What's the best way to use my 360 as an extender?

[ViviTheMage]

Are there any streaming TV content? That you have to pay for, or is free?

I was thinking of knocking out my DISH TV all together if th 360 could stream TV off the net.

Also, I tried loading my .avi's of TV episodes onto it, but it does not read it...what is it compatible with, and is there any way to make it read different codecs at all?

Thanks

 

[gorcorps]

The 360 (AFAIK) can't stream live TV from any site I'm aware of. It can stream from sites like Hulu that have TV shows on them, but it's not live and the episodes are usually up a couple days after they air. Try downloading TVersity on your PC, and loading your avis that way.

 

[Queasy]

Starting Wednesday, you'll be able to stream content from Netflix. You'll just have to have a Live Gold account and a Netflix account.

You can use PlayOn to stream content from Hulu, CBS, YouTube, and ESPN. It also streams Netflix because the 360 is getting that already with the NXE update on Wednesday. PlayOn costs $30 though.

The 360 can stream Divx (5.0 and above) and Xvid with 5.1 surround sound. It can do h.264 with 2-channel audio. If nothing else, you can use TVersity or PlayOn to transcode unsupported codecs.

Here is the complete list of supported codecs after the fall update from last December.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Will NXE be adding and codecs?

That link says it supposrts AVI, but why did it not play them? HMM, do I need to install something special from my computer?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
Will NXE be adding and codecs?

That link says it supposrts AVI, but why did it not play them? HMM, do I need to install something special from my computer?

If you haven't, install FFDShow on your PC and setup Windows Media Player to share with your 360.

You do need a HDD on your 360. The first time you try to play an avi file, the 360 will ask you to install an update. After that, you are golden.

 

[ViviTheMage]

If I had VLC Media Player installed would that work? Or do I still need FFDShow? I tried looking for the way to setup windows media player to share...couldn't really find options easily, any quick walkthrough?

It's basically using what codecs are available on the PC?

 

[Queasy]

How to share video, music, and photos between Windows Media Player and your Xbox 360 console.

I assume VLC Media Player has the latest codecs. If so, you shouldn't need FFDShow.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I can play everything in WMP, the TV shows, and music, but I can't get it to show up on my 360.

Let me add that when I open windows media center on my PC all the folders show up correctly, but It says 'One or more codecs required to open this content could not be found.'.

But I can play it in WMP just fine...

EDIT : OKAY, revamped my post, I re connected the 360, uninstalled everything and did it again, and now I see all folders, woot!

NOW, I still get that codec issue when playing them on the 360 as well.

Are you sure they can play .avi's?

Also, does the 360 auto update to what windows has ? Say I DL a new song, or video, will I need to sync somehow?

 

[A5]

The 360 can play AVIs...I just watched Top Gear tonight. If you add stuff to the folder, you should just have to refresh that folder on the 360 (by leaving it and going back in) and it should show up. Try the WMV file from this page (http://www.jhepple.com/support/sample_movies1.htm) and see what happens.

 

[ViviTheMage]

That page shows programs to convert to AVI...all my files already are AVI's. ...and it still gives me the codec is not found.

If I try that other app that queasy listed, would that work? Since, maybe, VLC is not?

 

[A5]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
that page is not found A5.

Yeah...forgot to take the following paren off the URL. Try now.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: A5

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
that page is not found A5.

Yeah...forgot to take the following paren off the URL. Try now.

ready above edited post

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
That page shows programs to convert to AVI...all my files already are AVI's. ...and it still gives me the codec is not found.

If I try that other app that queasy listed, would that work? Since, maybe, VLC is not?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
That page shows programs to convert to AVI...all my files already are AVI's. ...and it still gives me the codec is not found.

If I try that other app that queasy listed, would that work? Since, maybe, VLC is not?

Yeah, if you're not having any luck with VLC, give FFDShow a try.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
That page shows programs to convert to AVI...all my files already are AVI's. ...and it still gives me the codec is not found.

