XBMC User Guide Page 1 XBMC User Guide (or, The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the XBMC) This guide is a distillation of information from some of the many excellent on-line sources available for the XBMC system. This guide does not cover installing XBMC, advanced usage concepts, or development. If you're not finding what you need here, then you may wish to go to one of these sources for more current &/or more indepth information: XBMC Quick Start Guide: http://xbmc.
XBMC User Guide Page 2 Table of Contents XBMC User Guide......................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................2 What is XBMC?...................................................................................................................
XBMC User Guide Page 3 It is difficult to put into words all that XBMC can do, so take the plunge and start using your XBMC today! Getting Started (for new users) Novice users should read this section first to acquaint themselves with this powerful yet easy-to-use media center.
XBMC User Guide Page 4 The Home Screen When you first start up the XBMC, you'll see the Home screen. Depending on which “skin” you're using, it may look something like this one (PM 3.HD in this case). From here you access all other sections of XBMC.
XBMC User Guide Page 5 mins, 60mins, and 30 mins) options. Favorites: Takes you to your Favourites menu. Restart: Reboots your XBMC. Note: you can browse up or down while the Restart icon is highlighted and you will have the option of rebooting the system or of restarting only the XBMC system itself. The following options may also be part of your system's Shutdown Menu, depending on which skin you are using: Dashboard: Exits XBMC to your default dashboard. Eject/Load: Opens/Shuts the DVD-ROM drive.
XBMC User Guide Page 6 Now click Add Source. The Add Video Source screen will be displayed. Now click on the Browse button. The Browse For New Share screen will be displayed.
XBMC User Guide Page 7 You'll need to have Sharing enabled on your PC or network storage device to proceed with this next step. If you have network shares available, then all you need to do is to select the Windows Network (SMB) choice, and then browse through your network shares to find the folder where you keep your videos stored, and click the OK button. You can name this Video Source whatever you like.
XBMC User Guide Page 8 C:\Movies\Uncle Buck.avi C:\Movies\Uncle Buck II.avi then leave all options unchecked. If your movies are ripped DVD-Video files using a "VIDEO_TS" folder structure, like this: C:\Movies\Big Buck Bunny\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO C:\Movies\Big Buck Bunny\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.VOB then you want to select the Scan Recursively option.
XBMC User Guide Page 9 Media Sources Pictures Accessing Pictures from the home menu is an easy way to view your pictures. It allows you to view them as a slideshow with nice transition effects and even allows you to listen to your music while viewing your slideshow. Picture Control Once a Picture is selected / displayed, you can rotate it with the -button on the Xbox-controller (or use the Select button on the XBOX DVD-Kit Remote Control or use the R-key on a keyboard).
XBMC User Guide Page 10 transition effects. You can enable/disable the transition effects in Settings/Pictures/Slideshow. If you wanted music to play while XBMC is presenting your slide show, first start your music selection then navigate to the Pictures area and start your slideshow. Recursive SlideShow (R. SlideShow) This option will display a slideshow but will be using all images in the current folder and all of the subfolders under the current folder.
XBMC User Guide Page 11 Integrated support for getting information on your video content from external sites, via scrapers. Fully integrated support for The Internet Movie Database. Fully integrated support for getting info on TV shows from sites like TheTVDB.com. Support for Music Videos. Support for Fanart. Built in ability to stream media from the internet or from locations on your network giving you access to your entire collection. • Full support of Playlists. • Support for Subtitles.
XBMC User Guide Page 12 OSD Audio and Subtitle Settings Volume Allows you to adjust the playback volume Dynamic Range Compression Allows you to adjust how much the audio range is compressed, making the loud and soft sounds closer in volume. This is useful when watching movies with loud sound effects such as explosions at night. Audio Delay Adjusts how long that the audio is delayed in relation to the video. This is useful when viewing poorly synced videos.
XBMC User Guide Page 13 Interlaced Handling • Auto Select - Tries to guess the best method. • DeInterlace - (Requires mplayer restart) Uses the Mplayer Deinterlace filter. • Sync Odd - (Only for HQ Pixel rendermethod, also NEEDS an interlaced display: PAL* or NTSC*.) • Sync Even - (Only for HQ Pixel rendermethod, also NEEDS an interlaced display: PAL* or NTSC*.) • None Crop Black Bars Choosing this option will crop any black bars encoded at the top, bottom or sides of your video.
