Diagnostic release for TV mode problem
To all those (like mingistech) who are noticing differences in the output modes to their TVs, please download this binary and replace the one in XBMC.app/Contents/MacOS. Then run from the command line:
$ ./XBMC.app/Contents/MacOS/XBMC
Please paste the entire output in the Terminal into this site and then post a link in the comments. The binary has lots of diagnostic output and also adds an extra check into the mode selection, making sure it’s compatible with TVs (in theory, at least). You might not notice any difference, and actually this new code may cause your TV to catch on fire. Have water handy.
Also, cullman was kind enough to write up an excellent FAQ. Please read it before you ask any questions. If we catch you asking a question that’s already been answered, no matter how obtusely, we will make endless fun of you, and the next time I’m spear-fishing I’ll name the fish after you before I stick it with my spear.
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Happy Thanksgiving Elan and everyone celebrating it! I make a toast to all the things done..."
@elan, can you please implement a OS X version check in the app? Then make it display a message stating old version if older then 10.5.x “You need to update to Leopard to run this application!”. That should save you guys from having to answer that the question why XBMC does not work on older Mac OS X versions over and over again
What about using Sparkle for self-update functionality? I LOVE this feature in many of the OS X apps I use.
http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/
Elan, just playing around with it in earnest and all working really well.
There’s some odd behavior with the “Library” functionality for videos however. I’m using Read-Only NTFS External HDDs (for PC compatibility more than anything) to hold my media.
OSXBMC works great reading from these now, and the thumbnails/info coming from IMDB for these files is also good, however when multiple drives are mounted the Library doesn’t always “remember” what’s been added (If that makes any sense). I find that I often have to go back to the source and SET CONTENT again before those entries will return in Library mode.. This also happens if a drive is unmounted/remounted.
Is this because XBMC writes library meta-data for each video source to the source location itself (so for an NTFS source disc this wouldn’t be possible as OSX can’t write to those types of drives) OR does it hold it in a directory on the main machine - in which case there is a problem saving that data
If its the former… is it possible to have a config option to write that metadata to another location?
I should mention though, that thumbnails retrieved from the internet work perfectly and don’t get lost (I’m assuming the must be saved locally)
@B1ng0 - This is covered in the FAQ, but I will put a warning on the download site. It has to make more sense to warn someone it’s Leopard only before they download…
@Albo - Sparkle is mentioned in the FAQ
Man you guys deserve to be made fun of.
I’m at work right now… but can’t wait go get home and test this out.
Elan… i’m totally blown away with the work you’ve been doing on this project and plan on donating some funds for all your hard work.
This build playsback my 720p .mkv files flawlessly. I no longer need to convert them over to .mp4 for playback on my AppleTV.
BTW…. I’m running this on a Pentium D (dual core) 3.4Ghz Hackintosh (dell micro tower) with GMA950 and 1GB of RAM. It’s running Kalyway OSX 10.5.1 and it playsback my 720p .mkv files(hdbits) beautifully.
OK, a little more testing appears to reveal that if you have multiple sources feeding your video library, XBMC only retains the “Set Content” settings for ONE of them..
(and it will go off to the ‘net automatically to retrieve the meta data as normal)
i.e. For 2nd, 3rd sources etc. you need to configure the “Set Content” settings for those sources each time you start XBMC, if you want the Library Mode to correctly show the proper info for those sources as well
@ jms_uk … what if you edit your source.xml for one name pointing to multipaths? For example:
Movies
/Volumes/HDTV 01/HDTV Movies/
/Volumes/HDTV 02/HDTV Movies /Volumes/HDTV 03/HDTV Movies/ /Volumes/HDTV 04/HDTV Movies/
Would that work?
“Man you guys deserve to be made fun of.”
Who the hell reads these days?
Nychee, I’ve tried all of that. It works OK for sources in the normal view but XBMC’s library will not show files from the other HDDs.
The “Library mode” with all of the cool IMDb info won’t show without manually selecting “Set Content” on the “Main Source” each time XBMC is started..
