[mythtv-users] Re: xbox myth and hdtv

[Paul Mietz Egli]

Barry Smoke <barry at arhosting.com> writes:
> Does myth frontend, running on xbox use the hdtv output to get better 
> picture?

Yep.  I've got an XBox hooked up to a 37" Sharp AQUOS HD set and
displaying at 480p.  My backend has a PVR-250 and records regular analog
cable at 480x480 using the standard bit rate settings.  Once you get
everything running, you might want to experiment with 720x480 and higher
bitrate settings -- the default bitrate is barely adequate, though it
saves on disk space.

You will need the following to get started:

      * a modded XBox.  I installed the Xecuter3 chip from Team Xecuter
        (http://www.teamxecuter.com/), but if you're not handy with a
        soldering iron you should either use the software mods described
        at xbox-linux.org or use a solderless chip.
      * an XBox HD cable (http://www.xbox.com/en-
        us/hardware/highdefinitionavpack.htm)
      * mythtv-xbox (http://bit.blkbk.com, apparently under
        reconstruction at the moment following a phpBB2 hack)

Once you have MythTV installed on your XBox, follow the HDTV HOWTO:
http://www.xbox-linux.org/Xbox_HDTV_HOWTO.  I've found that my XBox
doesn't have enough memory to display 720p, but it works fine at 480p.
I've also discovered that if I boot into the Microsoft BIOS and turn on
any of the HD options in the Video Settings screen, Xebian craps out
shortly after booting.  This doesn't appear to affect whether it uses HD
resolutions, so I just turn on 480p setting when I want to play Halo 2
and turn it off again afterwards.  If you're not using the XBox to play
hi-def games, you won't have this problem.

Make sure you turn on one of the deinterlacing options in the MythTV
setup if you're using a progressive resolution like 480p.

> does it use progressive out for dvd's,

Not sure on this one.  I'll try it tonight when I get home.

> and does myth play dvd iso's, just like xbox media center does?

Sure.  You can rip VOBs or transcoded movies within MythTV and play them
back using either an internal player or an external player like mplayer
or xine.

> and does it support dvd menu's from the iso files?

As Paul W. said in the previous message, xine supports menus.

Good luck!

p.