Monday, 17 October 2016

Why XBMC Streaming Media Boxes Are The Better Option

By Jessica Moore


Watching movies from your couch and at home has become a popular passtime for many. In this age, television and cable are starting to go down in ratings. This is due to the presence of the internet and other online channels that provide just as much entertainment that people used to get from primetime TV. Although this does not mean that cable is totally phased out, it just has a very powerful competitor.

Storage formats for files, movies and so on have evolves from VHS and cassette tapes to DVDs and really just storing them in a hard drive. The devices that play these things also change accordingly. Due to the trend of online sites that stream shows and require a monthly subscription, XBMC streaming media boxes are selling like hot potatoes.

Also known as Kodi, XBMC is open source and widely used by different brands that create the players. What the box does is to basically play the media in a way that was programmed in the software. Consider a legitimate one before buying and do your research.

There may be some of these boxes that include piracy applications that could get you in trouble. These work great if you have a home theater or one spot at home where you prefer to lounge and watch movies or listen to music. There are many top rated boxes to choose from.

Most of these run on Quad core Central Processing Units, that come with at least 2 gb of RAM and internal hard drive storage capacities. Most of them come with different numbers of USB 3.0 ports so you can plug in external hard drives with your movies in them. Many of these boxes process 4k media too.

XBMC compared to its competitor, Plex, may be more difficult to use in terms of interface. You can be assured of infinite customizability though, which is something many users are after. Interface is really just something that you need to get used to along the way, once you do, everything should be comfortable enough to navigate through.

These boxes run with any type of operating system from IOS and windows to Linux, android and OSX. If you are a very tech oriented person then the XBMCbuntu will allow you to instal Linux and XBMC together. Since Kodi is open source there is no need to purchase. Although if you are going to use this with a MAC platform, your device might need jailbreaking.

Skins, add ons, plug ins and other downloadable features can be found online to customize your set. A wide range of support is available on the internet and there is even an wiki page that has all the instructions regarding installation, use and other in depth information. If you believe you can make something useful that can help your device through programming it yourself and check the source code on the mentioned wiki page.

Some really popular add ons like Netfixbmc allow you to stream movies and series easier with its cross platform compatibility. You can also install a remote control application on your mobile device to work with your XBMC box. This app can be found for free from the Google play store for android, if yours is an Iphone, you can have it for 3 dollars at the Istore.




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