[mamexp]

Does XBMC support BR iso with menu and HD audio now?

Last time i was using XBMC, it lacked these features which forced me to use something else.

I found at the time that XBMC users were all crazy about skins and themes...etc. but not the features of a media player itself.

[patm95]

From what I understand, if you want to play BR iso, you can modify xbmc to launch an external player to play these iso files. I have seen this work and it works quite nicely. I think I have heard that the next version will support BR iso natively, but not for sure on that.

[natethomas]

Long story short, menu support is definitely not in. HD audio might work, depending on OS, but it'd require some hacking.

[mamexp]

Long story short, menu support is definitely not in. HD audio might work, depending on OS, but it'd require some hacking.

Ouch, i really wanted a reason to come back to XBMC but with new device like Pivos AIOS HD really pulls me away.

I mean with less than $100 it can pretty much play everything out of the box. They also have quite nice and simple skin.

Having a XBMC box cost double that and still lacks of features.

What keep you guys with XBMC? Honest question.

[ashlar]

One thing that I fail to see mentioned is that recent pre-Eden build have BR ISOs built in. By this I mean that if you have a BluRay ripped to ISO, you can add it and play it directly through XBMC. It auto-selects the main feature and starts playing it.

It's got no menu support but it's quite better than nothing and it helps archiving with no loss, while waiting for menu support to come (sooner or later I think it might happen).

As far as what keeps me: the community, the look and feel, the fact that on XBMC so many things have been born that have been later aped by other systems. And the fact that it remains relatively user friendly.

But, really, to have an open source project start from where this started and seeing spread its wings in the way this has... it's a joy in itself. And one that I'd really be sad in not supporting.

Edit: XBMC architecture is flexible and adaptable. With "black boxes" you buy what is there and then you can hope for upgrades. With XBMC and a reasonably powerful PC you *know* that things will get better, new formats will be supported, you'll always have the "Play with..." option to exploit specific features of external players. It feels definitely more future proof for me.

[natethomas]

It's certainly a trade-off, but that's always the situation with open source vs proprietary. As a foundation, we have next to no money, and certainly not enough to buy a license for every download to get full BR support. So we are forced to reverse-engineer the process.

However, what one gives up in fully licensed support, one gains back in spades in terms of constant progress, free software, the possibility of manipulating your software without fear of violating some kind of evil TOS which requires you to sacrifice your first born for the right to play the next dvd, an inevitable march forward in features, usability, and quality, and a community of like-minded individuals with whom you can share your stories, your problems, and your experiences.

Personally, I think it's a pretty fair trade. But I don't really hold it against people for whom XBMC isn't a delicious cup of tea.