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Xbox 360 Update Supports DixV and XviD Video Playback
Posted by Adam Pash at 7:00 AM on December 5, 2007
Microsoft released an update to the Xbox 360 today that introduces several feature updates to the Xbox, most notably support for DivX and XviD video playback without the need to transcode the video to WMV format. The good: You can now easily stream and playback those BitTorrent videos on your Xbox without running third party software like Transcode 360 or TVersity, and apparently the results are stellar—making this update extraordinarily exciting for video lovers. Unfortunately it's not yet as fully implemented as it should be.
If you're running your Xbox as a Media Center extender, DivX and XviD aren't natively supported. That means that if you like watching your downloaded videos with your Xbox Media Center extender instead of from the Xbox dashboard, you'll still have to use one of the third party transcoders mentioned above. Fingers crossed that the extender will support more video formats in the future, but in the meantime the dashboard video update is still pretty killer.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Nick
Posted December 7, 2007 2:24 AM
message for ffantasyv
1.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2.
In the registry tree (on the left), expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE, Microsoft, MediaPlayer, and Preferences.
3.
Right-click HME, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4.
Type EnableRemoteContentSharing, and then press ENTER.
5.
Right-click EnableRemoteContentSharing, and then click Modify.
6.
In the Value data text box, type 1, and then click OK. If you later decide to disable remote content sharing, you can repeat this procedure and change the value to 0.
it work for me you also may need to set permissons on what folder can be shared
tap52384
Posted 3:29 PM 4/12/07
The title should say "DivX" not "DixV".
tap52384
BingleyJoe
Posted 3:12 PM 4/12/07
The new dashboard is great, but for some reason I can't get Connect360 to work at all anymore... mind you, it doesn't support the new codecs yet, so no big deal.
Otherwise it's great, and hopefully NullRiver will update soon.
BingleyJoe
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
Posted 4:10 PM 4/12/07
Here's Gizmodo's take - "Verdict: Almost Perfect"
Gina Trapani, Lifehacker Editor
Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor
Posted 4:03 PM 4/12/07
@tap52384: Ack, thanks for the heads up.
Adam Pash, LH Senior Editor
The How-To Geek
Posted 4:36 PM 4/12/07
Can it support h264 ?
Personally, I'm in love with the linux-based Neuros OSD box.. it's tiny and can play all my shared media files on my tv. It can even record tv back to my shared drive on the other computer... you can pop in any USB drive and play media... and did I mention linux?
[www.neurostechnology.com]
The How-To Geek
Mysphyt
Posted 4:36 PM 4/12/07
This has been something I've been (admittedly somewhat passively) looking into for some time, with very limited success: is there something around that will stream audio/video from a Linux box to a 360? I've found uShare and TwonkyMedia, the latter of which is neither free nor open source (which is not preferred). I'm looking into what hoops I'll have to jump through to get uShare running on my Gentoo server; does anybody know of anything else Linux-friendly that will stream to a 360?
Mysphyt
shibathedog
Posted 5:29 PM 4/12/07
This update is awesome, But my 360 is acting up now. It's really slow and unresponsive and freezes sometimes. (The dashboard and all related menus, such as the guide blade or whatever its called when you press the silver X button)
Isn't that what happens before RRoD? Xbox 360 number 4 here I come! Haha but joking aside, Is this happening to anyone else?
shibathedog
Enrique
Posted 6:09 PM 4/12/07
@joemo: Apparently you can use the Media Sharing feature in Windows Media Player 11 to do this. Going to try it when I get home tonight.
Enrique
kftgr
Posted 7:14 PM 4/12/07
You can use Windows Media Player 11 to do the streaming. Doesn't seem like MS will be updating Windows Media Connect to stream the new codecs/containers.
Other than that, can also use USB storage devices or episodes burned onto DVD. What's ironic is that this update has pretty much made my divx-dvd player obsolete. However, it's also good in that the update supports the advanced encoding features that the hardware player couldn't.
kftgr
engtech
Posted 7:44 PM 4/12/07
That would be pretty sweet if I could get this working on my WinXP box (not media center, don't have Windows Media Player 11).
engtech
ffantasyv
Posted 7:40 PM 4/12/07
This just brings up a sore subject for me. I have been trying for a while now to get my Windows XP SP2 PC networked with my xbox 360 so I can stream music pictures and videos.However , I'm not having much success. I'm using WMP 11 and the built in sharing feature like it describes on Microsoft's site. I've opened all the ports that they have suggested both in my router firewall and in my software firewall (COMODO Firewall Pro 3.0) but to no avail. But the weird part is that WMP recognizes my Xbox but when I try to start streaming my xbox says it doesn't recognize and computers with sharing enabled on my network (even after i turn the feature on.) Just a little more info: my PC is using a wired connection to my router and my xbox is in anther room using the Microsoft WiFi adapter to connect to the same router. I can connect to xbox live just fine but for some reason the sharing is failing. Any help you can give me would be very appreciated. Happy Holidays.
ffantasyv
Techtweaker
Posted 8:07 AM 5/12/07
@ffantasyv: Try shutting down your software firewall. Or try connecting it by cable to the router.
Techtweaker
Techtweaker
Posted 8:05 AM 5/12/07
I just bought an Xbox 360 Elite package for me err umm I mean the kids for Xmas. I guess I will have to take it out of the box and make sure all the updates are installed.
Eventually it will be wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree.
Techtweaker
Enrique
Posted 9:25 AM 5/12/07
Just set this up with a ton of Divx and Xvid files (downloaded legally of course) and it worked swimmingly! There was no buffering time, no lag at all, pretty damn high quality video, and great sound as well! I'm VERY impressed!
By the way, my setup has my PC wirelessly hooked up to my network, and my 360 wired to the router.
Enrique
rasbach
Posted 9:50 AM 5/12/07
Yes, I noticed the same thing last night- it seems like everything takes longer to load up and my Xbox forze twice on me.
@shibathedog:
rasbach
speedway84
Posted 11:48 AM 5/12/07
I have been waiting for this! Transcoding from divx to wmv took forever and when it streamed to the 360 it was often very slow. The new DivX streaming capability is lightning fast. I streamed from my laptop (over a 802.11g conncetion) to my wired 360 - it worked wonderfully.
speedway84
joemo
Posted 5:00 PM 5/12/07
Wow, I'm now steaming an HD video podcast (JPL/NASA via iTunes) to my 360 and it looks FANTASTIC!!! Not a single stutter.
joemo
joemo
Posted 4:59 PM 5/12/07
@FFANTASYV If you have a router firewall you dont need a software firewall, so I would definitely disable that. Software firewalls are kinda useless on Windows anyway IMO.
joemo
jmaeng
Posted 9:37 AM 6/12/07
Yup, tried this out Tuesday from a xvid burned to a CD and worked great. My AppleTV is now officially for sale!
jmaeng
mitchedu
Posted 6:10 PM 7/12/07
Im stuck with this one... using vista premium x86, I can see my xbox and my xbox can see my comp. I have many video files that are supported by the new codecs. Now, when I put these files in the shared videos folder, nothing comes up on my xbox. media sharing is turned on in wmp11 and the folder is being monitored. My computer is selected in the xbox blade. The files do work if I put them on my USB stick, but I would like to stream if possible.
mitchedu