media center hardware suggestions? (xbox?)

[David Vincent]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Francisco Borges wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Does anyone has suggestions of (European) vendors of media center
> systems which are Ubuntu-compatible?
> 
> Anyone with experience running a Ubuntu media center on a Xbox? Can I
> get a remote control to work with t?

you can but the old xbox remote control kit and it works with XBMC just
fine, also works with MythTV on Xebian.

> Out of the top pf my head, some of the features I would like to have are:
> 
> - HDTV output;
> - remote control;
> - smallish & discreet case

i don't have an HD tv so i can't comment on how well it works but as i
understand it the xbox does not have the horsepower to decode HDTV.  i
have the hdtv adapter for the xbox and when attached some 480p and 720p
output options are unlocked but afaik this is for screen scaling and
picture output tuning.

i use a mythtv backend on hardy with two hauppage PVR-150 cards to
record everything to a 120gb external USB drive.  then my xboxes use
wireless connections to stream the media to their respective tvs.

i use xbmc as my xbox dashboard and the xbmcmythtv script to access my
mythtv stuff.  live tv watching works but is much more cumbersome than
just turning on the tv and using its internal tuner so i don't use it.
the usual xbmc frontend accesses my music and other videos from a samba
share.  commercial-skip works too.

i have also had luck using a xebian based image and running the real
mythtv frontend package on the xbox but it is pretty slow - the 64mb of
ram in the xbox is not enough and since i have a working solution
already i don't use it much.  xbmcmythtv has trouble for me when i try
to play a show i am currently recording - it thinks the end of the show
is at the point in the show where the recording has got to when i start
playback, so it stops playback at that point and i have to restart.
more annoying than anything.  this is where i use xebian - i can start
recording a show (like say a hockey game) and start watching it say
30mins into the recording.  then i can pause playback, resume, place a
bookmark and come back later, or whatever i want and really take control
of the situation to enjoy my show in my own good time.

if you want some more info about any of that drop me a line.

- -d

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFIxF58fpRzWFIV0XMRAhVqAJ4yFr35Y8V1MHFrYkt3Pwl0/n28KQCeILW9
dnEc9KlQaCfeh+siR4c7oZ8=
=oX+y
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----