LG John

I read here recently that if you download HD movies you can watch them in native High Def using a USB Hard Drive through your xbox 360. I have the xbox and have (finally) figured out how to get it to read an external hard drive. My question is where is the best place to download HD movies both in terms of speed, reliability (i.e. the download being what it claims to be) and also choice.

I just spent 4 days downloading from Torrentspy Rufus and I can't get the sound on the movie to work. Very frustrating after such a time commitment to downloading.

Also, does anyone know what video formats the xbox will and won't play?

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

If you don't have sound, its very likely you don't have the audio codec associated with the file. Try using VLC media player, it generates its own codecs and can play anything.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

there are loads of HD films on newzbin usually about 20gig

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

I didn't read your post properly.

I've no idea if the Xbox will work with VLC.
It will however play anything when using a PC.

LG John

Nope, already had VLC player and when I open the movie (ocean's 13) it selects 'disabled' for default sound track. When I change it to English I still get nothing

JackClark

You could have watched it at the pictures by now.

T5OLF

iTrader: (4)

I would not use torrent sites for files this big, you should be signing up to giganews or the like. Will the xbox not stream movies of this size??

LG John

What sort of download speeds can you expect from giganews? I'm embarrassed to say that I know nothing about usegroups, etc

I have an 42" HD plasma and I'm basically looking for a solution to allow me to watch some HD movies until such times as I decide on which direction I'm going to go (blue-ray/HD-DVD)

chrisowe

You can download from Giganews as fast as your connection will allow. They have a speed tester on there site.
You can only playback WMV movie files directly on a 360 and some Mp4 files.

djuk

I get a solid 2.1mb/sec most days

LG John

I have 20-meg virgin broadband so speed shouldn't be too great an issue. So if I get signed up with this giganews outfit will I be able to find plenty of newgroups with hi-def films for downloading?

To give you an idea of where I'm at with newgroups. Imagine I'm your grandad, it's 1985 and you are about to explain to me what the "internet" is, what it does and how it works

Guessing I'll need software that will convert most things to WMV then...

chrisowe

I'm not sure if a public forum is the correct place to 'discuss' these sorts of things!

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

360 will only play WMV files for now. Hope is some day soon Xvid may be support but it's still very much a dream! Unless the file you download is that format I would think you'd have to convert it which would take days! Obviously the HD-DVD player plugs into the 360 but I doubt you can mimic that on a USB hard drive.

LG John

What I'm getting from this thread is.......buy a Playstation 3 to sit next to said xbox 360 and then buy/rent blueray disks

At least I know the USB port works on my xbox. Earlier I dragged a movie file that was kicking around onto a USB pen and connected it to the xbox. Watching Peter North hose down a tart in 42" widescreen with 5.1 surround sound was an experience I will admit

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

then surely a usb external hard drive should work then?

LG John

Apparently it does if you create a partition less than 32Gb in the FAT32 format. I have a 500Gb external drive and was willing to do this today but I can't find a free non data-destructive partition program that seemed trustworthy. Someone said Partion Magic's trial would do it but the trial actually doesn't implement any changes that you select.

Brendan Hughes

Don't worry. Wait for your Xbox to self destruct like everyone else's, then buy a PS3 with the refund.

HTH

Avi

Virgin will throttle your connection once you download more than 3gb in an evening! I don;t think thye limit you during the day though!

LG John

I'm in the house with the computer on all day long so I guess that wouldn't be a problem.

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

Saxo boy what format was the "Peter North" clip? was it an avi/divx type or wmv?

LG John

avi or wmv IIRC. It's a good thing you clarified your response or else my reply may have been along the lines of:

"POV facial, 20-25, dark hair, cute, big load"

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

PMSL