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[ubiman]

QUOTE(rollerbldes @ Nov 1 2006, 09:30 PM)

I'm sorry to say this, but you are incorrect. Do not think running vista makes you so much better than all else. Running the 360 as a media center extender does just that. The video is not decoded on your 360. It is decoded on your PC, then the video streamed to the 360. Have a great day.

That is not true. Stream a 1080p video from your PC, open up task manager and you'll see that the CPU will stay at zero percent if you're not running any other program of course. That means that the 360 has the encoder build in and its doing all of the work. Do you really think that my 650mHz PC can encode a 1080p video without any freezing or chopping!?

[quarky42]

Besides the lack of support of all the POPULAR/MAJOR codecs, I'm still pissed at the lack of HD support for NORMAL ASPECT RATIO screens.   My Toshiba 32" TV is a 4:3 aspect ratio that has native support for 1080i formats.  In fact it up converts the highdef inputs to 1080i !!!  

It really pisses me off that I have this high def TV that looks great with movies but because Microshaft thinks that all HD TVs MUST be widescreen that is my only choice for aspect ratio.   Games are too small in 16:9.  I can display it on my screen, but I prefer normal aspect!

WTF!

[aross6]

QUOTE(EugeneEW3RD @ Nov 1 2006, 04:32 PM)

Mediacoder located at Mediacoder

Does this app support both VC1 video and 5.1 audio?

[Matt2k]

I found that this is the best encoder/converter so far for making wmvhd files.  It will even convert the 5.1 audio parts as well.

http://www.transitionsoftware.com/

Transition HD

I've had great success with converting multiple divxHD/avi movie trailers to 720p wmvhd.

It doesn't support quicktime though.

Sometimes that link doesn't work......you can try this one as well:

http://www.kazazz.com/transition/

[Caldor]

QUOTE(rollerbldes @ Nov 2 2006, 11:30 AM)

I'm sorry to say this, but you are incorrect. Do not think running vista makes you so much better than all else. Running the 360 as a media center extender does just that. The video is not decoded on your 360. It is decoded on your PC, then the video streamed to the 360. Have a great day.

I'd bet you'd get along well with the friendly folks over at the flat earth society

http://www.alaska.ne...arthsociety.htm

As you appear to have no sense of logical thought, I will tell you once again:

1. WMVP and WMVP2 encoded video footage in WMV containers will playback on Vista through media centre extender. I have tested and proven this.
2. WMV HD WMV3 footage with non square pixels and anamorphic flags will have the correct display aspect ratio when played back through Vista media centre extender. I have also tested and proven this.

In fact, my PC does not have enough power to decode WVC1 720P at 60fps, or WVC1 1080P at 30fps, when the 360 can. I have tested and proven this.

Go have a nice day with your flat earth society freinds  

On the other subject I think the best tool for wmv transcoding is microsoft windows media encoder 9 and winows media asf viewer for diagnositics

[rollerbldes]

QUOTE(Caldor @ Nov 1 2006, 08:50 PM)

I'd bet you'd get along well with the friendly folks over at the flat earth society

http://www.alaska.ne...arthsociety.htm

As you appear to have no sense of logical thought, I will tell you once again:

1. WMVP and WMVP2 encoded video footage in WMV containers will playback on Vista through media centre extender. I have tested and proven this.
2. WMV HD WMV3 footage with non square pixels and anamorphic flags will have the correct display aspect ratio when played back through Vista media centre extender. I have also tested and proven this.

In fact, my PC does not have enough power to decode WVC1 720P at 60fps, or WVC1 1080P at 30fps, when the 360 can. I have tested and proven this.

Go have a nice day with your flat earth society freinds  

On the other subject I think the best tool for wmv transcoding is microsoft windows media encoder 9 and winows media asf viewer for diagnositics

Oh hmm. I guess the circuit city folks gave me the wrong info. Thats what they told me last time I went and asked them. Guess I won't be shopping there anymore.

Maybe they blocked those codecs for DRM reasons.

[aross6]

QUOTE(rollerbldes @ Nov 2 2006, 12:10 AM)

Oh hmm. I guess the circuit city folks gave me the wrong info. Thats what they told me last time I went and asked them. Guess I won't be shopping there anymore.

Maybe they blocked those codecs for DRM reasons.

Dude... why would you take advice from those lackies at Circuit City (no offense to anyone on here who works there of course)?  Most of those people don't know their asses from their elbows.....

QUOTE(Matt2k @ Nov 1 2006, 11:39 PM)

I found that this is the best encoder/converter so far for making wmvhd files.  It will even convert the 5.1 audio parts as well.

http://www.transitionsoftware.com/

Transition HD

I've had great success with converting multiple divxHD/avi movie trailers to 720p wmvhd.

It doesn't support quicktime though.

Sometimes that link doesn't work......you can try this one as well:

http://www.kazazz.com/transition/

The website says, and I quote:

"Product:  Transition HD
Price:  $249.95
Updates: Unlimited free updates"

I'll stick w/ somethin' a little cheapter....

[sillyboydarryl]

for 250 bux.. you'd think transition would be user friendly...

lol.. or wouldn't crash here and there when you write your own windows media profile for 360 movies lol...
is that toooo much to ask...

lets just say.. after trying the 14 day trial.... i wouldn't even bother puting on a pirates patch to get it lol.


