XBOX as my HTPC

[SteveLord]

Taking the advice of a co-worker, I bought the Arcade version lastnight. After setup and doing the XBOX Live dance to get all appropriate updates, I can now stream media from my Windows Home Server with ease.

$199 for a small and simple HTPC that can do 1080p? You can’t beat that. :bday:

[FudgeNuggets]

Taking the advice of a co-worker, I bought the Arcade version lastnight. After setup and doing the XBOX Live dance to get all appropriate updates, I can now stream media from my Windows Home Server with ease.

$199 for a small and simple HTPC that can do 1080p? You can’t beat that. :bday:

sure you can:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/AR1600-910H/13866885?wmlspartner=GPA&sourceid=44444444440310715927

It may not play 360 games but it won't RROD on you either.

[zPacKRat]

sure you can:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/AR1600-910H/13866885?wmlspartner=GPA&sourceid=44444444440310715927

It may not play 360 games but it won't RROD on you either.

the new Jaspers run cool so they are unlikely to RROD, but the DVD drive will likely fail if used as a DVD player. That said that ACER would not work as an extender for media center anywhere as well as a 360, I loved MCE and 360 setup up to the point of HD, now I have a Dish Network DVR and it's OK, not as nice MCE though.

[FudgeNuggets]

the new Jaspers run cool so they are unlikely to RROD, but the DVD drive will likely fail if used as a DVD player. That said that ACER would not work as an extender for media center anywhere as well as a 360, I loved MCE and 360 setup up to the point of HD, now I have a Dish Network DVR and it's OK, not as nice MCE though.

Are you kidding? I have both and a PS3 to boot. The Acer makes them look silly. 1080p and 7.1 audio over HDMI with XBMC.

[zPacKRat]

Are you kidding? I have both and a PS3 to boot. The Acer makes them look silly. 1080p and 7.1 audio over HDMI with XBMC.

My bad I was reading Windows Home Server as MCE, so it's not a MCE Extender at all. That said I'm gonna have to look into that Acer, seems to be alot of value for the $$$

[FudgeNuggets]

My bad I was reading Windows Home Server as MCE, so it's not a MCE Extender at all. That said I'm gonna have to look into that Acer, seems to be alot of value for the $$$

That and my Droid phone are the best $200 or under Gizmo purchases Ive ever made.

[Sir Barton]

Im running 2 of those Acer units with XBMC + MythTV front end. XBMC and MythTV work pretty good together, the only features that are missing is scheduling recordings from within XBMC and commercial skip. I can schedule recordings from any other computer on my network. Theyre still working on it, so it shouldnt be long before those features are added. My server is Ubuntu Server 8.04 running Samba, NFS, SSH, FTP, rsync, and the MythTV back end. That coupled with a couple HD Homeruns and the Acer units make one hell of a media network.

[deathman20]

I use my 360 to play my videos from the PC, though I killed the Media Center Extender portion of it currently. I was having issue with it disconnecting or loosing its settings. I think its partially because of my router setup currently, which I probably should check to see if there is a fix for it.

[Joeteck]

Taking the advice of a co-worker, I bought the Arcade version lastnight. After setup and doing the XBOX Live dance to get all appropriate updates, I can now stream media from my Windows Home Server with ease.

$199 for a small and simple HTPC that can do 1080p? You can’t beat that. :bday:
Can it play Divx?

[thideras]

I used my 360 as a media center for a little while. If setup properly, it works extremely well. I wish my current files would play with it.

[benbaked]

Can it play Divx?

Yes, it can. IMO the 360 is a better media streaming device then the PS3.

[deathman20]

Can it play Divx?

DivX, Xvid, WMV, WMVHD is what I've played through mine. All work great.

[FudgeNuggets]

yeah but you can't stream HD stuff through either and neither play MKV natively which is why I prefer the inexpensive HTPC. I also disagree that the 360 is better than the PS3 for media playback, at least natively, not streaming. They're more or less equal when talking about streaming.

