Favorite XBMC Addons / Plug-ins

[eTip]

I have discovered a lot of great XBMC Add-ons recently & thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can share our favorites. I know I am curious what others have discovered. My favorites are below. (Yes, there probably have been identical or similar threads in the past but new Add-ons are coming out almost daily).

Video

1) Navi-X (More movies & tv shows than you can count, usually with cover art & descriptions)
2) FastpassTV (Nearly as good as Navi-X; has movies too)
3) Icefilms (Tons of content but lacks ability to ff/rew or skip forward to where you left off, sometimes requires Captcha)
4) Wimp.com (Funny & interesting videos, updated daily)
5) Crackle (Sony's free TV shows & videos)
Honorable Mentions: Vevo, Vimeo)

Music

1) Muzu TV (Music videos; I just choose a playlist & let it play for hours of commercial free videos)
2) Pandora (Still my favorite Internet radio, but this Add-on leaves a lot to be desired & it's a bit hard to install)
3) mFlow (Great music streaming service; UK based but works for me in the US without proxy)
4) Radiotime (The site & iPhone/iPad app are now called TuneIn Radio. LOVE the site and app but this Add-on hasn't been updated & many stations are missing or won't play. Still useful if the station(s) you are looking for work.)
5) Subsonic (this would be much higher on my list if I had a current use for it. With Subsonic installed on the computer where your music resides, this add-on let's you access your music collection from anywhere - like Audiogalaxy)
Honorable mentions: NPR, GrooveShark (Add-on is unfortunately very hard to navigate), Icecast (Shoutcast replacement), Internet Archive (great live music archive)

Other

Repositories Installer (Once installed, let's you browse & install add-ons most of the repositories *without* having to use your computer & copy the zip file via SSH/SFTP)

MediaStream Redux (Not an Add-on but a skin. Other than Confluence, the only skin that doesn't seem to cause navigation delays on ATV/ATV2 for me.

IMDB+RT (Pulls movies info from IMDB and *Ratings Only* from Rotten Tomatoes)

If you are curious about any of the above beyond what I have explained, I can try to help but really...Google is your friend. See the Python Add-ons section at XBMC.org for installation instructions for most of the above).

 

[bgut1]

etip - Thanks for the excellent list. As for skins that work well with the ATV2, have you tried Transparency? Although not as snappy as Confluence, it works very well for me and offers a lot more eye candy.

 

[kjenyg]

lovin icefilms....gonna try out x-films as well..


Can mention veetle plugin as well for thos of you who are interested in streaming premier league and more!

 

[irishv]

Not to hijack the thread, but here are my most used Plex plugins. Many are available on both Plex and XMBC, I think.
Video
- ESPN3 - Is plugin is what let me drop cable.
- Netflix - We're still only using a free trial, but everything about the plugin is great.
- HDHomeRun - Live TV inside Plex is nice, although I still use EyeTV for the EPG and DVR.
- HGTV - The only junk TV I watch.
- Sesame Street - For my daughter.

Music
- Pandora - Interface is terrible, but it works well.
- Live Music Archive - Great for playing a random concert.
- Airplayer - Not really a Plex plugin, but I now use my Mini as an Airplay receiver more than anything else to stream music and podcasts.

Front Seat skin, which is based on the ATV interface.

 

[eTip]

@ irishtv: Hey! This is a XBMC thread! Just kidding of course. I am not a Plex fan but I know that many here are and it's helpful to those that are deciding between the two. Competition is a good thing - even when it comes to free software.

Now, I will hijack my own thread. Why can't we get a decent plugin for Pandora? Better yet, why isn't it native on Apple TV? Heck, Apple basically saved Pandora when they released the App for the iPhone. I would have never guessed that Netflix would be on ATV before Pandora.

@bgut1: I tried Tranparency along with all of the other popular skins. They all seemed to create a lag on the interface that bugged me. I don't use any of the fan art views for the same reason. I customized my backgrounds in MS Redux & am pretty happy with the look & feel. But I do encourage others to check out all of the skins out there. I know there are a lot of skins in development as well and I will likely test more out as they are released.

