Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Jan Erik — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:45:12 GMT

"How do I create H.264 and MPEG-4 Part 2 content? What encoders does Xbox 360 support?

You can create this content on one of many 3rd-party applications. Xbox 360 supports many popular encoders. "

Give us a hint for Us newbies where to find one that support just ONE of those, that is easy to use?

Another thing... my old wmv files no longer work after the update

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Brian — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:13:16 GMT

Can you clarify the 3 VGA video level settings?

Are these IRE, PC versus Video levels (0-255 and 16-235), etc.?

Thanks!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

NeoNichu — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:23:13 GMT

One extra question to Zune media-sharing: I connect my 360 via ethernet (192.168.1.*) to my laptop, on which Zune is running and have shared a directory which is located on an SMB share that the laptop can access via WiFi (192.168.0.*). The files show up on the 360, but upon playing them, I get an error message. Is it possible to have such a setup or do all SMB shares need to be on the same subnet?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Kellen — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:23:34 GMT

Expect 50 posts of where is divx/xvid to follow. Are you guys at least working on adding support or is there a licensing issue keeping you from adding it?

Connect360 and the Spring 2007 Dashboard Update - Movie streaming doesn't work - MacNN Forums

Wed, 09 May 2007 22:41:46 GMT

PingBack from http://forums.macnn.com/82/applications/335808/connect360-spring-2007-dashboard-update-movie/#post3377112

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Blue Caxl — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:56:42 GMT

This is a codec support update is pretty much useless.

No 5.1 audio with h.264 = no HD content..pure trash

May '07 Dash update Video FAQ

Xbox Live's Major Nelson — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:03:10 GMT

They team who worked on the video playback part of the Xbox 360 console have posted a Video FAQ . This

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Mattias — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:13:38 GMT

Excellent post for us tech savvy people :D Thanks!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Neil McAlister — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:21:21 GMT

What I want to know is why this kind of information is on a blog, and not on a main MS website? The whole MS online experience is very disjointed and there are so many links and official websites its bewildering. Can't all of this information be placed under one roof? Its a bit of a dis-organised mess TBH

thanks for the info all the same!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Chris Hammond — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:21:59 GMT

Wow, great information, thanks for the update!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Dan — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:22:41 GMT

Well one thing I've noticed.

When they say it doesn't support 5.1 AAC they ain't kidding. Most stereo-only devices I've run into will simply ignore the extra channels in a surround file and playback the left and right, but not the 360. It just totally won't play them period :(

Doesn't seem to like files with more than one audio track either (for instance, a file with the main audio and a commentary track)

Sucks cause that's my format of choice. 5.1 AAC (HE or LC depending on source), low bitrate commentary, and h.264 video. Oh well.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Varidian — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:32:28 GMT

you have known for some time about the new video options surely it would have made good sense to post that you where changing the way your video files where being accessed, not everybody use's a windows based PC i use a MAC and now am unable to watch my videos because of your changes in the update. would have been that much trouble to notify the few (5) companies that make software for streaming video,

i appreciate all the hardwork you guys put in, it just seems that you havnt put much thought into this after adding the support could be months before we Mac users are able to access videos again, thanks to the update being mandatory for people wanting to play on LIVE.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

zx H xz — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:37:20 GMT

thanks - a great feature update

but still another missed opportunity

the 360 still has someway to go towards gaining the media player crown - a title that still firmly belongs to XMBC.

simple things like playback of DVD folders should not be that hard...!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Andrew Johnson — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:47:06 GMT

Nice update, though I do hope to see DivX and full MPEG-2 support in the next release.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

John in NC — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:47:35 GMT

Video playback works flawlessly. Now I can play my favorite vidcasts through my box with no problems what so ever.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

slider2nl — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:47:35 GMT

why creating a silver account for a codec update.

what about people that are sending there xbox 360 for repair and get another xbox 360 back. There are people that had multiple broken xboxes. That are a lot of silver accounts, for 1 update. will this also apply when people switch to a xbox 360 elite

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Jmel — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:53:30 GMT

No divx = lame.

Especially since so many other hardware manufacturers that are media center extenders allow this codec.