XBMC User Guide Page 14 Page 2 of 2 Set as default for all Movies Selecting this will make the current settings the default Flicker Filter Sets the amount of flicker filter applied while videos are playing. We recommend you keep this as low as possible, and for best possible quality set it to 0. Soften Denotes whether the soften filter is applied during video playback. It is recommended that this is set off for optimal quality. Defaults to off.
XBMC User Guide Page 15 Video Bookmarks This feature allows you to create bookmarks within your videos in order to be able to return to a certain point in them. This could be compared to chapters in DVD videos. In order to create them, simply go to the point in your video that you wish to bookmark and select Create Bookmark from the Videos OSD. To jump to a previously stored bookmark, simply highlight and select it through the Videos OSD. You can delete the highlighted Bookmark with the -button.
XBMC User Guide Page 16 Music Music is the component of XBMC that tames your hunger for great music. To access Music, select it from the Home screen. Illustration 1: Music listing with "Big Icons" view selected. Music Key Features Some of the key features of Music are: • • • • • • • • • • Support for a countless number of formats. A full-featured Music Library that makes it easy to organize, find and listen to your favorite music Support for Music Videos.
XBMC User Guide Page 17 Music Navigation and Control There are two different ways to view your media in Music: the Files View and the Library Mode. Files View Files View is the most basic way of browing your music. In Files View, you browse through your sources folder by folder, in the exact same way they are stored. What you see in Files View is the same as you would see if you were to browse the folders on your computer.
XBMC User Guide Page 18 View: You can the toggle between the different display options, amongst others; List, Icons and Big Icons. Sort By: You can choose what criteria to sort your media by. Note the arrow to the right which controls whether the items are sorted in ascending or descending order. Library Mode: This control allows you to switch between Library Mode and File View. Playing music is as simple as navigating through your sources and selecting a song.
XBMC User Guide Page 19 Original XBOX Controller Music Playback Options Once the desired song, album or playlist is highlighted, start playback by pressing the button. Pressing the White button (Info on the remote) will toggle song information and art on/off. The Start button will stop the music. The button queues the selected item and the Black button will bring up the Now Playing window. The button toggles visualizations on/off.
XBMC User Guide Page 20 Rename: Renames the item. Must be enabled in Appearance Settings.
XBMC User Guide Page 21 Working with Playlists XBMC has built in powerful playlist editors (both for normal and smart playlists). To see the currently playing playlist bring up the Context menu. The currently playing playlist is accessible via the Now Playing item. If the playlist is currently empty, that option will not be visible in the context menu. You can add songs or entire folders with the "Queue" action of your control device. Alternatively, the "Queue Item" option in the context menu can be used.
XBMC User Guide Page 22 tagged. When your collection is scanned, XBMC stores all the tagging information (artist, album, year, genre, etc) in the database which allows you to efficiently search and manage your music collection. If you have never taken the time to tag your music properly, the time is now! Today most media applications and players (iTunes / iPod for example) organize your music by this ID tag information.
XBMC User Guide Page 23 a % sign in front of the match. Music Context Menu in Library Mode You perform actions on your music files using the Context Menu. In Library Mode selecting an album, the following options are available: Queue Item Adds the item to the Now Playing playlist. Play Plays the selected file. Add to Favourites Adds the item to your Favourites menu. Album / Song Information Shows the relevant information from allmusic.com. Query Info For All Albums Queries information from allmusic.
XBMC User Guide Page 24 Weather About My Weather XBMC has a built-in weather forecast feature. You are able to display the Weather.Com forecasts for three different locations from around the world. You can configure your locations and whether the forecast is displayed in Metric(SI) or U.S customary units in the Weather Settings. Navigation To navigate between the 3 different locations highlight the small arrows and press the button on the controller (or the Select button on the remote).
