2011-11-03, 05:27
I am just trying to analyze what direction xbmc is headed in and what the competitors have in store while considering the changes in latest technology and trends.
My little analysis:
First of all I should point out that xbmc used to be on a twice a year stable update schedule up until last year, but since switched to a once a year schedule. That is fine, and I guess it allows the developers to work on major updates/overhauls since they have a whole year to make it mature.
On the other hand, this schedule makes the users' expectations much higher as they are waiting longer, and they expect to see big changes.
(Dharma brought big changes, the one I cared about the most was DXVA support as my cpu usage dropped from 80% to 10% and I became able to play high bitrate mkvs in windows. Mysql support was another one, as it allowed multiple boxes sharing the same library, with more and more people moving their media to dedicated media servers)
Some of the future changes that were mentioned before were the pvr front-end and binary addons. Pvr front-end has been in development for a long time already, and I just found out it will not be included in Eden. Neither will be the binary addons, which I thought would be the most important/drastic change that Eden would bring. (Pvr development is slated for next release due Dec 2012, but with Netflix, Hulu and similar services, many people are cutting their cable and I am curious to see how much interest there will still be in pvr by the time it is mature)
Going through the roadmap for Eden, I noticed that there were a lot of behind the scenes improvements, but nothing that really excites me as a user. Sure, those updates are there to make sure xbmc remains the media center that plays all content, but where is the cutting edge stuff?
I know some people will hate me for it, but I am going to use Plex as an example. Those guys are really staying up-to-date with the tech evolution and are modifying their product to best serve the customers' needs.
The current trends are that mobile device usage in on the rise and it's really steep. These devices are mostly cell phones or tablets running on (mostly) android or ios. In order to serve that need, XBMC released their ios version. It is a very impressive accomplishment. However, porting the entire software over to another platform takes a lot of time and resources. Therefore, we still only have an ios version, but there is no alternative for android.
Plex, on the other hand, took a very different approach. They released a backend with transcoding capabilities, and wrote simple applications for android and ios that connected to the backend and streamed the transcoded content. Transcoding allowed for even the slowest devices to be able to play any video in their library. Apart from compatibility, the backend also allows for remote streaming from across the world. Whereas with xbmc, you pretty much have to be on the same network, no remote viewing of content unless you deal with copying your content onto your ipad.
Now on to what I really would (personally) like to see in this release:
1) I would love to see a juiced up webserver with added support for html5. That way, all those mobile devices would have a way to connect with xbmc without a need for native applications. HTML5 also allows touch input and gestures which is perfect for mobile.
2) Combine that html5 interface with transcoding capabilities, you have yourself an amazing xbmc frontend capable of remote playback of your entire library anywhere you go, on any device that supports html5 (Most of them do these days anyway).
Imagine this:
You buy a cheap $200 android tablet (there are a bunch with capacitative screens). Point the browser to your xbmc webserver and voila, you see a full fledged "Confluence" skin that is fully touch capable.
a) At Home:
You browse through your library, pick a movie and select "Play on living room box" The movie starts on the tv. Half way through, you realize the movie is really boring and you also have a lot of work to do. You pick up your tablet and move to the office. You browse through your music library, find your favorite classical music playlist and select "Play on office box". So you do your work in the office, listening to your classical music while wife and the kids are watching the movie in the living room.
b) Away
The next day, you fly across the country for a conference and at night you are in your hotel room pretty tired. You grab your tablet, connect to wifi and point the browser to xbmc webserver. You select a movie off of your library, connect your tablet to the TV through hdmi and stream the movie from your home media box and play it on the hotel TV.
That is something that would really make me excited. And it is not that complicated anymore. There are open source, cross platform software that do parts of what I envisioned already. For instance "Subsonic" started out as a music streamer, but is now streaming video as well. It works in a browser, although currently uses flash player, html5 player is in the works. Maybe reaching out to subsonic devs for a collaboration would be the easiest way, as they would benefit a lot from xbmc's database and metadata capabilities as well as its name.
Conclusion:
Please don't get me wrong. I am not criticizing xbmc for not having added the two features I suggested above, or saying that the only way I would be satisfied with Eden was if they added them. Far from it (They were just meant to be a couple of examples). I am just trying to point out that there have been significant changes in the tech field and in the way people consume media recently. Their needs are changing and xbmc needs to evolve to keep up with the times. Things that could be done only with xbmc a couple of years ago, are now being done on cheap bluray players using netflix. All these other devices are catching up and are becoming mainstream due to their ease of setup and use. Xbmc needs to stay ahead and remain a pioneer. Two ways of doing that would be to conquer mobile devices and also make itself available on more platforms. Html5 could help out with both objectives.
Either way, with or without mobile devices, I would really like to know xbmc team's long term plans for evolution. Sure, a lot of times, the team likes to remind us that xbmc is an open source, community driven project by telling us that all patches are welcome , but in reality, it is ultimately the xbmc team's responsibility to decide on the long term goals and shape the direction the project is headed in.
