Mailing List Archive: Just got my XBOX running Mythfrontend! It works great!

Just got my XBOX running Mythfrontend! It works great!

Apr 8, 2003, 9:04 PM

Post #1 of 3 (1421 views)

Hi,

I have just managed to get my XBOX to run Mythfrontend! So far I am really
impressed, it plays Live TV and Recorded shows just as well as my dedicated
backend. Thanks to a lot of hard work by others, I now have the basis for
what is going to be a brilliant frontend. Ed's Xbox Debian distribution and
Matt Zimmerman's packages made the install reasonably painless. Ed's
Debian must come with accelerated video playback as the video is very
smooth, and doesn't peg the CPU.

The TV-Out quality of the Xbox looks great, except at the moment I have no
overscan, so it does have a black border.

If you have any question or comments please let me know, I'd be happy to
help. I am going to try to come up with some step by step instructions,
with the hope of having this included in the standard documentation.

Note: Getting 0.8 to work was quite painless. Getting CVS to compile meant
I had to dig around for dev and source packages, so it took a bit of time.
It wasn't too bad though as Ed's Debian distro was my first exposure to
Debian and to Apt-Get, and I managed to get it running in one day.

What I am now going to work on:
1) Replacing WindowMaker, with another lightweight window manager, or if
someone has a good setup for WindowMaker, I'd be happy to us it.
2) Getting overscan to work... (possibly with nvtv)
3) Getting the DVD Remote to simulate key presses.
4) Getting Debian to automatically logon, I don't want to have to do that
every time I turn on the machine.

A few details of what I have:

Backend Hardware:
AMD XP 1800+
Tuner1 - Lifeview 3000
Tuner2 - CHP05X (bt878)
On board Sound.

Backend Software:
Gentoo
KDE
MythTV - CVS (as of 8 Mar 03) (also went back to 0.8 when first testing myth
on the XBOX)

Frontend Hardware:
XBOX v1.1 (PAL) Australia
ozxchip modchip (www.ozxchip.com)
Usb converter to enable plugging in a USB keyboard ($10AUD from
www.ozxchip.com)
A TV

Frontend Software:
EvoX Bios for the modchip, but any BIOS would do.
Ed's Debian 0.3.1 (xbox-linux.sourceforge.net)
WindowMaker (that's what ed's Debian uses by default)
MythTv CVS (as of 8 Mar 03) (0.8 went on first, but that lasted about an
hour, as I now can't live without the great View Recordings screens that
went in just after 0.8 was released)

Note: I only record at 400*288 (or something like that), so the playback
results could vary if you record at higher resolutions.

In conclusion, in case you haven't noticed, I am extremely happy with this,
for $400AUS ($220US) + $50AUS (Modchip), I have a really nice MythTV
frontend/DVD player/Games Machine.

Cheers
Peter

Re: Just got my XBOX running Mythfrontend! It works great! [ In reply to ]

johnmythtv at crombe

Apr 8, 2003, 9:24 PM

Post #2 of 3 (1400 views)

Permalink

Very interesting Peter!

I don't know anything about XBoxes, so here's a couple questions...

1) Could someone just make an ISO that we can all use? I mean once we're
talking fixed hardware, couldn't we just d/l an ISO, burn to CD (or load off
n/w) and be up and running in minutes?

2) You say it's a front end, and game machine. Is that using MythGame or
with the XBox s/w? If Xbox, how does that work? You dual boot to either
Myth or Xbox's o/s?

3) Would we be best off using the existing remote (does it come with one?)
and/or can we use a universal infrared like we do today?

4) You're recording at 400x288. That's MPEG4 right? Have you tried higher
resolutions? Seems like as long as you're not pegging you could go higher?
I understand that higher vertical resolution pays off much more than higher
horizontal but you're the other way around (or is that how you're reporting
it - V x H?)

5) Does that guy have a 10/100 interface?

Thanks!
JC

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Marriott" <peter@bms.net.au>
To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users@snowman.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2003 12:04 AM
Subject: [mythtv-users] Just got my XBOX running Mythfrontend! It works
great!

