divx 5.1 on xbox

[Subwars]

hey I am just wondering if anyone has tried divx 5.1 on their xbox. I dont have one but I am planing to get one soon and I am wanting to be able to play my movies on it as well. I have read that divx 5.1 doesnt play on any systems that are a little bit older, just wondering if it is playing on the xbox
thanks to any one who helps me
Subwars

[Sirber]

you could do a DVD with linux built-in and mplayer (IIRC).

[edit]

Go there

http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/

[dTb]

Afaik it's just a matter of support being added to the Xbox Media Player. It may even work now as it works from the same base as ffdshow which will playback divx 5.1.

[Subwars]

so the physical power of the xbox is enough to play divx 5.1 on it thats all i was wondering if the xbox has enough power to play it, only asking cause of other threads i'm sure i saw that there where problems playing back 5.1 on older systems, thought that an xbox's little cpu might not of been able to handle it

[SeeMoreDigital]

... only asking cause of other threads i'm sure i saw that there where problems playing back 5.1 on older systems... Do you mean people with older XboX systems or people with older PC systems?

Cheers

[Sirber]

XBox is a Celeron 733 with 64 MB RAM, and a GeForce 2 MX IIRC.

[Prettz]

Originally posted by Sirber
XBox is a Celeron 733 with 64 MB RAM, and a GeForce 2 MX IIRC.
Xbox is a Pentium3 733MHz with 64MB shared RAM and what is more or less a Geforce3 classic GPU.

On an interesting note, although the system has only a paltry total of 64MB shared RAM, the bus between the RAM, the CPU, and the GPU operates at (IIRC) the same frequency as the bus between the VRAM and the GPU in a normal Geforce3 PC card (meaning way way faster than the RAM-to-CPU bus on a PC).

edit: forgot to mention that I'm pretty sure that the P3 in the xbox does have SSE.

[brute]

no, it's not really a P3, cause the Prozessor has only 128kb of 2nd level cache. And a 128kb P3 is also called "Celeron"

[Prettz]

Originally posted by brute
no, it's not really a P3, cause the Prozessor has only 128kb of 2nd level cache. And a 128kb P3 is also called "Celeron"
I do know that the CPU in the xbox has always been called a "Pentium 3" everywhere I've seen it mentioned and never once a "Celeron". And just out of curiosity cause I'm lazy, didn't the P3-generation of Celerons not have SSE?

[piscator]

I have an XBox and it plays DivX5.1 like a charm (xbox media player).

greetz,
Piscator

[dTb]

I just chipped my Xbox yesterday and although 5.1 isn't officially supported by the Xbox Media Player yet, as I suspected my 5.1 vids worked fine.

[Subwars]

Do you mean people with older XboX systems or people with older PC systems?

i read it about actuall pc's not xbox's but really all an xbox is, is just an older style pc

@piscator & dTb

thanks if all is fine playing divx 5.1 on them i'll continue to use it if not i was gonna go back to 5.0.5

cheers
:D

[dTb]

One thing I should mention is currently the Xbox Media Player has a small prob with divx vids. It seems to be with video that is not multiples of 16, you get a small green or purple bar across the top. It's like a discoloration over the video, not a heavy coloured bar.
It's not a huge prob just slightly annoying, it should be fixed soon but just keep it in mind for videos intended for the box.

[b00zed]

Originally posted by brute
no, it's not really a P3, cause the Prozessor has only 128kb of 2nd level cache. And a 128kb P3 is also called "Celeron"

It's neither. IIRC It's strictly a P3 with 128kB of cache removed, so it's got more processing grunt than the Celeron (which had some other stuff disabled apart from cache, can't remember off the top of my head what it was) but less cache than the P3.

[Sirber]

I'm trying to get the full hardware specs. I'll post it soon.

[edit]

The Xbox is a legacy-free PC by Microsoft:
• Intel Celeron 733 MHz CPU
• nVidia GeForce 3MX
• 64 MB of RAM (DDR@200MHz)
• 8/10 GB hard disk
• DVD drive
• 10/100 Ethernet

[SeeMoreDigital]

Just wondering

Does anybody know if it's possible or has anybody tried to put a faster processor in an XboX?

