Do You Use Your Xbox360 As A Media Center Extender? Options

[Stoke192]

I use my 360 to stream HD movies to my LCD via a MCE pc which is upstairs and it works flawlessly

I also use a modded xbox connected to the same pc to stream everthing else and again this works flawlessly.

All in all ....very happy with both machines.....infact they get more use as extenders than games machines

[SAN66]

I still don't own a 360

None of the games I want to play are coming out until the middle of next year, and I would sell my Xbox and buy a 360, but my main concern is that I want to play all the same video I can currently play with XBMC.

I don't want to load Windows on any of my computers and am waiting for a solution that will let me do video from my linux server or my mac desktop.

[Rustmonkey]

I use my 360 to stream HD movies to my LCD via a MCE pc which is upstairs and it works flawlessly

I also use a modded xbox connected to the same pc to stream everthing else and again this works flawlessly.

All in all ....very happy with both machines.....infact they get more use as extenders than games machines

True dat, brotha

I do the same thing - this way, you get the best of both worlds

[xsirxx]

btw just so every1 is clear, if it hasnt been mentioned before, you dont need a media center edition pc to connect yer 360 to yer computer... just get connect.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/pcsetup/default.htm

[SAN66]

btw just so every1 is clear, if it hasnt been mentioned before, you dont need a media center edition pc to connect yer 360 to yer computer... just get connect.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/pcsetup/default.htm

That is untrue. You don't need media center to stream music and pictures to your 360, using third party stuff you can do this from any system no matter what OS you're running. You DO need Windows MCE to stream video to your Xbox, and some third party plugins to get Divx and Xvid content on there. No one has yet to come out with third party software to do this outside of MCE.

[-Spud-]

Yes until the 360 can stream any video out of the box I see no need for an Xbox 360 plus MCE. XBMC provides all streaming needs bar HD video. MCE can do the rest. No 360 needed at all.

I think M$ requiring 360 owners to have MCE as well is just plain wrong. You should at least be able to stream wmv and hdwmv from any pc on your network no matter what OS. They just want us to fork out more money for MCE. It's unnessasary and promotes pirating IMHO. Bring on VISTA.

[Samy`D]

I use it, and I think it f*cking sucks! please tell me if there's a way to fix it but it seems I have to wait about 20mins for all the thumbs to load when looking through any vids or anything, the whole time the system responds really jerkily and it takes forever to navigate anywhere...and for some stupid reason it wont cache the thumbs and it insists on doing all this loading every time I nav thru the directory. meanwhile, anything else that I access the same vids with over the same network loads the thumbs instantly...go figure...

[avatar1976]

I have an XP machine hooked up to my LCD TV so no need. I tried XP Media Center but I thought it was crap. The software that came with my digital TV capture card is heaps better.
http://www.digitalnow.com.au/dntvlive/index.html

Yes but some of us have girlfriends that don't like computers in lounge rooms

I use it, and I think it f*cking sucks! please tell me if there's a way to fix it but it seems I have to wait about 20mins for all the thumbs to load when looking through any vids or anything, the whole time the system responds really jerkily and it takes forever to navigate anywhere...and for some stupid reason it wont cache the thumbs and it insists on doing all this loading every time I nav thru the directory. meanwhile, anything else that I access the same vids with over the same network loads the thumbs instantly...go figure...

I know what you're talking about, but to be honest it has never really bothered me all that much... I normally go on the file name anyway, I find thumbnails on videos to be about as useful as fly screens on a submarine, they normaly only show the first frame anyway (the black before the show starts). Pictures on the other hand I could understand your frustration however I do not get the thumbnail lag issue with pictures, they normally come up pretty well straight away for me. What kind of network are you accessing your XP MCE2005 machine through?

That is untrue. You don't need media center to stream music and pictures to your 360, using third party stuff you can do this from any system no matter what OS you're running. You DO need Windows MCE to stream video to your Xbox, and some third party plugins to get Divx and Xvid content on there. No one has yet to come out with third party software to do this outside of MCE.

Glad someone cleared that up, I'm so sick of people who don't own MCE2005 or an xbox360 telling me that I can just use media connect. I tried it out back when I had just XP Home and it sucked I thought well if this the extent of microsoft's PC connectivity what's the point. Then I looked into how to get a MCE2005 machine going and have never looked back since...

[johnnyblaze513]

The Media Center Extender in my opinion was rushed out and not fully optimized. It uses resources from your PC instead of using the 360 itself to render graphics. The 360 simply allows you to display whatever you would be able to see on your computer, onto your tv. Also, the (supposed) Universal Remote for MCE is a pain in the neck, because all the bottom buttons on it have absolutely nothing to do with your xbox, but they are used to control your tv set. In my opinion, the volume button on that remote should control the volume your 360 is putting out

samfisher

[blaziantiger]

I installed Vista RC1 just for the Media Center feature (cause I had XP Pro before) and the Media Center thing is kinda cool. But my antivirus software doesnt work with RC1 along with lots of other programs. and I cant uninstall it.... pissed

[bullitt464]

nope - never could get it to work with my media center laptop

[explosive2]

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[BasicAir]

I installed Vista RC1 just for the Media Center feature (cause I had XP Pro before) and the Media Center thing is kinda cool. But my antivirus software doesnt work with RC1 along with lots of other programs. and I cant uninstall it.... pissed

ROFL.

No offense, dude, but you should have looked into Vista first before installing it.

As far as XP MCE being needed to stream video, yeah, I didn't want to upgrade to XP MCE but I did anyway. I got my "Windows Classic" theme back up and all my old programs installed with XP MCE so in all honesty I don't notice ANY difference with XP MCE than with what I had before -- XP Pro SP2.

Call me old-school but I like my Windows Classic (Windows 98-style) theme. I never liked the standard XP theme or custom ones. Besides, all those fugly novelty graphics just run down your system resources more.

Again, though, I am very, very happy with the ability to stream videos (both HD and non-HD) to my 360. The *ONLY* downfall is what someone already pointed out -- That your PC takes the processing hit, and not the 360. That sucks but it's not a big deal.

Everyone with a 360 and without XP MCE go buy/download/whatever XP MCE. Then get Transcode 360 (an absolute must). You'll love it. I don't have to worry about buying an HD-DVD player or Blu-Ray player now, because I can stream HD movies I get off the net right to my 50" DLP and in DD5.1 -- No complaints here!

[Jman232]

Windows just stinks. I have a intel mac so that I can boot windows(Vista beta2) and I dread everytime I have to boot to windows. I avoid it as much as possible. The xbox1 and 360 are so cool. But let me stream video through OSX darnit! Vista- same old crap, new glass. They'll probably charge for the extender capabilities. I think there will be five different flavors of Vista or so. Who wants a registry, .dll hell, and installations. Homebrew for 360 please so I can stream HD content from .vob, .dv, and .m2v over my network without Weenerdows. AHHHHHHHH! This is my only 360 complaint. Thanks....

[Digital_sin]

origirnal XBMC for the win!!