Watching Movies from your Computer on Your Console

AnAngelsDeath

AnAngelsDeath

Gawd
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
813
Has anyone else noticed, when using your Xbox360 to watch movies that are on your PC, that the Xbox doesn't like some files, like when you try and play them, they will play, but they skip and lag, making them pretty much un-watchable. I've only had a few movies do this, but I've had this happen with at least one movie, on every Xbox360 I've owned.....I just wanted to see if anyone else experienced this with some movies.


Whats funny tho, is that one of them, is "the aviator" and it lags and skips really bad when watching it through my Xbox360, but when i watch it through my PS3, it works fine lol kinda bothers me, cause I prefer to use my Xbox360 !
 
What resolution/size are the ones that you are seeing the skipping and are you on a wireless or wired network?

I use the xbox 360 as my primary viewing device for archived movies (all converted to MP4). Took a ton of time to convert all the DVDs, HDDVDs, and Blu-rays I owned but it's nice to simply browse and watch the movie without searching for physical. Plus the feature to stop the movie and return to the same point later (which is iffy on media devices).

Having said that I have came across issues with certain codecs and/or depending on how the moview was encoded. Example, you may hit an issue where the movie stops playing mid movie, example Pixar movies, due to the bitrate exceeding an amount more than the xbox 360 can handle. In handbrake you can eliminate this by adding a line in the advanced to specify the max (I used 5000) and have yet to hit it since.

Before I would suspect the bitrate it sounds more like your having network related issues.
 
I haven't coverted any of mine, they are all in either AVI or MP4 and some in MPEG and WMV. The movie i was talking about "The Aviator" is in 624x352 and I'm not sure what format its in, when i click on properties it just says Video Clip. How do I tell what video format my files are.
 
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oh and I'm pretty sure its not network, when I'm in my room, I use one of the new wireless N adapters, and I have a really nice Linksys Router that is N signal compatible, but when I'm hooked up in the living room I plug straight into the router. I have really good internet, and I only have problems on certain movies, and like i said, those movies i have problems with on my xbox, i dont have the same issues when viewed thru my PS3, so I think it has to do with the way it was encoded, and maybe the bitrate as you were saying
 
If they are non hd that is pretty odd, but also who knows how they were encoded.

My HD stuff are 3.5gb, SD stuff 2.5gb. I have never seen the bitrate issue hit with the SD stuff, only the HD stuff with Pixar films (if you don't specify a max bitrate). When it does hit the movie will stop and present an error.

If your connecting via wired with no change that would exclude wireless. You can also try copying it to a USB Drive (Fat32) to see if it changes the behavior to exclude your pc or network completely.

I do recall when they had console profiles for Handbrake the PS3 had a default higher bitrate. I thought the PS3 was 2500 where as the Xbox 360 was 2000, but I also recall one of the reasons they removed the profiles were due to developers not being able to confirm the limits of each. I know I set the max at 5000, and never hit an issue under that configuration.

I don't have any experience with the PS3, so can't comment on the differences.
 
I ran into same problem, basically you need to recode the videos, it doesnt take too long. Here is the problem to download http://www.mediacoderhq.com/dlx64.htm here is the 64bit link, if you arent using that just click download at the top and get the 32bit version. There is a nice easy to follow setup, just make sure you recode into xvid and .avi format. Hope this helps!

edit: forgot to say i also own the 360, and watch all my movies on it except for 1080p movies on my pc.
 
fodder0 said:
I ran into same problem, basically you need to recode the videos, it doesnt take too long. Here is the problem to download http://www.mediacoderhq.com/dlx64.htm here is the 64bit link, if you arent using that just click download at the top and get the 32bit version. There is a nice easy to follow setup, just make sure you recode into xvid and .avi format. Hope this helps!

edit: forgot to say i also own the 360, and watch all my movies on it except for 1080p movies on my pc.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help bro. I'll download that program and re-encode the two movies that don't work. I'm pretty sure that however they were encoded is the problem !

BTW, I didn't get an answer on how i can check what format my videos are in, cause like I said; wheh i right click on the file and go to properties it just says its a video and doesn't tell me what actual format it's in
 
AnAngelsDeath said:
Thanks for the help bro. I'll download that program and re-encode the two movies that don't work. I'm pretty sure that however they were encoded is the problem !

BTW, I didn't get an answer on how i can check what format my videos are in, cause like I said; wheh i right click on the file and go to properties it just says its a video and doesn't tell me what actual format it's in
Click to expand...

you can just use ps3 media server to transcode everything on the fly to a more agreeable format. works great for playback on 360s and ps3s. I just dump everything into a share folder and let ps3 media server handle it without any concern about what format the videos are in. I have yet to find a video that failed to play correctly on either console with this setup.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
DO NOT RE-ENCODE VIDEO.. Its a waste of time.

I convert all MKVs to MP4s. I use GotSent, all it does is strip the audio/video out and put them into the new container. It takes 20 minutes for 9GB MKVs. It is not a full re-encode.

The 360 natively supports MP4 and I see zero video degradation. I stream all of my 1080p Blu Ray rips from my computer through a powerline adapter (over my electrical lines), to my 360 in my living room. I have zero degradation. It took about 6 months of trying every possible solution before realizing that playing MKVs on the 360 was the problem. Although not supported there are registry keys one can apply (to their pc) to fool the 360 into playing them. The problem though is then not bandwith limitations, but MKV itself. The 360 does not natively support that, so it is tricked into transcoding it on the fly... horrible degradation.

A simple CAT-5e/6 cable between your 360 and your computer is suffice for perfect streaming. All you have to do is convert MKVs to MP4 first. Sound tedious? Its not. GotSent is as basic as it gets, select a MKV, click convert, come back 20 minutes later and repeat the process. I converted over 100 BD rips in couple of days, casually in between browsing etc.. Using any other solution is time consuming and silly. Re-encoding video out of MKV can take upwards to 4-6 hours each movie. Even worse, on the fly transcoding (PS3 Media Server, TVersity) is just degrading the quality and while it works, it isn't the best solution out there.

GotSent is the answer. http://www.videohelp.com/tools/GOTSent

"The more you know...." /nbcstar
 
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ocellaris said:
you can just use ps3 media server to transcode everything on the fly to a more agreeable format. works great for playback on 360s and ps3s. I just dump everything into a share folder and let ps3 media server handle it without any concern about what format the videos are in. I have yet to find a video that failed to play correctly on either console with this setup.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
Click to expand...

This.

Gotta say, the PS3 seems far superior streaming stuff off bat, it hasn't run into many problems for both music and movies....the 360 on the other hand......
 
AnAngelsDeath said:
Has anyone else noticed, when using your Xbox360 to watch movies that are on your PC, that the Xbox doesn't like some files, like when you try and play them, they will play, but they skip and lag, making them pretty much un-watchable. I've only had a few movies do this, but I've had this happen with at least one movie, on every Xbox360 I've owned.....I just wanted to see if anyone else experienced this with some movies.


Whats funny tho, is that one of them, is "the aviator" and it lags and skips really bad when watching it through my Xbox360, but when i watch it through my PS3, it works fine lol kinda bothers me, cause I prefer to use my Xbox360 !
Click to expand...
It's almost certainly a codec issue.

I stream movies to my PS3 and I noticed that some just don't work, just like you mentioned, skipping/stuttering, etc. I used to think it was bandwidth but quickly realized it wasn't. The cure was to use a program to convert the videos to audio and video codec that can be played natively by the PS3. Some of them actually have output labeled 'Sony PS3', so it automatically chooses what is best.
 
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