For some reason, the metadata off of one drive in my sources list works but the others don’t - even when you move all of the drives/aliases into the same “Sources” section like you’ve suggested above
Alright….. here is the output of what was requested….
i have no idea what any of this means…. but now i just get black instead of the app working….
http://pastie.caboo.se/152531
I restarted OSXBMC once more after that and it’s BACK UP!!! With fullscreen support restored.
Thankyou so much.
I’ve got the same problem than mingistech on a mac mini core duo connected to a panasonic plasma 720p : if I choose desktop resolution (1024*768), black screen, i have to stay on 720p 16:9 but then no more fullscreen and big overscan….
i’m using an ibook to remote my mini with the shared screen and it’s working fine, no black screen on the ibook….
I’m using remote buddy and mapped my apple remote : great!!!
It’s working fine on my imac intel core duo …..
my test :
http://pastie.caboo.se/152748
now it’s working fine, i ve got fullscreen back
working great here now too.. congrats on all the great work.. this just could be the next big thing for wrangling all your media.. such a slick interface, a real frontrow alternative.. i will be happily donating to the cause..
looking forward to the next release..
Is there a problem with the forums? The forum keeps asking for my username and password and every time it greets me (by name) but upon return I’m still not validated.
I see there aren’t many posts, so I thought maybe others had the same issue.
I have had the same problem for days, but couldn’t post to complain.
I tried the FAQ, but this wasn’t covered.
I tried the forums, but they don’t let me validate in any browser I have so I can’t post.
I tried checking the tickets in the trac, but this wasn’t there.
I tried using this executable, in case it had more debug info and messages, with no luck.
I can’t scrape anything from anywhere. If I try to search for information on anything I have added to the “video” section. Local disks, external disks, network disks. OSXBMC (which I think should be the name this variant of XBMC is called as, as it makes sense and makes searching much easier).
Whenever I start a scrape of any sort the dialogs just stay there until there’s a malloc error. When I do a [i]nfo on a folder (to search for a tv show, for example) I get a listing with results (so it’s connecting and scraping the returned HTML). After I select any result I get the “Loading TV Shows details” and that just hangs there until XBMC just quits.
It’s also not a problem with write-permissions as automatic thumbnails from videofiles are generated without issues.
I don’t think it’ll say much but, still, here’s the terminal results:
http://pastie.caboo.se/153540
Also, and this might’ve been brought up by someone else:
It would probably be a good idea to have a shortcut (typically cmd-F) to switch between window mode and fullscreen mode and have cmd-tab work in either. It’s a common shortcut for a functionality that is expected.
@B1ng0: The Leopard binary doesn’t even start on Tiger, so I can’t display a nice error message. If we used an installer, it could definitely perform a version check. Anyone want to build an installer for us?
@Albo: Sparkle is on the roadmap, but incremental updates would be key, as the package is pretty big. Supposedly the next version of Sparkle will support them. Otherwise rsync under the covers might be a nice way to achieve the same functionality.
@jms_uk: I’ve made a note of your library-mode bug. Thanks for the investigation!
@eduo: I’ve had pretty good luck getting metadata for movies. There have been lots of updates to the scraper code, and OSXBMC may not be completely up to date. A crash sounds pretty bad, however. I’ll look into it.
People who are having login/posting problems with the foums should read this which tells you how to fix that
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31189
XBMC The cookie problem fixed it. Actually I just logged from your link and that worked.
@elan: You might want to change the links to use the new domain, if they aren’t already.
I have a panasonic HD tv capable of 720p and 1080i. I have customised my resolution via OSX.
I am able to select the customised resolution via XBMC and when I play a movie or TV show back in 720p it uses the full screen as I would hope.
However, when I try to then access any XBMC commands whilst it is playing back in full screen, none of them work. I sometimes get fuzzy blocky stuff up on the screen (when I’m meant to get the controller on the screen) and other times the movie will just completely lock up and freeze when I try to access the XBMC controls.
Seems like a bug. Any ideas?