Turning Your Xbox 360 into a Media Extender

The 360 is a high-def capable piece of electronics, so even if the media on your PC is 720p or higher, you can stream it. If you take photos in high-res, for example, they can look fantastic on a high-def TV screen. High-def movies that you've downloaded or created on your own translate perfectly through the 360.

There are two ways to go about sharing media with your Xbox 360, and they depend on whether or not you wish to use Media Center. If you do, that's fine; otherwise, you can share media through the standard interface (which is simpler). The difference between the two methods is this: By sharing through Media Center, you can stream recorded TV through the 360. Otherwise, you can only share formats compatible with your Xbox 360.

[TheMART]

What also is working great... When you don't want to stream from a PC that's on all the time:

Buy an external USB 2.0 HDD (a large one :P)
Get it formatted in HFS+ (mac format), use Macdrive 7.
You can download/put HD movies on the external USB 2.0 through your PC, hook it onto the 360 and play away.

No HD-DVD or BluRay player nescessary, no discs that can scratch. This is a way better format (streaming or external USB HDD) to use if you're a movie fanatic!

Formats:

Video Formats: WMV, H.264, MPEG-4, and PlaysForSure (for HD WMV)
Audio Formats: WMA, WMA Pro, WMA Loseless, MP3
Picture Formats: JPEG

It's rumored to get DivX support with the Fall Update

[Sam Fisher]

thats actually cool i was begining to wonder that ps3 is the best in movie selection (well mainly everything except 4 games)

[TheMART]

Yup it's cool. In normal FAT32/NTFS format it has a 4GB limit or something like that. With HFS+ there is no problem with files as large as you like.

I know multiple people using an external HDD, they download on their PC, then connect it to their 360 and a 500 GB HDD, for example a beatifull one like the Porsche designed ones, are about 100 Euro or so. A steal of a deal if you ask me

EDIT

@ Sjappie (below)

First format the HDD in HFS+, use Macdrive 7, Windows normally isn't able to see HFS+ if I'm right. Then just put the HD movies on the HDD, and plug the drive into any USB slot of the 360.

You'll be able to play them directly on your 360!

[thereapersson]

Hopefully this holiday we can get divx capability for each console so we can stream them without conversion.

[sjappie]

can you just plug that 500 GB hd into your 360 with usb?

[DZNetworks]

Not to mention IPTV at some point in time.

[sak500]

@Themart

NTFS file systems supports more than 4gb, i've d/l HD movies of 8+GB in size on NTFS.

[wageslave]

@The Mart

I do this (HD movies via USB external drive) and it is NTFS. Why bother with the mac formatting?

Its not necessary.

[mesh1]

me i care about games tbh bu tnice to see 360 is capable of doing every thing and then some with the amazing games coing out this year and next year .

[sjappie]

I used that for over a year, and suddenly it didn't work anymore. I deleted the program and wanted to download it again and it wasn't available anymore. I tried to install Zune but it wouldn't let me.

[Grown Folks Talk]

with wmp 11. if you install windows media player 11 you can set up media sharing & do the same thing as wmc.

[DZNetworks]

Upgrade your xp machine to media center 2005 rollup2.. Some machines take it some dont.

[sjappie]

I already tried WMP11, but it has really louzy map sharing options, and it only streamed a small part of my content to my 360. And I already had the MC 2005 rollup.

[N4GayFanturds]

First, this article fails to mention that you can view, pause & record Live TV via 360 with the Windows Media Center functionality.

Secondly, what else is cool, is anytime you're watching RECorded video, Live TV or listening to music\viewing photos, you can still communicate (chat & voice) to people on your Friends List.

Now think about this; add on the fact that via Windows Media Center, you can d/l movies thru Vongo (and other apps) as well as d/l movies from XBL Marketplace and you've got yourself a media juggernaut!

[andy001]

Using the 360 as a media extender can be a pain if you use certain codecs. The 360 only supports a small number of codecs, and this meant I had the choice of converting all of my media to Microsoft friendly formats or use something like tvercity.

[wageslave]

A small number of codecs? No.

As The Mart says above:
"Video Formats: WMV, H.264, MPEG-4, and PlaysForSure (for HD WMV) "

The only codec of note that is missing is DivX, and that is what TVersity or a transcoder is for.

[Evil Rant Monkey]

just hook your PC directly to your TV?

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

but the larger the TV the more resources are used so your card and memory had better be good enough if your connected to say a 51in Toshiba HDTV. Your more expensive cards don't have that problem but budget cards do and most PC sold use budget cards so some have to upgrade memory or even use another card to handle rez.

[DZNetworks]

Dont even have a video out on their tv tuner cards. I am suspecting it is so you would have to buy a media center extender or a 360

[wageslave]

The HDMI output is nice. Further, you prefer a nice quiet Xbox 360 in the entertainment center as opposed to a PC.

You can use the IR remote or the wireless controller to operate the Xbox 360 as opposed to a wireless keyboard / mouse or add-on remote.

Consider the Xbox 360 a computer designed for what you do with your TV... and the things you wish you could do with your TV (LIVE Messenger, Video Conference etc).

[sleepbox]

I use Tversity and it works great for divx and xvid.

[TrenchaunT]

Connecting to your computer is great if you lack the cash for a USB HDD (like me), but it also sucks. It has all sorts of connection issues, and I continually have to either restart my 360 or disable and re-enable sharing on WMP.

As far as codecs go, if you have a slow, junky computer (like me) and can't transcode easily (that is, change the codec while actively streaming to the 360), I highly recommend using Encode360 to convert it to WMV permanently. It works great, it's very simple, and doesn't require Media Center.

If only MS would give us divx, xvid, and ac-3.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

I can watch a movie from my PC while talking to friends over Live at the same time they are playing Halo 3 and send text, pics and video back and forth. The 360 is a media whore, every movie I own have been backed up on a USb drive or PC just like what TheMart said up top. I like to stream podcast when testing at the same time talking with my buddy from Canada. When you use a Mac you can have a few hurdles to jump through but thats just because the PC uses windows and they handshake better.

[dork0783]

I been doing this since i got my 360 I love recording my SOUTH PARK and listen to my music and oh yeah surf the internet thru my media center from my 360 I love it.Like I always tell my friends my 360 is a little better than your 360 why because I could watch live t.v. thru it I could listen to my favorite radio stations like K_ROQ I could go on VH1's THE V SPOT and of course SURF THE WEB woo hoo!I make my 360 do things that no one can.Well people can but people dont know how.

[DZNetworks]

Do you surf the web without a browser?

[Cuddlefish]

http://microsoft.blognewsch...
"Anthony Park has released a web browser for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. The 591kb download gives you a web browser with a ten-foot interface, and works with Media Center Extenders, essentially giving you a WebTV on your TVs, and through your Xbox 360. You can save favorites and a home page, scroll with your remote, select links and zoom in and out to improve readability."

I use this too on my 360. It doesn't allow you to type in URL's but as long as you import your bookmarks/favorites it works like a charm.

[wageslave]

I use MCEBrowser and it works terrific.

All you need for quick browsing.

[DG]

This would be great but my PC and 360 are connected to the same HD TV. And with a wireless keyboard with trackball its amazing. Plus the PC DVD drive is quieter for movies.

[sak500]

I use Orb from www.orb.com nice little program like tversity but much better and faster imho.

[dork0783]

i love my 360 even more cause these things it could do