XBMC4XBOX 3.0.1 Stable Released!
We are pleased to announce stable version 3.0.1 of the popular media center platform XBMC
for the 1st generation XBOX (now called XBMC4XBOX). A huge amount of work has been put into this, and it features numerous additions and improvements over the last release such as:
- librtmp Support (http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu/) to support many online video streaming services.
- Updates to dvdplayer’s ffmpeg libraries, including some tweaks for additional speed. Performance with h.264 for example is much improved from previous releases thanks to plenty of optimisations upstream.
- Many improvements and bug fixes to the video/music libraries and scrapers.
- Python updated to 2.4.6 as well as improved compatibility for addons intended for mainline XBMC.
- Support for encoding CD’s to the FLAC format.
- We now ship with a customised version of the Confluence skin optimised for the XBOX.
- Bug fixes and updates to many core components such as Samba and libCurl – such as compatibility with Windows 7 shares.
and plenty more!
Get your download (via bittorrent):
http://malus.exotica.org.uk/torrents/XBMC4XBOX-3.0.1-STABLE.RAR.torrent
Join the community at http://www.xbmc4xbox.org. Nightly builds can be downloaded from http://www.xbmcsvn.com, where the stable release should also soon be available.
Further information and history
XBMC4XBOX was once called XBMC (XBOX Media Center), then it was ported to other platforms and became plain XBMC or XBMC Media Center without the XBOX connection. To differentiate our version from the mainline multiplatform XBMC we renamed to XBMC4XBOX.
Apart from the name the next noticable thing is the changed version numbering. The last official release was 9.11 Camelot, which at the time was more closely connected to the multiplatform XBMC that had been in development for some time. We have reverted to version numbering that doesn’t include a reference to a date for release. Now it’s a simple major.minor version – which is what was used also before XBOX Media Center became XBMC. New releases will be made when they are ready rather than having set release dates.
In previous years there has been less developer interest in the XBOX version, as the new multiplatform version of XBMC became the primary concern. As of last year, only one developer (Arnova) still looked after the XBOX version. Lack of interest from the XBMC developers got to a point where a new home was needed for the XBOX codebase, and earlier this year it was moved to its own home on sourceforge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc4xbox/
A community site had already been set up at http://www.xbmc4xbox.org and was chosen to replace the forums on xbmc.org where XBOX discussion was no longer relevant. http://xbmc.org only deals with the versions they develop for.
After the move, interest seemed to increase with some new developers joining to help out. Over the last year the XBOX has seen more development that it has for a long time. In fact even the mainline XBMC has benefited from at least a few fixes from our code base.
The new release is the result of a great community effort with many people contributing bugs, patches, translations and scripts.
Future
We all like improvements on our favourite software, and so, to everyone looking forward to the next release, please do consider how you could help us improve the software and make it even better. We are always after new developers, people to help maintain scrapers, translators, python script coders, and anyone else who has a great idea or even just a bug report or feature request.
Credits
Thanks to all those who have contributed – especially to Arnova, Bomb Bloke, Buzz, Craig, Dan Dare, Highland Sun, Nuka, xbs, Geeba and all the others who have helped. Thanks everyone!
2370 users
Huge thanks to all who have contributed to this project and this release. You’re keeping my little Xbox going strong.
Absolutely top work guys, I cant tell you how much everyone with an xbox and a brain appreciates everything you are doing. Many many thanks.
720p xbox – really really cool – then a new stable release – there’s nothing little about my xbox.
It´s incredible what you are doing for this project, many many thanks guys!
Hammerer, are you saying you could play 720p? and before you couldnt?
Fantastic work! I frankly didn’t think there would be another official release for the old clunker. I’ve since moved on to ION-based nettops, but I think I might dig up the old Xbox just to kick the tires
Thanks. Looking forward to trying a few h.264 videos that “almost” worked on the previous version.
@Runik
720p content (and upscaling) always worked on the original xbox. However, as people began compressing with more space-efficient but processor intensive codec options, playback could stutter, tear, desync, etc. But perhaps with new optimizations the original machine can shine again!
You guys are amazing.
Thank you (Thank you Thank you Thank you)
Thank you!
XBOX FOREVER!
You guys are awesome… this is like a fresh boost of life to for my beloved XBOX v1.
Wow, that’s one fast download, I will upload to NZB for even faster downloads and better connectivity.
