Playing DivX and Xvid content on Xbox 360

This is handy for people who don't have Media Center, but from what I hear the file sorting is crap, it just plops everything into one big long list, so if you have alot of video this is pretty crappy.

Using the MCE extender you can browse through folder view which is much better. To be honest, I still use my XBOX1 w/ XBMC 90% of the time, faster, better UI, and better quality. Only think it can't do is play HD clips, that lil' celeron can only do so much I guess!\

I'll never understand why MS didn't just copy XBMC functionality straight up, it's WAY better than the interface used for MCE, and it was all sitting there right before their eyes waiting to be copied.
 
Add another pleased XBMC MC360 user to the list. Modding the Xbox was scarry as hell, but once done it was so simple and nice that I wondered why I was so worried before. I'd use it more often if the Xbox was powerful enough to play HD content. As it is, it's not worth it. When I finally get a Xbox 360, I think I'd rather use it with a Media Center PC then have to go through the trouble of apps like TVersity.

Tommy McClain
 
I don't mind the UI for Media Center it doesn't bother me that much and I kind of like the look of the Vista version on the 360 more than the MCE2005 version, it definitely allows me to find my files easier, downside being that hdtvpump no longer seems to work nor does transcode 360 (still can't get the Vista version of transcode to work for me). I have resigned myself to re-purchasing my hd stuff on hd dvd or blu-ray disc, however, I don't see that as a bad thing.

I gave away my xbox the day I bought the 360 so I can no longer compare XBMC, it was decent for what it was, but it could not deliver the HD content I was striving for and it had its own share of growing pains.
 
Yeah, thanks for the link! Looks like it could be much more comfortable than re-encoging and then linking up through WMC or MCE.
 
So you need to not only have your 150+ W Xbox 360 running, but also a fairly hefty PC in the other room. That's insanity. It's sad that my $50 Philips DVD player can play DIVX/Xvid but MS went cheap and didn't even bother for 360. That cheapie DVD player sucks a whole ~5W doing its thing.
 
swaaye said:
So you need to not only have your 150+ W Xbox 360 running, but also a fairly hefty PC in the other room. That's insanity. It's sad that my $50 Philips DVD player can play DIVX/Xvid but MS went cheap and didn't even bother for 360. That cheapie DVD player sucks a whole ~5W doing its thing.
Click to expand...

Are you serious??

Send me your addy, I will pay the $10 a year difference you are talking about.

We are once again talking about another value add feature to the 360. To boot it's free, and until Microsoft officially adds the support, this is great.

With that being said, I haven't tried it yet, but will do so in the near future. I'll give some details.
 
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swaaye said:
So you need to not only have your 150+ W Xbox 360 running, but also a fairly hefty PC in the other room. That's insanity. It's sad that my $50 Philips DVD player can play DIVX/Xvid but MS went cheap and didn't even bother for 360. That cheapie DVD player sucks a whole ~5W doing its thing.
Click to expand...

Here is a mind opener for you:

You allready got a X360 for its games.

Suddenly, MS allows for streaming without WMC, and then somebody fixes it so it can stream virtually any file out there.

Thats a free feature.

Its good news no matter what way you look at it. You have the possiblilty to stream hd movies that you downloaded illegally if you want to. You dont HAVE to do it, but you can.
 
But, I don't have a 360 yet. I'm waiting for the price drop, or just some more decent games.

A DivX/XVid-compatible codec is something that should be standard IMO. What you have to do to get that support is a rather ridiculous workaround. Transcoding to their locked-in bullshit proprietary WMV format. I'm sure such a codec isn't on the machine precisely because they don't want to dilute their machine's MS purity. Just like how damn near all Xbox games use WMA and WMV whereas other consoles used DivX and MP3 or whatever.

I guess if you already have an Xbox 360 and don't have an extra 4 yr old PC or cheapie DVD/DIVX player, then well it's not so bad that they at least sorta let you play the files.

