# OT: XBOX 360 Rocks for .ts playback!!!



## overclkr

All I can say is WOW after spending the day setting up a MCE 2005 PC and extending it to my Xbox 360.


After reading around, I found that people were succesful in getting .ts playback on their 360's so I decided to give it a go myself today. I am stunned. This is by far the BEST .ts playback I have EVER seen from ANY device. Absolutely ROCK SOLID playback and the Colors and Gamma are AWESOME on my G70. The ONLY thing it doesn't do is pause so I cant get any screenshots!! Your only choice for pause is to stop and resume. The fast foward and rewind for .ts is superb as well.


I'm really digging this little 400 dollar machine so far big time. The graphics are outstanding and to add the fact that it can double as a HTPC really seals the deal big time.


If you guys have one, you gotta check it out for yourself. Kick ass is an understatement.


Here is some screens of Fight Night, a game coming out in the very near future to give you an idea of the graphics capability of the little guy.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=632580 


Cliff


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## linecircle

What kind of res and refresh options can you choose from? Or is it auto-select from source?


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## Ricardo Cruz

I'm curious about that too. Does it upscale DVDs too or are these locked to 480p?


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## overclkr

You can play back .ts files at 480P, 720P, or 1080i. It doesn't upscale DVD's though, but I could care less about that as my HTPC does that job. I'm just extatic though that .ts playback is PERFECT.


I could be wrong about the DVD thing though as I think that people are using simple tools to convert their existing DVD's to WMV format and playing them back at 720 or 1080 via the MCE extender. I'll have to do a search to find that thread.


Cliff


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## Joshua Snyder

How are the .ts files getting to the 360?


can they be on DVD media?


streaming from PC?


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## dokworm

It is such a turd that you have to run MCE though... or am I wrong on that front?


You only get 1080i via component though and not VGA?


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Joshua Snyder* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> How are the .ts files getting to the 360?
> 
> 
> can they be on DVD media?
> 
> 
> streaming from PC?



They stream from the MCE PC to the 360. I have a bizillion computers in my house so it's no problem to dedicate one. :^)


Cliff


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> It is such a turd that you have to run MCE though... or am I wrong on that front?
> 
> 
> You only get 1080i via component though and not VGA?



Yes you have to run MCE but the cool thing is you pretty much get the full functionality of the MCE PC on the 360. I do believe as well that they do have a VGA adapter available for it.


Cliff


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## dokworm

Yeah, the VGA cable is available, but it only puts out PC style resolutions as far as I know, (and [email protected] 60Hz I think) but not 1080i.

I'm hoping someone has one and can confirm


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## dokworm

I didn't expect the thing to play .ts files, that makes the 360 a whole lot more interesting...


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I didn't expect the thing to play .ts files, that makes the 360 a whole lot more interesting...



And damn does it play them well. Video output in my opinion is superb.


Cliff


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## darinp2

In my experience I also think the XBOX360 does a good job with these files, but I'm still hoping to get one of these Pixel Magic HD MediaBoxes in not too long.

http://www.pixelmagicsystems.com/pro...d_mediabox.htm 


They claim 1080p output, but I think that is probably with bob deinterlacing. Even so, for the price and simplicity, it could be a very nice solution for many people. And those who choose to could always run 1080i from it.


--Darin


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## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *darinp2* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> In my experience I also think the XBOX360 does a good job with these files, but I'm still hoping to get one of these Pixel Magic HD MediaBoxes in not too long.
> 
> http://www.pixelmagicsystems.com/pro...d_mediabox.htm
> 
> 
> They claim 1080p output, but I think that is probably with bob deinterlacing. Even so, for the price and simplicity, it could be a very nice solution for many people. And those who choose to could always run 1080i from it.
> 
> 
> --Darin



I've been waiting for that one, too...


Available in US in Feb 2006


MSRP:

MB100 HD Mediabox regular edition US$330

MB200 HD Mediabox audiophile edition US$420


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## Clarence

I don't follow the gaming world at all. I recall the low-quantity frenzy before the holidays.


Are Xbox 360's obtainable yet in regular retail outlets at or below MSRP?


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## dlhunt0410

Here a site that tracks the availability of the xbox360:

http://xbox.about.com/gi/dynamic/off...60/xbox360.php


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I don't follow the gaming world at all. I recall the low-quantity frenzy before the holidays.
> 
> 
> Are Xbox 360's obtainable yet in regular retail outlets at or below MSRP?



If I come down big dog, I'll be bringing it with me.










Cliff


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## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dlhunt0410* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Here a site that tracks the availability of the xbox360:
> 
> http://xbox.about.com/gi/dynamic/off...60/xbox360.php



Thanks. I took the about.com prefix off and it works better...
http://bensbargains.net/xbox360/xbox360.php 



> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *overclkr* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> If I come down big dog, I'll be bringing it with me.



Cool!


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## mtmelvin




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I've been waiting for that one, too...
> 
> 
> Available in US in Feb 2006
> 
> 
> MSRP:
> 
> MB100 HD Mediabox regular edition US$330
> 
> MB200 HD Mediabox audiophile edition US$420



Wow, that looks promising. And you can install an INTERNAL IDE hard drive in that? Cool! I've been looking for a solution that will work for me for .ts playback. I don't have a HTPC and am having trouble justifying building one for this purpose. The Xbox 360 seems cool, but you still need a media center PC? Bah. The Linkplayer/Snazio/etc products are cool but seem troublesome. If this thing doesn't require a PC then it may be just what I need.


I'm wondering about the video output formats, though. On the website it says "High Definition video file playback with HDMI output." Does that mean HD ONLY on HDMI? Is this going to be one of those boxes where the VGA only outputs PC resolutions?


I'm digging through their forum right now.


-Mark


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## Clarence

To prevent Cliff's OT topic from going further OT, I've posted my MediaBox notes in the "Digital Media Servers" forum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&post6954673


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## mtmelvin

Thanks Clarence!


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## dokworm

So what else does the xbox360 play?

wmv? mpg? vob? divx? mp3? flac?


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## darinp2




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> So what else does the xbox360 play?
> 
> wmv? mpg? vob? divx? mp3? flac?



I just played a WM9 version of the IMAX movie "Fighter Pilot - Operation Red Flag" tonight. It was on an MCE PC and the XBOX360 was playing it from the network. There were some audio glitches, but overall it was some great demo material IMO. Especially on a big screen. I think it is only something like 9.5Mbps and makes me pretty confident that HD-DVD and BluRay should be able to look very good with that type of material.


--Darin


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *darinp2* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I just played a WM9 version of the IMAX movie "Fighter Pilot - Operation Red Flag" tonight. It was on an MCE PC and the XBOX360 was playing it from the network. There were some audio glitches, but overall it was some great demo material IMO. Especially on a big screen. I think it is only something like 9.5Mbps and makes me pretty confident that HD-DVD and BluRay should be able to look very good with that type of material.
> 
> 
> --Darin



Darin,


How much memory is in your MCE box?? I noticed my box shoot up well past 1.6GB of memory usage when I was playing .ts over the network. The MCE box I have has only 1GB of ram. This plays a factor, although, I didn't have any hiccups at all so far with it. Playback has been perfect.


What do you think of the video output of the 360?? I am extremely impressed myself.


Cliff


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## darinp2




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *overclkr* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> How much memory is in your MCE box?? I noticed my box shoot up well past 1.6GB of memory usage when I was playing .ts over the network. The MCE box I have has only 1GB of ram. This plays a factor, although, I didn't have any hiccups at all so far with it. Playback has been perfect.



Thanks. I believe I have 1.25GB in there, but I'll take a look at what it is doing. I was having some issues playing back something else straight from the PC the other day, so maybe another problem has cropped up. One of the reasons I don't like using PCs for home theater stuff.


> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *overclkr* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> What do you think of the video output of the 360?? I am extremely impressed myself.



I'm pretty impressed to. I think it looks better than the Roku I've tried, but that one can do PAL movies which is a nice feature to have for some things. I'm also somewhat fortunate with the 1080i output of the XBOX360 that the projector should do the correct deinterlacing of that to 1080p.


--Darin


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## dokworm

I am just watching fighter pilot now, yeah it looks bloody amazing - I noticed the 9440Kb/s bitrate, and 1080P so I guess it should. If the xbox360 can play these back without glitches, then it gets very interesting.


