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Modded XBox The Ultimate Multimedia PC?
Anonymous writes "Can a modded Xbox running homebrew software really beat all existing
designed-for-the-living-room multimedia devices hands down?! Tom's Hardware
Guide seems to think so. They reviewed Xbox Media Center
(XBMC) and say the free open source software turn an Xbox into The Ultimate Multimedia Center, the ideal home
playback system for audio and video.
(Apparently there is a PC software version available too:
Media Portal)" The article also explains some of the more convoluted issues surrounding XBMC. But I definitely agree that this is a great system.
XMBC is the first media center type application that I have found that runs on $150 worth of hardware. That says a whole lot about it's success.
Not only does it already have standard PC hardware, letting Linux coders use their previous experience, but it's got some other special things that are also perfect.
It has HD TV-Out (Or RCA cables), and a DVD-ROM drive. A spacious 250GB HD can be installed to save everything under the sun, and after all that, you can still play games on it and not have to worry about viruses and worms, and most importantly, cheaters, playing online. It's cheaper than any hardware of that class should be. Cheap cheap cheap! That's why this is so popular.
Plus, you get the added bonus that you got to do something that Microsoft doesn't want, all while MS makes a loss on the XBox.
- Sherman
I think one of the great advantages of XBox Media Center is that it also doubles as an excellent shell/launcher (especially with its built-in FTP support) and replaces both applications like EvolutionX which was a dedicated launcher and the now defunct XBox Media Player. No other dedicated media device offers such integration between shell/player... on Windows they're two seperate applications which don't seem to integrate particularly well.
Might be a little offtopic, but since the XBOX is an x86, and at least some people have the expensive flash burners/readers it takes, why hasn't anyone taken the XBOX os and put it on a PC? Maybe run it inside emulated XBOX hardware? I wanna play XBOX games on my PC... :)
"...or is the open source movement just going to settle on becoming a Microsoft ripoff scene?"
Ripoff scene. Always has been.
Anyone else getting an ad for Windows XP Media Center Edition in the middle of the article?
Good point, I mean this ISN'T EVEN IN ENGLISH !
What are we to do?
You should not reinvent the wheel on user interface. Users have finally become accustomed to the way media players look (and they all tend to look the same now) and operate. Just because its open source doesn't mean that it has to be hard to use. Too many developers forget that and try to make their app look cool before getting it to work good or creating a nice clean design.
Xbox doesn't have Gran Turismo, GTA:VC, nor will it have the new one.
PSX is pretty bad ass, I must say.
Check out the best P2P sharing website: MEDIACHEST.COM
I have thought using an X-box based HTPC, but for the moment I need something that will scale DVDs to custom resolutions for my CRT projector--I guess I have to wait on that one.
It's the most powerful "new" pc that you can get for the money. With using EvolutionX and a few more tweeks, you get a great entertainment system. especially when you have some er..backup copies of games.
Sig removed by order of FBI Patriot ACT
XBox Media Center's page (googe cache)
There's my karma whoring for the month.
...now all I use it for is MAME! XBMP rules too, but it is hard to get used to the joystick as a means of controlling it. I should just break down and buy a DVD remote.
What are the reccomended (or required) system specs for this setup?
Downmix - The Artscene News Source!
Sometimes, the forces of good can turn evil on itself.
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
A modded xbox + xbmc is perfect! I use it daily, so I know.
The only thing missing is a video-in card. Currently I have to use my desktop PC to record shows and then stream to the xbox. It works, but it would really be perfekt if one could use normal PCI-cards on the xbox.
Anyone know about this problem and if the xbox2 has the same limitations?
can something from microsoft really be The Ultimate?
It isn't until you install some free software on it. Think of it as spraying perfume on a pig.
Trolling is a art,
There's a place selling modified Xbox's for about $450 that does all of this stuff that I've been considering.
For the most part, a modified Xbox would be my "dream TV box". Sit it in the living room (it's about the same size as the DVD/VCR combo machine - thicker, but not as long), and I could have an archive of my legally purchased DVD's. As a guy with 2 kids who are always trying to ruin the DVD's with their grimy little fingers, this would be a great machine for my household.
"Here, kids - want to watch 'Blue's Clues on a Deserted Island and Joe Dies Horribly' again? OK - let me just use the remote on the Xbox." Boom - there goes my XVID ripped DVD movie on. Originals are kept safe, kids are happy.
I'm kind of dissapointed we haven't seen a company come up with a solution like this. A Cappachino sized device with the same capabilities, running Linux so I could FTP/SSH into it for upgrades/other mods would sell like hotcakes. (And as an avid fan of hotcakes, I know what I'm talking about.)
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Binaries - there's no "clean" way of getting them, AFAIC. You need VS.NET and ask M$ for the devel kit in order to compile them (at which time you're bound by their EULA, which disallows redistribution). Well, I definitely wouldn't mind a download link though :)
The Raven
I'd certainly agree that the modded XBOX is the ultimate 'Entertainment Box.' In fact, that's what I tend to call it now when I feel like watching movies on it... Oh, and it's good for playing games every now and again too I guess...
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. --Will
My only regret is the xbox can't read DVD+R discs (only DvD+RW) so I end up using more expensive and less permanant media for no good reason whicn I want to archive a show.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Here is a better link to the article. The one in the original post bypassws the RR-mirror selection and goes directly to www6...
but since the XBOX is an x86, and at least some people have the expensive flash burners/readers it takes
:P
What are you talking about> You do not need a flash burner/reader to use an xbox...
why hasn't anyone taken the XBOX os and put it on a PC? Maybe run it inside emulated XBOX hardware?
