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[The Faceless Master]

Also, XBMC can play videos that are higher res than standard def. It just isn't powerful enough to reach 720p. Almost, but not quite. It will upscale it to 720p though and the video output looks better than even when I hook a PC up to my TV.

yeah XBMC will play those 960x540 'HRHD' XviD AVI's that people may or may not watch...

the Xbox is just not quite beefy enough to handle 1280x720 decoding

 

[Raistlin]

IIRC, certain early models of the X-box were able to be hacked so you could actually do some upgrading.



For example, certain ones allow you to add RAM ... which is needed for some MAME titles.

Related to this particular discussion, certain models could actually have the CPU upgraded. This allowed them to run some (most?) 720p content.

 

[Gadfly]

I woulda thought no 5.1 would be a deal killer for you Onix.


Anyone know about series 3 tivo streaming to PS3?

Do you know if networking is enabled for HD media on Tivo 3?
Costco has a very good deal on Tivo 3 but unless they enable all the features including the ability to do HD over network, I am not buying.

Why not buy a couple of tuners (one regular, one supporting QAM, $180 total) and use Vista media extender with 360?

 

[speculawyer]

Right now I'm not really using either one . . . which basically says they both suck.

But I'm gonna try to get the PS3 one working. I seems pretty good since it supports DLNA.

I'm having probs with my crappy ATSC card that I want to use to capture video.

 

[GaryD]

We are talking about XMBC ... a linux-based media client for the original (hacked) X-box.


It isn't a SW issue ... its a HW limitation of the X-box. Its too slow to handle HD decoding.

It isn't running linux. I'm pretty sure it's just been made with the opensdk, running native xbox code.

 

[mrklaw]

used to love XBMC, sold my xbox when I started needed HD seriously.

Now I use myPS3, but have had nothign but problems streaming, so I just dump stuff on a little WD 2.5" USB powered HDD and play it direct on the PS3. Doesn't really take any longer and it holds everything I want to play anyway (mostly .ts TV shows).

The only limitation is FAT32, so although most TV shows are under 4GB, the occasional one that isn't, I'll split in two. Which is no big deal.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

PS3 wins for one reason:

Remote Play RULES.

 

[DJ_Tet]

IIRC, certain early models of the X-box were able to be hacked so you could actually do some upgrading.



For example, certain ones allow you to add RAM ... which is needed for some MAME titles.

Related to this particular discussion, certain models could actually have the CPU upgraded. This allowed them to run some (most?) 720p content.

You know, I think you're right. I remember this being possible as well, but I never thought about it's application possibilities until just now.

 

[thatbox]

Yeah, I still use XBMC on my Xbox for all sorts of stuff. The interface and versatility can't be beat, and the Samba and FTP compatibilty are joyously convenient. They're working on porting it to Linux, too - so sometime in the future you could potentially have the same wonderful XBMC on hardware as beefy as you like!

You know, I think you're right. I remember this being possible as well, but I never thought about it's application possibilities until just now.

Yeah, and for a while you could even buy them pre-upgraded as "DreamX" Xboxes. 64 or 128MB of RAM and a 1400mHz Celeron.

 

[navanman]

Nothing can beat XBMC IMHO. Its interface is unbelievable, its has many many features and better support than all commercial streaming programs.
Loads of pics of new build of XBMC with new HOME screen and TV scrapers.

 

[joshcryer]

When spumedialib is done you'll be able to decode full 1080p H.264 with mplayer or any other libvacodec media player on Linux. It's really looking great.

 

[Schrade]

When spumedialib is done you'll be able to decode full 1080p H.264 with mplayer or any other libvacodec media player on Linux. It's really looking great.

Hmmm... links? I want to read about it.

Edit: Nevermind. It's SPU-MediaLib. That hyphen in the middle is essential

Link to the PS2Dev.org forums where it's happening: http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewforum.php?f=29

 

[Beer Monkey]

We really need Sony to open up the GPU to Linux on the PS3. If that happens, we'll hopefully see an PS3 media player that matches XBMC (if not a PS3 port of XBMC itself) with full high-def codec support.

 

[TaeOH]

Nothing can beat XBMC IMHO. Its interface is unbelievable, its has many many features and better support than all commercial streaming programs.
Loads of pics of new build of XBMC with new HOME screen and TV scrapers.

Your pics really show it off well. It is really no competition whatsoever. I use my original Xbox everyday, but hardly ever play games. My daughter is watching Chicken Little on it right now.

Even though it cannot stream true HD content, it does a nice job up converting DVD's and near HD content. I have a DirecTV HDDVR for my HD satisfaction, I also have a PC hooked up to my TV that I could watch HD videos with, but I have such a nice DVD collection that I converted to mp4 for streaming, I am pretty darn satisfied with a XBMC.

