Settings/System

General topics

Settings

System

Video output

Display Mode Display XBMC in a window, or fullscreen on the selected screen. Resolution Changes the resolution that the User Interface is displayed in. Use a fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen ...when active (Windows only). Does not use the DirectX fullscreen mode. The main benefit is for multi-screen configurations, where XBMC can be used at the same time as other applications without automatically minimizing. Uses a bit more resources and playback may be slightly less smooth. Blank other displays In a multi-screen configuration, the screens where XBMC is not displayed are blacked out. Vertical blank sync This eliminates vertical tearing. Video calibration... See #Video calibration... LCD/VFD ?

Video calibration...

Note: Always adjust your hardware display settings before XBMC's settings (such as overscan, etc). This screen allows you to calibrate the User Interface by adjusting the overscan. Use this tool if the image being displayed is too large or small for your display.
Simply adjust the screen so that the arrows are in the top left and bottom right corners and that the entire frame is visible on screen.

It offers the ability to adjust:

• The overscan of the video - How close to the edges of the screen that the image is displayed.
• The position where subtitles are displayed.
• The pixel ratio allows you calibrate the aspect ratio at which videos are played back.

• 

  Upper left corner

• 

  Lower right corner

• 

  Subtitles position

• 

  Aspect ratio

Audio output

Audio

System

See also: Settings/Music

Setting		Description	Setting Level	Device type
Audio Output Device		Select the device to be used for playback of audio that has been decoded such as mp3	Standard	All
Number of channels		Select the number of channels supported by the audio connection, or the number of speakers if connected by analog connections. Note - Number of channels is expressed as the number of PCM channels that the audio connection support, so although SPDIF only supports 2.0 PCM channels it can still output multichannel 5.1 audio using a compressed format such as Dolby Digital. This setting does not apply to passthrough audio.	Basic	HDMI/Analog-Speakers
Output configuration	Fixed	Select how the properties of the audio output are set: [Fixed] - output properties are set to the specified sampling rate & speaker configuration at all times [Optimized] - output properties are set at the start of playback and will not change if the properties of the source changes [Best Match] - output properties are set to always be as close a match to the source properties as possible	Advanced	All
	Optimized
	Best Match
Limit sampling rate (kHz)		Maximum sampling rate for spdif or sampling rate for fixed output configuration	Advanced	SPDIF
Stereo upmix		Select to enable upmixing of 2 channel audio to the number of audio channels specified by the channel configuration	Advanced	All
Normalize levels on downmix		Select how audio is downmixed, for example from 5.1 to 2.0: [Enabled] maintains the dynamic range of the original audio source when downmixed however volume will be lower [Disabled] maintains volume level of the original audio source however the dynamic range is compressed. Note - Dynamic range is the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds in a audio source	Advanced	All
Resample quality	Low	Select the quality of resampling for cases where the audio output needs to be at a different sampling rate from that used by the source [Low] is fast and will have minimal impact on system resources such as the use of the CPU [Medium] & [High] will use progressively more system resources	Advanced	All
	Medium
	High
Keep audio device alive		Select the behaviour when no sound is required for either playback or GUI sounds: [Always] - continuous inaudible signal is output, this keeps the receiving audio device alive for any new sounds, however this might also block sound from other applications [1- 10 Minutes] - same as Always except that after the selected period of time audio enters a suspended state [Off] - audio output enters a suspended state. Note - sounds can be missed if audio enters suspended state	Standard	All
Play GUI sounds		Configure how interface sounds are handled, such as menu navigation and important notifications	Basic	All
Enable passthrough		Select to enable the passthrough audio options for playback of encoded audio such as Dolby Digital	Advanced	HDMI/SPDIF
Passthrough output device		Select the device to be used for playback of encoded formats, these are any of the formats below in the 'capable receiver' options	Advanced	HDMI/SPDIF
Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver		Select this option if your receiver is capable of decoding AC3 streams	Advanced	HDMI/SPDIF
- Enable Dolby Digital transcoding		Select this if the audio out connection only supports multichannel audio as Dolby Digital 5.1, such as an SPDIF connection. If your system supports LPCM multichannel sound via HDMI then leave this disabled. This option is only available where the number of channels is 2.0, for SPDIF this is set automatically so this option is always available, if using HDMI then you may need to change the Number of Channels setting to 2.0.	Advanced	HDMI/SPDIF
Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) capable receiver		Select this option if your receiver is capable of decoding E-AC3 streams	Advanced	HDMI
DTS capable receiver		Select this option if your receiver is capable of decoding DTS streams	Advanced	HDMI/SPDIF
TrueHD capable receiver		Select this option if your receiver is capable of decoding TrueHD streams	Advanced	HDMI
DTS-HD capable receiver		Select this option if your receiver is capable of decoding DTS-HD streams	Advanced	HDMI

