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The XBox as the Home Entertainment Media Hub

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stuff-to-think-about dept.

bigcitymike writes "Well it might be vaporware, but it appears Dreamix is trying to turn the Xbox into a PVR with a TV guide like scheduler. They also state PC as well as Mac/Linux support down the road. " Project Dreamix will turn the Microsoft Xbox into the ultimate home entertainment center." I presume it requires a mod-chip installed." The xbox media player really goes a long way towards this goal already. MSFT may not be the friendliest of companies, but for $200, the x-box makes a helluva stereo component.

36 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Not Likely by anaesthetica · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You can bet that if Dreamix can introduce Mac/Linux support for the XBox that microsoft will find a way to break that support--either through software or lawyers

    .
    --
    The Rise and Fall of Online Community
  2. Yeah, but let's not forget by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The people that tried to turn the Gameboy into a PDA.

  3. Body of the article by Angry+White+Guy · · Score: 4, Informative

    For when it gets slashdotted...

    Overview

    Project Dreamix will turn the Microsoft Xbox into the ultimate home entertainment center. Right now we are in the alpha phase of course, but below is what we plan to complete before Beta release: -

    * PVR Features (Scheduled recording, fast forward, rewind, pause Live TV)
    * Video Playback (Based on Linux MPlayer - all popular file formats)
    * Audio/Music Playback (Based on Linux MPlayer - all popular file formats)
    * Image Viewer (Slideshow + Photo album)
    * Setup Menu (All configuration will be done with the Xbox controller and/or DVD Remote with the use of a graphical keypad)

    Although Dreamix will be based on Debian Xbox-Linux, all necessary libraries will be included in the distribution of the CD image and will auto-excecute upon being inserted into the Xbox DVD drive. This will allow for a friendly install by the average user.

    Note: There will be a need to purchase a hardware add-on for video input since the Xbox gaming console does not currently have video inputs etc.

    Why Dreamix?

    "For a very long time, I had been developing software called VWare, 2 years ago the project was going well but found myself losing interest, and not having enough time. Now with the Xbox supplying the hardware power needed to take my old VWare project into a new realm, the Dreamix team had the idea, why not Personal Video Recording on Xbox? Ill be honest, I can not stand Tivos, ReplayTVs,Dish Network, DirecTV TV guide systems, menus and what not. I am a very picky person who wants my entertainment and system to give me a feel of power, worth my money. I have spent too many years watching the industry do things wrong and only 'hoping' more would be added. They are slowly getting there but I am personally tired of waiting and the impatient person I am, I am going to do it myself." - Lenn0x

    --
    You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
  4. This is good work by I+Am+The+Owl · · Score: 2, Troll
    I'm glad to see those in the Open Source community finally accepting the superiority of not reinventing the wheel and have decided to build their creation on top of existing hardware. Finally, instead of fighting them, we can help out our brothers at Microsoft by boosting Xbox sales and adding value to them.

    We are all geeks. It's about time we started sticking together.

    --

    --sdem
    1. Re:This is good work by rasteri · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Finally, instead of fighting them, we can help out our brothers at Microsoft by boosting Xbox sales and adding value to them.


      Actually, buy purchasing an Xbox and using 3rd-party software on it, you're helping Microsoft lose money. They actually make a loss on every Xbox sale.

      Personally, I'm all for the idea. As I see it, the more money Microsoft loses due to the Xbox, the less money they have to pay their lawyers with. It's been said that Microsoft could just walk through the GPL if it were ever to become a serious threat to them.
    2. Re:This is good work by Lours · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Actually, by purchasing an Xbox and using 3rd-party software on it, you're helping Microsoft lose money. They actually make a loss on every Xbox sale.




      I'll second that and i'll add that all Linux open sourced initiatives to become available on the XBox are a real chance for every open-source-geek here to have Microsoft actually shoot itself in the foot.


      Every single Xbox sold costs money to MS since they are hoping to gain money thanks to the license fee publishers have to pay for each copy of a game they build (not even sell !).


      With Linux on the XBox and all open sourced alternatives to products that MS actually intends to bring to the machine we get a real chance to make the masses aware of Linux as a home-and-family-friendly tool with the added benefit of using money brought by Microsoft itself.


      We have this unique chance that Microsoft by losing money on each XBox sale is actually sponsoring heavily the open source movement. We shall not let this chance pass !


