XBMC on Android
#1
Hello,

I have been looking over the XBMC Roadmap and the XBMC Wiki on Android. It looks to be a long way off. I realize that this is a volunteer effort and from my conversations in other threads that XBMC relies on many other open source libraries that are not yet available on Android. However there does seem to be a big push on now by the manufacturers of TVs to create a new Smart TV platform. Now that 3D has not turned out to be the savior of the industry people thought it would be the manufacturers are eager to find some other reason for everyone to get rid of their 3 year old TV and get a new one and watching the offerings at CES it appears that Smart TV is it.

XBMC woould be welcomed on Android unlike the situation it is in with Apple TV. Apple sells these Apple TV probably at break even or perhaps even at a loss. It plans to make the loss up because Apple TVs are essentially iTunes video delivery devices. Apple is never going to accept people buying Apple TVs and installing XBMC on them. Clearly they cannot stop this activity but they can certainly frustrate it and make it difficult. This is enough to discourage many people other than computer savvy people from trying it. Thus relegating XBMC on Apple TV to a small percentage of the market.

I wish I had the skills to jump in and help to move this project forward. It would be nice to see even a few of the libraries starting to make progress onto the Android platform. Unfortunately my skills are not in programming.

Another possible way about this is to get users to donate towards the Android effort and possibly outsource it to some off shore programmers. There is a website called Guru.com that you can shop jobs out on and get some very reasonable prices. Since the code is open source and available it would not be difficult to start this projected in parallel to the current developments on XBMC.

I imagine this post is going to draw a lot of ire from people that have been working hard on XBMC development for years without any compensation. That is not my goal. I am a big fan of what has been created here and believe that we are now at a critical time when someone is going to become dominant in Smart TVs and if XBMC is late to the party the game will be over. It might be a good time to think out of the box on how we can get to the party before it is over.

Flame on...
#2
Neumahn Wrote:Another possible way about this is to get users to donate towards the Android effort and possibly outsource it to some off shore programmers. There is a website called Guru.com that you can shop jobs out on and get some very reasonable prices. Since the code is open source and available it would not be difficult to start this projected in parallel to the current developments on XBMC.

^^ total waste of time and resources.

Progress towards Android IS being made, it's slow and steady. It's just not being made public as we don't want to hear the noise about "when will it be ready". Witness how iOS/ATV2 platform port was developed...

Now relax and please stop bugging us about Android.

P.S. this post took 10 mins away from coding time, that's 10 mins I'll never get back and it will take about 15 mins to get back into code mode.
#3
Readng davillas answer took away 5 mins from my coding time (1 min reading it, 4 mins laughing at it).

So 2 devs out of order ... well done Big Grin
AppleTV4/iPhone/iPod/iPad: HowTo find debug logs and everything else which the devs like so much: click here
HowTo setup NFS for Kodi: NFS (wiki)
HowTo configure avahi (zeroconf): Avahi_Zeroconf (wiki)
READ THE IOS FAQ!: iOS FAQ (wiki)
#4
+2mins Smile
Always read the online manual (wiki), FAQ (wiki) and search the forum before posting.
Do not PM or e-mail Team-Kodi members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules (wiki).
Please read the pages on troubleshooting (wiki) and bug reporting (wiki) before reporting issues.
#5
oh come on guys - he only wanted to help out. Thanks for that.
#6
... and the davilla DoS attack is born :-)
#7
I'm sorry that this is seen as harsh. But somehow the impression is if we don't all stop what we are doing and push out an Android port, we are seen as lazy, incompetent or slackers. We are neither.

We are in a release mode and focused on pushing that out. After that, users want an ffmpeg bump and AE, others want pvr and binary addons. You don't just stop doing your mainline code and jump to something else.

Plus somehow users think we are rolling in cash and that's not the case. Donations keep us afloat and that's it. if we had to pay for all the donated hosting for web, forums, wiki, github, mirrors and buildbots that users enjoy, we would run out of cash in less than a month and be forced to close up shop. There's zero way we can pay outsourced coders and it would take more effort to bring them up to speed than do the work ourselves.

There are many project in dev that users don't see because we keep them hidden UNTIL it's time to unveil them. We don't do this for spite but so we can give them the growth and maturity they need without constant pestering about this and that not working. Just look for example at iOS/ATV2, that was three-four months in the back room before it was announced, then it took about 6 months to reach stability and another 6 to get back in sync with mainline truck code. This stuff is hard and complex and it does not happen overnight. XBMC is a monster of code base. Even just the build system is enough to drive one to drink heavily.

And don't forget, Android is a fragmented hardware base and we do serious video decode that will only, and I mean ONLY work if we can access hw video decoders and fast jpeg decode.
#8
davilla Wrote:After that, users want an ffmpeg bump and AE, others want pvr and binary addons.

My X-mas 2012 wishlist all in one swell foop Laugh

Please give Davilla his 10 minutes back!

Edit: That's the first time I've seen four posts in a row from devs.....sore point? lol
System: XBMC HTPC with HDMI WASAPI & AudioEngine - Denon  AVR-3808CI  - Denon DVD-5900 Universal Player  - Denon DCM-27 CD-Changer
- Sony BDP-S580 Blu-Ray  - X-Box 360  - Android tablet wireless remote - 7.1 Streem/Axiom/Velodyne Surround System
If I have been able to help feel free to add to my reputation +/- below - thanks!
#9
Running XBMC on a Android phone really is a waste there are plenty of other players out there that do a nice job of playing back all sort of files. I would think a that its better use would be a tablet of course that is my personal opinion
#10
Yeah ... we first have to sign that contract with google. They still don't know how much $$ they want to pay for the bump in sold android tablets, when xbmc is available for it Wink
AppleTV4/iPhone/iPod/iPad: HowTo find debug logs and everything else which the devs like so much: click here
HowTo setup NFS for Kodi: NFS (wiki)
HowTo configure avahi (zeroconf): Avahi_Zeroconf (wiki)
READ THE IOS FAQ!: iOS FAQ (wiki)

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
XBMC on Android1