XBOX Media Player 2.0

smashr writes "If you can't afford the new Windows XP Media Center edition, why not grab yourself a modded XBOX, and check out the XBOX Media Player 2.0. The official site has some screen shots and previews. I am sure Gates will be real upset about this one. Somehow $300 for an x-box setup is cheaper than the $2000 XP boxes."

Comments

Still has some bugs to iron out

[Anonymous Coward]

But impressive nonetheless. Beats the crap outta the Dreamcast Divx player. Although my personal fav is the SNES emulator, it runs without a hitch, and is offically the coolest thing a nerd could ever want.

Even Less Price

[Anonymous Coward]

And with about 100 USD less price, you can get Walmart el-cheapo PC with Linux. Install mplayer, xmms, and so forth and you're set.

Re:Even Less Price

[Masami Eiri]

Riiiight.... since when does Wal*Mart sell $100 PCs?

Re:Even Less Price

[moorg]

Ok, I'll bite.

Wal-Mart.com has two different computers for $200.

$300 (as quoted in the story) - $100 (as in this guys post) = $200 (Wal-mart.com computer)

Re:Even Less Price

[matguy]

I believe the author of the previous post meant $200 ($100 less than the $300 the article states as the price for XBOX)

Re:Even Less Price

[Gyorg_Lavode]

I use a computer w/ a cyrix C3 733. (I'm poor. I couldn't afford a real processor.) They are SLOW. They can't decode DVD's w/o the help of my hardware decoder card. Winamp3 really pushes the box to the limit. I don't think you'd want one for a media box w/o assistance hardware.

Re:Even Less Price

[moonbender]

Winamp3 really pushes the box to the limit.

Oh c'mon. DVD decoding is one thing, but my 120 MHz Cyrix could realtime decode MP3s (if barely), and it certainly didn't push my old 300 MHz Celeron to its limit. Heck, even PDAs decode MP3s in realtime. I'm pretty sure that $200 PC could play DivX without a hiccup.

Re:Even Less Price

[ksuMacGyver]

I played mp3's on a Pentium 75mhz computer with no problems whatsoever...even from MS Windows!

Re:Even Less Price

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but the story is wrong - the xbox sells for 200.

Re:Even Less Price

[Gyorg_Lavode]

It doesn't have trouble doing the MP3 decoding, but managing the 25,000 song playlist, the winamp3 media browser, the scope, and the xml skin push it.

Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Chris_Stankowitz]

But impressive nonetheless. Beats the crap outta the Dreamcast Divx player. Although my personal fav is the SNES emulator, it runs without a hitch, and is offically the coolest thing a nerd could ever want. ---

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Anonymous Coward]

OMFG, this guy simply pasted verbatim an AC post before it that was smacked down to -1, redundant. please mod this homosexual down.

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be new. Welcome to Slashdot.

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Anonymous Coward]

Comment #4738937.

Maybe he was the AC though.. but the -1 compared to the +5 is odd.

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[ChazeFroy]

Why pay $300 for the Xbox when it will be on sale for $200 this Friday at Walmart? Thanks to fatwallet.com for posting this, even though they had to take it down.

- XBOX with 3 games: Jetset Radio Future, Sega GT 2002, and Amped: $199.94

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[ovapositor]

Is this sale to be the friday after thanksgiving? And is this in any Walmart or just online at walart.com?

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Anonymous Coward]

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=45877&cid=4738 937

Also check the date... the AC posted 2 minutes earlier. Grandparent probably realized he was not logged in and posted again though.

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[00_NOP]

Hold ona a minute. If youa re interested in running free software and such like, don't bother buying an Xbox at all. Buy a dreamcast, or better still buy one and become a Dreamcast hacker. If we have just a fraction of the interest in this piece of ia32 garbage....well you know the score.

A DC is a great piece of kit for a nerd - it's cheap, it's different (SH4 and not just another pentium) and it's hugely flexible. So go and buy one :->

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Anonymous Coward]

And how exactly do I add a 120 GB hard drive to my dreamcast?

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, put your money where your mouth is! Else, shut up!

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[monthos]

all xbox's that i have seen since march have been $199.99, at kmart (where i work) best buy, circuit city, walmart, everywhere.....

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[Anonymous Coward]

i understand where this guy is coming from, yet he does seem kind of an ass, telling people what to tinker around with, and the dreamcast is dieing man, even in the development world, no work on linuxdc has been done lately, or talked about for that matter, and on netbsd's side, nothing but a small vmu driver has been released. other than that, Kalisto OS has been maintained but nothing spectacular added. Im sorry to say dude, its pretty much over, and while i am aware of the possibility of adding a hard drive to teh dreamcast is possible now with even more hacks, it doesnt have the speed of the hard drive, or processing power to make it useable.

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[nelsonal]

And for the past month or so, you could get a bundle including two games and a small controller, the newer Japanese controller, it has a layout similar to the play station analog controllers.

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[mobets]

Yeah, and then there was the Yahoo group about it. but it 'dissapeared' around 2:43pm on friday (that is the time I on the last e-mail). I tried to go to the site that evening, and was greeted with a mesage that the group didn't exist. I went to my group membership page, and the Black friday group wasn't there any more. Yahoo could have at least given us some sort of explanation.

Re:Still has some bugs to iron out.

[00_NOP]

No work on LinuxDC has been carried out? Are you smoking crack again?

What about a 2.5 kernel port? Got that on your fscking Xbox yet then?

The DC Linux port (2.4) is quite mature and in the last year a sound driver, light gun driver, rumblepak driver, various flash (mapping) drivers and a new filesystem for the vmu have been added. What, exactly, is it that you want to see added and are you just one of those wannabes that never writes a line of code but just likes to moan about other people?

modded xboxes

[chunkwhite86]

While a modded XBOX seems like a cool inexpensive PC, I feel that it's more trouble than it's worth.

If Billy G. does not want you to mod his XBOX, he will continually roll out new schemes and plans to try and foil you. Sounds like just a big pain to me. For the same money, you could go buy one of those Walmart/Lindows PC's and load a copy of Mandrake or Redhat on it to achieve a low cost useful PC.

Just my 2 cents.

Re:modded xboxes

[DBordello]

He tried. He released a new version of the xbox. Something in the kernel changed. Now you can use the same mods as before! just need a new bios on it. db

Re:modded xboxes

[MonTemplar]

For the same money, you could go buy one of those Walmart/Lindows PC's and load a copy of Mandrake or Redhat on it to achieve a low cost useful PC.

The difference, of course, is that you can fit an Xbox in your front room alongside the TV and VCR.

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

While a modded XBOX seems like a cool inexpensive PC, I feel that it's more trouble than it's worth.

If you had 200 bucks and were a soldering ninja like me, you wouldn't say that =). XBox does NTSC, 480p, 720p, and more. The dongle-free software region-free DVD player works flawlessly, and looks great on my friends 53" HDTV. Halo at HD resolutions is a religious experience, especially when it is on the hard drive of the XBox. A PC solution using linux that could do the same is going to cost you a lot more than $200 bucks plus games =).

Re:modded xboxes

[codeMonkeyWannabe]

I did just that. Put Redhat 7.3 on the cheapest one ($199), added a rear exhaust fan, and now it works great as a firewall/router and serves up mpeg1 copies of my VHS movies to all the computers on my home network. Wal-Mart may be a big corporate ogre but MS is still the biggest corporate ogre. Besides XBox technology will be obselete in 6 months... oh wait, 3 months... oh wait...

Re:modded xboxes

[Rew190]

As obvious as it sounds, don't forget lots of people buy XBox's to play it's native games (which are getting better and better). If you already have an XBox, why would you want to invest another few hundred dollars for a Walmart PC? You've already got the hardware right there.

Besides, most of the XBox apps seem to be geared to stuff that was meant to be viewed on a TV instead of a monitor, such as emulators, divx/media players, etc.

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

i know you slash-dotters might bash me for this question....however is it possible to load windows 2k on that wal-mart machine...has anyone had success?

Re:modded xboxes

[eatdave13]

Nope, Wal-Mart is in fact, the largest ogre.

Re:modded xboxes

[Nickus]

Build a box based on VIA EPIA. It costs basically the same but you don't have to deal with any stinkin modchips. Take a look at http://www.mini-itx.com for more ideas.

Re:modded xboxes

[Psx29]

I honestly agree with the points you make. However, I am assuming the xbox is much quieter then an average PC, thus making it much better for playing back divx movies. I know I can't stand divx because my pc is so damn loud...and making a quiet pc or using a laptop is very costly. Now I just need to see for myself how loud the xbox is to make a judgement...not that I would ever buy one anyway.

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

I know I can't stand divx because my pc is so damn loud..

Dude, you shouldn't have gotten an Athlon....

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

Fans make noise. Processors don't.

P4s run hotter than Athlons anyhow.

Re:modded xboxes

[mrpuffypants]

i definitely agree with the games getting better... in the last couple of days i've given up a ridiculous amount of time to playing splinter cell

VERY good game

Re:modded xboxes

[ziplux]

Since when is making a PC quiet costly? Get some quite intake/exhaust fans for like $5 or $10 a piece, get a Seagate Barracuda IV to replace your current hard drive, and get a large, high CFM, low noise fan for your proc. You could even get a few potentiometers and put them in serries with your case fans, so you can adjust their speed and thus their noise level.

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the XBOX is quite loud for a set top solution. I've heard MUCH quieter PC's. They just didn't want to fork the extra money to use larger fans at lower rpm's, or they couldn't afford the real estate inside the box. Hopefully, next generation products will take this approach, even if they do have to be made slightly larger.

Re:modded xboxes

[Joe Tie.]

I've been surpressing a desire to get an xbox soley for the emulators and media player for a while now. Then it hit me that with one of the wallmart PCs I'd be getting something better suited for the task. Spend a couple days writing a nice gui, get a cheap remote controll, throw in an old ati all in wonder I have lying around, and get an adapter for console controllers. It'd cost the same or less for me than an xbox, but would aditionally give tv recording, playback of closed formats (real,quicktime-s3), and access to consoles not emulated on the xbox.

On the other hand I can't spare the money for either choice, but it's clear to me which option would best suit my needs when I can.

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

that's debatable.

Re:modded xboxes

[IWX222]

you could try putting win2k on that system, but given that it brought my Athlon 650 (t-bird II) to its knees, i doubt you would have much success

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

No way. They're ugly and bulky.

