DVD/ VCD Playback Questions
Can I play DVDs without the DVD Movie Playback kit ?
At present no, the xbox does not play DVD's straight out of the box. You need to buy the kit,
at some point there maybe homebrew software made to overcome this.
But for now dont hold your breath, just buy the kit.
What does the DVD Movie Playback kit include ?
A remote control, and an infared receiver. The receiver is plugged into one of the Xbox controller ports..
Is the Xbox DVD player multiregional ?
Not exactly - when you buy a UK DVD Movie Playback Kit & put the infared receaver into the UK Xbox controller port,
the UK Xbox will ONLY ever play Region 2 titles as it places a Region 2 code onto the hard-drive...
To my knowledge when you first ever use/ install a DVD Move Playback Kit the Region code is perminently locked
onto the HD & cannot be taken off or altered by using another infared receaver ( ie a receaver from US )
However - & i dont see why you would do this, you can buy a US DVD Movie Playback Kit & use that on a UK Xbox,
this will allow you to run Region 1 DVD's. As i have said above to my knowledge you cannot swap the infared receavers
from other country's to play different Region DVD's.
Alternative solution - for those of you familar with the Region X (on the Playstation 2) there is a similar programme
coming out for the Xbox sometime in the near future.
Can the Xbox play VCD's or SVCD's ?
In short no - the xbox does not run the media formats that VCD or SVCD's are recorded in, but you can get software
that will convert VCD or SVCD's into DVD format & write a movie onto a normal CD that a DVD player can read 242l1113c .
Good luck with that one :-)
Does the DVD player output a RGB signal with DVD movies ?
Yes - when using an RGB Scart lead - the Xbox does output an RGB signal with DVD Movies.
Emulators for Xbox/ PC
Will there be emulators for Xbox ?
Well i would not have made this website if i did not think so & bare in mind that there are emu's for DC & PS2.
I heard MAME was ported to Xbox ?
Not quit - it was ported for an XDK ( Xbox development kit ), & runs at a rock solid 60 FPS on all the old 80's ROMs
including the NEOGEO ROMs too.
Unfortunatly Microsoft would let legally allow the author to distribute this software, only registered XBox developers
can legitimately obtain this software. That & the fact that you need an Xbox Development Kit to run it :-(
More info can be found here at the authors site.
Is there any fake Xbox emulators for the PC ?
Yes there have already been several fake Xbox emulators for PC. One is Simply called ( X-Box Emulator ) i think there
have been 2 versions, ver 0.34 & ver 0.35 that came out around Feb 2002.
My best advice should you come accross an Xbox emu for PC is to ignore it & to definatly not download it, there is a
good chance it may contain a virus.
Unlocking the Parental Control
How can i unlock the parental lockdown ?
Turn on your Xbox without a disc in the drive to access the Xbox dashboard, goto settings & highlight the
Parental Control. When the screen pops up that says Enter Pass Code press: X, Y, Left Trigger, X.
You'll be taken to the parental controls screen where you can disable the passcode previously entered.
Opening the Xbox
How do i open up my Xbox ?
Check underneith the xbox you will see 4 rubber feet, take them off to reveal 4 screws.
There are also another 2 screw's underneith the stickers.
***** IMPORTANT DOING THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY*****
Hard Drive Questions
How big is the Xbox Hard Drive ?
The Xbox contains an 8 GB Hard Drive.
How many blocks does the Hard Drive have ?
Over 300,000
Can the Hard Drive be upgraded to a larger/ faster Hard Drive ?
Not at present & if you could upgrade the internal Hard Drive it would void warranty.
Will I have to defragment the Xbox hard drive ?
No. The Xbox hard drive has separate partitions for cache, music etc and there is no need to defragment the drive
Will the hard drive slow down when full ?
No there is no slowdown or loss of performance when the drive is full.
Can programs be run/ executed from the Hard Drive
Yes. Microsoft stressed the idea of running downloaded game demos from the Hard Drive, so you should be able to run
other executable programs.
Territory Locked
Is the Xbox territory locked ( ie can i play US games on UK Xbox or vice-versa ? )
The Xbox does support territory locking, but it is upto developers to use it. Microsoft is infact keen for developers to
not use territory locking, however there has been no mention of any game developers not using it yet.
Xbox
Is there going to be an Xbox 2 ?
This will depend on how well the Xbox sells over the next few years, microsoft have already been looking into
designing the CPU & GFX chips themselfs in order to cut costs & there has been some talk with nVIDIA.
It is just talk & getting something on the table though, aswell as trying to find the best & cheapest means.
Xbox Specifications
What are the specifications of the Xbox ?
