Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Hi

I download a lot of TV shows and movies from Usenet and then have to burn them to DVD/CD (Divx) to play on a divx player under the TV. To save the hassle of burning DVD's and having them clutter the house I was given a Xbox 360 Arcade by a relative for Xmas.

Obviously need to get a HDD - probably go for the 120gb one - rather than the 20gb refurb one that MS does for Arcade owners. I'm not a big game player these days (but will probably download a lot of demo's just to get a taste of what's coming out). - Btw, what price is the 20gb refurb one? I've read that it could be around £20? and comes with 3 months Xbox Gold membership (which doesn't interest me). Part of me thinks the 20gb might be big enough as I'd use the home PC drives for archives and only have the latest demos and films/shows on the Xbox. Anyone have experience on how long it takes MS to deliver? Probably can't be done with the waiting when Amazon can deliver early next week

Going to hardwire it to my home network - so I can copy media files over from my home PC for playing locally.

Question is - does the Xbox play divx/most media files as standard? Is it as simple as copying the files over from my WinXP PC? (does the PC just see the Xbox as a shared drive?).

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers
Richard.

JackClark

If you're networking it then why not just stream the movies to the xbox. I use Connect 360 for Mac, I'm sure there's a PC equivalent.

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

True - I've read about TVersity - Home too.

boxst

You have a couple of choices, either a memory stick to copy the movies / TV programs to and then plug it into the Xbox or just share the media from your PC. In Windows Media player, just switch on media sharing and then the Xbox should be able to see the movies / TV programs on your computer and play them.

Steve

Milamber

iTrader: (2)

Yeah thats what I do, enable media sharing and the xbox can see whats on my network

RB5-Black

why use Tversity ? the Xbox play's Divx out of the box these days !

phil_wrx

iTrader: (2)

i just have the pc on the network with the xbox, allow the xbox permission to file share, then go to video libary, change source to your pc and you should have your video folder there for you too browse and play.

daughters xbox upstairs does the same, download films on pc and play them anywhere superb trick

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Superb - thanks guys

Can you share any folder on the PC (I've got XP Pro - not Media Centre)? As well as playing files directly from the PC HDD - can I copy (I assume from the PC end) the files from the PC onto the Xbox HDD?

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Just found a useful FAQ

Sharing Data from PC to Xbox 360 - Scenyx Entertainment Community

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

From what I've been reading it seems (I've probably missed something!) that you can stream/play media from the PC, but I can't find anything that says you can copy media to the XBox 360 HDD and play it from the 360 directly (as I don't always have my PC on).

Can this be done?

Cheers
Richard.

boxst

You can't do this (or at least I couldn't do it!) and the convenience of 8gb memory sticks means I didn't try too hard.

When you have a huge library of films etc.. that you want to watch (or my children in this case) you can just get a Network Storage device that takes very little power and can have up to 3tb in it!

Steve

wiley

iTrader: (63)

thanks for the info too, just got a 360 and was wondering about this too. does the 360 play VCD???

and is a 360 backward compatible with xbox games???

wiley

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Thanks - yes, makes sense to just transfer stuff over on memory sticks when needed and streamed at other times.

Just got a wireless bridge (MS one) at Game for £44 (reduced from £60) and a 60gb HDD. Queues were horrendous! Did get Forza 2 for £14 as well

Looking forward to getting it all wired up tonight when the kids are in bed.

Richard.

JackClark

You may have trouble streaming high quality over the M$ WiFi adaptor.

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Yes, I was thinking of getting a 200Mbps PowerLine HomePlug, but I don't have a high def TV - so I thought that standard def divx should be fine over wifi (fingers crossed!).

(Amazon have a great offer on just now - ZyXEL PLA-401 Twin Pack PowerLine HomePlug AV 200Mbps: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo)

Cheers
Richard.

boxst

Standard DivX is fine over wifi (obviously depending on the signal strength). Homeplugs are much better and work amazingly well.

Steve

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

Thanks - hopefully it will be ok for what I need it for - otherwise I'll get the homeplugs and sell the wifi adaptor.

Scotsman

iTrader: (3)

All set-up and working first time last night

Very impressed with X-box live and the video/media streaming from my PC works a treat with no lag/stutter.

+Doc+

Ditto, I was amazed
Lost HD