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

Get busy learnin or get busy moppin: Surplused DotCom'r

Re:modded xboxes

[17028]

Doh! My Celeron 233 is running Win2K very well. Just make sure to have plenty of memory (cheap nowadays).

Re:modded xboxes

[Cpt_Kirks]

The difference, of course, is that you can fit an Xbox in your front room alongside the TV and VCR.

Why do friggin' black desktop cases cost 2-3x what a beige one costs? Black CD and DVD drives cost more too.

Yeah I know, black spray paint. Easier said than done. A case isn't a patio chair.

I want to build a mini-ITX box in an old VCR case, but I keep hearing how bad the perfomance of the CPUs on the mini-ITX motherboards are.

I wish VIA or someone would bring out a mini-ITX motherboard with a TV tuner, DVD decoder and mpeg/Divx encoder/decoder on the board, for ~$150.

Re:modded xboxes

[Cpt_Kirks]

IIRC, a few days ago, when the wal-mart mandrake boxen were being discussed, some guy claimed his dad decided he didn't want Linux on his PC. The wal-mart machine had a CD with M$ drivers for all the hardware. He said 2k went on smooth as silk.

Re:modded xboxes

[monthos]

but teh xbox's are p3's which are alot better about heat than any athlon

Re:modded xboxes

[monthos]

of coarse, when you have all in wonders lieing around and such. some people dont, some people like teh idea of using a set top box already in there living room for it as well. to each his own i say, some solutions are better for different people.

Re:modded xboxes

[Anonymous Coward]

Hear, hear!

I always wondered why none of the small PC solutions (mini-ITX, shuttle etc) came with tuner or at least video in...

3 comments and it's /.'ed already?!

[EvilStein]

WTF?? Please, people - stop hosting websites on 56k modems. Sheesh.

Anyway, I'm sure this is a cool thing, and hopefully one of the 9 people that saw the site mirrored it somewhere.

Or..wait.. were they using the xbox as the server?

Re:3 comments and it's /.'ed already?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Score -1 retard, the site is fine!

gates could care less

[eht]

i'm sure gates could care less, as he's not selling the 2000$ media center pc's, hp is

Re:gates could care less

[NotAnotherReboot]

Except for the fact that they probably put a good deal of work into modifying Windows XP for HP and whoever else is going to sell them. With that logic, Gates could care less if PC sales took a huge nosedive because he's not the one selling them.

Re:gates could care less

[Pyrosophy]

Actually, he will care, eventually. Think of the marketing -- GAMEcube, PLAYstation -- Xbox? Obviously Microsoft wants consumers to identify with it as more than just a console that plays games. And yes, marketers are this specific with product branding strategies.

So when Xbox begins to come into its home media center phase (which has to be the only part of X other than gaming that I can think of) I predict this will get some more intense scrutiny.

Re:gates could care less

[Anonymous Coward]

And right...PC sales are going to "nosedive" because 500 geeks from /. modded Xboxes instead of buying $2000 PCs? Riiiiiiiight. The people who were going to buy those $2k media center boxes are going to buy them anyway, and broke geeks who can't afford them, weren't going to afford them anyway. Most people are turned off by the thought of modding their precious Xbox now anyway since Xbox Live won't let their monkey asses online without commiting further crimes (stealing serial numbers).

Lame lame lame. No one cares.

Re:gates could care less

[Unknown Relic]

Projects such of this could actually make Microsoft happy, and may even help them out in the long run!

It's been mentioned time and time again that the current Xbox is only the first step in Microsoft trying to take over the living room. Their goal seems to be having all home entertainment such as TV, movies and games run through a single system, which they control. Media player systems such as this show that there actually is interest in the Xbox being used in this way, and might actually help perpare consumers for the introduction of the Microsoft total entertainment center when it does come to market.

Price Drop

[DBordello]

The price of the xbox is believed to drop to $150 after turkey day. Even better. db

Re:Price Drop

[Anonymous Coward]

Where does this info come from? It should be +5 interesting if it's actually true, but who can tell when you don't provide any source?

Re:Price Drop

[octalc0de]

This is a hoax. As reported by CNN. I quote:

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Heard the rumor about the upcoming $50 price cuts for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube? Forget it.

Re:Price Drop

[Anonymous Coward]

Here in Australia,you can have the XBox + 3 games + remote control for Peso-AU$399.00 (~US$220). It's selling like hotcakes

link:

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/3de 04 2d503743aae273fc0a87f9c071b/Product/View/Y4331

Re:Price Drop

[silentbozo]

Last time I saw, you could get refurb Xboxes from EB for $159. I thought about buying one, but I'm saving up for one of those Panasonic DVD recorders (HS2) instead...

ahhh

[Anonymous Coward]

another mplayer (www.mplayerhq.hu) rip that, like the others, tried to get away without conforming to the gpl and kept the source closed at first.
yes, check it out fellow slashdotters, a great project ! really !
haha :p

So far, he isn't.

[kaosrain]

I am sure Gates will be real upset about this one.

I understand that because this is Slashdot, we all feel a need to assume the worst about Bill. However, this program has been out for over six months, and not a single word has come from Microsoft.

For an article about an earlier release of XBMP, check here.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[stratjakt]

They dont get it.

The more xboxes are sold, the more profitable the xbox division becomes, regardless of what they're used for.

This is what they want:

"Hey [developer], we have a larger installed user base than PS2 or GameCube."

Re:So far, he isn't.

[FatRatBastard]

No, the more games sold the more profitable the xBox division becomes. The hardware itself is (at last count) being sold at a loss.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[dxkelly]

Yah, well we'll see what happens now that slashdot has pointed it out to him.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[matguy]

Not so much, it's the perverbial Gillete syndrome. Ms sells the Xbox cheaper than it costs to produce in the plan that owners will buy the highly profitable games.

So, if an Xbox is sold, but it spawns no game sales from that one Xbox than MS should, in theory, actually loose money on that sale.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[Anonymous Coward]

However, this program has been out for over six months, and not a single word has come from Microsoft.

I think they`re concentrating their efforts on shutting down the mod-chip suppliers rather than the software developers.. (lik-sang etc.) its easier that way.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[Anonymous Coward]

the more they sell, the closer they get to breaking even.

Profit!!!

Re:So far, he isn't.

[stratjakt]

That's an industry myth.

If I can build a P3 733 based PC for about 200-300 bucks - you're telling me MSFT cant mass produce them for less?

Re:So far, he isn't.

[Dave2 Wickham]

The point being made above was that although MS apparently loses money, MS don't care. If a developer doesn't want to make a game for all formats and wants to sell the most copies they'll look for the one with the larger user base. It doesn't matter WHAT it's used for; for MS that's just another user to push to the developers.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[damiam]

Not one of that form factor with a GeForce4, TV out, and decent sound.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[rossifer]

But you forgot to include amortized marketing and development costs in your price. And for the XBOX effort, those are substantial.

Microsoft just had to go and use a TV instead of a PC monitor as the primary display, so that's not a video card you're going to pick up for $15. Custom motherboard, custom chipset?, custom physical interfaces for peripherals. All of that costs money. Though those original spec hard drives are getting pretty darned cheap at this point. And marketing...? Are you kidding? They're dropping hundreds of millions on marketing.

So your argument is that there is no marginal loss on each XBOX sold. Fine, that's probably true. But they can still be losing money on XBOX that can be characterized as $X per unit when you take into account all of those other ways that microsoft has had to spend money to get this thing in the hands of consumers. And when you look at MS's business unit financials, that's exactly what you see.

Regards,
Ross

Re:So far, he isn't.

[InfernoBlade]

Except the XBox doesnt have a GeForce 4, it has a modified nForce chipset with an NV20 video, middle ground between a GF2 and a GF3. And I still beg to differ on that.

Cheapo case - $20
DVD drive - $30
10 GB HDD - $70
Integrated nForce Mobo - 80
AMD Duron 900 (cheapest thing I can get right now) - 35
64 MB PC100 - 21
Total - 250.

And MS can just buy the chips themselves and slap them all on the mobo, the RAM on the XBox definately isnt in the usual RAM stick configurations, and get it cheaper. I'd guess that an XBox board would cost around $30 to produce for MS, the chip probably costs them another 30 (Intel isnt cheap), and all the various chips (SDRAM, Modem, NTSC out) cost about $20 each. I dont think MS is really losing money anymore on that thing, they certainly were a few months ago, but the stuff in it is so trivial for nV and Intel to make that there's no way they're paying full price anymore.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[damiam]

It has video somewhere between a GF3 and a GF4. Possibly a Radeon 8500 would be the closest match, speedwise. That might push the cost up of your computer a little. Plus, MS has to pay labor and equitment costs, which aren't an issue when you build it yourself.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[marauder404]

These are all today's prices. The system was only released a year ago and specs were released two years ago. So putting prices two years ago into perspective, it's possible that it could have cost the $450 to make and with a price of $300 two years ago. So by the time they got it on the shelves last year, the prices for the parts were probably negotiated a year ahead of time. Remember that they're order hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of parts and the suppliers need time to produce these things. I think it's perfectly possible for the first machine on the shelf to have cost the reported $450 to make. Prices went down for parts, but so did the price of the console. So maybe it cost $250 to make but it now sells for $200. Who knows -- maybe now they break even on the console, but based on the recent financial reports of the entertainment segment, they are still losing millions amounts of money, much of it probably still associated with hardware costs.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[DarkZero]

Not so much, it's the perverbial Gillete syndrome. Ms sells the Xbox cheaper than it costs to produce in the plan that owners will buy the highly profitable games.

That's one major factor in their business model. One of the other major factors is that if they don't have a large installed user base, no one will make games for them and the system will die a slow death. Right now, the lack of a large installed user base is forcing Konami to stop selling X-Box games in Japan and Sega to stop putting so many games exclusively on the X-Box. If this trend continues, X-Boxes will start to simply sit on store shelves and gather dust, regardless of whether or not Microsoft is intent on keeping the project alive.

Re:So far, he isn't.

[arkane1234]

There are a couple of very cheap 3d accelerated cards that have TV-out (RCA) jacks. I had one in my old PC until I finally bit the bullet and picked up an NVidia gforce2/mx.

$2000?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you realize how much computer you can get for under $500?

Re:$2000?

[DBordello]

You can get alot for $500, but not much for $150.

Note: I had a list of each component but the lame filter didn't like it

The cheapest price you can get on pricewatch is $172. Would you really want to use a duron850 with 128mb on a pos mobo for a media center?

Re:$2000?

[arkane1234]

Would you really want to use a duron850 with 128mb on a pos mobo for a media center?

