funtions of xbox 360

Headshot

i got an xbox 360 and i want to use it as my sky plus

what do i need to get it going

i think i need a media centre pc ?

etc

Matt Simis

{(-_-)}HeadShoT** wrote:

i got an xbox 360 and i want to use it as my sky plus

what do i need to get it going

i think i need a media centre pc ?

etc

Well then you would be using the Media Center PC "as Sky+" wouldnt you? The 360 can pick up TV/Video rebroadcast from Windows Media Center PCs. However you cant "tune" a Sky Digital connection into a PC as Sky force you to use their Box and security card combo. You can loop the Video out (Svideo etc) into a PC Capture card and use the Sky Remote to change channels (or use an IR Blaster setup to send the Sky box fake commands to get channel changing working from the PC), but its not realistically going to just replace your Sky+ Box and its ease of use. At best, you can run them in tandem, but the better reason for doing this is to clean the Sky signal and integrate it into your HTPC setup which also serves other functions (as I do, output then to Projector).



Matt

Headshot

how much will this media centre pc cost me

thanks Matt for the reply

Shiny

You are looking at about 800minimum for a HTPC.

Laguna

HTPC's like barebones systems are way overpriced for no good reason. For example, a barebones system half way decent (e.g nForce4, Socket 939, 350w) will set you back around €400, whereas if you are to buy an equivalent motherboard and decent case, you can do so for about €250.

On a side note, I'm considering picking up Windows XP media centre edition, is it basically XP Pro with additional functionality or is it more akin to XP Home (does it have IIS on it, I need a personal web server that supports ASP).

Headshot

i basicily want this HTPC for sky plus
you see i have sky multi room

one sky plus box in the kitchen and have too sky boxes [ordinary boxes]in my room with is for sky multi room and the other which i had to hide, does ftv

its really going to cost me 800:eek:

SouperComputer

{(-_-)}HeadShoT** wrote:

i basicily want this HTPC for sky plus
you see i have sky multi room

one sky plus box in the kitchen and have too sky boxes [ordinary boxes]in my room with is for sky multi room and the other which i had to hide, does ftv

its really going to cost me 800:eek:

You could use an old S478 board, 512Mb RAM and it would be fine. You will also need a TV card such as a Hauppage PVR550, a decent DX9 graphics card and of course a windows MCE licence.

What EXACTLY do you want to do with this HTPC/XB360?

DemonOfTheFall

Yeah you're saying a HTPC for Sky+.... That doesn't make any sense at all.

Are you paying sky for a Sky+ box ? Or by Sky+ do you just mean you want to be able to record telly on the PC ? They are big differences...

Headshot

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

by Sky+ do you just mean you want to be able to record telly on the PC ? They are big differences...

bingo

sorry i was very bad to explain

Headshot

SouperComputer wrote:

What EXACTLY do you want to do with this HTPC/XB360?

you see

in the xbox 360 theres media centre extender technology which records tv shows from your windows media centre based pc to any tv in your home

CiaranC

I dont think you've quite grasped it.

DemonOfTheFall

Do you have NTL Digital, Sky Digital or normal NTL ? If you want to do this with anything other than normal cable prepare for one gigantic pain in the ass.

You're gonna need a Media centre PC for a start. If you have normal cable TV you can just plug that into your PC and record, shouldn't be too hard. If you want to use NTL Digital or Sky Digital though you need to get crazy and connect the PC to the Digibox with serial cables and other mad stuff... Personally I wouldn't be bothered.

SouperComputer

you see

in the xbox 360 theres media centre extender technology which records tv shows from your windows media centre based pc to any tv in your home

Still not following you TBH, so ill outline what a HTPC can and cannot do for you.

The HTPC can be set to record from the sky+ box, however while doing this you cannot watch another channel from sky+ thru the HTPC. SKY+ havs two tuners, but only one can be used externally (ie connected to the HTPC) at one time. The HTPC will control the Sky+ box thru an IR blaster which basically mimmics your Sky+ remote.

You can watch SKY+ through the HTPC and select what station you want to watch.


You can add music, photos and videos to your MCE library and look at them through the interface.


The XB360 and the other extenders available from linksys etc allow you to watch the material from the MCE PC.

So from an extender you can look at recorded TV, setup recording, listen to music etc etc.

However as it is a proprietary piece of hardware, decent codecs such a Xvid and DivX cannot be watched.........yet.

Lastly and obviously since the HTPC can only access one channel at a time, all extenders must view the same TV station when watcing live TV.

In short, using a HTPC in your case doesn’t really offer many advantages with the exception of much greater storage potential and to allow multi room/user access to recorded content.


if this appeals to you, then you will find more info here to get you started with MCE:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=208020


^in this link, you can igone the EPG (Electronic program Guide) hack as it has been patched with MCE rollup 2.

Hardware wise, a P4 2.0Ghz is fine, as the encoding work is done on your capture card.
512Mb RAM is a good figure to aim for, MCE struggles from time to time with less.

All the info you need is on boards anyway, have a search through the forums and you will find loads of info.

HTH

Headshot

its to much work i wont bother

sorry for wasting your time

ShiverinEskimo

Not being a ****er - but have you considered just getting sky+ multiroom?

SouperComputer

{(-_-)}HeadShoT** wrote:

its to much work i wont bother

sorry for wasting your time

no bother, maybe go for Sky+ multiroom and stick a bigger HD in em?

gline

Laguna wrote:

On a side note, I'm considering picking up Windows XP media centre edition, is it basically XP Pro with additional functionality or is it more akin to XP Home (does it have IIS on it, I need a personal web server that supports ASP).

no it is basically win xp home with added media functionality. so no iis

Headshot

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

Not being a ****er - but have you considered just getting sky+ multiroom?

ya but sky only do quad lnbs nothing bigger

you see sky plus needs two cables going to each digibox and i still want to use my ftv card so im stuck