Connect XBMC to the rest of the world
#1
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I love XBMC but I am missing a few minor things that would make it absolutely great.
  • Access to a calendar like Google Calendar or even an Exchange accounts calendar
  • Of course a mail client for both IMAP and POP3
  • An form of messaging integration, like msn/aim/xmpp or something along those lines
  • A way to make (video)calls directly from XBMC
  • A RSS reader, think of the movies library function but now with each feed represented like a separate movie, including background art, description and so on
  • A way to start external programs from XBMC starting games (not the launcher plugin but a real call to a application, minimizing XBMC and returning to previous state once the called app. is closed)
  • A auto play function for inserted USB media and memory cards, showing all pictures, with of course an option to move the auto
  • A way to record from a video capture card (PVR)
  • A way to schedule recordings (EPG)

Basically position XBMC more in the center of the universe then on the sideline being a play button for movies and music. At this point XBMC is nice but without a decent computer and a good OS behind it XBMC only offers half of what I would want from what I would expect a media center to offer.
If XBMC is to become the center of the living room then all it needs it a bit more connections to the outside world a way to really serve the consumer in its role as the interface to all forms of entertainment, recorded or by live interaction with others.

I know that certain branches of XBMC are doing the social thing already so maybe it would be good to swap code, to merge some of their developments back into the main branch. However it is done XBMC will be surpassed by other systems if it does not start working on becoming more connected to the rest of the world, relying on plugins will not do the trick... most plugins are only supported for a few months or a couple of years at most and then die due to lack of attention, real life issues or other time constraints etc.
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#2
rcoops, start coding.
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#3
minor?! you can't possibly know how to code if you talk about them being minor.

Also it's a Media Center, not a freakin' OS with all that comes with it, why the heck do you want to send emails, check your calander and take video calls from it, it's not an office applience.

Quote:A auto play function for inserted USB media and memory cards, showing all pictures, with of course an option to move the auto

This is being worked on and in next stable is a really first preview against this goal (it asks you if you want to use it when inserted.)

Quote:# A way to record from a video capture card (PVR)
Never going to happen, XBMC is a frontend, it will never record stuff. It may be able to tell a backend to do this but that is another way and the next statement is just that.

Quote:# A way to schedule recordings (EPG)
Search, both being worked on but it's far from a small code change.
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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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#4
Sounds like some awesome Scripts but not something to add to the XBMC mainline.
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#5
Quote:A way to start external programs from XBMC starting games (not the launcher plugin but a real call to a application, minimizing XBMC and returning to previous state once the called app. is closed)

Actually once this is done you don't need most of your other request since you'll be able to launch your fav. browser/email client/comm.program

As topfs2 puts this is a "media center" so most of the features you request would make XBMC "bloatware"

On PVR, EPG and autoplay that makes sense, I understand that XBMC does not want to duplicate efforts when so many free TV/PVR apps are out there (though I am not quite sure why they do spend so much time writing a video player when the multiplatform, open-source VLC and many others are also out there)

So as the 10 commandments this could be summarized in two:
  • External Program Launch support (tried&true)
  • Great integration with PVR/TV backends

And that is either arriving or will arrive. Big Grin
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#6
adsoto Wrote:though I am not quite sure why they do spend so much time writing a video player when the multiplatform, open-source VLC and many others are also out there

Have you seen their code Wink Nah joking aside there are a number of reasons were the others don't work as good (for us) and these are:

VFS, most players uses the OS's fs for inputstream which doesn't work on xbox and isn't very portable. XBMC has it's own VFS which we use for smb, ftp rar and all that.

GUI most players output directly framebuffer or produce a GL texture inside the program, so to make that work with our GUI is possible (example mplayer on xbox) it's hard to keep the patches working and you just get more and more regression since they do designchoices that don't fit you.

Our core codec in the dvdplayer is ffmpeg which is the same as all the others around, VFS, syncing and presenting that differs (very simply put).

Also on the audio side (PAPlayer) gappless and such is vital which many apps forget. Also being able to add codecs and such is gold, but same reasons as the dvdplayer aswell, need VFS and the xbox didn't have it.

EDIT: So it doesn't sound like we've done it all by ourself; lots of the code is inspired by the other players ofc (the GPL ones). for example I had a long good look on both VLC and mplayer when I did the pulseaudio support and their code helped tons to so I could do that support. Also I had a hard look at gnome-volume-manager when I first started doing the HALManager (for automounting devices in linux) and I'm sure there are tons of examples of this so in a sense much code is altered or refactored and reused.
If you have problems please read this before posting

Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.

Image

"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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