A media center only plays AVI/DiVX/whathaveyou... It doesn't do any sort of rendering or anything. I have successfully (successfully == done so without any complaints and very lovely results) used my old 450mhz celeron (300 overclocked to 450) as a media center with no problems whatsoever. Pretty much, after you get over 200-300 mhz, it just doesn't matter, anymore.

I am sure Gates will be real upset about this one.

[stratjakt]

Why? The more they sell, the more they produce, they cheaper they produce 'em, and the closer they get to turning a profit on every piece of hardware.

The more consoles they can show sold, the more they can entice developers, and the more software they can make a royalty on.

Media Player or Linux or no, 99.9% of xbox owners eventually want to buy or rent a game.

If you really want to screw Gates, build yourself a 300$ PC, and quit it with this "I'm stickin it to the man" crap.

BTW, Xbox media player is developed illegally with the leaked XBOX SDK from MicroSoft. Thanks for the warez tip, though. Any idea when Doom III final going to hit my local fserves?

MPlayer

[Doug Neal]

Its worth noting that this project is based on MPlayer, the Linux video player. There were some GPL violation issues recently with XBox Media Player but they have apparently now been resolved...

Re:MPlayer

[zurab]

There were some GPL violation issues recently with XBox Media Player but they have apparently now been resolved

Still not resolved with the old source code that was violating GPL from ffmpeg and xvid. If you read the mplayer website:

Their reasoning: the Win32 version that is/was available for download at http://xboxmediaplayer.com was an older version which didn't contain ffmpeg or xvid, and has non-GPL license, equipped with a DivX3 decoder which was 20-30% faster (!) than ffmpeg. Well that's what they say. Unfortunately, the source of that version was lost (??!!).

They also insist on us providing an apology. For what? They nuked any topic on their forum which was discussing GPL. The homepage did not contain enough information about licenses - only the success story of porting ffmpeg and xvid..

And the "losing" of the old source.. Either way, let's hope they are more tolerant to (L)GPL licenses now.

They took the code, distributed it violating both GPL and copyright, came up with lame excuses, conveniently "lost" the source code, and now demand an apology? Gimme a break! The only apology they get is "I'm sorry I won't go near your products for quite a while because I don't trust you!"

Re:MPlayer

[Anonymous Coward]

The maitainer of the mplayer project is a notorious asshole. Prove it or shut up.
If they were using ffmpeg, how come their player didn't support all the codes ffmpeg does?

Re:MPlayer

[Whelkman]

Not a very good argument: the developers themselves acknowledge the use of ffmpeg (which is LGPLed) and Xvid (which is GPLed).

Re:MPlayer

[Anonymous Coward]

In later versions which are GPL'ed. (These versons support all the codecs that ffmpeg does, not the original version that the mplayer folks are being jerks about.)

Well, these guys are bastards.

[RomikQ]

They are the ones that used some of ffmpeg's and mplayer's code a couple of month ago and refused to open their source code(as required by gpl). They only opened it after two weeks of fighting. If you're curious, the details are on the mplayer homepage(just scroll down a bit).

So I wouldn't support them if I had an Xbox.

Re:Well, these guys are bastards.

[theLOUDroom]

Yeah, like I'm going to trust the project from hell.

How about tis quote directly off the xbox media player front page:

On another note, and this is one I have to address myself, our friends the GPL zealots are complaining that the win32 build in the download section is violating the GPL because it does not contain sources. The win32 player on this site does not contain ANY GPL source code. I should know since I wrote the codec completely from scratch reverse engineering the divx 3.11 bitstream myself. The switch to ffmpeg happened when RUNTiME and I joined forces. I'm quite pround of my codec. Although it didn't support nearly the range of codecs that ffmpeg does and it didn't even support divx 3.11 as well as ffmpeg does it was about 20-25% faster than ffmpeg, using some unique optimizations.

They opened it when they started including GPL'ed code

Can you prove otherwise? It's going to take more than some RTFMing jerk making unsupported accusations to convince me.

Re:Well, these guys are bastards.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh and they conviently lost the source code for this fantastic fast version? My ass. If they wrote it once they can write it again and they haven't. They are liars.

Re:Well, these guys are bastards.

[theLOUDroom]

If they were using ffmpeg why didn't their old code support all the codecs ffmpeg does?

Come one didn't it ever occur to you that maybe they were using a pirated version of the xbox sdk?

That would be a good reason to loose the original project too and it would fit a lot more with the facts. Now that this exists, they would want to get rid of any proof that their project ever violated MS' copyrights.

I'm not saying that this is the only way it could have gone down. But think about it for a minute, doesn't it make a little more sense?

Re:Well, these guys are bastards.

[Whelkman]

Joe Barr is a notorious mplayer troll. He wrote that article in response to getting "kicked off" the mailing list. The article contains many half-truths blatant falsehoods, and the exaggerated install difficulties he described which once existed are no more.

Re:Well, these guys are bastards.

[theLOUDroom]

Do you have a link to back that up?
I've installed mplayer before and I've found everything he said to be true (the GCC annoyance, the failure to create /?/win32, the insulting faq entry, etc). I've never seen another faq EVER that asked what I was doing on linux if I didn't know how to add a new path for libraries (excuse me for not being BORN knowing how to do that). From my personal experience with mplayer, the maitainer seems like a RTFMing asshole.

BTW, I just checked and that faq entry has been changed in the current version. I assume he got enough flames from people like the author of that article that he changed it. If you looked at the mplayer faq from the time that article was published, you could find a fairly insulting response.

Re:Well, these guys are bastards.

[Whelkman]

The GCC 2.96 exclusion was not political. The compiler had/has serious errors when compiling inline assembler. There are megabytes of this in the mailing list archives.

I'm not sure what you mean about the win32 directory, other than the fact that it resides in /usr/lib. The Win32 codecs are basically useless these days anyway; mplayer has native codecs for almost everything now.

Remember that mplayer's developers are not Anglo-Saxon. Rules of "rude" in foreign countries are quite different than what we are used to in the United States. After all, the developers are under no obligation to support any of thier software or documentation.

However, I am inclined to agree with you on their gruffness overall. As you noted, the documentation is not as scathing as it used to be and I believe the coders are developing slightly more moderate attitudes these days.

mplayer is actually maintained by quite a few people. It just happens that the most vocal have the so-called searing attitudes. Other developers have given up on answering questions at all; you're lucky to get a response at all. The attitudes of the developers have nothing to do with the quality of the software in any case.

As for the rest of my arguments, elaboration can be found scanning the "Developer Cries" section of the documentation and in the mailing list archives, particularly from exactly one year ago on.

Re:Well, these guys are bastards.

[kubrick]

However, I am inclined to agree with you on their gruffness overall...

mplayer is actually maintained by quite a few people. It just happens that the most vocal have the so-called searing attitudes.

I find it refreshing to know that suffering fools gladly is not a requirement in the open source world. :) After all, if you don't make people jump over a few hurdles every now and then, they'll never learn anything...

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[Meleneth]

>BTW, Xbox media player is developed illegally with >the leaked XBOX SDK from MicroSoft. Thanks for the >warez tip, though. Any idea when Doom III final >going to hit my local fserves?

That was last week, you missed it...

Where should the credit go (vide: www.mplayerhq.hu

[Anonymous Coward]

I seem to recall they had some problems with going by the terms of GPL.

Not developed illegally.

[kaosrain]

I can't speak for sure about before, but I know that at least now XBMP is being written with CXBE, the first legal Xbox development kit.

Re:Not developed illegally.

[stratjakt]

Is it? Then my mistake, I'll take that back.

If it's legal now, good for them. I just know it *was* illegal.

The mods still are, though, being no more than hacked versions of MS's bios.

Frankly, I don't see why people dont just buy a PS2, install Linux for PS2, and use that as the basis for their media player.

That'd go a whole lot farther in the "I'm screwing Gates" catagory.

No modding required.

Re:Not developed illegally.

[Joe Tie.]

Frankly, I don't see why people dont just buy a PS2, install Linux for PS2, and use that as the basis for their media player.

I've only heard this second hand, but apparently DivX playback under ps2 linux gives a fps in the single digits. A wallmart pc with an ebayed all in wonder card on the other hand seems a lot more suited than an xbox for a media or emulation center.

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats not final, that was a leaked demo version for the ATI booth at QuakeCon.

Guess what.

[mindstrm]

They are not "required to by the GPL".
What they are REQUIRED to do is have a license to re-distribute the work of another.. and one way they can do that is by following the GPL.
As they didn't do that; they were guilty of copyright infringement, not "violating the GPL".

Furthermore, the only poeple who can really force someone to do something is the COPYRIGHT HOLDER whose rights are being infringed upon.

The community really doesn't have a right to scream "give us the source".. only the copyright holders do.

Re:Guess what.

[RomikQ]

you're wrong, my friend.

If I use any gpl'ed code in my software, I HAVE to distribute the sources with the binaries. ffmpeg was lgpl, mplayer was gpl. They used code from both, which means they have to distribute the source.

Re:Guess what.

[ianezz]

If I use any gpl'ed code in my software, I HAVE to distribute the sources with the binaries.

Accepting the GPL is not required, but accepting the GPL is the easiest way to obtain th e right to redistribute other's GPL work.

If you don't accept the GPL, well, you could always obtain that rights by other means (i.e. asking the authors, perhaphs paying them).

But in the end, if you don't obtain the rights (by accepting the GPL or by other means), you can't redistribute. If you do so anyway, it's copyright infringiment.

Re:Guess what.

[GigsVT]

I see what you are saying, and I almost wrote a post to the same effect as yours, but I decided to check the GPL first:

"You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it."

So, one could argue that there is implicit acceptance of the GPL under the bold text above.

Whether you call it a GPL violation or copyright infringement is really meaningless IMO, I believe it is both.

Re:Guess what.

[Spoing]

If I use any gpl'ed code in my software, I HAVE to distribute the sources with the binaries. ffmpeg was lgpl, mplayer was gpl. They used code from both, which means they have to distribute the source.

Close, but not quite right. If you distribute binaries that came from GPLed source, you are required -- if asked by the recipient -- to provide usable source for a nominal fee. It happens to be that the common practice is to charge no fees yet this is not a requirement of the GPL.

Along those lines, if you distribute GPLed or LGPLed binaries along with binaries under a different license, you are only required to provide source for the GPL/LGPLed programs. The license for the other binaries is not impacted though it may have a source distribution requirement in it's licence.

