Hi I have my Xbox 1 with XBMC hooked up to my TV with the HD pack and wanted to stream my HD dled content to the TV. XBMC does not play the x264 mkv files. I have the latest release from the TCH site. Any ideas of how to get this working? Any plans for a codec update for XBMC so it can play x264 files. Thanks.

XBMC on the XBox does in fact play h.264 encoded content and in mkv containers as well. What it really can't do is play HD content because it lacks hardware powerful enough and memory. What resolution is the file you're trying to play? If it's 720p, you can try re-encoding to Xvid. That usually helps. You could also try decreasing the resolution with a re-encode.

Short answer no. Read the xbmc wiki at xmbc.org and look at the forum posts on how to tweak the video to get better frame rate out of high def video by transcoding.

I was trying 720p. Whats the best software out there to convert the mkvs to xvid?

You don't re-encode the mkv to xvid, you re-encode the h.264 to Xvid h.263. MKV is a container format like avi or mp4. I'm kind of partial to avidmux or all2avi. They both handle mkv containers. Others like Super or MediaCoder, but I've had trouble with both of them and maintaining audio sync. Your best bet is to take the existing file and change the resolution.

I am trying StaxRip right now...kinda like it. It got all the necessary codecs for me as needed. Are the other programs you mentioned (avidmux or all2avi) better? I want to keep the resolution at 1280x720 because I want to get the best picture out of my 720p HDTV. I wish xbox had a faster chip or the PS3 or 360 better codec library compatability.

Try to convert the olympics opening ceremony of 720p quality to 1280x720 xvid. Will see if it works.