Open sourcerers port media centre to iOS
XBMC on Apple TV 2, iPad, iPhone
Open source media centre front end XBMC will now run on the iOS-based second-generation Apple TV. And the iPad. And the iPhone 4.
Installing XBMC on any of these gadgets requires them to be jailbroken, of course - as the XBMC team notes, "you won’t be seeing XBMC in the app store any time soon, since it directly competes with apple products".
Adding it to a handset is probably just a 'because I can' project, but it makes a little more sense on a media-centric tablet and will be very useful to Apple TV owners.
XBMC is a full music, video and photo display system, but it's worth installing even if, like this reporter, you only use it to grab and play content off a network-attached hard drive, or to view files in formats - XBMC's list of supported codecs is long - which iTunes treats with haughty disdain.
Indeed, XBMC can provide orginal Apple TVs with a shot in the arm. Pick up a cheap 40GB one off eBay, install XBMC on it, and you have a very fine media playback box. Installing XBMC doesn't zap the Apple TV's native UI so you still have access to iTunes movie rentals and such. ®
COMMENTS
hopes for Android
I'd love an android port - tegra 2 especially. Bonus points for android as you wont need to jail break.
What?
Buy a cheap one off eBay? They're going for more on there than Amazon charge for a brand new one!!
Almost worth buying an iPad...
... almost.
It wouldn't compete, it would utterly destroy.
XMBC mauls anything MS or Apple have ever done with regard to media playback into insignificance.
Enough to make Jobs check out of hospital
Not only have they hacked their way into his Walled Garden, violating all that is dear to him but they have also breached his Treasury by rendering iTunes unnecessary.
Even changing screw head formats has been defeated ... and it's still only January.
MythTV
Does anyone know if you can convert mythtv installations to xbmc? I'm getting a bit fed up with myth and xbmc seems quite nice...
