is no aac capable receiver to deselect. Then there is "output stereo to all speakers' -which I guess is not applicable since its 5.1, "audio output" is HDMI - so basically I have changed nothing.....what do I do now - since with above settings I wasnt happy yesterday. Thx

Since you are already getting DTS/DD, I am not sure if this step makes any sense, but give it a try ...........since you are using Laptop, did you configure your laptop audio device to provide 5.1. That is by right clicking on the speaker icon on the task bar, choose play back device and then right click on the audio device that you are using and choose configure speakers .......