how to use xbox 360 as a 'tivo'

in order to use an xbox 360 to record and play television shows, what has to be done and what are the hardware requirements for such a thing?

help is greatly appreciated

I'm 99.9% sure this is not possible. You would have to be receiving TV signal into your Xbox for starters, then have software that the console simply doesn't have.

does this act the same as a tivo type hardware/program?shaun_levins

Pretty much. You can rewind, pause, and record tv.

Began posting before there were any replies; had forgotten about media center applications, which I have not used. However, for recording TV, wouldn't you just use an antenna input into your PC and use software there?bacchus2

Exactly. Either way you would still need a tuner card on your PC & then you don't need the 360 in the equation at all.

from what i have read so far, you need a pc that is windows media center compatable (pretty much bought before last year because there is no software upgrade) and you connect the pc with the xbox 360. as far as whether or not you need a tuner card in your pc i am not sure of but... when everything is said and done and working properly, you should be able to record/rewind/fastforward/etc live tv through your computer using your xbox. i think the xbox is needed as a 'middle man' between the tv (which likely isnt windows media enabled) and your pc which is where all the media is stored (i think)

correct me if im worng....

Microsoft demoed IPTV at last year's E3. It's TV over the internet and I'd say that it's gonna need an Xbox 360 Elite.McBanjo

what do you mean by IPTV and why would you say youd need an elite? just out of curiosity.

speaking of elites.... im questioning upgrading to an elite but i kind of want to wait for the new chips and all that good stuff. how long do you guys think before they upgrade the internals?

The 360 can't do it. But if you have a PC with Windows XP Media Center or Vista Home Premium or higher, you have Media Center. Then the computer needs a TV Tuner card (about $50). You connect cable to the computer and volia, tv on the computer, and the media center software downloads free tv guide info, recording options, pause and rewind ability. So right there your computer is already acting like a tivo.

Then comes the 360, if the 360 is connected to a network the PC is, and you go to the media center option on the 360 and activate it on the PC with a code the 360 hands out, then the 360 will stream the exact same Media Center interface onto the 360, it would look just like you were on your computer, and anything you play, delete, record, etc, all happens remotely on the PC, nothing is stored or really done on the 360. It's just a way of extending your Media Center onto a tv through the 360.

I have my PC record stuff, usually all setup on my PC. Then when it comes time to watch my recorded shows I use my 360 to play them on my 32inch LCD instead of my PC monitor. And at that point I can watch live tv too using the PC tuner card instead of the tv's own tuner. This gives me the ability to pause tv, but I usually never do that because that means I need to have my PC and 360 on for just watching tv.

so would you need a remote for the computer or a remote for the xbox?

and what does the wiring setup look like on this? cable connected to the tv and computer, computer and xbox connected to the router, and xbox to the tv?

will this work for all the HD programming as well?

so would you need a remote for the computer or a remote for the xbox?

and what does the wiring setup look like on this? cable connected to the tv and computer, computer and xbox connected to the router, and xbox to the tv?

will this work for all the HD programming as well?

shaun_levins

How to keep this simple. First, there's nothing extra needed, wer're talking about a normal home network, the kind you set up for sharing internet. So if both your 360 and Computer are on the network, then they can communicate. So you probably have DSL or Cable internet right? And you must share that internet with your computer and the 360, right? That creates a home network with your router/wireless box that they connect to. Whether it's wireless for the 360 or with an ethernet cable.

So when you have a network setup. Then have media center open on the PC. Then go to your 360 and then go to media center setup. It will search for a computer, then give you a identy code for that 360. Go back to your PC and the Media Center will already give you a notice that it has detected the 360, or a media center extender. Then go to setup and enter that code, volia, your 360 is allowed to communicate with your computer and nothing else. You don't need media center open on the pc when you use it from then on with the 360.

You don't need a remote for your computer, or a new remote for your 360, you can just use the normal controller to do everything.

Also, if say the 360 is wireless, then there will be limitations. If you don't have a real good connection then watching tv should be easy. Sometimes the interface might act a little slow. WIth a wired connection, it would work just as smooth as on the PC. Though you mention HD. You should be able to play HD videos (not sure about HD tv, that requires an expensive tv tuner), but over a wireless connection it might be hard, but fine over wired. And even if the video is 1080p, I think the media center will limit it to 720p to the 360. I often download the HD trailers and video reviews from Gamespot, then place them in my video folder and go to my 360 and watch them on my HDTV.

thanks tim.

yeah, im connected through a router (hard wired). i was looking at compters to upgrade to that include the windows media center (mostly dells) and the card to upgrade to is a ATI Theater 650 Pro Analog/Digital TV Tuner with Remote Control ($100 upgrade price). as far as with the remote, my question moreso is, to control what i am viewing on my tv (schedule recordings, rewind, etc), would one use the remote intended for the tv tuner ( controlling the PC), or a remote for the xbox (controlling the 'output to the tv).

any idea why it is limited to 720p and not outputted at 1080P?

thanks

I have my 360 to record TV.

