XBMC not running well :(

Madjackjr

Hi there
I'm new to making your own media center. I had an old laptop lying around and thought I'd make use of it. After a bit of looking and asking around I was recommended to try XBMC and try the Openelec version of it. I installed it and it ran smoothly. However none of the add-ons worked right I kept getting errors like cannot connect to server etc. This was the case with both video and music, the only one that worked was the weather. So rather than messing with settings and spending hours trying to find answers I installed XBMCbuntu to see if it worked better. This time XBMC runs very slow the mouse is next to impossible to use, it just jumps around the screen. I tried the add-ons just to see and they work....kind of. Sound is fine but I only get a frame every 2 seconds or so with the video. I logged into the Ubuntu OS and it works fine from what I can see. It's XBMC that's not working right.

I'd appreciate and thoughts or recommendations here

The specs
Dell Inspiron 6400 (8 years old) 1GB ram (had 2 but second ram slot no longer works) Intel Centrino Duo T2500 @ 2.00GHz.

P.S. Don't know if this means much but when I go to System info I notice that the CPUs are running at 99% and 6% or a variation of the total. In other words over 50% combined total. This doesn't strike me a normal but then again I'm not the most tech savvy.

degsie

Have a look over http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Supported_hardware and see how your laptop compares. Did you check with task manager to see which processes are taking the cpu to 99%?

Five Lamps

Also the add ons are generally all third party. It's up to the third parties to maintain their ad ons.

Also if you are using ad ons to access pirated material e.g. movies you can expect a pi$$ poor experience and it's nothing to do with XBMC.

Dublinflyer

Madjackjr wrote: »

The specs
Dell Inspiron 6400 (8 years old) 1GB ram (had 2 but second ram slot no longer works) Intel Centrino Duo T2500 @ 2.00GHz.

I don't think that laptop will be up to the job, especially if you are looking at hi def content.

squonk

Not surprised it's slow OP. That's an old machine and, running old hardware as well. Personally I'd have been happy once playback and useability were smooth. Addons are a compeltely differenct story. Some can be quite resource intensive, certainly from what I've noticed on Plex anyway. I'd buy a cheap more modern machine or one of the new small fottprint boxes going around like the Nuc or the Ouya.

Knasher

If Openelec ran correctly and xbmcbuntu doesn't, then I'd guess the most likely difference is if openelec included some driver that xbmcbuntu doesn't. Most likely candidate is the video card driver.

Johnboy1951

What version of Openelec did you install?

There was a change in servers for addons etc IIRC so that might have affected your experience.

Openelec should not have a problem with that hardware I think.

Madjackjr

Hi fokes thanks for the replies
So since the first post I've downloaded the latest version of openelec i386 and it is running grand with no problems and addons are working now. The copy I had before migh not have been the correct one or something. As for the XBMCbunto not running well I believe that is down to the hard ware. It is an old machine by todays standard. Despite its age I am fairly pleased with its performance a lot of stuff I have is in mkv format and it played most of them. The real test was a copy of Leon I have that is 15 Gb in size (don't ask why I have a copy so big) lets just say is struggled with it. On a side note the same laptop with windows 7 could play it no problem with media player classic with CCCP. As I said this was an exercise in making use of an old (but beloved) laptop. In the future I do plan on building a propper media center.
I know this is a big ask (as I've done the resurch) but has anyone had luck with a work around for Netflix with openelec or is it a pipe dream?
Agin cheers for the replies
John

Johnboy1951

Madjackjr wrote: »

Hi fokes thanks for the replies
So since the first post I've downloaded the latest version of openelec i386 and it is running grand with no problems and addons are working now. The copy I had before migh not have been the correct one or something. As for the XBMCbunto not running well I believe that is down to the hard ware. It is an old machine by todays standard. Despite its age I am fairly pleased with its performance a lot of stuff I have is in mkv format and it played most of them. The real test was a copy of Leon I have that is 15 Gb in size (don't ask why I have a copy so big) lets just say is struggled with it. On a side note the same laptop with windows 7 could play it no problem with media player classic with CCCP. As I said this was an exercise in making use of an old (but beloved) laptop. In the future I do plan on building a propper media center.
I know this is a big ask (as I've done the resurch) but has anyone had luck with a work around for Netflix with openelec or is it a pipe dream?
Agin cheers for the replies
John

A pipe dream for the moment, IMO ....... Netflix requires Silverlight which MS have not made for Linux and there is no full browser in Openelec for such as Pipelight plugin.

Madjackjr

Ya read that about sliverlight and it's not actually the sliverlight thats the problem because netflix runs on linux eg android etc. The problem is the DRM ( digital rights manager) I read of solutions using a combo of firefox, Wine and a XBMCNetflix addon wondering if anyone tried it?

Johnboy1951

Madjackjr wrote: »

Ya read that about sliverlight and it's not actually the sliverlight thats the problem because netflix runs on linux eg android etc. The problem is the DRM ( digital rights manager) I read of solutions using a combo of firefox, Wine and a XBMCNetflix addon wondering if anyone tried it?

As far as I am aware, Netflix does not run on Linux natively ...... it requires Win libs/DLLs or such, and Wine to emulate the environment ....... there is a browser plugin, which includes a specialised Wine, which is reported to work in some browsers.

Openelec does not have a browser to try the plugin on ...... but maybe someone has built an addon for it which includes a browser with the Netflix plugin ....... haven't heard of it TBH.

Madjackjr

I see. Oh well I'm not stuck but it would have been nice to have it altogether.

ufc pro

Five Lamps wrote: »

Also the add ons are generally all third party. It's up to the third parties to maintain their ad ons.

Also if you are using ad ons to access pirated material e.g. movies you can expect a pi$$ poor experience and it's nothing to do with XBMC.

not true i stream 1080 on the ouya with no problems ta all, movies,tv shows, stuff for the kids, would not change it for the world, its keeping everyone in my house very happy indeed!!