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Carnino · 2011-05-02, 19:52

Hello to all and many thanks to the XBMC team for this fantastic application.

With regard to the iOS version, specifically for iPhone/iPod/iPad, I would like to know if it is the intent of the XBMC team to place the application available (now or in the near future) on the Apple App Store for use on non jail-broken iOS devices.

I recently registered as a Apple iOS Developer in order to start learning and developing for the Apple App Store and can help out here if it is so wished.

I know that the $99 fee may be a difficult for the XBMC team if it is the intent to place the app for free on the store. However, as a means of helping out financially, you could place a small symbolic value in order to download the app.

By placing XBMC on the App Store, you open up the possibilities for non-technical users that do not know how to jail-break their iOS devices, or like me do not wish to do it even if they are capable of doing it.

Many thanks and best regards,
Carnino

ilovemymac · 2011-05-02, 20:58

Thry already answered this. It competes directly with iTunes so it would not happen

stoli · 2011-05-02, 21:10

It has nothing to do with competition - it's about GPL and the fact that they are accessing private api's that Apple would never permit.

See this thread: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=98887

Hardz · (This post was last modified: 2011-05-02, 22:19 by Hardz.)

Well it may never be allowed in the App store (which is a shame), but the fact that XBMC uses private API's means that finally I can watch 720p MKV's without conversion on the iPhone4.

Thanks again guys.

I've been looking for such an app everywhere and have had iPhone since day 1, and it's only this morning while reading about the Advent Vega Android tablet that someone mentioned XBMC.

Bottom line, if it was in the app store, more people would know how great it is, but hopefully word of mouth will spread.

Carnino · 2011-05-03, 01:24

In regards to the closed thread referenced here in a previous post ...

My apologise for not knowing the intricacies of the “private APIs” that XBMC is using that Apple would disallow, but there are several apps in the App Store that can play videos in various formats, AVI, WMV, MKV, XVid, DivX, VOB, ISO directly without any transcoding or streaming from a server.

Most of these apps play local files but some can also play over HTTP, WebDAV, FTP and in some cases even plays over SMB directly from shared folders on a PC. Some also handle subtitles and multiple audio tracks.

Here are some of names of these apps “BUZZ Player HD”, “OPlayer HD”, “Movie Player”, “AVPlayerHD”, “Azul Media Player”, “WMV Player”, “eXPlayer HD”.

Now correct me if I am wrong, but if they can do it and were accepted by Apple, why can’t XBMC be able to it in a way that is acceptable to Apple for placement on the App Store?

jmarshall · 2011-05-03, 01:46

There are several issues, some of which have been elucidated in the thread you link:

1. We playback all those formats using the private APIs which allow full hardware acceleration of h264 - i.e. we demux the h264 stream and send that on to the HW decoder via the private APIs. These other apps do not do this.

2. We also include several other things that are no-go, including (but probably not limited to) a full python interpreter allowing python scripts to run, an XBMC-specific addon app store outside of the iOS app store and so on.

3. We include some libraries (librtmp for instance) that allow circumvention of "DRM" devices such as encrypted RTMP streams (used for Hulu for instance) which may have legal consequences if distributed from a US-based store.

4. We're also a GPLv2+ app, which may or may not prove to be an issue in terms of distribution - the legal side of this is IMO still unclear, and there is an ethical side to it as well, which some team members may have issues with and, more importantly, some of the libraries that we use may have issues with.

Lastly, there's nothing in particular stopping someone taking the XBMC codebase and "solving" issues 1, 2 and 3 by removing the offending items. However, that would mean you'd be doing software decoding which would basically mean no 720p of any substance (though this may be doable purely in software on iPad 2 perhaps) and would also mean no addons. XBMC without both of these things would not be anywhere near as attractive!

Number 4 is not so easy to get away with, but given that the legal situation is IMO unclear, assuming someone deals with 1-3 it may be possible to at least submit it to the store.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Carnino · 2011-05-03, 04:28

jmarshall Wrote:There are several issues, some of which have been elucidated in the thread you link:

... assuming someone deals with 1-3 it may be possible to at least submit it to the store.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Many thanks for the elucidating note. Now that I understand the reasons better, I can sympathise with the position the XBMC team has taken. However, I would like suggest something to think about.

Funding for the XBMC is dependent on donations, but if your consider a fork of the software specifically geared at a App Store version, you might just have a way to subsidise your development. Most apps sell for a small amount which I am sure users will not have a problem with but it will provide you with some steady funds for the development team.

davilla · (This post was last modified: 2011-05-03, 04:38 by davilla.)

Carnino Wrote:Many thanks for the elucidating note. Now that I understand the reasons better, I can sympathise with the position the XBMC team has taken. However, I would like suggest something to think about.

Funding for the XBMC is dependent on donations, but if your consider a fork of the software specifically geared at a App Store version, you might just have a way to subsidise your development. Most apps sell for a small amount which I am sure users will not have a problem with but it will provide you with some steady funds for the development team.

Not being able to tap hw decoder would cripple the XBMC for ios port. Same for addons/skins/etc. It's something that I'm not interested in pursuing. There are plenty of existing crippled apps there now that can't handle HD content.

If we were really interested in pushing a pay-for-version, then cydia/bigboss app stores could provide that ability.

prakhar.rai · 2015-04-01, 06:02

I know its been a while since this thread has been active, but 3rd party apps can tap the hw decoder. OPlayer does that to h.264 videos

**Memphiz** · 2015-04-01, 11:11

Yes thats correct since ios 8 - still there are all the other things blocking us from appstore...