Official Xbox 360? Thread...Part Deux

[Kev]

Weezer and Pumpkins?? NO WAI!

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: CKDragon
So I went to play Crackdown on Xbox Live for the first time today... mission failed!

I just got my Xbox Elite a few weeks ago and I don't have a single name on my friends list. (cue the violins) I tried to join a couple games with people who seemed to be waiting for a partner, but they all declined when I tried to join. I have 20 of the 21 bosses beaten, it's not like I'm a liability. Is that normal?

On a completely unrelated note, would anyone happen to be playing Crackdown tomorrow around 4-5pm? One more completely unrelated note, my Live ID is CKRanger

CK

I'll definitely play with you some. I get home from work around 5:00 pm at the earliest depending on traffic. I'm on most other days also anyways. I'll add you to my list in a bit. I've been wanting to play some more but I had the same problem that no one was ever on playing..

 

[Kev]

I got the red rings and it would not turn on, but now it will boot to the XBOX 360 intro screen and freeze. Or it boots to the dashboard and freezes after a few minutes. I can't get it to give me the red rings again though. Don't you need that to find out what the error is?

 

[Fingolfin269]

Anyone have any tips regarding .avi to .wma or h.264 conversion?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Anyone have any tips regarding .avi to .wma or h.264 conversion?

.avi to .wma - Use a program like VideoCleaner. That's what I've been using to convert all the anime stuff I've downloaded. h.264 - no clue. Been wondering that myself.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Anyone have any tips regarding .avi to .wma or h.264 conversion?

.avi to .wma - Use a program like VideoCleaner. That's what I've been using to convert all the anime stuff I've downloaded. h.264 - no clue. Been wondering that myself.

I'll give VideoCleaner a shot. Thanks.

 

[Aikouka]

Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

That's what I've been using and it works well.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

That doesn't work for people wanting to use Media Center, though, does it? It works great for just dashboard streaming.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

That doesn't work for people wanting to use Media Center, though, does it? It works great for just dashboard streaming.

No...it only works for Media Center. If you don't have Media Center, use Tversity.

 

[jlmadyson]

You guys try the DIRT demo, good stuff. Looks awesome.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

I was getting a lot of hiccups transcoding. I think it was a combination of my PC being kind of slow (AMD64 2800+) and my wireless connection. Simply re-encoding solved that problem for me.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

I was getting a lot of hiccups transcoding. I think it was a combination of my PC being kind of slow (AMD64 2800+) and my wireless connection. Simply re-encoding solved that problem for me.

Prolly your processor. Also you know some anime comes already packaged as an mp4 .

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: jlmadyson
You guys try the DIRT demo, good stuff. Looks awesome.

downloading it now. I've heard from a few other people it's pretty good, so we'll see.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: PricklyPete

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

That doesn't work for people wanting to use Media Center, though, does it? It works great for just dashboard streaming.

No...it only works for Media Center. If you don't have Media Center, use Tversity.

Ahh, ok, Tversity is the one I used before, not Transcode 360. I had the two confused. I'll definitely give that a try in the coming days, thanks.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

I was getting a lot of hiccups transcoding. I think it was a combination of my PC being kind of slow (AMD64 2800+) and my wireless connection. Simply re-encoding solved that problem for me.

If your process is the limiting factor then I'm definitely not going to try this with my 2100+.

 

[michaels]

The Dirt demo is amazing looking...blows Forza 2 away in visuals. It's 30 fps but I can't tell, I wish Forza 2 would have stuck to 30 fps if it would have meant better visuals.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: PricklyPete

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

That doesn't work for people wanting to use Media Center, though, does it? It works great for just dashboard streaming.

No...it only works for Media Center. If you don't have Media Center, use Tversity.

Ahh, ok, Tversity is the one I used before, not Transcode 360. I had the two confused. I'll definitely give that a try in the coming days, thanks.

The new version is much better than the old version with the spring update.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Why re-encode when you can just transcode? Transcode360 will just encode on the fly for you.

I was getting a lot of hiccups transcoding. I think it was a combination of my PC being kind of slow (AMD64 2800+) and my wireless connection. Simply re-encoding solved that problem for me.

If your process is the limiting factor then I'm definitely not going to try this with my 2100+.

I run Transcode360 with a 3200+ without any problems at all. It really depends on what size files you're trying to convert. If they are HD...you'll definitely have issues.

 

[bucwylde23]

Where do you guys get your HD video clips from? I just want to experiment with streaming videos through Vista media center and the 360 and would like some HD content.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: michaels
The Dirt demo is amazing looking...blows Forza 2 away in visuals. It's 30 fps but I can't tell, I wish Forza 2 would have stuck to 30 fps if it would have meant better visuals.

