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[CGMneon]

Hi all.

I read that the 360 is now easier to play .TS files on after the October 31, 2006 update.  I'm not having any luck, though, in getting my .TS movie file to stream from my PC to my Xbox 360.

My 360 can connect to my PC.  I successfully added a folder to share from my PC for the 360.  I played a regular wmv file on the 360 from that same folder (streamed from my PC).  But I cannot get the 360 to play my .TS file or a demo file I found on the HDTVpump website.  

I installed the program called HDTVpump because I was reading all over the place that this was all I needed to do to get the 360 to stream this 1080i movie.  Well, Windows Media Player version 11 on my PC cannot recognize the .TS extension, even though HDTVpump enabled me to watch the film using Windows Media Classic (hack of version 6.4) and also in Nero Showcase.  

Doesn't the 360 use Windows Media Player to stream my PC's movies?  If so, how the heck can I get Windows Media Player to recognize the darn .TS file if my install of HDTVpump apparently did nothing for the program at all?  Or, if Windows Media Player on my PC and the player on the 360 are totally unrelated, why can't the 360 play the TS movie?

The HDTVpump home page at http://www.dvbportal.de/projects/hdtvpump/ let me download the demonstration file "hdtv_demo.tp" but it would not play on Windows Media Player version 11, either, so I know its not my movie file that is the problem.  I encountered the same failure to recognize the extension when I had previously used Windows Media Player version 10.  I tried just telling the program to try to play the files anyway and the program crashes.

Please give me a clue on what I can try next.  I think I'm just on the verge of getting TS files to work on the 360, as I can now play TS files on my PC with the other players like Media Classic and Nero Showcase.  

Thanks for your replies in advance.   (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[zombie4rave]

You didn't make it clear on what operating system you are running. You must run Media Center 2005 on the PC to stream TS files.  WMP11 by itself on XP will only stream WMV.  As far as WMP11 not playing them after you installed HDTVPump, I have no idea.  You could try to reinstall WMP and the plugin.  The Purevideo decoder from Nvidia does the same thing as Pump.  That might be worth checking out as well.  You can also try some other files.   There are some MPEG2 HD test patterns at this link.

This post has been edited by zombie4rave: Dec 14 2006, 02:54 PM

[CGMneon]

QUOTE(zombie4rave @ Dec 14 2006, 05:52 AM)

You didn't make it clear on what operating system you are running. You must run Media Center 2005 on the PC to stream TS files.  WMP11 by itself on XP will only stream WMV.  As far as WMP11 not playing them after you installed HDTVPump, I have no idea.  You could try to reinstall WMP and the plugin.  The Purevideo decoder from Nvidia does the same thing as Pump.  That might be worth checking out as well.  You can also try some other files.   There are some MPEG2 HD test patterns at this link.

Thanks for the link, zombie4rave.  I had wanted to try more TS files, and those appear small so as to not take long to download.  I will certainly try those when I get home from work this evening.

My fault for not being clear earlier.  Let me try to be a little more specific in my question: Will getting the TS file to play on my PC's Windows Media Player help it play on my Xbox 360 if I am running Media Center on the 360, or are these two totally unrelated issues?  I still do not understand how the 360 is playing these files, even after connecting my PC and 360 with Media Center.  Is Media Center a separate player or is it just a hub for WMP?  Ultimately, I really don't care if I cannot watch a TS file on my PC with WMP.  I just want to get Windows Media Center on my 360 to work as well with ts files as it does with wmv files.  When I try playing the TS file in Media Center on my PC, I also get an error.  (I do not believe that the HDTVpump plugin helped with my PC's Media Center, just like it did not help with my PC's WMP.)

FYI: My PC is using Windows XP Media Center edition.  I bought my computer from Best Buy this summer.  I was told it had plenty of processing power (new AMD) and ram.  I certainly would like to run Media Center with Extender.  My 360 worked flawlessly with the wmv files using Media Center.  Now I just want it to do the same with ts files.

Assuming that WMP is important for getting the 360's Media Center to work, then I should provide some more background; if not then disregard.  I installed WMP v11 over the top of WMP10 as an update.  It appears that the installation saved the same settings.  I only want WMP to play obscure file extensions and leave the rest to Media Player Classic.  It is possible that in changing what file extensions I wanted WMP v11 to play by default that I also changed something else.  A correct installation of the HDTVpump plugin would make WMP v11 go from looking at a TS file and saying that it does not recognize that extension to just playing the darn thing, right?  If nothing else, I think you gave me a great lead as to an alternative to HDTVpump.

Thanks again.

