PSA: Nero 8 + XBox 360 = Transcoding Goodness

[toekramp]

Alright there may be other solutions out there that I'm not aware of, but I know that xbox 360 doesn't support DivX/Xvid natively. I used to use a VLC/batch file solution to transcode my avi files so i could watch them on my roommates xbox on our main tv, however it was cumbersome. The newest edition of Nero has a feature called MediaHome that will transcode on the fly whatever media files you have indexed and works amazingly well. Perhaps this has already been discussed but just wanted to put it out there.

apparently there is PS3 support as well, but lack the console to try it out.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The minimum system specs for Nero8 are low, but I am curious what is required for Nero HMC to run smoothly? What are the specs on the system you used? TIA.

 

[blurredvision]

Transcode360 is another solution, and it's free. Works great from what I've read.

 

[Aikouka]

Tversity and Transcode360 can do this.

Oh and I abhor Nero and I'd never trust its ability to re-encode/transcode. You have to admit that it's sad when I use Nero to create an audio CD and the CD has blips and skips in it from Nero's great re-encode.

I'll use CDBurnerXP which is free.

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
The minimum system specs for Nero8 are low, but I am curious what is required for Nero HMC to run smoothly? What are the specs on the system you used? TIA.

I have an E6600 with 2 GIG of DDR2 800

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
Tversity and Transcode360 can do this.

Oh and I abhor Nero and I'd never trust its ability to re-encode/transcode. You have to admit that it's sad when I use Nero to create an audio CD and the CD has blips and skips in it from Nero's great re-encode.

I'll use CDBurnerXP which is free.

ya i remember that an early version of Nero 6 or 7 had a faulty DLL for the mp3 encoding, but that has all been resolved. That said I can understand why people would stray from an application that has become so bloated.

 

[tw1164]

I think mediahome is in Nero 7 too

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: tw1164
I think mediahome is in Nero 7 too

perhaps, but the transcoding support for 360 i believe is a new feature. I could be incorrect.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: toekramp
ya i remember that an early version of Nero 6 or 7 had a faulty DLL for the mp3 encoding, but that has all been resolved. That said I can understand why people would stray from an application that has become so bloated.

It's not MP3 encoding for an audio CD, it's PCM. I literally was able to change them personally with Sound Recorder (you know, that lame app that comes with windows ) and put them on the CD with no problem but Nero couldn't. But yeah, the bloat was getting annoying, but I found an interesting bug in CDBurnerXP that seems to limit its use... seems you can't add a lot of files to an image or else the program just goes out to breakfast, lunch and dinner! I added some DVD vobs to create a DVD ISO and the program just sat there. WinISO eventually gave up on it too .

 

[Yreka]

Cool, thanks I will give it a shot. I have tried Tversity and transcode 360 but was never able to get them working correctly.

 

[Xavier434]

I got transcode360 to work on my Vista Home Premium machine. However, there is a known bug which causes the video to skip every 5 min or so when you run it through Vista. Has anyone tried this Nero method on a Vista Home Premium or Ultimate machine and got it to work successfully without any skips in video or sound?

 

[Modeps]

I still cant get my 360 to see my computer.

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: Modeps
I still cant get my 360 to see my computer.

did you start the mediahome server?

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
I got transcode360 to work on my Vista Home Premium machine. However, there is a known bug which causes the video to skip every 5 min or so when you run it through Vista. Has anyone tried this Nero method on a Vista Home Premium or Ultimate machine and got it to work successfully without any skips in video or sound?

i am running Vista Ultimate 64 bit with no issues.

 

[JackBurton]

Funny I don't need any re-encoding with my XBox. XBMC plays everything I throw at it. Oh, you said the XBox 360.

I just use my 360 for HD movies.

 

[GregGreen]

Transcode360 works pretty well through Vista Media Center. It would be nice to actually rewind or fast forward through my files though, so I might end up having to transcode all these files.

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: GregGreen
Transcode360 works pretty well through Vista Media Center. It would be nice to actually rewind or fast forward through my files though, so I might end up having to transcode all these files.

ya i wasn't able to do that with Nero (fast forward/rewind) since the transcoding was being done on the fly...