It is much harder to emulate games than it is to mod xbox hardware...your computer probably wont run SNES very smoothly
[I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
Ultimate virus collector(propagator)?
I could, but thats beside the point. The most important thing is usability. IMHO, the interface should be done in XUL so that people could skin the media player to their hearts content (including the operability of the buttons and so on) while using a simple engine. XUL is one of the greatest technologies that has come out of the Mozilla project, and I'd like to see it be used elsewhere. An open source media player would be a perfect place to start.
Just get a PCI-TV card from one of several vendors, and install it. Then, buy a real XBox and plug it into the S-Video and RCA audio inputs on that on that TV card. There you go...
That doesn't work for some reason. I tried it with a Playstation 2. It lags input from the controler about 2 or 3 seconds.
...is the VCR!
Ha! I kill me.
Has anyone found a way to attach an IR device to their PC to allow it to change channels? A TV card on a PC can change channels, but only when you plug the coax straight in, sans cable box (thus not allowing pay channels to be recorded). I believe the Tivo comes with something that changes your cable box channels for you, but I could be wrong.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
A friend of mine has a modded Xbox with XBMC and it is fantastic. Very nice themes have been made, too. Check 'em at allxboxskins.com.
However, I'll have to put in the required plug for MythTV. It does PVR stuff (TiVo), music, videos, weather, etc. I run mine in a little Shuttle XPC that integrates well into my home theater (doesn't look like an obvious computer). I run HDTV resolution out to my Sony TV and get a really stunning GUI.
--- witty signature
I'm still really new to linux, and can't wait to move to linux. But there are still a few things holding me back.
So to get my feet wet with Linux and also to have fun, I installed Ed's Xebian on my xbox. I can boot up the xbox and play all of my normal xbox games. Then if I want to watch a video, I just boot up linux (which is now in the main xbox menu), run mplayer, and off I go.
Although I have had problems playing back certain videos. If the screen get's really complex, like if it's raining, and the video was compressed using dvix, or xvid, it can get pretty chunky.
It's not really a problem, but it happens every once and a while.
The only thing I've lost with running linux on the xbox is that I can no longer use xbox live.
Other then that I love it.
-asoap
Treat me like a marketing stat, and I'll treat your movie like a series of ones and zeros
Does anyone know of a working link/mirror to the Tom's Hardware site? The links posted in the story and in the discussion do not work...
My MythTV HowTo
This works on all kids of levels... The whole idea of the X-Box is to let you play over priced games. Now not only can we still play the over priced games but we can also use it as a PC with good graphics hardware for the low low price of $150USD (found from a selection of online stores), uses your TV as a monitor whole bunch of generic ports and your ready to rock. Looks nicer then a vanilla box and cheaper than AlianWare. How can anyone go wrong?
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
Readers in the UK should note that Sainsburys (one of the UK's major supermarket chains) are currently selling the old Sega GT/Jet Set Radio Xbox bundle for GBP 75, not bad when you consider that Amazon.co.uk are currently selling the console for GBP 120 without bundled software.
No idea if this applies to all branches of Sainsburys, my local one in Edinburgh had them, phone ahead.
You can also your Xbox on the high street from Game, Dixons etc bundled with more recent games for more money but, hey, if you are going to mod your box, who needs to buy games.
Then entire application is skinnable. That is just one of the default skins. There are many more interesting skins available.
For example, look here: xbox-skins.net
"Think of it as spraying perfume on a pig."
5 out of 6 Slashdot readers would consider dating that pig.
Oh come on now, you don't need dual athlons and Radeon X800 for a media PC. Those are excellent specs for a divx/dvd/mp3 decoding machine.
Sheesh... It's not like you're going to play the latest and greatest 3d games on it or anything!
Oh, wait...
Ummmm, no. Don't you see? The XBox is just the first step of many. Microsoft has the money and the skills to be patient. The home entertainment market is going to be absolutely massive, and Microsoft is going to be in everybody's living room, whether it be the XBox 2 or XBox 3 or 4 or 5. Hell, they're already in many DVD players, aren't they? Even if you hate them, you have to admit they have a bunch of smart sons of proverbials up there.
Since the Xbox dropped in price to about $150 I went out and bought one with the sole intention of modding it. After installing XBMC (never heard of media portal until reading this article) it has completely replaced my pc and other A/V equipment as THE thing to use. I have imaged many of my dvd's for instant playback tivo-style. My entire mp3 collection is now accessable through a nice interface via remote control on the tv. I can also listen to digitallyimported shoutcast stations. Plus the Xbox supports 480p/1080i output to my HDTV which just looks awesome. Basically ever since I put in a new 200GB HD everyone who sees it (including girls) wants one! The Project Mayhem skin for XBMC is very sophisticated and decidedly un-MS looking.
As for anyone who thinks that the Xbox is slow and outdated.. at least try out Xbox Media Center and givce it chance.
On the other side of the coin the binaries needed or the SDK to compile the software is borderline illegal. So if you are concerned about that don't bother.
"We're all mad here." --Cheshire Cat
Music: check
Pictures: check
DVDs: check
Divx: check
Samba support: check
and the check list goes on.
I love the inclusion of smb support since I can access audio/video files from my linux boxes. If really does provode the most bang for the buck IMO.
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Don't like it?Skin it!
I have a modded xbox. I soldered all the connections (the only way to securely do it). D0 is a bitch to solder though. This has got to be the BEST investment I made in my xbox. I have it hooked up to my home network. Now I can stream movies,mp3s, etc to my TV. This leaves my computer free to play games too. I run XBMC & am working on a new skin. I hate the Dell media center skin. They should've stuck with copying the MS skin...