This is a comparison betweeen Xbox, PS2 & Game Cube.
|
SPECS |
Xbox |
PS2 |
GameCube |
|
CPU |
733 MHz |
300 MHz |
485 MHz |
|
Graphics Processor |
250 MHz custom-designed X-Chip, developed by Microsoft and nVidia |
150 MHz Sony GS |
202.5MHz ATI |
|
RAM |
64 MB |
32 MB |
43 MB |
|
Memory Bandwidth |
6.4 GB/sec |
3.2 GB/sec |
3.2 GB/sec |
|
Polygon Performance |
125 M/sec |
A66 M/sec |
6-12 M/sec |
|
Simultaneous Textures | |||
|
Pixel Fill Rate - No Texture |
4.0 G/Sec |
2.4 G/Sec | |
|
Pixel Fill Rate - 1 Textures |
4.0 G/Sec |
1.2 G/Sec | |
|
Pixel Fill Rate - 2 Textures |
4.8 G/Sec |
0.6 G/Sec | |
|
Compressed Textures |
Yes (6:1) |
No |
Yes (6:1) |
|
Storage Medium |
2-5x DVD, 8 GB hard disk, 8 MB memory card |
4x DVD, 8 MB memory card |
1.5GB disc, ½ MB memory card |
|
I/O |
Game controller x4, Ethernet (10/100) |
Game controller x2, USB, 1 i.link (IEEE 1394) Port, 1 HDD bay, 1 slot for an Ethernet Adapter (PCMCIA) |
Game controller x4, High-speed serial port x2, High-speed serial parallel port |
|
Audio Channels | |||
|
3D Audio Support |
Yes (64 3D channels) |
No |
Yes |
|
MIDI/DLS2 Support |
Yes |
Yes | |
|
Hardware Audio Filtering & EQ |
Yes |
No | |
|
Broadband Enabled |
Yes |
Optional purchase |
Optional purchase |
|
DVD Movie Playback |
Remote control accessory required |
Yes |
No |
|
Modem Enabled |
No (built in 10/100 ethernet) |
No |
Yes, 56K (separate purchase) |
|
Game pad included |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
HDTV Support |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
HDTV Game Support |
Yes |
No | |
|
Maximum resolution |
1920 x 1080 |
1280 x 1024 | |
|
Maximum resolution (2 x 32bpp frame buffers +Z) |
1920 x 1080 |
1280 x 1024 | |
|
US Launch Date |
Nov. 15, 2001 |
Fall 2000 |
Nov. 5, 2001 |
XDK / SDK
What is XDK / SDK
Simple XDK stands for ( Xbox Development Kit ) & SDK stands for ( Software Development Kit ).
These are what developers use to make your Xbox games.
Xbox Dashboard
What is the Xbox Dashboard
.The Dashboard appears when you turn on you Xbox without a disk in the disk tray & give you access to various options.
Some of the options are ( clock time, laungage, audio & video ). Also allows you to rip your music CD's onto the
hard drive, play CD's and DVD's, and manage your saved games.
Xbox Launch Dates
When where the Xbox launch dates.
Official Launch: November 15th 2001 12:00 Midnight.
Official Japanese Launch: February 22nd 2002.
Official Euro Launch: March 14th 2002 12:00 Midnight.
Xbox Music Ripping Questions
Can rip mp3's to the Xbox ?
At present no - the xbox does not read mp3's & will not allow you to rip them to the Xbox Hard Drive.
However you can burn your music in audio-format on a cdr or cdrw and bring over your music this way.
What format is ripped media stored in on the Xbox ?
128 kbps, 16-bit stereo WMA.over 73 hours
How many hours of music can the Xbox Hard Drive hold ?
Over 73 hours.
I burned music in audio format onto cdr/ cdrw but the Xbox doesn't recognize it ?
The Xbox's DVD-ROM laser doesn't read all types of media, a list of compatable cdr & cdrw will be added soon
Does the Xbox play WMA's recorded at 128 kbps 16-bit stereo ?
No. The Xbox does not directly support playback of WMA files from CD, it only rips them to WMA format to run of
the Hard Drive.
Xbox Operating System (OS)
What Operating System does the Xbox use ?
It uses a cut down version of the Windows 2000 kernel, which is approximately 500kb in size.
Does using a Windows based (OS) slow loading times down ?
No. Infact the loading times are less than 2 seconds for booting the Xbox Dashboard
& around 15-20 seconds for Games.
Surfing the net & E-mail
Can i surf the internet & check my e-mail ?
Unfortunatly not, at present Microsoft have said that the Xbox is a gaming machine only and there will be no
internet web browser released. It will however have a broswer style setup for online gaming sites.
Also you never know, if homebrew apps & software ever really takes off then maybe we want have to depend on
Microsoft to give us a web broswer.
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