 

[cs060mk2]

IIRC, certain early models of the X-box were able to be hacked so you could actually do some upgrading.



For example, certain ones allow you to add RAM ... which is needed for some MAME titles.

Related to this particular discussion, certain models could actually have the CPU upgraded. This allowed them to run some (most?) 720p content.

You can upgrade any version XBOX1. The CPU can be upgraded to a 2x733MHz = ~1466MHz Pentium 3. Lots of games wont work at that resolution but emulators and XBMC will. So why is this not so popular to do? well the CPU is soldered directly to the motherboard. This is an operation on the same level or more advanced than PSP mod chip installation.

You can also add more ram, you need a broken XBOX or the specific memory chips. They are soldered directly on the motherboard and it is slightly easier to add memory than change CPU but still, it is nothing a weekend solderer can handle.

There was a company selling these hi-end XBOX with 1.4 GHz CPU (with switch that underclocked the CPU to 733 MHz) and 128 MB, but that was long time ago.

XBMC totally pwnz all competition. Many scratched their heads when MS did not buy XBMC to put it in XBOX360.

 

[TaeOH]

XBMC totally pwnz all competition. Many scratched their heads when MS did not buy XBMC to put it in XBOX360.

Instead they did what they normally do, rip it off as much as they can, but not give you near the quality of the original product.

If they just would have natively supported more codecs I would have bought a 360 to replace my XBMC, even though I still would have lost a ton of functionality. But forcing the use of things like Tversity made having a 360 actually replace an Xbox in my house a no go. I never modded my Xbox to steal games, I did it because of XBMC. I would have bought a 360 if it was as good a Media hub. That would have led me to purchase 360 games, which would have made MS happy.

I may never get a 360 at this point because of how loud it is and Games for Windows getting all the games I am interested in.

 

[itxaka]

...

Not all of them. 1.6 (aka the white xbox) cannot be upgraded at all.

Nice shots of the new XBMC, i should update it as the episodes information download is broken on my version.

 

[theBishop]

Overall, XBMC is a lot better. But Xbox sucks at HD, so that's kind of a deal-breaker if you want to watch high definition content.

 

[cs060mk2]

Hopefully they can port XBMC to another platform, or just port it to Linux. I mean people bought XBOX just to run XBMC, playing games on the XBOX was just a nice bonus.

 

[theBishop]

Hopefully they can port XBMC to another platform, or just port it to Linux. I mean people bought XBOX just to run XBMC, playing games on the XBOX was just a nice bonus.

I think its already been ported to Linux. I've read that it can be compiled on PS3, but until someone gets SPE accelerated rendering working, it won't be ready for primetime.

 

[alr1ght]

I use XBMC every day. It is truly a thing of beauty, which MS should have copied on the 360...that didn't work out well.

Anyways, would it be possible for a publisher to create a disc based media center similar to XBMC and release it legitimately? They could pony up the costs for tons of required codec support and charge $60 for it. I'd buy it.

 

[navanman]

There is an official linux port in the works right now that they hope to integrate into a set-top box or small self-build media center. They hope to have it ready in a few months.
Should bring XBMC into the HD era rightfully.

Can't praise it enought though. Its fantastic. The latest revision has music video support with indexing so you can browse your music videos by artist, genre. Works superbly.

 

[GaryD]

Once dual kernels on the 360s start taking off we will be able to do something similar with the 360s in Linux. They already have graphics drivers and network drivers written. Apparently sound is very close too.

 

[navanman]

XBMC will never come for 360 according to the devs. Without a leasked, working SDK there will be no development, no DX acceleration of video and sound.

 

[TaeOH]

XBMC will never come for 360 according to the devs. Without a leasked, working SDK there will be no development, no DX acceleration of video and sound.

This is really sad too. I mean the 360 is easier to Pirate games for than the Xbox was and yet in their attempts to end the piracy they actually killed the coolest thing to come out for the Xbox.

I want an open source media hub, what MS and Apple are peddling to the general public is just pathetic.

 

[navanman]

This is really sad too. I mean the 360 is easier to Pirate games for than the Xbox was and yet in their attempts to end the piracy they actually killed the coolest thing to come out for the Xbox.

I want an open source media hub, what MS and Apple are peddling to the general public is just pathetic.

MS locked the 360 really tight except for the big flaw of the dvd-drive. Kernel access, downgrading is extremely difficult and likely will be for a long time to come. Its a pity alright, the best you can hope for is xvid, mkv support in future dash upgrade.

 

[lexi]

This is really sad too. I mean the 360 is easier to Pirate games for than the Xbox was and yet in their attempts to end the piracy they actually killed the coolest thing to come out for the Xbox.