1.) You have to have a pc card with your cable hooked up to it.

2.) you have to have vista/windows media center OS.

3.) That's it windows automatically setups up a guide and updates it by downloading it periodically.

You do use the xbox 360 remote. You hit the media center button and the media center menus come up. After that go to live tv and your guide comes up or you can go to previous recorded shows.

The normal 360 gaming controller works, it's the 360 itself that sends commands between the 360 and PC. All in all it's just an application, there's no specific remote designed for the tv tuner card itself. The remote you get with the PC actually is no different than simply adding a keyboard to your computer. It will control the media center with special buttons to help the program, but the remote comes in handy in man other applications, as pushing left and right is the same as hitting the arrows on your keyboard. And the 360 is often in another room, the computer remote wouldn't work there. And in the same room, you wouldn't want to accidently control both your computer and 360 at the same time.

Example, while watching live tv on the 360, pushing down on the right stick will pause tv, pushing down on the left stick starts recording. While watching a recording, pulling the right trigger jumps 30 seconds ahead. The A button brings up a menu with record options, zoom options. While watching tv if you move the left stick up and down you'll get a small pop up of each channel with full show info, that way you can see what's on by show name without having to change the station until you hit the x button to accept it.

do you need the 360 remote to use the media center feature?
Mr_Abandon

LOL, besides my large post above explaining, the regular controller works, just like how you don't need the 360 remote to watch DVDs or other video functions.

question to all who have this set up... what type of tv tuner card are you using and what kinds of features does it have?

ok, now that the remote situation is under control, what aboutthe HD?shaun_levins

All I know is when the 360 1080p a first came out people tried media center to see if 1080p worked through it and they found it was still limited to 720p. I bet 1080p works on the computer, just not through the 360. Maybe it's a network limitation, or just was never designed into the 360's media center abilities.

But, not like there's a lot of 1080p videos on computers anyway, so I can't imagine it being a huge issue.

question to all who have this set up... what type of tv tuner card are you using and what kinds of features does it have?

shaun_levins

Here's a link to the many tv tuner cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000380047+1148510222&name=Yes

A lot of features in how the tv is control can be up to the software itself. Usually the tuner card has maybe acceleration/imaging chips, mpeg2 recording chips, the tuner, fm tuners, sometimes hardwiring the card to the motherboard's powerswitch so it can turn the computer on itself for recording. And if the software the card comes with lacks a feature, a new program might have it.

[QUOTE="shaun_levins"]ok, now that the remote situation is under control, what aboutthe HD?TimothyB

All I know is when the 360 1080p a first came out people tried media center to see if 1080p worked through it and they found it was still limited to 720p. I bet 1080p works on the computer, just not through the 360. Maybe it's a network limitation, or just was never designed into the 360's media center abilities.

But, not like there's a lot of 1080p videos on computers anyway, so I can't imagine it being a huge issue.

my concern is more for like HD tv programming and such

[QUOTE="TimothyB"]

[QUOTE="shaun_levins"]ok, now that the remote situation is under control, what aboutthe HD?shaun_levins

All I know is when the 360 1080p a first came out people tried media center to see if 1080p worked through it and they found it was still limited to 720p. I bet 1080p works on the computer, just not through the 360. Maybe it's a network limitation, or just was never designed into the 360's media center abilities.

But, not like there's a lot of 1080p videos on computers anyway, so I can't imagine it being a huge issue.

my concern is more for like HD tv programming and such

You'd need a special HD Tuner card, and most likely there are none yet that have cable cards for digital cable or work with satellite, so the only HD you'd have access to are the free stations. The first HD Tuner card you'd only get those from using an antenna with the card, not sure if there are any that detect them over cable. I'm talking about stations like Fox, NBC, ABC. Never seen or read how Media Center particularly works with an HD card or if it does.

