XBMC 11.0 Eden Beta 2 Now Available
Last Updated on Sunday, 22 January 2012 07:51 Written by Alan Sunday, 22 January 2012 07:51
It hasn’t been long since XBMC, named for Xbox Media Center, released their beta 1 of the Eden update. Now, fast forward about three weeks, and we have arrived at Beta 2 of the home theater computer software. XBMC is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Apple TV, as well as via a “live disc”. It’s probably the best competitor to Microsoft’s Media Center software, which comes as part of Windows. XBMC allows users to access and play pictures, music, and movies from any computer on your network.
Now with the release of Beta 2, very quickly on the heels of Beta 1, XBMC claims, “Since Beta 1, unencrypted bluray, dvd player, startup problems in OSX, airplay, subtitle issues, unofficial addon repository installations, and the frustrating TMDB scraper problems that have made it difficult for everyone to scrape new movies have all seen fixes.” That’s a lot of fixes rushed out in a very short period of time.
XBMC claims that the Beta 2 of Eden is very stable, but still gives the same warning that any beta software comes with. “The same warnings from beta1 still apply. Eden is quite stable already, but don’t forget that it is in beta. Builds for all platforms except XBMCBuntu are uploaded and ready to go.” You can get the latest XBMC build for your home theater computer by visiting XBMC Download.
Zotac Announces 3 New PC’s
Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 January 2012 09:20 Written by Alan Thursday, 12 January 2012 12:00
The market for home theater PC’s has largely been driven by user-built devices, with a few very pricey OEM boxes from hardware makers like Vidabox and Moneual. The home theater PC, generally referred to as an HTPC, usually runs Windows with Media Center enabled upon start-up and comes as a non-tower case which is designed to fit in a cabinet in your living room. Lately though, there has been a small but growing number of small form-factor boxes being used in living rooms.
Zotac is one of those small boxes that has been making inroads with the Media Center user base. Today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Zotac announced three new models of their Zbox mini PC’s. The Zbox ID80, ID81 and AD04 were all unveiled and all will likely prove to be popular with the HTPC enthusiasts. All three feature an external Wi-Fi antenna, integrated Bluetooth 3.0, and a bundled media remote with a USB IR receiver for Windows Media Center. These are all second-generation computers that are based, according to Zotac, on user-submitted feedback.
All three of the new Zotac boxes pack the same 2 GB of DDR3 RAM, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, S/PDIF audio out, Gigabit ethernet, and 6-in-1 card reader, and a 320 GB HDD, but vary in processor speed and graphics. All three boxes also come in a bare-bones model that allows the user to add their own RAM and HDD, and (if the previous model holds true) an OS.
Prices and availability dates aren’t yet know. However, Zotac devices usually range in the $200-400 area but, as of this writing we don’t have dates for the new boxes. You can visit them at ZotacUSA.
XBMC 11.0 Eden Beta is Now Available
Last Updated on Monday, 26 December 2011 07:00 Written by Alan Monday, 26 December 2011 07:00
XBMC, the media program named after Xbox and Media Center, has become popular over the past several years as a great free alternative to it’s namesake, the Windows version of Media Center. Aside from it’s free price tag, XBMC is also popular because of it’s great functionality and ability to run on multiple platforms like Windows Mac, Linux, and Apple TV.
On December 24th XBMC announced a holiday gift for all of their users. XBMC version 11.0, known as “Eden”, has been released in Beta form for everyone to begin using. It ran a bit behind schedule, but XBMC promises that “The sheer number of new features, platforms, and improvements to nearly every facet of the XBMC experience found within Eden are nearly too numerous to count”.
New features in version 11 include Addon Rollbacks, improvements to the XBMC default skin (confluence), speed increases, a better library, better networking support, better handling of unencrypted BluRay content and structures, adjustable display refresh rate in OSX (to match the already available feature in Windows and Linux), AirPlay support, an upgraded weather app, plus a bunch more. In addition to those improvements, XBMC also announced that Eden will be available for two new platforms – the Apple TV 2 and the iPad.
If you are already an XBMC user, or if you are looking for an alternative to Media Center, then you can head over to the download page to get Eden and see what you think. You can check out a screenshot of the new Eden home screen below.