      Just imagine how many uses there could be for this very low cost machine : from educational ones, to fun ones (such as the PVR, mp3 player), to humanitarian ones (bring cheap computing internet able platforms to developing countries).


      All this sponsored by Microsoft itself !

      We won't have another chance so if you can code and know linux, do not hesitate and buy an XBox. This might be THE occasion to give MS a serious lesson.

      Lours

  5. My God! by Omkar · · Score: 2, Informative

    That hideous thing barely fits in my living room! Not that it lives there, of course - my trusty GC sits next to the TV.

    XBox as a media hub? That's MS's stated goal. And they're being thwomped by everyone worldwide (although they compete with Nintendo in the US and Europe, they're outsold by PS1 in Japan).

  6. Private Beta release link.. by Angry+White+Guy · · Score: 2, Informative

    A little more Karma Whoring
    Their beta signup form.

    --
    You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
  7. Unfortunately by glrotate · · Score: 4, Informative

    Easybuy2000, the exclusive distributor of the MAtrix no-solder modchip got busted a few days ago. That will be a major stumbling block for people trying to mod their Xboxen.

    1. Re:Unfortunately by pummer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      then why is their site still up and running? in fact, here is the link for the modchip.

    2. Re:Unfortunately by Troed · · Score: 2, Informative
      pogo-pins aren't meant for long-term use. Solder "crawls" over time, and you _will_ get the red/green-flashing problem and then you'll have to re-align your Matrix. Again, and again, and again.


      All that, while the chip is really a $4 cheapmod. You'd been a lot better of buying one of those and solder it in.

      --
      it's in my head
  8. PVR ability? by fuchikoma · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I assume that also besides a modchip, you'll also need some sort of nonexistant video capture hardware. Last I checked, the xbox didn't come with S-VIDEO inputs...

    1. Re:PVR ability? by neonstz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Someone is (or was) working on PVR support for XBox Mediaplayer using the WinTV PVR USB. The X-Box got 4 USB inputs (controller ports), so using one of them for this device shouldn't be a problem.

    2. Re:PVR ability? by mschoolbus · · Score: 2, Informative

      I was reading that they are looking for people to help produce an adapter that would more than likely go through the ethernet port they said. They have the design basically done, just need someone to make it real.

      I would prefer it to use a controller port... What if I want my home entertainment media hub to access a network to play movies and music?

  9. How could this work? by I+Am+The+Owl · · Score: 4, Informative
    Doesn't the XBox only come with something like a 10GB hard drive? How in the world would that work out for PVRs? Last I checked, you needed a serious amount of storage space in order to make a decent PVR (along the lines of 60 to 80GB). Also, apparently, you are required to purchase seperate hardware and add it in somehow in order to get video input.

    Wouldn't a TiVO or Replay TV be much cheaper than this? Not just adding in hardware costs, but all the time required to get all this working. It seems to me that the XBox just wasn't designed for this kind of usage.

    --

    --sdem
    1. Re:How could this work? by Troed · · Score: 2, Informative
      The Xbox takes standard 3.5" IDE drives, and replacing the built in drive takes about a minute or so, and can be done by anyone with a Torx 20 + 15 + 10 screwdriver.


      120Gb works just nicely.

      --
      it's in my head
    2. Re:How could this work? by Alex_Ionescu · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes it's true, it's not bullshit.
      The XBOX Hard drives don't have any "special chip". They just have different partitioning and use an HDD Key. As long as you have a modchip (which you probably do, if you want to run Dreamix, you can easily install your 120GB drive, format it to FATX, write the key to it, and reboot the XBOX. All new modchips support this.

    3. Re:How could this work? by sardonic2 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Works great you just need to copy a KEY on the drive over, other than that it is standard pc/except the dvd rom drive. If you have a XBox thats modded and all that, well then for another 100$ you can have a PVR fuck tivo.

    4. Re:How could this work? by wormbin · · Score: 2

      I know there are people that stick modded 80GB+ hard drives into Xboxen.

      One question: I had always heard that the 8GB (or whatever) size hard drive in the Xbox was an uncommon, single platter, low heat hard drive. When you replace this with a monster 7200 rpm drive doesn't the Xbox overheat?

  10. where? by pummer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Note: There will be a need to purchase a hardware add-on for video input since the Xbox gaming console does not currently have video inputs etc.

    Where is one supposed to get this add-on?