> Hi,
>
> I have just managed to get my XBOX to run Mythfrontend! So far I am
really
> impressed, it plays Live TV and Recorded shows just as well as my
dedicated
> backend. Thanks to a lot of hard work by others, I now have the basis for
> what is going to be a brilliant frontend. Ed's Xbox Debian distribution
and
> Matt Zimmerman's packages made the install reasonably painless. Ed's
> Debian must come with accelerated video playback as the video is very
> smooth, and doesn't peg the CPU.
>
> The TV-Out quality of the Xbox looks great, except at the moment I have no
> overscan, so it does have a black border.
>
> If you have any question or comments please let me know, I'd be happy to
> help. I am going to try to come up with some step by step instructions,
> with the hope of having this included in the standard documentation.
>
> Note: Getting 0.8 to work was quite painless. Getting CVS to compile
meant
> I had to dig around for dev and source packages, so it took a bit of time.
> It wasn't too bad though as Ed's Debian distro was my first exposure to
> Debian and to Apt-Get, and I managed to get it running in one day.
>
> What I am now going to work on:
> 1) Replacing WindowMaker, with another lightweight window manager, or if
> someone has a good setup for WindowMaker, I'd be happy to us it.
> 2) Getting overscan to work... (possibly with nvtv)
> 3) Getting the DVD Remote to simulate key presses.
> 4) Getting Debian to automatically logon, I don't want to have to do that
> every time I turn on the machine.
>
> A few details of what I have:
>
> Backend Hardware:
> AMD XP 1800+
> Tuner1 - Lifeview 3000
> Tuner2 - CHP05X (bt878)
> On board Sound.
>
> Backend Software:
> Gentoo
> KDE
> MythTV - CVS (as of 8 Mar 03) (also went back to 0.8 when first testing
myth
> on the XBOX)
>
> Frontend Hardware:
> XBOX v1.1 (PAL) Australia
> ozxchip modchip (www.ozxchip.com)
> Usb converter to enable plugging in a USB keyboard ($10AUD from
> www.ozxchip.com)
> A TV
>
> Frontend Software:
> EvoX Bios for the modchip, but any BIOS would do.
> Ed's Debian 0.3.1 (xbox-linux.sourceforge.net)
> WindowMaker (that's what ed's Debian uses by default)
> MythTv CVS (as of 8 Mar 03) (0.8 went on first, but that lasted about an
> hour, as I now can't live without the great View Recordings screens that
> went in just after 0.8 was released)
>
> Note: I only record at 400*288 (or something like that), so the playback
> results could vary if you record at higher resolutions.
>
> In conclusion, in case you haven't noticed, I am extremely happy with
this,
> for $400AUS ($220US) + $50AUS (Modchip), I have a really nice MythTV
> frontend/DVD player/Games Machine.
>
> Cheers
> Peter
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
>

RE: Just got my XBOX running Mythfrontend! It worksgreat! [ In reply to ]

peter at bms

Apr 8, 2003, 9:53 PM

Post #3 of 3 (1418 views)

Permalink

> I don't know anything about XBoxes, so here's a couple questions...
>
> 1) Could someone just make an ISO that we can all use? I mean once we're
> talking fixed hardware, couldn't we just d/l an ISO, burn to CD
> (or load off
> n/w) and be up and running in minutes?

Yep this is certainly possible, the install iso that I used for Debian is a
complete (at least complete looking) debian environment. On
xbox-linux.sourceforge.net another distribution called "Xbox Linux Live
System" is based around having distros with plugins available on a CD.

> 2) You say it's a front end, and game machine. Is that using MythGame or
> with the XBox s/w? If Xbox, how does that work? You dual boot to either
> Myth or Xbox's o/s?

I haven't installed MythGame yet, but will try that shortly. I can still
play my standard XBOX games. Just pop out my debian boot cd (which loads
debian from my F: drive), and put in my XBOX game. My modchip can also be
disabled, so that my machine behaves like a standard XBOX.

> 3) Would we be best off using the existing remote (does it come with one?)
> and/or can we use a universal infrared like we do today?

You purchase a DVD remote separately. This give you a USB plug in receiver
and an IR remote control (very nice ergo). I plan to use my sony universal
remote and the USB receiver. Note: Can't turn standard XBOX on and off by
remote though.

> 4) You're recording at 400x288. That's MPEG4 right? Have you
> tried higher
> resolutions? Seems like as long as you're not pegging you could
> go higher?
> I understand that higher vertical resolution pays off much more
> than higher
> horizontal but you're the other way around (or is that how you're
> reporting
> it - V x H?)

I am by no means an export on resolutions, but I think it could definitely
handle higher resolutions. I am using mpeg4 but haven't had a change to try
the higher resolutions. As I have two tuners, increasing resolution would
(I guess) hit me pretty hard when recording two shows simultaneously, or
recording one and watching live/paused TV

> 5) Does that guy have a 10/100 interface?

Yep... with standard plugs etc.

> Thanks!
> JC
>