Xbox ver 1.1
Xecuter 2.2Pro
WD 120 GB HDD
"...we dont care about the economics; we just want to be able to hack great stuff."
as a developer for it I'm biased ;)
Considering for $149 and $5 to rent Mech Assault you can have your Xbox softmodded and run virtually any media (streaming over the network with several different sharing methods, playing locally off the hard drive, or off DVD/DVDRW/CDRW) it's hard to beat.
This is the only thing an xbox is good for in my opinion. I have a ps2 and gamecube for games, so who needs another console.. none of the xbox only titles have really drug me in.
But being able to RUN this software and have an excellent connection to your tv (composite, svideo, component, etc) that even supports HD is what makes it king. It's not the processor or ram or anything else just the flexibility of being able to run the code and the output hardware.
There is a media player for PS2 which can play divx, mp3, xvid, ogm, jpg etc etc but it's FAR from the quality of the xbox media player, and much harder to get running well. The xbox's pc architecture really helps in the homebrew area!
I think 700MHz w/8GB would have been quite a bit beyond "ultimate" for '94. Maybe '99 give or take a year.
The Internet couldn't tell a good bit from a bad bit if it bit it on its naughty bits.
You should not reinvent the wheel on user interface.
Imagine if the wheel had been square when it was first invented. Everything would be terrible. Cars would shake themselves apart. Bicycles would kill their riders. But people would say "don't re-invent the wheel" and so you'd be stuck with it.
Perhaps a reason Microsoft is not going out of their way to offer the XBox as the perfect home entertainment center is that it would open up tons more antitrust suits with a whole new variety of companies?
The only bad thing about that is there's really no way to record from the tv. Or really use the Xbox as a sort of cable box either. You would be using it as sort of a DVD player with no DVDs; just the hard drive. If you're skilled, you could build a micro-ATX desktop (as oppsed to tower) for more or less the same price depending upon options and get that functionality. With MythTV and
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
If you kept up with the latest builds and news, you'd know that they had to remove the Windows MCE skin because of the usual MS licensing issues. It has beenreplaced with the Dell Media Center look (whose license doesn't have any restrictions on copying it) for quite a few CVS builds now.
(This may be mildly off-topic, since this goes along with the DMCRA headlines too.)
My *friend* has a modded XBOX. It rocks. The problem is that a modded XBOX is illegal (thanks DMCA). This *friend* had to buy the chip from some company in China in order to do it. It's ridiculous.
<rant>
The argument against allowing this is that it promotes piracy and thus, is bad for business. But he spent over $400 to buy the thing and modify it ($150 XBOX, $30 mod-chip, $20 shipping, $70 120GB HD, >$100 in games). But if the mod chip were not available, then he would have spent $0 since the device would not have been worth it.
So how is a consumer spending over $400 on goods and services bad for business? What's even more sad, is that this was Microsoft's opportunity to win-over geeks. If the MS sold an aftermarket add-on to do this stuff, then they would have had our business and our gratitude.
</rant>
Name one closed source interface that isn't blatently stolen from xerox or a relic that looks like 1985?
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
I've got a dolby digital receiver and last time I checked (I used to have a modded xbox) there were a lot of problems getting dolby digital output in XBMC. Any news on that front??
This is a heavily modded xbox, as in out of the reach of your everyday home hacker.
The 733 celeron replaced with a 1.4gig, 64 megs of ram upgraded to 128.
A stock xbox does the same things fairly well, not as well as described, I've had some stuttering problems on recent builds of XBMC with some action-intensive scenes.
I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's pretty cool. A perfect device would have a PVR.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Almost every product is rip off of something previous to it, usually because the consumer already knows how to operate product X so if product Y is like X than the consumer will not get confused.
What's missing in xbmc is game launching from disk;)
Check out avalaunch!!! Recommended
Just wanted to point out that recent builds of XBMC can stream video recorded on your ReplayTV PVR. Pretty slick, and a great way to get a thin-client to play back your Replay recordings on a different television [w/o the expense buying/activating a second RTV].
Actually, as shown in this screenshot of Media Portal, the user interface is a direct copy of images found in the Dell Media Experience user interface, which itself was modeled (different artwork, same color schemes and theme) in the likeness of Media Center.
Alot of my friends have modded xboxs which they use for running emulators and playing media.
One of the guys only plays SNES, NES and Turbogfx emlators on his. He dosn't care for all the xbox game, he says they are all pretty much the same while there is more varieity in the 2000+ roms he has on the HD.
I'm planing on buying an xbox just for playing media. My laptop is just too slow to play divx in linux and I don't have the HD space for a dual boot setup. So buying an xbox would give me extra HD space(8 gigs is enough for a few movies at a time, I only watch them once and delete). I was first considering getting a Desktop for watching media but then I would have to buy a monitor or get a TV out card(which usually have crap output). The total cost either way would be two or three times the cost of the xbox and mod chip.
God, root, what is the difference?
Man, that's an excellent point. Except for one small thing. The wheel wasn't square. It was (duh) round, hence, it worked and did the job well, and so everyone started using it.
"Ayn Rand is a bloody socialist compared to me." - Robert A. Heinlein
Name one closed source interface that isn't blatently stolen from xerox or a relic that looks like 1985?
Windows Media Center.
OK, I RTFA. Interesting as hell... I read a few posts here that say something along the lines of "well it'd be ultimate IF it had a TV capture/tuner card on it."
I agree...
What would the possibilities of taking something like this
and hooking it up to the xbox with a reverse one of these?
IANAP (Programmer), but it seems like the hardware part is certainly feasible. I did a quick google to see if anyone has done something like this, and I did find something about the xbox USB stack being proprietary, but that's not exactly stopped people before. Does anyone here on slashdot know of a project to do something along these lines?
