Smoked or tinted plexi could be choosen rather then clear or colored, Or an aluminum case with areas backed with tinted plexi to act as a display winow would be mint

Sadly injection molding is something not really in our grasp. The initial costs of creating the mold etc.. Are beyond what budget we really have. We're trying for something more machined, something that the user can assemble and configure how they want. If anyone has any feesable means of doing injection molding for very cheap feel free to PM me. But from where it stands, we're going to stay somewhat simple, this is the fine line where others have failed.

From what I can tell ya,

a modular bay is a high item on our list

different finishs such as the colored/tinted/frosted plexis, and even different metal finishs possibly.

twisted's dvd dongle mods and switching system

and the audio/video panel is high on our list also

Again, tonight is it, last night to vote, the poles go down at midnight EST.

Twisted,
Dude that is exactly what I was talking about I think it would look awesome. All black with a custom Jewel on the top that acts as on off button. Then have the bezel for the dvd tray stealthed and maybe right below that a panel that would push in and slide out of the way or open out that would expose all the controller ports, swithes, usb, etc. Then everything else hidden behind the tinted plexi. When everything was turned on and all the different lights shined through it like the lcd and controller port leds it would look soooooooooo tight. And with the integration of the ir control if you were just watching movies or something the panel for the switches could stay closed too. The Ir would still work and you would have one pimp ass looking custom box. If you integrated my "snoring" standby light it would be like a sleeping monster.
Like pull out methods sig says "Your Xbox scares me."

"That's because I feed it small children to make it strong."

added a news post to get a final rush of survey's in.

Try and leave the Survey up for another 24hrs if possible.

ok thats it if you make it mirrored black casing then seethru on boot i will sign off my money to yah guys that was fucking awesome ok barnone that is the best man now i am totally stoked with this man o man im on a rant but shit that was fucking sweet i am so buying this hehe

the snoring LEDs is cake to make... I posted a quick how to here in the forums a while back after someone requested it... all you need is a dual op-amp a cap and some resisters

Hey are you guys going to let us know how many surveys were filled out? Im interested to know. Also I think a cool name for the case would be MODBOX or THE MODBOX

Just a question I don't think has been asked -> how do u guys feel about noise? I mean, noise from case fans etc. In my opinion it would sure be annoying to buy an replacement box only to discover that it's even noisier than the original case
I know you've probably got a million other things to think about with this project - but plz: if you're gonna put fans in, then get hold of some quality low-db ones? That would certainly make me wanna buy one

edit: typos

I think it's safe to assume that it will atleast not be more noisey, we haven't given it much talk but we are considering how this thing gets cooled and we'll most likely be going with your standard 80mm or multiple 80mms in which case larger fans means you can get the same or more CFM at lower speeds which works out to less noise... then again you have material, if we go with metal, it's more dense so it transmits sound better this is the sort of thing that's in the back of our minds and difficult to deal with until you have a prototype infront of you, not something you need to worry about at this stage

then again fans are one of those things that goes on personal preference, from the looks of your sig I'd say you'd want some vantec stealths or the likes in there, me personally I just buy the cheapest fans I can find because my home theater is always booming noise isn't a factor . so you know we may just end up making it work with the stock xbox fan and include plenty of space to replace/add more fans of your choice

Jax,
I've got over a 1000 watts of power running through my speakers, so fan noise is not a problem for me. When I'm done playing games I can't here anything at all
No seriously though, I'm sure that if they integrate a fan they will opt for the low db if it will be relatively cost effective. Good point though. Cheers brother

And so the fellowship of the Projectdeck has been formed...

One box to rule them all...

I'm thinking "Pandora's Box" would be a cool name. An all plexi design with tribal flames frosted on it and all sort of fun stealthed drives and ports. On second thought, I think I'll make that my next project! Back to the lab!

My Powerbook "breathes." Its the kewlest damn thing ever. Well, maybe not THAT kew, but close. How about NeXtreme Box? Meh... sounded better in my head than it looks typed out.

