f13.net forums - Media playback box advice

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July 23, 2025, 10:25:49 AM

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Hey all. For the past x years I've been using a networked original XBox with XBMC to playback all my crap in the bedroom, and just streamed without an issue from my PC.

Now that I'm using Win7, I can't get it to work, and the XBMC forums/wiki
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Windows_File_Sharing_(SMB/SAMBA/CIFS)
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=63123
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=695392
seem to be after a slightly higher level of computer bullshit competence than I actually have, along with turning off the Homegroup etc, which isn't going to work since I have a 360 in the lounge, and now have other win7 computers in the house.

So it might be time to retire the old xbox and just buy something that interacts with Win7 in a friendly, plug-and-play manner so I can just watch my shit.

So I'm after suggestions. The cheaper the better, really. I want something cheap, that I can link to my existing wired network to stream shit from. internal HDD would be preferred, as would be USB ports. with a remote control.

Posting here in case the answer is another 360 or PS3, though I do prefer to not have to fuck about with their specific interfaces and just slap in a huge HDD if I feel so inclined.

If you aren't technically inclined and don't want to fiddle/construct, just buy a popcorn hour or another prebuilt commercial product for a hundred or two.

If you want guides on building one, here are a few
http://www.geardigest.com/2005/10/0...ome_theater_pc/ (Windows)
http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/HTPC.html (Windows)
http://www.linuxis.us/linux/media/h...htpc/index.html (Linux)

Quote from: Azazel on January 03, 2011, 08:38:13 AM

Hey all. For the past x years I've been using a networked original XBox with XBMC to playback all my crap in the bedroom, and just streamed without an issue from my PC.

So I'm after suggestions. The cheaper the better, really. I want something cheap, that I can link to my existing wired network to stream shit from. internal HDD would be preferred, as would be USB ports. with a remote control.

Posting here in case the answer is another 360 or PS3, though I do prefer to not have to fuck about with their specific interfaces and just slap in a huge HDD if I feel so inclined.

Your issue with Windows7 and the sharing of the folders sounds like an issue of the SMB connection not setup right on the XBMC. Windows 7 has the default guest account disabled which you might have your console to setup to connect as (if you were using XP home/etc). You should setup the share on your Xbox/XBMC with the username/password you use to login your pc as. If you don't have a password just setup another account on your desktop PC with a password and use that username/password to authenticate to the share as on the Xbox/XBMC.

Was in the same boat for different reasons and replaced my PS3 with a HTPC in the past few months.

For my home setup I spent quite a bit more because of total control and customization. Purchased an ION based atom Revo r3600. The Revo can handle h264 1080p decoding no problem long as you use the software packages that support DXVA which offloads all decoding to the GPU. The Revo is running Windows7 + Boxee software (autolaunching) and I have a microsoft WMC 2005 OEM remote. The boxee software is just slick and works really well and has a ton of online streaming content vs just your local content. Cost around $250 total built.

For the family, I setup a WD TV, installed custom firmware, and a Dlink wifi (forgot which one) and just setup the network mappings. It streams 720p content with no major issue(sometimes takes a while to load on fastforward etc). It's a plain interface with not much besides playing shared content. Total cost was around ~75 due to WD/nic on sale. The WD TV Live was released later which looks pretty nice in comparison.

Friend purchased a Boxee Box which is pretty slick little device. It's an updated desktop software and has a nice slick remote, usb/sd slots, wired and wifi. It has a Atom with an Intel GMA on board so it will be pretty hackable. It runs ~$200.

Something else to look at is Roku.

I had a little bit of a problem when I switched to Windows 7 from XP sharing to my 360. I'm not at home now but it seems like just sharing the folders wasn't enough and with 7 I had to go into My Computer, go to Videos and add in my video folder before I could see any of them on the 360. Not sure if it's the same with XBMC or not.

I'm sorry that I'm trying to help with your XBMC problem instead of advice on new shinies.

I had to do so to view things on our PS3, but once the paths were added to Media Center then I didn't need to futz with any user names or passwords.

Quote from: MuffinMan on January 03, 2011, 10:38:24 AM

I'm sorry that I'm trying to help with your XBMC problem instead of advice on new shinies.

Thanks guys, and that's fine. I'd prefer to keep this one if I can figure out how to do it.

Quote from: Azazel on January 03, 2011, 03:59:04 PM

Thanks guys, and that's fine. I'd prefer to keep this one if I can figure out how to do it.

Were you using SMB/CIFS shares when it worked or UPNP?

Just chipping in to say that we used to use a PS3 and PS3MediaServer for this and it was great, worked fine with Win7 (64).

We only use it less often now because I built a media PC that's just more convenient, although I have to admit that the PS3 often produced better quality output.

Quote from: fuser on January 03, 2011, 07:06:49 PM

Quote from: Azazel on January 03, 2011, 03:59:04 PM

Thanks guys, and that's fine. I'd prefer to keep this one if I can figure out how to do it.

Were you using SMB/CIFS shares when it worked or UPNP?

No idea. WinXP > network> share files > there they are > playback. So whatever the default is/was.

There might be a workaround if I can update my XBMC to the latest version, but I have no idea how to do that...

I tried quite a few different solutions over the years. The best thing is still the WD TV. The only thing in my collection it doesn't play is old real media files.

There are a few other devices out there that use the same chipset and are basically the same box (but maybe with different firmware or UI). It's one of only a few boxes that can play video in mkv containers and supports subtitles and multiple audio tracks correctly.

With my xbox or PS3 I always needed to re-encode certain files (or at least extract them from the mkv container) and both simply refuse to play anything that's a bit icky or not entirely standards compliant.

Now I dump everything on my network storage device (small atom pc with a FreeBSD powered ZFS raid - cost me less than $400 hard discs included and is a lot faster than prebuilt NAS boxes) and the WD TV just accesses it via shared folder or DLNA server.

You can even directly connect hard discs or usb flash storage to it and it should even be able to read NTFS or HFS+ formatted drives. Best $90 I've ever spent.

PS3 media server supports every type of video file I've encountered. It works on xbox360 too, not sure about original one.

Quote from: Azazel on January 06, 2011, 10:39:01 PM

Yeah I think its a username password issue with the shares. To attach to the Windows 7 computer you will have to enter the desktop computer login information on the XBMC box to be able to "see" the shares.

Try this:
Click on Start and type mmc in the search box
(acknowledge the UAC warning)
Click on "File" and then "Add/Remove Snap-in..."
Scroll down on the left and chose "Local Users and Groups" and click on the "Add >" button in the center.
(If it asks you about local or a domain computer just choose the default local and click on Finish)
Click "Ok"
Expand the "Local Users and Groups" on the left pane
Click on "Users"
Double click on "Guest" on right pane
Unselect the "Account is disabled" option and click on "Ok"

Try your XBMC browsing the network see if you can now see the shares on your computer. After finished testing make sure you disable the guest account again to secure that account.