Xbox 360 Update tomorrow

[hpman247]

Are they in your "My Videos" folder? That's where mine are and all are playing fine.

Yeah. I have it set to that folder. I have a lot of AVI and such from bittorrent and I didn't really expect those to play w/o come conversion of codec. I did use WinAVi and once again it produced a perfect WMV file and it looks great on the 360.

So to sum up my experience with the 360 video playback. After the d/l there were 5 movies in the folder on dashboard. I have about 100 movies in that folder, so it was weird that only five would show up. some of those files are AVI some are WMV, but the majority of WMV wouldn't work. I did as mickley stated and used Movie Maker to convert and that movie that didn't show up before now does. I wanted to try WinAVI to see how that would work and it works even better than movie maker. So to stream my movies I have to spend 20-30 minutes to convert them.

 

[s8ist]

I think MS is ready to pull out an ace out of their sleeve. Now that these updates have succesfully upgraded system functionality and given them the ability to stream and playback WMV, they should allow users to get on-demand content, or full HD movie downloads. Just think, while the whole debate about BD versus HDDVD rages, they can introduce some content that lets users experience HD movies now. The movies will obviously have to be stored on a computer with sufficient harddrive space and then streamed, but I can see the possibilities. Seeing as how Zune will be a big item for MS to push, they will likely need an edge on the competition with their own iTunes/iTunesStore-killer. What better way than to offer better quality video and connectivity with the 360?

 

[ebonovic]

Well there is still the discussions that DirecTV and Microsoft are cooking up some things... with earlier "rumors"/"announcements" that it may be possible for the XBOX360 to interact with their DVRs

 

[jbcheshire]

Is the WinAVI software free? do you have a link to it?

 

[jgags6]

Im confused I thought that 1080p could only be passed through a HDMI cable. Also since they are passing it through a component does this mean you can only recieve that 1080p if your TVs component will recieve 1080p? Becuase I just bought a 1080p tv and it says on the specs that the component will only pass up to 1080i. THanks

 

[roachxp]

It must depend on the tv, my LCD will do 1080p over component. I have tested it on both the 360 and my HTPC. I just wish they would release an HDMI cable and stop dragging their feet.

 

[John Kotches]

Im confused I thought that 1080p could only be passed through a HDMI cable. Also since they are passing it through a component does this mean you can only recieve that 1080p if your TVs component will recieve 1080p? Becuase I just bought a 1080p tv and it says on the specs that the component will only pass up to 1080i. THanks

More correctly, your TV will only accept 1080i via component.

1080p is possible via component, but very few have the ability to do so at this time.

Cheers,

 

[BobMurdoch]

A few more notes about the update....

The autodownload setting is set to off by default (good thing). There would be large screams if data started getting dumped unwillingly when the drive filled up.

Yes, it can read Windows Media files off of standard XP PCs (vs. the old Media Center requirement previously), however, it has to be in the "My Video" folder.... It won't look anywhere else. You organized types who separated them into different folders will have to shovel them all back into the main one. Ditto for Pictures into My Pictures....

The XBox Live Arcade screen loads much faster and is better organized. They still make you hunt and peck between different menus for new stuff.... They need a "New Releases" section, which lists everything added in the last 30 days across ALL areas...


Lots of extra DVD playback features added too.

 

[Ramy]

Yes, it can read Windows Media files off of standard XP PCs (vs. the old Media Center requirement previously), however, it has to be in the "My Video" folder.... It won't look anywhere else.

This isn't true with the Media Connect 2. You can tell it what folders you want added into the list to look for.

 

[BobMurdoch]

OK. I don't have one of those so I was unaware of that....

 

[Posty-McPOst]

More correctly, your TV will only accept 1080i via component.

1080p is possible via component, but very few have the ability to do so at this time.

Cheers,

Westinghouse 42w2 does. I just checked my system info and its 1920x1080 @ 60hz.

 

[hpman247]

It must depend on the tv, my LCD will do 1080p over component. I have tested it on both the 360 and my HTPC. I just wish they would release an HDMI cable and stop dragging their feet.

It does. VERY VERY FEW TVs do 1080p over component and there is some controvesy if it can be called true 1080p as well.

 

[jbcheshire]

Does anyone know of a software program that will convert AVI, VOB and Divx files to wmv format that is less than $20? And it does a good job of it too?

Most of those I have found will run you around 29.95 to 39.95 to buy. I am looking for something a little cheaper...

 

[mikley28]

Does anyone know of a software program that will convert AVI, VOB and Divx files to wmv format that is less than $20? And it does a good job of it too?

Most of those I have found will run you around 29.95 to 39.95 to buy. I am looking for something a little cheaper...

I think Windows Movie Maker 2 will do it. And it's free.

 

[hpman247]

Does anyone know of a software program that will convert AVI, VOB and Divx files to wmv format that is less than $20? And it does a good job of it too?

Most of those I have found will run you around 29.95 to 39.95 to buy. I am looking for something a little cheaper...

WIN Avi does it extremely well, but it will put u back $30

 

[jbcheshire]

Windows movie maker is only for the XP platform, that I could tell.

I was hoping to find something around $20 if possible.

Thanks for the help, though!

 

[mikley28]

Windows movie maker is only for the XP platform, that I could tell.

I was hoping to find something around $20 if possible.

Thanks for the help, though!

You ARE running Windows XPSP2 or MCE aren't you?

 

[jbcheshire]

Nope, that's the problem... I have W2K Professional on my laptop.

 

[mikley28]

Nope, that's the problem... I have W2K Professional on my laptop.

ouch... :/ cant help you then

 

[BobMurdoch]

BTW, for those that want the 1080p but only have a DVI input or another connection, try this page to find an adapter workaround....

http://www.cablestogo.com/product_list.asp?cat_id=110