Just like driving a car:
(D) to go forward
(R) to go backward
The XBMC Package 1.0 Beta can be downloaded from Bittorrent at www.Emule.com.
What? Bittorrent has nothing to do with emule. Emule has nothing to do with emule.com. I hate to be picky, but I have to wonder about the rest of this article.
Wow, only on slashdot would someone aregue about reinventing the wheel. Anyways, I'll bite and use your car comment: Imagine if your pedals for your accelerator, clutch (if you have one) and brake were swapped. No particular reason they have to be in one place or another, right? Well, users (drivers) are used to it. Lets not throw out a proven interface just to experiment. Alot of money has been spent on UI research (pity sometimes that its not spent on making programs secure or effective) and UI trends shouldn't be bucked without a proven reason that they are less efficient and that a user would benefit significantly from changing their habits. This does happen (Mozilla's tabbed browser inteface for example), but not often.
They must not have seen this story.
If you couple this with the WinTV-250btv/BeynondTV bundle for $139 (often on sale for $129) from SnapStream SnapStream Store, you've got quite a nice little setup for under $250 that supports one television, and numerous computers doing playback.....
It's written in C#. Depending on how well it's designed, it should be possible to pull out the WMP 9, put in an open source player, and compile in Linux under Mono. Probably easier said than done, but it would be a sweet app for mono, and could lower the costs for a PVR/DVD/Music box by $200.
No kidding. In 1994, the 'web didn't exist and I was doing most of my computing on a REALLY expensive 486SX 25MHz machine. I have a calculator faster than that now.
You can use MYTHTV on linux and there are some other alternatives but if you have an AIW card there is only the GATOS project which is outdated and not Video4Lin compatable..... you could just give up TV like i have :(
Burn Bright or Fade Away
Apparently they thought it would make a good server too.
Imagine if the wheel had been square when it was first invented. Everything would be terrible. Cars would shake themselves apart. Bicycles would kill their riders. But people would say "don't re-invent the wheel" and so you'd be stuck with it.
Yea, you're right. I always thought that people just liked to say "don't re-invent the wheel" because it was catchy and sounded cool, not because the wheel is something useful that works well. If the wheel had been named something like "the fuckeduppieceofshit", then that phrase wouldn't have caught on, and we'd be reinventing it all the time. After all, who wants to say "don't reinvent the fuckeduppieceofshit"?
Imagine if the wheel had been square when it was first invented. Everything would be terrible.
Not if all roads were shaped like inverted catenaries.
My user number is prime. Is yours?
Well, the article is Slashdotted into oblivion and I haven't seen the answers I'm looking for.
....
Assuming I would simply like to buy a (now) cheap X-box *solely* for media integration, and I have no knowledge about modding X-boxes (nor interest in doing it myself)
What does joe consumer need to do to go out and get himself a box that integrates with his stereo/home theatre? The unit is allowed to not connect to X-box live or even play games. Hopefully and get the ability to read MP3s off a network drive someplace. (And I already have a PVR, so I don't care about video.)
Can someone give a succinct "you must do the following four things and you're golden" or whatever?
I'm looking to extend the stereo, but I'm not sure if there is any benefit in using an X-Box or if I should buy a more specific-purpose device. A PC is not among the devices I'm considering.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
There's a ton of stuff this great little box does that are beyond it's original intentions. I'm talking a modded XBox here so everything in the list will be of questionable legality.
Emulation: There are Mame/NES/SNES/GBA/etc. emulators that work stunningly.
Linux: In all it's glory. Web-browsing, mail checking, document editing, picture viewing, etc.
Media Playing: They covered XBMC (which is capable of network streaming, DVD playing, etc.) and the MythTV frontend is friggin awesome.
StepMania: It's a free version of Dance Dance Revolution with a bazillion songs available online as well as the ability to make your own steps.
Online Gaming: Any game that supports System Link (XBox to XBox play) can be played online through a tunneling service (XBConnect or GameSpy Arcade).
Diskless Gaming: Copy your games from their disks to the harddrive and put them in protected storage.
Spare change and some very basic skills let you create your own adapters to hook up a mouse and keyboard to the box or hookup the XBox controller to the PC as a joystick. Even if you hate the games, the XBox is easily worth $200 ($150 for the machine and $50 for the chip).
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
Imagine if the wheel had been square when it was first invented.
Fool, if the wheel hadn't been invented round, it wouldn't be what it is for that very reason.
Perhaps a better argument for the original poster to use would have been "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
The XBMC dev's only create the source, they don't release binaries to the public, which would be illegal. Until the OpenXDK project comes of age and allows the release of binaries not compiled with the MS XDK, it will have to be released by the "usual people" in the "usual places". The OpenXDK project has a long way to go before this can happen. It can compile some less complex things as of now (some modchip dev's have released very simple legal xbe's), but XBMC is far too complex for it.
Also, just a little tidbit of info for those who care: as of April 7, 2004, CXBX can play Turok Evolution on the PC in full speed and quality. Check out the screenshots if you don't believe me. Definitely a notable feat...
Ah-ha!
But if the wheel had been square, I could have patented my improvement.
Instead of square, make 'em a triangle!!!
Why you ask?
Eliminate ONE bump per revolution!!!!!
I'm here all week, try the veal.
If you kept up with the latest builds and news
Yeah! How dare he not keep with this little opensource project! What does he have, a life?
NOT ON SLASHDOT!O!
Can anyone tell me if it can stream mp3 from another machine on the network? I've already got all my tunes on my OSX box, and I'd rather just pull them from there....