As an additional example, if Bill makes a program and licenses it under the GPL...and uses no other GPLed code...Bill can change the license for that code at anytime. If Bill gets code from Jack, and Jack allows Bill to relicense Jack's code, Bill can do so. If Bill does not get Jack's approval, Bill has two GPL-compatable options:

1. Remove Jack's code and relicense.
2. Don't relicense.

Re:Guess what.

[mindstrm]

Your points are right.. but what we are talking about is when a given license comes into effect, not what the terms of that license are.

The terms of the gpl we understand.. the question is whether or not you are forced into it in the first place.

If you don't accept the GPL,and you redistribute, or otherwise do something not allowed by standard copyright law, then you are guilty of copyright violation, but not of "violating the GPL", as you never agreed to it in the first place.

Re:Guess what.

[nathanh]

If I use any gpl'ed code in my software, I HAVE to distribute the sources with the binaries.

No, you don't. There's no law which says that.

The GPL basically says "we won't sue you for copyright infringement IF you release the source code and give the next guy the same rights we gave you". If you choose to pass on that good offer then you can be sued for copyright infringement - and you'll almost certainly lose - but subsequent distribution of source code is for the judge to decide. The judge might decide upon punitive damages instead. Or the two parties might settle out of court: "take the code out and I won't sue" or "pay me money and I won't sue".

Everybody so far has decided to take the easy option and release their stuff as GPL rather than risk it in the courts. But the GPL is not binding if you don't accept it. Of course, you'd be damn stupid not to accept it, because the default copyright is far worse and opens you up to being sued.

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[stratjakt]

Oh yeah, flamebait.

I'm so sorry mods.

Yeah! We R l337! W R fuxoring Gates! He dumb ass! Me xbox mod! Me buy 6 xboxes and mod them all! Gates be sorry!

Me buy 20 copies of XP and not install them! Gates extra sorry. Me show him!

Y'all are idiots.

Devious!

[I Am The Owl]

With this new plan to buy Microsoft hardware in order to undercut some of their software sales, we have finally found out the perfect way to stick it to Billy G!

I was thinking about buying hardware from, you know, non-Microsoft companies, but this idea is much better...

Are you kidding?

[Anonymous Coward]

It appears fairly obvious that few people on Slashdot have a CLUE about what the Media Center PC is.

If you think I modded Xbox competes with some of the cool stuff on a Media Center PC, you need some medication or something.

Wake up. Stop being blinded by your hate for MS.

Re:Are you kidding?

[stratjakt]

>> Wake up. Stop being blinded by your hate for MS.

I'm impressed that Microsoft found a way to turn that hatred into cold, hard cash.

People actually believe they're "screwing" Microsoft when they buy their products, be it a modded xbox, or formatting the hard drive on their Dell to install linux.

Of all the business tactics they've ever used - I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed with this one.

Sure wish I could read the article...

[Matey-O]

But in the meantime, I'm guessing this is an output only device? I thought part of microsoft's schtick was the PVR aspects too.

While the Xbox media connector in back IS listed as Video in/out, I haven't seen anything to lead me to believe it could suck-in data.

Were I optimistic, I'd think they could make a slab with a bigger harddisk, AV inputs, and two ethernet ports, one to the Xbox, one to the rest of the world. (is 100mb/s fast enough to shove video+5.1 audio to the Xbox?)

Since I'm getting less and less optimistic all the time, I'm thinking Microsoft will just include al l the additional hardware and wrap it around the Xbox2. OR the windows media server stuff runs on a central fileserver and all of that audio/video stuff is displayed in the familyroom with the Xbox acting as a display unit only.If THAT'S the case, then it doesn't matter what formats the Xbox can display as I'm sure the central server would transcode it to something the xbox CAN use..it already natively supports Mpeg2 (No, I'm NOT looking forward to shuffling all the satellite receiver stuff to wherever the media center hardware would live.)

In the year or so I've had the Xbox, it's been a great DVD player/Game console...and for $200 I turned the Dishnetwork box into a PVR unit. I can't see a whole lot more that I'm gonna want to put in the family room, pre-HDTV. As an early adopter, I think I'll be missing out on whatever media hub plans Microsoft may have.

Before this german site gets slashdoted...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, since I got there early here's the feature list:
Coming Soon - December 2002

I guess we've kept quiet for long enough - time to make some noise :)

For all the folks that have supported us, heres a preview of a little number we like to call 'XBOX Media Player 2.0'

More screenshots over here.

Major:

* New user-interface inspired by Microsoft Windows Media Centre.
* In-menu preview of running movie and currently playing music.
* View media by cover or list, album or artist.
* Sort, shuffle and queue media, M3U playlist.
* Photo Slideshow and settings.
* Customize with thumbnails.
* Screen calibration.
* Automatic Zoom to full 4:3 or 16:9.
* Post-Processing (based on yamp - uses the same lib).
* ISO9660 Joilet compatible (streaming and caching).
* TTF Subtitle font.
* SVCD and latest XVID (B-FRAMES).
* Select audio stream from multi-stream avi.

Minor:

* Movies and music now visibly end when playback has completed.
* Fixed a bug preventing mp3's greater than 8 mb from playing to completion.
* Seeking implmented across more formats.
* Movie clipping and aspect ratio tweaking.
* TTF Subtitle font shadow (based on yamp - simple but effective!).
* Simpler gamepad and infra-red controller button layout.
* Auto tray retract when accessing DVDROM drive.
* Popup-dialog errors/warnings/status
* Enable/disable subtitles setting.
* Slide show settings.

(and many more!)

Looks like they made the thumbnails real small, expecting slashdot, but they're already feeling slow... the screenshots all look like standard FisherPrice interface for XP, of course.
In all fairness, though the modded Xbox doesn't compare the the $2,000 system... since it can only rip mp3s, and would be really really slow to encode DivX.

Site Mirrors

[JavaTHut]

http://www.xboxmediaplayer.0catch.com
http://www. xbox.homebrewers.co.uk
http://www.xboxmediaplayer .de/
http://www.xboxmediaplayer.it/
http://intra net.ktg.se/~andbje/xboxmediaplayer/

Free publicity for xbox..

[stratjakt]

Ok, I've said it before, I'll say it again.. This deserves a little redundancy.

Why all the free publicity for xbox, when you can get a PS2, install linux, and use that as your media centre - no modding required? Even w/o linux, there's a ton of homebrewed PS2 stuff out there.

Which hurts MSFT more? Buying an xbox, or buying a PS2?

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[smart.id]

Wouldn't it be buying an Xbox, since Microsoft loses money with each purchase? Or is that just balderdash?

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[stratjakt]

Even if they did, the more sold, the more produced, and the cheaper they can produce em. Eventually they'll get 'in the black'. And the larger installed base entices developers.

MSFT would lose much more with them sitting in a warehouse collecting dust.

But, I doubt they do. It's an old industry myth - and one the industry doesn't want to die.

I see it kind of like the local used car dealership advertising "prices so low, we're practically giving them away!!"

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[Dave2 Wickham]

Great... you just gave me the image of Bill Gates as CMOT Dibbler.

Thanks a lot :P

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[martissimo]

as i remember the PS2 linux kit doesn't give you access to read from the cd/dvd drive, not to mention that it's probably a bit easier for most people to code for the xbox's simple architecture compared to the vector system sony uses

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[Hassman]

You're absolutly right. I mean, a corperation won't sell / make a product if they *lost* money with little hope of making it back...even MS.

Besides when you hear that MS loses money on every XBox sold, that doesn't mean much. There is a big difference to what we the public pay for the XBox and what it really costs. Those crazy "suggested retail price" things are a bitch. Just because something *should* supposidly costs 500 dollars and you buy it for 300 doesn't mean that they lose 200 dollars every sale. It just means that analysts deam that 500 is the appropriate price to charge with all the R&D, components, and other costs that went into development.

Its just like when you buy a ring. They are always on sale like 50% off their "real cost". Bullshit. When you but that "discounted" ring for 200 dollars from the 400 it "should" cost, everyone who has a hand in that ring is making out just fine cash wise.

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[sporty]

Selling your PS2 to MSFT :)

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's think about this. Give Microsoft $200, or give Sony $200. Which one will hurt Microsoft more? I'll give you a hint: it's NOT THE ONE WHERE YOU GIVE THEM MONEY. Even if they do sell the Xbox for a loss and you never buy a game, they get to tell developers that they sold another box. They get at least *some* of their hardware costs back. If it sits on the shelf, they get nothing but aggravated retailers.

Personally I like the Xbox, and Microsoft to some extent (which is why I post anonymously here...) but your argument is just plain wrong. And stupid. Was trying to go without the flame but just couldn't hold it...

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[FFFish]

Buying an XBox, 'cause each one of 'em is a money-loser. :-)

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[UTPinky]

Which hurts MSFT more? Buying an xbox, or buying a PS2?

Well, actually last I remembered, MSFT looses money on every XBOX they sell. So I would have to say that buying an XBOX and using it only as a CD/DVD player would probably hurt them the most...

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[Anonymous Coward]

Want to really hurt MSFT? Buy tons of stuff rom Lik-Sang.

Lik-Sang To Take On The Big 3?

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[gl4ss]

ps2+linux kit ain't cheaper.

and.. ps2 afaik lacks the punch to decode divx on the fly(last time i looked into it..).

the big plus side for the xbox as media center base is that it has powerful enough cpu for the type of things that media center would be used(mame, other emus, &etc &etc).

though.. i'd go for a one of those 'netpc' type of case/mobo combos, more juice, easier to get parts, no need to rig to get kbrds/usb working.. no modding(sure you have to buy things like hd,cpu&mem&etc which pushes the price over xbox)..

Re:Free publicity for xbox..

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but once you have an XBox are you going to say no to Doom3 and TimeSplitters 2 etc?

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[ToadSprocket]

Exactly. Read an article about a week ago that said M$ has lost some insane amount of cash on the XBOX project so far. The more they sell, the better off they are, period. They can spin this any way they want to after the fact. Modded or not, an Xbox sold is an Xbox sold.

xbox bias?

[droopus]

Uh, explain to me why this causes a huge fuss on /., but articles about Qcast for the PS2 (which is four months old and cool as shit) never see the light of day? Qcast just added Ogg support as well. Supports everything The xbox MP does, plus xvid. Has supported AC3 for a few months.

This isn't a grouse, just wondering why a Media Center for 30 million+ installed PS2s holds little interest, but an unavailable hack of xbox that does the same thing is big news.

Anyone?

Re:xbox bias?

