XBMC TV v0.1 - Streaming XBMC Plugin

I'm happy to announce the initial release of my XBMC Plugin, XBMCTV.  The XBMCTV plugin provides easy access to thousands of streaming videos from many sources around the net.  The plugin requires XBMC Dharma, if you're not familiar with XBMC you can read up about it here.

The current features:
Around 2000 videos available
Browse videos by category
View latest videos
Browse by channel
Browse by show

The latest version of the plugin can be found here:
http://jamespcole.com/xbmctv/www/plugin_builds/

To install the plugin just follow these steps:


Download the ZIP file and save to a location accessible by XBMC.

Open XBMC and browse to System > Add-ons > Install from zip file.

Browse to the file you downloaded and select it.

source

After installation the plugin will appear under Videos > Video Add-ons > XBMCTV


At the moment the video collection is limited to a few thousand streams so if you have any video RSS feeds you want added then leave a link in the comments below.  Also any feature requests are welcome just leave them in the comments.

XBMC ABC Australia, BBC, CBC and more Radio Plugin

**NOTE: this will no longer work in the latest releases of XBMC Dharma and is left here in case anyone is still running older versions

This is a simple plugin I wrote to access some of my favourite radio stations on XBMC. Currently supports ABC Australia, BBC, CBC, Deutsche Welle(English) and RRR Melbourne.

The Plugin can be downloaded here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6217043/XBMC-radio-plugin.zip

To install the plugin in XBMC simply unzip file above and then copy the folder into the appropriate XBMC plugin folder. For installation instructions for your particular platform(Linux, Windows, OSX, Live) see this post in the XBMC wiki.

You will need to place the plugin in your music plugins folder.

If you have any stations you want me to add leave a link to the stream in the comments and I will add it.



If you are into HTPCs I recommend checking out the Boxee Box.  It's released around Novemeber 2010 and looks freakin' sweet.

You can pre-order them now on Amazon.com.

ABC Australia XBMC Video Plugin

**NOTE: this will no longer work in the latest releases of XBMC Dharma and is left here in case anyone is still running older versions

This simple XBMC plugin allows you to watch ABC Australia shows in XBMC.

The plugin can be downloaded here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6217043/XBMC_ABC%20Australia-plugin.zip

To install the plugin in XBMC simply unzip file above and then copy the folder into the appropriate XBMC plugin folder. For installation instructions for your particular platform(Linux, Windows, OSX, Live) see this post in the XBMC wiki.

If you are using XBMC live you can just FTP in to copy the files across.

NOTE: Most shows will work from outside Australia but some streams are geo-locked(meaning they can't be watched outside of Australia)

Setting a static IP in XBMC Live

For those of you who are not familiar with XBMC I highly recommend checking it out. It started out as a mod for the original XBox and has since developed into a really nice, cross-platform(Linux, OSX, Windows) HTPC interface. XBMC has since spawned several successful variants such as Boxee and Plex.

Also on offer is XBMC Live which is a stripped down version of Ubuntu designed to just run XBMC and give your HTPC a nice set top box kind of feel, without having to deal with the underlying operating system. You can boot XBMC Live from CD, USB or do a HDD install for a permanent installation.

Up till now i have been running Ubuntu 10.04 UNR with XBMC installed but I figured I'd try out XBMC live because I liked the neatness of having an entire OS devoted to the single task I want to use the computer for. Also just for the hell of it, i love XBMC and trying out new operating systems.

There's a great guide to setting up your own XBMC box over at LifeHacker:

http://lifehacker.com/5391308/build-a-silent-standalone-xbmc-media-center-on-the-cheap

My conclusion: Pretty Damn Good!

I've only been using the new setup for a week so I'm going to hold back my verdict of "Totally Awesome" until I have done some more testing but so far - perfect!

If you're after a weekend project you'll be disappointed because the entire install took 20 minutes and everything worked flawlessly( at least on my acer Revo R1600). That includes all codecs and my cheap generic MCE remote with all the buttons working and mapped as they should be.

However one of the first things I wanted to do was set up a static IP for the box. In the current release you cannot do this via the XBMC interface(I believe this feature will be added soon) so it's time to get our hands dirty editing some files.

