Xbox Media Center - XBMC

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:09 pm

Hopefully my stuff gets here in the next day or so; then I can dive in and get a feel for what you guys are doing.

TKWill · Post by **TKWill** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:30 am

Heath wrote:
ThrillKillWill wrote:I had everything running fine. I wanted to make XBMC my default dash and decided to use some tool named XBE shortcut maker. What this did was to replace my default.xbe(UnleashX) to a shortcut that would instead point to XBMC, essentially it overwrote that default.xbe with a new one. It went bad. I woke up today and decided to swap my optical drive from the newer Xbox into my old Xbox that has a bad optical drive error and just leave the fragged Xbox dead for now. So I now have everything reinstalled on my original Xbox that I bought when they first came out. I kind of like it that way.
Have you tried "Frosty The Snowman's XBox Rescue Disc"? It will boot from the DVD and includes an FTP server so you can access and modify the files on the HD.

I now have AID and SID, that should get me for now. She is running pretty. Added scripts for sports scores, PBS Frontline, and Comedy Central clips. I have done nothing but play with this thing for the past few days. Eventually looking to get a few things for my spare PC and hook that into the network as a media server. That will have to happen once I am done with my VH1 complete run. I have my priorities.

One thing that I have had a problem with is finding out which file is my music library. I am having problems removing some cds that I removed for my PC, whenever I go to the clean library button in setting it says something to the effect of "error compiling database"(?). Is it the file that is at XMBC>User Data>Database>MyMusic7.db? I have looked online and I haven't found anything that says what file it is. Any help would be appreciated, I want to just delete it and recompile my music list.

tssgery · Post by **tssgery** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:29 am

ThrillKillWill wrote:
Heath wrote:
ThrillKillWill wrote:I had everything running fine. I wanted to make XBMC my default dash and decided to use some tool named XBE shortcut maker. What this did was to replace my default.xbe(UnleashX) to a shortcut that would instead point to XBMC, essentially it overwrote that default.xbe with a new one. It went bad. I woke up today and decided to swap my optical drive from the newer Xbox into my old Xbox that has a bad optical drive error and just leave the fragged Xbox dead for now. So I now have everything reinstalled on my original Xbox that I bought when they first came out. I kind of like it that way.
Have you tried "Frosty The Snowman's XBox Rescue Disc"? It will boot from the DVD and includes an FTP server so you can access and modify the files on the HD.
I now have AID and SID, that should get me for now. She is running pretty. Added scripts for sports scores, PBS Frontline, and Comedy Central clips. I have done nothing but play with this thing for the past few days. Eventually looking to get a few things for my spare PC and hook that into the network as a media server. That will have to happen once I am done with my VH1 complete run. I have my priorities.

One thing that I have had a problem with is finding out which file is my music library. I am having problems removing some cds that I removed for my PC, whenever I go to the clean library button in setting it says something to the effect of "error compiling database"(?). Is it the file that is at XMBC>User Data>Database>MyMusic7.db? I have looked online and I haven't found anything that says what file it is. Any help would be appreciated, I want to just delete it and recompile my music list.

In my experience, cleaning a database has never really worked well.

The MyMusic db is the music database, you can remove it and rebuild the library as you mention. To be safe, login in with your ftp client, rename the file to something else, reboot your xbox, and rebuild the library.

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:37 pm

Okay guys... Got all my stuff I needed in the mail today and had all the latest files downloaded to do this.

I got the appropriate files uploaded to the AR and was about to copy them to the xBox to discover that I don't have a "copy" command, only a "delete" command.

At first I thought it was that I was on an out-dated xBox version so I went and purchased a copy of Splinter Cell 3 and used it to update my version from 4034 to 5096 - but still no dice.

I can see both the files on the memory card just fine while using the standard retail xBox dashboard, but when I click on them it only gives me a "delete" option with nothing below it...

What am I doing wrong?

TKWill · Post by **TKWill** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:47 pm

thePike wrote:Okay guys... Got all my stuff I needed in the mail today and had all the latest files downloaded to do this.

I got the appropriate files uploaded to the AR and was about to copy them to the xBox to discover that I don't have a "copy" command, only a "delete" command.

At first I thought it was that I was on an out-dated xBox version so I went and purchased a copy of Splinter Cell 3 and used it to update my version from 4034 to 5096 - but still no dice.

I can see both the files on the memory card just fine while using the standard retail xBox dashboard, but when I click on them it only gives me a "delete" option with nothing below it...

What am I doing wrong?

There are two icons one that is going to be the main "folder" for Splinter Cell and one that is the file. You will have to tab down to the Splinter Cell Icon and the press right over to the smaller icon for the save file. Press A and it will give you the copy and delete functions. Let me know if this works.

