mkv file streaming Win7 to XBox360

Simian · 21 Jan 2010 at 13:57

How do you do it, and keep the quality??..

Mate of mine recently upgraded from Vista to Win7 as he read that the new media centre in Win7 could handle streaming of .mkv files to his XBox360 to allow playback in HD (HD movie content) on his spanking new 42" 1080p HDTV without having to plug his laptop in to the TV every time!..

He tried it last night, following a guide on how to do it, and said the Picture was worse than a youtube video and it had no sound!...

Can someone point me (and him) to a guide on how to do this properly and successfully??...

or is there a piece of extra software out there that does it without any faffing???..

Cheers
Sim

JAzz · 21 Jan 2010 at 15:48

Tell him to install the new divx7 codec and it should stream via that, not tried it myself but suppose to work without having to install any other programs on.

I think the PS3 media server works for the XBOX as well or there is TVersity, found that really poor for HD mkv files myself.

Knubje · 21 Jan 2010 at 16:53

Simian said:
How do you do it, and keep the quality??..

Mate of mine recently upgraded from Vista to Win7 as he read that the new media centre in Win7 could handle streaming of .mkv files to his XBox360 to allow playback in HD (HD movie content) on his spanking new 42" 1080p HDTV without having to plug his laptop in to the TV every time!..

He tried it last night, following a guide on how to do it, and said the Picture was worse than a youtube video and it had no sound!...

Can someone point me (and him) to a guide on how to do this properly and successfully??...

or is there a piece of extra software out there that does it without any faffing???..

Cheers
Sim

I've done this with .mkv files perfectly. The only problem is I use a program which converts/splits it into a few different files and into the correct file format for the xbox to play. This is a pain as it takes 20 minutes or so and wastes effectively twice the space as I still keep the .mkv file elsewhere.

It keeps the quality but it's just a pain in the ass to do. This is the reason I'm building a media server. The mkv to Xbox isn't generally an easy thing to do from memory of when I read up how to do it!

monkeyspank · 21 Jan 2010 at 17:03

JAzz said:
Tell him to install the new divx7 codec and it should stream via that, not tried it myself but suppose to work without having to install any other programs on.

I think the PS3 media server works for the XBOX as well or there is TVersity, found that really poor for HD mkv files myself.

I installed the divx for win7 pack. mkv works fine in win7 media center, and therefore works fine on the xbox extender (and freesat too incidentally)

Was very simple after the installation of the divx pack

Frapple · 21 Jan 2010 at 18:48

Install DivX Tech Preview (part of bundle, can be installed separately)
Start 360, open Media Centre (you can set it start automatically in 360 options)
???
Stream mkv files at full quality!

No transcoding, no converting, no TVersity/PS3Media Center!

My boss had some trouble, but installing then uninstalling Halii(?) Media Splitter made it work perfectly.

Edit: Will be trying to set this up on a PS3 tomorrow, will let you know. Last time I tried they kept playing it ~1/2 size in the middle of the screen.

SB118 · 2 Jul 2010 at 20:02

Frapple said:
Install DivX Tech Preview (part of bundle, can be installed separately)
Start 360, open Media Centre (you can set it start automatically in 360 options)
???
Stream mkv files at full quality!

Is this still available? Looked for the tech preview and it's now part of "divx plus" bundle. I've installed that but my xbox isn't seeing my win7 machine (fresh install)

Coldfox · 2 Jul 2010 at 20:33

I found Tversity to be much better quality then PS3Mediaserver

SB118 · 2 Jul 2010 at 20:44

The moment i put anything remotely HD near tversity it started playing in 20-30 second bursts with mucho buffering.

I can get the xbox to see the pc if i use the plain "video library" link (same place tversity shows up), but it won't connect to the media center.

edit, i can get the xbox to see the pc and it's folders but it will only play the demo file that comes with W7, none of my mkv stuff. Must have made a bobo somewhere with the divx bundle.

Frapple · 3 Jul 2010 at 09:04

SB118 said:
Is this still available? Looked for the tech preview and it's now part of "divx plus" bundle. I've installed that but my xbox isn't seeing my win7 machine (fresh install)

Yeah, just install the bundle - you can deselect everything apart from the DivX Codec

SB118 · 9 Jul 2010 at 18:31

Finally got it working, been enjoying some HD goodness.

But ... is there a size limit or particular codec that the xbox needs things ripped to? Some of my stuff plays, some of it doesn't. But it all plays fine on the pc (and has the divx hd plus logo show up in the corner for a moment when it starts, so i'm sure it's using the right playing codec)