XBMC4Xbox Remote - Android app

[Xphazer]

Thanks Dan! ..I would be the 1st to buy it.
But there is a tiny little hick, i dont buy my apps from the the Google Play Store.. I buy them on AndroidPIT (paypal)
I would be very happy to get a "donation version" so i could toss you 10 or 20$ (Like i did with titanium backup, can't live without that ^^)

[Dan Dar3]

Thanks Xphazer! Glad to see the interest, and to be honest that is more than I hoped for. I briefly looked into in-app purchases to unlock features in a free version, but it looks cumbersome and will probably still require Google Play payments. I'll see if I can find a way of using PayPal, I haven't actually clarified how am I going to do it, but do appreciate the feedback, thanks.

[Gasman]

Dan,

Some good news. I uninstalled my previous version and downloaded the new.
I get network errors for Movies & TV Shows, but the DVD Remote works for most functions

For System Info I get 'No response from XBMC4XBOX'

In Commands I cannot set Debug on, even with Long Press and Both Restart and Shutdown do not work.

But well done. If I could get all the functions working, I'd be a buyer.

I'm on holiday soon, but if you need another guinea pig, I'd be more than happy to help, when I get back.

[Dan Dar3]

Hey guys,

just released a new version (1.6) - the good news is that is still free (well, ads supported). This one is mainly a UI revamp, using ActionBarSherlock (http://actionbarsherlock.com/), but I had to drop support for Android 1.x (to the 3-4 users still on that, sorry).

I still have the "plus" (paid) version in mind, thinking of a few nice features, if I manage to implement them: "touchpad" navigation (sort of a "smartglass" idea where your screen acts as a touchpad so you can navigate directions, maybe tap for A, and the B, X, Y buttons in the corners), maybe a "play to phone/tablet" function, we'll see what else I can think of...

[Dan Dar3]

@Gasman
Try using the new version and make sure you've assigned the correct IP address in the main screen (long press to edit) and HTTP port. Most functionality relies on the HTTP calls. The DVD Remote works off the EventClient which uses the same IP address, but a different port - so maybe did you change the HTTP port, which might not be 80? If anything else, the HTTP calls are slower (TCP), the EventClient uses UDP I believe which are faster. Try pinging your XBox from the Android phone/tablet using say using this (https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... work&hl=en). If the response goes up and down, look at your wireless connection, see if you can maybe change the channel to improve connection, or simply take you Android closes to the router, see if it makes any difference.

[BuZz]

awesome app btw. works really well!

[Dan Dar3]

New version, a little late Xmas gift
[if anything broken, let me know!]

[Gasman]

Dan,

Sorry to have been such a dumbass.

My XBOX has a userid and pw set. It was set when I downloaded the XBMC Remote app, Removing that gets me connected and working like a dream

Embarrassed as hell, but really pleased I got it working at last.

[Dan Dar3]

@Gasman
The HTTP user/pass or profiles? Cause I haven't tested with using profiles, that would be my fault not yours.

[Gasman]

@Gasman
The HTTP user/pass or profiles? Cause I haven't tested with using profiles, that would be my fault not yours.

HTTP user/pass.

[Dan Dar3]

I never changed mine and I seen it working without passing one from the app - I will introduce it in the app settings and allow you to change it and then it will work. Thanks for the feedback and for figuring it out.

[Dan Dar3]

v1.9 is out, adding Feeds ticker (clickable)

[Dan Dar3]

v2.2 is out...

[Xphazer]

Just t let you know Dan that I'm still facing the same problem as i described long time ago in this post.
The icon present on smb://server/movies/folder.jpg is showing up for every movies instead of the covers.
Thanks Dan

[Dan Dar3]

@Xphazer
I'll come over on the TeamSpeak server and ask you some more details this week to figure this one out.

[byron]

Hey dan...NICE WORK! I've been so wrapped up in skinning that I forgot about what xbmc4xbox is capable of with other people doing awesome things like this! I gotta tell ya, this is really cool buddy

[travandalex]

So here's the situation... perhaps I'm missing something (and clearly an idiot).

