Simon C

Just found out a mini will do everything I want from a tv computer.


So apart from tieing yo in to iTunes (by the looks of things, the only place it supports with video) does it do anything useful apart from having a HDMI output?

Basically I'm after a box I can hook up to my tv to play the stuff I download (and no not ****).

Dr.No

Original Xbox, modded (softmod or chip mod) and running XBMC. Superb, and the best thing to ever happen to an Xbox...

...and you can skin it to look and feel like an X360, Windows Media Center or even AppleTV - at the press of a remote button or two.

I run two of them, one in my lounge on a normal large TV, and one in my cinema room on an HD Projector. Both using 802.11g wireless bridges to stream content (mainly films, US TV Shows, pictures, and MP3s) off my Windows servers.

Should be able to pick one up for £50 or so....

Simon C

Xbox, you mean those things MS sell and develop RROD all to frequently?


Well the alternative is another mac mini

Dr.No

No - ORIGINAL 'hard as nails' Xbox - not the new poncey ones!

Have look here Xbox Media Center/Centre (XBMC) games bundle on eBay, also, Xbox, Consoles Systems, Video Games (end time 11-Feb-08 13:47:01 GMT)

This shows a few more screen-shots: xbmc Xbox Media Centre - Network HD Ready + Games Pack on eBay, also, Internet Multimedia, IT Web Communication, Local Services (end time 15-Feb-08 09:48:46 GMT)

£50 sorts you out - told ya!

Simon C

what are they like playing Divx files? I assume they don't use WMP.


Whats the output connections?
How are they controlled? I assume no keyboard.


Sorry I don't play computer games.

Dr.No

Much better than my PC at playing juat about ANYTHING....

I've never had a codec issue or anything with Xvids, or divxs, etc. they're simply brilliant.

Even the wife can use it....

Dr.No

It'll even play HD Xvids quite happily....

...and VOBs, ISOs, RARs/ZIPs (no need to extract, it'll do it in situ)....

Have you got the picture yet?? Simply fantastic bit of kit...

Simon C

The other question is can the read a mac's HHD or can a mac read its HHD.

Dr.No

I stream from SMB shares on my PC - and it also happily picks up uPNP stuff on the network (it'll stream files directly off my networked Tivo for example!), so you should be OK with a Mac that is capable of SMB/Samba talk...

Simon C

Macs are unix based.

Dr.No

Xbox Media Center

Dr.No

LOL... doesn't stop them accessing PCs - or PCs accessing them does it???

As long as you're running OSX then you also support the SMB protocol, and can share folders and files and stuff with PCs.... If a PC can see the Mac share then so can the XBMC. Simple...

You used to have to use something like Samba on Unix based systems, but since OSX Apple shipped the ability to share with Windows PCs out of the box....

Dr.No

macosxhints.com - Share OS X files to a modded XBox machine

Simon C

An intresting propersition. Just need the dvd controller then.

So you'd say the first link is worth it then.

Dr.No

Yup.... I'd go for it, for £50. You can't really go wrong. £35 plus £15 shipping (when it is quite large/heavy that's reasonable)

Like you say, DVD controller is a very useful addition! I bought one of mine on eBay for £10...

Dr.No

...and then you'll also want to do what I've done - and slap one of these in each machine as well.

XIR Remote - Home

Just means you can turn it on via the remote as well!

Dr.No

Just to finish - I keep looking for a good excuse to buy an AppleTV... but the XBMC system seems to do just about everything just as well, if not better.... and it's dirt cheap!

AppleTV can probably cope with 1080 output (Xbox runs out of steam at 720p) and AppleTV is probably silent - whereas you can hear the fan in the Xbox (you can get the HDD to spin down almost instantly when you start to watch a film).

XBMC is also opensource - which is better in my view... (Heck Simon, at least it's not made by Nikon...oops ;-) )

Enjoy!

Simon C

720p aint a problem for me as I have a 720p panel.

I litterlaly only want this for torrents, I have an HD dvd player I just don't want to burn 2 - 4 torrents a week to cd's (waste of cash)

Hey, atleast Nikon's are reliable

That first link you put up is tempting, but £15 for postage is a little steep.

Markus

Shocking as it might be to some, I don't own an ATV and to be honest, I don't think I need one, and if you have an original xbox, which you don't mind mod-chipping then you won't really need one either.

It is a funky device and can be modified (have a look here for some of the dev stuff going on for the ATV. Ok, I am a bit biased as I know AQ) and does have some nice features, component out, HDMI, and possibly other stuff too. To me it's really a Mac Mini with the outputs and without a DVD drive.

I was tempted by an ATV, partly due to the fanboy thing, partly due to possibly doing a bit of testing for the aforementioned AQ chappy. But in the end I still have not got one and probably won't, well, not until I want/need something with HDMI.

My reasons? I have an original XBOX which I mod-chipped last year (X3CE chip and solderless adapter thingy). Why the mod? Well, I wasn't playing many games on the thing and I knew about XMBC and thought it sounded a bit of a giggle, so I modded it and threw on XMBC (t3ch build of xmbc, have a google for t3ch) and I've been very impressed with it. I've also upgraded the hard drive to a 120GB drive I pulled out of a dead Mac.

This has given the xbox a new lease of life. Previously it just sat there doing bugger all. Now it's a full on media center. It streams music from my iMac (configured SMB on the iMac so the XBOX sees it as though it's a PC). I've also ripped a few dvd's to the hard drive. I've also got a few torrents on there, so it deals with visual as well as audio.

Ok, so it won't do HDMI (unless someone knows different) but right now, I'm fine with that as I don't have any HD sources.

If I didn't have the xbox then I might consider an ATV, but to be honest, there would always be the nagging feeling that I should have purchased a used, modified xbox, chucked in a larger drive, and had done with it.

Simon C

Ok I'm near enough convinced

How easy is it to replace the existing HHD in an xbox with a larger 1?

Dr.No

Don't bother with a larger HDD, it's not worth it unless you intend to have local content.

I bought one of these and just stream everything over 802.11g....

Belkin Wireless Ethernet Bridge, 54Mbps, 802.11g,Wi-Fi on eBay, also Wireless Routers Access Points, Wireless Networking, Networking, Computing (end time 10-Feb-08 11:21:35 GMT)

...it's obviously also got a hardwired 10/100 ethernet port - so you could just run a wire to it, if that's easy enough with your setup.

Simon C

I was going to hard wire it, it will be very easy to do being a complete install

Simon C

Its a done deed. I've bitten the bullet and for the first time ever I have bought a games console!!!!!!

Not to be used as 1 though

Dr.No

Good man! Did you go for the £35 + £15 one on eBay?

Simon C

Yup


now watching a remote.

Markus

I know others have said not to bother, but it's nice to have the content locally rather than streamed.

How easy? Well, the physical aspect is as easy as opening up the xbox and pulling out the old drive and putting in a new one. You should consult this page for a list of compatible drives. Compatibility really comes down to wether the drive can be locked or not, which is only important if you want it to boot to the normal xbox dashboard.