[rflores2323]

rflores2323,
Do you mind me asking where you got your Hulu Home Page Backdrop? I like that.
THanks!

got it HERE

rflores2323,
Add too that I just watched your youtube video. Very NICE!. What are you using to control how XBMC closes when you launch Boxee and when you exit boxee what brings XBMC back up?

I have a similar setup in Win7 and am using Event Ghost to do the switching, etc.

How does boxee compare to Hulu?
Thanks!

Thanks I am very happy with my current set up. works great and has everything I want on it. Currently to open/close I am using a script that can be found HERE and then the advanced launcher addon. Works great and the script makes boxee open and xbmc relaunch. xbmc however always relaunches and you have to log back in (if you have multiple profiles)
I currently like xbmc more than boxee. also when watching web content xbmc seems to haev smoother playback on hulu or spiketv etc.. My wife however likes boxee as she says its easier to handle and has more webstuff like cooking channels etc.. Also boxee has more kid content so she watches stuff with the kids. comparing boxee and hulu is not really a comparison has you can watch hulu on boxee also. boxee does have alot of webcontent that xbmc does not have. or at least it looks like that in the app program on boxee.

Im a big fan of Ubuntu but was worried I'd run into some problems if I went with that for my XBMC. I'm just more familiar with windows and the layout of where files are etc. Is there any advantage with going with Ubuntu vs Win7? Less overhead or better playback perhaps?

I came from windows background also.. just a regular user with no knowledge on linux. I use ubuntu fulldesktop as its very easy to do stuff like in windows. If not I just google and usually there is a how to on what I want to do. If not I go to the forums and usually people are awesome in the community to help out. Also if you are happy with windows and xbmc then dont change. I made the change since I bought my revo 3610 without an OS on it and ubuntu is free and wanted to take advantage of the VDPAU playback with linux. So I can watch 1080 movies smoothly. Also alot of times I ask the dumbest questions on this board however someone usually helps me out so I love the xbmc community.

[dysan911]

RFlores,

THank you for the Hulu backdrop and sharing your experience with everything!.

I've managed so far to burn the XBMC Live CD and installed that to the HD> I was a little surprised it didn't include a desktop like yours but thanks to the great folks on this site they have already gotten me on my way on how to simply add the ubuntu desktop to the existing XBMC LIve install. (In progress as I type).

like you I have my background in Windows but what has me curious about using Ubuntu is a couple things. None of which I know for a fact but Im wondering if Ubuntu has less overhead than Win7 and would the VDPAU work better in Ubuntu than the DXVA2. If I use DXVA2 I get alot of pixelation and artifacts in my playback of movies. If I turn off DXVA2 the playback is flawless however the CPU is working a bit harder.

I asked about Boxee and Hulu because I noticed a slight frame rate studder in Hulu TV Shows. Best way to describe it is simply that it looks like some scenes are not playing at the right speed, maybe motion blur or whatever. I hear that Hulu uses Flashplayer and that the Ubuntu version of Flash player definitely has Hardware Acceleration. In fact I read in more than one place that Ubuntu was perferred for the best smoothest playback of both XBMC and Hulu. SO I'm hoping to see thats the case for me as well.

That script that you referred above. When you switch to Boxee or Hulu.. Does it take over the focus just fine? In Win7 if you use the Adv Launcher it would switch to the Hulu App but then sometimes you'd get no sound because XBMC was still running in the background and I guess the soundcard didn't like sharing. Also you had a mouse pointer on the hulu screen and the IR remote would not work until you clicked somewhere on the page to give it focus.

Hey thanks again for taking the time to help out. I'll let ya know how this goes.

and your right. The members are are some of the best!. I have never seen such quick responses to any request for help. So many times I thought when I posted something that nobody is going to help with that, they are probably way past this stuff and sure enough within a few many come forward to help! Great folks..

Thanks again!

[dysan911]

rflores,

I like the skin your using and switched over. Is there a way I can switch to using the same backdrop you have for Movies and TV SHOW? I have the AEON MQ skin but can't find where the backdrops are in this skin. At least where they're at on the HD.

THanks again!

[krijeck]

hey - like what you have rflores! Would like to do something similar but I am quite confused on how to install Boxee in an XBMC Live environment.
Any ideas how to do this?

Thanks
krijeck

[krijeck]

Hello!

So I managed to install Boxee into my live machine with connecting over Putty (SSH). So now Boxee is installed but does not start.
XBMC closes and starts again!
When I use your script:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
killall -9 xbmc.bin
cd /opt/boxee/
sudo -u user /opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop

xbmc

I got this error on the screen:

Code:

03/02/11 22:13:49#DEBUG#bxbgprocess.cpp:180(Start)#bg process [name=] initialized. [m_lazy=1=TRUE] -> MaxNumOfWorkingThreads was set to [2]
03/02/11 22:13:51#DEBUG#bxbgprocess.cpp:180(Start)#bg process [name=Application Messenger] initialized. [m_lazy=1=TRUE] -> MaxNumOfWorkingThreads was set to [1]
03/02/11 22:13:51#DEBUG#bxbgprocess.cpp:180(Start)#bg process [name=Http Cache CleanUp] initialized. [m_lazy=1=TRUE] -> MaxNumOfWorkingThreads was set to [1]
03/02/11 22:13:51#DEBUG#bxcurl.cpp:98(Initialize)#curl initialized. version <7.19.7>

Running Boxee test...
And the log goes to... /tmp/alex-boxee.log
init kbd.
ERROR: Unable to create application. Exiting
Boxee: asked to stop
Boxee: already stopped

Any ideas or help would be nice!
krijeck

[krijeck]

ok ... sorry for double -no - tripple posting ...

