Multiple XBMC outputs on one PC

I've read several threads about people wanting to do this, but never saw any success stories.

I'm trying to design my XBMC media box to output Monitor 1 to HDTV 1 and Monitor 2 to HDTV 2. I'm guessing that'll be simple enough. I think the challenge will be getting separate audio to each HDTV. Also, I'll need to figure out how to control each XBMC instance individually via remote control.

Has anyone got this working?

The only way I can think this would ever be possible would be to run virtualization software, boot a second OS, and then move that screen to the second monitor. Control each instance of XBMC from a web remote/smartphone app. Have a second sound card and get some software that lets you route sound from a specific application (one being XBMC, the other being the virtualization software) to a specific card/output.

In the end you might have something that works, but is very silly and won't run as good as two $200 XBMC boxes. To each his own.

To each his own, indeed!
Buying two $200 boxes seems like the silly approach to me. Just seems wasteful.

But, I guess my setup is a bit different. I've already got the expensive 50' runs of HDMI cable run throughout the house. If that weren't the case, separate boxes would make more sense to me. Still, If each box is consuming say 50W, I'd rather have a single box outputting a bit more (say 70W) than run three 50W boxes. Yes, these 'should' get turned off when not in use, but with young kids in the house, it'll be hard to enforce that rule.

I'm really quite surprised no one has done this already. I guess I need to research more to better understand the challenges.

Virtualization? Are you suggesting running one XBMC from a VM?
Is there an already known solution for rerouting sound from one app to a specific audio card?

The time and tears you're going to outlay for this to not work are greater than the cost of the boxes and power usage combined.

An HTPC is more like 20W.

I confidently predict you'll end up using two separate HTPCs, so I'd succumb to the inevitable without the prolonged agonies of trying and failing to make a single PC work :-)

JR

You guys seem pretty confident this won't work. Are you basing this on other people failing? I ask because I can't find much history on anyone really trying this and reporting what they were having trouble with. I'd like to understand the difficulty before I move on.

so you basically want to run dual monitors right? You are only going to have access to one instance of xbmc unless your pc has the power to run a virtual machine at the same time with another instance of xbmc running...not really sure its do able but its an idea. Cabling might be a problem as well but where there is a will there is a way I suppose.

If you wanted you could pick up a few atv1's just checked craigslist for my area and found one for 80bucks, throw in a crystalhd card by removing wifi and you have the ability to play HD content.

A few reasons:

One, XBMC itself is designed to only work once per OS at a time, so that's where the VM requirement comes in. It would require some code patching to work any other way, and that would be a lot of work. That's the largest fundamental block right there.

A few people have attempted this (using various methods, like a VM) only to find that performance was way low even with a beefy machine.

On paper, the cost-to-preformance ratio isn't there.

(2012-03-17 20:28)Hudson_Hawk04 Wrote:  If you wanted you could pick up a few atv1's just checked craigslist for my area and found one for 80bucks, throw in a crystalhd card by removing wifi and you have the ability to play HD content.

I've tried ATV's and was not impressed by the speed of menu navigation. I guess for now, I plan to setup a single beefy PC and mirror that image to all my TV's using an HDMI splitter. Then, I can expand to more PCs as my financial situation allows.

I hadn't thought about running the 2nd instance of XBMC through a virtual machine. I've heard that it's possible to get VMs to run nearly at bare metal speeds, but don't have much experience in that realm. Perhaps, it's something for me to investigate in my spare time.

But... As far as you guys know... No one has successfully run 2 images of XBMC without the use of VMs to accomplish what I'm suggesting?

I'd be all over it if someone got something like that to work, even if it was just to experiment around. In concept it sounds pretty cool.

If you check out the hardware thread, there's probably some posts there about sub-$200 HTPC configurations that should bridge the gap between ATV2 performance and "beefy".