My little analysis:
First of all I should point out that xbmc used to be on a twice a year stable update schedule up until last year, but since switched to a once a year schedule. That is fine, and I guess it allows the developers to work on major updates/overhauls since they have a whole year to make it mature.
On the other hand, this schedule makes the users' expectations much higher as they are waiting longer, and they expect to see big changes.
(Dharma brought big changes, the one I cared about the most was DXVA support as my cpu usage dropped from 80% to 10% and I became able to play high bitrate mkvs in windows. Mysql support was another one, as it allowed multiple boxes sharing the same library, with more and more people moving their media to dedicated media servers)
Some of the future changes that were mentioned before were the pvr front-end and binary addons. Pvr front-end has been in development for a long time already, and I just found out it will not be included in Eden. Neither will be the binary addons, which I thought would be the most important/drastic change that Eden would bring. (Pvr development is slated for next release due Dec 2012, but with Netflix, Hulu and similar services, many people are cutting their cable and I am curious to see how much interest there will still be in pvr by the time it is mature)
Going through the roadmap for Eden, I noticed that there were a lot of behind the scenes improvements, but nothing that really excites me as a user. Sure, those updates are there to make sure xbmc remains the media center that plays all content, but where is the cutting edge stuff?
I know some people will hate me for it, but I am going to use Plex as an example. Those guys are really staying up-to-date with the tech evolution and are modifying their product to best serve the customers' needs.
The current trends are that mobile device usage in on the rise and it's really steep. These devices are mostly cell phones or tablets running on (mostly) android or ios. In order to serve that need, XBMC released their ios version. It is a very impressive accomplishment. However, porting the entire software over to another platform takes a lot of time and resources. Therefore, we still only have an ios version, but there is no alternative for android.
Plex, on the other hand, took a very different approach. They released a backend with transcoding capabilities, and wrote simple applications for android and ios that connected to the backend and streamed the transcoded content. Transcoding allowed for even the slowest devices to be able to play any video in their library. Apart from compatibility, the backend also allows for remote streaming from across the world. Whereas with xbmc, you pretty much have to be on the same network, no remote viewing of content unless you deal with copying your content onto your ipad.
Now on to what I really would (personally) like to see in this release:
1) I would love to see a juiced up webserver with added support for html5. That way, all those mobile devices would have a way to connect with xbmc without a need for native applications. HTML5 also allows touch input and gestures which is perfect for mobile.
2) Combine that html5 interface with transcoding capabilities, you have yourself an amazing xbmc frontend capable of remote playback of your entire library anywhere you go, on any device that supports html5 (Most of them do these days anyway).
Imagine this:
You buy a cheap $200 android tablet (there are a bunch with capacitative screens). Point the browser to your xbmc webserver and voila, you see a full fledged "Confluence" skin that is fully touch capable.
a) At Home:
You browse through your library, pick a movie and select "Play on living room box" The movie starts on the tv. Half way through, you realize the movie is really boring and you also have a lot of work to do. You pick up your tablet and move to the office. You browse through your music library, find your favorite classical music playlist and select "Play on office box". So you do your work in the office, listening to your classical music while wife and the kids are watching the movie in the living room.
b) Away
The next day, you fly across the country for a conference and at night you are in your hotel room pretty tired. You grab your tablet, connect to wifi and point the browser to xbmc webserver. You select a movie off of your library, connect your tablet to the TV through hdmi and stream the movie from your home media box and play it on the hotel TV.
That is something that would really make me excited. And it is not that complicated anymore. There are open source, cross platform software that do parts of what I envisioned already. For instance "Subsonic" started out as a music streamer, but is now streaming video as well. It works in a browser, although currently uses flash player, html5 player is in the works. Maybe reaching out to subsonic devs for a collaboration would be the easiest way, as they would benefit a lot from xbmc's database and metadata capabilities as well as its name.
Conclusion:
Please don't get me wrong. I am not criticizing xbmc for not having added the two features I suggested above, or saying that the only way I would be satisfied with Eden was if they added them. Far from it (They were just meant to be a couple of examples). I am just trying to point out that there have been significant changes in the tech field and in the way people consume media recently. Their needs are changing and xbmc needs to evolve to keep up with the times. Things that could be done only with xbmc a couple of years ago, are now being done on cheap bluray players using netflix. All these other devices are catching up and are becoming mainstream due to their ease of setup and use. Xbmc needs to stay ahead and remain a pioneer. Two ways of doing that would be to conquer mobile devices and also make itself available on more platforms. Html5 could help out with both objectives.
Either way, with or without mobile devices, I would really like to know xbmc team's long term plans for evolution. Sure, a lot of times, the team likes to remind us that xbmc is an open source, community driven project by telling us that all patches are welcome , but in reality, it is ultimately the xbmc team's responsibility to decide on the long term goals and shape the direction the project is headed in.