Ok I just figured out that the following using SSH to connect to my XBMC Box running XBMClive installed on HDD.

The command

Code:

killall -9 xbmc.bin

does not work. XBMC disappears for a second and starts immediately again. even when using sudo.

When running the (I called it) startB.sh file the following error is returned:

Code:

: no process found
cd: 3: can't cd to /opt/boxee/
: command not foundn-boxee-desktop
: not found 5: xbmc

from command line running

Code:

sudo -u user /opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop

returns errors as mentioned in the post before and the following log file:

Code:

21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712 WARNING: Settings file does not exist, defaults assumed, path = special://masterprofile/profiles.xml
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: -----------------------------------------------------------------------
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: Starting XBMC, Platform: GNU/Linux.  Built on Aug 22 2010 (SVN:13692M)
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: special://xbmc/ is mapped to: /opt/boxee
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: special://masterprofile/ is mapped to: /home/alex/.boxee/UserData
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: special://home/ is mapped to: /home/alex/.boxee/UserData
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: special://temp/ is mapped to: /home/alex/.boxee/temp
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: special://userhome/ is mapped to: /home/alex
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: The executable running is: /opt/boxee/Boxee
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: Log File is located: /tmp/alex-boxee.log
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391603712  NOTICE: -----------------------------------------------------------------------
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391611904  NOTICE: Setup SDL
21:34:24 T:3079034752 M:1391611904   FATAL: XBAppEx: Unable to initialize SDL: Unable to open a console terminal

Anyone has an idea what I am doing wrong!?
Please help ....
krijeck

[zepfan]

from command line running

Code:

sudo -u user /opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop

returns errors as mentioned in the post before and the following log file:

Try

Code:

sudo /opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop

from terminal, that works for me.
Also you can't run boxee over ssh. you have to vnc in and use terminal.

[krijeck]

Try

Code:

sudo /opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop

from terminal, that works for me.
Also you can't run boxee over ssh. you have to vnc in and use terminal.

hej, unfortunately same error comes up ... seems that Boxee has trouble with XBMClive Dharma!??

[zepfan]

hej, unfortunately same error comes up ... seems that Boxee has trouble with XBMClive Dharma!??

No idea. I don't use Live ! Sorry.

[krijeck]

Hello again ....

seems that I have found a "partly" working solution!
I described it there: http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=717...stcount=17
but still some open issues ...

krijeck

[rflores2323]

Hello again ....

seems that I have found a "partly" working solution!
I described it there: http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=717...stcount=17
but still some open issues ...

krijeck

any reason why you want to keep using xbmclive? I am using xbmc on top of a full ubuntu desktop. I have it to autostart on top of everything to give it the appliance feel and it works great with launching boxee or other programs. Just wondering. I dont know how to problem shoot with xbmclive so sorry.

[krijeck]

Hello rflores2323.

no - no special reason for keeping XBMClive. maybe I should/will switch to a Ubuntu Desktop based installation soon.
the only point for now is that the installation (live version) is already quite nice customized so I would like to keep that! thats maybe the only reason why I did not already make a newer install ....

[dysan911]

krijeck,

You can add the Ubuntu Full desktop enviornment to your already existing Install without having to worry about messing anything up that you already have customized.

See this thread and start with Post #5.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=91210

It allowed me to add the full Ubuntu desktop to the XBMCLive that I installed..

Good luck!

[krijeck]

krijeck,

You can add the Ubuntu Full desktop enviornment to your already existing Install without having to worry about messing anything up that you already have customized.

See this thread and start with Post #5.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=91210

It allowed me to add the full Ubuntu desktop to the XBMCLive that I installed..

Good luck!

thanks for this information! I will give it a try maybe (when I have some more time). I did not know this.
krijeck

[prupert]

Just wanted to update this thread with a solution

install the Advanced Launcher from the addon repo.

make a script and put in home folder wtih the below (make executable). change "username"with your username

Code:

#!/bin/sh

killall -9 xbmc.bin
cd /opt/boxee/
sudo -u username /opt/boxee/run-boxee-desktop

xbmc

a post with useful information HERE

go and configure your addon and set the application launcher to the script you just made above. and it should launch.

you can also add this to a favorite on xbmc and then put it on your homescreen (if your skin allows it). I am using the customizable confluence and it works great.

Just wanted to say....AWESOME....

Works like a dream, finally I can get a decent iPlayer experience, without having to resort to fancy irexec and lirc configs.

Great stuff and actually so simple, really nice neat bit of bash there

Thanks again.