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A real Hand-held Xbox 360

Former Member

I've had an idea that was actually inspired by someone's build on the Ben Heck Forums a few years ago. I think that I have a concept that might provide a solution to build a true handheld Xbox 360.

 

The first big challenge to this idea is that the Xbox 360 has huge internal components. This limits the amount of miniaturizing that can be done. But, the question that you have to ask yourself, is "what makes up the Xbox 360 experience?". The answer is Audio, Video, and Controller. These are the things that you interact with, and these are the things that need to be present in the handheld to replicate the Xbox 360 experience. So here is my idea:

 

What if you could take the Video, Audio, and Controller from the Xbox 360 and convert them into signals? Now you've got data to send and you just need a receiver to translate it. Basically you create a rig that you plug into the Xbox 360's Audio/Video ports (a transmitter). Then you create a special device that can take the controller's input/output and also transmit it. So now you've got your Xbox 360 experience broken down into signals. You build a receiver that connects to a computer. The signals from the Xbox 360 are picked up by the receiver and then a custom program decodes them and broadcasts them over the web/lan as a server.

 

Now you need to build the handheld device. All it needs to be able to do is receive the signal from the server, display it on the screen, and then send your controller input back. While this may seem to be a challenging system to create, it is possible (as demonstrated by the various Cloud Gaming technologies). All you need to do is find/build the mini hardware with firmware that is able to Log into your remote server and display the data in an interactive fashion. You could build the handheld with wifi or 4G (or both). So you've essentially created a device that can put your Xbox 360 in your pocket.

 

Obviously this idea presents a lot of challenges and represents a lot of hard work. However, we are talking about an idea at this point. The biggest challenge that I find is that you can't swap game disks remotely. Obviously it would work better if you were playing games off of the Hard Drive.

 

What do you guys think about it as a concept?

  • Techknott already did something similar to this with a 360 and a PS3. He used a video baby monitor to send the video and audio from the console to what he calls a WVI (wireless video interface).

     

    360 - http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?t=24883

    PS3- http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=35615

     

    It is not exactly what you said, but its pretty close. I don't think that WiFi would work (4G wouldn't work at all, way to complicated if it is even possible), because the extra steps would introduce too much latency for fast paced games (slower paced ones would probably be ok).

  • in reply to Former Member

    I was thinking about it, and I've got a slight revision to my original idea. I think that sending the signal wirelessly to the computer and then across the web/lan to the device will create too much latency. However, if there was a server box that the Xbox connected to, then it would be a direct connection without so much wireless.

     

    As far as the latency goes, as long as the upload on the server side is high enough, and the download on the client side is high enough, there shouldn't be as much latency. It's going to depend on the video codec that is used and the compression. Keep in mind as well that we can set the server to downscale the video so that it's a much smaller packet. The handheld device doesn't need a 1080p signal. Parts of this idea are already being done. A company called Spawn Labs (http://www.spawnlabs.com/products/) created a device that you plug your Xbox 360 into that allows you to play it remotely with a PC. The idea seems to work pretty well. Also consider Onlive and their Cloud Technology. They also reinforce that this type of thing is very possible with the right hardware and software.

     

    I'm not saying that it wouldn't be a programming nightmare, but it is possible. Maybe not over LTE, but we'd have to test it to know for sure. If we can keep the complete Audio/Video/Controller data stream down to 300-400 kbps, then it would be well with in the range of LTE. Wifi should definitely be enough.

     

    EDIT: I was just reading the post that you linked in your previous message. That's the exact build that inspired my idea. It's basically taking the idea that he started and moving it outside of a LAN with the addition of a webserver to broadcast and a Wifi/4G-based receiver to pick it up. You would need at least a 2-5 mb upload to make it work smoothly, but it is possible. How sweet would it be to have something the size of a PSP-FAT that can play your Xbox 360?

  • in reply to Former Member

    So, is there a hitch with running a 360 emulator on, say, a  netbook?  Then you just have to get a 360 controller to plug in via USB.  You'd use a rip program installed on your xbox to put your games onto an SDcard and then use that to get them into the netbook?  I must be missing something here, I don't understand all the work and expense in trying to butcher an xbox and turn it into a computer when you can turn a computer into an xbox a lot easier.

  • in reply to Former Member

    There is actually a way to do that already. A company created a server that you can connect to your Xbox that will do something similar to what I was talking about. It will send your Xbox 360 signal to a computer and allow you to play it. It works for PS3 as well. The company is called Spawn Labs and the device was a HD-720. Supposedly it worked very well. It even allowed you to use a different controller with your PC to play your console and would allow you to send invites to your friends on other computers to play in your session using only a single console.

     

    Unfortunately that company was recently aquired by Gamestop and has stopped production of the HD-720. I'm sure that there are a few of them floating around out there though.

  • in reply to Former Member

    If the device was to be used within the same building as the xbox 360 , an RF modulator could be connected to the composite video and audio outputs of the xbox and wireless controllers could then be gaffer-taped to the sides of a small portable analog LCD TV.

     

    You would need to connect the RF output of the modulator to a suitable non-directional antenna like a length of un-screened wire.

  • This would be a very difficult project, from compressing the size to the motherboard and the REDICULOUS cooling. But if this can be done, this would be awesome.