[CommanderTaco]

Actually, there was already a story about both the broadq and snapstream software available for tivo.

Re:xbox bias?

[IshanCaspian]

Because Microsoft sells the Xbox at a loss...and if we find enough uses for Xboxes...enough geeks will buy them....

:)

Re:xbox bias?

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a stupid Frenchie and don't understand your opinion : Do you mean that Microsoft will loose more money if we buy an Xbox than if we let the Xbox on the shelves ?

You have a strange notion of Business, American

Re:xbox bias?

[fliplap]

There's a couple sides to this. You're assuming that there's one kind of buyer for the X-Box, the kind that wants Microsoft to lose money. But in reality (remember NOT slashdot) there is a buyer that will buy that x-box on the shelf as well as a few games for it. If there's a bunch of X-boxes just sitting on the shelves, Microsoft won't make any more.

Re:xbox bias?

[droopus]

True, but all the story focused on was PVR functionality:

Austin, Texas-based BroadQ is offering Qcast Tuner, software to connect the PS2 with a PC running SnapStream Media's video recording software.

That makes it seem like Qcast is simply a UI for Snapstream when it is actually a total media player for the PS2. Since Sept, Broadq has added JPEG/PNG functionality, Xvid, AC3 and Ogg. It's way cooler than Snapstream IMVHO, deserving of a little attention.

Disclaimer: I have no financial interest, nor do I even know anyone at Broadq. I just think it's neat software with awesome potential, and I use it a LOT.

Re:xbox bias?

[Turadg]

Slashdot definitely has a liking for "Microsoft gets screwed" news but I think that in this case it has more to do libre software.

The QCast Tuner costs $50 and the XboxMediaPlayer project is GPLed.

Re:xbox bias?

[ath0mic]

I've come to the conclusion /. loves Microsoft

Re:xbox bias?

[horster]

> I've come to the conclusion /. loves Microsoft

I second that

Re:xbox bias?

[Anonymous Coward]

QCast Tuner doesn't require a $100 mod chip.

Re:xbox bias?

[Alsee]

I am a stupid Frenchie and don't understand your opinion : Do you mean that Microsoft will loose more money if we buy an Xbox than if we let the Xbox on the shelves?

That is exactly what he means. Every Xbox we buy off of the shelves is another Xbox Microsoft is going to manufacture and place onto the shelves at a loss.

You have a strange notion of Business, American

Yeah, sometimes bussiness can be strange. Microsoft figures the best way to make money on Xboxes is to sell them at a loss and hope to make money later on the games and online services.

So long as that is Microsoft's plan then we figure we can take advantage of the situation and buy hardware below cost and use it for other things without giving Microsoft any more money.

-

Re:xbox bias?

[specialized_sworks]

Ummm... WOW!!

I agree... this should have been given more attention.

Funny, I just picked up the last remaining PS2 network adapter at my local FutureShop simply because I heard they were in short supply. I was wondering what I was really going to do with it (send in the card and wait for Twisted Metal, or go buy Navy Seals).

This is perfect!!

Thanks for the info!!

Re:xbox bias?

[droopus]

Smart move - I had to buy both my net adapters on ebay for $55 each. None anywhere around here.

And unfortunately, it only supports he Sony Net Adapter: I tried numerous USB to Ether adaptors and none would work. But I can tell you it works on both modded (Apple) and unmodded PS2s.

Since the PS2 Qcast disk must be in the PS2 when using Qcast, I got worried about someone taking it out, chucking it on the floor and scratching or losing it. Clone CD gave me a perfect copy and I can keep the original safely in the case. Just a suggestion.

Re:xbox bias?

[specialized_sworks]

Really? It doesnt have to be a boot disk?

Do you have a modded PS2?

-Dubya

Re:xbox bias?

[droopus]

I have a modded (Apple) and an unmodded PS2. The copy works fine in the modded PS2 but not in the unmodded one. For that, you'll have to use the master disk provided with the software.

I'm probably being overcautious: if you don't chuck the thing around, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Because...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony's evil, duh.

Asshole

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop slashdotting sites hosted on a 56k modem.

Google Cache...

[Anonymous Coward]

here's the Google cache.

Morons, your jokes about /.'ing an XBox aren't funny.

project info

[Anonymous Coward]

Xbox Media Player is an open source media player for the Xbox(TM) from Microsoft. (Xbox Media Player is also known as "XboxMediaPlayer", "XBMP" & "XBPLAYER"). Currently the Xbox Media Player can be used to play supported direct file formats (AVI, MPG, MP3, ...ect.) from a CD-RW/DVD inside the Xbox(TM) DVD-ROM or of the Xbox(TM) hard disk drive, it can also play files from a PC/server over the network via the XStream Streamer/Server software.
(Note! Xbox Media Player does require a Xbox modchip installed in the Xbox to work).

Currently the Xbox Media Player 1.0 support the following:

DivX/XVID Playback, DivX 3/4/5 supported
MSMpeg4v2 and MSMpeg4v1 support
MP3 Playback (b6 bug fixed)
AC3 (Dolby Digital 5.1) Support (downmixed output to stereo)
VCD (MPEG-1) Support
SVCD (MPEG-2) support (buggy but plays) *NEW*
Network file streaming
ISO9660 caching support (limited) *NEW*
Subtitles (only support for SubRip .srt format right now)
Launch XBEs (Dashboard replacement mode)
Seeking during AVI (DivX/XVID) playback
Video resizing & scaling
JPG Pictures viewing
Control via Xbox(TM) controller & DVD Remote ...and more

Future goals of features & supported formats include (not supported now/yet):

FFWD/RWD of MPEG-1/2
True FFWD/RWD of AVI (DivX/XVID)
Playlist (MP3 & other file playsists)
Bookmarking
Post processing (reason why video quality is worse than on your PC)
AC3 (Dolby Digital) with true Dolby Digital 5.1 (optical lead) output
ISO9660/Joliet on-the-fly (without caching)
Audio-CD playback
VOB/DVD playback
HDTV (progressive scan)
OGG Vorbis audio codec
OGG containers
Files larger that 0.99GB of Xbox(TM) DVD-ROM (Xbox(TM) Limit)
AVI files over 2GB (XBMP does not yet support OpenDML AVI's)
WMV playback
Support for multiple audio streams (a.k.a BivX, Morgan Stream Switcher)
SMI, SUB, ...etc. Subtitles (XBMP only supports .srt format right now)
VCD/SVCD menus
Real video
flash
QuickTime
3ivx

History:

The Xbox Media Player was created by d7o3g4q (a.k.a. duo) & RUNTiME. It started out as two separate players by the two original developers each working on their own design d7o3g4q's player was called XboxMediaPlayer & RUNTiME's player was called XBPLAYER, they began by share some code & coordinating features to not duplicate efforts & by XboxMediaPlayer beta 5 the two player where totally integrated into one. In beta 5 they also started using FFMPEG as the video codec & in beta 6 they also added XVID support. The development & beta testing was done "behind closed doors" for this project (d7o3g4q & RUNTiME promising that when version 1.0 was made they would release the source code to the public, but after beta 6 was done there where a lot of complaining from many why the developers did not release the source code for the player sooner as they where using FFMPEG & XVID code as they lie under the GPL license. Even though the project was closed d7o3g4q & RUNTiME released the source code for beta 6 (Inc. a few bug fixes, SVCD/MPEG-2 & limited 9660 caching support) on the 15th of October 2002.

XStream Streamer/Server software was created by RUNTIME to share media to the player over a network. Since then it is being worked on by Pope-X, Jeff33, Ziki & jkw (with support from RUNTiME & d7o3g4q).

(of course the ultimate goal is to make this the best available media player for the Xbox(TM)).

Bill Cares?

[OS24Ever]

Folks, there's gotta be a point here where you stop villifying Mr. Gates and realize that Microsoft is a company, not one person.

I doubt Gates got up this morning, checked slashdot and decided that Windows Media Player ported to one of his products is a bad thing.

Microsoft will probably sell a few more XBOX machines because there are people out there that like to tinker, and then they'll scream foul when some new kick butt feature of the XBOX comes out that immediately disables their XBOX or doesn't allow it to work a la live.

I'm always surprised at the number of geeks or opensource types that purchase a Microsoft product just to hack it to make it do something in the linux world. You're supporting Microsoft still whether you like it or not.

Come on, buy a Gamecube. Make it run linux. Or buy the PS2 and their Linux kit and port something to it! Forget Microsoft's XBOX and let it fade away into obscurity like the 3GO, the NEC Turbographx, the NeoGeo and all the other failed (marketing wise) game systems.

Re:Bill Cares?

[stratjakt]

It's the same mentality as the kid who orders a Dell, and installs linux on it to 'screw microsoft'.

He already payed for Windows.. So why would MSFT give a rats ass?

Re:Bill Cares?

[Dave2 Wickham]

Although, if you think about it, if that person visits web sites they'll log that he/she's using Linux and the percentage of Linux users will rise, meaning that developers will see that Linux is gaining popularity etc...

*ahem*

Re:Bill Cares?

[nomadic]

I'm always surprised at the number of geeks or opensource types that purchase a Microsoft product just to hack it to make it do something in the linux world. You're supporting Microsoft still whether you like it or not.

What I'M surprised about is how these l33t hax0rs suddenly get all enraged when their modded boxes lose functionality. It's actually kind of amusing.

Re:Bill Cares?

[sean23007]

There are things the Xbox has the the Gamecube and the PS2 do not. Like the hard drive and the near-x86 chipset. The Gamecube is largely useless for hacking, and it doesn't even play regular discs, so you can't really even add anything to it, or boot to a non-gamedisc. The PS2 already has Linux for it, and the only way to get it is to buy the Linux kit from Sony, which doubles the price. The Xbox is usefully hackable, and people like to do it for the challenge. An Xbox with linux is more useful than a Gamecube running linux, regardless of who builds them.

Re:Bill Cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

1. how come the windows media player should be ported ?
you know that the article isnt about any microsoft media player at all right ?

2. the gamecube has a custom dvd like disc as storage medium.
good luck finding a burner besides breaking in some nintendo sweatshop or attaching a ide controler.

3. the ps2 linux kit is unusable as you get no real access to the hardware.

4. the neogeo was launched in 1989 and the latest game was released this year, i wouldnt call this a failure. its just not made for the home market.

5. you have no clue -> go away.

Re:Bill Cares?

[damiam]

Come on, buy a Gamecube. Make it run linux.