At that bitrate, you would want your MCE machine and your network to be humming to get it to stream, I wonder if MS will let you bolt a 500GB drive onto the 360 at some future point...


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I am just watching fighter pilot now, yeah it looks bloody amazing - I noticed the 9440Kb/s bitrate, and 1080P so I guess it should. If the xbox360 can play these back without glitches, then it gets very interesting.
> 
> 
> At that bitrate, you would want your MCE machine and your network to be humming to get it to stream, I wonder if MS will let you bolt a 500GB drive onto the 360 at some future point...



I'm running Gigabit at my place.










Cliff


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## EricL

I thought the 360 only played WMVs even from a MCE? I must be missing something with mine...


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *EricL* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I thought the 360 only played WMVs even from a MCE? I must be missing something with mine...



If your .ts files will not play back, install WMP10 and HDTV Pump.


You can get HDTV Pump from here:

http://www.dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/ 


Cliff


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## Scotty6595

Ok, I must be doing something wrong. I have WMP10 installed and I installed HDTV pump and I cannot get my Xbox 360 to play the file. Can you give me any advice as to how you set this up to work for you? Did you just rename an mpg to a .ts file? Do you have to save this file in a special folder..... I'm just plain lost here!


Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks,


Scotty


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## overclkr

Scotty, could you tell me exactly what steps you are taking to try and get the 360 to see the .ts file??


Does it show up in your my video's folder on the 360?


Cliff


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## dokworm

I'm running gigabit too, but is the 360?


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I'm running gigabit too, but is the 360?



My best guess is it's 100 not Gig.


Cliff


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## Clarence

This site says Xbox 360 has 100, PS3 has gigabit:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_vs_ps3.asp 


Here's Microsoft's Media Center and Xbox 360 FAQ:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/m...er/mcefaq.mspx


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## dokworm

That is nuts, it wouldn't have cost them an extra 30 cents to go gigabit, but I guess 100MB if you have nothing else connected is fast enough, but jeez, that is a dud decision.


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## EricL




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I am just watching fighter pilot now, yeah it looks bloody amazing - I noticed the 9440Kb/s bitrate, and 1080P so I guess it should. If the xbox360 can play these back without glitches, then it gets very interesting..



Is that observed at the NIC? or a software bitrate showing? because if that is the software bitrate, then its after decompression. For instance, looking at National Treasure in 1080i, video bitrate is shown 38Mbs, but actual file bitrate is more like 2Mbs its a 1 hour movie taking up under 8gb, so you can easily do the math in reverse there, 8 gb is 8192Mb divided by 60 is 136.5 Mb per minute divided by 60 is 2.275 Mb per second. 9440Kb/second even sounds pretty high (for file wise) as that would be around 33gb per hour of movie... but it could be that much after decompression...


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## darinp2




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *EricL* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> 9440Kb/second even sounds pretty high (for file wise) as that would be around 33gb per hour of movie... but it could be that much after decompression...



33gb sounds bad, but 9.44Mbps comes out to about 4.2GB (bytes instead of bits) for an hour. I believe the file size was around there, but I would have to look.


--Darin


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## EricL

I can never remember how the capitalizing of the M or K or B affects it










But what I was trying to illustrate was that if you are only sending under 30 megabits worth of data per second 100 megabit networking is more than capable of that, and gigabit is fairly unnecessary anywhere except a switch uplink to backbone on a large network...


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *EricL* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I can never remember how the capitalizing of the M or K or B affects it
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But what I was trying to illustrate was that if you are only sending under 30 megabits worth of data per second 100 megabit networking is more than capable of that, and gigabit is fairly unnecessary anywhere except a switch uplink to backbone on a large network...



I would have to disagree with that. I would be pissed if my network was 100MB. Being at gigabit, large file transfer has REALLY speeded things up for me.


For HD though, the real world performance of 100MB is 60MB per second which FAR succeeds the needs.


Cliff


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## dokworm

erm, I think 100MBit is around 11Megabytes per second on a good linkup, and around 8 to 10 megabytes per second on systems that aren't so hot - with gigabit chipsets only costing cents more than 100MBit ones, it seems crazy to not to include gigabit on the 'next generation' machines.


Fighter pilot is just over 3.3GB and only runs for 48 minutes, so the rate of 9.44 sounds about right.


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## Mark_A_W

I stream WHVHD movies across a 100MBit network, no problems.


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## linecircle

Careful when you're calculating average bitrate....


You want peak bitrate when you compare with your network bandwidth.

A simple way is something like dumeter and watching network activity.


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## EricL

I stream 1080i .ts files on the 100mb all the time. Actually, just to babble some more about speeds







I don't believe there are many single hard drive setups capable of streaming over 100mbps... Forget about the peak speeds, sustained speeds aren't even close to that. for a single 7200 rpm drive sustained transfer rates in the 30-60 MB/s are the norm. And that still is "optimal" norm, so drive fragmentation and other things such as multitasking can really bring that down. But given my issue with remembering the difference in what capitalization means in those, i'm still not sure how that relates to NIC speeds.... True a RAID 0 or 5 array can be faster for reads. So I'm still not sure why on a local 4-5 machine home LAN you'd need gigabit.


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## linecircle

Communications devices measure in bits per second (usually bps). Storage measures in bytes (usually b/s). But you'll often see figures with wrong or confusing units. The conversion factor is 1byte=8bits, so if sounds wrong, multiply or divide by 8 and see if the number makes more sense.


The latest 7200rpm drives can sustain 40+ MB/s, but unfragmented and not multitasking. From my experience, fragmentation or multitasking or both brings a normally 40+ MB/s drive to 5 MB/s or less, and a lot of thrashing.


100mbps networks translate to 12.5 MB/s but are actually a bit slower in reality.


With the HD material currently available, they both can handle it.


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## dokworm

Yeah, 100Mbit network can handle current HD, but drop your compression down, or want to transfer wads of data and you run out of headroom, my point was just that gigabit really doesn't cost an important amount more, so why not put it in.


There is a lot of confusing numbers here, when transferring files, my drives deliver a sustained 25 MegaBytes per second, fragmented or not (although my drives aren't badly fragmented, they get a defrag about once a fortnight), the best I get out of 100Mbit networks is around 11MegaBytes per second, but is usually around 9 or 10. (not 60 as quoted earlier!)


So my single drives deliver over twice the speed of 100Mbit networks, so it becomes a bottleneck when transferring, or when more than 2 machines are doing stuff on the network.


When I had the raid up and running, I got a sustained 40MegaBytes per second, pretty much no matter what ( they weren't raided for speed, just to get a large 'virtual single drive', but the speed increase wqas a bonus), which is 4x the speed of the 100Mbit network.


In short, a 100Mbit network is way slower than current hard drives, Gigabit isn't 10x faster as you would expect, but is typically well over twice as quick as 100Mbit, so is far less a bottleneck when messing with large lumps of data like HD movies, and moving them around.


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## Clarence

Secrets DVD benchmark

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...60 (Component)


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## docchak

I just want to put my 2 cents, I just tried my luck last night, I used to have to convert .ts to mpeg2 first, which is very erratic some conversion played and some won't, beat the hell out of me, I tried installing HDTV pump, this little program really makes xbox 360 shines, it recognizes and play .ts files all of them witout conversion.No, it will not show up in the xbox video list, you have to use mce2005 extender function, it will show up in your my video menu. After the HDTV pump it still could not play mpeg2 that was converted from .ts but who cares?


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## mtmelvin

Hey guys. I'm glad to see this thread in the CRT forum, even if it is OT. Maybe someone can help me out.


I've been looking for a solution to play .ts files on my CRT pj(s) and I had been considering the xbox 360. But since they're still pretty hard to get I hadn't bought one yet. Well yesterday I just happened to be in Tokyo, Japan and they've got them all over there so I decided to buy one. Duty free!










Now, I'm not all that PC savvy and I've been using a Mac at home for a year or so. So, I don't even own a PC but I figure I need one now









I'd like to do this "on the cheap" by using an older or hand-me-down PC if I can. In this scenario what is decoding the video files? The PC or the Xbox?

I guess what I'm wondering is what should the requirements (hardware and software) be for this PC? I don't really need a full blown HTPC, right?

Will I need a hub or switch to connect the PC to the Xbox? Or can they connect directly?

What other files will the Xbox be able to play? avi? mkv?

These are dumb questions, I know, and I'll greatly appreciate any patient advice on this.