It's a good idea to keep ignoring people that want this codec.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Xvid dude — Wed, 09 May 2007 23:57:46 GMT

Please add XVID and/or DIVX support soon. Thanks!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Laddie — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:13:40 GMT

I emailed support at Nullriver (the creators of Connect360), and they responded with "we're working on it".

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Ben — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:57:10 GMT

Why do some Quicktime movie trailers work and others dont? Also why am I STILL unable to get the Xbox360 working in 1080p on my Samsung LE40M87 via VGA???! I thought this update was meant to fix the VGA incompatibility problems?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

theultimate13x — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:08:37 GMT

Thanks for this team. Gonna spend some time reading all that. Mucho info.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

wannabe hitman — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:09:46 GMT

I posted this on Major's site too, but I really feel it needs to be addressed.

Please address this Divx/Xvid issue for the thousands of people commenting about divx/xvid support in every dashboard post.

There are many, many hardware devices out there that support these codecs. There is no reason the 360 shouldn't be one of them. There shouldn't be licensing issues seeing as how Xvid is open source. Would adding support somehow interfere with the GNU GPL license? If so, tell us that! It is not bad PR to say there is a license conflict, but it is fairly rude to brush the question away without a proper response.

Please stop brushing this issue off by saying "we are always looking into new codecs and ways to improve the 360."

Can we get an actual reason and explanation as to why we don't have Xvid/Divx support yet without it being filtered through a PR team or without dancing around the subject?

Either way, thanks Xbox team! This dashboard update is fantastic and I for one appreciate all the work you put into it!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Taylor — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:10:59 GMT

This has always been a problem, but streaming HD footage from my computer to 360 results in a very sporadic and choppy viewing experience that is unwatchable. My computer plays it fine but the 360 can't run it smoothly. Could it be my wireless connection slowing it down or does the 360 poorly stream HD?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Eddie Smith — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:14:41 GMT

The Media Update situation is ridiculous. We should not be required to create a brand new account (even though it is free) just to get a piece of content available on Marketplace that is again free. Since it's free and anyone can get it, why go through the hassle of setting it up for to only be downloadable on one console per profile. Many I'm sure feel the same as not all have the original 360 they bought in Nov. '05. Will this situation be fixed anytime soon to allow for this to be downloaded on any console my account is connected to? I'm on my 3rd 360 as it is now, and this work around BS is just bogus. Can we get a fix please?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Hiscore — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:15:39 GMT

After the May 2007 dashboard update: why doesn't my (non-HD)TV autoswitch to the console's channel any longer (like it used to do)? It's like a VCR or DVD-player that doesn't switch to the correct channel after inserting a cassette or disc.. which isn't normal considering the 360 always autoswitched to the correct TV channel when powered on.

Greetings,

Hiscore

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Guster108 — Thu, 10 May 2007 01:27:07 GMT

Major issues with video playback for streaming and media on disc for .wmv files (these files were originally .avi and .divx files that worked correctly before the update).

The videos no longer play in full screen. When I go to hit the display button when a movie is playing... it will stretch... then... hit it again... ERROR!

The video will no longer even start now. So bizzare. Wish I could roll back. Is there a way to clear the cache so it does not remember that I tried to play these videos?

Grrrr... it also has locked up my XBOX twice already. Disappointing.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Ben — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:15:14 GMT

Where is DIVX/XVID support? the majority of internet video is encoded in divx and xvid..why arent you guys support open format and format that most people use...

oh wait you are Micro$soft...you dont like open and popular products except for the one you make...

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

MysterX — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:31:14 GMT

I thought they Xvid was going to be supported with this patch.

Also they broke every 3rd party streaming software to get xvid to play on the 360. Keeping my fingers crossed that Microsoft will get it thru their thick skulls to support xvid.

Until Tversity hurry up and update so my 360 is worthwhile to me again...

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

DirasyajX — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:36:36 GMT

For the love of god please add avi & mkv formats please.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Lane — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:37:44 GMT

Any suggestions on what DirectShow filter to use so Windows Media 11 recognizes my MP4 files? I've got ffmpegx installed, and can view MP4 files fine on my PC, but apparently it's not good enough for the 360.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Deihmos — Thu, 10 May 2007 03:42:49 GMT

Some Mp4 files cannot be played in Zune but they play on the 360 if I copy the file to a usb flash drive. What could be the problem?

