i have next to no idea how to use this except for keymapping, are there any manuals?
i'm also having trouble playing a DVD
when i insert in an old DVD, it plays right off the bat, but if i insert one with interactual or pc friendly, there is just the image and i don't know what to do

There are no manuals for xbmc that I know of, just xbmp. Check their site. I use dvd-x to play dvd's, so I never experienced that problem.