[mythtv-users] OT: I'm streaming Netflix on my Linux box

[xavier hervy]

On Fri, 2008-10-10 at 10:57 -0500, Willy Boyd wrote:
[snip]

> 
> The media "areas" in XBMC are built around sources.  It's quite easy
> and intuitive to "add a source" for music or videos right from the
> GUI.  That sound can not only be a local directory, but a SMB share,
> UPnP server, Shoutcast in the case of audio, and I think there are
> others.  I'm a pretty adept linux guy so all my network shares are
> defined in fstab, but this makes it so much easier for others to use.
That is definitly something missing in MythTV, I can't be agree more.
Every time someone want to access to a new source, they create a new
plugin, with a new interface (and different by the way) to browse them
which lead to an inconsistent UI. When source plugin should be a better
solution. 
> 
> A source can also be a plugin that serves up content, and one of the
> default plugins that came with the OSX version of XBMC is one that
> lists Apple Movie Trailers, complete with all the metadata.  I
> promptly copied the plugin over the the linux boxin the livingroom and
> it works like a dream there, too.  (I can't honestly think of why it's
> included in one platform version and not all?).  
[snip]
> Sure the interface DOES look really nice.  The default skin and some
> of the others I've downloaded look amazing.  It's all full OpenGL
> rendered, and all the animations and transitions are very very smooth.
> Audio feedback on most actions (which can be turned off).  And nice
> looking skins tells me one very important thing: the skinning
> architecture for XBMC must be very solid for there to be such
> high-quality work being done.  Even some of the best skins I've used
> on MythTV are sometimes missing pieces or have issues on un-official
> plugins.  I can download any media source plugin for XBMC and pretty
> much except it to work smooth as butter like the rest of the app.
I find the theming a bit frustrating too. Some themes hide some features
because they don't implement some new functionalities. Maybe the theme
should be split in two part, one which define the look and feel of basic
widget(color, font, background) and one for the layout itself. The
layout one could have a version number, if it does match the plugin
version, the default layout would be use (the one with all features)
Some kind of hard to implement though.
I believe with source plugins, new UI wouldn't happen as much anyway.
> 
> Again, no offense to anyone, but I'm not apologetic about my opinions
> of XBMC either.  There is nothing wrong with using the best tool
> available.  I wouldn't be a linux user if I didn't feel that way.
> PVR?  MythTV all the way.  Media player?  XBMC trumps MythVideo,
> MythMusic, DVD playing, etc.  Period.
> 
I Need to try it then ;)
Xavier
>