I'm a daily XBMC4XBOX user to play music from a networked pc on my vintage stereo gear. It's by far my favorite way of doing this. The only drag is that I've needed to turn on my moderen surround amp and tv as well to browse my music collection. My collection is basically so extensive as to make the Library functionality totally unwieldy (useless)... so I only browse in file view and my library is well organized. In a perfect world, I want to be able to do this without the extra tv and amp gear on. Aha, you say... I'm in the right place.

I recently got a new tablet that has rendered my poor Kobo Vox pretty much obsolete. If you haven't ever used one, it's basically a very low powered Android tablet running 2.3 - primary function as an ebook reader - but pretty slow to even do that well. I searched for a remote app for it to control my xbox... seems only this one will work... and I like the look and feel of it. The jsonrpc requirement has left us xbox xbmc users behind. Installs and works great on my Vox.

So things look pretty much perfect. I can connect, quickly browse my directory structure and select a song to play. A single song. One at a time.

That's where my problem begins... how do I select the first song in an album and have it automatically move onto the next song? It's like it is adding it to a playlist that consists of 1 song (similar to Settings --> Music --> Playback --> Queue songs on selection - which I do not have enabled).

A now playing screen with this functionality would be perfect... but I'd be darn happy (and this would work perfectly for me) if I could just select a song and have it automatically move to the next song when the first one finishes. Is there a setting or something I'm missing?

Great job on this app, BTW. Thanks for your help!

[whufclee]

I've still not used the app but in xbmc you have to bring up the context menu on the album and click play otherwise it will only play the song you selected. An option to play an album might be a good addition to the remote app if it's not already there though. I personally always thought the playing of albums could do with some improvement in the xbmc gui as it's not very user friendly but I never did get around to making a suggestion for it!

[Dan Dar3]

@travandalex
Thanks for the post, that was very well explained, and I think I know what you mean. It's not you, it's the app handling music in quite a limited way. I may get to making a full "now playing" section in the main screen eventually, but for now from what you're saying I'm thinking to add a new tab in the Music section called "Playlist", where to show a list of existing playlists (Q:\UserData\Playlists\Music) or maybe start a new playlist (or start with the existing unnamed playlist contents). I'm also thinking of a control section at the top with buttons for play / pause / stop / skip that'll allow you control the playlist, as well as touching an entry to start playing and continue from there. To add entries I might modify the "file list" so that on short touch it will still play the item and maybe on long touch to add it to the playlist?

Let me make some changes, you'll get to try them and see how you feel about them, and we'll move it from there. Thanks for the feedback, that should help me improve it, keep them going. If you want to contact me directly with finer details or anything, mail me at dan.dar33 at gmail.com

@whufclee
The app does allow you to view an album and clicking on it's thumb will queue and start playing the album contents, but it's got the same problem travandalex mentioned above for a single song, it will replace the existing playlist with the contents of the selected album, so it's sort of the same thing, one album at a time.

[travandalex]

Hey Dan

Thanks for the super quick reply! Very excited about being able to have input into the development of this app. Us xbox users have been sadly left behind by modern XBMC implementations. But for something like a music player... the XBOX is a great 'appliance' solution and I prefer it to my cumbersome HTPC XBMC implementation.

For my needs (and I assume anyone who either isn't using the Library function for one reason or another), it is essentially all about a simple way to add a file or folder to a playlist (in the FILES view). A third tab (PLAYLIST) at the top would be excellent... especially with a way (button? long press/hold?) to add the file or folder in the current view to that playlist. Even a 'behind the scenes' approach - which creates a hidden (to the user) playlist that essentially just plays the current file and those following it in the list when a song is selected - would work great for my needs. And if it is easier to implement (by not having to create a visual playlist tab and the associated play controls)... that's all good. I assume this is a logical desire for users... to be able to select a song (typically the first song in a list/album) and have the following songs play automatically.

A scrolling pop up of "Now Playing" similar to the pop up (accessed by pulling left in the files view while playing) in XBMC showing Album Cover, Track Name, Band Name, Track Length, Previous/Next... is a wish list item.

I'm more than happy to be a tester for the app. I've got my Vox running 2.3 (Gingerbread) and a Acer Icona a500 running 4.0.3. (Ice Cream Sandwich) if that can be of any use to you.

I'll email you my address just in case it is any use to you.

Thanks!

Trav