XBMC User Guide Page 25 could tell XBMC where it should look for your music. This can be as simple as selecting a folder on your computer or you can also choose to browse your home network for media. These two options would be the most widely used places for sources. Remember that XBMC will add everything that lies inside the folder you select. So if you choose to add your Cdisk, XBMC will have access to your entire C-disk for content by default.
XBMC User Guide Page 26 direct links to specific emulator ROMs from Programs. • In order to create a shortcut, simply create an .xml file saved with a .cut extension in any location on the XBox hard drive. Note that shortcuts can not be launched from a network location, such as a SMB share! In order to use the shortcuts, simply create a source entry pointing to the folder containing the .cut files in My Programs. Generic Network Sources Network sources reference remote shares of various types.
XBMC User Guide Page 27 FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Client Sources XBMC also contains an FTP-client with which you can add sources in all sections (with the except of the Programs section) in XBMC interface, however as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is not designed to stream audio/video data it is not recommended that you use it under the Music or Videos sections. (Remember that the default FTP-port is usually 21).
XBMC User Guide Page 28 Adding Plugin Sources in XBMC GUI Plugin sources can automatically be added from within XBMC via the "Add Source" command accessible from the root folder of "Videos", "Music", "Pictures", and "Programs" section of XBMC. The actual file that is invoked by XBMC is "plugins\\\default.py" (this "default.py" file must be present for the plugin to show up in "Add Source" the dialog). Plugins will show up automatically in Library Mode.
XBMC User Guide Page 29 On the original Xbox the default Microsoft dashboard contains the ability to rip your CDs to WMA format. This type of media source (enabled by default in XBMC) allows you to read that database and play those audio tracks. Some limitations exist with these files including crossfading due to WMA filetype. Syntax example: soundtrack:// iTunes Network Share (DAAP) Media Source iTunes has its very own library sharing protocol, DAAP. XBMC can play all unprotected files, (ie.
XBMC User Guide Page 30 rss:// network protocol To connect to a specific RSS feed, under the music, videos, or pictures section of XBMC, add a new source.
XBMC User Guide Page 31 Settings The Settings Window Choosing Settings from the Home Screen opens the Settings Window. In this window, you are able to configure XBMC's options to fit your taste. Profiles Allows you to save all of your settings as a profile and change them at the touch of a button. It also allows you to grant access to specific folders and network shares based on the profile being used. This is ideal for systems that have multiple users.
XBMC User Guide Page 32 position that you were viewing them, even after restarting the system. Note: You can also start a movie from the last stopped position by opening the context-menu on a movie file (white button on the gamepad) or by just clicking the "Play" button on the remote without the need to have this option enabled.
XBMC User Guide Page 33 stacks episodes if they are made of multiple files. Update library on startup Checks for new media files on XBMC startup. For automatic removal of deleted media files you need the advancedsetting. Clean Library... This funtion will perform a number of 'cleanup' tasks on your video database and can be run if you have moved, deleted or renamed files. Tip: XBMC puts a video in its database if you change any OSD setting while watching; resume points are also stored there.
XBMC User Guide Page 34 Render Method Controls the method used by the player to process and display the video. Adjust refresh rate Activate to automatically set the refresh rate which is best matched with the video that is playing Allowed error in aspect ratio (%) Allow video player to try to fit video to screen by ignoring aspect ratio by a certain amount High quality upscaling (GL only) Enables video upscaling to resize the source video frames to the size of the screen (XBMC's resolution).
XBMC User Guide Page 35 resampling (a small speed change will still happen without resampling). Resample quality Quality of the resampler, goes from low to really high, the default is medium which should be fine for anyone. The higher the quality of the resampler, the more cpu it will use.
XBMC User Guide Page 36 Music Settings General settings tab Visualisation Determines which visualization will be displayed while listening to music. Auto Play Next Item This setting enables to automatically play the next item in the current folder. For example, in Files View: After a track has been played, XBMC would automatically play the next track in the same folder. Clear Playlist on finish This function clears the playlist after all tracks have been played.
XBMC User Guide Page 37 Export Music Library Exports the Music Library database to XML files. Import Music Library Imports a XML file into the Music Library database. The data is only imported if the entry exists. If it exists, it removes all current info for that entry from the database, and it inserts the info for that entry from the XML file. Player settings tab Configure Audio Hardware...
