T11M

I didn’t know just how cool home media centers could be until I created my own.  I currently have a modded Xbox running XBMC networked with an Ubuntu Linux server that I use for all of my media storage. Basically, the Xbox acts as a console and player for all of my media – movies, pictures, and music.  Startup time is quick, the resolution is amazing, and I can still play my favorite Xbox games.

The total cost of his project was around $100 and about 20 hours of time (that was my first time – now I can mod the Xbox and configure it within 2 hours). Most of  my time was spent pouring over forums, tutorials, and blogs trying to figure out exactly how to get everything to work right.  The invaluable HowTo that I used which provided me most of the information I needed was from the awesome writers at Lifehacker.  The rest of the set up and configuration I learned on the fly and through Aaron Brauer-Reike.

Want to do it yourself?  Jump over to my Wiki to see all my personal documentation (still in progress) or leave me a comment!

So yesterday I got my invite to the Boxee alpha.  It is based off of the XBMC (Xbox Media Center) platform, and currently runs on Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux, and the Apple TV.  For still being in alpa I’m really impressed with the interface, functionality, and lack of crashes.  I’ve used it for probably 3 hours and so far not a single crash.  There are a couple of bugs in the features (scrolling issues mainly) but other than that I have been able to stream Netflix and Hulu as well as listen to internet radio.  Here are a couple of screenshots:

If you want an invite to Boxee leave me a comment.