Also, links to other forum threads are also appreciated. I read this forum almost exclusively but I'm digging through the Digital Media Servers forum right now. Not finding too much...


Thanks guys.


-Mark


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## linecircle

mtmelvin/Mark


I'm wondering why you would have .ts files to play if you don't already have an htpc? If they came from some device, couldn't that device output to the pj?


I learned that the Snazio, a standalone device, can play .ts. Then you wouldn't need a htpc. Unfortunately, to use the xbox as a media extender, you need a htpc. But because the xbox decodes it, you don't need as powerful a pc as you would if your htpc played the .ts to the pj.


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## Genocide1

Ok i scored 3 xbox 360 premiums yesterday. And i have to agree it plays .ts files pretty darn well. It also plays 1080p WMV_HD smoothly as well. The limiting factor is as for now it has to be served from a windows media center pc and no DVI/hdmi. Playing through a video card via overlay or vmr gives much sharper results. The colors are a bit washed out on the xbox but still very promising as im sure it will only get better as time progresses. DVD quality is pretty crappy so skip it as a dvd player.










Graphically doesnt come close to my main gaming machine (Intel dual core/7800gtx sli x2) but it didnt cost near as much either.


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## Clarence

Cool. I'll post a trade offer in the AVS Marketplace to see if anyone's interested in my 6pgx or 9pg in exchange for a x360.


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## mtmelvin




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *linecircle* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> mtmelvin/Mark
> 
> 
> I'm wondering why you would have .ts files to play if you don't already have an htpc? If they came from some device, couldn't that device output to the pj?
> 
> 
> I learned that the Snazio, a standalone device, can play .ts. Then you wouldn't need a htpc. Unfortunately, to use the xbox as a media extender, you need a htpc. But because the xbox decodes it, you don't need as powerful a pc as you would if your htpc played the .ts to the pj.



That's a reasonable question. I suppose that some people are dowloading HD movies via the internet. But I'm not saying that I would do that... that might be considered ILLEGAL.


I'm aware of the Snazio, Linkplayer, Buffalo, and a couple of others I can't remember. I decided not to go that route because those devices seem to be troublesome from what I've read. Plus I'm looking for "rock solid" performance as overclkr described.


So I need a "HTPC Lite?" That's cool.









Would anyone care to expand on what should be required of my Diet HTPC? Can I get away with a P3? I need Windows XP MCE? I've read that can be hard to get without purchasing a computer and/or a substantial piece of hardware. True?


Thanks for the help!


-Mark


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## RVonse




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *overclkr* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> All I can say is WOW after spending the day setting up a MCE 2005 PC and extending it to my Xbox 360.
> 
> 
> Cliff



I fail to see the point of this although I must confess I am very ignorant about the Xbox 360. Why is it even needed if there is already a PC involved? Why not just install a free sample of fusion software on the PC and playback ts files directly? Are you trying to get around paying for a video card by using the Xbox?


I just don't get it.


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## linecircle

Actual users will know much better, but I suppose a pc that can stream content off it's hard drive and through the network fast enough will do. Its cpu and video hardware capabilities can be practically nil. The requirements for XP MCE might put a lower bound on cpu and ram. I don't know this for a fact; I am only speculating what makes sense to me.


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## EricL




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Genocide1* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Graphically doesnt come close to my main gaming machine (Intel dual core/7800gtx sli x2) but it didnt cost near as much either.



In what way is the main machine better? and what are you playing on display device wise? I mean since you can go to 1920x1080i on the xbox, I can't see what could be so much better on the pc. All the reviews i've read as well say that for instance using Call of Duty 2 there isn't a noticeable visual difference between the xbox + pc with similar specs as to what you are mentioning.


BTW, i've had a 360 since launch day, so i've been using it a while and am pretty happy other than the occasional overheating.


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## mtmelvin




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *RVonse* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I fail to see the point of this although I must confess I am very ignorant about the Xbox 360. Why is it even needed if there is already a PC involved? Why not just install a free sample of fusion software on the PC and playback ts files directly? Are you trying to get around paying for a video card by using the Xbox?
> 
> 
> I just don't get it.



I think that what you gain is reliability and stable performance. At least that's what I hope that you gain...


Plus it has a cool user interface. And it also removes the burden of processing from the PC. Hopefully for me this means that I can get away with an older machine and a good hard drive. I'd still like to hear more on this though.


-Mark


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## EricL




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *RVonse* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I fail to see the point of this although I must confess I am very ignorant about the Xbox 360. Why is it even needed if there is already a PC involved? Why not just install a free sample of fusion software on the PC and playback ts files directly? Are you trying to get around paying for a video card by using the Xbox?
> 
> 
> I just don't get it.




Well, a good MCE machine probably costs around $1000. an xbox core costs $299.... If you think too about having 2 or 3 HDTVs in the house, having just one run via the MCE, and the others by a 360, it makes some sense. Plus theres no worrying about viruses, etc that way either.


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## dokworm

I just tried playing back XVids at 720P on the XBOX1 (i.e. original xbox) and much to my surprise they play back just fine of the internal hard drive. Neat.


Now I just gotta work out why Total Recall WMVHD plays back with the colour completely screwed on my actual PC!


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## Clarence

Costco had the XBox360 kits in stock today so I picked one up... came with 2 wireless controllers, recharger, hard drive, component cable, and a racing game.


Looks pretty sweet.


I don't have Media Center 2005 on my HTPC, so that's my next project.


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Costco had the XBox360 kits in stock today so I picked one up... came with 2 wireless controllers, recharger, hard drive, component cable, and a racing game.
> 
> 
> Looks pretty sweet.
> 
> 
> I don't have Media Center 2005 on my HTPC, so that's my next project.



Congrats dude!!!!


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## Z-Photo

Nice-


----five days after I leave ----


I am going to have to think about that a little...


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## dokworm

There is some very useful stuff re streaming all sorts of media to the xbox360, and how to get stutter free HD playback over wireless over at www.xbox-scene.com .

It looks like people are working on ways to get it to stream from non-MCE machines as well as from OSX.


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## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> There is some very useful stuff re streaming all sorts of media to the xbox360, and how to get stutter free HD playback over wireless over at www.xbox-scene.com .
> 
> It looks like people are working on ways to get it to stream from non-MCE machines as well as from OSX.



The 360 is a damn fine HD playback device. I'm glad to plunk down only 150 bucks to get the HD DVD drive for it.


What a bargain.


Cliff


----------



## mtmelvin

I've finally got my 360 streaming HD from my PC, which I basically had to rebuild. To answer my own question from a couple weeks ago, RAM is important for this to work well. The PC needs a decent amount of RAM. I had to upgrade my old motherboard to do it and now I've got 1Gb of RAM with one empty slot. I'll probably add another gig of ram later because I still get the occasional "Network Congestion" error when I try to fast forward.


Anyway, Cliff is right, the playback is very solid and it looks great. I've got "My Movies" running on the PC to help organize the titles. It's a plugin for Media Center, I guess, and it displays all your titles with cover art and information that is automatically downloaded from imdb.com or amazon.com. It's very slick.


Thanks again for your help, Cliff.



-Mark


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *mtmelvin* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I've finally got my 360 streaming HD from my PC, which I basically had to rebuild. To answer my own question from a couple weeks ago, RAM is important for this to work well. The PC needs a decent amount of RAM. I had to upgrade my old motherboard to do it and now I've got 1Gb of RAM with one empty slot. I'll probably add another gig of ram later because I still get the occasional "Network Congestion" error when I try to fast forward.
> 
> 
> Anyway, Cliff is right, the playback is very solid and it looks great. I've got "My Movies" running on the PC to help organize the titles. It's a plugin for Media Center, I guess, and it displays all your titles with cover art and information that is automatically downloaded from imdb.com or amazon.com. It's very slick.
> 
> 
> Thanks again for your help, Cliff.
> 
> 
> 
> -Mark



Your welcome Mark. Glad you like it.










Cliff


----------



## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *mtmelvin* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I've finally got my 360 streaming HD from my PC, which I basically had to rebuild. To answer my own question from a couple weeks ago, RAM is important for this to work well. The PC needs a decent amount of RAM. I had to upgrade my old motherboard to do it and now I've got 1Gb of RAM with one empty slot. I'll probably add another gig of ram later because I still get the occasional "Network Congestion" error when I try to fast forward.



