Can Xbox 360 do what Xbox1 with XBMC can do?

[twr7cx]

I've got an original Xbox, which I use as a DVD player and to play avi/divx files from my computer on the TV. Very rarely I might play a game on it.
Now I wouldn't mind getting a 360, but as I just mentioned, gaming isn't the mainpurpose, so no point in me upgrading if it can't play the avi/divx files.
So is the 360 a worthy replacement for an Xbox running XBMC?

[cwispy]

The 360 supports avi files natively either off a dvd or if you like, from a usb hard disk or memory stick, or streamed from media centre or a streaminfg server such as tversity. It does not support mkv files and some high bit rate avi's, but also supports HD WMV with 5.1DD etc which is nice. If you have a HD plasma or lcd then I would say the 360 is worth while for that, but if not, then I wouldnt think you would notice a lot of difference except in the processing power the 360 has over the old xbox.

[covert]

A replacement for good old XBMC on the xbox. The question I have been investigating for a few months now...

First I built a MythTV backend/frontend in one with the intention to run xbmc for linux on it. It is too big for my TV cabent and I wrongly chose a ATI based GFX card becuase I wanted sound over HDMI. So it is now going to be a dedicated backend.

My conclusion I came up with was to get a Apple TV. Mainly for the ability to be a front end for my MythTV. It will also act as the main storage for my MP3's (160GB version). Save having to have the networked computer on with the HD for of MP3's. The apple TV with all it's hacks will play just about anything you can throw at it. XBMC runs under linux on the Apple TV as well. Will tell you how it goes when my apple tv arrives. Most likely end up with a few of these in the house.

Until the xbox360 gets 100% hacked to run homebrew code on it, it will never replace a xbox for a media center PC.

[twr7cx]

Hmmmm... Might keep the old Xbox for a while longer then.

I really like how on the Xbox I can just access the various files from my PC's HDD's and play them, no need to do anything funny on the PC, or transfer the files onto the Xbox, or anything else like that.

I have read that the PS3 now supports DivX, but there seems to be some issues and hesitations with that...

[covert]

Reading the movie files directly out of the rar/zip files is one of the best features of xbmc. It seriously is miles ahead of any other media player. The only other option for a xbox with xbmc is another device with xbmc running on it.

[Woodstock]

Xbox 360 is poor for media centre .. I pissed now I sold xbox orig .. so many videos ..like Music video's .. outta of 3,000 clips .. I be lucky if 100 play .. some that do play stutter .. now looking at getting portable dvix player over lan as its small sit nicely next to 366

[covert]

.. now looking at getting portable dvix player over lan as its small sit nicely next to 366

Apple TV hacked to run xbmc under linux. With built in Wifi it also makes it portable for around the house.

[cwispy]

It really depends on what you want as to which is better. Myself, I want the quality and I can convert on the fly from the pc using TVersty for the stuff that the 360 doesnt support natively, but the full upscaled 1080 pic from the 360 kills the old xbox for quality, not to mention the HD WMV and AVI/MKV files that I have that the old xbox cant even process cause the bitrate is too high.

Each to thier own when it comes to playing stuff back.

[Pokedad]

I am using the 360 currently as a media player onto a memory stick, but I am finding it a massive ball ache.

Take my .mkv file
- Inspect it to figure out exactly whats in the .mkv
- Chop it to under 4gb if needed
- Rip the audio off the video
- Downmix to stereo mp4 from 5.1
- Change the h264 layer to 4.1 instead of 5.1
- Join it back together an an .mp4
- Die of old age and annoyance

Seriously microsoft have made the 360 suck so hard as a media player, even the PS3 is better.

[twr7cx]

Seems they're looking at putting XBMC onto the PS3 and Apple TV. I'd love a PS3 with it on (would mean Bluray, XBMC and games) - I have no preferance over Sony or MS, so which ever does the job is fine by me.
But from what I've read XBMC on either the PS3 or Apple TV is still months away.

[covert]

xbmc is already on both ps3, apple tv and an other platform that runs linux. Problem with the PS3 version is linux does not get access to the GPU.

[twr7cx]

xbmc is already on both ps3, apple tv and an other platform that runs linux. Problem with the PS3 version is linux does not get access to the GPU.

Got any decent sites to read about it on Apple TV or PS3. When I google, the results are usually just rumours, or saying it has been done, but nothing about how to do it...

[zei20l]

its weird you are all having problems with file playback on the 360. i just got rid of my original xbox inplace of the 360! it seems to play everything ive thrown at it so far.

one thing i DID have a problem with was via a VGA output it wouldnt show videos at a particular resolution (1024x768 widescreen). so i went back to the component cable and havent had a problem.