I agree, the DiRT demo is FANTASTIC!!! Love the graphics, love the damage modelling, love the settings and different game types. The physics seemed pretty decent. Not Forza good...but I'd say pretty close to Rallisport Challenge...which is all I'm looking for in a Rally game.

I will definitely going to be buying this game. Very well done Codemasters!

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
Where do you guys get your HD video clips from? I just want to experiment with streaming videos through Vista media center and the 360 and would like some HD content.

If you want WMV (no transcoding) HD clips, you can get some samples from the Windows Media Player website. If you want some HD game videos, go to GameTrailers.com and download the WMV HD files for whatever clips you want.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: PricklyPete
I run Transcode360 with a 3200+ without any problems at all. It really depends on what size files you're trying to convert. If they are HD...you'll definitely have issues.

But that's an Athlon 64 vs an Athlon XP. Personally, I stopped using that, because I hated how Transcode360 kept cutting the first couple seconds off. It's an incredibly minor thing, but I'm just very picky like that. Also, it does handle soft-subs, but you gotta jump through a couple hoops for it, and I wasn't up to that. So I just hooked my spare PC up to my TV and I used to use my ATi Remote Wonder with it, but since ATi doesn't have the software for Vista, I just grabbed my old Logitech Cordless MX Duo and I use that instead. My other machine does have Media Center on it, but I don't feel like finding the codecs and I don't like codec packs, so I just use MPC with FFDShow.

I downloaded and played the DiRT demo last night. I thought it was pretty sweet overall, but I think the 5.1 sound leaves a bit to be desired as it seems so static... as in during the pre-start 180 rotate around the car, the engine noise didn't "sweep" my speakers, it usually just went from one speaker directly to the other. So when it showed the top of the car, I get a loud blaring engine noise out of my rear right speaker... which just happens to be right by my chair that I'm sitting in.

Gameplay: 9/10
Fun gameplay overall, but I was hoping for more dirt tracks in the demo. I liked that you could actually fall off the side of the mountain in the hill climb as most games just stick with the invisible wall technique. It did seem odd though that falling off didn't create a time penalty at all. I was a bit surprised by that. The menus were pretty straight-forward, but I wasn't a fan of how choosing the car chose the mode you played in (I assume this is demo-only). It'll be good to find out how many tracks/cars will be in the final version. The controls were also fairly solid and they're pretty much a lot like any other XBOX 360 racer. I think that's nice as trying to remember different controller configs becomes a pain after awhile and although I've been used to pressing a button from PS2 games, the right-trigger accelerator and left-trigger brake control scheme was second nature (literally, I tried A and then right-trigger ).

Graphics: 9/10
I didn't notice any graphical glitches while playing or any slowdowns. The destruction of cars is handled pretty well. They did a good job applying dirt to cars that actually made it look somewhat realistic. Originally living in PA, I have a good idea of what dirty cars look like :laugh:. I didn't get a chance to look at the crowd, but most likely they're your standard generic looking crowd or possibly the cardboard cut-out variation. No big deal though, if I didn't even notice them, it doesn't matter anyway.

Sound: 6/10
I found the surround sound fairly poor in this game as I mentioned above. When driving through a tunnel, I didn't feel like I was based on the sound. It sounded more like they just started piping the audio through my rears instead of trying to really muffle the sound like you'd hear going under an overpass or through a tunnel. I was also a little disappointed not to hear any music. Music has almost become a staple in racing games these days whether it's rock (Judas Priest's Turbo Lover being one of my favorites to play in GT3) or rap (X to the Z in Need for Speed's Underground series). Hopefully the final version will have some interesting tracks.

Things we need to look forward to? How good the multiplayer will be. How many cars and tracks? How good will the tracks be? They included the standard Evo and WRX, so most racing fans would be fine with just those (in GT3 rallies, I always used the WRX ).

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
Where do you guys get your HD video clips from? I just want to experiment with streaming videos through Vista media center and the 360 and would like some HD content.

All kinds of sample clips:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window...candvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

 

[Aikouka]

Here's an article from CNN pretty much saying how DLC makes games more expensive:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/fun.games/05/24/xbox.360.price.reut/index.html

I think it tries to push that DLC becomes almost forced if the user still wants to play the game. I think that's an understandable opinion as the same occurs with people that play games with expansion packs. Imagine a person that wants to play WoW without the BC expansion. Yeah, he won't find too many people to play with when he's stuck at 60, but at least there are plenty of other maps to find other than Epic's 4 new maps.

What really needs to be looked at is if DLC wasn't available, would these extras be shipping with the game for no extra cost? If not, then this could be a good thing as those maps may either never see the light of day, be available in the sequel or available in some special "Gold Edition." For games like DDR Universe, I can see how people would be annoyed as the songs you're paying $10 for are already on the disc. You're literally paying to download a 100kb file to unlock the extra songs.