A quick search on newegg found this HD tuner that seems to work with digital cable and says supports media center:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260005
Features: ATSC, Analog TV, and Digital Cable (64-QAM, 256-QAM) Works with Windows Media Center, with included MCE software encoder media center software: TotalMedia Supports Time-Shifting Function Scheduled-Recording with EPG Electronic Program Guide

[QUOTE="shaun_levins"][QUOTE="TimothyB"]

[QUOTE="shaun_levins"]ok, now that the remote situation is under control, what aboutthe HD?TimothyB

All I know is when the 360 1080p a first came out people tried media center to see if 1080p worked through it and they found it was still limited to 720p. I bet 1080p works on the computer, just not through the 360. Maybe it's a network limitation, or just was never designed into the 360's media center abilities.

But, not like there's a lot of 1080p videos on computers anyway, so I can't imagine it being a huge issue.

my concern is more for like HD tv programming and such

You'd need a special HD Tuner card, and most likely there are none yet that have cable cards for digital cable or work with satellite, so the only HD you'd have access to are the free stations. The first HD Tuner card you'd only get those from using an antenna with the card, not sure if there are any that detect them over cable. I'm talking about stations like Fox, NBC, ABC. Never seen or read how Media Center particularly works with an HD card or if it does.

A quick search on newegg found this HD tuner that seems to work with digital cable and says supports media center:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260005
Features: ATSC, Analog TV, and Digital Cable (64-QAM, 256-QAM) Works with Windows Media Center, with included MCE software encoder media center software: TotalMedia Supports Time-Shifting Function Scheduled-Recording with EPG Electronic Program Guide

so pretty much if i want HD capability i should probably wait to buy...?

so pretty much if i want HD capability i should probably wait to buy...?

shaun_levins

I don't understand. Are you saying you want to wait for a tv tuner that supports full digital cable with cable cards for all HD stations like Discovery HD and such?

[QUOTE="shaun_levins"]

so pretty much if i want HD capability i should probably wait to buy...?

TimothyB

I don't understand. Are you saying you want to wait for a tv tuner that supports full digital cable with cable cards for all HD stations like Discovery HD and such?

im saying that because there doesnt seem to be a tuner card available that supports the full digital cable with HD stations such as Discovery, National Geographic, HBO HD, etc., i should wait until more tuner cards come out (ones with this capability) if those are the programs i wish to view

[QUOTE="TimothyB"][QUOTE="shaun_levins"]

so pretty much if i want HD capability i should probably wait to buy...?

shaun_levins

I don't understand. Are you saying you want to wait for a tv tuner that supports full digital cable with cable cards for all HD stations like Discovery HD and such?

im saying that because there doesnt seem to be a tuner card available that supports the full digital cable with HD stations such as Discovery, National Geographic, HBO HD, etc., i should wait until more tuner cards come out (ones with this capability) if those are the programs i wish to view

Is there a reason you need to do it through a computer then the 360? I mean if you sign up for digital cable it's only $5 a month to rent the HD tuner box for your tv, then you also get HD on demand, or $10 if you want a HD digital video recorder that's like a tivo. I did search and see some ATI stuff with digital cable with cable card slots, but I don't know if it ever happened since the artiacle was from January and the article said it was only going to be sold with new computers because of DRM, or whatever copy protection.

[QUOTE="shaun_levins"][QUOTE="TimothyB"][QUOTE="shaun_levins"]

so pretty much if i want HD capability i should probably wait to buy...?

TimothyB

I don't understand. Are you saying you want to wait for a tv tuner that supports full digital cable with cable cards for all HD stations like Discovery HD and such?

im saying that because there doesnt seem to be a tuner card available that supports the full digital cable with HD stations such as Discovery, National Geographic, HBO HD, etc., i should wait until more tuner cards come out (ones with this capability) if those are the programs i wish to view

Is there a reason you need to do it through a computer then the 360? I mean if you sign up for digital cable it's only $5 a month to rent the HD tuner box for your tv, then you also get HD on demand, or $10 if you want a HD digital video recorder that's like a tivo. I did search and see some ATI stuff with digital cable with cable card slots, but I don't know if it ever happened since the artiacle was from January and the article said it was only going to be sold with new computers because of DRM, or whatever copy protection.

cox (my cable service provider) charges like $15 bucks extra a month plus an extra something for the remote rental both of which my dad (who pays the bills lol) doesnt want to pay

[QUOTE="TimothyB"][QUOTE="shaun_levins"][QUOTE="TimothyB"][QUOTE="shaun_levins"]

so pretty much if i want HD capability i should probably wait to buy...?

shaun_levins

I don't understand. Are you saying you want to wait for a tv tuner that supports full digital cable with cable cards for all HD stations like Discovery HD and such?

