In our last Beta Roundup, I lamented the challenges of keeping up with new releases, and the last week has proven just how true that can be. Not only have the XBMC and OpenELEC teams been busy this week, so have the MediaPortal and Xbian teams.

XBMC 12 "Frodo" is coming periously close to a full release with the introduction of Release Candidate 1. As a release candidate, XBMC 12 RC1 is feature complete, so anyone holding off on a download in hopes of seeing everything that XBMC 12 will have to offer, now is the time jump in. There are still bugs to work out, but the forums are open to help and the XBMC team is taking tickets on Trac.

 At this point, XBMC 12 is entirely feature complete. All changes from this point forward will exclusively include fixes for replicable bugs necessary to reach final release.

XBMC

 Of course, no XBMC project would be complete with a Live version. As with the XBMC 11 beta cycle, the Live release has been running a bit under the radar compared to the mainline, but that changed with the release of XBMC Live 9.04 "Babylon" RC1. With native MCE remote support and duduke's usplash theme for seamless visual startups, the next version of XBMC Live is looking quite nice.

Finally, the XBMC repositories sources are already configured and topfs2’s cool script “Aptitude” is included, so updating XBMC to follow the new releases will hopefully be easy!

XBMC

Continuing their lockstep development cycle with XBMC, the OpenELEC team dropped Beta 5 of OpenELEC 3.0. The OpenELEC team may not be ready to declare release candidate status, but given their rapid progression, it probably isn't far off.

This Beta updates XBMC to XBMC Frodo Release Candidate 1, and fixes some issues found in our Beta 4 release like the issue where all our Addons are marked as "broken". 

OpenELEC

The big new beta release of the week came courtesy of the MediaPortal team. MediaPortal 1.3.0 Beta is now available. MediaPortal 1.3.0 Beta brings new preloaded skins, including the highly anticipated Titan skin, preliminary Windows 8 support, and a greatly improved "Settings" section that allows users to change most of the client settings from within the MediaPortal 10ft interface. Unfortunately, this capablility does not extend to the TV Server settings, but there is alway 1.4.0 to look forward to.

Just in time for the holidays, we release theBeta Versionof our new major release,MediaPortal 1.3.0!

A lot has changed since the release of MediaPortal 1.2.3. Too much to fit everything into one news. So we will focus on what has changed since the 1.3.0 Alpha release. If you want to find out what was added in the 1.3.0 Alpha release, head over to it's release news, or view all the changes in our wiki: What's New > 1.3.x

MediaPortal

Our last beta for this week's roundup is a bit off the beaten path. Xbian, one of the larger XBMC for Raspberry Pi projects, is getting a new website, and the Xbian team is inviting users to beta test the new site. The new site represents a significant overhaul, so if you have a few minutes, head over and click around and let the Xbian team know if something doesn't work.

XBian is developing a new website that might replace the current one. There are still some things to work out, but we would like to receive some feedback in the proces. Please have a look at Xbian.org Beta 

Xbian

I knew that Ceton would fix the issues with the Echo, but I did not expect the to make up ground as quickly as they have. While there is still some work to do, what is probably the most serious issue with the Windows Media Extender seems to be fixed in the latest (2012.1212.1449) firmware currently making it's way through validation. I've tested a few 1080i (interlaced) files so far, and it's looking good (literally) for both WMC TV viewing and the Echo.

Microsoft has announced the arrival of 10 new entertainment and content apps for the Xbox 360 as part of their plan to take over the living room via the game console. The new SkyDrive app, which serves up photos and videos stored on a user's SkyDrive account, is the only app that will be available across all regions. The other nine apps, which include access to content providers such as Maxim, VEVO, CinemaNow, and CNET, are either launching in or expanding into specific territories. Today's new apps are just beginning, as Microsoft has also announced that they have another 40 apps on tap for early 2013 that will add content from providers such as PBS, Flixster, CW, and Slacker Radio. To date, no media streamer has offered the breadth of providers and feeds that Roku has been able to put together, but it would seem that Microsoft has plans to change things.

The Xbox 360 is being overrun by apps, following the model established by Windows 8and Windows Phone. Today, Microsoft announced 10 new apps. And over 40 more are coming in early 2013.

Supersite for Windows

In what must be an attempt to define a B-School case study in how to triage a product launch, Ceton announced today that they are extending the return period to 90 days for everyone who buys an Echo before January 1, 2013, doubling the warranty to two years and defining the purchase date for beta participants as November 26 - giving everyone until the end of February to make up their mind on the Windows Media Center Extender. Obviously this buys them more time to get everything working right, but it's also fantastic to see a company being honest and putting the customer first.

 That level of customer passion is a precious asset to attain and even more valuable to hold on to.  We know the launch of the Echo hasn’t lived up to the standards you expect of us and that we set for ourselves.  We won’t make excuses or try to spin a story about new typical new product glitches.  The bottom line is that the Echo isn’t performing to the level we expect and we want you to know that we stand behind our products and are working non-stop to make things better.  Those of you who have had an Echo since the beta program have seen us roll out some significant improvements over the last few weeks but we’re not yet where we want to be in terms of performance, stability and features.  We’re confident that, in the end, everyone who purchased an Echo will be glad they did.

Ceton

It's great when a product launch goes perfectly, but it doesn't always and what separates a good company from the rest is how well they handle the criticism and communicate with their customers. In this case it's Ceton who is having to talk Echo - and I think they did a great job outlining the current issues. Unfortunately, there isn't a timeline for when the most serious set will be resolved though. Head over to their blog for the full post.

The Echo may look like a tiny, seemingly-simple device but in reality it’s a large and complex project.  It involves hundreds of different components, many of them custom-designed by us, from dozens of partners around the world.  Like any complex project, it’s a significant effort to make sure all the pieces come together at the same time in order to have a flawless launch.  Despite our best efforts, we know now that we didn't achieve that in this case.  While we think the Echo is a good product today, the team has been working around the clock to make it the great product we know our customers demand and that we demand of ourselves.

Ceton