Xbox 360 Spring Update Video FAQ

Gizmodo — Thu, 10 May 2007 04:37:19 GMT

With great power comes great responsibility, and with added codec support comes a crapload of new questions. That's why Microsoft's Xbox team has released a FAQ detailing what you may or may not want to know about the newly supported...

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Dim7 — Thu, 10 May 2007 05:05:12 GMT

Where is playlist for video files ????

I had so many clips and everytime must playback every file!! its bad.......

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Daniel — Thu, 10 May 2007 05:08:02 GMT

Why not Divx? Is it simply a matter of "not yet," or more of a "no, never going to?" Just curious, as its pretty much the most popular. I would use my Xbox even more if it would!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

DFx — Thu, 10 May 2007 05:11:55 GMT

9. Do you support DivX?

No.

I could spend an hour trying to write a well formed email, but on behalf of the DivX/XviD fanbase... What the hell?

Microsoft Windows Media Player allows playback of XviD/DivX

Microsoft Windows Media Center allows playback

Microsoft Xbox 360.....has no DivX love?

XviD is open source. So it's not a license issue...

Both are supported by a vast array of set-top boxes but Microsoft somehow wishes to remain inferior by not providing an avi format used across multiple platforms?

AVI formats are used across the internet, on cellphones, digicams and video camera for home movies and yes, unfortunately for pirating media. But to completely ignore the customer demand for AVI codec support is a slap in the face. We're simply given a "no". We're a reasonable group...for the most part. We're not expecting to know the detailed ins and outs behind Microsoft policy, but some basic understanding as to why Microsoft feels the need to shaft the AVI users would be nice.

Alas, I'm stuck using my modded Xbox 1 with XBox Media Center to play my DivX'd home movies. If only I could put that workhorse to rest....

-DFx

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

BenitezBluprint — Thu, 10 May 2007 05:45:36 GMT

Why would you (MS) introduce new codecs but not allow them to work in Xbox 360 Media Center Extender. I am pretty sure theres alot of people that have tons of video on their home PC that they want to stream. I was very happy when I heard the news of adding .MP4 since I have a crapload of video on my ipod that I can now watch on my tv. Dont get me wrong I know someone is gonna suggest to me a way around it so I can play my movies on the Xbox360 but I dont want a way around it. I want it to work the way it supposed to.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

MALICIOUS ONE — Thu, 10 May 2007 06:43:21 GMT

Does Xbox 360 display embedded artwork for MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 files?

Yes. You can embed your artwork that is less than 400KB in the video files and they will be shown in the Xbox 360 video area when streaming from the Zune software.

How do you do embed the artwork?

Thanks for the FAQ!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

PURE ENERGY 368 — Thu, 10 May 2007 06:47:46 GMT

what the he double hockey sticks happend before this damm update i could stream my videos through nero 7 fine now nothing but music and pics.nice incompleat update why dont you test your updates before you realeas them.can any body tell us how or if this issue will be fixed? i only hope its not like customer sevice who have had my wireless head set for over a month and still cant figer out why they keep sending me a wirerd head set.grat work guys.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Matt — Thu, 10 May 2007 07:08:39 GMT

How can I populate the description and title box on the right hand side of screen, like it is when video is downloaded from marketplace?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Maddux — Thu, 10 May 2007 08:15:53 GMT

I understand you can't do everything, but is there a reason why H.264 isn't supported in the Media Center Extender? That was the whole reason I was waiting for this update. Is there any possibility it will be added in the near future?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Juancho — Thu, 10 May 2007 08:18:15 GMT

All of this is very good, but the two most important video formats mpg2 and divx aren't playable, and the mpg4 if you want to stream it from a pc you have to convert to wmv...

