XBox Media Center

Shannon and I really like the idea of the XBox Media Center, we wanted the ability to view downloaded TV shows, home movies, and do picture slideshows without having to burn a DVD every time. XBMC allows us to do just that!

I went with the OzXodus Xodus mod chip that boasted some nifty features that I really like such as its own OS (boots prior to the XBox BIOS), recovery mode, 1MB for BIOS that can be split in many ways, and more.

My Dad helped with the soldering of the chip, at first we went with the 'Quick Solder' method that didn't go so well, so we ended up with the 'Pin Header' method which worked out quite well and was easier in the end.

After it was all modded up, I created a boot disc (make sure your XBE is called DEFAULT.XBE or else it wont boot from the DVD), and a BIOS CD. I loaded the Xecuter2 BIOS, then booted up the Evox Dashboard via the boot disc. FTPed the Media Center files over and I was done.

So far the experience was quite good, and for anyone that is looking for this kind of functionality from there existing hardware, I highly recommend it. My only wish is that I did this sooner.