I want an open source media hub, what MS and Apple are peddling to the general public is just pathetic.

This is ok if you build your own media box: www.mythtv.org

 

[Killthee]

Is there a way to get my 360 or PS3 to talk to my tivo series 3?

Nope. The closest thing you can do is wait for TiVo to enable TivoToGo for the S3/THD, transfer videos to PC, remove the TiVo wrapper, and then transfer/stream to 360/PS3.

Good question. I was thinking about getting the TIVO HD or 3, but decided to hold out, and stay with my cable DVR for now. Once the following is settled be either TIVO, or a competitor, I'll bite.

* CableCard 2.0 spec is finalized, and they have confirmed HW support for it (needed for VOD support, etc)

* TivoToGo functionality

* Copying between multiple boxes. This isn't a deal-breaker, as I have a media server ... but is a nice to have for stuff I don't really want to keep for long ... or if my server is running low on space or *no* down.


For TIVO itself, there are a few things I'd like to see added to their interface. Most obviously would be adding a 24hour skip to the program guide. Scanning throw to an upcoming day sucks.


An interesting, related question is that when they get CableCard 2.0 working, they could actually allow you to receive your provider's guide service. The question is, would they want to allow that? Probably not, since their main business model is to get a subscription. Then again, things change ... if everyone else does it ... they may have to. That said, I don't think they want to really get into the HW business as their model. With that in mind, I would suspect they would only support things such as VOD control unless absolutely necessary.

S3/THD TiVoToGo, TiVoToComeBack (PC -> TiVo), and Multi-Room Viewing will be enabled this November. TTCB HD video transfer will initially only support mpeg encoded video, all other video transfers will be downconverted to SD on the PC before transferring. As for the 24 hour guide skip, do you mean a dedicated remote button or just a way to skip 24 hours in the guide? The latter is already possible to do (Guide -> Enter or Info -> Change the day).

 

[bosx2]

ps3 all the way!

I can even watch standard TV on my ps3 right now (via dnla and a tv card)... its just awesome, I dont have to switch on my tv or touch my remote for my tv to watch tv... I leave a game and bam choose TV... there it goes

also it plays custom hd movies absolutly flawless (avchd fucking rocks)

 

[joshcryer]

Hmmm... links? I want to read about it.

Edit: Nevermind. It's SPU-MediaLib. That hyphen in the middle is essential

Link to the PS2Dev.org forums where it's happening: http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewforum.php?f=29

unsolo (the main guy working on it) said he was watching a 1080p movie recently. Now my PS3 MythTV box will be soon realized!!! MWHAHAHA

 

[GaryD]

XBMC will never come for 360 according to the devs. Without a leasked, working SDK there will be no development, no DX acceleration of video and sound.

XBMC is getting ported to linux. You can chose to run Linux on your 360 if you so wish, there are hacks for this, which aren't easy, but do-able.

 

[TaeOH]

This is ok if you build your own media box: www.mythtv.org

I have considered Myth, just have not done it yet. I thought it biggest benefit was being a do it yourself TiVo, I am happy with DirecTV's HD DVR (gotta have my Sunday Ticket). But I love collecting and streaming content, I know HD is the next step in that, I just have not jumped in because XBMC still pleases me quite a bit. If I had bigger than a 1080p 50inch TV, I would probably be looking at this stuff more closely, but in all honestly at that size TV DVD quality upscaled to 1080P looks darn good.

 

[Raistlin]

You can upgrade any version XBOX1. The CPU can be upgraded to a 2x733MHz = ~1466MHz Pentium 3. Lots of games wont work at that resolution but emulators and XBMC will. So why is this not so popular to do? well the CPU is soldered directly to the motherboard. This is an operation on the same level or more advanced than PSP mod chip installation.

Yeah ... I believe you are right. It isn't that you can't upgrade all of them, its that MS changed the motherboard design and it became much more difficult (solder, etc).

 

[Raistlin]

There is an official linux port in the works right now that they hope to integrate into a set-top box or small self-build media center. They hope to have it ready in a few months.
Should bring XBMC into the HD era rightfully.

I am SO looking forward to this. Current media extenders basically suck ... and using a PC as an extender is just overkill.


One thing ... the BETTER support HDMI, and include 480i output however!

 

[Raistlin]

S3/THD TiVoToGo, TiVoToComeBack (PC -> TiVo), and Multi-Room Viewing will be enabled this November.

I know ... just listing everything I want/need before purchase.

TTCB HD video transfer will initially only support mpeg encoded video, all other video transfers will be downconverted to SD on the PC before transferring.

