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Modded XBox The Ultimate Multimedia PC?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-sure-think-so dept.

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.

6 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. no question... by nomayogr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:no question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's not to mention the fact that a $20 box buys you HDTV component video output as well

      Yeah, but in all honestly the video quality of the XBox is not that great. It'll do for a lot of people that don't really care too much, but to call it the ultimate machine for video playback is absolute bullshit.

      I've had it playing the same DVD, using the component video out, onto a 53" HD rear projector, next to a Toshiba DVD drive. The difference was, well, enough for me to get the hell back to Frys to return the XBox.

      Seriously, there's no need to start a flamewar over this, just if you plan to use this as your DVD player you may want to check out the quality before the 'no questions asked return policy' expires.

      It's just a suggestion, do with it as you please.

  2. XBOX os by kunudo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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... :)

  3. Coincidence? by John+Girouard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone else getting an ad for Windows XP Media Center Edition in the middle of the article?

  4. Alternate links by jdgreen7 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Tom's Hardware article

    XBox Media Center's page (googe cache)

    There's my karma whoring for the month.

  5. Re:mod - 10000 Unintelligent by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Informative

    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!!!!