Jeez, now that I got rid of Windows and switched to Linux, you have to show me a (FREE) app I was looking for. Damn you, Slashdot.
Joking aside, is there any similar applications for Linux? Excluding xine's OSD interface (oxine)
"...a generation of kids has grown up thinking Trance is the shittiest music since country and western." - Paul van Dyk
There are at least 4-5 completely different ways to mod an xbox. Everything is in detail here. TSOP-flash requires: a.) soldering of two points, millimeters apart, to write-enable the bios b.) Action Replay or Mega-x-key(plenty of sites sell these) To let you integrate Raincoat into a save game. c.) Mechassault or Agent Under Fire Rental from blockbuster, hollywood video, etc. d.)Tutorials Grand total including xbox: approx. $185 Then there are mod chips, which you can turn off to use Live. They cost anywhere from $30~$60 depending on the number of features you want and whether you want to solder 7 or 0 wires. Various Other exploits. Buying a $450 Xbox modded or not is paramount to playing $6.00/gallon (in the US) for gas and saying you got a deal.
Just change the www6 to www2 or some other number lower than 6. I changed it to www2 and the website works great :-)
So what's the best modchip for the job then? This would be a fun project to do when I have the time.
And Media Center is just a ripoff of Tivo.
...
you don't need a mod chip anymore
you will need to do some sodering though
you won't be able to play xbox live, but there are alternative networks out there
you can play your games straight off the hd, load times are almost non-existant!
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
on that link to the windows media center site, i noticed that the slogan-type phrase in the middle of the page was "entertainment that tunes into you"
even MICROSOFT is getting into the soviet russia jokes!
"Name one closed source interface that isn't blatently stolen from xerox or a relic that looks like 1985?"
Can anybody name an Open Source one? That's less of a challenge and more of a point of genuine curiosity.
"Derp de derp."
No Kidding, in '94 I woulda shit myself reading X-Box specs. I would have even bought one if I could have afforded it.
I still refuse to buy one now though. I don't own a machine that has MS products on it, nor will I unless I HAVE to. And it just keeps getting easier and easier to not need MS anymore.
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
I have a Xbox (the model with only one fan). The fan is way to noisy for the xbox to be used as a multimedia machine. Supposedly one can replace the fan with a quieter one.
No, it isn't. Media Center does more than just record and play back TV. In fact, TiVo's Home Media Option was launched as a response to Windows Media Center.
Funny, my bike and car with square wheels work perfectly fine on my saw-tooth shaped roads.
Perhaps it is not the box you must think outside of, grasshopper, but the Euclidean space that defines the concept of "box".
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
I just picked up the Halo LE XBox, and I can say for a fact that it has no problem reading burned DVD-Rs or cheap CD-Rs with audio on them. It has a phillips drive in it, but apperantly the limited edition xboxes have a better one than others (but the savegame cheat won't work on them unfortunatly).
I just ordered the Xenium for it (since it has a great support and I liked configuration options of multiple bios, and easy to disable modchip makes it so I can still play on Live if i ever get around to it). Comes with a solderless adapter that is super easy to install for $60 total (including chip).
"After all, who wants to say "don't reinvent the fuckeduppieceofshit"
10.000 years ago everyone said that: that was what the square wheel was called. Cavemen broke their backs carrying meat after mammoth hunts but everyone was all like "Ugh, don't reinvent the fuckeduppieceofshit". Guess what, someone went on and reinvented it anyway making it round, and now I'm the only one in the whole world who has a clue what the fuckeduppieceofshit even was! But that's because it was square and cavemen had trouble carrying mammoths with it, not because it was called the fuckeduppieceofshit. If it was just that they'd just rename it.... or was that what happened. Anyways, as soon as my patenet for "cylindrical devices as rotational transportation aids" hits the market you'll have to reinvent it.
--Jesus saves, but everyone else takes 2d20 crushing damage.
Here are the upgrades you can make to the Xbox hardware to make it run better. First you have to install a mod chip which will allow you to:
*Any software not signed by Microsoft can be run
* Use of hard drives up to 120 GB
* FTP data transfer to the Xbox using various dashboards (e.g. the XBMC)
* Use of 128 instead of 64 MB RAM
The ram is still really low and the processor slow unfortunately.
the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
We're not talking about features - we are talking about interface design.
...
tvtime. tvtime.sourceforge.net. Hands down, the clearest, simplest TV app on the planet. Seriously.
Its not my own, but i've used it for a while, and it's incredibly clear.
So that works for a straight road... can probably be modified for a curved road.. how about intersections? They'd be unstable at best. (lots of domes)
Everyone would have to use the same size wheels.
I'm not sure steering would work.
(I know it's just a unpractical thought experiment, just carrying it a bit farther)
Hell, back in 1994, with my trusty 486SX/33MHz that my grandpa bought, I think the XBOX's specs would've required my parents to get a second mortgage! :P
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You can actually replace the Xbox DVD drive with a standard Samsung drive, with a little soldering:
How to replace your Xbox DVD drive with a model 616T Samsung DVD-rom drive
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Of course, it doesn't record, but they have Xebian (debian for xbox) working on it, and MythTV setup also. That is why I bought my xbox last week.
1 in 6 have already gone down that road.
for media playing?
Cheers. TV Time came with one of the Linux distributions I installed, and I loved it. Unfortunately I'm looking for Windows software, because most of my time on the PC is using Cubase SX 2. So I need a windows port or something. But I second TV Time.
Newer bioses support drives larger than the old 137GB limit
True, but good luck finding one for sale new
The X-box is good at playing games, but the component video output doesn't even come close to the DVI output on my low-end DVD-player (150$).
