Ok, so I use my Xbox 360 as a DVD player, a music player a ... well you get the point, I use it for everything. Mostly I use Windows Media Center, but quite often I just have to get by with the options in the video library. I have it connected directly to my laptop via a bridged connection using an ethernet cableas countless websites have outlined for me. However, I have multiple problems with this.
Firstly; Quite often when using the video library options to watch .avi's direct from a burned DVD, or streamed from the laptop it'll play most of the video, but then it'll suddenly stop citing a codec error or something and say the content is not supported and cannot be played. It boggles my mind that it can suddenly choose to not play something when it's already ahlfway through the video. Is there any way to fix this? I have the optional media update. I can counter this by using the PS3 media server program, but that encodes everything on the fly and quite often stops to buffer for a minute or so, repeatedly. It's not really a viable option.
Second; Windows Media Center on the 360 loses its connection settings every few days, requiring me to set up a new connection when I want to use it. Not a massive deal, but still mildly annoying.
Thirdly; My Xbox is American, so obviously it won't play PAL format DVD's, but my laptop will. (real DVD's of course, not copied or burned ones) I've been itching to re-watch Ghost in the Shell since I got back to England but I don't want to watch it on my laptop. Is there a way to play the DVD on the laptop, but stream the video to the Xbox (either WMC or through the video library) so I can watch it on my TV, or will I be stuck watching it on a shitty laptop screen?
There was more questions, but they seem to have escaped me for the moment. Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.
Not too sure about 1 or 2 as it's something i've never tried.
As for your third part, does your TV have a PC or HDMI input? If so you can just hook your laptop up to the TV and watch stuff from it, as long as you're laptop has the required output connections of course.
My TV does have the VGA cable slot but it won't recognise anything I put into it. the PC option on the source list doesn't even light up when everything's connected. I've tried a few different cables, and I even tried brutalising one of the pins in the cables connector as outlined in an FAQ elsewhere online but that didn't work either. I'm completely at a loss. There's also no DVD player in the house aside from my Xbox/Laptop so streaming through the Xbox seems to be all I can do.
No probs, Neato usually knows about stuff like this, i'm sure he'll have some answers for you when he's next online.
Quote from: Legion on January 10, 2011, 06:39:54 PM
Firstly; Quite often when using the video library options to watch .avi's direct from a burned DVD, or streamed from the laptop it'll play most of the video, but then it'll suddenly stop citing a codec error or something and say the content is not supported and cannot be played. It boggles my mind that it can suddenly choose to not play something when it's already ahlfway through the video. Is there any way to fix this? I have the optional media update. I can counter this by using the PS3 media server program, but that encodes everything on the fly and quite often stops to buffer for a minute or so, repeatedly. It's not really a viable option.
Errors that appear mid-video while playing from a burned disc is usually a sign of a bad burn. Does the error happen at the same point in the video every time, or does it vary?
Errors that appear mid-video while streaming from a PC is usually a sign of an inconsistent network connection, PC security restrictions, or overall poor PC performance.
- This can be common with wireless connections, but you are using Ethernet. Is the Ethernet cable plugged directly into the PC and 360, or is there a router/switch/etc. in between?
- Windows Vista (and maybe Windows 7) is notorious for resetting it's security settings without the user's knowledge. Make sure your network settings are set to "Private / Home" and disable all antivirus / firewall / etc. software to see if it makes a difference.
- Low memory & available CPU resources can also interrupt video streaming. Perform "Disc Cleanup" and "Disc Defragment" to give your PC a little boost. Also close/disable any running programs (including programs running in the background) to see if it makes a difference.
Quote from: Legion on January 10, 2011, 06:39:54 PM
Second; Windows Media Center on the 360 loses its connection settings every few days, requiring me to set up a new connection when I want to use it. Not a massive deal, but still mildly annoying.
This sounds like your PC's (our router if you use one) security settings are screwing with you. As mentioned above, make sure your network settings are set to "Private / Home" and customize all settings in Windows and whatever security programs you may use to allow media streaming without any restrictions. The simple way to test this is to just disable all of your PC's security and see if it makes a difference.
Quote from: Legion on January 10, 2011, 06:39:54 PM
Thirdly; My Xbox is American, so obviously it won't play PAL format DVD's, but my laptop will. (real DVD's of course, not copied or burned ones) I've been itching to re-watch Ghost in the Shell since I got back to England but I don't want to watch it on my laptop. Is there a way to play the DVD on the laptop, but stream the video to the Xbox (either WMC or through the video library) so I can watch it on my TV, or will I be stuck watching it on a shitty laptop screen?
I know indie Media Center programmers were trying to develop a plugin that would allow streaming direct from Disc > PC > Xbox 360, but I don't think it ever happened.
If I was in your situation, I would rip the movie from the DVD, and then create a new DVD (region 1 or region free). There are a hundered programs to do this, but here is what I use. DVDFab (http://www.dvdfab.com/download.htm) to rip the movie from the original DVD. DVDFlick (http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php) to create a new DVD with the ripped video file.
If you don't want to deal with creating a new DVD, or don't have a burnable DVD disc to use, you can convert the ripped video file into a format your Xbox 360 will play. On occasion you can skip the "convert" process altogether and simply rename the ripped video file (filename.VOB) to (filename.AVI) and try to make your Xbox 360 play it. This has worked for me a few times, but not always.
