Topic: On-the-fly video transcoding for Xbox 360 and Windows XP (Read 426 times)

Xbox-Scene · « **on:** November 24, 2006, 04:56:00 PM »

On-the-fly video transcoding for Xbox 360 and Windows XP
Posted by XanTium | November 24 18:56 EST

(IMG:http://www.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads/ad9520b.cgi/ns/v=2.1S/sz=300x250A/

Since the fall 2006 dashboard upgrade it's finally also possible to stream video to your Xbox 360 from a normal Windows 2000/XP machine. Previously it required Windows Media Center Edition.
However Microsoft only allows to stream WMV videos and there's no on-the-fly transcoding (addon) for Windows Media Connect/Windows Media Player11 yet like available for Windows Media Center Edition.

But the guys behind the TVersity Media Server released a (beta) patch for on-the-fly transcoding to WMV which will allow to use TVersity to stream videos in other formats (like xvid/divx) to your Xbox360. The videos will be automatically transcoded on-the-fly by your PC to WMV before it's streamed to your Xbox360:

Quote

TVersity Media Server lets you manage your Internet and home media and create your personalized lineup of channels, or as we call it your Personal Entertainment Guide (PEG). It then serves this media to a multitude of networked devices in the home or on the go, overcoming their inherent limitations by doing all the necessary conversions on the fly, and thus making your media available anywhere, anytime and from any device.

Here is an early preview for the on the fly WMV transcoding feature for the 360. Since we have other stuff that needs to make it into the next release and since this is not yet ready we are releasing a patch. Please try it and let us know what you think.

Installing the Patch:
1. Stop Tversity
2. Extract the content of the patch zip file into the installation folder of TVersity (by default it is \Program Files\TVersity\Media Server)
3. Start TVersity, go to the 360 and browse your computer for videos. You should now see all the videos shared via TVersity plus all the online video URLs and assuming your directshow has the filters needed to decode these videos they should all play on the 360.

Some additional notes:
* Videos may take from 10 seconds to a minute to start. It depends on the bitrate of the video. The 360 requires 2 Megabyte of data to be provided before it starts playback. For low bitrate content (like the stuff coming from the Net) it can take a minute to get to 2 Mbyte. For hi-def content it happens very fast.
* Transcoding in real time of high resolution material requires a very fast computer
* The quality of the result of the transcoding, can be controlled via the TVersity GUIl. Increasing the resolution will improve the quality but will require a faster machine. You can also experiment with the compression ratios and bitrates, these all affect the WMV transcoding just like they affect the MPEG transcoding that TVersity has been traditionally doing.
* You can even upconvert videos to HD if you wish and if you have a fast machine by tweaking the minVideoInfo in config.xml.
* If your computer is not fast enough, you can decrease the resolution and then try again or wait till the transcoding is done and then play it.
* Transcoded videos cannot be FF/Rewind during the transcoding (this is a 360 limitation) however after transcoding is done if you play some other video and then go back to the transcoded one, you will be able to seek in the file.
* It is highly recommended to upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 as it includes more recent and more stable encoders.

Official Site: http://www.tversity.com
Download: TVersity Media Server | Xbox360 patch

kics · « **Reply #1 on:** November 24, 2006, 04:33:00 PM »

nice app, but in comparison with transcode which one is better

... just a question, when it says a fast computer .... what does it mean by fast

(what speed ??)

jo7a · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2006, 04:43:00 PM »

QUOTE(kics @ Nov 25 2006, 12:40 AM)

nice app, but in comparison with transcode which one is better

... just a question, when it says a fast computer .... what does it mean by fast

(what speed ??)

this one doesn't need mce , but it looks like it takes more time to load the movies and i don't know about the subtitiles

HamSandwhich · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2006, 04:58:00 PM »

This is good news for me

sgr215 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 24, 2006, 05:06:00 PM »

Call me paranoid but this concerns me from their FAQ:

Q) What about premium content, made available for a small fee?

A) We intend to support paid services as well, however currently free content, possibly ad supported, is our main focus.

troyBORG · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2006, 05:31:00 PM »

This is what I get when i try to play a Divx file!
(IMG:http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8228/errorfj1.png)

This post has been edited by troyBORG: Nov 25 2006, 01:40 AM

HansiHusten · « **Reply #6 on:** November 24, 2006, 05:49:00 PM »

service is running good on my 2003 server, but it doesnt stream a bit.. so seems 2003 isnt included

pcrat · « **Reply #7 on:** November 24, 2006, 05:59:00 PM »

cant even get a basic .mpg to play 360 dont even see it, put the folder in tversity, etc. nothing...

only a beta so cant gripe.. keep up the work tho

pcrat · « **Reply #8 on:** November 24, 2006, 06:57:00 PM »

ok,, my bad, need to stop sharing with windows media player 11 first...and yes, it streams a ton of vid formats..

works very nicely.

DMAddict · « **Reply #9 on:** November 24, 2006, 07:31:00 PM »

Sounds nice, but I don't like the 10 seconds to a minute for video startup. Still gonna stick to XBMC for video playback. Keep'em coming though and one day I'll switch over.

Maverick0984 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 24, 2006, 08:01:00 PM »

well i can't get anything to appear on my 360 :-/

CompFreak07 · « **Reply #11 on:** November 24, 2006, 08:08:00 PM »

I can see everything on the xbox 360 but whenever I pick something it says "The connection to your computer was lost. Make sure your computer is on, connected to your network, and is running media sharing software" or "Can't play this content because it may not be supported. For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support"

I can see everything on the xbox 360 but whenever I pick something it says "The connection to your computer was lost. Make sure your computer is on, connected to your network, and is running media sharing software" or "Can't play this content because it may not be supported. For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support"

jo7a · « **Reply #12 on:** November 24, 2006, 09:13:00 PM »

i got it working on my xp perfectly the only problem i see is that u can't forward or rewind the movie =( just install the program aply the patch like you would a play a crack share the folder where the videos are and restart the server.
Then on ur 360 you connect to the computer and the videos will show up , i recomend to remove the websites shares or else you will have a big list of movies.

0794 · « **Reply #13 on:** November 24, 2006, 09:24:00 PM »

QUOTE(DMAddict @ Nov 24 2006, 08:38 PM)

Sounds nice, but I don't like the 10 seconds to a minute for video startup. Still gonna stick to XBMC for video playback. Keep'em coming though and one day I'll switch over.

What if you want to pause, rewind, or fast forward? Does this delay exist there as well? I bet that would crash the system quite quickly.

Great concept and I applaud the work by those involved, but XBMC is all I need...

geebus · « **Reply #14 on:** November 24, 2006, 10:13:00 PM »

I need a little more information?
Do you run sharing on WMP11 or just have TVersity on? Does the folder you share have to contain the videos or can you share a directory with folders that contain videos? Can we get just a little more inforation on setting if up?

Thanks,

geebus

Author Topic: On-the-fly video transcoding for Xbox 360 and Windows XP (Read 426 times)