Wednesday 11 April 2007

New XBMC-TV snapshot pack available

Hello everybody,

it has been a while since I last posted here but there have been a lot of things going on with XBMC-TV that kept me from keeping this blog updated. So now I am back and I am happy to report to you that there is a new snapshot pack available for download. You can get the updated snapshot pack here: http://xbmc-strm-collection.googlecode.com/files/XBMC-TV_2007-04-11_snapshot_release_SVN_rev_113.zip

What is currently inside the snapshot pack? Around 300 broadband TV channels and around 200 webcams from all over the world, both tested and verified to be working perfectly with XBMC. Well I guess there is really nothing more to say to that except: ENJOY! :)

I will be returning this week with great news of a "secret" side project of XBMC-TV that will greatly improve the performance and viewing pleasure of XBMC-TV. So stay tuned :)

Cheers and all the best
akaigotchi

Sunday 4 March 2007

Major breakthrough on automated testing of XBMC streams

Hello everybody,

We are proud to announce to you today that we've made a major breakthrough on automated testing of .strm files for XBMC. This means that our efforts of creating a tool that automatically checks on the streams that are already part of XBMC-TV have suceeded and that we will be able to offer that new service by the end of next week. So in the future all streams inside the collection will be monitored permanently whether they still work or not. This will greatly improve XBMC-TV as the team will not have to spend time on manual testing any more and can spend more time on improving the collection (e.g. by adding more content or by coding a XBMC script). Believe it or not: Even if all team members would split the work of manually testing everything inside the collection perfectly it would still take hours to go through it.


We will be keeping you updated on the progress.

Cheers
akaigotchi

Thursday 22 February 2007

New snapshot finally available

Hello everybody,

Finally, I managed today to upload the latest snapshot pack to the downloads section of our project page on code.google.com . Well, to be honest I still wasn't able to upload, so I asked piranna to help me out :) So here it is, all new and shiny with a major addition: around 100 TV channels and webcams were added!

You can download the latest snapshot (2007-02-22) pack here.

BTW, we've managed to add all streaming surf cams from www.coastalwatch.com.au to XBMC-TV. That is around 60 cams from Australia's greatest beaches :D Thank you mikesyr for your great work!

Cheers
akaigotchi

Wednesday 21 February 2007

Snapshot pack will be delayed until Thursday

Hello everybody,

I am really sad to say this: The snapshot pack, that should have been on the Google code server yesterday will be delayed until Thursday because of technical reasons. Right now it is absolutely impossible for me to upload it to the Google Code server and the upload page times out every time I try it. I will try it on a different machine though on Thursday evening, as I will be away until then. I hope you understand this.

Of course we could have uploaded the file to some file sharing service like putfile.com. But I don't think this is a good idea, as I personally don't like the download speed (unless you are subscribed for quite a lot of bucks) of these services and I don't like their reliability (you will also have to be subscribed to improve that). If anyone knows a good service of that kind let me know, I am willing to change my mind :)

I am sorry for the delay.

All the best

akaigotchi

Sunday 18 February 2007

XBMC-TV needs a logo! Can you help?

One simple question: Wouldn't Coca-Cola be just be like any other cola, if it hadn't a logo? Well, I think you get the point :) This is one of the main reasons that XBMC-TV needs a logo! We want people to know, that they deal with the REAL thing and not just any of the streampacks around :) Basically the logo should be used with the upcoming website, the project's Google-Code site, the project wiki, as a folder icon for the collection, a logo for a maybe upcoming script, a forum icon for all project members,....

But as most of the people that are participating in the project right now are no GFX people we need your help! So if you have the skills, if you have an idea for a logo springing to your mind when you hear XBMC-TV and if you are willing to share some of your precious spare time with creating a logo for XBMC-TV: PLZ POST ME A NOTE!

We are already looking forward to work with you and are curious on your ideas.

Thanks for your help in advance!

akaigotchi

Thursday 15 February 2007

South America is just an "A"-Button away

Hello everybody!

Just yesterday I made a marvelous discovery: Some countries are closer than you think! At least if you have the latest SVN revision of xbmc-strm-collection installed on XBMC and press the A-Button on webcams and TV channels from countries that you thought would be further away :) So just yesterday I've added around 20 TV channels from South America to the collection, more to come! Hopefully you will enjoy those :) If you think anything is missing, just post me a PM.

Have fun!

akaigotchi

Tuesday 13 February 2007

New snapshot pack available for download

Hey everybody,

It is good to be back online. I just got myself a brandnew ASUS WL-500GP and after everything is set up and configured I am close to say that this thing rocks :) Actually I had promised myself more from the feature to attach a USB2.0 HDD to it, but as I got the feature with it "for free" I am not gonna moan on speed and stuff. It is not a fully reliable NAS solution, but that is not said on the box, so I am okay with that...
So as I am now set up to go online again there will be more updates here and on xbmc-strm-collection. I am planning some major channel updates for this week to compensate you for not having an update this weekend.

I also have good news for those of you who have problems checking out code from SVN directly. Just some minutes ago I uploaded the new precompiled snapshot pack so that you can, after having downloaded and installed it on XBMC, sit back and enjoy the show :) What's in it? Around 200 LIVE TV channels and webcams from all over the world. The pack is available here:

http://xbmc-strm-collection.googlecode.com/files/XBMC-TV_2007-02-13_snapshot_release_SVN_rev_58.zip

Okay basically that is it for today.

See you again tomorrow.

akaigotchi