The old girl’s still got plenty to give. With hardware that’s now 10 years old you’d be forgiven for thinking the xbox classic’s time is up, however the old girl has still got plenty to give. True enough a lot of people now have HTPC’s, standalone media players or the latest games consoles to stream in true HD to their big screens. This however certainly doesn’t mean the demise of our trusty old xbox… Where else could you buy a media center that’s able to stream content from the internet (or locally) in a wide variety of formats, have an amazing library function, double up as an arcade machine and boot up in seconds? And all for the price of a couple of pints of beer! Yes these great warhorse machines can be picked up second hand for amazing prices, I know I’m not the only one to have picked one or two up for as little as 99p from a certain auction site.
So how do you use your xbox these days, are you still using it as your main media center? Obviously not everyone has an HDTV, in which case the xbox is still unbeatable but for those of us that do what happens to your xbox once you’ve upgraded to newer hardware? Personally I have one in every bedroom and also one in the shed (so I can sit in the garden and watch movies/football with a few beers in the summer). With a simple network connection (homeplugs are a great choice if you don’t like wiring) you can have all your media located on one dedicated machine and stream from there. Whether it’s a dedicated server, NAS or simply a PC you can store all media on that one device and then scan it all into your xbox libraries meaning thousands of movies/tv shows but only one large HDD needed. Of course you could just use the xbox to stream directly from the internet – how do you use yours?
Courtesy of Whufclee
Ten years ago today, the XBOX console was first introduced to North America. Since then, it has seen the release of many great games, including many of the best selling video game series’ of all time, and one of the largest online communities for games which allows gaming online, downloading new games/content, and tv, movie, and music streaming. The XBOX is now one of the top selling consoles of all time.
Even more impressive however, are the efforts of people who receive no compensation for their work other than the thanks of like minded people. Shortly after the release of this console, a modding community was founded and has been growing steadily since then. XBOX users are now able not only to play XBOX games, but games from nearly every console up to the 5th generation through emulators. There are also full versions of Linux running very well on this console.
XBOX users also have access to arguably the best media center application on any platform. XBMC started because the XBOX needed a good media player, but it evolved into something so much larger. Streaming media files from the network with library organization, weather support, XBOX game trainers, a game/program launcher, and an entire build of python to run a plethora of scripts which can be created by anyone. XBMC has been unsurpassed by many other media applications, some of which you must pay for.
The best part about all of this? It is available completely free and open-source, made by other XBOX users in their free time.
I think it’s high time to congratulate everyone who has contributed to make this console come as far as it has.
Thank you Mwaterbu for allowing me to post this on the front page as I don’t believe I could have written it better.
Happy birthday Xbox Classic and thanks for all the good times.
Xman.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a bit of a write on the front page but here I am. As most of you know, we have hit over 2000 members and this is rising by the day which is always good to see. I’m always amazed at the versatility of “the old black box” as it hits it’s 10 years of reliable service. I only wish they made P.C.s with such reliability, something I don’t think Microsoft intended when they designed these machines.
There has been much development since the last stable release and Arnova and Exobuzz are continually improving on the way XBMC works for us all. It’s always good to check out how the latest builds perform on your machine with there smoother operation and extra features. Just make sure to read up on the forum on how to upgrade your build and it’s a relatively simple operation. It’s also good to try the different skins other than the default 3 that come with each new build. Simply grab the skin or skins you’d like to try and add it in your skins folder in the XBMC folder and select it in your XBMC appearance settings and your XBMC’s appearance will change to that of the new skin. I also like to change the sounds but that’s a more in depth procedure that is best left to the forum.
Anyway, I’d like to welcome all the new members that have joined the forum since I last welcomed new members and look forward to there input and comments on the forum.
Xman.
Yes, one year on and hasn’t XBMC4Xbox come ahead in a big way. Some of the development in the way the machine plays movies, the skins, the apps and pluggins, actually every aspect of the system has had major gains in it’s performance, appearance and usability. Makes me think the “Old Work Horse” has a few years left in her yet. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people that have made this forum the success it is and this means anybody that has every posted actually because without people posting, it doesn’t matter how good a site is if nobody posts. It is the talk that makes it interesting with different people’s views from all over the world.
