Xbox 360 Transcode 360 beta 4

[amilwain]

I'm looking to get an Xbox 360 soon as an extender, the only thing previously stopping me was the lack of ability to stream DVDs to the Xbox 360 and DIVX/XVID

I have been watching the various relesase of transcode 360 http://www.runtime360.com which allows real time transcoding of XVID/DIVS to the xbox 360. I have also recently read that this software now supports AC3 5.1 and the streaming of DVD ISOs and DVD VIDEO_TS directories...........

Has anyone tried this yet? If so what sort of CPU do you have, I hope my 1GB of Ram Intel Pentium D830 Dual Core will handle all of this while still recoring etc.

Also how your network is setup if you have got it working, eg is the box and mce wireless or wired.

Hoping to hear some good news before I go out and make another purchase........

AM

[odgregg]

Well I haven't tried a DVD ISO as yet, but I would imagine that it uses very little CPU as there is no actual transcoding required. It should simply stream the MPEG2 stream that is contained within the DVD directly to the XBox.

Mind you, even when transcoding a DivX or Xvid my old P4 2.6Ghz machine can do that fine (at about 3x realtime) while recording up to 2 TV stations without a hickup so I assume you'd be more than fine with your machine :-)

(I might try DVD streaming this evening and report back on how well it works and what CPU usage there is).

Just as an example of how well the whole extender thing works, the other night I was playing World of Warcraft on the MCE box while it was recording 2 different channels and also had 2 Xboxs connected (one 360 and one original Xbox) streaming live TV to them. The P4 2.6Ghz with 2GB of Ram was using about 80% CPU during that period.

MCE and the XBox/Xbox360 has totally blown me away with how well it works!

[Nudge]

I've given the DVD Video_ts folder a work out, appears to work no probs. Need to have the Xbox seeing your Movies location in My Videos.

I found it works best on DVD's ripped to HDD with the menus and extras removed and just the movie. Most of mine are setup for My Movies this way so they worked OK. I had 1 movie that still had the menus and the Xbox couldn't get past the promo bits.

I am using a 3.4 HT, your cpu should do this fine.

- 30% Cpu usage when MCE and Xbox watching different HD channels
- 70% Cpu usage when MCE watching HD channel, Xbox transcoding a DivX file
- 35% Cpu usage when MCE watching HD channel, Xbox transcoding a Video_TS folder

Hardwired Only is the way to go.

Later,

Nudge

[amilwain]

Thanks for the input guys

Nudge, when you say hard wired only have you tried with just one device wireless? thought maybe that would be ok, I was hoping to leave the MCE wirelessly connected downstairs and use the 360 upstairs hardwired

[Akuma]

Originally Posted by amilwain

I was hoping to leave the MCE wirelessly connected downstairs and use the 360 upstairs hardwired

I don't quite know what you mean by this. But, if you intend streaming TV to the 360 over a wireless 802.11g connection forget about it. Interference from other devices will make it unwatchable.

You'll have a much better chance of sucess with an 802.11a connection. I'm running 802.11a with the router and 360 about 10 meters appart separated by a 40cm thick brick wall, works perfectly for both SD and HD. When I try the same setup on 802.11g the network performance isn't even good enough for SD.

Just be aware all 802.11a routers on the market have serious problems and are barely supported by their manufacturers.

[AccessIT]

Originally Posted by amilwain

Thanks for the input guys

Nudge, when you say hard wired only have you tried with just one device wireless? thought maybe that would be ok, I was hoping to leave the MCE wirelessly connected downstairs and use the 360 upstairs hardwired

I am using the 360 wireless (xbox adapter and DLink DWl-2100AP access point) and the streaming works fine through Transcode for xvid and using DVD.

Other low use devices on the wireless are a centrino laptop and another PC with a DLink wireless card.

Even with the kids surfing the net over the wireless the xbox in Media Centre doesnt miss a beat now I fixed the DLink settings problem I had (turning off the Super G dynamic turbo mode)

[welchap]

Hi,

Question : Using 'My Movies' plugin and transcode360 - what settings are you using to get the DVD's ripped to play on the Xbox. All I get is 'unsupported on extender' or something like that if I try to play the movie on the Xbox within My Movies.

Cheers

Andy