[mythtv-users] Mythtv on xbox

Chris Henderson jchendo at gmail.com
Sun Jun 19 07:16:29 UTC 2005


Well i have finally got mythtv going with the help of Carl (off list
help) thanks carl.

I have working version of mythtv ver0.18 with 1dvb card ATM. the wife
approval factor has sored since i got it to work in the study. I see
extra money coming my way for upgrades (2 & 3rd tuners as she misses
some of her shows). Get the tv out working on the computer and it can
go into the lounge.

But that is not why i am emailing the list. The other day we were over
at a friends place and she started to play the xbox, lord of the rings
i think, and liked it. so i casually mention that i can make the xbox
be frontend for myth and be the xbox as well.

there was quite pause and she said, "really, how much?". COOL.

Not one to knock back money for toys when it thrown at me, i started
to cost it out.
i would prefer a beemer in the lounge and use a normal computer to
play games on, but that is never going to happen. neither is a HDTV in
the near future so this seems a great solution. Also this is just
going into 68cm Sony tv. 5 or so years old. (it doesnt even have a
s-video in, just to make life fun) so as much as the dvico is HD i
aint going to be using HD for a long time.
as i have yet to get tv out of the mx 440 going though the TV i am not
sure of the quality i will get from the GF4 mx440. But it sould be as
good as normal free to air analog. And from the posts i have read re
the xbox this is all i can expect from it. (maybe even better SD???)

Any feedback???

So here i am searching the mythtv posts regarding the xbox. i have
found several sites etc regarding the mythtv on the xbox.

it seems it needs to run under linux, (really i never would of thought :-0 )
It seems fairly straight forward, So did myth and carl know how long
it took me. :-)

but there is several things i cant seems to find answers for

I have googled from here to lower Bombay and back via every web server
it seems and i can find a clear picture of what needs to be done to
use the xbox as an xbox and as a pvr.
(also it could be that i am a bit dense)

there are a couple of possibilities.

Chip the xbox with a "OS based" chip like the ICE or the Executer and
install a big arse HDD. use the buttons that can be brought to make
switching between xbox -orig, PVR & xbox modified. ( this seems to be
the most wife friendly option. also the LCD available for this
----????? can it be utilised for the mythtv frontend ????)

OR

One of the cheaper mods called the aladin and the etxender so that i
can have 2 or 3 hdd in the box. Just push the button for PVR and start
it on a completely separate hdd.

then there is something about the different bois's needed. the guy
that i talked to down at the local swap meet here in AUS said that you
need a special bois 'cromwell' i think. and that you can load this
into the aladin.

The thing i can get straight ATM is if you can run the STD xbox (for
xbox live), the Improved xbox and the -linux-mythtv app on the same
drive. I understand that the orig xbox only comes with a 10gb hdd so i
know that i will have to get a bigger one 160-200gb are cheap.

While searching i found www.xboxscene.com and that has a lot of links
and info on it. in there somewhere i found mention of the ability to
create and f: drive when you put the bigger hdd in.
I would assume (and i know what assume means) i could install the
linux app in there?.
But isnt that space for the game to be loaded?

>From what i can figure out the Xectuor3 comes with a switch bank that
allows you to use different bios's and to turn off the chip to use
xbox live. the switch bank is what decide it for me if it behaves the
way i hope it does. this way i can get more upgrade money from the
wife.

Any info you can give me would be a great help. please feel free to
email off list if this is to far out there.
I would like to take the time to thank all the people on the list that
put up with the newbies like me. this is a great product and i hope to
be able to contribute back soon.

Chris

Location 
Melbourne, Australia

Backend 
P3 1ghz 512 ram, 40 &80 gb hdd for recordings, 1xdvico fusion lite
GF4 MX440 -tv out, LG DVD-rom (burner later)

Mythtv Version 
0.18.1 (thanks Jarrod , Issac and anyone else that helped)

Network
100mhz switched 

File Server 
Linux running SME(formally e-smith)  3x200gb hdd (waiting on $ for two
more to turn it over to raid 5 for recordings and music)


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