XBMC - Using Xbox Media Center with the LinkStation

Xbox Media Center (XBMC)
Xbox Media Center (XBMC) is a feature-rich open source media player for the Xbox -- a software program which plays video, music and displays pictures/images from the Xbox DVD-ROM drive, built-in harddisk drive, local-area-network or the internet. XBMC is the successor to Xbox Media Player (XBMP) (XBMP). XBMC is a complete rewrite of XBMP by the same developer-team. XBMC was publicly announced in October 2003.

Features
XBMC can play media from CD/DVD media using the Xbox's built-in DVD-ROM drive. It can also play media from the Xbox's built-in harddisk-drive, stream it over an SMB/SAMBA/CIFS share (Windows File-Sharing), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) share, XBMSP (XBox Media Stream Protocol) share, or stream iTunes-shares via DAAP. XBMC takes advantage of the Xbox ethernet-network-port and broadband internet if available, using the IMDb to obtain thumbnails and reviews on movies, CDDB (via FreeDB) for Audio-CD track-listings) and album-thumbnails via AMG, stream internet-video-streams, and play internet-radio-stations (such as SHOUTcast). XBMC also includes the option to submit music usage statistics to Audioscrobbler and Last.fm, it has music/video-playlist and picture/image-slideshow functions, a weather-forecast (via Weather.com) and MP3+CDG karaoke function, plus many audio-visualizations. XBMC can also upconvert all 480p/576p standard-resolution videos and output them to 720p or 1080i HDTV-resolutions. In addition is a frontend for an Xbox Live alternative (called "XLink Kai") integrated, enabling you to control the engine running separately and play system-link/LAN-enabled Xbox games online without leaving your television.

Running XBMC
XBMC requires a modchip or softmod to run. For the software exploit you can use a USB Thumbdrive instead of the Action Replay device. The T3CH distribution seems the most stable.

Configuring File Shares
There are four alternatives for streaming media from the LinkStation to the XBMC

Using Samba
Windows File Sharing (SMB/SAMBA/CIFS) is the most capable method of sharing media. It is is capable of streaming all types of media and gives the option of sharing individual folders or entire drives, (including CD/DVD-ROM drives).
 * 1) Samba - a Windows-readable file share

UPnP Sharing
XBMC also supports UPnP (short for "Universal Plug and Play") shares. This is an extremely easy, user-friendly way to stream your media over your network. Like SMB/SAMBA/CIFS it is capable of streaming all types of media and gives the option of sharing individual folders or entire drives. Note that you must be using an XBMC build from 10th of July 2006 or newer in order to use this functionality.
 * 1) TwonkyVision UPnP MediaServer
 * 2) GMediaServer - GNU UPnP media server (MIPSel)
 * 3) Ushare - UPnP Media Server for Linux
 * 4) MediaTomb - Free UPnP MediaServer
 * 5) DLNA compliant Mediabolic Mediaserver in LinkStation HS

The XBMS Protocol (ccxstream)
XBMSP (XBox Media Stream Protocol) or XBMS for short is another way of sharing media, supposedy it is faster than Samba. It is capable of streaming all types of media and gives the option of sharing individual folders or entire drives. XBMS is very bandwith efficient and it is a routable network-protocol which means that it is also ideal if you wish to stream over the internet, (just make sure you open the TCP/IP network-port 1400 in your firewalls on both both the server-side and the client side). For linux XBMSP support is provided by ccXStream. Once you install ccXStream on your LinkStation all you have to do is configure your XMBC to use the media share.


 * 1) Ccxstream - Xbox Media Stream Protocol

iTunes (DAAP)
XBMC has the ability to stream audio files that you set up to share through ITunes. This method is extremely easy to set up and configure, although it is limited to audio files. It will not allow you to share videos, photos or other types of media. It also does not allow you to share entire folders or drives. The Linux implementation of this protocol (previously called Mt-dappd) is Firefly.


 * 1) Firefly

Xlink Kai
Xlink is a method (developed by Team-XLink) of online-gaming whereby system-link enabled Xbox games can be 'tricked' into being played across the internet instead of a normal LAN (Local Area Network).


 * 1) KAID - XLink Kai online gaming for Xbox, 360, PS2 and PSP

Introduction

 * Introduction
 * About this Manual
 * Features and Supported Formats

Setting Up XBMC

 * Installing XBMC
 * Bookmarks
 * Sharing Media from your PC
 * XBMC Settings
 * Using Profiles
 * The UserData Folder
 * Advanced Configuration

General Usage

 * Default Controls
 * The User Interface
 * General
 * My Programs
 * My Music
 * My Pictures
 * My Videos
 * My Files
 * Weather
 * Settings
 * The Web Interface
 * Using Scripts

Inner Workings

 * Video Players
 * Audio Players
 * The XBMC Database
 * Skinning XBMC
 * Creating Python Scripts

Appendices

 * Appendix A: References
 * Appendix B: Troubleshooting
 * Appendix C: HOW-TOs / Tips & Tricks
 * Appendix D: Development Notes
 * Appendix E: Popular Modifications to XBMC and the Xbox