Plex Media Center for OS X Leopard

All checked in

March 10th, 2008 | Category: Coding | Author: elan

If you want to build the source yourself, you should be able to replicate my latest build now. If you’re interested in helping out, let me know, as I have plenty of tasks I could use help with.

32 Comments so far

fatez March 10th, 2008 10:26 pm

Hi,

i’m interested to become a betatester

(an ac3 raw output betaster eheh)

Let me know, and thanks a lor for ur time!
tv March 10th, 2008 11:26 pm

Thank elan again! I’m not too good with c++ but I’ll try to implement that 2.1 downmix properly and after that look if I code ps3-remote’s drivers to xbmc. Dont expect anything good

@fatez, I think we all are already betatesters
Fredrik March 10th, 2008 11:27 pm

Hello Elan
I have made a disc image background for the XBMC disc image.
XMBC_disc_image_background.png
spiderlane March 11th, 2008 12:13 am

Hi Elan, I’m interested in helping out. I’ve been buliding as many SVN revisions as I can recently. Let me know if what I can do. markelane at yahoo dot com
Julien March 11th, 2008 2:47 am

hi

talking about ps3-remote’s driver, is there a way to have the original xbox dvd remote working (not 360) ?
Jezz_X March 11th, 2008 3:07 am

guys before you go too big into the whole ps3 remote d4rk is working on a new protical (for linux yes) but it will probably be portable for these sort of bluetooth devices so be a little more patient and don’t expect everything so quick. Some times doing things right means taking time

PS. elan broke the SVN for us linux and win32 people
J March 11th, 2008 5:29 am

Where do I download the source and what should I use to compile it. Glad too.
zAo March 11th, 2008 5:39 am

I surely would, but can I compile it for Tiger?
tv March 11th, 2008 6:18 am

@Jezz_X
Oh, nice to know. I’ll wait some time then and try to make better downmix for me (and why not everyone else who uses proper 2.1 setup for movies)

@J March
Check this http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=HOW-TO_compile_XBMC_for_Mac_OS_X_from_source_code

@zAo
This is leopard only, I would think it wont compile under tiger. You are free to try atleast if you want.
Gamester17 March 11th, 2008 6:32 am

HOW-TO compile XBMC for Mac OS X from source code:
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=HOW-TO_compile_XBMC_for_Mac_OS_X_from_source_code

Also checkout this article too (yes it applies to OS X as well):
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Linux_port_project

…maybe I should split that into two articles for clearity? :/
elan March 11th, 2008 6:50 am

@Fredrik: Brilliant, thank you! I’ll use that with the next release.

@spiderlane: Hey Mark, that sounds great. Let me know over email what kind of thing you’d like to work on to start with (bug, new codecs, etc.) Have a look through the tickets on dn-0 and see if there’s anything that strikes your fancy, and thanks for the help!

In terms of Bluetooth, d4rk is working on implementing a UDP client-server protocol, and planning on having an external server running which communicates input events to a running XBMC. Since I’ve already implemented Apple Remote support internally in the OS X code, I have no issue with people doing the same for now and internally supporting OS X Bluetooth HIDs. Once d4rk’s solution is available, we can reevaluate and move stuff around as needed.
Mactastico March 11th, 2008 8:57 am

are those HOW-TO instructions really up-to-date now?
elan March 11th, 2008 9:01 am

@Mactastico: They’re quite close if they’re not perfect. It’s hard for me to test them since I already have everything installed. But if you run into trouble, please update the Wiki
Scott Frazer March 11th, 2008 9:14 am

I don’t know how much actual help I’ll be, but I decided to pull the SVN version down and try to compile it.

I keep getting errors about SDL:

error: SDL/SDL.h: No such file or directory

Is there some prerequisite I’m missing? SDL, I’m guessing
Scott Frazer March 11th, 2008 9:15 am

And ignore me, I didn’t refresh the page I had open from this morning before posting that… I’ll check out the wiki pages tv and gamester posted. Thanks!
phunkysai March 11th, 2008 3:16 pm

No good at coding, but if you ever need any graphics work done, like Mac-specific stuff for XBMC or whatever, then let me know…
Gamester17 March 11th, 2008 10:50 pm

Maybe not the right place to mention this but know that non-programmers can still help in many ways, like you could for example update an old abandoned skin for XBMC to work with the latest version of XBMC, you can be a graphic artist for this but you do not have to be since the textures are already done so what is needed is to update the XML files.

