nubie said:
Since we already have a GUI launcher and Mplayer there really isn't a need or a point to XBMC. Maybe you could just convert your favorite skin to the Pandora GUI and call it good?
If you mean to use it as a "media center", perhaps you could check out the BeaglBoard, it offers HDMI and is only $150.
If you look at what you get for your effort, a replacement simple GUI for a system that already has a simple GUI, XBMC just doesn't make any sense to me.
nubie, I guess the main real reasons I wanted to see XBMC ported to the pandora would be for the tried and true playback controls, ease of networking, and maybe...just maybe the possibility of implementing the many python scripts available.
In my house I have a centralized NAS chock full of music and movies. In my experience so far, nothing has come close to the ease of XBMC in terms of porting the media to different places in the house. A few simple network paths, and BLAM!! all of a sudden I have access to ALL of my media presented to me in the EXACT same way I'm used to viewing it. Downstairs, I have an Xbox running it, upstairs, it's running on a media center pc, in the office, I've got it installed on a defunct pc, and each time I boot, from whatever device, I get the exact same interface that works every time.
What I love best about running it on xbox, is that I have total control over playback from the game controller. Volume, picture scaling, speed, are all mapped to very intuitive controls that I believe could be mimicked fairly closely on a pandora handheld.
So fine, if you believe it would be a waste of time to try and port something as grand as XBMC, don't do it, but for some, it would be very useful. I would very much like to start watching a movie on the treadmill, and finish it later in bed without waking the girl. This isn't supposed to be a media center solution for me...it's a "Portable" media solution. Headphones..check...screen..check...my media... last check.
So are you going to port it? You can't just expect other people to do all the work, and it is a lot of work.
Your entire point seems to be the GUI, and I simply pointed out that you could run a similar GUI and let Linux do all the work. The Xbox doesn't come with Linux, the GP2X does. So you want a GUI for the Mplayer and Linux of the Pandora, that is all.
I have XBMC installed, I find it klunky, unresponsive, and crap on a PC, it is of no use to me on the PC as it doesn't support Winlirc (A simple and free software that is the standard of PC controls) and therefore isn't any good for me.
On the Xbox it makes sense, as it greatly extends a closed box into a very nice media front-end. On a PC, fine, if you can purchase an expensive remote that it likes, or happen to have one already, but it is a GUI on the PC, not an entire OS/Media Player, it uses the media player available on windows.
I view the real XBMC and a GUI of XBMC on other platforms very differently. And since the XBMC on the xbox wasn't up to snuff for me I can't see how other ports off of it can be of higher quality (except that the underlying system and media player on those systems it doing the real work, not the "GUI" XBMC).
I am hopeful that the Pandora will have a very nice GUI and a solid OS with networking and a good media player. If the "GUI" bothers you then simply script it to act just like XBMC to your way of thinking, that way time isn't wasted on an "XBMC" GUI, simply put a different skin on GMenu2X and Mplayer so that it looks and performs in every way like XBMC. (I honestly think that the controls on the Pandora are going to be relatively intuitive, so I see no need for XBMC personally, but I can understand your desire for simplicity)
I hope you understand what I am talking about. The same goal (identical looking and performing "XBMC"), but with a simpler and more logical approach.
In my head all I can think is that the Xbox and PC/Mac ports are running on very similar hardware, and it would be a royal pain in the ass to port over all of the "functionality" for little to no benefit. You can probably just get a python interpreter for the Pandora, if it doesn't come with one it will have one soon.
QUOTE
Thanks for expressing your concern, but I do not believe you understand the full impact of the XBMC experience.
I probably can't, I tolerate it on the Xbox because it is the best solution on the console, on the PC I can't. I use Media Player Classic (Which
DOES support Winlirc).
I prefer just using the simplest method, and to me the simplest method is to use the included pandora menu and media player. I am sure that it will be very robust, and I won't have any trouble playing any media from any network source on it, so XBMC just seems pointless. (the Xbox of course needs XBMC to be a useful media center, so I have no problem with it on the xbox.)
Nubie, this is getting a little rediculous. I'm extending a virtual handshake of "agreement of disagreement". On my side, I hope this project comes to life when the time comes, and on your side, I hope you get the functionality you want.
