pc/media centre/home entertainment question

[craigw]

ok guys, I currently have plasma downstairs with infra red link to cupboard holding tivo/dvd player/skybox, all sound is purely provided by a bose lifestyle system & piped around house.

My question is.....my 6cd changer in bose unit has broken..so..(bear with me, I am techie useless)

If I buy a laptop & get all my music downloaded on windows media centre and set it up with a wireless network (what do I need for this??).....can I then..

get an xbox 360 & plug it into the cupboard using the existing connections to the dvd player for video feed & sound to the bose unit (and getting rid of dvd player), can I then use the 360 as the media centre extender & can u think of any conflicts ?

cheers, my brain is full!

[Plotloss]

Yes, in short.

Drop me a mail if you want further details...

I'll need to know about a bit about your current connections though.

[craigw]

currently in internet cafe as lost all power at work so can email unfortunately dude, what do u need to know?

[Plotloss]

How are the dvd/tivo/sky connected to the plasma?

Is there a spare input for the Xbox?

The only thing to consider is getting the video and the sound from the xbox, everything else will take care of itself from there.

[tycho]

Can the plasma accept a vga input? The xbox has vga cables which will allow it to output to a plasma/lcd at high def and will also have a digital output to the Bose. Looks fabulous!

[craigw]

it was connected by hi fi installer but from what i can see, tv&tivo connected through scart, dvd player through rgb, my idea was to bin the dvd player and use those connections, workable ?

[tycho]

craigw said:

it was connected by hi fi installer but from what i can see, tv&tivo connected through scart, dvd player through rgb, my idea was to bin the dvd player and use those connections, workable ?

If you have component into the plasma, that would be the best way rather than rgb if poss.

[craigw]

i am being a numpty but what does component look like ?

[Plotloss]

Component is 3 leads, usually red green and blue (for maximum confusion).

To utilise MCE functionality on the Xbox360 though requires a machine to run XP Media Centre Edition and a laptop probably isnt the best choice as MCE is quite finickity about hardware requirements.

Best to split the budget between a dedicated media centre machine and a cheap laptop if you require a laptop.

You'll need the wireless adaptor for the Xbox and either a wireless pci card in the MCE box or a wireless router to link the two. I'd go the router route being honest, that is if you want a wirefree installation, alternatively if you can hide a bit of wire its best to wire it.

[craigw]

ok, so I think this will work, its really hard to see the connections underneath the telly. another question, if I'm wirelessly streaming to the xbox 360 (music that is), can I have another set of speakers streaming the same music at the same time?

[Plotloss]

Yes and no.

Not with MCE but it can be achieved with Windows Media Connect if you have a local renderer such as a Roku Soundbridge or using properiatary technology such as the SlimServer from Slim Devices and the Squeezebox players. Using connect you can have different concurrent music streams.

[craigw]

the main prob is that the entire system has grown organically & is now a bit of a mishmash so doing something to one part affects another, annoying but thx for all advice, cheers plotloss, will have to buy the kit, rig it up & see if it works I think!

[Plotloss]

If you get into issue mate drop me a line, happy to help and you're pretty close to me.

[craigw]

i may take you up on that pal