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:07 pm

ThrillKillWill wrote: There are two icons one that is going to be the main "folder" for Splinter Cell and one that is the file. You will have to tab down to the Splinter Cell Icon and the press right over to the smaller icon for the save file. Press A and it will give you the copy and delete functions. Let me know if this works.

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:26 pm

okay, here is where I'm at so far...

Got the file transfer problem out of the way... no problem.

Got the backups done and the new unleashx dashboard in - perfect!

Now I'm curious as to how do I get the XBMC_PC.exe executable to run? I made up a directory called e\Apps and moved the files there, but I can't seem to get them to activate. I tried editing the config xml file for the dash and making it an option but no love...

ideas?

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:38 pm

XBMC should be a .xbe file, not a .exe file. It sounds like you might have a version built to run on the PC, not on the Xbox. (I think there is a PC version for testing and development purposes like for skins and such but not much real functionality? I could be wrong.)

tssgery · Post by **tssgery** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:13 pm

Heath wrote:XBMC should be a .xbe file, not a .exe file. It sounds like you might have a version built to run on the PC, not on the Xbox. (I think there is a PC version for testing and development purposes like for skins and such but not much real functionality? I could be wrong.)

That's right. The XMBC_PC.exe is a Windows executable built for skin development.

files that are executable on the XBOX have an xbe extension. You should run back throught the wiki for installation instructions. You can also do a google search for T3CH and XBMC to find the weekly builds from subversion. I'm fairly certain that the T3CH builds contain installation instructions as well.

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:29 pm

yep, I figured that out shortly after I posted that. Went back and looked at my .RAR and adjusted accordingly (stupid windows mentality).

Got it up and running though as an application through the evoX dashboard. I'm going to leave it that way for now, but I'll paly with it more tomorrow after my classes are done.

Thanks guys!

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:46 pm

Very cool guys! I got the videos, music, and pictures arel sharing from different locations in my house on my TV via the x-box. I also got a friend of mine to download a copy of the xBox emulators for my rig too, so now I've got the emulators and games from everything from the atari 2600 to the super nintendo/genesis.

Can anyone point me to where I can find other things to put on the xbox? I think I saw something about getting you tube videos on it? Anything else cool I should know about?

The softmod is the best!

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:54 pm

http://www.xbmcscripts.com/

http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/xbins.php

http://xbox.udp.at/

tssgery · Post by **tssgery** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:09 am

And a new site...

http://www.xbmczone.com/

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:05 pm

thanks guys!

I found a few that I'd like to try... but there is no install information in the downloaded .zip's nor any of those pages (I did find an install tutorial for a plugin, but thats not the same thing as a script is it?)

Is it just a matter of FTP'ing to a certain directory? If so which one?

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:18 am

I finally got a wireless router to use as a bridge today. Now the Xbox is connected to the network and I didn't have to run any cables. Got the router off Craig's List for $25. Started working on it after getting the kids in bed. I had some trouble getting the bridge mode to work with the mfg's firmware, so I installed the open source dd-wrt firmware which took a while to figure out the particulars with that and my router. But finally got it working, got the bridging configured and am now FTP'ing XBMC over to the Xbox. Since it's almost 1:30am now, I think that's where I'll leave it tonight.

tssgery · Post by **tssgery** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:06 am

thePike wrote:thanks guys!

I found a few that I'd like to try... but there is no install information in the downloaded .zip's nor any of those pages (I did find an install tutorial for a plugin, but thats not the same thing as a script is it?)

Is it just a matter of FTP'ing to a certain directory? If so which one?

If it's a script, just put it in the XMBC/scripts directory.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:26 pm

It bears repeating: XBMC is the best thing since sliced bread. Why didn't I do this sooner? Since my last post, I have XBMC installed (still just as an app launched from the UnleashX dashboard instead of as the default dash itself), have it streaming my music and pictures and home videos, have a few scripts installed such as YouTube and Apple Quicktime Trailers. I installed an email client, but I haven't tried to use it yet. I'm really loving it! I just wish there were scripts to stream the full episodes from the American network TV websites (I see scripts for Dutch and Australian and other foreign networks, but not American). I missed the finale of American Gladiators and would rather watch it on the TV than the laptop (unfortunately, my LCD HDTV doesn't have a PC input).

My son wanted to use his birthday money to buy an Xbox for his room. So of course, I modded it too, put some emulators and a bunch of old games on there for him. He loves it. GameStop threw in a set of component cables with the bundle so I now have up to 720p from the main Xbox.

I also upgraded the hard drive in mine. One of these paydays I'll buy a 120Gb or so to put in there, but for now I just used an old 20Gb I had laying around mainly for practice. Didn't have any problems at all.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:14 am

Question for you other modders who may know more than me...

