XboxMediaCenter Pics (800k) - A tour if you will...

Okay prompted from this thread and a few PM's I got regarding it. I thought I would take some screenies of the latest build of XBMC for Xbox and give a brief description of each, so people who are interested in it get an idea of exactly what it can do. This is only skimming over it's features but if I have more time and there is interest I can take more in depth screenies.



The main menu screen. Gives an idea of the tasks XBMC can perform. In the top right corner there is an RSS feed coming from xbox-scene to keep you up to date on the latest developments



This is the Music main menu. A few things to note. Bottom right corner shows I am playing an OGG file. It is an internet radio stream that I often fall asleep to. Hidden behind the cd is the RIP button for ripping cd's to the harddrive and the record button for recording radio streams to the harddrive. Also note the iTunes button for easy access to your shared iTunes library. It also supports standard shares from any PC/MAC. And it of course playss most audio formats off CD, HDD etc.



One of the many available Visulisations to keep you occupied while listening to music



Just a shot showing the Audio config page. Full support for AC3, DD, DTS etc.



The settings page. The fan speed can be controlled through software if you find it too loud. Can be auto controlled depending on tempreature or just set at a percentage all the time.



The music config page. XBMC can automatically get track titles etc from CDDB and store it in it's database.



XBMC has the ability to show you the current and forecast tempreature for 3 cities off your choice. These are easily set through the on screen menu's. Perfect when you wake up and the news has just finished



XBMC can auto connect to IMDB and get the latest information about the movie you are about to watch or any other for that matter. Comes in handy when you want to know the name of an actor/actress on screen



This shows me going through my list of south park episodes, will the current one plays in the bottom left corner of the screen. Take note that these movies are in Real Media format. You won't find a chipset based player that plays RM or Quicktime etc.



Has the ability to slide show images of all formats. I have a shared folder on my mum's PC so she can show her friends photo's in the comfort of the lounge room from the xbox. A big selling point for her


I could go into more detail with the setting up and sharing of files from PC etc, and I will if anyone wants. But just wanted to outline the GUI of XBMC and show some of it's features.

If anyone has any queries about it then ask away in this thread and I am sure you will get an answer to your questions.

 

Few questions.

I understand the xbox can output a hidef signal via component. Which Mod will allow this?

Are all the megamart refurb Xboxes fine to play DVD's and backed up games?
I seem to recall a year ago there was a search for certain model x-boxes.

Do all mods void warranty? Is there a simple plug in mod etc?

If this is all too basic, links to FAQ's info would be good.
Thanks

 

Not 100% sure I am answering the correct question but will give it a go. PAL xbox's do not allow progressive scan by default. Only NTSC xbox's do. Therefore you have to switch your xbox to NTSC which is very simple to do. It is just a software program. You can either switch back and forth at will or leave it permenantly set as NTSC.

Some people search for Xboxes with a Samsung DVD drive as these are the only ones that will reliably play CD-R's. The newer phillips drives will generally play good quality CD-R's and the THompson drive generally won't play CD-R's. To be honest while this used to be a big deal, these days with the cost of DVD writers it is a bit of a non issue. But as far as the refurbed units go you have just as much chance of getting a particular drive as you do with a new unit.

Pretty much all mods do void the warranty as you have to open your xbox. You can do software mods but they are a bit of a pain and no where near as simple as installing a mod. The mod can be simply plugged in *inside* your xbox but there are no real ways to mod it without cracking it open.

 

Thanks for the great reply.
Can you advise on the mod you would recommend. Is the professional mod better than the(I assume) solderless DIY?
Can you tell me (or pm) a good place in Melb that does these?

 

Another Qns stratosFear. The main problem I am getting with my build of XBMC is that the Video DVD's when autoload it doesn't play in the standard way i.e. crappy intro to menu, instead jumps straight to the movie with a db reduction in sound.

Do you know if the current version corrects this.

Since currently for all hired dvd's I need to use the dongle free app.

 

This is a setting in the XBMC config file (forgotten exact file name, is an xml doc)
Neways you can tell XBMC what to do if a Game/Movie/Picture/divx dvd is inserted, you can make it
1. Do nothing
2. Play in XBMC
3. Play in another app, ie MS Dashboard or DVDx2 for dvd movies.

 

I there may be a mod to add component outputs to your xbox.. cept you will have to solder and stuff
For more info on those sort of mods (adding spdif etc) see - http://www.xbox-scene.com/tutorials.php

The easier way is to buy the Advanced HD pack from overseas. This pack is not sold in australia as there is no Highdef for PAL xboxs, you have to use NTSC. I got mine from www.lik-sang.com

One you have the pack all you need to do it plug it in and it will do 480i (I think, my tv doesn't say) in PAL, or if you switch the xbox to NTSC you can do 480p, 720p and 1080i.

