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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... :)
Anyone else getting an ad for Windows XP Media Center Edition in the middle of the article?
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.
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.
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?
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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?
Grand Theft Auto is available for the XBox, and I'm sure the new one will be as well, just a bit later. You are right though, no Grad Turismo, however, it does have some GREAT racing games. Project Gotham Racing 2, Rally Sport, etc.
----- "Blame the guy who doesn't speak English." -- Homer J. Simpson
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
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...
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
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.
Yes, you can build your own or use something called an "IR Blaster". I use a small circuit (found at lirc.org) with lircd to change channels on my sat receiver box for my MythTV setup. Works like a charm just from a serial connection.
--- witty signature
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.
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.
What you're experiencing there is a card that MPEGs the video with an A-to-D conversion that's taking far too long. My ATI All In Wonder Radeon card can manage to take in audio/video without a noticiable delay.
Don't try to use any DVR-ish features while playing video games. Simply having the pause button available sometimes indicates that the software is saving the video to the HD and then playing it... and there's your 2-3 second lag right there!
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.
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.
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
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.....
The CPU and GPU on the xbox share memory, and not in a cheap pc onboard video "8 megs of RAM used as VRAM" way, they can both access the same memory. It can thus do some really cool shit for a PC as "weak" as it is.
All those cool pixel shader effects and bumpmapping in Halo, for instance. The most expensive PCs from falcon northwest choke a little on that stuff, even at 640x480. Because the XBOX cpu can compute textures in RAM, and use them instantly without having to push them over an AGP bus.
The long and short of it is, you'd need an AGP/PCIX bus at least as fast as the Xboxes RAM bus to simulate this.
You could probably get close on current hardware, less taxing games may be emulated more easily.
It's not as simple as porting the "xbox OS", though I do forsee an Xbox emu before a PS2 or GCN emu.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
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?
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.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
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.
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.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
If you don't want to buy it, go to the local Borders and read it in the cafe'. :)
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.