The XBox as the Home Entertainment Media Hub 217
bigcitymike writes "Well it might be vaporware, but it appears Dreamix is trying to turn the Xbox into a PVR with a TV guide like scheduler. They also state PC as well as Mac/Linux support down the road. " Project Dreamix will turn the Microsoft Xbox into the ultimate home entertainment center."
I presume it requires a mod-chip installed." The xbox media player really goes a long way towards this goal already. MSFT may not be the friendliest of companies, but for $200, the x-box makes a helluva stereo component.
Body of the article (Score:4, Informative)
Overview
Project Dreamix will turn the Microsoft Xbox into the ultimate home entertainment center. Right now we are in the alpha phase of course, but below is what we plan to complete before Beta release: -
* PVR Features (Scheduled recording, fast forward, rewind, pause Live TV)
* Video Playback (Based on Linux MPlayer - all popular file formats)
* Audio/Music Playback (Based on Linux MPlayer - all popular file formats)
* Image Viewer (Slideshow + Photo album)
* Setup Menu (All configuration will be done with the Xbox controller and/or DVD Remote with the use of a graphical keypad)
Although Dreamix will be based on Debian Xbox-Linux, all necessary libraries will be included in the distribution of the CD image and will auto-excecute upon being inserted into the Xbox DVD drive. This will allow for a friendly install by the average user.
Note: There will be a need to purchase a hardware add-on for video input since the Xbox gaming console does not currently have video inputs etc.
Why Dreamix?
"For a very long time, I had been developing software called VWare, 2 years ago the project was going well but found myself losing interest, and not having enough time. Now with the Xbox supplying the hardware power needed to take my old VWare project into a new realm, the Dreamix team had the idea, why not Personal Video Recording on Xbox? Ill be honest, I can not stand Tivos, ReplayTVs,Dish Network, DirecTV TV guide systems, menus and what not. I am a very picky person who wants my entertainment and system to give me a feel of power, worth my money. I have spent too many years watching the industry do things wrong and only 'hoping' more would be added. They are slowly getting there but I am personally tired of waiting and the impatient person I am, I am going to do it myself." - Lenn0x
My God! (Score:3, Informative)
XBox as a media hub? That's MS's stated goal. And they're being thwomped by everyone worldwide (although they compete with Nintendo in the US and Europe, they're outsold by PS1 in Japan).
Private Beta release link.. (Score:2, Informative)
Their beta signup form.
Unfortunately (Score:5, Informative)
How could this work? (Score:5, Informative)
Wouldn't a TiVO or Replay TV be much cheaper than this? Not just adding in hardware costs, but all the time required to get all this working. It seems to me that the XBox just wasn't designed for this kind of usage.
Might work (Score:4, Informative)
Re:How could this work? (Score:2, Informative)
120Gb works just nicely.
Re:Might work (Score:2, Informative)
No you can't. (Score:3, Informative)
is XBox the way to go ? (Score:4, Informative)
But I really don't want to be limited by the limited hardware. In two years' time, how are you going to upgrade the box ?
I'm working on a similar project myself (A href="http://davedina.apestaart.org/">The Dave/Dina Project), which is a distribution (based on Red Hat) to turn a PC into a media hub. It works, it's in our living room, it has 200 GB of storage space (the 550 albums it has encoded to Ogg to date take about 35 GB of those), it records video [apestaart.org] (we record about 15 shows each week, all through a web interface), it plays emulator games and even Doom, it shows photos, and s on.
It isn't the prettiest thing in the world (WE NEED ARTISTS !), but it's open, you can swap out components, tinker with it, and help us improve it.
I don't want to be tied to any hardware at all, especially not Microsoft's. How long before a cease-and-desist order is issued ?
Just don't buy an Xbox to watch DVDs (Score:5, Informative)
Also, the DVD players available today are all multi-region enable-able through the remote. Some will even remove Macrovision with a remote hack. For the Xbox, you will need a modchip to achieve the same.
Oh, and the DVD player comes with a remote, unlike the Xbox.
Re:Unfortunately (Score:2, Informative)
All that, while the chip is really a $4 cheapmod. You'd been a lot better of buying one of those and solder it in.
Re:PVR ability? (Score:4, Informative)
Someone is (or was) working on PVR support for XBox Mediaplayer [xboxmediaplayer.de] using the WinTV PVR USB [hauppauge.com]. The X-Box got 4 USB inputs (controller ports), so using one of them for this device shouldn't be a problem.
Re:How could this work? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:PVR ability? (Score:3, Informative)
I would prefer it to use a controller port... What if I want my home entertainment media hub to access a network to play movies and music?