[deathman20]

yeah but you can't stream HD stuff through either and neither play MKV natively which is why I prefer the inexpensive HTPC. I also disagree that the 360 is better than the PS3 for media playback, at least natively, not streaming. They're more or less equal when talking about streaming.

While yes you can't stream MKV natively I can stream WMVHD content no problems, both 720P and 1080P.

[SteveLord]

I bought my wife the $199 acer, but it is way too slow for Windows 7 (even broken down) unless you upgrade it. Returning it for the more expensive one, better cpu, more memory, double video memory and another Windows 7 license.

Xbox is easy enough that my kids can use it and I didn't have to spend hardly any time setting ANYTHING up.

[FudgeNuggets]

I bought my wife the $199 acer, but it is way too slow for Windows 7 (even broken down) unless you upgrade it. Returning it for the more expensive one, better cpu, more memory, double video memory and another Windows 7 license.

Xbox is easy enough that my kids can use it and I didn't have to spend hardly any time setting ANYTHING up.

Im running 7 on mine and dont find it slow at all.

[Joeteck]

DivX, Xvid, WMV, WMVHD is what I've played through mine. All work great.


The 360 can only see vista and Windows 7 systems, not a NAS, correct?

[SteveLord]

Im running 7 on mine and dont find it slow at all.

It doesn't handle surfing as well as a real desktop...especially loading up Firefox. I noticed it...hoping my wife wouldn't...and then she did. Even a fairly weak game like Plants VS Zombies loads slow on the 5400rpm hard drive.

But I think it's still a great machine for the price. Especially with HDMI and plenty of USB ports. Honestly though..$130 more for dualcore, double memory and Win7 64bit Premium alone is worth the added cost. Even wireless mouse/kboard instead of wired.

[thideras]

The 360 can only see vista and Windows 7 systems, not a NAS, correct?No, it works with anything. I actually shared files with my CentOS server. Worked perfectly.

[FudgeNuggets]

It doesn't handle surfing as well as a real desktop...especially loading up Firefox. I noticed it...hoping my wife wouldn't...and then she did. Even a fairly weak game like Plants VS Zombies loads slow on the 5400rpm hard drive.

But I think it's still a great machine for the price. Especially with HDMI and plenty of USB ports. Honestly though..$130 more for dualcore, double memory and Win7 64bit Premium alone is worth the added cost. Even wireless mouse/kboard instead of wired.

That's probably the difference, I put my OCZ Vertex SSD in mine.

[SteveLord]

Actually, it still stinks. 80gb intel SSD and 4 gigs later...the cpu still struggles with firefox, amongst other things. It's still a great space saver and value, but the money spent upgrading it could have bought a 4 year old desktop that would be faster.

[FudgeNuggets]

Actually, it still stinks. 80gb intel SSD and 4 gigs later...the cpu still struggles with firefox, amongst other things. It's still a great space saver and value, but the money spent upgrading it could have bought a 4 year old desktop that would be faster.

Don't know what the issue with yours is, Mine works flawlessly with 1GB RAM and a 60GB OCZ Vertex. No problems running anything. XBMC works like a dream, Windows 7 works excellent, Firefox works excellent, IMGBURN works to perfection. I've not had a single issue with anything. A buddy of mine got the dual-core version and his has been flawless as well.

[Aktunka]

If your goal is to stream media from a server or to be able to play darn near any file then you would be much better off getting one of those high def media streaming devices. There are several out there, but I personally use the Patriot Box Office. This little thing is tiny and plays pretty much everything you throw at it natively, including MKV, ISO, etc. Add in that they cost from $50 (if you catch one on sale) to $100 and you are golden. I like mine so much I bought a second one.

Before the Patriot Box Office I was using my PS3 as my streaming device, and that worked fine as long as I had certain avi files...but it seems that most of what I wanted to play it would fail on. So much less hassle with the dedicated box.