Thank you for all your hard work! I’ve only had my used X-box for about a year now and it’s been one of the greatest hardware purchases I’ve ever made. Thank you for keeping this workhorse running and doing things that it was never even designed for!
Thank you so much for keeping this project going. All of you who have contributed are truly an inspiration to me. I look forward to the day I am knowledgeable enough to contribute myself. And of course… My hardware; My rules! Keep up the good work!
Gratulations. Good job! Please don’t stop supporting the good old XBOX. Are there any plans for future pvr support (including live tv)? My XBOX may do a good job as vdr/mythtv frontend.
@floek
we have mythtv 0.24 support put in a few days ago. there has been some success with it, but it may need a little more work. would be interesting in hearing some feedback regarding it on the forums.
Great work! Keep going, we in the community appreciating this! Thank you!
Don’t forget that one way to keep arnova, exobuzz, and crew working is to use that donate link at the top of the page
@exobuzz Good news, but unfortunately I’m a vdr user. Are you porting the pvr stuff from XBMC or do you do this on your own? Maybe I will give mythtv a try again (I used it in the past). But vdr support (vnsi) will be great. Just keep on coding.
Great news,now the time for testing it !
Thank-you so much for your work guys!
Many thanks to XBMC team
Excellent news. I still use my old xbox. Was planning to switch to a nettop, but it looks like I will delay my switch.
Great achievement after Xbox Media Center almost died a year ago… Big thanks to Arnova, Exobuzz, Craig, Xbs and everyone else for keeping it alive and going!
Don’t forget about XBMC SVN Installer plugin (http://www.xbmc4xbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34) for those looking for an easy way to upgrade.
Excellent!
Just did a fresh install and everything seems good except that visualizations don’t seem to connect to the audio when playing in Navi-X 3.6. Playing from shares seems OK. Will do some tinkering, but so far so good.
Many thanks!
Awesome. Been around since XBMP, and im excited to see youre still improving!
720p/1080i interface – always been able to play 720p xvid (look for npw releases) – mkv not watchable but now I need to see what the new optimisations give
All once xbmc set to hd (european user so we didnt get it by default).
But I stream over a WDS lan (think its half 54g in WDS) so possibly its not the xbox – but I will copy a 720p scene mkv over and report back on how it fares.
Normally use tversity to recode/stream anything over 720p or mkv to xbox.
By ‘scene’ I mean scene release and the size/bitrate rules used, but I guess you all knew that already
Thanks for all the hard work, much appreciated. Works Great !!
The old Windows 7 share issue also had me benching my xbox1.
Thanks again !!!
Good work boys and thanks for this months frontpage post Exobuzz. I’ve been holding off a while now knowing this announcement was coming. Thanks for all the forum members also for keeping this all going as sweet as it does.
the original xbox is becoming the new amiga….a machine that just wont die due to the dedicated efforts of afew wizards that make an old machine do things it was never meant to…many thanks
exobuzz, you forgot yourself in the credits!!
awesome work and a thank you to everyone involved.
best program ever made for the xbox. keep it up guys.
Good work on this. Now that XBMC is version 3 isn’t it about time we got a fullscreen splash?
Hammerer THANKS! I was not aware that there were any scene releases that would work 720p. I tried a npw release of usenet and it played great.
XBMC4XBOX Crew… Thank you so much!! I installed XBMC4XBOX on my sons xbox over a year ago… I liked it so much I actually bought my own xbox1 off ebay. The xbox is now where I watch 99% of all video content and listen to music.
Also a big thank you to all the people who work hard on making great plugins and scripts for the xbox and being kind enough to share them!
Great News. Thanks for all your efforts!
Just wanted to say WOW. Use XBMC on the original Xbox in one of the kids bedrooms, finally upgraded from an old 2009 T3CH build today. Loving it. Didn’t bother keeping any of Userdata so it’s up there scanning and updating the database as we speak. Excellent work. Keep it up!
Thank you so much xbmc4xbox team. You are keeping the Xboxes alive!!
Fantastic, thanks!
is there any plans to fix youtube video plugin, microsoft channel 9 and others?
its seems 99% of plugins are broken greatly diminishing the usefulness of the xmbc for xbox
@Stanley
you can get more information about this from the forum, but the old youtube plugin is unmaintained. you can however run the new youtube addon for xbmc. note that many plugins break not due to xbmc but due to websites changing and so apis/scraping changes. there are threads about which plugins work and which dont also on the forum.