Yep, when Cliff brought his 360 and MCE2005 to my place, we got the congestion error quite a bit when we'd ffwd through multiple files. I think he had 1Gb RAM or 1.5Gb.


I'm about to order a new PC with MCE2005 and I plan on starting with 2Gb. 1Gb might be enough if you just clicked play on a single movie and didn't try to navigate around too much.


I connected my 360 with my current PCs, but they're only XP-SP2 and XP MCE (the old version, before 2005). Until I get MCE2005, I'm only able to share photos and music... no video.


----------



## EricL

You know clarence, the manufacturer does have upgrade discs for the older MCE boxes. I have an HP (can't recall the model), and got a dvd of their manufacturer specfic MCE2005 upgrade. just ran it over the weekend, still haven't tried it via the xbox 360 yet.


----------



## Clarence


























I shopped online all weekend for a MCE2005 PC, but then I got too impatient to wait 2 weeks for Dell to deliver, so on the way home from work I stopped at BB and bought the cheapest MCE2005 box they had... $500 with 15" LCD monitor, 200Gb SATA, 1Gb RAM, DVDRW DL lightscribe... this HP is TINY... about the same size as the Xbox. And quiet! I don't even think it has a fan!


Anyways, I did http://www.xbox.com/pcsetup then called Cliff to figure out how to share .ts files from the PC:

install hdtvpump from http://www.dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/ 

then click My Videos... blue X on the xbox controller... Add Videos... Add folders.


Bottom line... cheap-ass 1.6GHz celeron







with onboard video chipset







... flawless HD playback to xbox360














... Every movie accessible by clicking the trigger on the xbox wireless controller.

Smoother playback than tt2, mpc, zpp, vlc, etc. SWEET!


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I shopped online all weekend for a MCE2005 PC, but then I got too impatient to wait 2 weeks for Dell to deliver, so on the way home from work I stopped at BB and bought the cheapest MCE2005 box they had... $500 with 15" LCD monitor, 200Gb SATA, 1Gb RAM, DVDRW DL lightscribe... this HP is TINY... about the same size as the Xbox. And quiet! I don't even think it has a fan!
> 
> 
> Anyways, I did http://www.xbox.com/pcsetup then called Cliff to figure out how to share .ts files from the PC:
> 
> install hdtvpump from http://www.dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/
> 
> then click My Videos... blue X on the xbox controller... Add Videos... Add folders.
> 
> 
> Bottom line... cheap-ass 1.6GHz celeron
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> with onboard video chipset
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ... flawless HD playback to xbox360
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ... Every movie accessible by clicking the trigger on the xbox wireless controller.
> 
> Smoother playback than tt2, mpc, zpp, vlc, etc. SWEET!



























Cliffy


----------



## mtmelvin




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I shopped online all weekend for a MCE2005 PC, but then I got too impatient to wait 2 weeks for Dell to deliver, so on the way home from work I stopped at BB and bought the cheapest MCE2005 box they had... $500 with 15" LCD monitor, 200Gb SATA, 1Gb RAM, DVDRW DL lightscribe... this HP is TINY... about the same size as the Xbox. And quiet! I don't even think it has a fan!
> 
> 
> Anyways, I did http://www.xbox.com/pcsetup then called Cliff to figure out how to share .ts files from the PC:
> 
> install hdtvpump from http://www.dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/
> 
> then click My Videos... blue X on the xbox controller... Add Videos... Add folders.
> 
> 
> Bottom line... cheap-ass 1.6GHz celeron
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> with onboard video chipset
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ... flawless HD playback to xbox360
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ... Every movie accessible by clicking the trigger on the xbox wireless controller.
> 
> Smoother playback than tt2, mpc, zpp, vlc, etc. SWEET!



THAT is exactly what I should have done. I spent more $$ than that just on parts









But my HD is 500 Gb









And my monitor is a free 21" CRT










Good for you Clarence. It really is a sweet thing once you get it working. Are you using "My Movies?" If not you should check it out. It's a free plugin for MCE:
http://www.mymovies.name/ 


-Mark


----------



## emdawgz1

So, lemme get this straight. You're streaming HD files from your HTPC thru the XBOX360 to the PJ and it's better that htpc to pj???



How, why, who???


----------



## Clarence

Yes. The MCE2005 PC is only used as a streaming server, so it doesn't matter what video card the PC has. The Xbox360 is doing all the decoding and video processing... and it must have some pretty good video horsepower.


What I haven't figured out is why MCE is such a RAM hog.


----------



## dokworm

That is the whole point of using the 360, for less than the cost of a really high end graphics card you can use it as the delivery mechanism to your PJ.


So your PC might have a graphics card that is hopeless, and a slow processor but it doesn't matter as it really just becomes a big hard drive for the Xbox360.


The XBOX360 effectively has ATIs flagship graphics card on board, as well as a beefy processor, so it can deliver excellent video quality at hidef resolution in its sleep.


The MCE PC can be a piece of junk as long as it has lots of RAM and a big hard drive.


Yeah, there is no reason why 2GB of RAM should be required, MS is known for bloat, but why that level of memory is required is beyond me.

Also the fact that MS forces MCE to be on the PC smacks of anticompetitive behaviour to me, my guess is that it would work with Vista as well but who knows.


At any rate though, if you can get an MCE running on a PC, the XBOX360 becomes a really nice interface to your PJ to watch content, and you get a capable games machine thrown in for free


----------



## dokworm

OH yeah, if you don't have a transcoder microsoft sell a VGA output cable for the 360 as well.


----------



## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> OH yeah, if you don't have a transcoder microsoft sells a VGA output cable for the 360 as well.



I was looking at that cable last week after seeing Cliff's x360:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360vgahdcable 

But it only says _"DB-15S Standard VGA Connector

Standard and High-definition gaming output in the following VGA formats:

640 x 480, 848x480, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 720, 1280 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and 1360 x 768"_


Since I'm using a HDLeeza to deinterlace 1080i component to 1080p, I'd be curious to see how it compares to 1280x1024 directly.


The other thing I don't understand is why some games say 720p on the back, but others say 480p/1080i/720p.


The Gotham Racing game that came with my X360 only says 720p, but I'm running my xbox at 1080i.


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I was looking at that cable last week after seeing Cliff's x360:
> http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360vgahdcable
> 
> But it only says _"DB-15S Standard VGA Connector
> 
> Standard and High-definition gaming output in the following VGA formats:
> 
> 640 x 480, 848x480, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 720, 1280 x 768, 1280 x 1024, and 1360 x 768"_
> 
> 
> Since I'm using a HDLeeza to deinterlace 1080i component to 1080p, I'd be curious to see how it compares to 1280x1024 directly.
> 
> 
> The other thing I don't understand is why some games say 720p on the back, but others say 480p/1080i/720p.
> 
> 
> The Gotham Racing game that came with my X360 only says 720p, but I'm running my xbox at 1080i.



Big dog,


1280X1024 is not going to be enough for the G90.










You need 1080P.


Cliff


----------



## EricL

Ah Clarence, the VGA out only does up to 720p. The component cables do 1080i though. Thank heavens for moome's cards


----------



## Clarence

We could see crisp scanlines at ~6' at 1024p on my G90, but I don't think you'd see them from 12'+.


But I'll be running everything at 1080p anyways, so I'll be sticking with the component cable. The VGA cable will just be a fun test.


----------



## Mark_A_W

Is it just me...or does it strike anyone as COMPLETELY STUPID that you need a MCE PC to stream from?


I mean, if you have a MCE PC, then you don't need an Xbox360, and vice versa. They do not compliment, they compete.


If you want an Xbox360, you are more likely to have a normal PC running XP in another room. XP is what it should stream from.


----------



## EricL

Its just you










I've got multiple home entertainment PCs in the house, one in the bedroom (the only true MCE 2005 one), one in the living room that mostly is used to control the cd changers, and one in the projector room that is actually the fastest PC in the house (for good HD playback and scaling). It would have been nice not to have needed to put one in the projector room and just use the 360 for that, would have saved me $700 or so.


I think its part of microsoft's not too often stated idea that you would have 1 media server in the house (as an MCE machine) and have extender devices on all your other viewing equipment so that you can enjoy all your media in all your viewing environments.


----------



## dokworm

Oh agreed that it should work from XP, and as soon as it is released here I'll be putting in an ACCC form for what its worth (it worked with vodaphone!)

