14 DAY TRIAL // OpenELEC, an embedded operating system built specifically to run XBMC, the open source entertainment media hub, is now at version 2.0.
OpenELEC 2.0 is the first stable version ever released by the developers and it includes direct XVBA (X-Video Bitstream Acceleration) support.
The implementation of this technology makes it possible to playback every H.264 and VC-1 encoded content directly, when running on AMD Systems with integrated UVD (Unified Video Decoder). This method greatly reduces CPU usage.
In fact, OpenELEC will run on most Intel and AMD 32-bit and 64-bit hardware. The developers provide a generic version and several alternate builds, for various platforms such as Intel, Nvidia ION and AMD Fusion,
OpenELEC 2.0 also comes with support for most wireless and wired network cards, along with extensive support for legacy and bleeding edge GPUs. The distribution is built using Linux Kernel 3.2.31 and selected up-to-date Graphics Drivers.
The team behind OpenELEC also operates their own XBMC add-on repository, which allows users to expand the functionality of the distribution. The add-ons in the repository include PVR functionality (including DVB and IP TV) and BitTorrent downloading.
Highlights of OpenELEC 2.0:
• New native high-performance image compression for JPEG and PNG image types have been implemented; • Default PVR support based on XBMC 11.0 is included by support; • Native XVBA support that replaces the old VAAPI temporary solution in OpenELEC 1.x was also introduced; • Accessing the \\OPENELEC\Logfiles SAMBA share automatically creates an archive file that contains essential log-files for troubleshooting; • Automatic framebuffer detection has been added; • XBMC now includes native NFS, AFP, CIFS and SSH share support • More supported hardware, like DVB drivers, Remotes, Soundcards, has been added; • Xorg-server has been updated to version 1.12.4; • Mesa was updated to version 8.0.4; • Blu Ray, DVD, and CDDA support has been added.
A complete list of changes can be found in the official announcement.
Download OpenELEC 2.0 right now from Softpedia.