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Connecting an Xbox 360 to my computer - Dazed and Confused

rivethead

rivethead

Platinum Member
I have successfully connected my Xbox 360 to my PC using a wired network.

My goal is to be able to stream music and video to the Xbox 360. I'd also like to be able to access pictures and watch the slideshow.

My PC is running Windows XP Home SP3. I have my hard drive partioned into several drives. C drive is the OS. But all the media are stored on E or F drives.

When I run the system tools tests in Xbox 360, it successfully finds my computer, but fails when finding "Windows Media Center"

Questions:

Is there an add-on I need to make this a "Windows Media Center PC" or do I specifically have to buy the Vista Windows Media Center edition OS?

What does Windows Media Center really do for me anyway? Seems like an easy question, but the more I research, the more confused I am.

What is the best way to stream files to my Xbox 360? My Xbox 360 can see folders where media files are located (on different user accounts), but the only way I have been successful in getting them to stream is to add them to Windows Media Player 11, enable sharing and select the Xbox360 and enable. But this isn't perfect. I have a football game in mpeg4 format (HD) that I've added to my WMP11 library. But the Xbox doesn't find this file under videos....it finds it under music and won't play it. Yet when I burned the file (as a file, not as video) to a dvd, the Xbox 360 reads and plays it just fine. Weird.

Most of my music is in Flac. Is there any way to stream Flac files to Xbox 360, or will I be forced to convert?

Do user accounts (on the computer) make a difference? I have an avi file on my user account that the Xbox will play. However, none of the avi files on my wife's or kids' user accounts will play. The Xbox finds them, but won't play them.

Thanks for any advice you can provide. If there is a good resource (Media streaming with the Xbox 360 for Dummies) that I should know about, please point me in that direction!


 
Since you don't have a version of Vista with MCE, nor a copy of XP MCE, your best bet it to use TVersity. It is a freeware program that will allow you to stream media to your 360. Also, unlike MCE, it allows you to use MKV, Flac, APE, etc. etc.
 
Originally posted by: rivethead
Is there an add-on I need to make this a "Windows Media Center PC" or do I specifically have to buy the Vista Windows Media Center edition OS?

What does Windows Media Center really do for me anyway? Seems like an easy question, but the more I research, the more confused I am.
Click to expand...

You would need to buy XP or Vista to get Windows Media Center PC to work but it is unnecessary. You can do everything else though the 360 Dash.

What is the best way to stream files to my Xbox 360? My Xbox 360 can see folders where media files are located (on different user accounts), but the only way I have been successful in getting them to stream is to add them to Windows Media Player 11, enable sharing and select the Xbox360 and enable. But this isn't perfect. I have a football game in mpeg4 format (HD) that I've added to my WMP11 library. But the Xbox doesn't find this file under videos....it finds it under music and won't play it. Yet when I burned the file (as a file, not as video) to a dvd, the Xbox 360 reads and plays it just fine. Weird.
Click to expand...

Check out the Video Playback FAQ to see if the football game is in the correct format. You can use programs like TVersity though.

Most of my music is in Flac. Is there any way to stream Flac files to Xbox 360, or will I be forced to convert?
Click to expand...

You'll have to convert unless you use another program like TVersity. WMA Lossless is supported though.

Do user accounts (on the computer) make a difference? I have an avi file on my user account that the Xbox will play. However, none of the avi files on my wife's or kids' user accounts will play. The Xbox finds them, but won't play them.
Click to expand...

I don't put any of the video files that I want to share with my 360 under any one account so I can't really tell you. Doesn't sound like you can based on your experience though.

Thanks for any advice you can provide. If there is a good resource (Media streaming with the Xbox 360 for Dummies) that I should know about, please point me in that direction!
Click to expand...

Xbox Support


[/quote]

 
In order for your xbox to see your PC you need to make sure that your Windows Media Player Network sharing service is running and that you have shared content through WMP11. Once that is done you should be able to see your PC from your xbox. You don't need to connect through the media center extender but either way you are limited to only being able to stream content that the 360 supports. TVersity is a way around the requirements because you can set it to transcode to a compatible type of media when streaming.
 
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