[fishypops]

I have some close friends who are pretty good with the power on and off button, and little else. They live 5 hours drive away.

They love my XBMC system. What should I sort the out with:

Apple TV2
W7 Zotac
Linux XBMC
Xbox ?
WD Live TV Hub

I am not the world's great techie, and am averse to getting a phone call from 5 hours away, saying the thing is not working. I suppose that if I could provide remote support through GotToMYPc, then fair enough.

I think that we are talking about putting down movies/ TV shows every three months and walking away, for them to watch.

Any thoughts ?

thanks

[Waveknight]

In terms of "good with the power on and off button", a modded Xbox with a decent sized HDD would be a pretty cheap solution, and very close to an appliance in terms of functionality.

My goal is pretty similar to yours, only without the 5 hour drive. I'm trying to get a system together that my parents can use without me having to set it up whenever anyone feels like sticking on a film.

An Xbox set up to boot straight into XBMC is as close to an appliance as you're going to get IMO. I've got both of mine hooked up to NAS (of sorts) rather than upgrading the HDD. However, if you want something that is harder for them to break I'd go with an all-in-one-box setup with no networking involved.

[fishypops]

can you please point me to a thread that tells me which Xbox to get. I really know nothing about Xbox's. The wiki says... "Not 360", does that mean that an "Arcade" would work.

I know that I am a simpleton here, but please lead this horse to water.

[thunderbunny]

You'll find all the answers here.

http://www.xbmc4xbox.org

You will need a modchip or a software exploit to do so. Depending on how technical you are then a modchip is the way to go. I have 3 Xbox's running XBMC that work like champs for music and SD content and if properly configured 720p.

[Waveknight]

Like thunderbunny said, the Xbox is great for playing anything below 720p.

DVD rips play flawlessly, and look especially nice if you get a hold of a component cable for it (upscaling the 576p to 720p).

It all really depends on your media I suppose. If you want HD content then don't even bother looking at the Xbox, you'd probably be better with a nettop of some kind (like a Revo or something, the Hardware subforum has more details than I do).