IIRC, the gamecube would be extraordinarily difficult to port Linux to because it doesn't accept standard DVD's, as the xbox and ps2 do. It needs a smaller disc, which spins the opposite way.

Re:Bill Cares?

[SN74S181]

The PS2 already has Linux for it, and the only way to get it is to buy the Linux kit from Sony, which doubles the price.

That was a rather smart move by Sony. Produce a Linux kit for their system. Price it high enough to keep it expensive, but reduce that 'itch' to such a degree that the critical mass of people interested in producing a free Linux port will never materialize.

Apple Computer did the same thing with MkLinux, which over the long term resulted in there being effectively no legacy Macintosh support in the main linux source tarball. They kept hackers from crawling around in their proprietary stuff and reverse engineering all of it.

Re:Bill Cares?

[runderwo]

The disc does not spin the opposite way. It is read the opposite way. (Outside-in as opposed to inside-out).

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[26199]

Er... given that the XBox is sold at a huge loss, I'm not quite convinced that's true.

They only make a profit if people buy the games... are people going to buy the games if they use the XBox as a media player?... maybe.

why have either

[fermion]

I am not sure why i would want either. The modded X-Box would be a nice toy, but I think, my money would be better spent on a $75 DVD player and a portable MP3 player. First, when the DVD player breaks it is cheap enough to replace. Second, 10 GB is not enough to really store a CD collection. The music will still have to be stored elsewhere and downloaded to the device. So why not just by a somewhat portable MP3 player which, in a 5gb version, can be had for $200.

Beyond this I get nervous having MS stuff around. I really believe that their licenses are written to maximize the chance that the customer will break them so when push comes to shove, MS will only not have any liability, but can also have a reason to counter sue. Living in this world I have a few licenses around, but have made it a point to minimize the number.

Also, I know that everyone is talking about how much money it is costing MS when people buy the player and not the games, but since MS cares only about unit sales of XBox, the argument is moot. Anyone who buys an XBox is contributing to MS success.

To me, things such as this are just taunting the bear.

Re:why have either

[Tazzy531]

You bring up a couple good points.

First, when the DVD player breaks it is cheap enough to replace.

YMMV, but how often does a typical DVD player break? Sure, if you buy the $50 ones that I see on sale now a days, it may break more often, such as the Apex model that people are snatching up. Also, these cheap DVD players rarely have any digital out interfaces. But a quality Sony one hardly breaks and is in the upwards of $150-250. So for that price, it's the equivalent of a modded XBox.

Second, 10 GB is not enough to really store a CD collection.

I agree 10 GB is not enough. But you fail to recognize to key advances in XBox hacking: upgrading the hard drive and also streaming off the network. I'm assuming, if you're on Slashdot, that you have a nice computer setup with a huge hard drive and probably a home network. You can just plug the XBox into the network and access the files off of your file server. So that 10GB limit is non-existant.

So why not just by a somewhat portable MP3 player which, in a 5gb version, can be had for $200.

First of all, a portable MP3 player will not be able to produce quality sound that comes out of a home theatre setup or stereo speakers. Secondly, you're saying for $200, you can get a MP3 player. For that $200, you can get an Xbox. For the $75 more (from the DVD player you mention), you can get it modded and have a home theatre setup.

To me, things such as this are just taunting the bear.

I agree. MS is going to wake up one of these days and realize the monster that they've created and how they can't control it anymore. I think, however, this was part of their future plans: to merge their TIVO investment with the XBox. At that point, you have ubiquitous computing. However, I just think the public beat them to it.

Re:why have either

[cybrthng]

I am not sure why i would want either. The modded X-Box would be a nice toy, but I think, my money would be better spent on a $75 DVD player and a portable MP3 player. First, when the DVD player breaks it is cheap enough to replace. Second, 10 GB is not enough to really store a CD collection. The music will still have to be stored elsewhere and downloaded to the device. So why not just by a somewhat portable MP3 player which, in a 5gb version, can be had for $200.

Uhm, actually for 199.00 you get a console that plays games, dvd's, rips music (holds 8-10 gigs depending on which disk you have) and works online as well. This can be had for your stated price of below 200 bucks and include all the functionality of the multiple devices you are asking for in a single easy to use box.

I just feel sorry for all the suckers modding there xboxen. They don't know WHAT they're missing on Xbox live!

Game on!

Demand for a cheap set-top "media station"?

[Qzukk]

I wonder what the demand for a cheap set-top media station would be. Maybe Microsoft should be making a revised Xbox with this functionality built in, and selling for at least the cost of production.

They probably won't though, since they seem to have this huge blind spot when it comes to things like "reality". A $2k media center? Who is going to buy that when they can get a tivo for far less. (Be realistic. How many average people out there care about anything more than being able to record their favorite sitcom while they're out eating dinner or something?) I expect the price to drop way down after its on the market for a month or two.

Windows

[AndreAtlan]

I think the attitude to slashdot submissions goes through seasonal changes, I remember back in the summer when talk like this would be considered blasphemy

Because the people who run slashdot are stupid

[autopr0n]

They seem to think that hacked xboxes are like the coolest thing ever, since, like, you're sticking it to M$!!!

Btw, I've heard of modded Xboxes being used to play NES/SNES/etc games, can the PS2 with a linux kit do the same thing?

Re:Because the people who run slashdot are stupid

[handsomepete]

Btw, I've heard of modded Xboxes being used to play NES/SNES/etc games, can the PS2 with a linux kit do the same thing?

If I remember right, the NES/SNES/Genesis emus run fair (with a hiccup here and there), but mame crawls on ~80% of the games. However, there is at least one snes emu (I think that's the right link) that was more or less direct ported to the PS2 that you can use with a modchip. Neat gui and runs well w/ a couple bugs. Dig around and you'll probably find more.

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[stratjakt]

Show me proof they sell it at a 'huge loss', and not some kids website that assumes they do, or some speculation from some newspaper.

Show me a red line item in MSFT's budget.

And then go buy a Mustang at "prices so they're giving them away!!" - but don't drive it. That'll really screw Ford.

this perfect day

[jacquesm]

There is a book by Ira Levin called 'this perfect day', it has a nice little bit in it where rebellious people are given a fake rebellion to reduce the chance of them actually pulling off a real one.

Slashdot is a little like that, imagine if all these people venting their frustration at the big bad MS would take it out on them instead of having this convenient safety valve right here.

Cheaper Media System ($200)

[I Want GNU!]

At Walmart.com, the $200 Microtel PC. 800 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 10 gig HD. Add linux. Add TV-out card or large monitor. Do lots more stuff than you could hope to do with the X-Box.

Sorry, but the days of the X-Box being a cheap PC are over. MS still loses money but the companies whom it buys the parts for surely are not. And I'd rather have a PC whose insides are not backwards (in order to prevent me from making it a PC).

Maybe a GNU/Linux mod on the X-Box is cool, but it is not functional.

Re:Cheaper Media System ($200)

[Hassman]

Funny...I thought the X-Box was a CONSOLE GAME SYSTEM. If you want a PC, build one. If you want a cheap PC, build a shitty one. If you want a game system, then buy an X-Box.

And I think the days of MS losing money on this are numbered if not gone. Lots of great titles out there for it now. I'm super glad I went with the X-box over the PS2.

Re:Cheaper Media System ($200)

[Chris Johnson]

So you're saying that now rather than getting only most of their money back from the purchase of an XBox they've made, now they get more money than they even spent and are turning a profit?

Great. I'm sure they'll find something to do with it. They'll spend it in Washington DC and will get to run IT for the office of homeland security, and the next thing you know nice men from the government will take away your computer if it isn't running a Microsoft Palladium OS, for reasons of national cyber security.

note for the clueless- that was IRONY, largely because it's beyond what the public would ever accept. But, Microsoft will happily TRY to do this and see how far they get. So for Christ's sake quit giving them fscking money already!

Re:Cheaper Media System ($200)

[MrScience]

And the surround sound card...

and the HDTV video out card...

You might be wrong

[bstadil]

I think you have point, but one counter argument is that a lot of /. readers is positioned inside IT organizations at often at key positions as far as IT is concerned.

Let's take the uptake of Linux / samba servers installed surreptiously inside organizations a few years back. Don't you think this has had a huge impact on the ability to get to next step in reducing MS depencency?

Now take Xbox hacking. Why couldn't this be the testing ground for the DRM issues that we will face in 12-18 month?

One last comment. Why do you think MS is advertising on /.? Developers , developers developers....

Re:You might be wrong

[jacquesm]

it's exactly the fact that ms is advertising on /. that prompted me to make the comment in the first place.

I find it highly suspicious that they openly back a site that is supposedly one of their few outspoken critics.

My feeling is that they fuel slashdot to keep it a point of focus for otherwise potentially really harmful individuals.

Imagine the damage if all those folks would really vent their frustration using whatever talents they have instead of flaming off here.

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[26199]

Well, it's not conclusive, but see the slashdot story from a few days ago showing their hundred-million dollar losses on the XBox... and that's from an official report.

Added to which, it's standard practice to sell consoles at cost or below price and make up the money from games... and similarly things like the TiVo, mobile phones, etc... count on people paying for services.

If they're not selling below cost, they're stupid, really. And they have money to burn.

Where to get the mod chip?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know the flame is coming...
Anyhow, if any of you please let me know whete to get one, I sure will appreciate it a lot. I know there a thousands of them on the streets but I'm reluctant to buy any without knowing people;s experience with it.

No...

[mindstrm]

not true.

Look at it this way. The GPL is not *forced* upon you. You do not have to accept it; you don't click through, you don't sign anything, and it's not an EULA.

What it IS is a set of terms under which you can do things other than what standard copyright allows. If you don't accept the GPL, you are bound by standard copyright law; no more, no less.

If I use code available under the GPL in my softeware, the GPL is ONE option I can choose to accept to allow me to distribute/modify the code in my own work. I can also choose to contact the authors and negotiate another license. Or I can choose to NOT use any license, and hope I don't get sued by the copyright holders for copyright violation.

My point is that the GPL is not something you are forced into; it's something you can choose to use in order to avoid legal problems.

If you distribute some work that happens to be available under the GPL without accepting the terms of the GPL, you are guilty of copyright violation; you cannot be forced to release source, though you can be forced to stop distributing, and punitive damages, and releasing source will probably be one legal remedy for you (comply with a license that was offered so you don't get sued)

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[stratjakt]

Hundred million loss from the whole home entertainment division.

Down from a projected half-billion. Slashdot didn't mention that.

MSFT expected xbox to turn a profit in 4 years. At this rate, it's only going to take 2.

why is this important?

