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Looking for advice and direction

  • 26-03-2007 3:17pm
    #1
    Iago
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,638 ✭✭✭


    I'm about to buy a bose surround sound system for the house. As well as watching TV, I want to be able to hook up the XBOX 360 for online gaming and watch movies/shows that I have on a Maxtor external hard drive through the television.

    I obviously need a media center PC, which will only be used as a media center (as I have a couple of laptops for general browsing/downloading). Can someone please pass on the wisdom of their experience and tell me what I need to buy and where I can get it! Would ideally like to keep the costs down, maybe €500-€800 tops is what I'd like to spend, but if you can point me in the right direction I'll consider a machine that's more expensive.

    Thanks for any help, and apologies if this has been covered before :)


Comments

  • #2
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭8T8


    Xbox 360 can only play WMV through the dashboard (it's own UI)

    However in Windows MCE extender UI mode it can play MPEG-2, WMV, DVR-MS.

    Anyway in order to make other formats playable on the Xbox 360 you need to use a real time transcoder or encode the content into a supported codec type.

    It wont play the files from your external HD if plugged directly into it unless they are already in a supported format. In order to play unsupported files a real time transcoder must be running on your PC so the PC re-encodes on the fly the file for playback to the console so the media must be on the PC to begin with.

    With that in mind for transcoding you do not need anything other than TVersity setup & installed on your PC and the videos will be playable in the Xbox 360 dashboard UI.

    A guide for getting TVersity up & running, you'll need a codec pack installed as well use the CCCP pack.

    You can of course use something else for media playback & not have to transcode on a PC but that means not using the Xbox 360 for that purpose.


  • #3
    SouperComputer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,949 ✭✭✭SouperComputer


    /opens can of worms

    You could go much better than Bose for speakers. Have a look on Avforums for alternatives that sound better and are often cheaper.

    HTPC wise, anything above a 1.7Ghz with 512MB is sufficient. If transcoding, a 2.8 or above is a good idea. Unless you plan watching HD content in the near future, id go with a lower spec system until you commit to HD. Then you can get better equipment for the same money. That said, a 2.8Ghz should be able to do HD.


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