Xbox as a Sage Client?

[AirJunky]

I'm sure this will raise a few eyebrows..... if nothing else, because it's a mod that is not very accepted.

I'm wondering what it would take to allow the Xbox to play videos off a Sage server. Obviously it would involve modding the Xbox & running a new OS on it. But it seems like hardware-wise, it's all in there. The video would operate in a similar way as the Haupaugge Media MVP, and allow a user to use the DVD remote to scroll thru a list of recordings that are being read off your server. It would play the videos off the server thru the CAT5 connection. Doesn't require a huge amount of hard disk space. It does however require a good bit of memory & a good video card. Not sure if the Xbox would work in that respect.

[stanger89]

Look at Xbox Media Player, it should do what you are asking.

[justme]

Not suprising, alot of people(including me) want a PVR solution for the Xbox.

Also let your opinion be known in the XBMC(XBMP's replacement) feature requests section on SourceForge. Most of the active developers of XBMP have moved on to XBMC. The usual reasons they learned things and wanted to do things that the XBMP architecture wouldn't allow. So they started over to make it better, faster, stronger than it was before.

While all of the parts for a true Sage client aren't quite there. You can kludge one with XBMP. From what Jeff has said about Sage2 and supporting the MVP, the missing pieces should be added to Sage's side soon. ie a reliable feedback/control method. So that will put the ball back into the Xbox court.

[AirJunky]

So it occurs to me that there isn't much reason for this to require a hacked Xbox to work on. Seems like it would be possible to sell a Sage Client on a CD that can be loaded on an Xbox with the DVD remote to access files on a Sage server.

[justme]

You have much to learn about the Xbox, young Jedi.

Microsoft has a boot check in the hardware. You can not run any unsigned code without hacking the Xbox. While there are some attempts to get a software hack working their are iffy, since Microsoft could send updated code to your Xbox on Xbox live or even put it in new games. Microsoft has already made two fairly major changes to the Xbox design to make modding harder, but only effects new Xboxs. And besides all current 5 versions are hackable via one of the popular Mod chips.

Go to Xbox-Scene for all the info. They have tutorials, FAQS, etc. Just keep in mind you won't find any compiled Xbox software there. Since you need the XBDK to do this and no one is allowed(legally) to use that except Microsoft authorized companies. You'll have to figure out where to find the binaries from the clues on the site. It's not too hard once you figure it out. The first step for you is to figure out which version of the Xbox you have and then chose a Modchip. It's all on the site.
Best of luck.

Oh and if you were thinking of Frey getting together with Microsoft forget it, Frey doesn't have deep enough pockets. Besides Microsoft keeps saying they are working on their own version of a Media Player. Have you ever known Microsoft to allow someone else access to something they want?

[mikesm]

If you want to use Xbox as a frontend, and are comfortable enough with technology to hack it, then you should think about MythTV as the core backend.

Myth's frontend has been ported to run on the Xbox, so if you want to use the Xbox for this, the Myth route will give you everything Sage can, plus HD, DVD ripping and a whole set of other features. And xbox frontends are already in use by many folks...

But it takes a fair amount of technical skill to make it all work... :-)

Thanks,
Mike

[Omegadsl]

I think we might be seeing some sort of official (Microsoft) Media Center software for the XBox pretty soon.

-Omegadsl

[justme]

Yeah but what fun would that be. Seriously you're probably right. It will be interesting to see how much control and what features they let us have. Like will it work with a upgraded larger HD installed and will it recognize the extra space? Also will it fail to run if it finds XBMP/XBMC files on the hard drive? Do you have any links or info on this possible Microsoft Xbox Media Center?

[AirJunky]

Yep.... Here it is

Dammit.... the killer is their going to build a client that is only compatible with MCE. Server aps like Sage, Myth & BTV will have to use another set top box for thier clients. Guess they better get MCE running better than it is so far, huh.

[stanger89]

Here's the official page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m...xtenderkit.asp

[mikesm]

Of course they will build it so it runs only with MCE! Why should they do anything else?

Seriously though, the new APExtreme box (the discover console) looks like a pretty open environment. You probably won't have to hack it to install a Myth frontend on. Heck, it runs XP embedded natively, so maybe Sage could port a client to it pretty easily...

MCE isn't interesting to me - multi-tuner support is too big a deal to miss. Maybe MCE2006 will get it right, but by then we'll have much better technology already available...

The DRM issues will always retard the development of flexible multimedia products by the big guys. That's why all the action to date has been folks assembling the software pieces themselves or in the open source area (like Myth)...

Thanks,
Mike

[-LD]

Originally posted by mikesm
The DRM issues will always retard the development of flexible multimedia products by the big guys. That's why all the action to date has been folks assembling the software pieces themselves or in the open source area (like Myth)...

this is spot on...you should read The Innnovator's Dilemma

theoretically, there's no reason Frey couldn't either run their client on linux and go the xbox linux route...or Frey could buy the xbox SDK and become a developer and make a disc like the MCE extender kit

[AirJunky]

While I like the idea of Frey making a disc that would load a Sage client on the Xbox, I kind of wonder if that is likely to happen. Sounds like the guys who made the Xbox Media Center client tried but were rejected. I imagine you have to jump thru a few bazillion hoops to satisfy Microsoft's criteria & become Xbox certified.

[danward79]

Hi

I have xbmp, and an early version xbmc running to play with, it is easy to configure it so it can access you recordings, you just have to mod your xbox, a few solder connections, some new chips don't even need soldering.

The xbmp team did develop access to a tivo as well but not owning a tivo i have not played with it.

XBMC looks very promising, and they are quick to develope things there, you could even doit your self if you get the sdk... and contribute the code.

you were talking about xbox linux, how about using the winehq windows emulator thing to get sage client running on it, just an idea!

Dan

[AirJunky]

So their calling it the Media Center Extender .

What are the chances of it reading files recorded by a Sage server?

[mikesm]

I doubt the MCE extender will be very independent from MCE. They learned their lesson about the degree of effort people will apply to hack open a tidy piece of hardware like the xbox. If it had a BIOS you'd see tons of folks running windows on it(though with 64 MB of memory, it wouldn't be a pretty sight).

I doubt Sage would put a lot of energy into a Linux client if they could instead run their client on XP embedded like the APEX discoverconsole does. THAT would be a lot easier.

If you're not a wizard, I would stay away from the xbox and myth and wait until a Sage solution is found that that works with one of the many media apadters that is coming out.

If you have to have a system that does everything right now, make a friend out a of a PC Linux hacker and fix him up with a cute girl - that should be enough points for him to build you a new system. :-)

Thanks,
Mike

[bisbjerg]

danward79,

Do your have any experience with playing livetv recordings from XBMC, i.e. playback of a show currently being recorded by SageTV? Or is there a locked file issue involved here?

[danward79]

Hi

I have not tried a live file yet sorry

Dan

[mikesm]

XMBC plays programs stored on a ReplayTV right now, natively using the ReplayTV protocols,. so if the semantics of Sage allow it, it should be very doable. Heck the XBMC developers would certainly take code to do that and incorporate it like they did with the Replay code.

But if you are willing to go to taht effort, you probably would take less time moving to Myth that supports Xbox's natively.

Note that you still can't turn on an xbox with a remote control (without hardware mods), so it's not as friendly as some other clients around.

Thanks,
Mike

[bisbjerg]

Ok, I think I'l' give it a try with XBMC, which by the way is very cool.

I think I can live with getting up off my f.. a.. and turn on the XBOX...