Step 1. Open a terminal

to do this click on the power icon in the bottom left hand corner of the XBMC interface then select "Close XBMC".

Step 2. Login and start X

you will be prompted for your username and password, you need to enter them to continue. After entering your login information succesfully run the command "startx". This will log you into a basic GUI running on Fluxbox.

Step 3. Edit your interfaces file

Right click anywhere on the Fluxbox desktop to bring up the main menu the select:

Applications->Terminal Emulators->XTerm

sudo xedit /etc/network/interfaces

the file will look something like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

you need to change it to look like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.4
gateway 192.168.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
broadcast 192.168.0.255

Obviously substituting the example values with the values for you own network.

These settings relate to your network, if you're not sure what these are use the values listed below:

netmask 255.255.255.0

network 192.168.[whatever ip range you are using].0

broadcast 192.168.[whatever ip range you are using].255

After editing you can save and close the file, the static ip address is now set but there is one more step to go, you now need to set your DNS server so you can access sites etc by url.

Step 4. Set your DNS

run this command at the terminal:

sudo xedit /etc/resolv.conf

set the DNS server like so:

nameserver 8.8.8.8

Now save and close the file.

NOTE: I have used the google DNS address (8.8.8.8) you can put your own value here or just use 8.8.8.8.

Now restart your machine and you should be good to go.

XBMC Web Remote Control for Android and iPhone

NOTE:  I have created a new version of the remote that has many more features and is compatible with the latest version of XBMC.  Go here for details.


**NOTE: this will no longer work in the latest releases of XBMC Dharma and is left here in case anyone is still running older versions.

For those of you who don't know XBMC it is Home Theatre PC software. What's that you ask? Basically it is software you can run on you computer when it is connected to your television to give you a nice TV and remote control friendly interface for watching movies and listening to music etc. One of the best things about XBMC is that it runs on Linux, Windows and OSX so you can bask in its awesomeness no matter what OS you run.

Unfortunately the current XBMC web interface doesn't really work too well on small touchscreens like those on Android and iPhone so I decided to go ahead and write my own.

This is the Beta version of what I am calling XMBC Web Remote(XBMC-WR). It uses XBMC's built in webserver so installing it is as easy as copying it to XBMC's web folder. The XBMC Web Remote allows you to easily browse, play and queue up music and video from your phone or other touchscreen device.

Some of the key features:

-Ability to browse your Music, Video and Picture libraries

-Queue up videos and music

-View video and music playlists

-Play, pause, volume, etc.

-Menu navigation buttons

The Main Menu screen:

Selecting a video:



Playback Controls:

Installation on Ubuntu:

Step 1 - Enable XBMC web interface

Open XBMC and from the main menu select "System" then "Network".

In the Network Settings menu select "Enable control of XBMC via HTTP".

Step 2 - Install XBMC Remote

Open a terminal and then run the following commands..

wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6217043/remote.zip

sudo unzip -d/usr/share/xbmc/web remote.zip

Installation on Windows

Step 1 - Enable XBMC web interface

Open XBMC and from the main menu select "System" then "Network".

In the Network Settings menu select "Enable control of XBMC via HTTP".

Step 2 - Install XBMC Remote

Download and run the installer

Installation on OSX

Step 1 - Enable XBMC web interface

Open XBMC and from the main menu select "System" then "Network".

In the Network Settings menu select "Enable control of XBMC via HTTP".

Step 2 - Install XBMC Remote

I'm not sure where the XBMC install folder is in OSX, I don't have a Mac to test it on. You should be able to download the zip file here and extract it to the "web" folder in you XBMC installation directory. If someone could test this out and let me know I'd appreciate it.

To test that the install is working start XBMC if it is not already running. Next open a browser (preferably Chrome as animations etc will only work in webkit based browsers) and go to the address

http://127.0.0.1:8080/remote

*Note: this assumes you are using the default port 8080

To use the remote from your Android device or iPhone just open a browser and go to:

http://<the ip of your XBMC box>:8080/remote

Any feedback, comments and feature requests are welcome. It is still in Beta so if there is something you would like added let me know and I'll do my best to get it in the final version.

You can check out the XBMC forums thread about the web remote at:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=74343