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Mod Of The Month - sCAPe - January 2006
Hi,
Thanks man. I am really proud that my xbox was picked for mod of the month for January 2006. :-) Thanks a lot. I will try to answer your questions as good as possible.
- What made you decide to put your xbox into a custom case?
I decided to put my xbox in a Sony CD-Player case, because my Hifi Equipment consists all of Sony Equipment. And the xbox case seemed to simply not match my Hifi Equipment as I only use my xbox mainly for XBox Media Center(XBMC)and for some games. So I decided to put my xbox in a Sony CD-Player case to better fit into my Hifi Rack with the other Hifi Components.
- Was the cd player broken to start with, or did you toss working parts to make room for the xbox guts?
Yes i bought a broken Sony CD-Player from eBay. The CD-Player was not working anymore, but the case was in real good shape and looked very good. So I bought the CD-Player case from eBay for about 8.- EUR + shipping. That was really cheap.
- How many holes did you need to cut into the new case and for what reasons?
I only needed to cut everything out for the backpanel for all the connectors and for the fan. Then also I needed to drill holes for the spacers for the motherboard, for the PSU and for the DVD-Rom drive. I just can't remember how many holes I have drilled.
- What type of modchip do you have installed?
I have a X-Bit v1 modchip installed in my Xbox v1.4 and I am using Xecuter2 4981 as Bios.
- What is the purpose of the extra chip?
I needed the extra chip, because the X-Bit chip doesn't have native support for LCD Connection. So I had to connect the LCD-Mod v1 chip to my X-Bit via the supplied cable. Then I soldered the LCD-Display directly to my LCD-Mod chip.
- What does the LCD screen on the front of your Xbox case display?
The LCD-Screen display everything from Xbox Media Center. How much Freemem I have, which song is currently playing, which film is currently playing. It displays a lot of information, depending on what you are doing at the moment. A LCD-Display is really a great addition for the XBox.
- How is the power button hooked up, and do any of the buttons on the front do anything?
The Power button and the Eject button on the front are directly connected to the back of the XBox Power/Eject-Board inside the case. They both are working fine. The other buttons on the frontpanel (Play, Shuffle, Next track, etc..) are not connected.
- Did you add any lights your case?
I just added some Activity-LEDs to the front panel. A Power-LED (blue), a Harddrive Activity-LED (green), a Network Activity-LED (orange) and a DVD-Rom Activity-LED (red).
- What do you use the USB ports on your Xbox for?
The USB ports on the rear panel currently I have no use for but I am planning to buy a wireless USB keyboard with integrated trackball (mouse). Thats easier for websurfing with Linksbox, Chatting in Xlink, etc. ;-)
- How important was cable management for your project?
Cable Management was very important as I didn't want to have a cable mess in my case. So I wanted to route all cables in a nice and clean way to their locations.
- How is the wireless controller hooked up?
The wireless controller dongle is hooked up on the back. It has very good wireless connection. But the right thumbstick on the COSMO Controller I first used, is a little bit shaky. Now I bought a new wireless controller - the Logitech Cordless Precision Controller. The Logitech wireless controller is really good quality and gaming is much better now.
- What other hardware upgrades have you performed on your Xbox?
Nothing else than mentioned in my Xbox Hifi Media Center project. I had already the modchip and a bigger harddrive. In my project I added the LCD-Screen, IR-Mod and everything else.
- If you don't mind us asking, about how much did the entire project cost you?
The materials I needed all together I think are approx. about 100 till maximum 120.- EUR.
- About how long did your entire project take?
The entire project took about 3-4 weeks. But I have to say that I only worked 1-2 hours maximum a day. And of course at the weekends i had more time.
- Are you happy with the overall result of your Xbox?
Yes I am very happy with the resulty of my new Xbox. It looks really good and matches perfectly now in my Hifi-Rack. All my friends can't believe that this is an xbox. After I power it on, they are really amazed. :-)
- What was the hardest part of your project?
The hardest part was really to fit everything in that little case. I had problems aligning the DVD-Rom correctly for the DVD-Tray to come out! Everything in the case was
really tight, but I managed everything to fit in properly.
- Do you plan on modifying your Xbox further or modifying another?
No I think I will not modify another xbox like this, as it was really hard and much work. I didn't expected that my project will take so long and was that hard. I thought everything was easier and straightforward.. But now everything is fine and I am happy with the result.
- What was the most interesting thing you learned while doing this mod?
I think I learned a lot about the xbox hardware in general. Especially from xbox-scene.com and from xb-t.com. Thats really nice as I can help of course other people too if they have questions about something hardware-related.
- Is there anything else you would like to mention?
I have to thank all from xbox-scene.com for their great informations and forums, xb-t.com for their great ideas and impressions for xbox hardware modding and also of course the XBMC developer team as they did an absolutely amazing and great piece of software for the Xbox!
Thanks again to all from xb-t.com for choosing my project for mod of the month. Keep up the good work. :-)
Thanks, sCAPe
Photos of the XBOX HiFi Media Center can be found here!
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