Can I take the old (original) hard drive from my Xbox and just pop it into any other Xbox and it work? Or is the hard drive tagged to that specific box somehow? Is that what the eeprom is about?

schi0249 · Post by **schi0249** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:53 am

Heath wrote:Question for you other modders who may know more than me...

Can I take the old (original) hard drive from my Xbox and just pop it into any other Xbox and it work? Or is the hard drive tagged to that specific box somehow? Is that what the eeprom is about?

Hard drives are locked with some code. There are detailed guides on how to upgrade the HDD.

thePike · Post by **thePike** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:02 pm

schi0249 wrote:
Heath wrote:Question for you other modders who may know more than me...

Can I take the old (original) hard drive from my Xbox and just pop it into any other Xbox and it work? Or is the hard drive tagged to that specific box somehow? Is that what the eeprom is about?
Hard drives are locked with some code. There are detailed guides on how to upgrade the HDD.

Yep. What he said. Each HD is coded to it's xbox, but can easily be reprogrammed from what I understand.

tssgery · Post by **tssgery** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:12 pm

thePike wrote:
schi0249 wrote:
Heath wrote:Question for you other modders who may know more than me...

Can I take the old (original) hard drive from my Xbox and just pop it into any other Xbox and it work? Or is the hard drive tagged to that specific box somehow? Is that what the eeprom is about?
Hard drives are locked with some code. There are detailed guides on how to upgrade the HDD.
Yep. What he said. Each HD is coded to it's xbox, but can easily be reprogrammed from what I understand.

I know how to upgrade the drive, but I'm not sure about replace. I *think* that in order to read the eeprom, you need the old drive... but I could be wrong.

TKWill · Post by **TKWill** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:51 pm

You can get the eeproom while doing a hotswap. Or it is in the backup files from when you did your mod.

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/332766

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:20 am

Are any of you streaming downloaded or DVD-ripped TV shows using XBMC? If so, are you using Library Mode? I've been trying to get my "library" set up so I get thumbnails, episode descriptions, etc. Thing is, I can only get the TV.com scraper to work. When I try to use TheTVDB scraper, I can get series thumbnails and descriptions, but it reports 0 episodes for every series. I wish I could be happy with TV.com, but TheTVDB has better thumbnails, more in-depth descriptions, and info on obscure shows that TV.com doesn't.

tssgery · Post by **tssgery** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:35 am

Heath wrote:Are any of you streaming downloaded or DVD-ripped TV shows using XBMC? If so, are you using Library Mode? I've been trying to get my "library" set up so I get thumbnails, episode descriptions, etc. Thing is, I can only get the TV.com scraper to work. When I try to use TheTVDB scraper, I can get series thumbnails and descriptions, but it reports 0 episodes for every series. I wish I could be happy with TV.com, but TheTVDB has better thumbnails, more in-depth descriptions, and info on obscure shows that TV.com doesn't.

I play ripped DVD's all the time, but tend to not use library mode.

For Movies, I download the DVD cover myself and create a .nfo file with a pointer to the IMDB listing. So, if I ever want to do Library Mode... the scraping is almost automatic.

For TV shows, I just rip the content to a Folder structure. I have thought about setting up library mode as it'll be easier to find a specific episode of a show, but have not done so yet.

What version of XBMC do you use? I seem to recall a post about the scrapers not working in one of the recent T3CH builds but I don;t remeber the details.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:15 pm

tssgery wrote:For Movies, I download the DVD cover myself and create a .nfo file with a pointer to the IMDB listing. So, if I ever want to do Library Mode... the scraping is almost automatic.

I just use the IMDB scraper for movies and I like the results a lot. VERY easy to set up and all the info is right there.

tssgery wrote:For TV shows, I just rip the content to a Folder structure. I have thought about setting up library mode as it'll be easier to find a specific episode of a show, but have not done so yet.

I really like the functionality of the Library mode. I like having episode descriptions and thumbnails and such. I just hate that the scraper for TheTVDB doesn't see any of my episodes. They have really good info.

tssgery wrote:What version of XBMC do you use? I seem to recall a post about the scrapers not working in one of the recent T3CH builds but I don;t remeber the details.

I read about problems too but didn't see what specific versions were being discussed. So I upgraded from a February version to the April 6 version. I didn't see any difference. When using the TheTVDB scraper, none of the episodes I have are recognized.

But I'm really not sure what the scraper has to do with recognizing the file anyway. The definitions for season and episode number are pulled from the file name with the naming convention defined in the Advancedsettings.xml file. I'm not sure how the xml file, the actual file names, and the scraper all work together.