That DVD player (Yamakawa) can play DivX, Audio CD's and mp3's as well. Also, the X-box sounds alot when you have it up and running with it fans and all.
Sure, the X-box has more features and works great, but only on low-end hardware, and you need to make sure the humming sound from the fans doesn't hurt your ears...
You really got him there. Good job refuting his claim that it just rips off someone elses appearance.
I'd rather be lucky than good.
I guess you missed the slashdot story about the stanwagon.
As you can see, it wouldn't make cars crumble, and that guy's bike is pretty stable.
Nouvelles de jeux et technologies en français. TC
Have you tried the PowerVCR? I think that's the name of it. I'll check when I get home. Very clear on windows. =)
You want DScaler. Absolutely amazing program -- produces incredibly high quality output, and the interface is easy enough to use.
Not sure if you were refering to clarity of interface or picture, but DScaler has high-quality output and a decent (if minimal) interface.
Funnily enough, when I was recently stuck in Calgary (Go Flames Go!) for an extended period of time, I got so bored at the hotel that I went to Costco and picked up an XBOX pack there, then I got a Hauppage WinTV USB, slapped it together using my Thinkpad and was playing Tetris. I could've tried to break into the hotel's cable link on the in-room TV, but it was a pretty shittly little 20" job and the Thinkpad actually looked better. Pity the Palliser's Ethernet connection didn't support XBOX Live. :-)
The best thing you can get is a model 50001 PS2 with network adaptor, a memory card, and GameShark MP3 player (a licenced form of the BroadQ QCast software easily available at video game stores).
:)
This nets you the ability to play progressive scan DVDs, a remote that can power on and eject the drive on your media device, the ability to play back MP3, OGG Vorbis, OGM, DivX (3.11, 4.x, 5.x), AC3 audio, JPEG, PNG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and more via updates. The PS2 itself will play burnt backup DVDs. The server-side software's in Java and runs on Mac OS X, Linux, and even Windows!
The total cost for this is way less than your Xbox, with no modding required, and gives you a much quiter machine that can be controlled via a simple remote (I use my Sony RM-VL700 which "learned" the PS2 remote's signals).
Spend an extra couple of dollars on a PS1 memory card, and suddenly you can play PS1 in addition PS2 games as well. The only thing you're missing out on is Xbox Live!, but you can't use that with a modded Xbox anyways
The config is way cheaper, quiter, and lower maintenance than my old Windows PC setup. The only thing I really miss is the ability to play VCDs directly, but I can rip those onto a media share in seconds with xreadvcd. It's just so quiter and easier to use, I don't know why you'd go to the hassle of an Xbox that doesn't let you completely control every by IR remote, and also requires you mod it.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
you need the prog scan patch for the ms dash!
:)
otherwise it will run interlaced.
also, xbmp runs native HD, so it'll look great.
you're stupid
So TiVo invented the concept of navigating through menus using a remote control?
I'll have to call the people who made my DVD player and my TV. They owe TiVo some money.
My understanding is Macrovision could not be supported in the current progressive output system, therefore MSFT pulled progressive DVD playback.
Xbox is a gaming system first and a DVD player second, so they wouldn't sacrifice delays or legal wrangling due to lack of Macrovision support in progressive scan output. Easier to just disable the feature at the last minute.
The output may be progressive, but it is just upconverted from the 480i signal leaving the decoder.
In other words: your action movies will still be choppy compared to playback on a real progressive dvd player.
XBMC is an incredible program, it handles a huge amount of formats, and it will even act as a dumb client for my ReplayTVs. But still, hardly use it to watch TV or movies, because the fan in it is so damn loud. And this is one of the newer Xboxes with only one case fan, if you have an older Xbox with the second fan on the motherboard, you can forget it.
Cache Rules Everything Around Me
and yes, the triangular wheel would also be a huge improvement on the square wheel, since it eliminates one bump...
...and run xbox-mythtv, after doing the Mechinstaller hack.
Then you can STILL play games, LIVE does not work.
I found the video out quaity on my on HD 48" Phillips via svideo as good as my Hitachi DVD player.
I rarely use it for playing DVDs, tho, usually playing my mp3 collection or the +100G of tv shows I have it recording that I never catch up with.(xvid encoded)
clickable link
This nets you the ability to play progressive scan DVDs,
The Xbox can do this easily. There is a one bit flag in the dvd player executable that turns it to progressive.
a remote that can power on and eject the drive on your media device
You can power off (or reset) the xbox via remote thru XBMC also. And eject implies that you'll have to get up and switch/insert discs anyways, so why do you need it on your remote?
the ability to play back MP3, OGG Vorbis, OGM, DivX (3.11, 4.x, 5.x), AC3 audio, JPEG, PNG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4
so XBMC can play all that, and more. XVID, QT5, AAC, etc. etc. ad nauseum. Did you even RTFA?
The total cost for this is way less than your Xbox
Wrong. I bought a new xbox ($150), modded it with a homemade cheapmod ($7.50) and simply use the stock hard drive since I stream all my media from my fileserver anyways, thru Samba. I bought a cheap 3rd party remote, ($15) which brings my total to $172.50. Oh, and a simple switch to turn off the mod chip, and I play xbox live games till the cows come home.
I don't know why you'd go to the hassle of an Xbox that doesn't let you completely control every by IR remote, and also requires you mod it.
I dont know why you think this- I can do everything I need thru the xbox remote.
Get your facts straight next time.
XBMC may be open source, but the only tools which can compile it are Microsoft's, and they are not for distribution. So we have a situation where there is a cool open source app which can only be built by pirating a compiler, or by getting binaries from someone else with a pirated compiler.
