One alternative platform to Windows Media Center is XBMC which has grown from a hack for the orginal XBox to a cross platform media solution and now there is a new release candidate of XBMC, Dharma RC2 adds automatic updating and extra add-on support.  I must admit with having Windows Media Center, Boxee and Apple TV I haven’t felt the need to check it out but I know there is a loyal community behind the project. Lifehacker has the details of the new version:

What’s new in the awesome and much loved XBMC? The beta introduced better add-on organization and updating but at the time it was largely experimental and not a permanent part of the XBMC structure. Now it’s prominently placed and all future versions of XBMC moving forward from Dharma RC2 will handle all add-on management and updating through the new and improved add-on menu—automatic updating is now enabled by default.

In addition to superior add-on management becoming a permanent feature, the Shoutcast plugin was overhauled for a superior streaming radio experience, Bluray playback has been tweaked and enhanced, and a myriad of small bug fixes have been patched to create an even smoother user experience. For the curious the entire change log for this release is available here.

Anybody using XMBC? Is it worth giving a try?

via Lifehacker

Leave a Reply