XBox + XBMC = PC Multimédia por $150?

O Tom's Hardware Guide tem um artigo muito interessante intitulado Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center, que explica como modificar a XBox de forma a permitir a utilização do XBox Media Center, um programa que transforma a XBox num PC multimédia ideal para utilização doméstica como reprodutor de áudio e de vídeo.

The Xbox is very suitable for use as a multi-purpose platform since it has standard components, including DVD drives from Philips, Samsung and Thompson, an 8 GB Seagate hard drive, a 733 MHz Pentium III, an NVIDIA graphics processor and a simply-designed motherboard.

Boosting the Xbox' performance and harnessing its potential largely hinges on a modded processor. A mod chip for the Xbox first switches off the signature poll designed by Microsoft to run at the start of any program (mainly from DVD). To do this, the BIOS Flash ROM in the Xbox requires a chip with modified system software. Depending on the mod chip used, a plethora of new options becomes available:

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While a top-of-the-range DVD player's performance may be good, the range of functions most models offer are limited to say the least. No solution we are aware of comes close to the capabilities of the Xbox Media Center. Fortunately, the developers offer the XBMC free of charge and a suitably modded Xbox, such as the one we tested, with remote control and A/V cable, is readily affordable.

Está decidido: vou comprar uma XBox logo que o preço em Portugal reflicta a queda do preço nos EUA para 150 dólares.