@Stanley
Better head on to the forums > Python Scripts & Plugins section and find the appropriate support threads and start posting your issues. Or with any other plugin, open default.py and look for contact information (email or google code repository etc).
Fix Microsoft Channel 9 plugin? a bit surprised on that cause I wrote it and I use it at the same time and it works fine for me
Yay shares!
Anyway to save a shares username/password yet or is that already done and i simply cannot find it?
I would really like to thank the community for continuing this project. My xbox is very old (i believe first gen build of the xbox1′s) and it was having trouble playing mkv’s (i believe all xbox1′s are lol) I really hope this new build will fix up the lag i had just from the main menu!
THANKS AGAIN XBMC4XBOX!! =)
Thanks to all for making this one possible! Amazing work!
Than You Very Much Guys!!!!
Great Work!!!!
If you are only using shares from one PC you can add the default username/password in the network settings. The xbox will automatically connect to and network shares to the pc with that default set user/password. If you do not use only 1 pc you can manually edit with a text editor the share shortcut and add the username / password just like you would any addressbar typed connection containing a user / password in the address.
Fantastic! Glad to see the project still carrying on some 10 years later. And I just picked up a 2nd xbox-1 for 20$, this is perfect timing!
Fantast work everyone! much appreciation to all involved in keeping this going – Great work!
Great job! I’ve got two questions regarding this release:
- Does this version also support a mysql library on a NAS or other PC?
- Does this version also support the current xbmc add-on system?
@Xander
no and no, although many addons will work if installed manually on xbmc.
Awesome. Finally updated from an old 2009 T3CH release to be able to access Win7 shares without uninstalling LiveID. I love this old xbox, and it’s our streaming device of choice downstairs again thanks to this release. Seems to access shares & play back videos better than ever with some great upscaling. Can’t believe it’s been chugging along so well for over 6 years now. Thanks!
The new Confluence skin is beautiful! Only problem is that it apparently uses too much memory that my video file (from usb) doesn’t play (no error) and it just shows Memory 3MB in Red at the top! If I switch to the P3.HD skin the video plays. My kingdom for usb support for drives larger than 4gb!
BTW, does anyone know if there’s any scripts/add-ons for the xbox1 that would allow it to do things that a modern htpc can do? i.e. play youtube, hulu, stream from a tivo, etc, etc? Haven’t seen many python scripts that target the xbox1.
quick question: I am currently on nightly build #30851, which was from last week. Does it still worth to go to the stable release? I do have an issue with not being able to bring up context menu in many plugins so i will probably give the stable version a try anyway, but just want to clarify on the difference between stable version and nightly build.
again, thanks for the awesome work!
Great release guys
I wonder if you guys could be able to port XBMC4XBOX to the PS3?. We have full access of the PS3 and Linux.
thank you very much
http://www.psx-scene.com
Don’t expect it to ever happen with this branch. This branch was never designed to run on anything BUT the Xbox. The lads over at xbmc.org are the ones to talk to since they already have a fully working Linux branch going. I compile them every night as well.
if the ps3 runs linux it will run xbmc (from xbmc.org), so long as the linux on ps3 has working 3d drivers etc which im not sure has been done yet ?
The h264 efficiencies don’t result in HD capable playback (from mkv/h264) does it?!!
720p?
It’s still an xbox with a p3 700mhz based chip. sorry
you can do 720p mpeg4, but that was also possible before. it does enable some streams to play that didnt before though.
Many thanks to all involved. Great work.
How is the performance with 480p mkv/h264 files?
Very nice, so good to see a proper new release of XBMC for the good old Xbox. Well done!
@matt
I’m actually getting low memory warnings running the Confluence skin. Just a headsup.
I’m testing new version and .rmvb files it’s not working!:|
I recommend you post to the forum along with a debug log for support. did you try mplayer as well as dvdplayer and did you enable “full codec support” on dvdplayer (in video settings)
i just noted this project and tested this new release today. Wow… what should i say. it’s time to remove the dust from our xbox consoles again
finally a working xbmc release for xbox with hd component cable. the stuttering is almost perfectly fixed.
for the future… pls do not invest time in memory eating skins… but try to optimize the capabilities of xbmc with project MH3-HD skin. many thanks