Xbmc client for android devices (phones, tablets)
#1
Im thinking about buying a Asus Transformer and i would love to be able to watch my movies via xbmc on that. Atm im trying to find a app that can stream movies from my freenas to my android phone. So if anyone has some ideas i would like to hear them.

But will there be a xbmc client for android devices? i mean there are for iphone and ipad.

Regards
Pete
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#2
Currently no android native app for streaming or installing xbmc on android. take a look at this thread to get some apps that work with android.

I was able to stream my movies from my network to my droidx. I was also able to stream my videos from my droidx to xbmc and watch them. all this thru upnp. I was thinking about getting the same tablet and hope that some xbmc devs can make xbmc for android happen. xbmc on the atv2 is working great for me to stream my movies/tv shows from my file server to my living room and bedroom but I dont want an ipad and rather go with an android device.
Nvidia Shield with Kodi 18
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#3
I've been reading all of the Android based threads on here and totally agree with all the people who think this would be a great idea.

The ASUS Transformer would be the perfect device if XBMC ran on it. I wouldnt buy an iPad for the following reasons:

- Have to jailbreak it to run XBMC.
- No Flash support, rubbish, rubbish. Utter rubbish.
- Wierd display resolution, not ideal for watching films on it.

I have all my media (2TB) on my XBMC live machine (doubles up as a NAS). I cant imagine anything better than sitting in the garden, streaming a film from my XBMC box.

The only reason I have not bought an Android based tablet yet is because XBMC will not run on it.

I've noticed a lot of people on here dont see the point in having XBMC on a tablet device. I dont have a TV in the bedroom, so currently use my netbook (Ubuntu + XBMC) to stream my media when I'm in bed. I also take a bulky laptop on holiday with me (after copying media to it) to watch films (W7 + XBMC). Having a tablet with XBMC on it would be amazing.

I know its been asked for time and time again, and I'm sure the developers are getting annoyed with people like me asking, but.........

Please please port Android to the Android 3.1 tablet platform!!!!
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#4
Android is significantly more difficult to develop for. From what I have read from developers who have commented on it, it's impossible to get access to the lower level hardware directly which makes optimising video nigh impossible. Just like the iphone, it cannot run xbmc without being jailbroken because the sandbox doesn't give the app access to enough grunt.
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#5
I would pay for the XBMC Android app.
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#6
bengardner Wrote:I would pay for the XBMC Android app.

so would others, however that does not get around the current development issues that we face in creating a native Android XBMC.
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#7
The thing I don't understand is how it is more difficult to port to Android, which is an open-source OS VS IOS which is completely closed-source and proprietary and has to be hacked to even run un-signed code. It seems that it would be easier to work with Android because all code is available. Not trying to be a smartass here, just asking a question. To me Ipad is just a really big iPhone without the phone. Honeycomb Android tablets seem to have more potential in the future though have a long way to go.
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#8
hogfan Wrote:The thing I don't understand is how it is more difficult to port to Android, which is an open-source OS VS IOS which is completely closed-source and proprietary and has to be hacked to even run un-signed code. It seems that it would be easier to work with Android because all code is available. Not trying to be a smartass here, just asking a question. To me Ipad is just a really big iPhone without the phone. Honeycomb Android tablets seem to have more potential in the future though have a long way to go.
Oo

iOS = UNIX! Big Grin
Not about openness. It's about the architecture and backbone of the operating system, itself.

WPS
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#9
most of the android devices can just run ubuntu
http://androlinux.com/android-ubuntu-dev...n-android/
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#10
According to the above website ..

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We will be running Ubuntu “chrooted” under Android OS, which just means that we will be running a “virtual” Ubuntu OS that runs on top of the Android OS.
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It is only a guess that a virtual ubuntu doesn't have enough horse-power to run xbmc.
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#11
hogfan Wrote:The thing I don't understand is how it is more difficult to port to Android, which is an open-source OS VS IOS which is completely closed-source and proprietary and has to be hacked to even run un-signed code. It seems that it would be easier to work with Android because all code is available. Not trying to be a smartass here, just asking a question. To me Ipad is just a really big iPhone without the phone. Honeycomb Android tablets seem to have more potential in the future though have a long way to go.

We have covered problem with android quite a few times already. The NDK has previously been very limited. It would have been very possible to switch out the entire ground of android and compile xbmc on that, but there is no real point in having that is there (as it would require a root and flash of the device). Android is closer to pure posix (even have skipped a few parts of the c++ standard!) when you compile, something which have never been a problem on iOS.

We do keep track on android and when the SDK tools exist and a dev have time and hardware (no real interesting hardware for android exist yet) it will probably be done.

If you think its easy and possible, go prove us wrong and port.
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"Well Im gonna download the code and look at it a bit but I'm certainly not a really good C/C++ programer but I'd help as much as I can, I mostly write in C#."
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#12
Im not even going to pretend like I know anything about programming for android software, but wouldn't it be (hypothetically) possible to make a sort of dumbed down xbmc client for android? Something that works similar to VLC client, with the interface of the XBMC remote already available for the android os? Im sure that this is WAY harder that I am making it sound, and i'm not even asking anyone to take this on, I was just curious if this was possible.

[EDIT:] Similar to VLC in the sense that it can not only send commands to stream from a handset to a desktop, but pull from a network to the phone itself.
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