*** Official Kodi (née XBMC) Thread ***

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GYRDZGE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

Got one of these coming tomorrow, anyone got one of these? Wondering if they need a firmware update for proper 1080p as i think some say it uses a 720p kernal or somit and upscales it to 1080p. Also hoping i get kitkat on but might need to find out about the hardware to find a suitable firmware for it for kitkat.

Hoping for xbmc on it and emulators for when kids come round.

Also i wonder should i order one of these for it and would it do for controlling games in emulators as well i wonder.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet®-Wi...qid=1417710481&sr=1-2&keywords=android+remote
 
I've got my new HTPC set up with XBMC on Windows 8.1. Generally very pleased with how everything works, with only a couple of niggles to sort out. One is getting the green button to start/focus XBMC and to close Chrome kiosk mode, but I think I can do that easily enough with a remote keymapper and application-specific commands. The second, though, I don't know how to fix.

It's an issue with the backdrop images. I'm using Aeon Nox skin if that's relevant, and I want to use the "random fanart" backdrop option for the movies and tv shows menus. It kind of works and when it does display fanart it looks very nice, but there are frequent periods where the backdrop just goes black with no art displayed at all.

Probably 75% of the time I flick to these menus it will have a black backdrop, and some fanart will pop in after an indeterminate amount of time (sometimes a few seconds, sometimes 20 seconds or more). If there is fanart displaying on flicking over those menus, I will sometimes get successful transitions from one film/show's art to another, but again often it will just transition to a black screen for a time.

Is there any way of fixing this?
 
What kind of hardware are you running in your HTPC? Maybe check the xbmc log to see what is going on but it would appear that it is just taking time to load and display the fanart.
 
It's a Kaveri build, with an A8-7600 (3.3GHz standard clock, 3.8GHz boost) and 8GB DDR3, so I would have thought it has plenty of grunt for tasks like displaying fanart.

I'll have a look at the log when I get home to see if it turns up anything.

I notice Russinating had this problem way up-thread, but I don't see if/how he solved it.
 
I also have an issue that might be releated, TV and movie fanart backdrop don't always show up and often revert back to the default. All other menu headers keep the correct backdrops that I've set.

I also need to get to the bottom of my bufferering issue, every time I think I've fixed it it come back!
 
Too much work them skins I find, the default is more than adequate imo.

Buffering is due to sites u stream from mainly. Worse in evening I find. Tho using maintainence addon and using the fixes are for adv settings file one of them should help. Especially if ppl get the cache fill message a lot.
 
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I can't wait till this becomes a well used medium.
I can finally re-encode my 30gb rips into 15gb files!

I already started doing it using Medium preset and CRF 18 in Megui all are 1080p from retail discs, I don't go max quality as I don't have a big NAS but have massive collection of bluray so I try and maximise space usage.

The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug 17GB each to 9GB
Game of Thrones Season 1 from 50GB to 22GB
How to Train Your Dragon 1 and 2 from 7GB each to 4GB each
Guardians of the Galaxy 11GB to 6GB

Can't get over how good HEVC/X265 is this early in the game, I get about 7fps using a Core i5 4440. It still has a way to go but side by side I can't see any quality difference unless I take screenshots and compare them by switching from one picture to the other.

Android 5.0 Lollipop supports HEVC playback so I am redoing everything in anticipation of getting an Android TV stick or something next year.
 
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Anyone know if my Toshiba 3tb external HDD will be OK to use with my new android box rk3188 I think it was or do I have to do sonit special to get it to work as was gona use it for my rips and anime for the android box I bought.
 
Has anyone else been getting high gpu usage? I'm getting usage spikes up to 100% which is causing my 290 to heat up and become louder. I've got it paired with an overclocked 4770k so would have thought running a 1080p rip would be a breeze. I'm running version 13.2 of XBMC.
 
What are you guys using as remotes for the XBMC units? I use my iPad but it's clunky to say the least, the forest has some nice remotes but just looking for cheap and effective unit as it's not used a great deal

Thanks
 
Was thinking this

Simple vsky®RII I8 Air Mouse Pad Remote Control 2.4GHz Wireless

or this

MELE F10 3 in 1 Fly/Air Mouse+Wireless Keyboard+Remote Control
 
FLIRC IR USB dongle (think they are about £17) + universal TV Remote. We use a logtech harmony one but any would do. Or upstairs we just use the original TV remote just switch it to VCR mode and it works perfect. Very seamless and GF friendly.

Edit: Also no extra clutter and flirc is programable so I have a button to launch XBMC and also a button to launch Steam big picture right on the remote so rarely need to use KB/mouse.
 
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I use the Logitech Mini Revo or whatever its called, it's perfect.

I'm contemplating switching my XBMC to a Raspberry Pi setup. My HTPC just does not play ball well with the HDMI passthrough of my amp. I have constant problems :(

Many people hear run XBMC via RPI? All work ok?
 
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