 

[bgut1]

@bgut1: I tried Tranparency along with all of the other popular skins. They all seemed to create a lag on the interface that bugged me. I don't use any of the fan art views for the same reason. I customized my backgrounds in MS Redux & am pretty happy with the look & feel. But I do encourage others to check out all of the skins out there. I know there are a lot of skins in development as well and I will likely test more out as they are released.

Wouldn't you know that Weather.com+ has been giving me problems today (script errors), so I switched to MS Redux. Even though its not as flashy as Transparency, it is snappier and gets the job done. Thanks for the recommendation eTip.

 

[DaveNinja]

I had not heard of Muzu TV but it sounds great. i'll have to check it out

the LiveStreams xbmc addon can be cool too for news channels

 

[irishv]

Now, I will hijack my own thread. Why can't we get a decent plugin for Pandora? Better yet, why isn't it native on Apple TV? Heck, Apple basically saved Pandora when they released the App for the iPhone. I would have never guessed that Netflix would be on ATV before Pandora.

I completely agree with you here. The one thing Boxee has going for it is a really slick interface for Pandora. I really don't understand why the devs working on XMBC and Plex can't come up with something similar. My guess is that Boxee had some help from the folks at Pandora, but I'm not sure.

@ irishtv: Hey! This is a XBMC thread! Just kidding of course. I am not a Plex fan but I know that many here are and it's helpful to those that are deciding between the two. Competition is a good thing - even when it comes to free software.

Competition certainly is great. Some of the Plex plugin devs work to port new plugins between the two, so I always like to keep an eye on the other side of the fence.

 

[Idgit]

Icefilms is great, except for the lack of rewind. Thanks for the mention of FastpassTV. I didn't know about that one.

I want to like Navi-X, but it's interface is an abomination. It's so bad, it makes me feel angry and violent towards whoever developed it. I sure hope they fix it. Makes me wish I was a developer/designer so I could fix it.

As for the Netflix plugin, it sadly doesn't work in Canada. Apparently the problem is with the Silverlight plugin. It's up to Microsoft to fix the bug so it works with 3rd party apps in Canada.

 

[eTip]

I want to like Navi-X, but it's interface is an abomination. It's so bad, it makes me feel angry and violent towards whoever developed it. I sure hope they fix it. Makes me wish I was a developer/designer so I could fix it.

Heh-heh - I know what you mean. It takes more than a little patience to learn your way around & even then it's not pretty to look at. Oddly, I have come to enjoy looking for movies or shows I may be interested in. Kind of like a treasure hunt. I usually look at "most recently updated" to see what's new. When I find something, I add it to the favorites folder (I like that Navi-x has it's own favorites folder). So, when I am in the mood to watch, I go straight to my favorites - ignoring the chaos of the rest of the interface.

 

[eTip]

Wouldn't you know that Weather.com+ has been giving me problems today (script errors), so I switched to MS Redux. Even though its not as flashy as Transparency, it is snappier and gets the job done. Thanks for the recommendation eTip.

Check out XeeBo - another great skin for AppleTV. It's supposedly a BoXee influenced skin but I was never a BoXee fan and I love this skin. Very simplistic, clean & no lag at all. I am not a fan of the home screen but other than that it's really well done and may be a good option for those that like the cleaner look of the native AppleTV & Plex interface. I may keep it if it passes the "wife test".

 

[newagemac]

Pandora on the iPad Airplayed to the Apple TV or Airport Express is the best Pandora interface available hands down. I wouldn't mind a built in app as a occasional alternative when I don't have an iOS device with me, but I don't think any on tv screen app will be able to top the multitouch interface.

The Pandora iPhone and iPod Touch apps work very well for this as well.

 

[eTip]

New Pandora Addon:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=801752#post801752

Haven't tried it yet but sounds like good news.