Cheers

[mrlipring]

it's very not possible.

[SeeMoreDigital]

I only ask because I've never had one to take apart!

I suppose it's a custom chip. Soldered directly onto the motherboard/circuit board.

Are there any removable parts. What about the RAM or hard-drive?

Cheers

[mrlipring]

afaik, the only parts that're upgradeable are the hard drive and dvd drive.

[b00zed]

There are four surface mount pads for TSOP SD-RAM modules, and only two of them are currently used. You could try to mount more if you really wanted, but whether it would recognise additional RAM is another matter. It wouldn't help any of the games if it did work since they're designed to use 64MB anyway, though it would definitely be a benefit if you're using it for other applications...

All about the xbox: http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.html?i=1561
Coppermine P3 core with only 128kB of cache disabled, but twice the set associativity of the Celeron's 128kB cache, so it's not a Celeron.
GPU Fill rate is less than GF3 Ti500 but greater than the vanilla GF3, so it's not a "GF3MX" which would imply that it's got no T&L capabilities.

[demonmagnet]

The following parts that can be upgraded in an ubox so far that i know of
- dvd drive
- hdd
- cpu (someone is selling xbox's with celeron 1400Mhz in them)
http://www.techfocus.org/article4085.html

[Prettz]

Adding a better processor or more or faster RAM wouldn't have any effect on anything, as b00zed said. All the games are designed to use exactly 64MB or less memory for everything in the game and to run at at least minimum frame rates on the xbox's given hardware. They don't have graphics settings you can raise or lower to take advantage of new hardware because there isn't going to ever BE new hardware. Remember that the xbox IS a console and the games made for it are console games.


Edit: WHY would they disable some of the CPU's cache? This isn't a retail chip that they need to be able to "price competitively", it's a component in a pre-built closed system. So if the cache is already in the chip, why not just give leave it to give your new system the most power you can at the same cost????

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by Prettz
Adding a better processor or more or faster RAM wouldn't have any effect on anything, as b00zed said.... True. But it would help when playing processor hungry video files, either stored on the hard-drive or streamed over a home network.

Cheers

[OvERaCiD23]

Both the RAM and the CPU are upgradeable in the Xbox, but it's not a 5 minute job by any means. Regular Xbox applications won't need the extra power, as they're all designed for the common specs on the box. However, those running Linux on their Xbox will likely see an improvement.

As for being able to handle playing back of video files, it does it without a hitch. I can use XBMP to play a video and FTP at the same time (even with HD output). If playing back 1080i video, encoding DD5.1 on the fly and FTP'ing at the same time isn't powerful enough in a console, tell me what is?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by OvERaCiD23
As for being able to handle playing back of video files, it does it without a hitch. I can use XBMP to play a video and FTP at the same time (even with HD output). If playing back 1080i video, encoding DD5.1 on the fly and FTP'ing at the same time isn't powerful enough in a console, tell me what is? I have to admit my interest in the Xbox is growing quite a bit now!

I can see it being a useful home media streaming tool (if that's possible). I would never have thought a 733 MHz Celeron CPU would have been powerful enough to run multiple tasks. Are you saying that you can play HD video files as well?

Sorry to ask so many questions. I don't know anything about the Xbox and I don't play games. Even on a PC!

Cheers

[Sirber]

If you get a faster CPU, you'll higher framerate for sure. Framerate isn't coded in games :)

[b00zed]

You're still limited to 25fps for PAL and 30fps for NTSC though...

[b00zed]

Originally posted by Prettz
WHY would they disable some of the CPU's cache? This isn't a retail chip that they need to be able to "price competitively", it's a component in a pre-built closed system. So if the cache is already in the chip, why not just give leave it to give your new system the most power you can at the same cost????

It's possibly intended to cut down on heat dissipation.

[jggimi]

Moved from DivX to PC forum, since the discussion has shifted entirely from the codec to the platform.