XBMC User Guide Page 38 Crossfade Enabling this will cause the player to smoothly fade from one audio track to the next. You can set the amount of overlap of the tracks from 1-10 seconds. Crossfade album tracks Cache Opens the Cache Menu, allowing you to change the size of the cache if necessary. Files settings tab Enable Tag Reading Enabling tag reading will read the tag-information written in every song.
XBMC User Guide Page 39 Lookup Audio CDs on freedb This will read the information belonging to a inserted audioCD from an internet database. Thus every song will get its correct name and artist displayed. The IP Address of the CD Database is set in the advancedsettings.xml. Look for thumbs on remote shares When this option is on, XBMC will search for thumbs on remote shares (which as of the time of writing includes DVD and CD media as well, due to the long seek/read times).
XBMC User Guide Page 40 CD Ripping settings tab CDDA Rip Folder This option defines the location on your hard drive that ripped tracks will be saved to. (Note: To rip to a Samba share, you must define the rip location via advancedsettings.xml.) Track Naming Template Controls the way that your ripped songs will be named. For a list of options that can be used, see Tags Available for Audio Files Encoder This option defines which audio encoder to use when ripping.
XBMC User Guide Page 41 Note that if this is not set, most Internet functionality, such as RSS feeds will not function. Enable HTTP Proxy If your internet connection uses a proxy, configure it here. If your proxy requires a username and password, it can be configured in Advanced Settings Enable Internet Lookups Toggles whether or not XBMC will do Internet Lookups to get information for Weather, IMDB, CDDB, etc.
XBMC User Guide Page 42 SMB Client settings tab Default Username The username used to log into your SMB share Default Password The password used to log into your SMB share WINS-Server The WINS server address for your network Workgroup The name of the workgroup that your SMB share is on UPnP Client settings tab Autostart When enabled will automatically run the UPnP Client on startup.
XBMC User Guide Page 43 the first time you take a screenshot. Slideshow settings tab Show Each Image For Controls the amount of time (in seconds) that each image is displayed for in a slideshow. Transition Time Controls the amount of time (in milliseconds) for the transition between images in a slideshow. Use Pan and Zoom Effects When enabled, images in a slideshow will pan and zoom while displayed. System Settings Hardware settings tab Enable Debug Logging Toggles debug log on / off.
XBMC User Guide Page 44 Switch LED back on if paused This option turns the Xbox's front LED back on when in pause mode, if previous option is turned on. The available options are: • No • Music Only • Video Only • Music & Video Note: If you have set the Front LED Color to "OFF", then if you have an LCD-Display it will be turned off as well! Fan Speed Override Allows you to manually set the Xbox fan speed from 10% to 100%, allowing your system to run more quietly.
XBMC User Guide Page 45 Autorun settings tab Causes XBMC to automatically launch content from media inserted in the DVD Drive. The available options are: • • • • • • • Autorun DVD-Video Autorun VCD/SVCD Autorun Audio-CD Autorun Xbox Games Autorun Video Autorun Music Autorun Pictures All options are turned on by default. Hard-disk settings tab HD Spindown Time Allows you to set the amount of idle time in minutes XBMC will wait before it spins down the hard-disk.
XBMC User Guide Page 46 Cache settings tab NOTE: These settings are for the XBOX ONLY and are not supported on any other platform. Cache Settings allows you to control the amount of information that is cached in the system's memory when playing specific types of media from different locations.
XBMC User Guide Page 47 Audio Hardware settings tab Audio Output Allows you to select between Analog and Digital audio output. Note that in order to use digital output, your Xbox needs to be connected to a compatible receiver and a supported AV pack. AC3 Capable Receiver Select this option if your receiver is capable of decoding AC3 streams. DTS Capable Receiver Select this option if your receiver is capable of decoding DTS streams.
XBMC User Guide Page 48 Mode If enabled, XBMC will use the Master Mode, enabling Administrator-level access to XBMC until disabled or shut down. Use lock on login screen When enabled, users have to enter their lock to log in. Programs Settings General settings tab Auto Flicker Filter patch (Xbox only) This option turns on the automatic Flicker Filter patching of programs launched by XBMC. Enable Video Mode Switching (Xbox only) Enables you to switch the video mode that XBMC launches programs in.
