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.

[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. ---

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

[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.

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.