XBox Media Center – The Angel

I want to tell you a little about the XBox Media Center (affectionately known as XBMC).

As you all know, I am slow on the video game bandwagon and finally bought a mod chip and modded my XBox. Matt and Duncan (and others) have already done so years ago and know the knowledge which I only now know..

Have you ever heard of Media Centers? They allow you to view your digital media via your TV in one central location. I won’t go on about the theory of media centers as you will now read what my actual XBMC can do.

Music – I can read music off of a CD, or on a network drive (aka, my computer upstairs and Mike’s computer downstairs). I can have a listing of all the freakin’ music I have in the world, as long as it’s on someone’s computer. I can also go into my iTunes database (how convenient since I already have one set up for use with my iPod!) and access all my files and playlists. For the non-tech savvy, do you know that you can use iTunes to organize all your music on your computer and you don’t need an iPod? You also don’t need to pay for it, it’s free. Try it out today!

I can also go to streaming Internet radio stations for some cool music. I want some Lounge music? BOOM. Done. Jazz? Done. 500 radio stations to browse through. Take that Satellite Radio!

Programs – Heck, I haven’t really played around with this, but the coolest part of this is that you can a) Copy XBox games (alright, it’s illegal. Big deal.) and b) Play emulators. Emulators basically mimic the functionality of the old video game systems you’ve grown to love. Right now, I’ve installed a Nintendo Emulator and loaded up ‘The Legend of Zelda’ last night. That’s right people, I’m not talking about the super-duper Wind Maker version on Gamecube…I’m talking about the original! With a bullet.

Eventually I will download emulators for other vid systems such as Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. Maybe a Turbo Grafx 16 console while I’m at it.

Videos – My fave option on the whole thing. I download vids a lot. I download TV shows a lot. I don’t really mind watching it on my piddly 17-inch computer screen, but dang it would be cool if I could just watch it on my TV screen downstairs.

Voila! My wish has come true. I just go search for the video files via the network (which are stored on my physical computer upstairs) and they play them! They can even play them in 5.1 surround if someone has encoded the video that way (like the Smallville eps on the Net). And it plays EVERY format possible. We all know there are a slew of formats out there and you need a different player for each…not with the XBMC. Somewhere in the code, they’ve handled all of that gobbledegook…it just opens and plays the vid. Oh my…I am in heaven. I can now watch my eps of Lost that I downloaded.

Pictures: Who needs photo album these days? I just go into the folder I want to view photos in, and hit slideshow. I can even shuffle the pictures. I can even have my music playing in behind them while we watch. This was especially effective while showing Eric last night while popping up some wedding photos along with some acoustic Lifehouse. Tugs on the heart strings I tell ya! Everyone can see the screen – no more just sitting around a little photo album!

Other features:
Weather! Hey, wanna know what the weather is for the next five days? There’s a linkup to the Weather Network right on the Main Menu.
Movie Trailers – Same deal! I can view all the new movie trailers (from the Apple Quicktime website – THE source for new movie trailers) all from my main menu of the XBMC and on my TV.

I have just begun to play around with the XBMC – but it’s the best time (a lot because of the soldering instructions – let’s say 10 hours in total) and money – ($80 for the chip, and $60 for a wireless network card) that I’ve put into a project. I suppose you have to include an XBox in that price also, but it was a gift. Thanks Mom and Dad!

I encourage you to come see what the XBMC is all about and perhaps build one yourself!

I apologize to my tech savvy friends reading this…I always try and make my blog entries non-tech savvy for the others reading it.