Legitimizing MS's streaming transcode method "because it works and it's 'free' " isn't really very smart, IMO. It's still ridiculous. Better for MS though. In every way imaginable. They keep dirty 3rd party programming off their wholesome console. They get you to use their software more on your PC.
 
swaaye said:
Just like how damn near all Xbox games use WMA and WMV whereas other consoles used DivX and MP3 or whatever.
Click to expand...

Bullshit. Virtually all Xbox 360 games, virtually all Xbox games, including MS games like Halo, have used Bink for video.

For audio, it's a different matter completely - games use XMA-compressed sounds, because they are decompressed in hardware, and everything else should be decompressed in software. MP3 costs a lot to put into your game, DivX costs, if I remember correctly, a bit more thank Bink - and is nowhere near the ease of use for the developer.

DivX is a proprietary codec. XviD is a GPL codec. You think of them as "free" because you download pirated movies in these formats; this doesn't mean they are "free" to use by a game development studio, much less by a console vendor.
 
I totally agree with swaaye. It's insanity to have to have ANOTHER high performance box to play some videos, when the Xbox360 has the power needed to decode just about any format, SD and HD!
And the DivX/Xvid legal issues - considering any damn $50 DVD player nowadays supports them (even players from Sony!) I see no reason that MS couldn't have included them in the 360.
 
If you boot Linux on the PS3 I guess you can run just about any Linux media player, which should cover most formats.
The built-in PS3 media player however does not support DivX/Xvid I think. A bit strange, since many new Sony standalone DVD players handles DivX.
 
Its not strange at all, its because of cost.

Sony\Ms would need to pay royalities to whoever owns the codex, its not free of charge (and most of theese kind of royalties are based on percentages of revenue). For example a DVD player may pay 2% for the right to use divx..

Totally different when your making a console, which primary task isnt playing movies at all.

But i dont understand at all, why you guys are negative to this.

You know have the option to play virtually any format you want, and stream it to the X360 to display it in HD quality on screen. You dont have to, but you have a option to do so. Its a feature, you havent paid for it, but its there.
 
The reason we are negative is that it can be done in a much better way.
Look at XBMC for the original Xbox, now THAT's how media functionality should be implemented!
Just because the feature is there "for free" does not mean that it is immune to criticism.
I also don't think it should be considered a "feature you haven't paid for". The media playing capabilities are part of the package you buy, it's not like it is some hidden feature that you go "wow, now this was a nice bonus, I had no idea this was included".
No, it's a feature that MS includes and it is clearly stated in marketing etc. that you have media playing functionality, and as such, we analyze it and see what can be done better.
 
Ostepop said:
XBMC isnt exactly legal, you understand that right?
Click to expand...

I don't think you quite understand the point here. Technicalities like whether or not XBMC is built with a stolen SDK or implement a proprietary codec is not what I'm pointing out, what I'm pointing out is that XBMC has the FEATURES people want, like being able to stream from a network share etc.
If we for one minute ignore DivX with it's dubious legal status, and just concentrate on playing MP3s, MPEG2 (which the XBox 360 can, since it can play DVDs) and Microsofts own WMV/WMA files.
Being able to play these from a standard network share would be very EASY to implement on the Xbox 360. But MS did not. Why? Because they want us to buy their crappy XP Media Center Edition. Having to run a fast PC to decode stuff that could easily be done on the 360 is a ripoff.
 
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Sdw said:
Being able to play these from a standard network share would be very EASY to implement on the Xbox 360. But MS did not. Why? Because they want us to buy their crappy XP Media Center Edition. Having to run a fast PC to decode stuff that could easily be done on the 360 is a ripoff.
Click to expand...

Little behind the times???

With the latest dashboard update you can now stream supported formats from Windows XP, (WMV and WMVHD).

Rather than using network shares you just install windows media connect and choose the folders you'd like to share.
 
scooby_dooby said:
Little behind the times???

With the latest dashboard update you can now stream supported formats from Windows XP, (WMV and WMVHD).

Rather than using network shares you just install (FREE) windows media connect and choose the folders you'd like to share.
Click to expand...

yep....
 
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