It is a purely artificial restriction to help push MCE and perhaps to pay lip service to some content providers concerns as far as I can tell. It appears to me just ot be part of the strategy to have MS 'own' your living room. If they made it work with XP it would be pretty easy to make it work with any OS (which is what is should do)


But, all the same, even if you have an MCE machine, you still may be attracted to the XB360 as your MCE machine may not be capable of stutter free HD playback without spending more money on upgrades and a lot of 'tweaking around'


If you have to upgrade your graphics card and CPU, and buy software to get the playback right, then an XB360 starts to look cheap, especially if you wouldn't mind one for gaming anyway.


----------



## dokworm




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> We could see crisp scanlines at ~6' at 1024p on my G90, but I don't think you'd see them from 12'+.
> 
> 
> But I'll be running everything at 1080p anyways, so I'll be sticking with the component cable. The VGA cable will just be a fun test.



Yeah you don't get 1080i with the VGA cable, but it is a cheap and easy option to get native 720P support and lower. For most people that means an easy high quality VGA connection to their CRT projectors at 720P (or a lower resolution if you have a lower end PJ).


Not sure about the branding of 720P etc. on the games. I know a lot of developers have the game run at 720P native and then use the XBOX to scale the output up or down from there, which is an odd way of doing things.

So it will be interesting to compare 720P to 1080i from the xbox and see what looks better. I'm guessing some games will look better (less artifacts anyway) at 720P than 1080i.


----------



## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Mark_A_W* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Is it just me...or does it strike anyone as COMPLETELY STUPID that you need a MCE PC to stream from?
> 
> 
> I mean, if you have a MCE PC, then you don't need an Xbox360, and vice versa. They do not compliment, they compete.
> 
> 
> If you want an Xbox360, you are more likely to have a normal PC running XP in another room. XP is what it should stream from.



To add insult to injury, I already had 5 PCs at home with XP







, including one with MCE! But it was last year's MCE, not MCE2005. With XPSP2 or MCE-pre-2005 you can only share photos and music to the x360. And they don't sell MCE2005 by itself, only with a new PC. Thus I willingly bought a 6th PC. I guess that's why they're millionaires.


----------



## dokworm

I can't believe you didn't get the upgrade disc instead, but $500 for the PC you mentioned seems like a deal anyway.


So do you have a rule of making sure you have as many PCs as projectors?


----------



## Clarence

One in my office, one in my wife's office, one for my boys, one in the HT equipment closet (now 2), and my laptop.


Plus a Mac G4, but dang that thing's frustrating.


But yeah, $500 for the new PC isn't bad at all, especially since it's so small and quiet and fits the need.


I gave my wife the 15" LCD for Valentine's Day this morning.


----------



## GEBrown




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> . . . .
> 
> 
> I gave my wife the 15" LCD for Valentine's Day this morning.



LCD = Long Clarence Dong?????


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *GEBrown* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> LCD = Long Clarence Dong?????



LMFGAQWTWFAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (in short, LOL!!!!!)










Cliff


----------



## Clarence

We're watching our first DVD on it now...

"Wayne's World"... I haven't seen this movie in a long time... it's still funny.


Anyways, it looks pretty dang good...

"Camera 1... Camera 2... Camera 1... Camera 2..."


Cliff, do you know if the Xbox360 upscales DVDs to the same chosen resolution from the initial gaming setup? Regardless, it's then going through my HD Leeza to 1080p. Supposedly it's best to feed the Leeza as 480i so it doesn't get double processed. But I don't think many/any DVD players output 480i over component, but I'll have to search to see if the X360 gives 480p or upscales to 720p/1080i.


On another tangent, I was suprised that so many old xbox games don't play on the 360:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/back...ygameslist.htm 

My son borrowed a few from a friend and half of them don't work on the new system, even after the xbox live updates.


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> We're watching our first DVD on it now...
> 
> "Wayne's World"... I haven't seen this movie in a long time... it's still funny.
> 
> 
> Anyways, it looks pretty dang good...
> 
> "Camera 1... Camera 2... Camera 1... Camera 2..."
> 
> 
> Cliff, do you know if the Xbox360 upscales DVDs to the same chosen resolution from the initial gaming setup? Regardless, it's then going through my HD Leeza to 1080p. Supposedly it's best to feed the Leeza as 480i so it doesn't get double processed. But I don't think many/any DVD players output 480i over component, but I'll have to search to see if the X360 gives 480p or upscales to 720p/1080i.
> 
> 
> On another tangent, I was suprised that so many old xbox games don't play on the 360:
> http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/back...ygameslist.htm
> 
> My son borrowed a few from a friend and half of them don't work on the new system, even after the xbox live updates.



To the best of my knowledge, the 360 only does 480P with DVD. I guess though, you would have to judge how it looks to you via "double processing". I'd bet that it would be fine.


Dido on the old games. I've been trying to get fight night to run but it just keeps locking up. I really dont like the "emulation" of the original Xbox games very much though anyway as it looks really washed out. It's a horrible emulator. This is why I have the original Xbox with the 200GB HD loaded up with a ton of games.










Now I bet that would look damn good through a scaler!


Cliff


----------



## dokworm

Have you got the HD kit for the original xbox? The 720P games look pretty good even on the original xbox, and it at leasts lets you get 480P instead of 480i.


I wonder how the 360 will handle the whole HDCP debacle down the track with either a pluging HD-DVD player or streaming from a MCE PC, either way sounds like it will be 'interesting'


----------



## Stryker412

Sorry to bump an old thread but was curious how things are going with people streaming off the 360? I might consider picking up MCE2005.


----------



## GlenF

I have a friend who is streaming everything ot his LCD TV from MCE to his xbox. It seems to work really well, but he is also using some free app to convert all the different video types on the fly. It looked pretty seemless though, and the quality was very good. With any luck they will release the HD-DVD add on at a decent price, then it will be a useful piece of equipment all round.


----------



## Stryker412

I definitely have to check this out. I might just have to turn my PC into a HTPC and dump all the useless crap Comcast makes me get.


----------



## edfowler

there shouldn't be any reason why a laptop could not be used instead of a box pc should there?


A laptop (with a few 500 gig external hard drives networked to a 360 and then run thru a vp30) would be a cool interface I think.


----------



## EricL

it just needs to be media center 2005 as OS. so a laptop is fine (with fast enough cpu to do the transcode on the fly)


----------



## edfowler

what cpu would be min. and what would be suggested-preferable?


----------



## bomrat

2.5ghz and higher should do. but for smooth playback try to get 2gb ram


----------



## EricL

yeah, i'd say even a little higher than that, maybe 2.8 or higher. my 2.6 ghz machine is iffy on a 1080i ts file with dolby 5.1 sound just playing it back, not transcoding + sending.


----------



## mtmelvin

I beg to differ.

I'm using a 1.6 GHz PC to stream 1080i .ts files to my Xbox 360 and it works just fine. With 1 gig of ram I had perfect playback. However I upgraded to 2 gigs because I couldn't really fast-forward or rewind very well. Now it's working fairly reliably.


Playback, however, has always been smooth. Getting the darn thing to connect was the tricky part.


-Mark


----------



## EricL

hmm I thought that even with .ts files more of the decoding was being done on the pc side than the xbox 360 side. I don't really know for sure, since I haven't used that mechanism to playback videos (i've got a 3.4ghz machine with a good video card in the movie room, and I use that to playback .ts files)


----------



## YONEXSP

One update, seems you don;t need MCE to stream to the XBOX anymore, just XP with SP2


----------



## edfowler

sounds like I should return the NVidia 7800 I got for the Sempron 2.2 and just spend a couple hunded more for the XBox?


1.25 gigs and the NVidia are producing smooth .ts playback now, but the xbox looks really good in the stores and I got to wonder if it wouldn't be an improvement in video quality.


----------



## mtmelvin

YONEXSP, could you perhaps provide a link that supports this claim? I just did a quick check in the Xbox forums and I didn't see anything that said MCE is no longer required. This would be very big news if it were true.

Even bigger news (for me) would be an OSX app that would allow video streaming to the Xbox 360. It'll happen eventually...


Ed, I can't comment on the quality of the Xbox vs. a good HTPC, but Clarence and Cliff have both claimed that the Xbox offers both better picture and performance. That's good enough for me... or at least it SHOULD be.

Just for fun I tried to hook up my PC to my G70. The HD looks so good on my 21" CRT monitor that I just wanted to see what it looks like on the PJ. I've never been into the whole HTPC thing so this proved challenging for me. I didn't really have the patience for it that day. Maybe another time










I recommend the 360. It's good fun.


