XBOX XBMC Home Theater...?

C4RN1-Thank you for your response. It's not that i haven't searched, it's that some of the info is scattered or not clear and there are always still questions. So, I know as well to search first, but for anyone to understand something better, it's easier when asked in your own way or words. Also, I've never seen one of these done in personor seen one upfront and in action.
I do like the idea of the network, but I had the same thought as SERG-more power consumption. I also like the self-contained HDD so that I can take all my movies with me and my projector.
Does everyone like XMBC or do more prefer another option? I'll probably stick with XMBC though.

 

X-Link is the the place that's free to play,tho it'd most probably be full of cheats etc would pay to search their forums assuming they have one to see if any of that crap goes.
I don't think there's anything else other than xbmc,besides you can get a stack of free skins for xbmc,the only one that appears to have the x-link or the ability to download new skins is the 360 skin ???.You can get xbmc for your comp as well inc linux & OS,works quite well too,tho i've only recently installed it,tho at this time i prefer the xbox way of controlling xbmc

 

you don't need a tsop flash as has been mentioned by another poster. if you just softmod, that is more then fine. but if you do a tsop flash, you will be able to boot any bootcd from start up and run an unlocked harddrive. although both are benefits, a softmod will do more then fine. tsop flashing is easy if you solder the 2 bridges, but why the extra efforts if a softmod will do more then fine.

and regarding c4rn1's comments, i agree.... why such an enormous harddrive in your xbox. use a cheap smaller one (up to 500 gig, they are not that expensive). they will suffice more then enough. rather put a 1 terabyte in your pc and stream from there if you need the space. for me, 200 gig is more then enough for a large portion of my movie collection (though i delete them after i watch them). if i want to watch movies that are not on my xbox, i mostly copy them over to my xbox OR (on a rare occasion) i stream them from the harddrive from my computer. my suggestion: just try the setting you have. if you do a tsop flash, make a backup of your original ms bios.bin file. then you can always flash it back.

btw.: xbmc is great!!

 

Boot cd to boot what, a different BIOS?
"you will be able to boot any bootcd from start up"

One thing I keep forgetting. Since it seems to me that XBMC is simply setup like a pc, can I use a program on it like Collectorz to arrange my movies then click on them to play? Just figured it might make it easier to find them.

Since the TB HDD is found on sale at some places right now for 90-120 I'll probably use it so I can get a lot of movies on it. Or, maybe I'll just use an IDE cable extender and put a couple of 500's in there.

Gotta locate an Action Replay yet. Splinter Cell is on it's way! =)

 

i can tell you're new to the scene

He means that you can boot unsigned code or burned media. A unmodded xbox won't do either.

As for the action replay comment goes we found a way around that awhile ago.

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/578329

 

Ya C4, I am new to this =) I'm not a computer guy, I'm a GM tech. I learn more and more about computers as I play around. However, I did realize what he meant then-he meant start a bootleg or homemade disc just by putting it in an xbox with a modified bios.

Checking out the link now. AR DOWNLOAD!!!

And thats why people ask these questions again and again. This all organized chaos. I can't tell you how many tutorials i wqs following and I didnt see mention of that last link with all the necessary software. Things should be cut/edited/placed together to save room on the site and also make things convenient for the searcher and the "use the search feature!"-guy.

 

CREAKY-I am by no means saying that you mods do a bad job. I know it's tough, and I applaud you for the efforts you put in to play catchup/cleanup. This has always been a fantastic forum, and you have provided me with info times before. For all your work I thank you.
The mod sems quite simple, but I just want to have everything ready and make sure I haven't missed anything. I have searched thru Head's tuts before also. I'm just antsy and can't wait to do this. It should be much easier than the DIY projector. This weekend should be very productive! =)

 

I did see the smiley; just wanted to clarify and give credit where due.

I have to order a disc drive(as far as I can tell) or try one of the repairs for it, but I don't think that will affect me trying to start tonight.

The networking actually brings up another question. I think I'm correct though. If I have pc-a in office, to watch a movie from it on tv-a, pc-a needs to be on. Also, if watching something on tv-a from pc-a, tv-b cannot watch something from it, correct? I would have to DL what I wanted to watch on tv-a and then let tv-b DL something from pc-a....?
I have a router that has 2 usb ports to expand storage on network. I was thinking of putting an xbox on ea tv and connecting HDD to router....basically doing the steps above for 2 tv's to watch something.

 

HA, guess I'll be putting off a NAS system for now as well. I'd prefer to makes something that runs the least amt of electricity as possible. And only 4GB of space?! I wonder how it would work to have your pc setup to a whole house remote and trun it on from the living room, DL content, then turn it off with remote and watch tv....?