You then set XBMC to use whatever res u want, and it will upsample everything you play through it to that res.
Meaning watching dvds upsampled to 720p!

To note: the xbox can't handle much highdef content cause it uses too much resourses to play. But I think it handles 480p mpegs.. discussion in the xbmc fourms

 

Excellent. Guess what I will be having a look at tonight.

Also, an interesting point to make, but I have found that with XBMC as the default load, I cannot ftp instead relying on Evox to connect. Yet, this initially was OK. have you ever had the same issues?

 

I went for the X2VGA+ (www.x2vga.com) as it provides hidef output into a VGA monitor. Again you still have to run in NTSC mode, but at 720p or 1080i it doesn't matter

 

True, but software mods aren't really that much harder.,
And once installed provide almost the same functionality as a hardware mod.
For most users who just want to use the xbox to play 'imported' games the software mod is no different than a hardware mod.
Really the only real difference is that it is harder to fix your xbox if you break it, so if you are planing on deleteing files that you don't know what they do then a hardware mod is for you

There are some good software mod packs out there, and there are guides (www.xbox-scene.com), cept you need a certain game and a mem pack so thats about $100 spent on that.. I don't know how much they charge on the streets to get em modded.. But yeah don't pay more than that for a software mod!

 

I use XBMC as my dash and really it is starting to get to the stage where I don't use any other apps on my xbox.
XBMC does everything

What I recommend is,
1. download the latest CVS build of XBMC or if you are a wuss the stable 1.0 version
2. Delete all xbmc files from your xbox (inc the stuff in e:\udata\, if u can be bothered)
3. Edit the config.xml (or whatever it is called) with all your shares and preferred settings, there are plenty of comments in the file it won't be hard to work out
4. Run xbmc and go though all the settings under the 'settings' menu. Most stuff can be configured in there now.

It will work

FTP can be disabled and enabled in XBMC in the settings menu under, general or something.. can't remember..

 

bLr_Strontium answered most of the questions which is great Thanks mate.

The reason I don't recommend softmods is because of the initial required outlay (may aswell get a mod for the price) and as you mentioned if something goes wrong or the user moves a file etc unless they have a decent amount of experience they may have trouble getting their xbox going again.

Then again I guess I say that as a person who is confident in soldering, so others may find the soft mod the more viable option.

arytel I find the XBMC ftp to work really well. I especially like the fact that if you have XBMC as your main dash and you accidently delete a file or move a directory etc it will go into it's recovery FTP server so you can fix up the problems, instead of having to use a boot disk etc.

Harpie as far as which mod I would recommend?

If you have a V1.0 or V1.1 xbox then I would go with the basic cheapmod.

Anything newer than that then I would go with the duoX mod.

 

what is the latest build of XBMC?

I'm too scared about installing the latest version. Scared that i might stuff it up and loose xbmc.

Where is the XBMC directory? F:? C? E?

I know bLr_Strontium provided a 4 step guide, but if someone can provide a more indepth guide to installing a new version of XBMC it would be greatly appreciated.

 

There is no 'latest' version as such. V1.0 is the latest but you can download the current code (as of today) and build yourself a 'current' version if you wanted. Some groups release CSV builds every once and a while. The latest I have seen was 17/9/04. Which is what I am running.

The XBMC directory is wherever you put it. Can be on C:\ E:\ F:\ G:\ just like any other application.

If you know how to FTP to your drive then there really isn't much to it. Just remove the old XBMC and replace it with the new one. Most configuration is done through the GUI now days instead of through the xml file.

But if you can give more details about your situation can probably elaborate on that

 

Anyone know what (if any) the extra features in v1.1 CVS vs v1.0 CVS are ?

 

May not be complete. In fact it's probably not.

 

Cheers for the thread, since it was enough to motivate me and get fix a few problems. Most solved last night, a few remaining


One thing I didn't like about XBMC was the default dvd player, and I've changed this back to the msdashboard default player since I have the dongle.

Now that this works, XBMC is the trick and definately a serious dash to consider as defualt

 

Sorry for my xbox ignorance. What kind of video outputs does the xbox have? vga? component?
How expensive/easy is it to add 100mb wired ethernet?
Can the standard xbox remote control the 'media centre' well?
Will the xbmc mod allow playing of xvid, ogg and other newish formats?

 

By default it has composite output. You can buy a component/svideo cable if you want. Their are VGA boxes out there but the xbox isn't natively VGA.

The xbox has 100mb wired ethernet standard. So it costs nothing.

The xbox remote is fully supported in the media centre. And fully remappable if you want. Controller and Mouse are also supported.

XBMC will play Xvid, Ogg and a shitload of other new formats.

 

I have a X2VGA+ (www.x2vga.com) excellent quality, and I use it to hook up my LCD monitor when I go to LANs - beats carrying around a telly. (although most of the time it sits connected to a tv by SCART)