tell me making the Xbox an awesome media center!

[noiseredux]

some of you may know I found an Xbox at a yard sale recently. I don't have a controller. Or AC adapter. Or AV hookups for that matter. So no idea if it works. It's collecting dust because I think there's like 3 Xbox games that even look good to me.

But something else dawned on me. I can hack/mod the Xbox to be a pretty awesome media center, right? I almost think I'd get more use out of it that way.

So what do I need to know, assuming I know shit about the Xbox?

How easy is it to soft-mod it? (is this even necessary?)
What can I do with it?
Can I rip a bunch of DVD's to the HDD?
How easy is it to install a bigger HDD?
Etc?

[brunoafh]

I think there's like 3 Xbox games that even look good to me.

METAL WOLF CHAOS

How easy is it to soft-mod it? (is this even necessary?)

It's pretty easy, there are a couple of methods. The action replay/memory card method is extremely simple.

What can I do with it?

Play homebrew, boot Xbox games from the HDD, emulation up to PSX, play burned games, play games from different regions, other stuff.

Can I rip a bunch of DVD's to the HDD?

I think so, but I don't use mine as a media center really. I just use it to play games.

How easy is it to install a bigger HDD?

Easy.

Great resource: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/675872

[Jamisonia]

this is the power cable:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

Its similar to the DC, PS power cable only non polarized

[Hatta]

Softmod is dead easy. Look for Auto Installer Deluxe, I think version 5.0 is the latest. All you need is AID, an exploitable game, and a memory card with an exploited save on it. There's a pretty extensive manual for AID. I have a softmod kit you can borrow if you need it.

Changing the hard disk on a soft mod is a little more involved. It involves copying your EEPROM key, so you can unlock the hard drive. Then hooking the new hard disk up to a PC, booting XboxHDM, which will format and create the Xbox directory structure, and then lock the drive with the EEPROM key for your Xbox. The process is covered in the AID manual. I haven't done this myself yet, but it looks pretty straightforward.

Apparently you can rip DVDs directly to the Xbox with dvd2xbox. I haven't used it myself. I'd recommend ripping them on your PC with handbrake and copying or sharing them to the xbox. It'll read faster, encode faster, and put less wear on your console.

You will want to get your hands on CoinOps. It's a really nicely packaged multi-emulator system. You can get a ~20 gb package that comes with thousands of preconfigured games with art and videos for the front end too. Everything from C64 to PSX, but mostly arcade games. I got it from UG, I think it's on USENET too.

If you want a specific game that isn't supported by CoinOps, you'll have to go to xbins to get a platform specific emulator and install that. Just google Xbins and read the faq.

[lisalover1]

Good oXbox games? *Sigh* Where's h8b1llg8s when you need him? Panzer Dragoon Orta, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crazy Taxi 3, Jet Set Radio Future, Crimson Skies, Outrun 2, Psychonauts, Ninja Gaiden, House of the Dead 3, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Phantom Dust, and a whole lot of other stuff. I may not be a fan off the 360, but the oXbox had a lot of quality titles, particularly from Sega.

As for its media center capabilities, I staunchly maintain that an oXbox with a custom hard drive is the absolute best media center for its value, and one of the best overall. If you put in the effort, it will be more than worth your time. First, make sure that oXbox of yours works before you spend any more money on it. Get a power cable and see if it powers on. If it does, congratulations! You're on your way to an awesome media center. Next, get a cheap component cable off of Ebay. The oXbox can output video in 1080i and has surround sound. If you already have a home theater setup [Speakers, Audio Receiver, the whole shebang], skip the cable and get the Xbox AV Pack [http://www.ecvv.com/product/134000.html], which has support for optical audio for 5.1 surround sound. Next, softmod your Xbox. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, install a modchip. A modchip is more expensive, but it makes installing a new Hard Drive significantly easier. Other people here have already explained how to softmod an Xbox, so I won't go into detail about that. During/after the softmodding process, you should install XBMC [Xbox Media Center] onto the system as your default dashboard [the dashboard is the system menu for the Xbox], so you can load media and games onto it. After that, order a 500 GB IDE hard drive, and follow a tutorial online to install it. Once you have all that sorted out, you can transfer files to your Xbox over the network over FTP. There are a million fun ways to customize XBMC to make it look really gorgeous and efficient, so play around with it for a while with the PC version of the program to get acquainted with the software.

Like I said, all this will be worth the effort once you have it up and running. Plus, unlike its younger brother, the oXbox is a sturdy, hardy machine that will last you for ages, and for thousands of hours of media playing.

[noiseredux]

"good games"

Panzer Dragoon Orta - yeah, it does look good.

Conker: Live and Reloaded - really? Not a huge fan of 3D platformers starring fuzzy mascots.

Crazy Taxi 3 - is it that big an improvement over the first game? I have the first. I like it alright. Don't love it.

Jet Set Radio Future - one of the few Xbox games I've played. I like it.

Crimson Skies - no idea what this is.

Outrun 2 - isn't Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast a port of this?

Psychonauts - isn't this also on PS2?

Ninja Gaiden - remade for PS3.

House of the Dead 3 - already have it on Wii.

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - don't know what this is.

Phantom Dust - don't konw what this is.

As for its media center capabilities,...

thanks! I'm going to consider it. Though it does sound like considerable work. So not sure if I'll really want to bother in the end. But will look into it a bit more thanks to input in this thread.

[vlame]

you cant do much ripping unless you swap hard drives. the stock is 8gb, no space at all. the softmod is easy, i rent out kits to do this. if you install xbmc you can stream avi files over lan. you can also ftp if you want.

one of my favourite mods to do is put high speed ide cables in it and copy 1 game to the hard drive and say goodbye to load times.

[noiseredux]

you cant do much ripping unless you swap hard drives. the stock is 8gb, no space at all. the softmod is easy, i rent out kits to do this. if you install xbmc you can stream avi files over lan. you can also ftp if you want.

is it possible to just rip the DVD's to HDD using nothing but the Xbox?

[vlame]

after you soft mod yes BUT like i said there is no space and the programs dont shrink the movie at all.

i also updated the post up there.

[noiseredux]

after you soft mod yes BUT like i said there is no space and the programs dont shrink the movie at all.

I'm sorry, I meant after installing a bigger HDD. I'm just saying the XB would be in the living room nowhere near a PC or LAN or anything. So I'm just saying if I can't rip straight from XB drive, then it would kind of take away some of the convenience. Oh and by the way, when I'm asking about ripping DVD's -- I do mean movies. You got that right? I'd probably barely use this for games.