I understand you can DL from any xbox to one pc like you have setup, but can u watch a movie while your kid is playing a game? I assume you have to DL each item to your current xbox 1st. I have to get this setup 1st, then setup the FTP.

I was afraid you'd say that about the router . I'm gonna have to check, but I'll bet that's all it will do.

 

Oh, I see what you're saying. You can't be playing a game while someone or you wants to look at something else on the XBOX.
I was asking if your central PC could stream to 2 xbox's at one time, i.e.-your kid streaming a game from the pc to his xbox and you and the wife watching a movie in another room but being streamed from the same pc. I'd imagine you would have to FTP your movie, and he would have to wait 5 min for you to finish so he could then DL his game from the pc...?

 

The largest drive that's IDE is 750 if my memory serves tho IDE is dearer than SATA,you have to be aware you'll need an adaptor if you go 1 tet or for any SATA type drive & use the slim adaptor,it does'nt matter if you install a 500 IDE only to find later it's too small as you can remove it & use in a comp or externally & ya can never have to many hdd's..lmao..tho comments here have made me think about setting up a server sometime in the future,but that's for another topic.

When wired correctly the extender can be turned on by remote,i would'nt know tho as mine has'nt been enabled grrr(means i have to get up to switch to the other drives),once running it can switch to another drive by pushing or perhaps remote selecting one of the other buttons,it will then power down & restart on that drive,regardless of setup the xbox is bloody brilliant *all hail xbox*

Once xbmc is up & running,on mine there's two largest partitions setup F & G.
Inside there's a folder MOVIES or more than one i.e: movies,games,pictures,apps,anyway all the movies are held in the MOVIE folder & inside a sub folder named whatever the name of the movie is along with a jpg of cover art & any other info you want in there, including a text file & description just like what you would see on the reverse side of a video,(text file will get displayed when selecting whatever it is that displays it..lol..),yeah anyway you'll now be able to scroll the list in any type of way,either list or scroll sideways in numerous sizes,or as tiles etc,you'll see once you get there,so if you want catagories you'll need to create a "TV Series" folder & plonk all the tv stuff in there,if they are seasons,each season in it's own folder,like wise ACTION movies will be held in subfolders inside the ACTION folder etc,that's how xbmc works on mine otherwise you'll just have to scroll each icon until you find what you want,oh yeah xlink can be accessed from the settings menu if you enable it.


Hey C4RN1 you still here
What are the partiton formats that get used,since i did'nt create them are they fat,fat16,ntfs,ext2 or ext 3,i assume a setup disk is used from the xbox dvd drive to make those multiple partitions or does the xbox hdd get setup from the comp
cheers
ps: all i need to know is format used & whether from setup disk or from comp

 

well, decided to take gf's personal laptop apart last night to look for an alleged desoldered power port or LVC14A chip. Didn't find anything.
I know the Dell Inspiron 1150 has problems with these. I can't see paying $100-300 for a new MOBO when a new laptop could just cost $400.
XBOX THIS WEEKEND THOUGH....I hope =)

 

The xbox uses FATX format. I guess you could think of it as FATX16 and FATX32. Use the auto intaller deluxe disc to format the drives and it will automatically format it with 32k clusters if it's over 137gb.

 

I do remember reading somewhere that someone put in a 750, but that may have been when 1TB was not readily available....? Also, not sure if you had to upgrade anything else. I wouldn't imagine so.
As for the adaptor, I plan to stick with IDE anyway.
The extender you mentioned, which I think I linked to one, seems a bit high priced. What is actually inside it? Someone mentioned trying to just build one.

 

@C4RN1
Cheers


Ideally they should be under 50 American as there's nothing to them,now that i've seen them in bits,i'll see if i can find the tut for them,there will be issues as you'll need the extender nuts,well not nuts really just hex tubing about 3" long with thread cut inside one end & a stud at the other ,so that the original screws can be re used to attach the top & bottom covers of the xbox,then you'll need to make the front & back panels & perhaps the side panels tho the sides are unnecessary i spose,you'll also need a long length of IDE ribbon & clamps or join two IDE's togeather including making your own power cables for each hdd,yeah there's a bit to it now that i think about it,i'll post back later assuming i find the link

Any of the ribbon or power connectors can be sourced from local comp repair,they'll have a stack of stuffed power supplies & that takes care of power connectors as they're already made.

The three little buttons you see on the front panel of extender is nothing more than a power cable that runs power to turn on hdd just like a light switch in a house,so if you use say a dial type switch,the first clik would be 1st hdd,2nd clik 2nd hdd etc,so the original power button is still used but you need a selector switch to select whatever drive

Here's a pik of what parts,noth'n to em,the side bits have those cut outs,the white thing in main view is a U shaped alluminium bracket that holds the two hdd's
http://home.comcast.net/~admiral_powerslave/xtender.html