[mythtv-users] Xbox Versions

Brian Meehan emt244671 at gmail.com
Wed May 4 18:23:26 UTC 2005


Just to clear up a few misconceptions for those about to dip thier
toes in the xbox pool....

Use a software hack/mod if all you want to do is run linux/mythtv.
It's pretty easy to do and works across the versions.

All of the xbox frontends that I've put together for myself and
friends have been older ones. We shop eBay for "dirty disc" or "disc
read errors" broken systems. They usually run for $40 - $75. Take it
home and clean it out well. Often that will fix the DVD drive, since
many users take poor care of thier systems and dirt/dust/grime builds
up inside. Follow the directions at www.llamma.com on cleaning the DVD
lens.

Buy a decent mod chip. the X3 is very nice since you can start it up
and flash it with the lastest bios without a DVD (instead it goes over
http).

Burn Ed's xebian 1.1.x to a CD-RW (that's important! If it's a dirty
disc machine, it might not read a DVD, but it may still read a CD-RW.
If not, you can use a working drive from a firends xbox. I've also
heard that you can use a PC DVD-ROM drive to load Xebian, but I've
never tried it.

Get the MythTV installer script from the xbox mythtv page. Google it,
first link. The beta 4.5 has worked well for me on v1.0, 1.1 and 1.5
systems.

Currently, I'm enjoying a high WAF (wife acceptance factor) because we
now have a TV in the bedroom capable of watching shows from the Myth
backend, and she can still play Xbox games from the upgraded HDD I put
in it, as well as all the emulators loaded on it. Xbox Linux is
installed to the Game save partition (e:\apps\debian\default.xbe).

Xbox: $65 (inc. shipping, eBay)
Mod Chip $40 (bought from a firend who accidentally bought 2)
Remote IR: $10.79 (inc. shipping, eBay)

Future purchase... wireless controller and a better remote. Probably
another Radio Shack 2115.

Cheers!
-Brian

On 5/4/05, Mudit Wahal <mwahal at gmail.com> wrote:
> SD = Standard Definition/Analog.
> HD = High Definition
> 
> But SD can also be considered as Standard Digital which is quite
> notches above Standard Definition, and a few notches below HD.
> 
> AJM, did you a separate remote for the xbox ?
> 
> I'm in same boat, I've one HDTV and 2 analogs. For HDTV frontend, I
> need a beast box (p4 3ghz+). But for analog, I'd like to get a
> cheaper/quiter front end. I just bought the media mvp after reading
> some comments about it on this mailing list. Haven't plugged it in
> yet. Still struggling with the backend.
> 
> Media MVP doesn't run a full fledge mythtv frontend, but if all you
> want is watch tv/recording/music (and dont care about other stuff),
> then the basic mvp should be fine. For under $100 bucks, it comes with
> a functional remote, 10/100 ethernet port, svideo output, h/w decoder,
> plays mpeg2 (for mythtv only) and divx (if you run their backend on
> windows). But someday, someone will write a on-the-fly transcoder from
> mpeg2 to mpeg4 running on linux.
> 
> Not advocating mvp/hijacking this thread, just there are some other
> options if the requirements are limited.
> 
> Thanks
> Mudit
> On 5/4/05, a M <vbtalent at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > I'll second that Shaun.
> >
> > I'm running a ver 1.4 with a software hack, Xebian and myth 1.7. The hardest
> > part was getting the software hack on the xbox for me, I ended up buying a
> > memory card as opposed to making one.
> >
> > The second hardest was digesting the how to Doc on the xbox distro, I'm not
> > a Linux user...
> >
> > Shaun, what's SD?
> >
> > AJM,
> >
> > >From: "Shaun Bryant" <sbryant at thepit.org>
> > >Reply-To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> > >To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> > >Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Xbox Versions
> > >Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 11:18:51 -0600
> > >
> > >Mark,
> > >
> > >Why did you do a hardware hack for you where just going to run it as a
> > >front-end?
> > >
> > >I have 5 Xboxes running now all with Xebian, each runs very well with SD
> > >video (forget HD). My suggestion would be to pick one up used, this is how
> > >I bought mine and thus did not have to stress as much about the version.
> > >
> > >Shaun
> > >
> > >________________________________
> > >
> > >From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org on behalf of Mark Knecht
> > >Sent: Wed 5/4/2005 10:34 AM
> > >To: Discussion about mythtv
> > >Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Xbox Versions
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Calvin,
> > >    I'm am currently going through XBox mod hell. I wouldn't recommend
> > >this to anyone feint of heart.
> > >
> > >    There are at least 7 versions of the XBox, starting with 1.0, 1.1,
> > >1.2, ..., 1.6. There is also (apparently) a 'sub-version' of 1.6
> > >called 1.6b. There are also a truly scary number of possibly mod
> > >chips. Choose one carefully. I'm using the cheapest. It would likely
> > >had been OK if it came preinstalled with the Cromwell BIOS. Some of
> > >them do. I suggest looking for that.
> > >
> > >    I purchased a new XBox last Friday for a Myth frontend machine. I
> > >knew it would be difficult. I won't be heartbroken if it doesn't work.
> > >Here's the status so far.
> > >
> > >    I got the XBox modified by a nice guy here in San Jose. He
> > >installed a DuoX2 chip and put some sort of bootable BIOS on it. I had
> > >been able to boot GentooX and Gentoo-XBox after that work was done.
> > >After looking at Xebian, GentooX, Gentoo-xbox I finally decided that
> > >since I use Gentoo elsewhere I'd go with Gentoo-Xbox. All the
> > >instructions said I needed the Cromwell BIOS so I tried doing that
> > >with raincoat. Raincoat loaded the Cromwell BIOS, but then the machine
> > >wouldn't boot from the DuoX2 anymore. It will still boot with the M$
> > >BIOS.
> > >
> > >    So far I'm out $150 for the machine, $25 for the IR/remote, $50 for
> > >the mod chip + install and it doesn't work. That's $250. Probably I'll
> > >get it fixed and running sometime this week but it's certainly not
> > >painless so far. ;-) (Mostly my own making I'm sure.)
> > >
> > >    My one comment about the XBox is that it's not silent. The fan in
> > >them makes about as much noise as an older VCR when recording. This
> > >makes me wonder if I'll leave it turned on and ready for use or
> > >whether I'll end up turning i toff and seldom using it.
> > >
> > >    Based on a fairly gloomy Monday morning my thought today, knowing
> > >what little I know right now, is that I'd double the cost to $500 and
> > >build something that's both based on a standard PC architecture and
> > >BIOS as well as fanless and completely silent.
> > >
> > >    So far it's an interesting (if depressing) use of time and I'm not
> > >sure I'm going to enjoy the box when I get it done. Not a great
> > >report. Go here only if you like this sort of thing.
> > >
> > >    We'll see.
> > >
> > >- Mark
> > >
> > >On 5/4/05, Calvin Harrigan <charriglists at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > > >     I've been looking for an economical way of setting up a couple
> > > > frontends.  I currently run a combo be/fe which has served me well for
> > > > over a year.  I though perhaps getting a couple used XBoxes would be a
> > > > decent route.  I've been skimming the archives and one thing that keeps
> > > > popping up is a discussion/mention of versioning on the XBox.  What is
> > > > the easiest version of the XBox to mod to allow it to run mythtv?  Does
> > > > it require a hardware modification?  How do the xboxes perform
> > > > displaying SD TV encoded at 480x480?  Any comments?  Thanks for the feed
> > > > back.
> > > >
> > > > Calvin
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > > > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> > > >
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> > >
> > >
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