Streaming 1080p .ts File To Wmc = No Video, Only Sound Options

[ryandlf]

So I have been struggling with an attempt to play 1080p HD video across my network on my xbox. At first this task was impossible but now because of Media Center it seems possible anyways. I hate having to re-encode anything because it simply takes too long. An hour's worth of video will take upwards of 8 - 10 hours to encode into WMV and its just a PITA! Thankfully, the Xbox now has the ability to play .TS files through the media center so all I have to do is demux an MKV into a .ts and i'm good to go all in about 5 minutes.

The problem is that the file streams and plays, but it doesn't show any video...only a black screen and the audio is running in the background. 720p files work perfectly but 1080p for some reason just won't do it. This leads me to believe that it is not a codec issue because the file is playing, just not the video portion of it. With all that being said, I have the equipment to watch 1080p video...my tv is a samsung 1080p plasma and my pc has plenty of juice to stream the content over the network.

Anyone run into this problem or have some idea of how I might be able to fix it!?!

~Frustrated and Confused

[ryandlf]

Anyone have any ideas?

[ryandlf]

I found a thread on the web dealing with a similar situation and apparently it has something to do with reference frames. I guess the xbox can only support 5, although I admit I have no idea what ref. frames are or how to see how many are in a file. Is this the beginning to figuring out my problem, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

[ryandlf]

I think I figured it all out. I'd like to post my solution even though i'm the only one posting on this thread in hopes that in the future someone might come along this in a search engine and it will help them.

First of all, the reason the xbox wouldn't play the original files video was because of the reference frames that I mentioned earlier. I download a free piece of software called MediaInfo and opened up the file. That program showed me that the original mkv had 8 reference frames and xbox is limited to 5. Don't ask me what ref. frames are because I don't know, but I do know that xbox files can only have 5. Unfortunately this meant I had to re-encode. I downloaded another free piece of software called Handbrake and re-encoded the mkv into another mkv except I went over to the Advanced tab and changed the reference frames to 2. Again I don't know what benefit using more or less has, but after all this was said and done the quality is perfect 1080p so i'm not complaining.

The encode took about 2 hours (which is much improved over 10 hours previously) and once finished I remuxed the file again to a .ts to be played with XBMC. Unfortunately the .ts file still played very choppy and crappy, but this time the picture did work! So the ref. frames thing was the issue. Now back to the playback, as mentioned before, for me the stuttering and choppiness was horrible and unwatchable so I found another, even more convenient solution and that was to download Haali Media Splitter which enables Media Center to see and play mkv files. From here I could officially open and play my 1080p video file in XBMC! Unfortunately there was still constant stuttering every couple minutes, but it was barely noticeable.

I did some more research and found that the xbox works best when 1080p files are being transferred at no more than 10 mbps. Really I don't know much about how to change that, but I did find a solution from another thread located here:

http://cybernetnews.com/media-center-exten...treaming-video/

Basically, I had to enable flow control on my network settings and to do that on Windows 7 I went to the Control Panel, then clicked on Network and Sharing Center, then clicked on my Local Area Connection, then Properties, then Configure, Clicked the Advanced Tab, went down to Flow Control and chose enabled from the drop down and then also went down to Speed and Duplex and changed it to 100 mbps Full Duplex rather than leaving that on its auto setting. Since then I have watched half of a full 1080p movie and haven't noticed any skipping and stuttering.

Since my method required a re-encode anyways, and that process is pretty short it may be worth while to just downgrade the mkv to 720p at that point, but video files are really the only 1080p content I watch and it would be a waste of my fancy tv not to take advantage of that option. Personally, I doubt I would notice much of a different in quality though.

Hope that helps someone out. I'll post more if I run into any other problems, otherwise assume I have fixed my issue.

[socker22]

I think I figured it all out. I'd like to post my solution even though i'm the only one posting on this thread in hopes that in the future someone might come along this in a search engine and it will help them.

First of all, the reason the xbox wouldn't play the original files video was because of the reference frames that I mentioned earlier. I download a free piece of software called MediaInfo and opened up the file. That program showed me that the original mkv had 8 reference frames and xbox is limited to 5. Don't ask me what ref. frames are because I don't know, but I do know that xbox files can only have 5. Unfortunately this meant I had to re-encode. I downloaded another free piece of software called Handbrake and re-encoded the mkv into another mkv except I went over to the Advanced tab and changed the reference frames to 2. Again I don't know what benefit using more or less has, but after all this was said and done the quality is perfect 1080p so i'm not complaining.

The encode took about 2 hours (which is much improved over 10 hours previously) and once finished I remuxed the file again to a .ts to be played with XBMC. Unfortunately the .ts file still played very choppy and crappy, but this time the picture did work! So the ref. frames thing was the issue. Now back to the playback, as mentioned before, for me the stuttering and choppiness was horrible and unwatchable so I found another, even more convenient solution and that was to download Haali Media Splitter which enables Media Center to see and play mkv files. From here I could officially open and play my 1080p video file in XBMC! Unfortunately there was still constant stuttering every couple minutes, but it was barely noticeable.

I did some more research and found that the xbox works best when 1080p files are being transferred at no more than 10 mbps. Really I don't know much about how to change that, but I did find a solution from another thread located here:

http://cybernetnews.com/media-center-exten...treaming-video/

Basically, I had to enable flow control on my network settings and to do that on Windows 7 I went to the Control Panel, then clicked on Network and Sharing Center, then clicked on my Local Area Connection, then Properties, then Configure, Clicked the Advanced Tab, went down to Flow Control and chose enabled from the drop down and then also went down to Speed and Duplex and changed it to 100 mbps Full Duplex rather than leaving that on its auto setting. Since then I have watched half of a full 1080p movie and haven't noticed any skipping and stuttering.

Since my method required a re-encode anyways, and that process is pretty short it may be worth while to just downgrade the mkv to 720p at that point, but video files are really the only 1080p content I watch and it would be a waste of my fancy tv not to take advantage of that option. Personally, I doubt I would notice much of a different in quality though.

Hope that helps someone out. I'll post more if I run into any other problems, otherwise assume I have fixed my issue.

Hi man!

Nice going!

What I have done is trying out different ways of playing mkv files on my xbox.
1. Download shark007 codec which is the only one you ever need. Haali is also included.
2. Now you should be able to play through ordinary media center on xbox if you have media center running on pc.

1. Another way is to use shark007 and then download ps3mediaserver which works with xbox360 to, ain´t it funny so say... :-)

From ps3mediaserver you can play anything, .img, .iso, .rar, mkv and so on. Problem is that you can´t rewind or forward in the movie. Pause works.

My problem is though that efter a while it´s getting a little unsync so the audio comes a little fast I think compare to the video which is a little annoying if you say so.

Have you tried this out?
Maybe I should test to set it to 100 full duplex?

I will try this out!

Cheers