-Mark


----------



## GlenF

I dunno, but it looks to me like the 360 does all the hard work, I saw it running off an MCE box at 1.5GHz and a really crap 440MX card. The image output from the 360 looked stunning.


I can't find any official or unofficial mention of being able to use XP for anything 'cept audio and photos. MS has said that XP support may be happening in the future, but haven't committed to it.


As a DVD player, it looked good to me, but it only does straight progressive not scaling, which is nuts as the 360 has the juice to do scaling with one hand behind its back.


----------



## adzan




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *YONEXSP* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> One update, seems you don;t need MCE to stream to the XBOX anymore, just XP with SP2



Are you sure? And this is for the 360? Not the old Xbox?


I've been waiting for this as I don't want to add another PC just for WMCE.


...


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *mtmelvin* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> 
> Clarence and Cliff have both claimed that the Xbox offers both better picture and performance.
> 
> 
> -Mark



Mark,


I would say that the 360 offers by far at least 70% better performance of .ts playback over any X86 computer on the market right now. The problem is in the code that the players that are out for the PC is not up to snuff.


For what ever reason (thank you MS, jeesh, I never thought I would say that), decided to optimize the code to be able to play back .ts flawless.


As far as picture, any high end graphics card from the last two years has the ability to offer as good as a picture. Only problem is the non ability to be able to 100% rock out on all .ts files vs. the PC.


MS definitely has a winner on their hands. I cant wait until the external HD DVD drive is released as I'm just as confident with the ability of the unit to do flawless HD DVD playback.


Cliff


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *GlenF* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I dunno, but it looks to me like the 360 does all the hard work, I saw it running off an MCE box at 1.5GHz and a really crap 440MX card. The image output from the 360 looked stunning.
> 
> 
> I can't find any official or unofficial mention of being able to use XP for anything 'cept audio and photos. MS has said that XP support may be happening in the future, but haven't committed to it.
> 
> 
> As a DVD player, it looked good to me, but it only does straight progressive not scaling, which is nuts as the 360 has the juice to do scaling with one hand behind its back.



Glen,


The MCE box is doing the "processing" and the 360 is doing the "encoding". It's that simple.


If you monitor your PC that is streaming to the 360, you will notice during playback that the ram jumps up to all hell. It's basically a combined effort that is well worth it.


Cliff


----------



## Mark_A_W

How do you mean "better" Cliff? And compared to what on the PC?


More detail?


Smoother motion?


Because on the PC you CANNOT just set the video card to 72hz, install Theatertek and watch. With this setup you will find that many film based TS files are jerky, as they are badly flagged/encoded at 29.97fps material. This is not TS file playback as good as a PC can do..and don't start me on watching film at 60hz...yuck...


To really get smooth playback, you need to use ZoomPlayer with the Unofficial Dscaler 1080i version with 3:2 pulldown detection. This will "see through" the 29.97fps encode and get the 23.976fps base rate out.

Then you set the refresh rate to 71.928hz using the reclock reported refresh rate - not the display drivers/powerstrip rate (this works best for me anyway).


Mmm....smooth motion. At 1080i 71.928hz it just looks fantastic.


The Dscaler decoder looks better than TT IMO as well.


Mark


----------



## GlenF

Woah, sounds complex.

That dscaler pulldown sounds great though.

I'm gonna borrow the 360 and have a play and see how smooth the playback is. My Worry is the refresh rate, I'm pretty sure it will be either 60 or 50Hz, and I can't watch NTSC stuff at 60Hz, the juddering for films is just yuk. Maybe if you watched it since birth you don't notice it, but I hate it.

The 25fps speedup doesn't worry me as much, but I was vainly hoping that HD-DVD would be a native multiple of 24fps. If the whole world would have just settled on 72Hz for hidef then we could all have been happy.


----------



## TorelliTom

Is it possible to stream videos to the 360 from an external HD connected to a media edition pc? I have a 400gb firewire drive that I would like to use for storage, as my laptop only has 100gb. ...and well my dvr has more than that










The only files I can get to show up in media center are the ones in 'my videos' Is there a way around this?



Thanks.


----------



## Gino AUS

You need to setup MCE to be able to see your external HD, then when you use the X360, it will also be able to see it. Exactly how I've got mine setup now. 4 External 500GB hard drives RAID 0 connected via USB to laptop with MCE05 streaming .ts to X360, then outputting 1080i (and soon to be deinterlaced by VP50)


----------



## EricL

Being a little more specific, inside your "My Videos" folder, you need to create a shortcut to the external drive


----------



## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *EricL* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Being a little more specific, inside your "My Videos" folder, you need to create a shortcut to the external drive



Being a little more specific, see post #67 above...
_"Anyways, I did http://www.xbox.com/pcsetup then called Cliff to figure out how to share .ts files from the PC:

install hdtvpump from http://www.dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/ 

then *click My Videos... blue X on the xbox controller... Add Videos... Add folders*."_


Another tip that's really cool, my USB2 ports always assign the same drive letter, even if different external drives are connected. So I've shared F: G: H: and I: and I can connect any of dozens of external drives to those 4 USB ports and never have to mess with changing settings.


----------



## EricL

Hmm i never noticed that, I just always had the "movies" folder on my machine with the 1tb of drives shortcutted that way on the MCE machine. Handy Clarence!


----------



## EricL

Has anyone worked out how to reasonably stream xvid or other AVI content without transcoding? my MCE is a 2.8ghz with either 256mb or 512mb, I can't recall offhand, but I think it would kind of suck for transcoding on the fly.


----------



## GlenF

The 'transcoding' that is happenning is minimal. It is really only putting it in a wrapper. Even a 1.8GHz machine works just fine, so don't worry about it. Worst case get another 512MB of ram for $40.


I'm hoping the 1080P update for the xbox360 with VGA cable will work well with .ts files as well. They have already said it will do 1080P with the HD-DVD add on.


----------



## dokworm

At least the 360 was designed to be upgradeable!



> Quote:
> Someone in the Microsoft Vista Media Center team has reported that the XBOX 360 will be able to playback VC-1 video soon:
> 
> "Yep - we're enabling VC-1 streaming to Xbox 360; it's turned off in the build you have now, but it will be turned on for release."
> 
> 
> Could the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec be also already included in the console? VC-1 and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC are both mandatory for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray... so if the HD-DVD drive is available at the end of November then both video format should be playable on the Xbox 360 at that time.
> 
> 
> Let hope that Microsoft will allow streaming of both format to the 360 extender when Vista is released


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> At least the 360 was designed to be upgradeable!



One of the beauties that the BD fanboys will never have that HD DVD will give to us is managed copy. Blow it to your HD and put the damn disc on the shelf away from your grubby little rugrats!


This is one of the TOP reasons I favor HD DVD over BD.


Cliff


----------



## dokworm

I didn't even realise that was the case.

I'm really hoping that as part of the '1080P' thing MS will allow the xbox360 to be set to a refresh rate to match the source for judder free playback.


----------



## overclkr




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I didn't even realise that was the case.
> 
> I'm really hoping that as part of the '1080P' thing MS will allow the xbox360 to be set to a refresh rate to match the source for judder free playback.



Yep, that would be a great addition and the 360 is MORE than capable of it.


Cliff


----------



## Dakomo

could anybody of you test via WMP11 if the .ts works? im on winxp pro, but on old ass router. so i can't test out the possibility of playing .ts files yet.....


----------



## dokworm

playback of .ts files doesn't work under wmp11 - wmv is working fine. WMV also works straight off DVD or usb hard drive etc.


We will have to wait for one of the transcode authors to write the wrapper for WMP11 - it shouldn't take too long.


----------



## antorsae




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *overclkr* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> One of the beauties that the BD fanboys will never have that HD DVD will give to us is managed copy. Blow it to your HD and put the damn disc on the shelf away from your grubby little rugrats!
> 
> 
> This is one of the TOP reasons I favor HD DVD over BD.
> 
> 
> Cliff



Is that possible TODAY?


----------



## EricL

it doesn't, only wmv files. same off of usb devices as well.


----------



## Rakesh.S




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> playback of .ts files doesn't work under wmp11 - wmv is working fine. WMV also works straight off DVD or usb hard drive etc.
> 
> 
> We will have to wait for one of the transcode authors to write the wrapper for WMP11 - it shouldn't take too long.



