Xbox360 media extender - Windows Home Server

I'm planning to use my 360 as a media extender with WHS. For those that don't know, a 360 can be used to play audio and video content from a remote computer on your TV.

I'm looking for anyone who has used the 360 as a media extender to share some information with me. Here is what I have and what I want to accomplish:

-Xbox 360 elite with a wired ethernet connection to the home network - connected to hdtv through hdmi.
-I would like to store my DVD collection on the Windows Home Server (WHS) and play on the 360.
-I know that the 360 supports WMV and divx/xvid. I must have 5.1 sound and high quality video. At some point I will be in the HiDef DVD market, so that is also a consideration.

What I need to know:
-Are you using WMV or divx/xvid files and what are your thoughts on quality?
-Is 5.1 audio supported well?
-What program or process are you using to convert DVD to WMV or divx/xvid?
-How long is the conversion process taking on your computer?
-Is it possible to strip everything except the main movie?
-What filesize are you ending up with after conversion of a DVD to your format of choice w/ 5.1 audio?
-Anything else you think is important?

Thanks for your help!

 

Since conversion equates to a dramatic loss of quality, I'd strongly advice you to just get a media center pc

 

I don't know if I would go that far with that statement. Although almost everything is lossy compression a lot of "quality" depends on the transcoder.

I'm really stuck to this setup. I shot my wad on the hdtv and having another pc in the living room just doesn't pass the WAF (wife acceptance factor)!!

I don't know, maybe the 360 will play vob files from a ripped dvd? I like the idea of using WMV, avi, or divx/xvid just for the single file (instead of a folder full of files) and maybe somewhat smaller file size. hmmmm - maybe mpeg4?

Always open to suggestions, as long as it doesn't involve another pc.

 

Hey since got xbox 360 just recent Yes it will play xvid and divx mp4 you need download update from live it will play then video files outside of media center app on the xbox you go videos then push x to change source you can find on pc

Windows Media center extend on xbox will not play divx or xvid unless you rencode them

Sorry see already know that

I was only play divx xvid dolby does works if encode rip with that intact

it works supriseing good over wireless too if you ant try that
Let us know how work with home server

I go be setup one soon for myself

 

http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

Start from that page as it details all the limitations on video playback from the Xbox360. It says that streaming from Windows Home Server is only available for WMV and AVI (no MPEG4/H.264) but if you're going to reencode your own files, then it should be fine.

Picture quality is very good upscaled from SD to 720p (component). I have my files streaming from a PC with Windows Media Player 11 library sharing over a wireless connection (802.11g), and the file start playback quick without skipping.

Edit:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2781551&postcount=6

This is a post I made earlier on my experience with Xbox360 video playback.

 

So are you using WMV? How is the audio? What file size are you ending up with?

 

No, I mostly play divx/mpeg4 files. However, you can check out some WMV9 samples from Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

And I've tried them on the Xbox360 flawlessly. It seems like 720p files are around 50MB per minute, and that's about 6Mbps of video + audio.

Sadly, I don't have a surround setup and someone else with one will have to come here and share their experience.

Windows Media Encoder is a free download from Microsoft, and should convert to WMV pretty fast.

 

I just did the same thing. Here's what you do.

You basicaly have three methods to connect to your xbox 360, they are by Media Center, Windows Media Player 11, or Zune software. I tried them all, and had the best response with Windows Media Player 11.

Download and install the Media Player 11 from MicroSoft, then run the player, go to options, and select share library from the Library option.
On your xbox, go to your media tab, select music, pictures or video...select the x for change source and cursor down to PC connection.

Thats about it.

It really works great. Some videos, take awhile to migrate to the share net, others take awhile to load into your 360, your screen go's black while its loading...you'll ocasionally see the buffer bar having to pop up while it has to wait for your network to send the file.

I really like the music and picture feature...you can actually play a music file while also (pressing B) going back to load a picture or pictures on the same stream. The first night, I did this, I played with it for atleast 4 hours, till I ran out of media to look at. I noticed that the pictures are a bit less bright on the screen though.

 

I"ve got the surround sound optical cable hooked up. Videos that are WMV HD and have 5.1 audio, will play back with 5.1.....but all other media plays back as only stereo.

 

The XBox 360 will play back .avi and any divX file with .avi extension. The trick is to allow your xbox enough time to figure out that it needs the update.. and of course, you will need to have an XBOX Live connection to be abel to download the update. Unfortunately, most .mpg files wont play back on the XBOX. I did sucessfully play one of my .mpg files, I dont know if that was a fluke, or what, but it played. ( I'm thinking if your driver is installed on your PC for a particular media codec, it will migrate to your xbox, but hey, I might be holicinating this. )

 

Just more info, for you XBOX users. I tried a cheap mp3 player with a built in 20 gig drive installed on it, (which I use on my lap top as a ext drive as well) the XBOX would not recognize it as an ext. drive, where my PC does. But my 4Gig flash drive works great as a storage device, so I put some music on that flash drive and tried it on the xbox. Worked great.