In one year we have gone from zero to 1540 members and this increases by the day with around 4000 RSS feed viewers. I must say I’m not really shocked by the popularity of the “Modded Xbox” as more people are introduced for the first time to the system daily. I think the forum has a good balance of on and off topic discussion which adds to it’s appeal also a nice group of people that we have managed to attract. To all I say thank you for the pleasure of letting me get to know you a little.
Xman.
The Red Xbox Lottery for Jimmy’s cause is over and the winner is… # 1036 !
http://www.xbmc4xbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=18944#p18944
I would like to thank everybody that entered and in turn helped in Jimmy’s Cause. I know all cash raised has gone straight to Jimmy and I’m quite happy to have been able to help Jimmy in such a way as well as increase the popularity of our forum so while there was only one winner, I believe we all winners in the long run.
Again, thank you to all that participated to help Jimmy in his hour of need. Now that the “Jimmy” Red Xbox is gone what’s next?. How about a Slim Clock Lottery. Tell me what you think.
Xman
This is the Modded Xbox up for grabs in a Lottery where all proceeds go to a member of the forum, Jimmy, aka 420 Smiles who has had an extremely bad run of luck. The machine is a Cherry Red XLM Cased machine with a 500Gb Sata hard drive installed. It has a modchip installed and has a modified M8 bios with no flubber and boots to XBMC in 8 seconds. The machine comes with a Component Lead Set and is set to output 720p.
How this machine can be yours, is simply make a donation to the link below and each $5 donation will buy you another ticket in the draw which will be drawn on a date to be announced. I am hoping to add donors forum names to an ongoing list on the forum displaying there “Tag” and a “Lottery” number beside each $5 block so if you donate $20, your “Tag” would appear 4 times with 4 consecutive “Lottery” numbers. If you want to mix up your numbers, make donations at different times during the coarse of the “Lottery”. I’m still looking for a suitable PayPal account to host this “Lottery” and will add a link to this page when this is sorted, please be patiant. I will add to the page as more details come to hand.
Enter to Win! Click here
Xman.
Well Happy New Year to all I say and we can cross our fingers on the RAM Upgrading which is showing enormous promise to be able to enlarge the RAM on the box but we can defiantly pick up a super cheap machine and mod it. Let’s face it, what other machine at the moment can you grab for 40 odd dollars, take it home and turn it into something the whole family or individually, regardless of age can find something to do with it and will continue to be useful in 12 months time? What a versatile piece of machinery. Now we take it a step further, you’ve got more than one T.V. and your getting sick of changing rooms so you get another machine and do it again. Right, that’s 2 up and running or a backup if you like. Now if you get another you can rip it apart and do a change or two and your not pressed for time because you have two running. Maybe the colour doesn’t match your T.V. or furniture as good as you’d like. Rip it apart and give it a paint job. It will look new again but in a colour of “your” choice. This is one form of case modding which to some comes easy and others not but let’s face it, you’ve invested not much money, your not loosing downtime on a machine, and you can take as long as you like. What about a USB port, LCD display, some lights, a clock, there are so may things you can do to these machines as you can see in the modding section.
This year I have a couple of Unique Projects like a complete stand along machine that can tune to your FM radio wirelessly anywhere in your house for all the people that enjoy using the box for their music. This is extremely versatile because you don’t need wires to your stereo or headphones, not to mention the other abilities of these devises.
The clock mod, I want to take a step further by using the alarm feature to turn the Xbox and T.V. or stereo on and using your “startup list” as your alarm.
I have two other “Uniques”, but the idea is now is the time to grab something and have a go if you’ve ever been tempted as I can only see availability being an issue and prices not going any lower. So on that note, I say 2011, the year of the mod.