  11. I'm waiting for... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
    XBox the Office Edition

    Just think, all that untapped market of people playing games at their desks...

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:I'm waiting for... by evilmrhenry · · Score: 3, Funny

      Just think!

      Joe: "Hey, how do I print?"
      Bill: "Left-Left-Right-up-down-A-B-Start"

  12. Might work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I know some of the people who are working on the Dreamix, one person is doing the graphics (they look awesome) and another is doing some of the coding (he's a little prodigy). You dont need a mod chip, they're going to be selling a piece of hardware (less than $100) that connects to the box via ethernet. Cable plugs into the small box, is encoded into mpeg2 in real time, and send to the xbox. The software will be free to download and burn. Because the hardware is ethernet-based, it could be used for a PC.. but there just isnt software. Also, they're using linux and under the GPL microsoft can't toucht them, especialy since the software is free.

    1. Re:Might work by Troed · · Score: 2, Informative

      Complete rubbish - you need software running on the Xbox and for that software to run you need a modchip.

      --
      it's in my head
  13. I dunno... by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know about this... One of the reasons for buying a PVR is the simplicity; tell it to record your shows, then pay it no attention 'til you want to watch.

    What happens when I come back one night, sit down and get ready to watch the episode of Enterprise I missed... When I discover I forgot to put the Dreamix boot CD back in, and instead turned it off after playing MLB Slugfest last night?

    I suppose it might be a good way to recycle the Xbox after one's moved on to newer and better consoles, but I think I'd prefer a dedicated PVR box.

  14. uh.. why? by NinjaPaul · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Let's see.. Xbox has an 8 gig HD and no mpeg encoder or video inputs.. You won't be able to use Xbox Live on a modded machine, and for the cost of doing all the modifications you can probably get a Tivo for less money.


    This is just another stupid idea, next please.

    1. Re:uh.. why? by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 2

      "like a tivo bigot"
      Buy a TiVo. You'll soon agree that TiVo is the ONLY real PVR, and that the $12.95/mo we pay to TiVo is well worth it.

      "$15 a month"
      $12.95 for SA
      $5/Mo for DTiVo (free to TC Platinum subs)

      "can live with tivo's offensive advertising"
      One menu item. That's it. It's not even annoying - it's not like banner ads or anything. Do you complain about the text ads on Google

      "But for the rest of us"
      So the "rest of us" want something differnt? Right. So that's why TiVo is the #1 DVR out there (excluding DishPVR; Echostar gave out 500,000 of those for free so they could have the "#1" DVR)

      "we want something that does what we want"
      TiVo does what I want. It records TV and it does a damn good job of it. It list my programs, manages conflicts, deletes shows when it has to, makes suggustions, lets me search TV, never crashes, never misses a recording, tells me exactly what will be recorded, and lets me skip ads with a 30 second skip or 60x autocorrecting fast forward.

      "rather than something that does what tivo corporation wants"
      Uh...huh. I don't quite know what you're referring to. My TiVo does not steal from my bank account, and it does not record TiVo sponsored content instead of my programs. TiVo service has gone up for some subscribers (from $10/mo to $13/mo) and down for the rest ($10/mo to $5/mo).

      TiVo gives 500,000 people what they want. Reliable, dependable, easy PVR service.

      I am a TiVo bigot because TiVo works better than any other product on the market. TiVo is not a tapeless VCR. It is an advanced databased-backed television service. It can search descriptions. It can record any episode of a show even if the show changes times or dates. It can skip reruns. It can record two shows at once while playing back a third (DirecTV/TiVo only). It can prioritize my recordings. It manages space. It knows when every show will be recorded and when every show will be deleted and it will warn you if a show will be canceled or deleted early. To put it simply, it does a heck of a lot.

      Buy a TiVo. You'll become a "TiVo Bigot" too.

  15. The legally good thing by The+Creator · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now there is a legitimate use for mod-chips, it should in theory be impossible to shut down mod-chip vendors. But that is theoty...

    --

    FRA: STFU GTFO
  16. No you can't. by glrotate · · Score: 2, Informative

    Their site says their backordered. Easybuy was the EXCLUSIVE distributor. Everyone else bought from them.

