.net and other interesting dev stuff in PA

On reading the description, I'm a little disappointed, as it appears that the XMCEK requires a media center PC to work with. For those of us who don't have more than one TV in the home, the kit is not very useful, at least from the description on the page you linked to.

Bummer. I like the media center PCs and all, but I don't think my wife will go for the idea of buying one just to make my *XBOX* more useful. ;-)

By the title, I figured it was extending the media center to the xbox, so I wasn't that dissapointed :). What it seems to do, though, is allow the XBox to act like the "bobsled" device that was announced a while ago.

One of things my wife hates is that if we record something we can only watch it in the room we recorded it on. This lets us watch the recording in another room. We have 3 tv's, if I remember, so this is useful.

It would be nice if you just needed an XP Pro system rather than a Media Center PC to "host" video for the XMCEK, but given the huge variety of video formats present on plain PCs, I can imagine the testing and quality issues. (Updating codecs on the XBOX? Hard drive or no, no thanks. 20 different AVI codecs? MPEG-2, -3, -4? Argh!)

Get a Replay TV and be done with it.

Just bought a MCE PC... and I love it so far. I can't wait to get my Xbox hooked up to it.

hav u people never heard of xbox media PLAYER,
www.xboxmediaplayer.com, what this kit does i hav been able to doe for 2years! stream video from pc to xbox, mps, pictures, very sinple to install and totally amazing, all u need is a chipped xbox and xboxmediaplayer, u can host the media on any pc, 98, me, XP, also at www.xbconnect.com is a free way to play xbox games online! no need to pay for xboxlive and twice as gud!!! get with it ppl, this software has been around for years! microsoft jst wants your hard cash! this technology is availible to all for almost nothin!

Obviously, being a Microsoft employee, I certainly would NOT recommend any product that requires an *illegal* mod chip for the Xbox. In the future, I will delete any such recommendations. I'll leave this one as an example of a bad idea, and worse spelling and grammar. :)

I've used microsoft windows since version 1.0, comments like the last one , pun or not make me want to abandon windows completely and go to os x. Since when does Microsoft think they retain ownership of hardware I purchased....

Why is changing hardware of something you own illegal?
Running pirated games is illegal, but not changing hardware.

FUD, FUD, and more FUD

While "me too's" are pretty useless, I'll respond to the original post. I can only point out that mod chips are not simply messing with hardware, but are mucking about with embeded software. Software that's illegal to reverse engineer or otherwise tamper with.

I agree with the argument that Microsoft has no right telling people that they can't change the hardware. They most certainly can say that they won't support a modded xbox, or they won't allow a modded xbox to be on xbox live even, but to say that I CAN'T do whatever I want with something I purchased is ridiculous!!

Read the previous replies. First, I'm not really concerned about opionions like this - I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not about to comment on legalities. I'll just point out that it's mucking about with the firmware - which is just embedded software, which is completely different than just changing hardware. The licenses for firmware is typically strict.

I wonder if the other consoles have similar wording? :)

While I am a fan of MS I have to go with the mob on this one Stan. Why should hardware and software be any different? If I play with it and break it I'm not supported. I lose.

I dare you to tell me with a straight face you don't own or have never owned a modded xbox Stan.

No problem - I definitely don't own, and never owned, a modified XBox. I only have one, and paid retail for it, and wouldn't mess with it. If I broke it, the wife would never let me get another one ;).

I keep picturing Tim Allen's character on ToolTime, modifying his Xbox to give it "more power" arh arh arh. I figure, just play the game, don't screw with the box.

Well I just paid for Xp Home, and have been playing xbox for years now. I have never modded or messed with any of it. But one starts to wonder why MS keeps giving us a hard time by makeing us upgrade everytime they come out with something new. I don't want to go buy a media center pc to replace my pc that is more powerfull then most MCE pc's on the markek right now. All I want to do is watch and listen to digital media through my xbox, and maybe browse the internet too as an extra.

I have to agree with Stan on this issue. The problem is that people MOD their Xbox, then call customer support if the Xbox has a problem. Once the customer is told they have VOIDED there warranty because they CHOSE to MOD/open their Xbox(also known as tampering), they at this point get upset with the CSR on the phone saying that they had no warranty in the first place and that we should fix the problem anyway since they are willing to pay.
(We will not fix the Xbox b/c once it has been open, it is considered UNSAFE, and we are not about to put anyones life in danger!)
So when the CSR tells the customer that our policy is that a broken/tampered console is unrepairable, the customer gets bent out of shape for something they (most likely) caused by MODing the Xbox in the first place. And therefore thinks that this is some sort of CONSPIRACY with Microsoft. What I am trying to say is that MODing is in fact illegal. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! And please.... if your Xbox does break down, don't call customer care expecting to get a repair on it. You wish to open the console and store something illegally, you will NOT be served. If you have a problem with this...........................................

RTFM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is ALL THERE!

Savanna Gamer, you started of with a reasonable agruement but after the second paragraph you were way out into left field.
I agree that modding a xbox with a mod chip voids the warranty and is illegal (at least according to the DMCA), but how is it unsafe?
Putting someone's life in danger? Come on. Its not like its a bomb thats ready to blow up, its this a chip that bypases the MS bios. You sound like you've been in the tech support industry too long and needed to vent a little anger.
chill out a little. Remember that the problem caller you mentioned are just a small percent of the user and are usally just teenagers who havent matured enough to know any better.
Hope you have a good day

Some of these ideas should be sent to the product team as feature requests.

Support is definitely an issue, but that's pretty much accepted.

I still get a kick out of all the people that complain that Microsoft is "just trying to get money" out of them. Like we spend billions on R&D and production just to give it away. Who can run a business that way that's not raping their customers with high support costs?

In any case, this whole conversation is rather silly, so it would be cool if people let it die. I'm not going to bother with any more responses... thanks!

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