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: toekramp

Originally posted by: GregGreen
Transcode360 works pretty well through Vista Media Center. It would be nice to actually rewind or fast forward through my files though, so I might end up having to transcode all these files.

ya i wasn't able to do that with Nero (fast forward/rewind) since the transcoding was being done on the fly...

I felt this thread was worth bumping since I just decided to give Nero a try last night. Man! I was so impressed. I have tried all of the ways to get transcoding to work and I was never able to get perfect sound and video quality until Nero. It was so easy too. I kept everything at default and had it up and running after 5 min. Now it is setup so that the MediaHome server starts when my computer boots up so technically I never have to touch my computer to browse and play my media library through my 360 wirelessly. The only downfall is what I quoted above about rewind and fast forward but I can deal. I am sure Nero will realize how many sales they will get just for this feature and there will be public demand for fast forward and rewind so I expect to see it in the future.

I recommend giving Nero a try if you have been wanting to wirelessly stream your media and have been unsuccessful thus far.

 

[Xavier434]

I ran into one strange instance last night where Nero transcoding has failed me. Basically, I tried to transcode a series of videos that came in one package with a .avi extension and I got the same error on my 360 every time I tried to transcode one of the videos. This puzzles me because every other video that I have tried to transcode with a .avi extension has worked. The error states that my 360 disconnects from my computer. This happens after about 15 seconds from the time that I hit the Play button on the 360 to start transcoding.

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

 

[Carmen813]

I'm still not sure how I would get transcode 360 to work with my Xbox, could someone explain it to me?

From what I understand:

1.) Install transcode 360 on PC
2.) Start Vista Media Center
3.) Choose video to transcode and start process

4.)....??

How do I make it play on my 360? Do I select some file via the Media Extender on the 360? Help!

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: Carmen813
I'm still not sure how I would get transcode 360 to work with my Xbox, could someone explain it to me?

From what I understand:

1.) Install transcode 360 on PC
2.) Start Vista Media Center
3.) Choose video to transcode and start process

4.)....??

How do I make it play on my 360? Do I select some file via the Media Extender on the 360? Help!

this is a thread regarding Nero/Xbox, no need to hijack.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Carmen813
I'm still not sure how I would get transcode 360 to work with my Xbox, could someone explain it to me?

From what I understand:

1.) Install transcode 360 on PC
2.) Start Vista Media Center
3.) Choose video to transcode and start process

4.)....??

How do I make it play on my 360? Do I select some file via the Media Extender on the 360? Help!

remove your step 3.

3.) On the XB360, start media center ( connected as an extender to the PC you have TC360 on). From XB360 MC, browse to the movie you want to watch, then press the alternate button ( X I believe ? ), then select More, then Transcode.

going from memory, sorry if its a bit off.

 

[Yreka]

Back on topic, for you guys using Nero, is your 360 connected wireless?

I am having a problem with mine in that I select the movie on the 360 and it looks like it is starting to transcode but after about 30 sec I get a network dropped error ( I never have any other connectivity issues with the 360). On the server, I can see the browses, and connections so I know its at least trying to get started.

 

[toekramp]

Originally posted by: Yreka
Back on topic, for you guys using Nero, is your 360 connected wireless?

I am having a problem with mine in that I select the movie on the 360 and it looks like it is starting to transcode but after about 30 sec I get a network dropped error ( I never have any other connectivity issues with the 360). On the server, I can see the browses, and connections so I know its at least trying to get started.

ya my connection is wireless, but haven't had any issues like you are mentioning. is it only on large media files? have you tried tv shows?

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: Yreka
Back on topic, for you guys using Nero, is your 360 connected wireless?

I am having a problem with mine in that I select the movie on the 360 and it looks like it is starting to transcode but after about 30 sec I get a network dropped error ( I never have any other connectivity issues with the 360). On the server, I can see the browses, and connections so I know its at least trying to get started.

This is the exact error that I was getting in some of my video files that I mentioned in the above post. It appears to be file specific. I do not believe that the problem is that the you and I are getting dropped from the network. Rather, I believe that Nero is having an issue transcoding the file and it ends up sending bad data to the 360. The 360 then reacts to this data by ceasing the connection. Hence, the error.

I am hoping the solution lies somewhere within the configuration of Nero for these particular instances. I tried some different configurations but I nothing has worked so far. In the mean time, I just got different copies of the video files to get it to work.