Getting the binaries is not difficult for the kind of geek who is likely to open up their Xbox, but Joe Average will have a rude shock awaiting him if he buys a chipped Xbox and tries to put XBMC on it.
That all said, XBMC is in fact dah bomb and I use it daily.
IANAL, but it appears to me that modifying an XBOX to load a free unencumbered BIOS so you can install an alternative operating system in place of the Microsoft OS is 100% legal.
The "questionable" part comes into play only when you:
- load a hacked version of the Xbox copyrighted BIOS or
- Use the hack to copy copyright protected material (aka "backup games to the hard drive)
- Use the hack to play copies of copyrighted material.
Hacking an Xbox to load a legitimate replacement BIOS and install a new legitimate OS in place of the original is not a DMCA violation.OTOH, the hardware isn't all that impressive, you could do better with a mini ITX system built from parts, price would be about the same and you wouldn't be adding to the "consoles sold" statistics for Microsoft.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
The review said that the XBox has problems dealing with the 720p trailing, pushing the CPU to its limits.
I want to be able to view a DVD or a 720x480 MPEG2 stream at 1080i, will the box be able to perform?
Yeah in 1994 I think top of the line was a 486-DX 100
Just thought i'd point out that half the people talking about modded Xboxs here havent got a clue.. software modding an xbox is less that 30 minutes work and costs the hiring of an original game called mechassault or agent onder fire....it does need 1 solder joint... Hardware mods can be turned OFF allowing xbox live but these cost a small charge and a little more intensive soldering or more cost for solder free. Hard disks can go up to 250 gib at the moment but im sure if we had 500 gig drives we could make them work....we can write new bios and release it. fans can be replaced and changed easily and many many tutorials and articles are available from the "usual places" about almost any mod you want. Even down to how to do CPU ram upgrades. Lets face it celeron chips around 1.4 Gig are hardly expensive if your not up to date with the XBOX Scene then its easy enough to learn just google it I have xbox, i did my mods myself , i enjoy it i have xebian running and it replace my PC in the lounge other than recording but now i can Play while ripping,recording,whatever... its great for me but then again id also like to buy a heap of other toys too but this one made sense for the budget
WTF - Speak in acronyms already, i can't figure out what you mean otherwise boss
120GB drive? That would hold what, about 1/8th of the amount of your average library? My dad, who doesn't even care for DVD movies much has over 200 somehow. And lets be honest, your kid scratching a $10-15 DVD once or twice is no big deal anyways. I think you're just trying to legitimize a way for people to pirate stuff. It's like saying people used Napster for "legitimate and legal" music files. Just because it CAN be, doesn't mean it should be. And in Microsofts case, it's all about making money, not providing methods for people to steal money.
Works and looks great now! Thanks!
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
Is the server software open, or do they just give you java bytecode? And does it do the decoding on the PS2 end, or the server end?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I have the BroadQ software for my PS2. While it is nice start, the developers and company really dropped the ball on this one. Check out the forums, they have had little development since about 1 year ago. They promised early buyers that the faulty load discs would be replaced free over a year ago. It has not happened.
The UI for broadq is beyond poor, and they have little info on even thinking of improving it. The biggest faults are in mp3 playback. You can not modify your playlist WITHOUT stopping the music, my old 5-disc cd player lets me change CDs without stopping the music. The music is only searchable by filename and searchable in this case means scrolling though the files in folder - alphabetical order. This is not useable with any sizeable media collection.
I did not use the DIVX playback support much, however many people complained of its lack of support for higher-end resolutions.
This seems a bit like the windows/linux wars in here...
I have one word for you on the PS2 versus the Xbox that, at least to me, makes all the difference in the world: Streaming.
XBMC fully supports streaming from both Windows Media (MMS) sources as well as now NullSoft Streaming Video (NSV) formats. In addition, the baseline code (via Mplayer) also supports Realvideo, so some bored person is going to be able to figure out Real media streaming as well shortly.
Why is this cool? It's cool because there's all sorts of live, broadcasted content in the Internet, and not only porn. My wife is German, and she can watch the German news in our living room, on our TV. And, with a broadband stream, the quality isn't that bad.
Everyone has preferences. I've had a Prismiq, a Pinnacle Showcenter, and all the variations that I could find of PC-based products, and XBMC beats them for my application hands down.
I agree on this point totally. With XUL, moving around buttons on the screen could be done entirely in CSS without having to actually change the XUL skin itself. This would be the be-all and end-all to skinning languages anywhere. If it's missing a feature, embed a Python script to do something amazing.
I can't wait to see the first media player which catches onto this rather obvious idea.
My guess is it would be the first one with access to a fast XUL renderer (are there any yet?)
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Moderation -1
40% Insightful
40% Flamebait
20% Redundant
ANother example of idiot mods.
Redundant? I WAS THE FIRST FUCKING PERSON TO SAY IT
Casual Games/Downloads
So put in a bigger drive. And if the biggest drive you can fit still isn't big enough, point at the computer on your network, whose drive is. Buy a Bigger Disk [tm]
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Like someone else said, put in a bigger then 120GB drive. You can also setup a streaming server, and network drives. Get a wireless connector and you can wirelessly stream movies right off another PC downstairs. I have yet to have a problem with it. Works great streaming mp3's straight to your home theatre too.
Don't bother with GSMP. I've had qcast for over a year now and they've yet to replace defective discs they promised they would over a year ago. It doesn't playback newer divx5 videos without massive frame pauses and drops. It doesn't support SVCDs resolution mpeg2 or any video over 512x384 or above about 1.5Mbits total bandwidth with audio.