For the best encoding and easy of use... the latest TMPGenc Xpress 4 is simply the best for speed and quality.  The latest version supports the Advanced Codec from wm9.


If you only have 3 though.. this is the steps I'd take if I had a TS file...



1.  Get a program called HDTVtoMPEG2.exe and convert it to MPG2.. (freeware)

2.  you will have 9-20 1 gig mpg2 files of your movie   eg.  movie.0001.mpg, movie.0002.mpg

3.  Load TMPG 3.. load in all the clips in order..

4.  MAJOR ISSUE  AC3 files seem to get delayed during transcoding.  You must play the clips and find out if there is a sync problem... there is a delay function that will help you adjust the sound to fit your video if it is out of sync

5.  Export as a windows media 9 video with audio 9 professional audio 5.1 sound 48mh, 90-98 quality vbr
Use a high 100 vbr for the video

6.  after its exported.. load the finished video into windows media encoder.. select the advanced profile and re-encode



It is still a lot of work.. TMPG 4 skips the need to encode twice.... since you can select the advanced profile in the program itself...

The avisynth method is actually faster and produces a slightly better video.. and if someone wants.. I'll go through the whole process.. (its not hard.. its just a bit more work on your end)



I'm actually stunned with the quality of the advanced profile and the size of the videos it creates....


I recorded the incredibles off of my hdtv tuner card.. and its just outstanding on the 360.. there is a huge difference between the old wm9 codec and the new advanced codec....




For those of you complaining about the speed of encoding... try encoding a h.264 file... in most cases.. not much of a difference.. if not longer...

word is .. the 360 will upgrade to play those files.. and I will love that option.   it seems to be sharper.. and thats my only problem with wm9.. but then again.. divx and xvid have the same problem...

[dabigdilla]

Please....can we get a definitive answer, or a nice, organized list of available encoders (freeware or note), instead of all this speculation?  It is almost impossible to discern what will work and what will not.

Edit:  eff it.  I'll just post a new thread so I can easily refer to it.

[starwars22]

can someone write a short guide and what tools I should use to encode a h.264 file into wmv or ts to be played on 360 with little or no quality loss.
Thanks

[THDVL]

Ok I just called 18004myxbox and asked about the WMVHD Dvd's. The 360 will play em! I called twice just to make sure.. Sometimes the reps are retarded. So this is awesome news. There are alot WMVHD Dvd's out there that I've been wanting.

[-shootn3zz-]

QUOTE(notguiltystyle @ Nov 1 2006, 01:12 PM)

Thanx i apreciate your advice! What software do u use to convert your files to wmv? I am using River Past and believe me it is slow. I converted an avi file of 0.98Gig (about 45min of HD) to wmv. Obviously I dont want to loose quality so I put all the settings to "keep the same as source". It took 20 hours and the file size of the wmv file was 6.8gig (im not joking). And to be honest with you the quality was good but I still prefered the quality of the avi file.

I used Riverpost yesterday and when I played back the wmv on the 360 I had sound only.  I must have done something wrong.

[Zapin]

I think the MS plan is pretty clear.  Even back a few months before the 360 was released and everybody heard that the video would be ONLY WMV (and at the time via the Extender only) the plan seemed pretty clear.

The XBOX will NEVER natively support anything but WMV (unless another format arrives with strong enough DRM that video content providers will be comfortable with it).  Will it eventually be hacked and codecs added . . .sure I think so.. I also think that transcoding workarounds will get better and more available also but any ability to play any format natively without marketable DRM is very unlikely.  Think about it.  MS can make deals with movie and television studios using the DRM built into their WMV format and the fact that the 360 already has a built in and successful content delivery system and a marketplace that can pay those studios for content makes their position all the stronger.

There is no financial incentive for MS to offer a wider range of video options.  How many people are going to refuse to get the 360 based on this limitation alone when you can visit any number of places and purchase DVD players or network video servers that can play your DIVX and XVID for as little as 50 bucks (in as good quality as you could ever expect from the 360).   You cannot deny that XVID and DIVX are by far the most common codecs used atm for pirated video so by not supporting those formats natively only gives MS that much more marketing power when selling the idea of the Xbox 360 as an Internet video rental / TV show server.  Some network studios are streaming their content online for free already (with commercials and delayed) and almost every popular Television show can be downloaded for only a buck or two a pop for play on your iPod or Cell Phone so the financial boon that is video on demand is no theory but proven profitable.

If hacks/workarounds make it easier to play a wider variety of codecs in the future I think MS will be able shrug it off and let studios blame the resourcefulness of the the hacking community without expecting too much pressure from the Studios to find ways of stopping those hacks.

In short I think that if you want to play your non-WMV video on your TV then your time would be better spent  buying a cheap alternative or re-encoding your collection rather than signing petitions or writing posts/blogs/emails  that will never be taken seriously by anybody at MS that has the power to make change.

[rollerbldes]

Now if they'll post a list of audio codecs.

[b.stolk]

I've tried to create WMV files using linux, but all the files I create are unplayable on my xbox360.
This is what I tried:

$ ffmpeg -i south.park.1012.dsr.xvid.notv.avi -b 1128 -vcodec wmv2 /tmp/out_wmv2.wmv

I also tried wmv1 instead, with the same results.
The xbox360 simply does not accept these files.

Maybe the 360 checks a field in the file, that specifies the authoring program that created the wmv, and block non-microsoft authoring programs?

  Bram