bassjunky
join:2005-05-12
Aubrey, TX
| Modded Xbox FTW
My choice, I just soft-modded my Xbox and think it's awesome. Using XBMC, which has a gorgeous interface, I can stream my entire library of music and movies from my server to the living room. Upgrading the drive, I could copy my library locally and take it wherever. Plus, I can play every single old school console game imaginable through emulators, and then, of course, Xbox games.
I dunno, from someone who didn't turn on their Xbox for a couple of years, now I can't keep my hands off of it. I think it's the perfect component to keep in the living room to playback all of your digital media, and then some. |
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jjoshua
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Scotch Plains, NJ | XBOX running MythTV for me.
Whole house solution for TV, videos, music, and photos.
WAF achieved.
 |
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MysticGogeta
The Robot Devil
Premium
join:2005-03-14
League City, TX
clubs: | I have a old xbox I wouldent mind doing this cause I dont use it anymore |
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mrbobbio
join:2001-12-20
Canton, MI
edit:
September 27th, @10:29AM
| reply to bassjunky
A modded XBOX w/XBMC and a 300+ GB drive is the only way to go, if you haven't converted to HD. My 250 DVD's (mostly kid related) that I own are in the Divx format. Plus it can stream content stored on my 2 DVR's ( ReplayTV's). The best part of this is I never have to mess with any media, when I get a new show. Its ripped and downloaded to the xbox, the original is then stored in case something happens. Even the wife loves the XBOX media center, no DVD's to mess with |
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Chiyo
Save Me Konata-Chan
Premium
join:2003-02-20
Minneapolis, MN
clubs:
 ·Comcast
| Agree'd I modded my xbox 4 years ago and been using XBMC since then, I've created a media server with 600 gigs of space I've got all kinds of complete series of shows and all I have to do is turn on my xbox start XBMC point to videos SMB network share and pick my TV share and pick what I want to watch and enjoy.
I do own the DVDs for many of the shows I have pirated copies of, I'd rather have good quality xvid over the large DVD rip.
I love XBMC and I wouldn't trade it for some peice of streaming hardware.
--
"Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing - but none of them serious."- Alan Minter, Boxer"I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada."- Britney Spears, Pop Singer |
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Penny3000
join:2003-11-24
Oak Ridge, TN
·Comcast
edit:
September 27th, @11:25AM
|  Yeah, I also modded the xbox, and put XBMC on there also. The latest version plus the xbox360 layout makes it more user friendly for the wife. I also use smb shares from a computer that just servers video and audio at any given time. I would also like to upgrade the hard drive to maybe 500 gig from 160 gig. But what I am having a hard time finding the right program that converts dvd format to xvid or divx with ac3 audio. I have a stupid fast system, but converting takes me an hour to convert an hour of dvd format footage to xvid. I am currently using SuperC, what do you use? Oh and I swear, I use the Media Center side of the Xbox more than I play games. :P |
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mrbobbio
join:2001-12-20
Canton, MI
| I use AnyDVD & DVD decrypter for ripping. As for XVID / DIVX I'm currently using DR. DIVX , I know Dr. Divx isn't the greatest and has some audio issues ( I don't have a surround system so the 5.1 and AC3 issue don't apply to me) I really like the batch functions and the easy of use. The speed isn't that great either on a AMD3200 it takes about 3.5 hours to do a 2 hour DVD |
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Penny3000
join:2003-11-24
Oak Ridge, TN
·Comcast
edit:
September 27th, @11:47AM
| Yep that sounds about right, I have a opteron 165 overclocked to 2.7ghz with pc3200 mem and I see about the same conversion times, oh well. It's still worth it though. Oh also for ripping I use ripit4me and fixvts along with dvd decrypter. Thought you might want to know this. Later |
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Jack Teh Rippah
@charter.com
| I've been using AnyDVD + CloneDVDMobile Slysoft.
AnyDVD does all the decrypting on the fly
CloneDVDmobile converts straight from the disc to divx.
so far I have converted 130+ of my personal collection, easy and quick. (I tried 6+ methods, all were PITA). only beef I have with CDM is you have to have an .ifo file, so it must be from a dvd (or a copy of the video_ts folder, no mpeg conversions or anything), otherwise, its the perfect rental extension tool.
1 disc takes 35-55 minutes on a:
Pentium 4 @ 3.4Ghz (800MHzFSB, 1MBL2, HT not dual)
1GB DDR400, dual channel on an Intel 865PERL
(1) 300GB SATA drive(16MB cache, 150Mb/s)
(1) Plextor SATA DVD everything (16x read)
(1) Liteon IDE 16x DVD everything
(1) LG IDE 8x DVD-ROM
I can rip 3 discs at once (CDVDM is ok with multiple copies running)
takes just about 1 hour 45 minutes for all three, start to finish. |
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Bibbins
@212.74.x.x | reply to Chiyo
Best thing since sliced bread
Yeah xbmc totally kicks ass... I mainly use it for that, although running the emulators is great too.
+ The python plugins are good |
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UMDGaara
@umd.edu | reply to mrbobbio
Re: Modded Xbox FTW
FYI: XBMC also lets you use a home network to stream any playable file from any other computer on the network. Handy if you have a PC or NAS device with tons of space and you don't want to dedicate a large hard drive to the xbox. |
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