XBMC User Guide Page 49 Xlink Kai settings tab: Xbox only, not covered here Appearance Settings Look and Feel settings tab Skin Allows you to select the skin which XBMC uses for the user interface. See Skinning XBMC for more information. Skin Theme Allows you to change the theme associated with your selected skin. See Skin Themes for more information. Skin Fonts Allows you to choose the fonts displayed in the User Interface. The font sets are configured in the font.xml portion of your skin.
XBMC User Guide Page 50 in. Use Daylight Saving Time Check this option if your timezone uses daylight savings. Enable Internet Time Synchronization When enabled, XBMC will automatically synchronize your system time with an Internet time server. Time Server Host The IP address of the Internet time server to be used Screen settings tab Resolution Changes the resolution that the User Interface is displayed in.
XBMC User Guide Page 51 Suppresses the display of the parent folder icon (..). Hide Media Extensions Suppresses the display of the extensions on media files. For example. "You Enjoy Myself.mp3" would be simply be displayed as "You Enjoy Myself". Ignore tokens When Sorting Allows for certain tokens to be ignored during sort operations. For example, with this option enabled, "The Simpsons" would simply be sorted as "Simpsons". Make archives with one file transparent Enabling this will cause .
XBMC User Guide Page 52 Slideshow Folder Determines what pictures to use when the screensaver is set to Slideshow mode. Randomize When enabled, will randomize the pictures displayed in Slideshow Mode. Advanced Settings All advanced settings (or 'power-user' settings) can not be accessed from the Graphical User Interface, this is to prevent normal end-users from messing up XBMC by more than they need to.
XBMC User Guide Page 53 File Manager XBMC for Xbox has a built-in file manager which lets you transfer/copy/move/delete/rename files and folders on your local hard drive, FTP shares and Windows File-Shares. The My Files View My Files is similar to Windows' File Explorer.
XBMC User Guide Page 54 This will bring up the context menu, pictured below left. The following options are available: • • • • • Illustration 3: Context Menu • • Select All Selects every file in the current folder. Pressing it again will deselect all. Rename Allows you to change the name of the file. Delete Allows you to remove the file. Beware, XBMC does not have a 'recycle bin', so once deleted, a file is unrecoverable.
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XBMC User Guide Page 56 Appendix Common Platform-Independent Keyboard Mapping Key Description, Notes Any Single character That button on the keyboard, Case INSENSITIVE O Displays CPU usage and video diagnostic information P Play Space Pause X Stop L Enable or disable subtitles T Toggle subtitles on and off F FastForward R Rewind Left-arrow Left Right-arrow Right Up-arrow Up Down-arrow Down Page Up Page Up Page Down Page Down Return Select Backspace Parent Directory Q Queu
XBMC User Guide Page 57 Plus (+) Volume Up Zero (0) Number0 One (1) Number 1 Two (2) Number 2 Three (3) Number 3 Four (4) Number 4 Five (5) Number 5 Six (6) Number 6 Seven (7) Number 7 Eight (8) Number 8 Nine (9) Number 9 Backslash (\) Toggle Application Full Screen / Windowed mode End Shutdown XBMC Xbox Controls Illustration 4: Xbox Controller Global button definitions
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XBMC User Guide Page 59 Illustration 5: Xbox Remote Global button definitions
XBMC User Guide Page 60 Illustration 6: Xbox Controller Video button definitions
XBMC User Guide Page 61 Illustration 7: Xbox Controller Video button definitions
XBMC User Guide Page 62 Illustration 8: Xbox Controller Video button definitions
XBMC User Guide Page 63 Illustration 9: Xbox Controller Music button definitions
XBMC User Guide Page 64 Illustration 10: Xbox Remote Slideshow (Picture) button definitions
XBMC User Guide Page 65 Illustration 11: Xbox Controller Fullscreen Music Visualization button definitions Illustration 12: Xbox Controller File Manager button definitions
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