IMPORTANT NOTE:

The "capable receiver" options relate only to the passthrough of audio to another device such as an AVR, where that device must support decoding of the format. Before leaving any "capable receiver" option enabled check to make sure that both the playback device running XBMC (e.g. HTPC) and the connected device (e.g. AVR) both support that format.

If you have a "capable receiver" option enabled that your device does not support then this will result in poor playback of video typically with a very low frames-per-second and no audio, so for example if the TrueHD capable receiver option were enabled then make sure that the playback device can passthrough TrueHD and that the connected device can decode TrueHD, if either of the devices do not support TrueHD then the TrueHD capable receiver option MUST be left disabled.

For any format where the "capable receiver" option is not selected, XBMC will still playback any content containing those audio types, however instead of the audio being passed through, XBMC will decode audio and then send the audio in a compatible format.

If connected directly to a TV be aware that TV are not compatible with DTS, TrueHD or DTS-HD, typically the only encoded format a TV will be compatible with is AC3.

Input devices

Note: The content of this screen largely depends on the input devices that XBMC detects.

Remote control sends keyboard presses When activated, your keyboard arrows will move the selection on the virtual keyboard. When deactivated, they will move the cursor from your text. Enable mouse and Touch Screen support If deactivated, XBMC will ignore all mouse movements and clicks.

Internet access

Use an HTTP proxy server to access the internet If your internet connection uses a proxy, configure it here. - Server Proxy server - Port Defines the port of the proxy server - Username Defines the username used for the proxy server - Password Defines the password used for the proxy server Internet connection bandwidth limitation If you have limited bandwidth available, select a suitable value here and XBMC will try to keep to these limits. ?

Power saving

See also: Settings/Appearance#Screensaver

Put display to sleep when idle Turns off display when idle. Useful for TVs that turn off when there is no display signal detected, but you don't want to suspend/shutdown the whole computer. Selectable from 5 minutes to 120 minutes. Shutdown function timer Sleeps the computer when idle. Selectable from 5 minutes to 120 minutes. Shutdown function Defines what "Shutdown" will do by default. Can be set to actually shutdown, suspend, minimize, or quit.

XBMC also has a "Custom shutdown timer" selectable from the power icon on the home screen, or from the shutdown menu (press S on a keyboard).

Debugging

Main page: Log file

Enable debug logging Toggles debug log on / off. Useful for troubleshooting. Screenshot folder Folder used to save screenshots taken within XBMC. (see Keyboard controls for the screenshot key for your OS)

Master lock

See also: Media sources#Locking and Profiles

Note: The Master Lock options are ONLY available while using the Default User profile.

Master lock code and settings Opens the Master Lock dialog, where you can configure your Master Lock options. Ask For Master Lock Code on Startup If enabled, the master lock code is required to unlock XBMC on startup

Master lock settings

Master Lock Allows you to set the master lock password. Can be one of three types: Numeric Password - Enter a Numeric Password using the On Screen Keyboard Gamepad Button Combo - Enter a series of buttons using the Gamepad Full-Text Password - Enter a plain-text password using the On Screen Keyboard With the Master Lock, you can restrict access to the following sections when selected: Lock Music Section Lock Video Section Lock Pictures Section Lock Programs and Scripts Section Lock File Manager Lock Settings

Locked out?

XBMC will give you three tries when you need to enter a lock/password to access something that is locked. If you max out these three tries then just quit XBMC and re-open it to get three more tries. The Master Lock code is stored in the "profiles.xml" file in the userdata folder. Should you get locked out, you can delete or edit the "profiles.xml" file.