Setting up XBMCbuntu 12 based HTPC - Part 6 - Configuring XBMC

Close but not quite yet. Next we change some hidden settings via command line and then some more via GUI. Below are settings I prefer. As usual, you probably want to set more than one of these differently.



With advancedsettings.xml there's few things to remember:

• "freememorycachepercent" set to "0" (zero) will enable disk caching. With or without tmpfs backend. For tmpfs instructions see previous post.
• "alwaysforcebuffer" set to "1" will cache everything. Depending on your sources this may or may not be so good idea. For example caching 15GB video file from local disk to very same local disk makes no sense.

# Create XBMC advancedsettings.xml that:
# - disable cputemp and gputemp probing
# - enable detailed logging to xbmc.log
# - disable IPv6
# - enable disk buffer for video playback
# - Use 50Hz mode for ~24fps and ~25fps material
# - Use 60Hz mode for ~30fps material
# - Use 50Hz as fallback when material is unknown
cat <<'__EOF__' > /home/xbmc/.xbmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml
<advancedsettings>
 <loglevel hidden="false">1</loglevel>
 <useddsfanart>true</useddsfanart>
 <cputempcommand></cputempcommand>
 <gputempcommand></gputempcommand>
 <samba>
  <clienttimeout>30</clienttimeout>
 </samba>
 <network>
  <disableipv6>true</disableipv6>
  <autodetectpingtime>30</autodetectpingtime>
  <alwaysforcebuffer>0</alwaysforcebuffer>
  <freememorycachepercent>0</freememorycachepercent>
 </network>
 <audio>
  <streamsilence>0</streamsilence>
 </audio>
 <video>
 <adjustrefreshrate>
  <override>
   <fpsmin>29.00</fpsmin>
   <fpsmax>31.00</fpsmax>
   <refresh>60.0</refresh>
  </override>
  <override>
   <fpsmin>23.00</fpsmin>
   <fpsmax>26.00</fpsmax>
   <refresh>50.0</refresh>
  </override>
  <override>
   <fpsmin>48.00</fpsmin>
   <fpsmax>52.00</fpsmax>
   <refresh>50.0</refresh>
  </override>
  <fallback>
   <refresh>50.0</refresh>
  </fallback>
 </adjustrefreshrate>
 </video>
</advancedsettings>
__EOF__

# Fix ownership
chown xbmc:xbmc /home/xbmc/.xbmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml 

# Restart XBMC to reload settings
killall -9 xbmc.bin

GUI settings:

• System > Settings > Appearance
  • Skin > Settings
    • General > Enable auto scrolling for plot & review: On
    • Home window > Show weather info: On
  • Skin > Show RSS news feeds: Off
  • International > Region: Central Europe
  • Screensaver > Screensaver mode: none
• System > Settings > Video
  • Playback > Adjust display refresh rate to video: On start/stop
  • Playback > Sync playback to display: On
  • Playback > A/V sync method: Video clock (Resample audio)
  • Playback > Allowed error in aspect ratio: 7%
  • DVDs > Attempt to skip introduction: On
• System > Settings > System
  • Video output > Resolution: 1920x1080p
  • Video output > Refresh rate: 50.00
  • Video output > Vertical blank sync: Always enabled
  • Audio output > Audio output: HDMI
  • Audio output > Dolby Digital capable: Off
  • Audio output > DTS capable: Off
  • Audio output > AAC capable: Off
  • Audio output > Multichannel LPCM capable: Off
  • Audio output > TrueHD capable: Off
  • Audio output > DTS-HD capable: Off
  • Audio output > Audio output device: HDA NVidia, HDMI
  • Audio output > Passthrough output: HDA Nvidia, HDMI
  • Audio output > Play GUI sounds: Always
  • Input devices > Remote sends keyboard presses: On
• System > Settings > Weather
  • General > Settings > Location 1: Helsinki, Finland

Next we install addon to allow GUI controlled joining to WLAN networks.

• System > Settings > Add-ons
  • Get Add-ons > XBMC.org Add-ons > Program add-ons
  • Network-Manager: Install
• Launch Programs > Network-Manager to add new WLANs.

Reboot might be good idea now given how much we've changed since last boot. Using HTPC as without ethernet cable should also work assuming you just configured wireless network successfully via addon.