Wiqd

What would be cool is if it had a LAN socket on the bottom and a plug on the top so you could just stack two of them one on top of the other and have instant networked Xboxes. Of course, due to the need for a router when linking more than two Xboxes, this would only work with two.

Yeah, the fans wont be included with the system, that'd be a you choose kinda thing, but we'll have room for atleast 2 80's.

Maybe we could have an optional rheostat panel, one for fans, one for LEDs brightness.

I'll get the poll information tonight when I return from work. But for now I must run, first day back!

http://www.deadfukkr.com/xbox.bmp

Here is what I was running on about before. DeAdGuY was nice enough to host a picture for me. It's pretty self explanitory, so I'll leave it as it is. Also, a strap or handle on the back would be awesome, as well as space for fans in many different places. Also, could someone tell me how an extra DVD drive would work? Would a switch be needed to change between power on the original DVD and the Secondary or what? I think I'm done now though. For now. Great ideas and I really hope something works out. Thanks for your time everyone.

an easy solution (rather old school ) of switching the harddisc's (insted of rotaryswitch) could be done with those pushbuttons you see on old fm recievers/amplifiers , push one in and the other automaticly comes out, they can handle the current, can be switched when powered of, and you'd never have 2 disc drawing current out of the psu

survey is now officially offline

a bunch of midgets hahaha

where to the midgets come into play?

im sorry but tat sounds like a skin flick i once saw "Pandoras Box"

wtf it posted an ass load of them for no reason?

I swear I don't think im that funny to post something three times

Did you decide your first double post wasn't funny enough so you thought you'd try again after waiting 5 minutes....?

BUMP

Image No longer hosted.

This is a follow up from my previous post, just a first working of my design sketches into proper CAD drawings, lots left to be done.

Doh the image doesn't work =(

Lol Palmora's box lol

I'mm looking over the survey results tonight, still at work so I gotta keep this short, later tonight I'll be back with more updates!

And thus begins the design phase

Man, i cant for this project to advance into the design faze... I wonder what everyone picked on the poll...... CANT WAIT... im just so anxious to see a glimpse into the final look and feel of this.

Also guys, what are we gonna do about this being all hidden??? I will die if im kept out of the loop. lol. So is there anyway we can show the good people but not the bad? lol. seriously cant wait to hear more on this project, ill quit rambling on now...........

I'm not sure how it would fit, but how about the name "ParaBoX"? A box that may look like a game system is in fact a game system, media center, developmental tool, etc, all in one. A box that is a paradox.

Or if you want to break it up into Para and Box, then the name could imply "beyond an Xbox." Similar to paranormal. Beyond normal. ParaBox = beyond an xbox.

What do you guys think?

duffsmd Posted on May 25 2004, 05:14 AM

Are you going to post the total number of surveys? It would be interesting to know if you are working with 50 surveys or 500. I hope it is at least 200 or so that would give you a good idea of what we want.

yeah there are really 2 ways to go about naming a product.

either
A. start with a name as an image of what the product should be then develop the product around the name
or
B. dont think about the name until the product is done development and pick a suitable name for it.

I'm thinking we'd be better off going with B we got a TON of awesome name suggestions from the survey... towards the end of the design phase we might pick a handfull of suitable favorites and poll you all again... expect one or two more surveys before this case is released.

speaking of the surveys hsd, palmore, and I got the results back in... lots of great data, palmore and I need to go over it a bit before releaseing any of the results. you'll get some jucy tid bits soon

Hey people

Just had a read, kind of skimmed the last 10 pages so excuse me if I missed this point..

Why not just make an Xbox Lid and distrubute that.

Think about it,

The Xbox Lid comes off quite easily.. yes? (in fact, as a softmodder its as far as I got when I fitted a new HD )

You could manufacture a taller lid for the xbox, similer style even..

It could include mountings for the new HDs, the switches and LEDs you know what I mean.

All you would need to implement it is a few LONGER screws than the ones that come with the xbox..