I gues you should have a political (or strategical) reason to have such a bad video format support.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

alan — Thu, 10 May 2007 09:04:49 GMT

i don't get it. why not divx and an avi container?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Bradley Corbett — Thu, 10 May 2007 09:19:57 GMT

This is all good, but why does my console freeze every time I go into the video market place and select something?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

clixby — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:16:15 GMT

The new Spring Update 07 is great. I can finally stream my drm content using Media Centre to my 360!! Thanks :)

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

vorcigernix — Thu, 10 May 2007 10:57:35 GMT

Hello,

I tried to merge h264 file and mp3 into mp4 file with mp4box. I works fine on my computer, but xbox is reporting some ugly error code. Error was same when I tried mux these files to asf file. I don't like idea of recoding h264 to vc1, can you suggest what should I try?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

tozOL — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:19:56 GMT

i would just like someone to help me get my pc to xbox, back to talking to each other again...so i can use these great new features, :)

worked great for months, then now doesn't, and nothing else has changed on my pc.....why?

or at least point me to were the best place to get some PROPER help....ive been to all the usual places, but still no one can help me.

sorry for putting here, but god ive tried everything else..

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Luke — Thu, 10 May 2007 14:46:58 GMT

No DivX support? Very dissapointing :o(

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Gregg — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:34:51 GMT

I have eagerly awaited this dashboard update since receiving my "Digital Video Essentials" HD-DVD calbration disk. However, i am still unable to access the Video calibration menu using my XBox 360 HD-DVD drive, even after receiving the latest dashboard update. All the other menus on the disk work fine for both the HD-DVD and DVD sides of the disk. The specific problem I am having is that when I click on the Video Calibration menu, I am unable to navigate to the sub-menus to continue calibration, causing the drive to 'hang'. The only way for me to get control of the drive is to go back to the dashboard and restart the disk, or reboot the xbox. Any ideas? NOTE: This was the exact problem I was having before I received the dashboard update!!!

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

DirectMattyG — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:35:01 GMT

Is is possible to populate the metadata so it shows in the dashboard on the right hand side pane. Like it does with video content downloaded?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Matthew — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:31:56 GMT

Quick question about reference levels under the system blade--display. What do these do? And if I choose one will I be able to go back and change it or will I loose the screen image as if I were changing from 720p to 1080p when my tv doesn't support 1080p.

Thanks in advance.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Erik Curtis — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:38:21 GMT

I'd love to see a more detailed writeup on how to encode video so that it plays on my XB360. I have Vista MCE and have limited success in getting video to stream.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

triplethr3t — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:15:57 GMT

any chance of NTFS support for USB drives??? I was hoping for this in this update. Would like to be able to play vid files larger then the FAT32 4gb limit

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Joseph Wallis — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:22:18 GMT

Curious, but could the Xbox Development Team add QWERTY support from the Microsoft MCE Keyboard? Currently I can use all of the same buttons that are on the MCE remote, but the QWERTY keys wont work. This would be very helpful in supporting the IM update.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Brian Carpenter — Thu, 10 May 2007 21:10:50 GMT

Got a video that just won't play on your 360 for any reason? Then download Encode360 - http://dcunningham.net/encode360/. I love it.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Dave — Thu, 10 May 2007 21:55:59 GMT

Still no MPEG-4 Advanced Profile or AVI container support. This is one of the most used formats - how can you possibly ignore customer requests still?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Frustrated — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:34:59 GMT

No AVI. Xbox 360 can supposedly play mp4, WMP11 can't, Zune can stream stuff that WMP11. i don't have a Zune, I don't want to install Zune software. 6 months to add folders to Video sharing...how many months/years to get turnkey support for a wide variety of movie formats? Blech.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Pants — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:38:59 GMT

How come you always seem to offer limited functionality? Why not make all formats available?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

dazed and confused — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:50:46 GMT

anyone else scratching their heads?

okay so i get the mp4/apple/nero avc etc now and its rather easy to convert your 'home movies' from ...divx or what ever, but why is the xbox 360 implementation so hard?

1. eg. so we get the may update i attempt to play .mp4 and it still says i need to update a codec from xbox live?

okay fine, 2 channel audio only, okay i am sure there is a good reason for this...

2. i cannot stream through vista ultimate to xbox 360 media center extender .mp4 only through the dashboard blade? WHAT?

i mean really, i know lots have people are not using MCE 2005 or vista HP or ulimate but what about those who are?

vista just gets released and new xbox update and the mp4. wont work through xbox 360 extender...sorry this is must have.

3 i can install zune software - dont even own one....but installing the software will allow me to stream .mp4 to the blade, but i cant even view .mp4 in vista media center?