Has there been an update to get it to work with wmp 11?


I have win xp and sp2. Are there any other methods of getting .ts files to the 360 besides wmp 11?


Thanks.


----------



## mp20748

Most of the images were sent though an Extron RGB 109xi.


----------



## mp20748

These two were the first two sceenshots that I did, and they were without the Extron.


----------



## mp20748

The Xbox does well when pausing for screenshots, but at times the paused image will have a bit of noise in it.


----------



## mp20748

A few more from that same batch..


----------



## mp20748

Now these three (a different batch) are showing the bar at the bottom. Somehow I was able to make that bar go away, but can't seem to make that happen again. The Xbox is very easy to use. So easy the manual is almost useless when it comes to the HD-DVD add-on, though I could not find anything in the manual that explains how to get rid of that bar.


----------



## mp20748

Oh, some of the images were taking with the peaking control on the Extron set to the lowest setting. One or two had the setting at the high setting. And some of the images are without the Extron.


I've since removed the Extron. I get a more pleasing image without it.


The Projector is my 8" wonder (Marquee 8500 Ultra / non LC) @ 1080P.


----------



## dokworm




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Rakesh.S* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Has there been an update to get it to work with wmp 11?
> 
> 
> I have win xp and sp2. Are there any other methods of getting .ts files to the 360 besides wmp 11?
> 
> 
> Thanks.



Check out xbox-scene.com there is a solution of sorts now for XP.


----------



## dokworm

What exactly is the point of the overexposed 800x600 jpgs?


Try the display button for removing the info display down the bottom.


----------



## mp20748




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> What exactly is the point of the overexposed 800x600 jpgs?
> 
> 
> Try the display button for removing the info display down the bottom.



Not sure what you mean by "overexposed". And to add, the projector is not color calibrated, so I'm sure there's some things out of whack with the images. However, what they are showing is exceptional background detail at 1080P. And that level of background detail even at 800x600 really shows what a TRUE high bandwidth CRT projector can look like with good 1080P HDTV.


Notice in the image, how easy it is to see all things in that room and how clear thay are showing...


----------



## EricL

You mean just as clear as if it was on an 800x600 projector? I have to go with dokworm, if the images are lower resolution than the display, it doesn't really tell me much about how the 1920x1080 display looks. Now if it was an 8 megapixel shot... I've been running my 360 with hd-dvd player at 1080i on an XG110LC, and i'll agree with you, it outputs a great picture, easily as good as the toshiba A1, and is way faster to start up


----------



## mp20748




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *EricL* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> You mean just as clear as if it was on an 800x600 projector? I have to go with dokworm, if the images are lower resolution than the display, it doesn't really tell me much about how the 1920x1080 display looks. Now if it was an 8 megapixel shot... I've been running my 360 with hd-dvd player at 1080i on an XG110LC, and i'll agree with you, it outputs a great picture, easily as good as the toshiba A1, and is way faster to start up



I'll do that image again later, and post it again at the cameras native rate.


And to prove your point. You would have to be able to take that same image (U571 scene) and post it at 800x600 and be able to show that same level of background detail. And if you're able to do that, then there's no need to do anything at 1080P, nor should there be any devices that would ever need to go beyond 800x600.


An 800x600 image can show remarkable detail, while a 800x600 projector would always be limited with the amount of detail it could show. Again, show me that level of background detail on a 800x600 projector, and I'm on board with you.


One is bandwidth restricted while the other is not.


It's all about bandwidth. And to prove my point. Fire up your XG110LC and capture that same image (you have the same 360/HD-DVD), and display it at its native rate. Then we'll compare your hi-rez image to my low rez image. And from that we'll see how well everything in that image is played out..










btw, how are you running your 360 with HD-DVD at 1080I?


----------



## David1

Mike,

I tried running my x box at 1920x 1080 into my 1292 via vga and the streaking was really bad. I am running it at 1280x1024 and its fine. Any thoughts? Also seen any sync problems with KK?

thanks

david


----------



## GlenF

Mike can fix your streaking for you


----------



## GlenF




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *mp20748* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I'll do that image again later, and post it again at the cameras native rate.
> 
> 
> And to prove your point. You would have to be able to take that same image (U571 scene) and post it at 800x600 and be able to show that same level of background detail. And if you're able to do that, then there's no need to do anything at 1080P, nor should there be any devices that would ever need to go beyond 800x600.
> 
> 
> An 800x600 image can show remarkable detail, while a 800x600 projector would always be limited with the amount of detail it could show. Again, show me that level of background detail on a 800x600 projector, and I'm on board with you.
> 
> 
> One is bandwidth restricted while the other is not.
> 
> 
> It's all about bandwidth. And to prove my point. Fire up your XG110LC and capture that same image (you have the same 360/HD-DVD), and display it at its native rate. Then we'll compare your hi-rez image to my low rez image. And from that we'll see how well everything in that image is played out..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> btw, how are you running your 360 with HD-DVD at 1080I?



You need to go through a transcoder and use the component cable, it will then do 1080i.


I don't see how a 800x600 digital camera screenshot can tell anyone anything about bandwidth or quality of a 1080P image unless you were taking a photo of perhaps one quarter of the screen or something.


For example if you had up a 1080P test pattern with alternating black and white lines they won't be discrete black and white lines anymore in the photo will they?


I personally think those pictures look blown out and awful.


----------



## mp20748




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *GlenF* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> I personally think those pictures look blown out and awful.



Really, so I take it you can do better right?


----------



## mp20748

btw, they are still on that same 8" Marquee (1920x1080P).


----------



## dokworm




> Quote:
> Not sure what you mean by "overexposed". And to add, the projector is not color calibrated, so I'm sure there's some things out of whack with the images. However, what they are showing is exceptional background detail at 1080P.



By overexposed I meant exactly that, take a look at the shirt in the second shot with the guy standing up at the table (the guy in the white shirt serving the food), the whites are massively overexposed losing all detail in his shirt.

Also the background is just full of (what I assume is) digital camera noise from the sensor.



> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *mp20748* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Really, so I take it you can do better right?



Well maybe he can,maybe he can't - but I've seen much better screenshots in the forums, the image on your PJ might be great, but the image in these photos really isn't.


I guess I just don't see the point of filling up the thread with overexposed compressed low resolution, noisy images, the thread is about the 360 making a great .ts player, showing a tonne of cruddy looking pictures from your marquee using the HD-DVD as the source just doesn't seem to have much purpose.


----------



## mp20748




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> By overexposed I meant exactly that, take a look at the shirt in the second shot with the guy standing up at the table (the guy in the white shirt serving the food), the whites are massively overexposed losing all detail in his shirt. Also the background is just full of (what I assume is) digital camera noise from the sensor



You're nit-picking here. Anyway, what's the blame here, my inexperience with taking screenshots or the inexpensive camera itself.




> Quote:
> Well maybe he can,maybe he can't - but I've seen much better screenshots in the forums, the image on your PJ might be great, but the image in these photos really isn't



I agree. The photos are no the best, and they never are, and that's why you end up only using some of the images that you take. The cameras are never consistant ( i get varying results with 3 different cameras).




> Quote:
> I guess I just don't see the point of filling up the thread with overexposed compressed low resolution, noisy images, the thread is about the 360 making a great .ts player, showing a tonne of cruddy looking pictures from your marquee using the HD-DVD as the source just doesn't seem to have much purpose.



The photos are not perfect. And as I had pointed out earlier, neither is the PJ, because it is NOT color calibrated. But again, my point was resolution and that only.


And since the thread is about TS files ONLY, and not the 360 (which is a part of my setup), then is it also wrong to show "the 360 making a great" HD-DVD player as well (the HD-DVD player add on is mentioned earlier in this thread).


Well, I learned what overexposed is when using a digital camera. So I'll now turn this thread back over to its regular progamimng.


----------



## dokworm




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *mp20748* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> You're nit-picking here. Anyway, what's the blame here, my inexperience with taking screenshots or the inexpensive camera itself.
> 
> 
> The photos are not perfect. And as I had pointed out earlier, neither is the PJ, because it is NOT color calibrated. But again, my point was resolution and that only.



Not nitpicking, you asked about what I meant re overexposed, so I thought I'd better point it out.


I still don't get the point of showing resolution by posting pictures that are less than one quarter of the actual resolution of the image.