May we all have a Fine New Year and the best of health to all,
Xman
Good aye all, Well it’s been a while since I’ve needed to write my piece here but it is my job and well, here we go. First off, 1100 members now and we just keep on growing, fast. This is testimony to just how popular this platform is with many long term users and many first timers and the never ending new ideas members are coming up with to keep this site fresh and exciting.
The latest Beta Builds of XBMC are running extremely well and hopefully will proceed to ‘Stable Build Status’ shortly and then I’m expecting a spike in new members as is always the case when a ‘Stable Build’ is released. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved, Exobuzz, Arnova, Xbs, Bomb Bloke and anyone I may have missed on this project.
The skins are going strong with a newcomer, SLik joining the ranks thanks to Jezz_X and Xbs and it appears extremely lite and fast running on the Xbox. I would also like to thank all those involved on the skins development giving us users such a large variety to choose from.
Dan’s been busy as always producing many fresh programs for us to run on our machines and make our life so much easier the way we load, upgrade, FTP or clean files on our beloved boxes.
I started a post to possibly change the default splashscreens for the Xbox platform and I must say I’m very impressed. Some of these new splashscreens are amazing. I actually think every one is better than what we have a present. Thanks a lot guys for making this post so interesting.
Anyway, that’s about it and I’ll take this opportunity to wish all our 1100 members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Xman
First off, let me say welcome to all the new members that have helped swell the numbers of our forum since my last post. Up over 100 in a very short time. We must be doing something right. As always, there has been much development over the last couple of weeks, most notably, the IMdb scraper is up and running with the help of “BlueD” and others. A job very well done.
Also the site has assigned moderators of which I am one along with “Heimdall, Paybac and Idotsfan”. We now have green names but deep down, the same friendly people I hope.
“Help and trouble shooting” is still our most popular title with lots of help being offered to members by members. It never fails to amaze me how your problem can be solved by somebody on the other side of the planet in real time, truly amazing.
“Modding” is always a good place to grab a few good ideas when you have your Media Center humming along just nicely software wise and seeing as we are blessed with super cheap prices for good second hand units, it’s time to get out the hacksaw and spray cans for the adventurous members after something totally unique to sit by the T.V. “BigkidOz” has done an outstanding “Anatomy of a slimbox” – a DIY giude). Just the project for those machines with a non working DVDrive.
As always, “Craig” has been busy making the forum even more user friendly with the photo uploader, the Emu Downloader, ( thanks “Paybac” on that one), and also a competition to create a new popup box to download XBMC4Xbox. This is a competition where you can create a new download window for the “Nightly Builds” using the program “Craig” has built specifically for this purpose and I believe to be quite “noob” orientated so no skinning ability required. Nothing to lose so have a go.
Anyway, all’s running sweet on the forum and I’ll speak to you guys later,
Xman.
September 18th, 2010
Xman
Well there’s a lot happening as we pass the 700 members count on the forum. Firstly, Nuka has been busy supplying patches that improve script/plugin compatibility with mainline xbmc.org add-ons. In addition a DVD playback issue that was causing issues for a few revisions has now been sorted on the current builds which is good news for all involved.
Please do try out the latest builds, but note that xbmc4xbox is still considered as being in a development state and so there may be minor issues with some functionality. Please feed any issues back to us through the forum or by adding a bug to the bugtracker. For those that want to test a new version, without risk, my advice is to not overwrite your current build, but install separately. You can then launch the new build from the built in File Manager on your current version. This allows you to test a release thoroughly before deciding whether to replace your previous version with it permanently.
The Skins are coming ahead with some new stuff starting to creep in and who doesn’t like new stuff?. All the skins are very active at present. I found this quite interesting the other day. Could lead to custom startups for that added professionalism.
Some funny unrelated stories can always be read in the “Off Topic” section of the forum. Here you can write basically about anything, providing your not upsetting someone. A good place for a laugh, rant or to pass on some information. I’m glad to see how many first time users of the Xbox are appearing on the forum seeking advise. This is extremely good to see. All are welcome here.
700 members today. Well done XBMC4Xbox.
Xman.
2535 users
