XBMC 11.0 “Eden” is finally here. That’s right Apple TV users: we finally have a stable release for both Apple TV 1 and the Apple TV 2. There are no more nightlies, betas, or release candidates! If you happen to be one of the new 1080p Apple TV 3 owners out there, feel reassured that when your device is jailbroken this release will also work for you.

Depending on when you last updated your installation you may or may not notice much difference on this release. If you are like me, and you love keeping up to date with the latest that XBMC and its developers have to offer than you will not notice any notable differences between this release and the last release candidate. If, on the other hand, you are one of the many people out there that has remained on Dharma 10.1, waiting patiently for their next stable release, you are in for a pleasant surprise.

What’s in store for users in Eden (11.0), that differs from Dharma (10.0)?

There have been multiple updates to the XBMC installation in this latest release.  Well, quite simply, this release turns your Apple TV into the device you have always wanted it to be! Though there have been many different ways of getting XBMC on your Apple TV’s over the past few years, they have all felt a bit weak. In Dharma 10.0, we were often met with script errors, crashes, and a variety of other errors. With Eden (11.0) you will find a build that feels like it is native to your hardware. The menus are snappier, the backend is much more stable, and even the default skin has been given some serious love and care.

Some of the features that you can look forward to playing with:

1. Extremely customizable default skin – Confluence.
2. A tremendous speed increases, thanks to dirty regions (advancedstterings.xml) and a new JPEG decoder.
3. AirPlay has seen many improvements as well. You can now turn AirPlay off and on from inside XBMC, add password protection, and it has even become much more stable in its ability to stream Audio, Video, and Photos.
4. We have seen improvements to JSON-RPC (api) making iOS remote controls so much better! This gives developers more control over your XBMC installation, which in turn leads to far better third party remotes for your media center. For an example, I would highly recommend XBMC Constellation!
5. Add-on Roll back is a new, interesting, feature as well. Perhaps one that caught my eye more than most was this new ability in Eden. XBMC mentions this new feature on their BLOG saying:

Put simply, just as we believe XBMC is yours, we believe addons are yours as well. Most people leave addon auto-updating enabled, to get the latest and greatest code. But auto-updating can be a double edged sword. What happens when an addon is updated and the user doesn’t like the update? With the program XBMC itself, the user could simply uninstall the most recent version and install an older copy.  With addons, users were out of luck. Until now.

All in all this release is worth the download. If you have not yet done so, you should consider installing XBMC 11.0 Eden as soon as possible. You can download it from here.

umOuch (Andrew Brasher) 

You may also want to read:
AirParrot adds 1080p support for the Apple TV 3
The new 1080p Apple TV 3 proves to be a tough cookie to crack
Apple patent reveals advanced TV remote

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