Xbox 360 Video Support: It Still Sucks

[Jason Dunn]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1226357647.usr1.jpg" /></p><p>I'm a big fan of the Xbox 360, but it sure is frustrating trying to use it to access all of my video content - I'm fighting my way through the transition from capturing and editing standard-definition video to high-definition video, and it's a bit of a struggle. I think very highly of H.264 as a compression format and have been using it to archive my content over the past year. Today I decided to put some effort into figuring out why my H.264 videos aren't showing up in my Xbox 360 when I browse for videos. At first I thought it was a matter of the H.264 videos I was creating not being in the right format - when you start digging into the guts of H.264 settings, you find a dizzying array of options, mostly around profiles. I found an <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx" target="_blank">Xbox team blog entry</a> that said that H.264 support was limited to profile 4.1, and I'd encoded my H.264 test video as profile 4.2. But as I kept reading, I found the ugly truth: because my videos are stored on my <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx" target="_blank">Windows Home Server</a>, the Xbox 360 will not play them back. What? Yeah, exactly. <MORE /></p><p>It seems that when playing videos off a WHS, only WMV and AVI are supported. Talk about unimpressive. It seems that H.264 support is only possible if you're using Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune software as a proxy for the sharing process - it must do some sort of interpretation for the files, though I don't think it's doing actual transcoding, because when I used to share files that way I don't recall seeing the CPU cranking away at 100%. It looks like I might be able to hack something together by either installing Windows Media Player 11 or <a href="http://www.twonkyvision.de/" target="_blank">Twonky</a> onto my WHS, but I really don't want to do that - nor should I have to. These are two Microsoft products, both designed for a home environment, and they don't enable consumers to access the content they want. That's a broken scenario, and Microsoft needs to do better.</p>

[Felix Torres]

Your beef isn't really an issue with the 360 codecs or the players, as the title suggests, but rather the server app. running on Windows; its a Windows thing, not a 360 thing and it has to be solved on the windows side.

XBOX media streaming is done via an implementation of UPnP/AV, not file system mounting (as you do when sharing files across PCs). Strictly speaking, the 360 doesn't see PCs on your network and they don't see your PC file systems at all. What they see is directory structures offered up by UPnP/AV server apps. (They don't have to be PCs; NASes will do if you find one thatvsupports UPnP/AV in a 360-friendly way. I think LaCie used to make one.)

WHS has a built-in UPnP server app that runs as a service (built off the old Windows Media Connect) while WMP has a newer one and Zune the newest of them all. That is the 360 sees. If it doesn't see a file that it can play, its the server app's fault.

Alternatives exist.
Two you may want to look at are:

1- Tversity (which has built-in, on the fly transcoding for support for well, non-supported files):
TVersity - Home (http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://tversity.com/&ei=588YSYiFDaCm8ATKvtmTCw&usg=AFQjCNEWMwoBfL0fsdspA8SNdN4_94YZVg)

How To: Stream Any Video to Your Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii | Maximum PC (http://www.maximumpc.com/article/streaming)

2- Playon (which captures net content into UPnP playlist-like structures bringing stuff like Hulu, youtube, and CBS.COM into the 360):

PlayOn! | MediaMall Technologies (http://www.themediamall.com/playon)

Linux users can use, as you mentioned, Twonky,
TwonkyVision (http://www.twonkyvision.de/)

and Mac users, Connect 360:
Nullriver Software : Products : Connect360 (http://www.nullriver.com/products/connect360)

As well as Twonky.

Basically, the issue is not with the 360 (the dashboard client plays what it can see) but with the Windows server apps that don't necessarilly show the stuff properly.
Want to try a simple test?
Take some of you h.264 files and burn then to a data dvd or copy them to a thumbdrive or external usb hard drive.
Betcha they play...
...as long as they follow the rules:

Xbox Team : December 2007 Video Playback FAQ (http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx)

Of course, with Windows 7 Media Center bringing in h.264 support, the 360 won't be limited to just UPnP streaming. And then, there's no telling how the new architecture behind NXE coming on nov 19 will affect media playback over the next year or so...

[gdoerr56]

Another solution (I use this one today) is to install WMP 11 on the Windows Home Server (google it). You then disable the built-in WHS media sharing and enable WMP11 sharing.

There are a few additional registry keys you have to create to get MP4 support working (again, google is your friend) but once you do this, it works flawlessly.

I have about 2 TB of video on my WHS and play it all through 360s attached to every TV in the house. It works great and even the wife plays movies this way and as a side benefit, the DVDs are all in a box in the basement.

I have hopes that Microsoft fixes UPnP support in an upcoming version of WHS. As it is, the old Windows Media Connect that it is based on is not up to snuff.

[Jason Dunn]

XBOX media streaming is done via an implementation of UPnP/AV, not file system mounting (as you do when sharing files across PCs). Strictly speaking, the 360 doesn't see PCs on your network and they don't see your PC file systems at all.

Right...but the question is WHY? I suppose that's what irks me - if it acted like a computer, it would just be a matter of having the right codecs on the Xbox. Instead they went with a bizarre solution that relies on the hosting computer having a certain version of software. I think Microsoft was trying to be too smart for their own good here - they should have gone for a simpler, smarter approach.

[Jason Dunn]

Another solution (I use this one today) is to install WMP 11 on the Windows Home Server (google it). You then disable the built-in WHS media sharing and enable WMP11 sharing.

Have you run into any problems going this route? I'm extremely leery of installing anything on my WHS that would compromise its stability or functionality.

[IfOnly]

I agee Jason. Microsoft's 360 implementation of streaming video support is as well thought out as Windows ME. It is not designed to be easy for users to steam media to the box, it is designed to force them to use certain microsoft products. Not even a upnp NAS server provides the ability to play all the 360' "supported" video containers/codecs. Try streaming MPEG2 from a upnp nas to an 360? Not going to happen! While if you have MCE this functionality is provided. Why the heck do I need another pc on to steam media to the 360? That is rediculous. Next you'll tell me to conveniantly hook up an external HD to the XBOX. My question is why should I have to?

Like Jason, I do not understand why Microsoft choses to make the 360 inferior by intentionally crippling it. Maybe they are afraid they would not have anything to offer in the future, or maybe they just don't care about the people that buy their products.