They haven't released a promised "frequent update" in many many months.
They've quit responding to their customers and have generally left them out to dry.
It's pretty much a waste of the cost with the loss of any support what so ever.
-- Proud member of the Jello Sex Cult.
I don't own an X-Box but had a loan of one a while back and from memory it was quite noisy. I don't want to watch my movies with a jet engine in the room. Does anyone have any feedback on what the noise levels are from this unit. I have done a lot of work getting my PC down so its near silent. Am I going to have embark on a similar project once I get my modded X-Box home?
The model 50001 DVD playback is higher quality stuff. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison, though.
The server software's just the byte-code they provide. The decoding's all done on the PS2, which is why the resolution's limited to 512x384. I just use Mencode to tranlate stuff to the apropos resolution.
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Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
(I know it's just a unpractical thought experiment, just carrying it a bit farther)
If you want to talk inpractical, you should have replied to the parent of that message - they were the fools that suggested the square wheels in the first place!
I would say the new Sun interface meets this criteria. Although it's only been demonstrated and not actually released, it's something I look forward to seeing as a new way forward in user interface design.
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
Some corrections for this review of XboxMediaCenter that is worth noting:
(I also sent this bellow in a mail to Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos, the authors of the review but I guess they haven't read it yet?)
;-)
love the review but I have some corrections for it, (hope I don't come out all defensive):
correction needed on page 01 section The Xbox Mod as sentence Boosting the Xbox' performance and harnessing its potential largely hinges on a modded processor does not fit in on that section at all, if you are referring to a modchip then it should not mention 'performance' as a modchip has nothing do with performance and also modded processor in the same sentence refers to FriendTech's DreamX but putting here sound like it's the modchip, so think you should move that sentence to the FriendTech section on page 02, or alternatively change the whole sentence to something to Unleashing the power of the Xbox and harnessing its potential largely depends on applying a modchip
Under the picture of the remote control you say is a must for using the Xbox as a media center which is not true, it's not a requirement as you can fully use XBMC with a gamepad, however we recommend a remote control for ease of use
btw, the DreamX are all already pre-modded so no need to open them up, (on a side-note to page 04 new large 7.200rpm harddrives actually run cooler than Xbox default 8GB drives =P )
Personally would have suggested that under Codecs: Divx, Xvid, WMA And QuickTime add link to full official compatibility list: http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/info_project.htm
On page 08 you say Practically all settings on the XBMC are made via an xml file, that is not true, most used settings are done from GUI under Settings, basically only the 'network' and 'shares' settings is in the XBMC and those many end-users don't even have to touch, not if not stream from network anyway.
;-)
Reason for the WebServer right now is for remote control and then not from noteboot/laptop editor but ideally from a WiFi connected PDA (there are different skins available that fit PDA's better), in the future full setting/configuration will be added to the WebServer to so there will won't be a need to edit the XML file in a text editor.
Also, you totaly forgot to mention that one can of course use XBMC on a normal retail Xbox (once modded), it's just that one do get the impression from the beginning of this this specific review that it only works on DreamX boxes =(
Finally motion compensation optimizations for better HDTV playback will prorbebely be added to XBMC v1.1
again hope I didn't come out to defensive, if so I apologise =)
How's about using as a thinclient:
s ou rceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=u tf-8
http://www.google.com/search?q=xbox+thinclient&
?
hmm, not much discussion. Maybe I'll mantion to xbox mailing list.
A blog I run for the wealth
IANAL, but it appears to me that modifying an XBOX to load a free unencumbered BIOS so you can install an alternative operating system in place of the Microsoft OS is 100% legal.
yeah, but if your running the cromwell bios (the only legal one, since they others are hacked versions copyrighted MS code) they only thing in the grandparents list that is still possible is running linux
TIAEAE!
> a remote that can power on and eject the drive on your media device
You can power off (or reset) the xbox via remote thru XBMC also. And eject implies that you'll have to get up and switch/insert discs anyways, so why do you need it on your remote?
Note that he said power on.
> I don't know why you'd go to the hassle of an Xbox that doesn't let you completely control every by IR remote, and also requires you mod it.
I dont know why you think this- I can do everything I need thru the xbox remote.
You can turn your Xbox ON with the remote control?
I don't disagree that the Xbox is great as a media device, but not being able to turn on the Xbox with the remote control is very annoying.
Aside from the fact that I know how to solder. As a regular consumer, I'd be hard pressed to accomplish this with little effort. If they changed the proprietary nature of their DVD's they'd sell much more of them. Cheers.
reassign null to be the tape device - it's so much more economical on my time as I don't have to change tapes_BOFH
I completely agree with using the Xbox as a media center, but why does Tom's harp on having a 1.4 Ghz Dream-X machine? I have a standard modded box, and it does everything I want well, not to mention everything the article mentions. Why would I pay hundreds more to have a faster processor and some more RAM in this case?
My guess is that Tom's got a free Dream-X sample, and snuck in an unrelated plug for them as a way of saying "thanks."
The XBox is designed to not run any unsigned code. The modchip is a circumvention device for this protection whether it's the Cromwell or a more nefarious BIOS. Any protection circumvention device is questionable under the DMCA. Hell, if the shift key is questionable a modchip is most likely also questionable.
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
And how many memery cards will you have to purchase to reach the equivalent capacity of the Xbox hdd? -even without upgrading the xbox hdd to the 120gb......... 8mb card at a pop of ~1$/mb.....That'll eat up the small proce difference between ps2 and xbox rather quickly. Combined with the superior graphic quality of the xbox, the expansion options that come with modding, I really can't follow your argument!
-.sig sauer-