What cool things can you do with xbmc?

Answer 1

Xbox Media Center (XBMC) is what is known as a dashboard for the Xbox, not to be confused with an OS (Operating System). It is supported by Windows, Linux, MacOS X and Linux (basically everything) and has been released in a LiveCD format, which allows you to burn a disc, pop it in, and use it on most computers that support Linux.

As for what cool things you can do with it, there are quite a few. To name a couple:

XBMC uses specialized skins, so it can replicate the appearance of, for example, the Xbox 360's interface, an AppleTV's Interface, or have something completely original (as is the case with project Mayhem I/II/III). Last time I checked, around 5 COOL skins were out, many more low quality ones exist (for those who are wondering, popular skins include: MC360 - Project Mayhem III - Vision - Vision 2 - Xii - Clearity)

It uses the FFMPEG libraries, and therefore supports everything that FFMPEG does (which is quite a few formats), it supports "retro gaming system" music, ie NSF (Nintendo), SPC (super Nintendo), C64 (Commodore 64), and more, while retaining important file format support like MP3, M4A, OGG, WAV, WMA...

For video support, an example list would include: AVI files, ie XviD, DivX, Quicktime MOV files, FLV, Matroska files, Ogg Vorbis Videos (OGM), and many more (as previously stated, all formats FMPEG supports).

It supports streaming media over a network, via (as a client) SAMBA, iTunes' Streaming service, XBMSP (XBMC's specialized streaming protocol) and TuxBox (for Linux), as well as (as a server) UPnP.

It can get information from online sources, to get videos from YouTube, for example, or Weather information, or stock quotes (through 3rd party plugins/scripts), and rip CDs complete with CDDB support, to fill the MP3s/OGGs it rips with metadata.

It can launch Xbox games, homebrew applications, basically anything launchable on the Xbox, from the Hard Drive, a DVD, or Xfat formatted Flash drive.

In short, XBMC can be used to launch Xbox games, playing videos, playing music, viewing photos, and launching applications, and as an all-around media center.