If I try that other app that queasy listed, would that work? Since, maybe, VLC is not?

Yeah, if you're not having any luck with VLC, give FFDShow a try.

Will do, I REALLY hope I can get AVI's to work....that would make my life so much lazier! So many episodes on my machine that are in AVI format, haha.

 

[Zuke]

Streamed to the Xbox360, AVIs work great. I do it all the time. In fact, I'd say that it has changed my tv watching.

Now with Netflix support coming this week for the 360, it's media capabilities are awesome.

 

[tatteredpotato]

.avi is a container, and not linked to one specific format, so it's highly possible some of your avi files are incompatible. I have a lot of DivX (pre version 5) that doesn't want to stream.

 

[tw1164]

Grab MediaInfo so you can see the codecs that your avi files are encoded in.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: tw1164
Grab MediaInfo so you can see the codecs that your avi files are encoded in.

will do that when I get home.

I thought that if the AVI was viewable on my PC, it would be OK on teh 360, as it uses those codecs, correct?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: tw1164
Grab MediaInfo so you can see the codecs that your avi files are encoded in.

will do that when I get home.

I thought that if the AVI was viewable on my PC, it would be OK on teh 360, as it uses those codecs, correct?

Well, it depends on the codec and the codec version used. The 360 will only playback Divx and Xvid with an AVI extension and won't read anything before Divx 5.0.

 

[LeonarD26]

I also use my 360 as an extender to Vista Media Center. I have a TV tuner in my PC and it's DVR type functions work great.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I tried that FFDShow as well, no luck in Windows Media Center on my VISTA machine.

This is one avi of lost :

http://vivithemage.com/hmm.jpg

 

[Gooberlx2]

Just wanted to mention that the Media Center Extender function on the 360 will not play .avi, .mp4, etc...you need to do that through the dashboard. The format support of the Media Center Extender is limited for some dumb reason. Dunno if that was mentioned already.

I use the k-lite full codec package on my machine. So long as files are present and playable inside the WMP11 library, and within the codec requirements for the 360, they should be able to stream and play fine.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: Gooberlx2
Just wanted to mention that the Media Center Extender function on the 360 will not play .avi, .mp4, etc...you need to do that through the dashboard. The format support of the Media Center Extender is limited for some dumb reason. Dunno if that was mentioned already.

I use the k-lite full codec package on my machine. So long as files are present and playable inside the WMP11 library, and within the codec requirements for the 360, they should be able to stream and play fine.

please explain, I have been browsing to my maching via windows media center on my 360.

On my vista machine, WMP 11 can view all my AVI's fine, but windows media center on my VISTA or 360 cannot view them.

EDIT : I just tried the k-lite stuff, still did not work in windows media center, but works in WMP 11.

 

[LikeLinus]

Windows media center simply does not support divx/xvid avi's at all. It's freaking rediculous. It doesn't matter what codec you provide, it will never work until Microsoft updates it. To me, it ruins WMC and makes it completely useless.

The only way to play AVI's from your computer is to use WMP 11 by setting up the sharing through the Library function of WMP. You just need to allow the machine to see it, then set your folders that you want monitored.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/pcsetup/XPSP2.htm

Click on WMP 11 and then follow the instructions. It's simple and it flat our works.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
Windows media center simply does not support divx/xvid avi's at all. It's freaking rediculous. It doesn't matter what codec you provide, it will never work until Microsoft updates it. To me, it ruins WMC and makes it completely useless.

The only way to play AVI's from your computer is to use WMP 11 by setting up the sharing through the Library function of WMP. You just need to allow the machine to see it, then set your folders that you want monitored.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/pcsetup/XPSP2.htm

Click on WMP 11 and then follow the instructions. It's simple and it flat our works.

PERFECT, this is all I wanted...they look/play great now.

My next question is, how do I get my music to play on my 360? I cannot select folders like I could under video options.