Think of it as an Xbox Hat

Just an idea....

you wanted results... as promised... here are some of the results from the survey:

Special thanks to Deadguy for hosting the survey for us and tallying up the results and be sure to thank Palmore for giving me the go-ahead to give out this data

total number of replies 729
total number of haters: 3
total number of people who gave us kick ass ideas and cant wait to see the results: 726

How many Xboxes do you own?
420 1 box
199 2 boxes
72 3 boxes
16 4 boxes
17 5+ boxes

What is the main use of your xbox?
392 Playing Xbox games
196 Xbox Media Player/Center
11 Watching DVD Movies
1 Playing Music CDs
33 Playing Emulators
10 Running Linux

Do you use Xbox live?
183 Yes
346 No
193 Possibly in the future

How many DVD drives do you use?
9 no drive
534 1 drive
175 2 drives
5 3 or more drives

How many Hard drives do you use?
164 1 drive
385 2 drives
89 3 drives
54 4 drives
32 5+ drives

How many Bios do you use (in addition to original bios/chip disable)?
448 1 bios(most common)
184 2 bioses
47 3 bioses
36 4 bioses
3 5 bioses
7 6+ bioses

What Kind of Video Output do you use?
318 Standard RCA Cables
130 S-Video
169 High Definition Box or cable
74 RGB
22 VGA
6 V-Port

What Kind of Audio Output do you use?
445 Standard RCA Cables
228 Optical
39 Coaxial
8 V-Port

Do you have or would you like to have a Character LCD?
431 Yes
160 No, I don't see a use for it.
132 No, It is too expensive.


I know these arn't all the results but the rest of the stuff we still haven't deciphered ourselves.

also A LOT of you expressed concerns about keeping this box noisey. I realized there wasn't any questions on the survey concerning this. I just want to let you all know that is a BIG concern of ours as well.

Finally I want to personally thank everyone who took the survey, especially those who left comments (about half of you) I had a chance to read through all of the comments twice and we got a lot of good ideas out of there Those of you who didn't leave ideas but just good words It's great to know we have the support of all you guys.

I would've never thought that there are more 2 hard drive owners than 1 hard drive owners. Good results with this survery. Keep up the good work....!!

Well I got bored tonight and made up a really really rough model of what I thought would be cool. The rear fan grill is realllly messed up atm, but hopefully you guys can get the general idea. all brushed aluminium with space for 3 hdd's and 2 dvd's. The extra dvd space could be cut if needed or not as well. Dimensions arent really figured out, but still a good general idea. Cubes are hip. And I just realised I fucked up the power supply positioning....just move it down a tad in that nice hole and find a magic spot for the power cord....






This has to be the worst 3d mesh I've ever done, I overused booeleans sooooooo much its rediculous, and with max's stock plug-in for that as well :S

cool design..

my only concern withit really.. is the placement of the controller ports. I wouldn't want them dangling over the trays.

If they were beside.. or below the trays.. I think it would be better. (prefer below)

Judging by what you guys want in that xbox case (4 hard drives...etc.) your "dream" xbox case might end up looking like that:



The bigger the better i guess

lol

yeah yeah, yuck it up

you're forgetting that palmore fit 4 hard drives in the stock case... now if you squared the case off and got rid of all the usless plastic crap you could fit a lot more in there.

Dude.. that's the JUKEXBOX Case we're making.

Hold 100 HD's, and 50 cans of COKA-COLA...

hey guys, quick question....

Where can i host files at? I have sum cool models on Autodesk Inventor and would like to host the files if anyone is interested. otherwise Ill just host pics. they are working models, thatas y i wanna host files...

Potential Names:

Xcase
PCase (ode to Palmore)
NeoXBC
NeoX
NeoCase
PPLsCase
Maverick Case
NeoDeck
PDeck
ModBox
+Box
Box+
RacyCase
BlackBox

etc etc, I got a million of them written down here someplace..(damnn clutter)