[schwartzon]

Methinks that someone thought this was a story. It is not. Sorry. It will be a story when the program is realeased and available. Quit posting nonssence. Espically xbox related nonsence.

In response to your question:

[Inoshiro]

". (is 100mb/s fast enough to shove video+5.1 audio to the Xbox?)"

Yes, it is. By a lot. DVD-1x drives are what movie players use, with video and 5.1 audio, and they are significantly slower than 100mb/s.

Right.. but..

[mindstrm]

Where have I *agreed* to agree? I haven't. What if I never read this little text file?

If we expect this to hold up, then we sure better not complain about EULA's and click-through agreements because they have no signature, and so forth, because this is even less clear.

Re:Right.. but..

[damiam]

However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works.

If you never read the file, then nothing has given you the right to copy the software.

Re:Right.. but..

[mindstrm]

Yes... that's my POINT.

If nothing has given me the right to modify or disribute the work....

and I ignore that fact and do it anyway...

Then I'm guilty of copyright violation. I've broken the law.

I have not "violated the GPL" however.. because I never agreed to it in the first place. I have violated the owner's copyright.. and only the copyright holder has a case against me.

I do not automatically "owe anyone" source, though I could release it and claim I am now protected from lawsuit by the GPL, as it grants me permission to do this.

GPL/Mplayer

[den_erpel]

Weren't this these guys that used parts of mplayer code and other open source projects (GPL) and tried to keep their end closed?

Anyway, I didn't follow the discussion... Just caught something somewhere...

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[Anonymous Coward]

So this is the, "while we lose money on each unit sold, we make up for it in volume," argument?

Re:You might be wrong / Then again maybe not

[bstadil]

You are right I didn't really think about it from that angle, wish I had mod points for you original posting.

I think your insight merits a separate story on /.. Ask Slashdot might be a possibility if you have some personal anecdote to tie it into.

But it DOES use SAMBA.

[Blackwulf]

That's how I use my PS2 Linux Kit. I have all my MP3's on my main Linux box, and connect to it using SAMBA (since I have Windows machines that connect on the network too.) I can then just telnet into the PS2 and tell it what songs to play next.

And, the vector system coding is only for heavy duty graphics. For normal apps, it uses the same gcc compiler we're all used to, just for a MIPS processor instead of an ix86 one.

MS doesn't sell you the PC

[evil_roy]

That is where the comparo falls over. MS gets a slice of that two grand from the PC , they get all of the XBox $$$$.

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[ProppaT]

...I have no idea why you got flamebaited either. I thought your post was one of the few logical ones

$300??? for a Piece of $h17

[isolenz]

ok, lets work this one out.
$200 for the xbox
$100 for the mod and install
$100 - $200 for a descent hard drive to install.
and probably about 10 hours trying to install and configure everything.
To me, this doesn't look like that great of a deal. Although, with all the other shit you can get with it like pirated games, emulators with more pirated roms, oh wait, lets see the emulators is built using ms's sdk too, so the emulators are is illegal. But wait, Media Player is clean, oh no, it was pirated off of mplayer (that's why they had to release the source).

I'm sorry, but paying like 400-500 bucks american for a basic non-configurable computer computer just doesn't do it for me, let me buy a cheap PC and stick an extra 128mb of ram in it and run linux for cheaper, since I'm not into pirating stupid ms games. Also for the application I might as well throw some TIVO like software into it too.

Plus, even if I did have an xbox, I'd just run mplayer under linux instead of this stupid nock (sp?) off anyways, so it truly doesn't make sense to me.

Just my 2 $0.01's
-isolenz

its not worth the trouble

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard that if you "mod-chip" your X-Box, the X-Box Live multiplayer gaming network won't work, so you can't play exciting games like halo with your friends around the world on the Internet. I for one wouldn't want to take that risk, since the whole point of an X-Box is to play games, and anyways the Windows XP Media Center PC is much better-integrated and easy to use.

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[ProppaT]

Well, part of the "huge" loss is in marketing. When you buy an Xbox, part of the money going into your purchase goes towards Marketing. I mean, you try building a pc with those specs, pay people to put it together (or build a plant that'll do it for you), make a pretty box for it, add a nice controller, pay game companies to make games for it, pay all your employees (including hardware/software developers, marketing guys, etc.), give two games with it for free, ship it half way across the world, sell it for $200 (er...no, that's what the stores sell them for...and it'll only be $150 come Black Friday), and you show me any kind of profit. I'm guessing they put, at the very least, $300 into each system. More like $350 or so. Yeah, they're comming in at a pretty big loss. Their profit is making a few bucks off of every game sold. Then again, when you sell at a loss of $150 per unit....you'd better sell a ton of games to make that back...

The Xbox isn't going anywhere buddy.

[cybrthng]

Come on, buy a Gamecube. Make it run linux. Or buy the PS2 and their Linux kit and port something to it! Forget Microsoft's XBOX and let it fade away into obscurity like the 3GO, the NEC Turbographx, the NeoGeo and all the other failed (marketing wise) game systems.

The Xbox is here to stay. Xbox live is pushing 200k units sold before christmas, xbox sales are increasing 20% EVERY WEEK and game attach rate is BEYOND THAT EVER EXPERIENCE WITHIN ANY CONSOLE!

Prices are falling, games are coming out and the xbox live has opened up alot of people into the future of gaming.

No obscurity for the xbox man. I'm sorry, but the Sony bandwagon finally has some stuff competition and i think you ps2 fanboys are shaking in your boots and coming up with this FUD as quoted above.

Hey, i even owned a ps2.. but that was so yesterday :) welcome to the future! And right now that is the Xbox all the way.

Re:The Xbox isn't going anywhere buddy.

[Jester99]

If I could, I'd mod you +1, Troll.

Good job. ;)
One of the better ones I've read in a while.

Re:The Xbox isn't going anywhere buddy.

[Chris Johnson]

Wow- that is the best Astroturf parody I've ever seen in my life. Do you even own a game console at all or do you really work in a PR agency? If you showed us a picture of you would it be clip-art? :D

Buying and XBOX

[Anonymous Coward]

People keep arguing that buying an XBOX makes microsoft lose money. Well you're going to have to buy a hell of a lot of XBOXs to make microsoft to stop making them because "they have lost soo much". Then again they can turn around an say "Look at our market share, licenses will cost you more!" to developers. The developers in turn could raise the cost of the games. While microsoft is still making money off licenses. By buying and XBOX you are supporting the XBOX, you bring more developers to the XBOX and potentially make games more expensive because developers want the licenses and Microsoft is the only supplier.

SO go ahead "Screw Microsoft".

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[26199]

Ah, yes, I won't be surprised when it starts turning a profit... I was only pointing out that they're not going to be enthusiastic about people buying XBoxes if they don't then buy games.

Microsoft's "loss"

[WhiteBandit]

It seems like no one is taking into account the fact that the more X-Boxes that people buy, the more likely Microsoft will be able to turn a profit on them.

When Sony initially released the PS2 they were selling at a loss. However, as time went on and more PS2's were sold, the process was refined and the cost to make a PS2 became substantially cheaper. Now Sony is making a profit on every PS2 sold.

So you can buy an X-Box, but eventually Microsoft is going to start turning a profit on them because the means of production will become cheaper. The more X-Boxes they sell, the faster the price will come down.

And it's like that with many things. Look at computers and electronics. A new Athlon XP 2800 is about $410, but once they become more mainstream, the prices will start to fall quite a bit.

Why waiste time modding an xbox

[cybrthng]

When you could be playing its killer linup of games?

Off to UC, Mech Assault, Ghost Recon and Whacked i go.

If you don't have Xbox live, your not a gamer

Re:Why waiste time modding an xbox

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, wtf. Quit with the flamebait, and try checking your spelling nice time. Just because someone doesn't go and dish out $300 for a half assed computer doesn't mean they're not a hardcore gamer. Ever hear of a COMPUTER????

Re:Why waiste time modding an xbox

[cybrthng]

Its only flamebait because your a linux zealot.

Ever hear of a console? Ever hear of something BESIDES linux?

You guys are the brightest IDIOTS i have ever seen.

Re:Why waiste time modding an xbox

[monthos]

speaking of spelling, what about grammer, check spelling nice time?? good god man, take your own advice or better yet just shut up.

btw, xbox's are 199.99, last i checked that was closer to 200 dollors not 300

Re:Why waiste time modding an xbox

[Anonymous Coward]

> speaking of spelling, what about grammer, check spelling nice time??

Misspelling grammar when pointing out other people's mistakes? Oh, the irony.

Re:Why waiste time modding an xbox

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, he also typed "nice" instead of "next"

back to the hole in the ground from wence i came

Flamethrower?

[Anonymous Coward]

This looks quite a bit like Flamethrower...

It's "Couldn't Care Less"

[RumGunner]

Not "Could Care Less." Could care less doesn't make any sense.

You could care less? Then maybe you should!

You couldn't care less? Then you must REALLY not care!

Re:It's "Couldn't Care Less"

[kubrick]

I think "I could care less" is an abbreviated form of "Like I could care less" or "As if I could care less". So then they do both mean the same thing. Hey, it's unclear, but that's language...

Here's why not:

[peterpi]

"If you can't afford the new Windows XP Media Center edition, why not grab yourself a modded XBOX, and check out the XBOX Media Player 2.0"

How about "Because they're completely different products"?

From the site:

Please, people, don't give into that, XBMP 2.0 only has the MCE look, it can't record dvds, it can't record TV shows, it can't display TV on your Xbox... It only is a Media Player for the Xbox.

Boo!

[Vann_v2]

From the website:

23-11-2002, 13:59 (Post by Shadow_Mx)

XBMP2.0 causing confusions.

Well, I was directed to Slashdot.org to see a news article about XBMP in which it is compared to MCE.

Quote

"If you can't afford the new Windows XP Media Center edition, why not grab yourself a modded XBOX, and check out the XBOX Media Player 2.0. The official site has some screen shots and previews. I am sure Gates will be real upset about this one. Somehow $300 for an x-box setup is cheaper than the $2000 XP boxes."

http://slashdot.org/articles/02/11/23/1722247.shtm l?tid=137

Please, people, don't give into that, XBMP 2.0 only has the MCE look, it can't record dvds, it can't record TV shows, it can't display TV on your Xbox...
It only is a Media Player for the Xbox.

As usual, making this out to be something it isn't. Anything to get a free jab at MS!

