[raaaaaa]

I was about to get make another HTPC when I came across this

(sorry if it has been posted before)

Media Center for the Xbox
Media Center Extender

 

[junkless]

You'll need a Media Center PC however to take advantage of the features.

 

[Darknight]

It's probably cheaper and better to just mod your Xbox and use Xbox Media Center.

 

[Wakey]

Quote:

Originally posted by Darknight It's probably cheaper and better to just mod your Xbox and use Xbox Media Center.

He said probably http://ssdforums.spongecenter.com/images/smiles/lol.gif

 

[shine5555]

I have a media center PC 2004 version. I would love to get this. Anyone know if it will work with Media Center 2004 or do I need to have Media Center 2005?


- Scott

 

[Swat_R2]

My question is, who's horsepower is used, the HTPC or the Xbox? 733 Mhz isn't good enough for HDTV. I'd drop XBMC in a second if I knew I could play my HDTV shows without lugging the PC to the living room.

 

[raaaaaa]

that is a good question, the thing is I think the xbox extender is probably just for photos and playing back pre recorded stuff of the HTPC.

 

[Swat_R2]

MS says HDTV not possible *yet* using this. At what speed does HDTV transfer at? I'm sure 100Mb should do the trick as cable companies have no problems supplying HDTV content over 1/15th that speed.


*ponders*

 

[whirly]

Quote:

Originally posted by Swat_R2 MS says HDTV not possible *yet* using this.

Correct! That's why XBMC on a modded Xbox is prefered to this M$ Kluge. XBMC can accomodate HDTV resolutions up to 1080i and since the OS overhead is so small theXbox's 733Mhz CPU has plenty of horsepower to handle it. One other benefit is that XBMC will convert ripped PAL video to NTSC on the fly and adjust it for best fit to your TV's resolution.

Quote:

Originally posted by Swat_R2 At what speed does HDTV transfer at? I'm sure 100Mb should do the trick as cable companies have no problems supplying HDTV content over 1/15th that speed.

The Xbox has a standard 10/100Base-T NIC which transfers even Standard DVD video with no problems.

 

[Swat_R2]

Quote:

Originally posted by whirly Correct! That's why XBMC on a modded Xbox is prefered to this M$ Kluge. XBMC can accomodate HDTV resolutions up to 1080i and since the OS overhead is so small theXbox's 733Mhz CPU has plenty of horsepower to handle it. One other benefit is that XBMC will convert ripped PAL video to NTSC on the fly and adjust it for best fit to your TV's resolution. The Xbox has a standard 10/100Base-T NIC which transfers even Standard DVD video with no problems.

Hmm.. 720p and 1080i *.ts content is like running a slideshow using my Xbox. How do you accomplish this?


HDTV -> Divx Rips (ie. CSI Miami) look great though, but they are still compressed Divx.

 

[FourDoor]

Yes last time I checked, XBMC was capable of displaying the skins and some success at video upscaled to 720p/1080i but was very slow and laggy. I also know that it is unable to play the true high def encoded videos.


I am in the process of building my first HTPC and was pondering if I should go with MCE 2005 for the project as not only has it been reported that it will work well with my HDTV Wonder card but it will also allow me to use the MS XBOX Media Extender system that they are coming out with.


If I can trully play back my HDTV recorded shows from my HTPC in one room and play them in another room via the xbox and maintain the same resolution without any stutter, I am already sold on the media extender.


Who knows, maybe the XBMC team can finally get this thing finally working after the media extender is released.

 

[Swat_R2]

Quote:

Originally posted by FourDoor If I can trully play back my HDTV recorded shows from my HTPC in one room and play them in another room via the xbox and maintain the same resolution without any stutter, I am already sold on the media extender. Who knows, maybe the XBMC team can finally get this thing finally working after the media extender is released.

That would be awesome, and that team is so good I don't doubt they will be able to work their magic somehow. The day they are able to stream HDTV content throught the Xbox using the HTPC horsepower will be a very happy day indeed

 

[FourDoor]

Yes the XBMC team is definitely awesome and have taken leaps and bounds with thier open source project. Up until last month before I got my Zenith DVB318, getting the DVD menu system was on the top of my wish list.


Now that I almost have my first HTPC built, HDTV vid streaming playback is back to the top.

 

[ChrisFB]

Stream or no stream the Xbox will not play native HD video well. It can upscale to 720p and 1080i without issue (doing so from a DVD is glitchy in 1080i for me and the results are none too stunning). For DivX and similar the upscaling is fine whether on local HD or streamed. All that being said, it cannot play 1080i HD video - close to immediate crash. A few people have managed an occasional 720p piece but I'm not sure that anyone has ever gotten a full length feature to play without a serious problem or major playback compromise - maybe ask around the XBMC forums. Too little RAM and too slow a processor. That's a lot of info for 64MB shared. I don't even think adding another 64MB is going to make any difference for this. If you want HD video, look to HTPC or DVHS. You can't have it all from a 4 year old $150 console no matter what you do to it.

 

[FourDoor]

Correct Chris. As of today, XBMC or any other product for this matter including media extender can not play HDTV video in it's native resolution via the XBOX. I was dreaming along the lines of what Swat_R2 has mentioned in regards to MS comments that HDTV support is not *YET available*.


IF MS can figure out a way to work around the xbox's now limited hardware in order to play HDTV recorded video through the xbox, that would be awesome.


Who knows, maybe the "YET" from MS was a hint at what the XBOX2 can do with media extender.

 

[FourDoor]

Just re-read the FAQs on the media extender for the xbox and saw this:


Q. Will the Media Center Extender devices support HDTV?


A. No, the Media Center Extender devices (set-top box version or the Xbox title) do not currently support over the air ATSC HDTV broadcasts. These broadcasts will not be accessible for playback from the My TV section of the Media Center Extender device. One can still schedule an HDTV recording through the Electronic Program Guide.


So who knows... I just wish the DTivo (SD and/or HD) units had Home Media Option enabled and this would solve most of my problems...

 

[ChrisFB]

Given the Xbox architecture that 'Yet' means a damn cold day in hell. I do wish the DVR market was more integratable with networks, PCs and XBox though. I know you can do some hacking but I'd prefer out of the box functionality (which no doubt would piss the media companies off to no end so I do understand it).

 

[Swat_R2]

Stop me if I'm wrong from the technical aspect of this.. but isn't it theoretically possible to "process" the HDTV on your HTPC and simply stream over a 100Mbps network, using your Xbox not as the HDTV processor, but simply a relay?


I think that's what I'm getting at.. not using the Xbox's power, but the HTPC's..

 

[ferrisg]

The bandwidth required for uncompressed HD would be way more than the 100Mbit connection the Xbox has.

http://www.washington.edu/ihdtv/Perkins.ppt
http://www.axiowave.com/solutions_article.php?YWlkPTQz
http://kr.apan.net/hyeonhae/qgpop-ko...0-%20jblee.ppt


It looks like it's about 900Mbps to 1.485Gbps for uncompressed HD.

 

[psycho]

it would not send uncompressed HD it would send the MPEG2 encoded HD and the xbox then decompress it