Xbmc

[martinmartin]

[I posted this at 123macmini, but thought I'd also ask here]

I snagged a 1.83 Core Duo Superdrive a few days ago.

I had been playing with the idea of an AppleTV, but thought this would be more versatile, mainly because I could hook up external drives and not worry about stuttering wireless streaming.

The Mini will arrive next week and I wanted to ask a few questions ahead of time.

I currently have a bunch of movies in the Video_TS format on an external drive.

My plan is to either leave the files as is (Video_TS) or convert them using Handbrake. I'd like to convert them because the files are huge (7+GB average) but don't want to lose quality - what settings do people recommend (hooked up to 50in Sony SXRD and mean audio system)? In both cases, I plan on just hooking up external drive(s) via USB. I'm not too worried about losing Menus or Extras, though I'd like to keep them in some cases (concert DVDs, for example).

I suppose I'll use Front Row although the XBMC skin that looks like Front Row looks very cool too, but I couldn't figure out how to download it. Any suggestions here? Or in general?

I downloaded XBMC but I want it to look like this : (like appletv/front row)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGdihkA5FK4

How do I get my XBMC to look like that? I tried searching for skins and whatnot but didn't come up with anything.

Thanks in advance for any advice...

 

[martinmartin]

Any takers?

Cheers.

 

[err404]

The Mac version of XBMC looks very promising, but the current build is much to early to make a reliable setup around.
Try back in a few months once it's more feature complete.

For your TS videos, use can use Handbrake with the Apple TV 5.1 preset. the default bitrate is 2500 and will be very good for most content, however for very dark or fast movies, you might want to boost it to 3000. The resulting files will be very large (2G-3G) but will retain excellent quality. These converted files will play fine in front-row until XBMC is out of alpha.

 

[RealaT]

i've been trying out the mac version of xbmc, and i've go to say i'm very impressed. it's just like the xbox version only it supports hi-def video as well

seriously tempted now to buy a mac mini to use as a media center along with this software