Alright.... so what can the 360 actually play with media center?

[Kunaak]

media center + 360 = boring so far.

it looks like the 360 cant do anything besides play MP3's, and WMV movie files.
which for me, is useless, since WMV has always been a fuzzier version of common codecs, like the Xvid codec.
I rarely encode anything to WMV for many reasons.
doesnt look good, cant control the contrast, takes up too much space.

I usually do .MOV, or H.264.
both usually look great.
dont take up too much space, and there plenty of things to recode with, if you want to.

I was editing some skate footage a few days ago, and thought it would be pretty cool to be able to see my edited stuff on my HDTV... before burning it to a DVD.
I never really realized the 360 + Vista, could do just that.

however, after actually doing that, I gotta admit, I was pretty damn let down by the entire thing in atleast a half dozen HUGE ways...

anything from, mediacenter seems like it was designed for a 2 year old, playschool and all.
to idiotic things you cant do.... like tell it to not look for every picture on a hard drive when doing slide shows.

but my main annoyance is a simple one.
almost nothing I have videowise, can be streamed through the 360, cause it seems like the 360 has its own codec pack, and theres sure not much to work with on it.

MP3's and WMV seems to be your only option.

am I missing something here, or is the 360's media centers abilities really this poor??

I mean, it seriously wont play anything.... not even a common AVI file.
I get the MS wants everyone to use thier stuff, but this is just ridiculous.
I mean, come on, put atleast 2-3 other codecs on there... for sheer qualities sake. havent they figured out why WMV hasnt caught on so well yet?

[zanzabar]

u forgot wma audio in both protected and normal

and if u mod the 360 u can use alot more files in the hombrue media player app

but be glad u dont use sony products u can only play mp4 video and mp3/wma audio its horable, they tried to make it play avi but it only dose the codec with mp4 video but in an avi file, thats psp/ps3

[oublie]

i have the same problem and it really annoys me. I have both a 360 and a ps3 and neither of them will play a decent format. There is one program that may help you on the 360 and thats transcode 360 it will transcode files for viewing on the 360 on the fly. Ive used it quite a lot and it has no issues transcoding all my video files when i need to watch them on the 360. note that this program transcodes the data on the pc.

[irev210]

i have the same problem and it really annoys me. I have both a 360 and a ps3 and neither of them will play a decent format. There is one program that may help you on the 360 and thats transcode 360 it will transcode files for viewing on the 360 on the fly. Ive used it quite a lot and it has no issues transcoding all my video files when i need to watch them on the 360. note that this program transcodes the data on the pc.

I do the same. While transcode 360 isnt perfect, it does the job.


DIVX/h.264/.ts/etc stored on my NAS are transcoded on a PC (2.2GHz core 2 duo) on-the-fly and then shot over to my 360.

Uses hardly any CPU power too!


I also stream all of my TV shows that I record using my dual ATI 650 PRO HD tuners through my 360.



Extender works well, but could definitely work better.

[G H Z]

irev do you know anything about non-xbox extenders, like whats good and whats not?

[DilTech]

Kunaak, download TVersity and use that as your file-server for the 360. The latest version with patches can do other movie formats because your computer does the work of decoding it and passes it on to your console if your console can't decode it for itself.

Honestly, whether you have a PS3, xbox360, or both.. You should definitely use TVersity. It allows use of even divx on the consoles.

[Kunaak]

Thanks, I will give that a shot.

strangely, if you have a Zune, you can use the Zune player to stream stuff to the 360, and that enables MP4 support as well.
atleast its something more then WMV.

I did start doing a caveman solution too.
converting entire movies over to WMV with Vistas Movie Maker.
movie maker works surprisingly well at converting stuff.
fast too.
I am honestly impressed with that... for being free I mean.

but I definatly want a better way to play, then to have to use only WMV, and MP4.
(I have almost nothing in MP4, except some old PSP videos I did last summer)

[trance565]

i like going to newgrounds on my ps3, full screen and 42 inches lol makes dad comes home and goes to work SO much better.
but yeah, alot of youtube stuff doesnt work and it's annoying with the ps3 browser. has some nice little features tho

not to mention i can always login to linux and use other video formats as well ^^

and then the :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana: freezes after 3 hours of playing gundam >.< so much information lost

[Kunaak]

I have a PS3... but honestly, it was a massive waste of money.
I have resistance fall of man, which was great.
but after that, theres literally nothing for me on that system.
its so grim, I havent even turned it on for quite awhile.
honestly, I didnt even think about it for a very long time either, till I just posted this.
I mean I know its there, but I never realize its there, its almost like its begining to blend into the background of my room.
much like a door knob or something... you know you have a door knob in your room... but when was the last time you really noticed it?
had I not just looked at my door knob, I couldnt tell you if it was silver... or gold. is it round like a ball, or round with some edges on it? I dont know... its a door knob. its there... but I bare notice it.

thats what my PS3 has been like.

[trance565]

yeah, the only downside right now are there arent any good multi player games, that support more than 2 players. and the controllers are expensive as hell to not come with a charging cable.

whenever we have alot of ppl over we end up playing n64 on my friends xbox.
would play halo2 or 3 when it comes out if my friends 360 hadnt gotten jacked.

right now i think my friend primarily uses it as a internet browser since his jackass roomate wont let him use his computer, and his is being fixed at dell.

hopefuly there will be some better games, that support atleast 4 ppl soon.