Turn Your Old Xbox Into a Media Center

Although the modification of gaming consoles has been around for quite some time—the general public still tends to think of it mostly as taboo. Why would any sane person risk the destruction of something so expensive? Well the answer to this question, starts when you stop thinking of the xbox as just a gaming console.

Inside an xbox there are a couple major components. Theres a motherboard with all the normal components, a power supply, a hard drive and a DVD drive. Sounds a little familiar, right? Well it should, because back in 2001 when it was first released, the xbox was hands down the best computer you could buy for under $200.

Once you realize what an xbox really is, the options are endless. I won’t go into the modification specifics here, as it is a topic better covered in a tutorial. However, I would like to go over what I consider to be one of the better uses for your old xbox—make a media center out of it.

Theres at least two approaches to accomplishing this feat, both of which require that you first install Xbox Media Center(XBMC).

The first approach is upgrade the hard drive and load it with movies, music, or whatever media you plan on using. While this works well, it doesn’t really separate the xbox from any other DVR-like device you might have hooked up to a TV. The thing that separates the xbox from most other devices, is its ability to connect to your home network. This means it has the ability to stream almost any type of media right from your computer to the xbox and then to the TV. As long as both the xbox and computer are hooked up to the network and configured correctly, you don’t need to be anywhere near your computer to watch that favorite video of yours right on your own TV.

The time for excuses is gone. The new xbox has been out for over a year. You could try to sell your old one, but how much would you really make. Instead, join the revolution and start your modding experience today.