im saying that because there doesnt seem to be a tuner card available that supports the full digital cable with HD stations such as Discovery, National Geographic, HBO HD, etc., i should wait until more tuner cards come out (ones with this capability) if those are the programs i wish to view

Is there a reason you need to do it through a computer then the 360? I mean if you sign up for digital cable it's only $5 a month to rent the HD tuner box for your tv, then you also get HD on demand, or $10 if you want a HD digital video recorder that's like a tivo. I did search and see some ATI stuff with digital cable with cable card slots, but I don't know if it ever happened since the artiacle was from January and the article said it was only going to be sold with new computers because of DRM, or whatever copy protection.

cox (my cable service provider) charges like $15 bucks extra a month plus an extra something for the remote rental both of which my dad (who pays the bills lol) doesnt want to pay

Is the $15 extra a month just for HD channels of upgrading to digital cable? They might force you to upgrade to digital cable to have access to HD, which in the end would result in having to have a digital cable box anyway. Though, they might not force you into digital cable if you already have a cable card device and just want HD. Also, usually a cable company will charge monthly for even renting out a cable card. It's usually less than a full box, like $2.75 or something. It pisses people off as some that bought the new HD Tivo Series 3 that has two cable card slots, they are charged for each cable card as two separate boxes even though they are both in one box.

[QUOTE="shaun_levins"][QUOTE="TimothyB"][QUOTE="shaun_levins"][QUOTE="TimothyB"][QUOTE="shaun_levins"]

so pretty much if i want HD capability i should probably wait to buy...?

TimothyB

I don't understand. Are you saying you want to wait for a tv tuner that supports full digital cable with cable cards for all HD stations like Discovery HD and such?

im saying that because there doesnt seem to be a tuner card available that supports the full digital cable with HD stations such as Discovery, National Geographic, HBO HD, etc., i should wait until more tuner cards come out (ones with this capability) if those are the programs i wish to view

Is there a reason you need to do it through a computer then the 360? I mean if you sign up for digital cable it's only $5 a month to rent the HD tuner box for your tv, then you also get HD on demand, or $10 if you want a HD digital video recorder that's like a tivo. I did search and see some ATI stuff with digital cable with cable card slots, but I don't know if it ever happened since the artiacle was from January and the article said it was only going to be sold with new computers because of DRM, or whatever copy protection.

cox (my cable service provider) charges like $15 bucks extra a month plus an extra something for the remote rental both of which my dad (who pays the bills lol) doesnt want to pay

Is the $15 extra a month just for HD channels of upgrading to digital cable? They might force you to upgrade to digital cable to have access to HD, which in the end would result in having to have a digital cable box anyway. Though, they might not force you into digital cable if you already have a cable card device and just want HD. Also, usually a cable company will charge monthly for even renting out a cable card. It's usually less than a full box, like $2.75 or something. It pisses people off as some that bought the new HD Tivo Series 3 that has two cable card slots, they are charged for each cable card as two separate boxes even though they are both in one box.

no, the $15 + 4$ a month is for the box and the remote. right now we only pay like $4 a month for a cable card which gives us digital cable and all the HD programming using the remote that came with the tv.

Ah, so you are mainly looking for a way to do TIVO like stuff with recording HD?

It's hard to get that if it costs that much extra from your company. I myself haven't because I haven't found the need to upgrade to digital cable just to get a HD DVR and more HD stations, it adds up. I had high hopes for the digital cable HD Tivo series 3, but it debuted at $799, totally lacks and still does the ability to transfer video to a computer like all other models, then you have that Tivo money $15+ fee, then the cable card rental costs, then the digital cable costs, it starts becoming a fortune. The Tivo Series 3 is $400 now after rebate at some places, but again there's the Tivo fee and no ability to move files to a computer.

Ah, so you are mainly looking for a way to do TIVO like stuff with recording HD?

It's hard to get that if it costs that much extra from your company. I myself haven't because I haven't found the need to upgrade to digital cable just to get a HD DVR and more HD stations, it adds up. I had high hopes for the digital cable HD Tivo series 3, but it debuted at $799, totally lacks and still does the ability to transfer video to a computer like all other models, then you have that Tivo money $15+ fee, then the cable card rental costs, then the digital cable costs, it starts becoming a fortune. The Tivo Series 3 is $400 now after rebate at some places, but again there's the Tivo fee and no ability to move files to a computer.

TimothyB

which is exactly why i want to use my computer to record HD programs and watch them on my nice 57" mitsubishi in 1080