> Quote:
> And since the thread is about TS files ONLY, and not the 360 (which is a part of my setup), then is it also wrong to show "the 360 making a great" HD-DVD player as well (the HD-DVD player add on is mentioned earlier in this thread).



Actually the thread is about .ts playback on the 360 [now I'm nitpicking







]


Back on track - Has anyone tried the on the fly playback with .ts files from XP yet using that tversity thingo


----------



## mp20748




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dokworm* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Not nitpicking, you asked about what I meant re overexposed, so I thought I'd better point it out



Thanks!




> Quote:
> I still don't get the point of showing resolution by posting pictures that are less than one quarter of the actual resolution of the image



one quarter of the actuall resolution..







- nevermind. Since you're better at this than I am, and for some reason you're not able to see what I'm showing with the screenshots. Can you do the same with your "ts" files. You know, since this thread is about "ts" files. And can you do it on your 8" machine and get the same sharpness and detail at 1080P?


I know there's some things not right with some of those images, but all and all, they're 1080P on an 8" CRT projector. However in person they're flawless!

And even with their minor flaws, they're producing very similar images that has the sharpness and background detail of the later 1080P digitals.


But again, I'd like to see your screenshots of 1080P "ts" files from your Xbox. And maybe then I'll learn even more about what to look for with screenshots..


----------



## David1

Hey give the guy a break, consider the source, Mike has done extensive real technical evaluations and modification at the component level to Sony and Marque projectors. He looks at the image and knows what he is taking about when it come to resolution and definition. I for one am glad we have posters with the technical expertise of Mike Parker. I get what he was trying to say and why he posted his pictures. Now ask him some questions that further the cause.

There are way too many people who post without a clue as to what they are talking about.

Thanks Mike,

I still have questions about the timing and H/V sync at 1080P.

Check out my earlier post


----------



## GlenF

What movie are they from? I'll give it a go.


----------



## mp20748




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *David1* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Mike,
> 
> I tried running my x box at 1920x 1080 into my 1292 via vga and the streaking was really bad. I am running it at 1280x1024 and its fine. Any thoughts? Also seen any sync problems with KK?
> 
> thanks
> 
> david



Most 1292's would have a problem with 1920x1080P. I've said this before, and it's based on the actual components that breakdown in the 1292's and cause the streaking. The streaking problem in the 1292 is two fold, meaning it is caused from two different sections in the projector. Both are a result of not using the best components/designs at the time for the rated bandwidth (main), and to maintain about 17 pulses that are distributed through out the video chain.


When I finish up with what i'm doing now and get back to the 1292, I'll show you move of what I'm saying above. But for now, and based on the one that I have in my shop. The image is greatly restricted because of the streaking. It's not just a streaking problem. The streaking problem is also an indicator that the projecor has lost a good amount of it's gain. And that would explain why some report a dim picture. The 1292 should not display a dim image when working properly. So when you can see streaking, you're also experiencing limited bandwidth performance as well as weak video gain.


I have a thread on the 1292 over on my mods forum. We can pick this up over there...



Also, one of my customers has been helping me with the camera. There's an adjustment in the camera that I needed to play around with. I've done a little tweaking so far on this adjustment, but know I need to do more:

 



And since this thread is about "TS" files and the Xbox 360, once I get the camera better dialed in - "I'll be back" with screenshots from my Xbox 360 showing how the TS files from my hardrive rock on the Xbox 360..


----------



## Don_Kellogg

Clarence seems to be the gawd of screenshots







Set the ISO setting to the lowest you have an use a tripod. Those are the two things I picked up on. The lower the ISO the better mine goes to 100 but Clarence has a setting of 50 on his camera.


----------



## mp20748

Ok, the attached image is from my Xbox 360. The movie is 720P/HD being streamed from my HTPC. I'm showing it at 1080P


The HD-DVD is good, but the streamed HD video is much better on my setup...


----------



## MarkW

Stupid question, but when you guys say you are streaming the video are you using the wireless networking or are you hardwired?


----------



## Dazog




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *MarkW* /forum/post/0
> 
> 
> Stupid question, but when you guys say you are streaming the video are you using the wireless networking or are you hardwired?



Hardwired until Wireless N is supported.


----------



## Gino AUS

Wireless is supported, but you wont get very good results if you're streaming HD, not enough bandwidth at the moment.


----------



## MarkW

That is kind of what I assumed. I have purchased most of the equipment and really am geeked out about the game play on it at this point have some HD DVD's in the queue from Netflix so looking forward to that.


----------



## GlenF

I finally got the new vgapatcher for the original xbox1 and it looks great at 1080i as well.


----------



## HookedOnTV

Can the 360 play ts files that have h.264 video and ac3 audio?


----------



## Gino AUS

i haven't been able to get it to work with h.264 .ts files


----------



## cgott42




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Gino AUS* /forum/post/13905183
> 
> 
> i haven't been able to get it to work with h.264 .ts files



Was wondering if there was any update - if it could play h.264 .ts files

I record AVCHD from the Hauppague HD-PVR and would love to use the X360 for playback.


----------



## Clarence

I always use the PS3 for AVCHD from the Hauppauge, but...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/x...-playsforsure/ 



> Quote:
> Xbox 360: now with H.264, MPEG-4, PlaysForSure
> 
> by Ryan Block, posted Apr 9th 2007 at 2:19PM
> 
> 
> Color us tickled, but we totally missed some of the finest points of all in Microsoft's Xbox 360 spring Dashboard update: they're totally tricking out the video (finally!). No longer will we be confined to our very least favorite video codec, WMV -- the new update will enable Windows Media Connect or Media Center streaming MPEG-4 up to 8Mbps, *H.264 up to 15Mbps*



Have you tried it?


----------



## Mark_A_W

15Mbps? Bluray rips are up to 40Mbps...


----------



## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Mark_A_W* /forum/post/16392268
> 
> 
> 15Mbps? Bluray rips are up to 40Mbps...



See cgott's post. He's using the Hauppauge for AVCHD. It maxes out at 13.5MBps.


----------



## Mark_A_W

Ahh.


Sorry Clarence/cgott.


It's a bit annoying though. It just doesn't have the grunt? It can play HD-DVDs.


I kinda want one as I have the HD-DVD drive (2 in fact..they were cheap), and a fair few HD-DVD's, but it's always been a bit limited as a media player - not enough compatibility.


----------



## cgott42




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Clarence* /forum/post/16391861
> 
> 
> I always use the PS3 for AVCHD from the Hauppauge, but...
> 
> http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/x...-playsforsure/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried it?



I don't (yet) own the X360, wanted to see if it'll play the files before buying.

Can someone PM me their email so that I can send a short 10 sec clip for them to test. (approx. 3-15MB - let me know how much your email will allow) as the AVS doesn't allow attachments > 0.5MB (and the smallest I can capture is 3MB)


thx


----------



## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *cgott42* /forum/post/16394437
> 
> 
> I don't (yet) own the X360, wanted to see if it'll play the files before buying



I've got the x360 and the Hauppauge.


Let me go test.


----------



## cgott42

Great - thanks.


----------



## Clarence

I didn't have any luck.


I copied a Hauppauge .m2ts file to a usb drive. X360 saw other files, but no .m2ts


Changed Hauppauge to save as .TS - same deal... not recognized by x360


Inserted DVD with AVCHD that plays perfectly on PS3. X360 saw it as Mixed Media Disc and wouldn't play the files in the STREAM folder.


----------



## cgott42

thanks Clarence

Is there any streaming that'd work

(e.g. Tversity? or MCE '05)?


----------



## Clarence




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *cgott42* /forum/post/16395286
> 
> 
> thanks Clarence
> 
> Is there any streaming that'd work
> 
> (e.g. Tversity? or MCE '05)?



Yes, MCE is what I use to stream with the x360. Works great.


With the Hauppauge, also look at the WD HD player. Works great.


----------



## cgott42

Cool - so the MCE streams to the X360 the Hauppaugge .ts files w/o problem? any stuttering or other problems?


----------



## BishopTx

Hey guys,


I am trying to get a .ts file playing on my 360 through my media pc extender. Specifically I am trying to get files to play in their native ts format rather than having to convert them.


If I convert them to avi files the 360 plays them fine, but in their native ts format I get a 360 cannot play these files due to a codec error. Is there a way to get this to work?


I am not the author of the ts files - they are episodes of Top Gear I download from the net.


Cheers, any help is appreciated.


to sample these files go to finalgear.com


----------