See the CVS in the XBMC Skinning Project (the SVN contained mostly up-to-date skins, while the CVS contains abandoned skins):
http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=87325

For more information see:
http://xbmc.org/development/skinning/
Aequitas March 12th, 2008 1:19 am

I’ve noticed there are some projects around currently to remote controll xbmc from an iphone or ipod touch and wonder if it might be possible to extend that in a way to let xbmc transcode movies and stream them to a device, any thoughts ?
tv March 12th, 2008 7:23 am

@Aequitas
I cant think way how it relates to this media center application in any way. I dont get why you would want to integrate something like transcode&stream to mediacenter app.. But this is just my two cents.
Aequitas March 12th, 2008 10:46 am

@tv
Most rescent “portable” devices aren’t really limited in displaying content anymore. Iphone / ipod touch are made in a way to be a “tiny” media center with their capabilities of displaying audio and video content. If it’s possible to extend osxbmc / xbmc to be “remote” controlled through such a device, i mean why not extend it in a way so it’s fully functional on it. Building a native osxbmc for an iphone is to far fetched in my opinion in terms of hardware capabilities, but an interface into osxbmc could replace the entire “ipod” functionality …

Basicly xbmc is a layer between content and display. If osxbmc is capable of transcoding it would be possible to stream content over the internet and displaying all of it on a portable device … just replacing the tv with a iphone
Monkeyman March 12th, 2008 5:25 pm

Are those patches on SF.net still relevant now?
elan March 12th, 2008 6:57 pm

@Monkeyman: No, the current trunk incorporates the needed parts from the SF patches. I need to close those out.
spazzium March 12th, 2008 10:43 pm

I’ll help out in the only way I can, with a hefty donation. Keep up the great work, I just tried it tonight and am absolutely amazed at the performance so far.
d4rk March 13th, 2008 5:49 am

@elan
“In terms of Bluetooth, d4rk is working on implementing a UDP client-server protocol, and planning on having an external server running which communicates input events to a running XBMC.”

It’s actually an internal server that receives the event messages. Also the messages aren’t restricted to purely input events. For example, there is also a notification event that pops up a little window on screen with a message. What’s external would be the various clients that communicate with the server.

“I have no issue with people doing the same for now and internally supporting OS X Bluetooth HIDs.”

The whole point of the new protocol is to abstract out device specific code and at the same time not compromise on speed. At this point, I wouldn’t encourage anyone to write any device specific code that ties in tighlty with XBMC, Bluetooth or otherwise, since it won’t get accepted. Ideally write your code so that the device specific portions are modular so that it can be reused using the new protocol.

The protocol is close to completion at this stage and basic commands are functional. I already have a few working examples. I’ll be posting examples, documentation etc on the forums once it’s more usable.
bmfrosty March 13th, 2008 8:25 am

@d4rk: So could this be used as a web app for a remote control? Send commands to it from a PHP script? Could it be used to expose information to the controlling application? Like current title, current timecode, available subtitle tracks, available audio tracks? I’m thinking that this could be used for one hell of a web based remote control page designed for an iPhone/iPod, or even a Nintendo DS.
Paul March 13th, 2008 9:15 am

Somebody know this problem
I installed the latest OSXBMC en this Aeon skin
http://aeonismine.com/downloads/builds/Aeon_ALPHA9a.zip

But when I try to quit the program. My screen turns black en that’s it. Nothing happens…
Had to hard reset my mabcook pro penryn twice.
Gamester17 March 13th, 2008 10:22 am

@bmfrosty, XBMC already have an HTTP API which web applications can use to remote control XBMC, (exactly like you describe that you want), that API is called HttpApi, and there are already many third-party web applications (and non-web applications for PDA use and such) out there (actually more than one for the iPhone alone I think) which uses HttpApi to remote control XBMC, just search the official XBMC community forum. For more information about HttpApi see:
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=WebServerHTTP-API
and
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=87054&package_id=198866

There is also a very long topic-thread by nad (the author of HttpApi) in the Xbox Development forum about HttpApi.

I am not 100% sure but I believe that D4rk’s UDP client-server protocol even re-uses the HttpApi commands(?)
bmfrosty March 13th, 2008 3:10 pm

Ok. I wasn’t sure. It sounded like the new input server was going to act as the central abstraction layer for input and I had assumed that in doing so would make it easier to maintain separate source files for OS specific input methods and inherently reduce the number of ifdefs.

Also, I hadn’t realized the extent of the web support in XBMC.. I had thought it to be a lot less generic.
Matt March 13th, 2008 5:20 pm

@elan: Do you have any plans on attending Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June? Would you want to?

Maybe the community can start a fund to get you there. Do you see any benefit in going?

Just a thought.
Cranial Lethargy March 14th, 2008 3:06 am

I’m getting the black screen hang problem with the Aeon skin. Running on MBP.
Here’s a pastie: http://pastie.caboo.se/165648

Cheers, and thanks for all the great work.
julien March 14th, 2008 5:39 am

about this black screen hang when closing xbmc with the Aeon skin, I have the same problem on the svn linux version (i didn’t test this skin on my macbook)

so it shouldn’t be leopard-related!
Gamester17 March 14th, 2008 8:21 am

FYI, we have now created separate article for developers in the official wiki on xbmc.org about the XBMC for Mac OS X port project
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=XBMC_for_Mac_OS_X_port_project