From the Site:

[Drunken_Jackass]

Please, people, don't give into that, XBMP 2.0 only has the MCE look, it can't record dvds, it can't record TV shows, it can't display TV on your Xbox...
It only is a Media Player for the Xbox.

So maybe it's not a replacement for MCE...

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[Anonymous Coward]

In the same thread you demand proof that xbox is selling at a loss, now you admit it yourself. You are seriously logic deficient, like the poor analogy with mustangs (hint: ford dont make money on "gas").

Linux

[pinr]

Why not just use Linux instead!

Your .sig

[Anonymous Coward]

"Get busy living, or get busy dying." -Shawshank Redempton
Honestly, how many people can correct me on this quote?

It's Redemption you fool! :-)

Slashdot rocks

[essdodson]

Try visiting the xbox media player site again. You'll find the authors of that site have explicitly said that the purpose of xbmp is not to replace XP. What a bunch of raving fools. I hope one day the "articles" here will state facts, not meaningless opinions of some moron who's life goal is to shut down MS.

The following is from http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/newweb/news_latest.p hp


23-11-2002, 13:59 (Post by Shadow_Mx)
XBMP2.0 causing confusions.

Well, I was directed to Slashdot.org to see a news article about XBMP in which it is compared to MCE.

Quote

"If you can't afford the new Windows XP Media Center edition, why not grab yourself a modded XBOX, and check out the XBOX Media Player 2.0. The official site has some screen shots and previews. I am sure Gates will be real upset about this one. Somehow $300 for an x-box setup is cheaper than the $2000 XP boxes."


http://slashdot.org/articles/02/11/23/1722247.sh tm l?tid=137

Please, people, don't give into that, XBMP 2.0 only has the MCE look, it can't record dvds, it can't record TV shows, it can't display TV on your Xbox...
It only is a Media Player for the Xbox.

amazing what somer L2 cache will do for ya?

[EnderWiggnz]

funy how 16k L2 cache just doenst cut it...

PS2

[Anonymous Coward]

Buying X-Box gives Microsoft bigger sales figures (they don't care if they lose money right now), which makes developers say, "Oh, lots of people are using the X-box" and move to the X-box. Buying PS2 helps boost Sony's figures.

YAY

[Anonymous Coward]

This is very impressive! Its a change from the "show the movie selections in a big ass list" approach.

As far a modding the Xbox and whether it hurts the company, I believe that it does. Console manufacturers price their systems to compete with the other systems, often taking a loss in profit. They do this because they know that you will buy games for the console, so they price them so that they will regain the loss of profit on the console.

Modified XBox == No XBox Live

[Osty]

Haven't you guys been paying attention? Modifying your XBox means no XBox Live for you (okay, sure, you can hack around and change your serial and/or MAC, but don't expect that to work for long, especially once it starts screwing legitimate owners and Microsoft has to really step up). It's like the past week or so of XBox news is just thrown out the window with this article.

Okay, so you're asking, why would you want to play XBox Live if your whole reason for buying a modified XBox is for this media stuff? Ask the guys that are currently bitching and moaning about their modified XBox. Sure, many of them likely modified their XBoxes to be able to play pirated games (and fewer to play imports), but I'd bet a large chunk modified their XBoxes so that they could geek out and install Linux. In any case, if modders didn't care about not playing XBox Live, then there'd never be any major stories about modders complaining, so it seems obvious that modders want to play XBox Live. And they can't.

Re:Modified XBox == No XBox Live

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't you be out endangering lives or something?

Re:Modified XBox == No XBox Live

[Filarion]

actually it's not just serial and mac - mainly it's the 16 byte hdd key. the project working on this is located here:

http://members.cox.net/opensource/index.htm

It would be funny if....

[racerx509]

Microsoft reverse engineered his media player and sold it on Cd/DVD whatever as media player software that could be loaded onto the hard drive. Once loaded, users could play whatever music they want all without modding their box. Thus dealing a blow to hacking the x-box, and modding the x-box. It would take all the fun out.

Kinda like the Linux based PS2

Yes, PLEASE mod your xbox for this, people!

[Anonymous Coward]

And mod it for xbox-linux, too. Let's help keep latency on Xbox Live as low as possible.

Re:I am sure Gates will be real upset about this o

[Anonymous Coward]

Price on the xbox is now around 1200SEK or US$150, so I guess the loss MS does foe each sold xbox is now around $350. Adn with the already bad economy of MS this could hopefully set a stop for MS.

How about only $35 USD!

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a $35 way to do the same stuff that XP MCE does, but better (i.e. non-microsoft)

Even better, you can support the OSDN and get one at ThinkGeek.

Xbox != PC

[waltc]

Why people make statments like "buy an Xbox instead of a PC" is beyond me. Xbox is a game console designed to be connected to a television monitor. A PC is an open-ended device which can be used for writing novels or illustrating them, engineering the next cpu--basically there is PC software for every task imaginable. AND on top of it PC's run computer games, too, and not just at 640x480 like the Xbox but comfortably at 1600x1200 with a clarity and sharpness (and performance, depending on your graphics card) that an Xbox cannot match.

And so one costs $1500 +, including RGB monitor, and one costs $300 without a monitor. Seems no mystery to me why each costs what it does...

Re:Xbox != PC

[Anonymous Coward]

The clarity and sharpness issue with respect to HDTV and Analog TV-out are fixed when XBox adds the Focus Enhancements FS453 chip to it's next form factor design. So may other mod-chip functionality. The FS454 chip has Macrovision protection, so it you're going to develop and figure out "how to beat the Box", you'd better get up to speed on the tech specs for the Focus Enhancements ASICs. Otherwise, all you efforts up to this point are hosed.

http:\\www.focusinfo.com

You want sources?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/newweb/download_sour ce.htm

Everything is under the GPL

Holy smokey! These guys are gona make me buy...

[haggar]

...an Xbox?!

Because, see, this player seems to be done incredibly well! Add to this that a modded Xbox runs Linux (which means, tons of apps) and there's also the MAME for Xbox project going on (imagine playing all those old but nice arcades... including Zero Wing ;-) on the Xbox), and you start to see some value here.

Now, if they make a modchip that'll remove Macrovision along with region coding (I know Region coding has been removed, but please get that Macrovision off, too, it ain't good for some TV sets), I'm definitely going to get this, as a replacement for my trusty ol' Philips DVD 730.

BTW, I got a question: here in Finland, the Xbox + the remote (needed if you want to watch DVDs) will cost me 290 Eur, which is roughly about 290 US$. How much do you Americans pay for it?

Re:Holy smokey! These guys are gona make me buy...

[Da VinMan]

BTW, I got a question: here in Finland, the Xbox + the remote (needed if you want to watch DVDs) will cost me 290 Eur, which is roughly about 290 US$. How much do you Americans pay for it?

The XBOX + 2 games right now in the new Christmas bundle is $200 USD. Add in a DVD kit for $29 USD + tax for a grand total of around $240.

Re:Holy smokey! These guys are gona make me buy...

[haggar]

Bastards. Always penalizing the European market.
Thank you for the information, VinMan.

Re:Holy smokey! These guys are gona make me buy...

[Anonymous Coward]

XBox2 is coming out in 1Q 2003 with a lower cost and support for European, Asian and American market. It's all about the TV-out chip which you can find out more on here:

http://www.focusinfo.com/products/fs454/fs454.ht m

Trust Crackheads before Gamerz.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gotto have yer Xbox.
Read the sign.
It says Please Do not feed the Animals.

I say Do not feed the Beast.

Don't buy anything from MS.
nada. not one cent.
bill has too much money already.

MS loves PC sales.

[jfisherwa]

No, he's not the one that's selling them. But he IS the one that is making the biggest margins off of them.

No more...

[Vaughn Anderson]

Can somebody please end the xBox promotions on /.? -v

Re:xbox bias? simply put, it's all about sticking

[Anonymous Coward]

simply put, it's all about sticking it to the man.

Take 5 seconds to read the legal page

[emkman]

The authors of the XboxMediaPlayer, everyone affiliated with the XboxMediaPlayer project & the Xboxmediaplayer.com website does NOT distribute any software compiled by Microsoft Xbox(TM) SDK (XDK).

Nice job wrackin up karma with lies though. Check for yourself to find out the real info.

6 of one..

[RumGunner]

half a dozen of the other.

P.S. I thought Spielberg really screwed up a.i. for you.

One question: why!??

[Blingin' AMD]

I love to hear about people modding Xboxes. To me, it's like a cross between Hackers, The Crocodile Hunter, and Jackass. Seems to me, these people who are modding the XBoxes were packet kiddies and they are dying to show off their (pseudo-)1337 h4x0r!ng 5k!115. Seriously, folks. Who in their right mind would go out of their way to skim approximately $1700 from BGa and get something they're not even skimming for? If they are going to mod the box to run WinMCE, but not actually make it useable by MCE, I find that, in a bor tome of voice, irrelevant. (Not to /., but to modding xboxes.) Gee. Let's work the numbers: $2000 (Win MCE equipped PC) Total Cost: $2000 (And you have the full capabilities of an actual PC!!) Versus: $200 (Price of Xbox) + $400 (Buying 2 new 'boxes to replace the ones you royally f[bleep]ed up) + ~$20 (Materials to create a keyboard-to-XBox widget) + $30 (New XBox Controller to replace the one you chopped up to make said widget) Total Cost: ~$650 (Sans-DVD-R, CD-R, etc..) C'mon, folks, why buy either when you can (in most cases) use the PC you already own?

XBox new TV-out chip coming in 1Q 2003

[Anonymous Coward]

What are you mod experts going to do when XBox adds this chip onto it's arsenal? It is Macrovision compliant and will render the current mod-chip useless?

http://www.focusinfo.com/products/fs454/fs454.ht m

Last Post!

[alpg]

Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you
lose your job. These economic downturns are very difficult to predict,
but sophisticated econometric modeling houses like Data Resources and
Chase Econometrics have successfully predicted 14 of the last 3 recessions.

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Last Post!

[alpg]

The FIELD GUIDE to NORTH AMERICAN MALES

SPECIES: Cranial Males
SUBSPECIES: The Hacker (homo computatis)
Plumage:
All clothes have a slightly crumpled look as though they came off the
top of the laundry basket. Style varies with status. Hacker managers
wear gray polyester slacks, pink or pastel shirts with wide collars,
and paisley ties; staff wears cinched-up baggy corduroy pants, white
or blue shirts with button-down collars, and penholder in pocket.
Both managers and staff wear running shoes to work, and a black
plastic digital watch with calculator.

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