After more than two years of constant development and a year of open beta testing, the team of the OpenELEC Project are pleased to announce OpenELEC Version 1.0

OpenELEC is an embedded Linux distribution that aims to allow people to use their Home Theatre PC (HTPC) in the same manner as any other device attached to your TV – like a DVD player or Sky box. Turn on your box, and OpenELEC is ready and waiting in less than 10 seconds – as fast as some DVD players. A simple remote control is all you will need. On top of that, one need not worry about updating OpenELEC, as the software will self-update automatically when connected to the Internet and an update is available. Installing OpenELEC takes less than 5 minutes and requires zero Linux experience. After that, one need merely add one’s media files and preferred addons, and OpenELEC will “just work.”

OpenELEC is designed specifically to run XBMC – an award-winning multimedia hub platform designed to give you the best access to your media possible. Its add-on architecture allows the user to customize XBMC to his or her preferred look-and-feel in mere seconds and add functionality as required. Once installed, OpenELEC requires less than 130MB of space, but supports a diverse array of hardware platforms including low-power NetTops – an ideal partner given the small size and power requirements of current generation NetTops. “There is no easier way to get a more ‘appliance-like’ feel to XBMC than to use OpenELEC,” said Nathan Betzen, Community/Project Manager for Team XBMC.

OpenELEC runs on most Intel and AMD 32-bit and 64-bit machines, but specific builds are available for Intel-based, Nvidia ION-based and AMD Fusion-based systems. Additionally, a specific build has been designed for the Xtreamer Ultra platform in collaboration with OpenELEC’s partner, Xtreamer LTD. OpenELEC supports many wireless and most wired network cards as well as most graphics cards including many of the most bleeding edge GPUs. This is made possible by ensuring that OpenELEC remains up-to-date with some of the latest software available, including Kernel 3.1 (RC10), Xorg-1.10.4 and Mesa 7.11, but still remains as reliable as possible.

Additional Features & Functionality

In addition to the standard features in XBMC (10.1 Dharma), OpenELEC provides additional functionality through XBMC specifically to make running your HTPC as simple as possible. The most significant of these is the OpenELEC Configuration Add-on which allows you to configure system settings like networking configuration, update services, and additional hardware features like LCD displays (if your system supports them. Even better, the Configuration Add-on allows you to configure all these settings using your remote control. Once OpenELEC is installed, you’ll never need your keyboard for your HTPC again.

Since OpenELEC has it’s own repository of add-ons that are maintained by both OpenELEC.tv and by the user community, we have the ability to add many additional features. Current add-ons are available for PVR functionality (including DVB and IP TV), an entire suite of products for newsgroup downloading, BitTorrent support and additional services like rsync. Since we have an open add-on framework, add-ons are also community created and maintained so there will be many new add-ons available in the future to further extend OpenELEC.

 

Graphics Card Support

• ATI (proprietary and open source)
• NVIDIA (proprietary and open source)
• Intel

 

Video Hardware Decode Support

• Intel VAAPI
• NVIDIA VDPAU
• AMD XVBA (via VAAPI)
• Broadcom CrystalHD

 

Network Support

• Most wired and wireless cards are supported
• Up to two devices can be active simultaneously
• Windows (SMB/CIFS), MacOS (AFP), Linux (NFS/SSH/SFTP) shares from NAS servers
• Network Time Protocol (NTP) for time synchronisation
• Samba (Windows network share) server so you can share your files from OpenELEC
• SSH for advanced management

 

Storage Support

• Internal and external hard disks keys connecting by IDE, SATA, eSATA and USB
• Flash-based media including USB keys, Compact Flash and SD Cards
• EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, FAT32, NTFS, HFS, HFS+, JFS, XFS and ReiserFS filesystems

 

Remote Control Support

Receivers from any of the following are supported:
HID Remotes (Boxee, Nyxboard and many others), Windows MCE, ATI X10, IMON, IRTRANS, Nuvoton, Fintek, ENE eHome, ITE8x12, RedRat3,StreamZap and more…

This release is a culmination of effort from many people, but mainly the development team headed by Stephan Raue. Contributions have been made by users and without our large user base who have unwittingly been our test subjects, OpenELEC wouldn’t be what it is today. For that, we are very thankful for the comments, requests, tips and bug-reports that they have submitted to us. Please keep submitting them in the future to continue making OpenELEC even better!

So grab a USB key, install OpenELEC on it and see for yourself why OpenELEC is the best platform for your HTPC.

 

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About OpenELEC

Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center, or OpenELEC for short, is an open source project aimed to turn your computer into a complete XBMC media center. Built for speed and simplicity, anyone can turn a blank PC into a media machine in less than 15 minutes. OpenELEC was originally formed in 2006 centered around Elisa/Moovidia, and was converted to an XBMC base in 2009.

About Xtreamer LTD

Xtreamer LTD was formed by several Korean companies backed up fully by the semi conductor chipset manufacturer and launched under the Mvix chain of partners worldwide. It is their purpose to create a device that will compete with DVD and will become a global leader in its online segmented market. The innovative and cutting edge technology in the design and development of the product is expected to bring about dramatic growth since media players have being widely accepted as a real option for playing HD content on TV.