If it doesn't work, you can use Windows Movie Maker (should be preinstalled on your PC already) to convert the .VOB file into a .WMV file. If Windows Movie Maker is not able to convert the .VOB file you may need to install the proper codecs on your PC. This is where things can get complicated. To make it easy just download the K-Lite codec pack. It's bloated with a lot of useless crap you'll never need, but will save you a tone of trial-&-error trying to navigate the wild world of codecs. After the codecs are installed, Windows Movie Maker shouldn't have any problems converting .VOB files to .WMV. Depending on how powerful your PC is, this process can take a very long time.
I used to use DVD Flick but now use a dodgy version of ConverXToDVD which is far better, still use the age old DVD Shrink to rip originals, use that with Any DVD running in your system tray and you can rip pretty much everything, god bless the internet! ;D
There's also the slim possibility that your issue is actually with the DRM license of your Xbox 360's "optional media update".
The update functions just as any other XBL Marketplace content (DLC, XBLA games, etc.). If your console does not hold the static / offline license to use the optional media update, than your console will lose the ability to play various file formats if you are briefly disconnected from Xbox Live for whatever reason.
To remove this possibility from the equation do one of the following.
1. Do not sign into Xbox Live before attempting to view the videos. If you're greeted with the message to download the optional media update, perform Step 2.
2. Download the optional media update with a different Xbox Live gamertag that has never download the optional media update before, giving your current console the static / offline license it needs to use the optional media update while offline. Or use the License Transfer Tool (http://www.xbox.com/drm) and redownload the optional media update during the process to reassign the license to your current console.
Quote from: nCogNeato on January 11, 2011, 09:48:29 PM
Errors that appear mid-video while playing from a burned disc is usually a sign of a bad burn. Does the error happen at the same point in the video every time, or does it vary?
It varies most of the time. Sometimes they'll cut out in the same place, but I've tried watching through most them on the laptop and they all work fine.
QuoteErrors that appear mid-video while streaming from a PC is usually a sign of an inconsistent network connection, PC security restrictions, or overall poor PC performance.
- This can be common with wireless connections, but you are using Ethernet. Is the Ethernet cable plugged directly into the PC and 360, or is there a router/switch/etc. in between?
The cable goes directly from the Xbox to the laptop. I've bridged the wirless connection of the laptop and the ethernet connection as instructed on every online tutorial I've found and everything works fine. Xbox connects to the internet through the laptop connection, and I turn off the wireless connection when I'm watching videos so as not to use unneccesary bandwidth on the ethernet connection.
Quote- Windows Vista (and maybe Windows 7) is notorious for resetting it's security settings without the user's knowledge. Make sure your network settings are set to "Private / Home" and disable all antivirus / firewall / etc. software to see if it makes a difference.
I haven't tried turning off firewall/antivirus and stuff yet, but I haven't used the xbox to watch anything since I posted this, I'll try it the next time though.
Quote- Low memory & available CPU resources can also interrupt video streaming. Perform "Disc Cleanup" and "Disc Defragment" to give your PC a little boost. Also close/disable any running programs (including programs running in the background) to see if it makes a difference.
I run disk defragment once every week or two. I download a lot and move files around constantly so I know what needs to be burned/stored/etc. so it's pretty much a necessity.
QuoteThis sounds like your PC's (our router if you use one) security settings are screwing with you. As mentioned above, make sure your network settings are set to "Private / Home" and customize all settings in Windows and whatever security programs you may use to allow media streaming without any restrictions. The simple way to test this is to just disable all of your PC's security and see if it makes a difference.
Every time I start up the computer I get a message from my firewall asking if WMC should be allowed unrestricted acess on my selected networks, and I always give it full permission, but like I said, next time I use it to watch stuff I'll disable everything and see if that helps.
QuoteI know indie Media Center programmers were trying to develop a plugin that would allow streaming direct from Disc > PC > Xbox 360, but I don't think it ever happened.
This is sh*t D: But I guess I can't complain as I've never had the technical knowledge or skill to do anything remotely like this myself. I do wish these people would get their arses in gear and do something for me though :D
QuoteIf I was in your situation, I would rip the movie from the DVD, and then create a new DVD (region 1 or region free). There are a hundered programs to do this, but here is what I use. DVDFab (http://www.dvdfab.com/download.htm) to rip the movie from the original DVD. DVDFlick (http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php) to create a new DVD with the ripped video file.
If you don't want to deal with creating a new DVD, or don't have a burnable DVD disc to use, you can convert the ripped video file into a format your Xbox 360 will play. On occasion you can skip the "convert" process altogether and simply rename the ripped video file (filename.VOB) to (filename.AVI) and try to make your Xbox 360 play it. This has worked for me a few times, but not always.
If it doesn't work, you can use Windows Movie Maker (should be preinstalled on your PC already) to convert the .VOB file into a .WMV file. If Windows Movie Maker is not able to convert the .VOB file you may need to install the proper codecs on your PC. This is where things can get complicated. To make it easy just download the K-Lite codec pack. It's bloated with a lot of useless crap you'll never need, but will save you a tone of trial-&-error trying to navigate the wild world of codecs. After the codecs are installed, Windows Movie Maker shouldn't have any problems converting .VOB files to .WMV. Depending on how powerful your PC is, this process can take a very long time.
I did this yesterday. I'm surprised the compression (from DVD9 to DVD5) didn't reduce the quality in any noticable way. I guess I'll just have to go back to buying DVD boxsets, copying them and then returning them/exchanging them like I used to do
Thanks for all your advice, I'll let you know whether or not the stuff I ahven't tried yet works or not when I get around to using WMC again. Probably tomorrow during the day seeing as I have no internet access during the daylight hours until next tuesday or wednesday and will have sh*t all to do all day.
Again, thanks a lot for all yoru help, the stuff I've tried works fine, and I'll let you know how the rest goes.