Turn Your Xbox 360 into a Media Center

For most people setting up a dedicated home theater PC next to or under your TV is overkill, especially if you don’t want a noisy, big PC in the living room. Now, if you have a Windows computer that runs Media Center (Windows XP Media Center Edition or Vista Home Premium and Ultimate) along with an Xbox 360 that is probably already set up in your living room then you are good to go. Your Xbox 360 can be used as a Media Center extender and you can have almost an identical Media Center experience while sitting on the couch in the living room as you would if you were sitting at your computer. Also, if you have a tuner card(s) installed on your PC then your Xbox 360 becomes a a full featured DVR. But I you decide that you don’t want to use the 360 for viewing TV then you can always use it to stream videos and music stored on your computer to your home theater and even use it to access online content that is available.

Microsoft has full details for connecting your 360 to your Media Center here.

It is fine to use your Xbox 360 controller while in extender mode but if you want to you shell out the extra $20 bucks you can get the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote for a more friendly media experience. Personally I ordered Logitech’s Harmony Xbox 360 Remote and I absolutely love it. It can be programmed to control practically anything in your house that uses IR and simplifies nearly any “activity” to one button press.

I hope this helped you out. Do More With Your Xbox 360 - Part II will be coming soon so keep an eye out.

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