4. zune software will play .mp4 but not avi or divx.

5. vista mc will play divx or avi as long as its extention is .avi, but it cant play mp4...

5. rumour is MP11 can stream to the dashboard blade, please tell me how,

6. because none of this codec crap/confusion has worked from the beginning all sort of hacks...or re-encoders tiversity/transcode 360 on and on have been developed, oh wait none of them work now again since the update the other day...from what i hear.

7. how about some STEP by STEP how to instructions on how to make it all work BEFORE the updated comes out to the masses.

8. H264 is the present cutting edge, nice to have it working, sort of,

thanks for reading.

.dazed.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

MALICIOUS ONE — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:23:03 GMT

"Does Xbox 360 display embedded artwork for MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 files?

Yes. You can embed your artwork that is less than 400KB in the video files and they will be shown in the Xbox 360 video area when streaming from the Zune software."

How do you do this?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

sonic — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:54:58 GMT

Ok, I can see the directories under the dashboard for video but it says there is nothing in them, under media center is shows the videos but won't play the AVI/MP4 ones, any ideas on how to actually get this to work?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Jmel — Fri, 11 May 2007 05:32:40 GMT

Well, you guys know that the 360's codec support is still weak, and entirely inconsistant with other licensed media extenders that cost less money, so if you wanna moderate the hell out of posts, thats fine by me.

It's still lame and that's pretty much the bottom line.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

StingerNLG — Fri, 11 May 2007 05:46:27 GMT

Well, scratch Gametrailers .mov's off the list of playable movies. Doesn't work no matter what, and those ARE h.264 files.

Not so great a codec update.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Michael — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:16:05 GMT

I found a serious issue with the spring update. On a lot of setups there isn't any audio anymore on non-dolby digital videos (for example the Soundtracks-video, pac man video).

This also means that the mediacenter-functionality has become useless, as there is no sound on music and videos anymore.

Please fix this with an update which forces the XBOX 360 to output Dolby Digital.

Hope you will act on this issue.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Varidian — Fri, 11 May 2007 14:56:53 GMT

Can you please elaborate as to what exactly you changed for the browsing and streaming of video. ie how to correct any problems that some of us are experiancing using third party software inpaticular Connect 360

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Gabriel — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:45:02 GMT

Has anyone successfully streamed a Quicktime movie trailer from WM11 using a 3rd-party decoder?

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Sondre — Fri, 11 May 2007 20:45:21 GMT

I know this is not directly related to the media update, but I have some minor issues with the Live Messenger integration. How well did you test this new feature before releasing it? I mean, I have hundreds of contacts and at the moment I have close to 100 contacts online. Now my Xbox lags a lot, and it takes a while for the Friends list to appear... I'm not happy with that :( ... I hope the performance will be better and that you test with huge contact lists the next time.

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

scotepi — Fri, 11 May 2007 23:54:27 GMT

.m4v video doesn't work in win media player, but will work win win media center but not stream. they are 1000kbps h.264 160kbps aac

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Cory — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:43:59 GMT

NO DIVX!?!? What the hell were they thinking....

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

MP4 — Sat, 12 May 2007 13:24:23 GMT

Circus? So can you play MP4 on the xbox or not? Did you actually read this FAQ before you posted it and thought " yeah this is what our consumers are going to read".

xbox 360 spring 07 video stuff

Tiernans Comms Closet — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:42:55 GMT

So, a while back, when the spring 07 update was annoucned for the 360, one of the things i was more interested

re: Spring '07 Video Playback FAQ

Tyler Cannon — Mon, 14 May 2007 05:31:27 GMT

does it support the mpg and mpeg movie files that are normally downloaded on macs?

Show #225 The one about the Dash Update and Catan

Xbox Live's Major Nelson — Mon, 14 May 2007 06:37:55 GMT

This week’s show: Xbox news Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Halo 3 Beta Interview: Brian Reynolds, Big

Show #225 (WMA) The one about the Dash Update and Catan

Xbox Live's Major Nelson — Mon, 14 May 2007 06:38:07 GMT

This week’s show: Xbox news Xbox 360 Dashboard Update Halo 3 Beta Interview: Brian Reynolds, Big