  17. DVD players by Apreche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know why nobody but me sees it, but DVD players are quickly becoming the key component of a "media hub". I mean we've got a shitty cheap Apex, which we cracked for PAL and region free-ness. It's got logos on it for mp3, jpeg, dts, dolby digital, it plays cds and of course dvds. That's a lot of stuff. If someone made a divx playing pvr dvd player that would be the be all end all to home entertainment. All you would need would be digital cable or sattelite, a television with digital in and out, a reciever, speakers, and one of those. Maybe a VCR or a cassette deck or turntable. That's it! Console gaming is a nice thing too, but hey. If you throw like an xbox/ps2 emulator in the box you are the winner. And as other people have stated the XboX just doesn't have the technical capabilities to be this device without some serious additions. And considering price of xbox and add-ons and the limited hard drive space, I think I'm going to get working on this right away!

    --
    The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
  18. is XBox the way to go ? by thomasvs · · Score: 4, Informative
    Personally I don't think the XBox is the way to go. Sure, it is readily available. Sure, it is cheap. Sure, Microsoft is selling them at HUGE loss.

    But I really don't want to be limited by the limited hardware. In two years' time, how are you going to upgrade the box ?

    I'm working on a similar project myself (A href="http://davedina.apestaart.org/">The Dave/Dina Project), which is a distribution (based on Red Hat) to turn a PC into a media hub. It works, it's in our living room, it has 200 GB of storage space (the 550 albums it has encoded to Ogg to date take about 35 GB of those), it records video (we record about 15 shows each week, all through a web interface), it plays emulator games and even Doom, it shows photos, and s on.

    It isn't the prettiest thing in the world (WE NEED ARTISTS !), but it's open, you can swap out components, tinker with it, and help us improve it.

    I don't want to be tied to any hardware at all, especially not Microsoft's. How long before a cease-and-desist order is issued ?

  19. That's not the point by lpret · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The point is that you can do so many other things as well. You can not only do Tivo-esque functions, you can:
    • Play mp3s/ogg (perfect for a party -- no need to have a computer hooked up or burn a CD)
    • Play Divx (again, parties)
    • Streaming audio (setup a playlist from another box, or stream internet radio)
    • DVD playback
    • And the ability to rip all of these.

    For all of these features, the xBox is a pretty small and handy way to do all this. Just try and build a PC about the same size for 400 dollars w/ a remote, etc. that's why this is pretty cool

    --
    This is my digital signature. 10011011001
  20. Just don't buy an Xbox to watch DVDs by haggar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unless you have been sleeping under a rock for the last 12 months, you would certainly know that there are DVD players of comparable quality to the Xbox, at half the price. Also, they don't require a mod-chip to play Divx, MP3, SVCD and VCD in addition to DVD.They also have less moving parts (the Xbox has two fans and a hard disk, in addition to the DVD mechanics) and is therefore more reliable and dissipates less.

    Also, the DVD players available today are all multi-region enable-able through the remote. Some will even remove Macrovision with a remote hack. For the Xbox, you will need a modchip to achieve the same.

    Oh, and the DVD player comes with a remote, unlike the Xbox.

    --
    Sigged!
  21. Re:Are you that *stupid*? by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Every XBox you buy is helping Microsoft partially recover their losses incurred by manufacturing and development. Did it not occur to you that you are paying Microsoft money for the privilege of using an XBox? Or do you just shoplift them from Best Buy?"

    Did it occur to you that some of us want to play games instead of pretending that we're "beatin down the man!"?

  22. bleeding-edge technology by PhreakOfTime · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Can someone please explain to me how this is any sort of news whatsoever? I would venture to guess Im not the only one who has been using my already paid for home network and computers for video on demand, and all other 'features' of this so called media center.

    What about networking, will it see my mounted SMB shares so I can access them form any location on my network. Does it have a remote, or do I have to sit in front of the tv with a MS joystick to use it? As far as I can see, hooking this up to my network, would be a giant step back to 1998.

    Will it be a true media center and allow me to access a secure server by placing my public and accepted keys anywhere into it? Or is this just 'media' in terms of sit on your ass couch-potato stuff?

    overall, nice concept ,far from novel, and way to expensive.

  23. Sigh... by xmda · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Wouldn't a TiVO or Replay TV be much cheaper than this?

    Sigh... I get soooo tired of all people that thinks that the whole world is USA. Now, please tell me how I am gonna get a TiVO or Replay TV here in Sweden. Please do that.

    Thank you!

    PS. Not that I am planning to buy an xbox or anything, I will not support MS if I can avoid it (yes, you DO support MS if you buy one of those machines, even if they lose money selling them)