2009-01-30, 21:13
I recently built an HTPC to complete my home theater setup. I am running openSUSE 11.1 and XBMC compiled from the latest (as of two weeks ago) SVN. Being a Unix sysadmin, I couldn't sleep well until I got everything working "perfectly". No more random "pops" and "clicks" in audio output, no more vsync and tearing issues, great upconvert quality, automatic screen resolution detection, 1080p playback smooth as a baby's bottom, reliable playback of all sorts of popular and weird formats. And, of course, a 10Tb RAID 10 array with hot-swappable disks. In other words, if I bought this system at a store for several thousand dollars (and I actually briefly considered just buying an HTPC from one of the well-known, overpriced brands), I would have been very satisfied with features, performance, and reliability.
This got me thinking. I may know quite a bit about Unix, which helped be give my HTPC a certain polish, but I am definitely not the brightest light in the harbor when it comes to building HTPCs. My expertise lies primarily in the direction of HPC clusters and high-performance storage. So why aren't there any commercial HTPCs out there using XBMC or Boxee? I looked online and browsed through issues of Electronic House, lined with glossy photos of uber-expensive home theater monster machines and found nothing. Sure, there are some media servers and home automation devices running Linux, but the vast majority of players run WMC or some software developed by the HTPC makers themselves.
So what if the problem is not technical, I thought, but legal. I understand XBMC code compiled for Xbox uses MS XDK and so that would put the breaks on any attempt to re-sell modded xboxes with pre-compiled XBMC code. But Linux XBMC compilations don't use XDK - am I wrong? Yet, there may be pieces here and there - not in the source code but, perhaps in some libraries or codecs - that step on some copyright toes. I am no legal expert, but according to Wikipedia, libdvdcss that allows CSS-encrypted DVD playback may be a source of concern. Then there is an issue of various codecs that may use some patented compression algorithms or may load some third-party unlicensed DLLs. Once again, I understand the SVN is all good and clean, but I can't very well play a DVD or an MP3 with just the source code.
Can someone knowledgeable shed some light on the situation? Why no commercial XBMC/Linux-based HTPCs? Did I just miss them in my search and, if not, how much is this a technical challenge of being better than the competition vs. various legal obstacles? It would be great to see this excellent software being available to consumers - those less fortunate folk without computer science degrees or an oscilloscope and five different soldering irons in their computer tool collection (but with money) - while providing the much-needed financial incentive to the developers' community.
Thanks,
Ven
This got me thinking. I may know quite a bit about Unix, which helped be give my HTPC a certain polish, but I am definitely not the brightest light in the harbor when it comes to building HTPCs. My expertise lies primarily in the direction of HPC clusters and high-performance storage. So why aren't there any commercial HTPCs out there using XBMC or Boxee? I looked online and browsed through issues of Electronic House, lined with glossy photos of uber-expensive home theater monster machines and found nothing. Sure, there are some media servers and home automation devices running Linux, but the vast majority of players run WMC or some software developed by the HTPC makers themselves.
So what if the problem is not technical, I thought, but legal. I understand XBMC code compiled for Xbox uses MS XDK and so that would put the breaks on any attempt to re-sell modded xboxes with pre-compiled XBMC code. But Linux XBMC compilations don't use XDK - am I wrong? Yet, there may be pieces here and there - not in the source code but, perhaps in some libraries or codecs - that step on some copyright toes. I am no legal expert, but according to Wikipedia, libdvdcss that allows CSS-encrypted DVD playback may be a source of concern. Then there is an issue of various codecs that may use some patented compression algorithms or may load some third-party unlicensed DLLs. Once again, I understand the SVN is all good and clean, but I can't very well play a DVD or an MP3 with just the source code.
Can someone knowledgeable shed some light on the situation? Why no commercial XBMC/Linux-based HTPCs? Did I just miss them in my search and, if not, how much is this a technical challenge of being better than the competition vs. various legal obstacles? It would be great to see this excellent software being available to consumers - those less fortunate folk without computer science degrees or an oscilloscope and five different soldering irons in their computer tool collection (but with money) - while providing the much-needed financial incentive to the developers' community.
Thanks,
Ven