My Five Favorite XBMC Add-Ons
Subtitles
System-> Add-ons->Repositories->Official XBMC.org Add-on Repository -> Subtitles -> XBMC Subtitles
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=75437
The Subtitles add-on lets you search for missing subtitles for your movies in any language right from within XBMC. Via the add-on configuration, you can choose which website(s) to search for subtitles. At the time of this writing there are 29 different sites to choose from in a plethora of languages, including fan-favorites opensubtitles.org, sublight.si and subscene.com.
As you can see in the screenshot, Subtitles returns results mostly from scene groups. It can take a couple of tries to find subtitles that are perfectly synced, but there’s almost always a ton of options to choose from and subtitle files are tiny so downloading a few to try isn’t a big deal.
Advanced Launcher
System-> Add-ons->Repositories->Agelscry Add-on Repository -> Program Add-Ons-> Advanced Launcher
Advanced Launcher is used to launch programs from within XBMC. It really shines when used to launch different emulators for classic gaming systems. It does a great job at creating libraries for ROMS and has a bunch of configuration options for playing with the look and feel of things.
YouTube
System-> Add-ons->Repositories->Official XBMC.org Add-on Repository ->Video Add-Ons ->YouTube
http://code.google.com/p/youtubexbmc/
The YouTube add-on is essential for anyone who does a lot of entertaining. Time and time again, a party with friends has lapsed into suggesting stupid stuff on Youtube, and having that functionality right in XBMC is fantastic. The plugin allows you to login with your existing YouTube account, and gives you all the functionality that goes with that: subscribing/unsubscribing to channels, adding/removing contacts and favorites.
TV Show Next-Aired
System-> Add-ons->Repositories->Official XBMC.org Add-on Repository -> Video Add-Ons -> TV Show – Next Aired
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=79493
This script adds a great little calendar view where you can see the times and dates of upcoming episodes of TV shows in your library. Also has a per-TV show view.
Favorite Skin: Transparency!
System-> Add-ons->Repositories->Official XBMC.org Add-on Repository ->Skins ->Transparency!
http://xbmc.org/skins/transparency/
This skin has more configuration options than any other skin I’ve seen. Also, it supports Subtitles and TV Show Next-Aired among a plethora of other customization options
Very helpful, thanks. I wouldn’t put YouTube in Top5 as there are many more cool addons.