Videos
Library
Under the Videos section we start to get into some more interesting options. First off Library, as mentioned above, is a feature we will be using in the near future. However, the defaults here are very good with one exception. Go ahead and enable Update library on startup to give XBMC one more chance to make sure the library is updated as often as possible.
If you have anything you’d like to change feel free otherwise make note of the Clean library… option. This will remove any library entries that may have had their files deleted or renamed and can be handy to run every so often.
Playback
Under Playback we find some pretty technical options. The defaults should be fine for most setups and people (which is why they’re the defaults). However, there is some room for adjusting playback (especially of standard definition content) to personal preferences or system configuration.
On stronger systems I would suggest setting Post Processing to be Enabled for SD Content. This should help take the edge of lower quality SD content when you’re used to watching HD.
Apart from that, if you’re curious about some of the other options (such as Display 4:3 videos as) see XBMC’s wiki entry on them here and adjust as you like (though I would error on the side of leaving things as they are unless you fully understand what the options are changing as some of these could have some pretty annoying sideffects!).
File lists
Some additional options for File (not Library) view. However, just in case we have to drop into File view at some point enabling both the Extract thumbnails and video information and Clean file and folder names can be a good idea.
Subtitles
This can simply be skipped unless you have a reason to modify the settings here.
DVDs
If you’re using optical media you can adjust the settings here to make the media a little more user friendly.
Once adjusted as needed hit the Escape key and move on to Music (next page!).
this is great, I had lots of trouble installing xbmcin mint and this did the trick,now I am gonna follow rest of your suggestions, thanks again.
Hey, good to hear Gychang! Best of luck!
i just keep getting
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu/dists/natty/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/ppa/ubuntu/dists/natty/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found
Hey Eddknightuk,
If you’re running Linux Mint 11 or Ubuntu 11.04 that’s why. XBMC has yet to add a PPA repository for Natty Narwhal. You can still use the Maverick Meerkat one though (which is what I’ve been doing without any issues. Simply replace “natty” in both the sources to “maverick”. You will need to got to Sources or Edit Sources and edit the specific entries.
I’m currently stuck on a work computer so can’t give exact instructions. If you get stuck let me know or Google it.
Best of luck!
XBMC is informing me that the Simplicity Add-On cannot be installed as it has broken/missing dependencies, any idea how to fix this?
Hey Catman,
Right off the top of my head I’m not sure. Try another theme like Neon and see if you get the same result. It may just be that Simplicity is broken currently or that something is borked in your XBMC install. As soon as I get my guide updated, I’ll likely be switching from Simplicity to Neon anyway so if that works you may be in for a treat.
Best of luck, and let me know if you have anymore questions!
This guide helped me a lot! I tried installing xbmc on Windows, Fedora, Ubunutu but this guide is definately the clearest! Great work and thank you!
Hey Aegir81,
Glad it worked well for you!
Thanks for the comment!
Excellent detailed instructions on all of your guides! Wish I would have found you sooner. Make all this so much easier to understand. Goodbye torrents!! :)
Hey SAB_Addict,
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad my guides helped ya out!
Cheers!
Nice guide any plans to do it on Mint 12…????
These instructions don’t work with Mint 12. Adding the PPA does not result in XMBC appearing in the Software Manager..
Hey Johnny,
Nice generalization there. Anyway, since XBMC does not do a great job at maintaing a PPA with the current Ubuntu releases you may need to manually edit the Other Software entry for XBMC to reflect the code name of the highest Ubuntu release that they do support (Maverick currently). If that doesn’t fix your issue the PPA authentication bug may be getting you. In which case the easiest fix is to add the PPA via the Terminal Emulator (sudo add-apt-repository ppa:PPANAMEHERE).
Good luck,
daemox