[acribb]

Use the Media Center option on the Xbox 360 dashboard to connect to your Media Center 2005 computer.  You will need to install the software from xbox.com/pcsetup .  Once you select the Connect to Media Center option on your 360, the console will walk you through what you need to do.  Once in to Media Center on the 360, add some folders containig the TS files you want to play and play them through the Media Extender on the 360.  It should work fine since you have HDTV Pump installed.

Also, to me, 720p looks better for playback of HD files than 1080i.

[CGMneon]

QUOTE(acribb @ Dec 14 2006, 11:13 AM)

Use the Media Center option on the Xbox 360 dashboard to connect to your Media Center 2005 computer.  You will need to install the software from xbox.com/pcsetup .  Once you select the Connect to Media Center option on your 360, the console will walk you through what you need to do.  Once in to Media Center on the 360, add some folders containig the TS files you want to play and play them through the Media Extender on the 360.  It should work fine since you have HDTV Pump installed.

Also, to me, 720p looks better for playback of HD files than 1080i.

acribb, thanks for the reply.

I have done all of the above, exactly as you described, prior to my initial post.  My problem is that for whatever reason, HDTVpump has not helped me play TS files over Windows Media Player version 11 or Windows Media Center, either on my PC or 360.  HDTVpump did enable me to view TS files in other programs on my PC, however, so I know it did something.

My main question now in trying to solve my problem is this: Is Windows Media Center (WMC) just a hub that contains Windows Media Player (WMP), or is WMC another software player altogether?  If I "fix" WMP on my PC will it "fix" my problem in viewing TS files on my 360?  

Getting TS files to play over the 360 is supposedly painless, but not if the miscellaneous Windows programs cannot recognize the TS extension in the first place, even with HDTVpump.  Somewhere along the way I must have messed up my WMP settings and before I go trying to fix WMP I want to know if WMP actually has anything to do with playing files on the 360 if I am connecting via WMC.

Thanks again for any help/advise.  Cheers.

[acribb]

Well, now i'm in the same boat as you.  I can't play TS files anymore on Xbox 360 media extender.  I just downloaded some Windows update, and now the TS files don't show up in the folder on the Xbox.

Has anyone else experienced this with the new updates?

[CGMneon]

In doing more reading, I read where Media Center does indeed just use Windows Media Player to play files.  So all of my frustrations seem to come from the fact that HDTVpump does not work in WMP as it should.

I can see some of the HDTVpump controls in WMP if I do enough looking, and can click on HDTVpump properties, but this does not bring up any HDTVpump "properties" to change.  Do I have to change a codec in WMP or something?  The HDTVpump plugin is there, but its just not being allowed to do its thing.

[acribb]

Nevermind.  I rebooted my Media Center PC and everything shows up again.  The Xbox 360 Media Extender can definitely be glitchy at times.

You should download and install the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) and AC3 Filter.

Install those and then reinstall HDTV Pump.

Then check and see if you can play TS files through WMP 11.

If you can, you should be good to go on the Xbox 360 Media Center Extender.

[CGMneon]

Thanks for continuing to post.

I installed the two codec packs and reinstalled HDTVpump.  I also installed the Nvidia PureVideo pack, which apparently is similar to HDTVpump.

Windows Media Player version 11 closed immediately when I double-clicked the file to start the program.  Before WMP had said it didn't recognize the ts file and then crashed, so maybe this is at least a productive step in the right direction.  (Though the TS file extension still does not show as a file type in Windows Explorer control panel.)

I opened up WMP without selecting a file and tried to adjust the codecs (or "plug-ins" as they apparently are called by Microsoft).  Underneath the "Now Playing" section tab, I scrolled to "More Options" and then the "Plug-ins" tab.  From there, under the category "Now Playing", only one plugin is present: "Transport Stream Controls".  

A brief description of the HDTVpump plugin says: "Controls seeking in TS files when using the HDTVpump."  There is a "Properties" tab.  I click that and it just shows an "About" (HDTVpump) tab.  I guess there is no properties to change because there is no file selected.

I'm rambling, so I'll summarize my question: is there any other spot to change plugins/codecs?  After all that I installed with the Codec pack and Nvidia PureVideo, I should see something else besides HDTVpump, right?

[CGMneon]

Well, I uninstalled everything.  (WMP, codecs, everything).  Then I installed PureVideo.  Then I allowed WMP v10 to set itself up.  And then it worked!  I do not understand why, but my ts files now play.  I let WMP update itself to version 11 and will consider my troubles in getting TS files to play on my 360 over.

Thanks to all.  Good night!   (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[acribb]

That's what I would have suggested too - uninstall everything and then reboot and then start reinstalling, installing hdtv pump last on top of WMP11.

Glad everything worked out for you in the end.