>_<

As for the 24 hour guide skip, do you mean a dedicated remote button or just a way to skip 24 hours in the guide? The latter is already possible to do (Guide -> Enter or Info -> Change the day).

I mean a simply option when already in the guide looking at info. It was just one of the things I've seen in other devices that I think they should include. Another would be PiP and/or transparencies, etc. There are some nice features out there on other guides that I'd like to see TiVo include.


CableCard 2.0 support is my main thing though (beyond full-featured TiVoToGo, TiVoToComeBack, etc.).

 

[radjago]

Someone needs to figure out how to cluster a bunch of Xboxes together to get XBMC to be able to render in HD.

 

[Knocks]

XBMC on Xbox is the best for now. But if all the 360 kernel hacking continues, we might see a port soon.

 

[pCeSlAyEr]

IIRC, certain early models of the X-box were able to be hacked so you could actually do some upgrading.



For example, certain ones allow you to add RAM ... which is needed for some MAME titles.

Related to this particular discussion, certain models could actually have the CPU upgraded. This allowed them to run some (most?) 720p content.

or you coulda just got one of these.

http://www.gamestron.com/enhancedxbox.html


back on topic...

XBMC for everything exept HD stuff...

 

[The Faceless Master]

XBMC on Xbox is the best for now. But if all the 360 kernel hacking continues, we might see a port soon.

isn't it sad that 360 Linux has GPU support and PS3 Linux doesn't?

Sony and Nvidia need to get their ducks in a row!

 

[Petrie]

I'm not sure if it is kosher to post here, but at the very least I figured I'd use an existing thread. I bought 2 Xbox's in the hope of turning them into these wonderful media centers everyone raves about, and I managed to get all the software on there and everything, but I just can't get them to stream a thing, nor can I get mine to look all beautiful like the ones pictured above. I'm looking for any and all guidance for a total beginner at this. Every tutorial I can find assumes far too much knowledge for someone like me to get it. Any help would be oh-so-appreciated.

 

[domokunrox]

PS3, hands down.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I'm not sure if it is kosher to post here, but at the very least I figured I'd use an existing thread. I bought 2 Xbox's in the hope of turning them into these wonderful media centers everyone raves about, and I managed to get all the software on there and everything, but I just can't get them to stream a thing, nor can I get mine to look all beautiful like the ones pictured above. I'm looking for any and all guidance for a total beginner at this. Every tutorial I can find assumes far too much knowledge for someone like me to get it. Any help would be oh-so-appreciated.

Have you tried looking here?

http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Xbox_Media_Center_Online_Manual

I can anser more specific questions if you have them. I've recently set two more systems up with the latest but I've been running XBMC for years. For $60, nothing beats it and anyone who says PS3 is ignorant.

 

[Kinan]

Well, I have place for one device only in my living room and I like HD content, so there is no real choice between two for me. I wish PS3 had all the functionality of XBMC though, hopefully it will come sooner or later either from Sony or from guys digging the PS3 Linux.

 

[Psychotext]

XBMC crushes all. The 360 and PS3 solutions wish they could be half of what it is.

That said, they need to get this onto the PS3 via linux so it can do HD and use the HDMI connection.

 

[herod]

PS3, I shitbinned XBMC recently.

 

[Marty Chinn]

When the PS3 can handle more formats, handle subtitles, handle 5.1 audio encoded with video files, can handle network shares that don't require software server solutions, then maybe it could replace XBMC, but until then I just use it for Blu-Ray.

 

[Petrie]

Have you tried looking here?

http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Xbox_Media_Center_Online_Manual

I can anser more specific questions if you have them. I've recently set two more systems up with the latest but I've been running XBMC for years. For $60, nothing beats it and anyone who says PS3 is ignorant.

I have been through that FAQ multiple times, but I still just can't get the hang of it. For some reason I just can't get the content on my PC to stream to the Xbox. It won't work with my 360 either, which makes me think it's something on that end. I've done everything I could think of to allow it to do so, but with regard to XBMC, I'm just not sure how to work SMB.

 

[Kandrick]

XBMC is good. It is the reason why my xbox is still plugged

 

[Marty Chinn]

I have been through that FAQ multiple times, but I still just can't get the hang of it. For some reason I just can't get the content on my PC to stream to the Xbox. It won't work with my 360 either, which makes me think it's something on that end. I've done everything I could think of to allow it to do so, but with regard to XBMC, I'm just not sure how to work SMB.

So you've gone to the folder you want to share on your PC and right clicked on it, selected Sharing and Security, and enabled Share this folder on the network?

 

[Petrie]

So you've gone to the folder you want to share on your PC and right clicked on it, selected Sharing and Security, and enabled Share this folder on the network?

I have gotten that far, yes. Just can't get access to it from there.