Xbox 360 May 7th update success stories

[Ronin-7]

I'm freakin' out here. I can't figure out how do recode a high def mkv file. All I can find is how to make 720*576 recodes to MP4. If I wanted 720*576 I'd stick to my DVD's.

Anyone have the time to setup a step-by-step guide for idiots like me?

You probably need to re-encode the HD material as the Xbox 360 will only play H.264 at HD resolution with the level set to 4.0 or 4.1 if your existing HD video wasn't already at that then re-encoding is the only choice I think.

In AutoMKV set the resolution to original* and try this profile I made (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/temp/X360%20HD.xml)** drop it into the AutoMKV\profiles\x264-profiles folder & it will show in the program as X360 HD profile it is based off the AutoMKV high profile.

* Assuming with your HD video you want to keep it's original resolution.

** I'm no guru about the inner workings of x264 so I followed what MeGUI said when I tried to set the level to 4.1 and it said P4x4mv wont work with that or something to that effect so I turned that feature off & then the 4.1 level was set correctly. I tested the profile in AutoMKV on an Apple 720p MP4 trailer and re-encoded the video using the new profile and it played back so I think it works.

[Pitbull_Raven]

Finally... An answer I can work with... Thanks Ronin-7! I'll give it a try immediatly.

[tomos]

is there a way to make the xbox 'see' video types it should support without renaming them to wmv?

[Deihmos]

I don't know if renaming them to wmv will make them play on the Xbox. What most people did was install the Zune software to share mp4 and other files. WMP will not share these files.

[Ronin-7]

You have 3 methods of sharing for XP over network.

* WMP MP4 Tag plugin make WMP library see MP4 files.

* Zune software is tweaked version of WMP supports MP4 files in it's library but you must connect to the Zune server in the console blade disconnect from any existing computer.

* Tversity has been updated and is now compatible with the spring update.


Under Vista there are only two methods for reading MP4 files over network.

* Zune software

* Tversity

{You have to disable transcoding or manually add H.264 support in Tversity check the forums for more info, haven't had a chance to check it out yet}

[Eug]

In case you're trying Apple QuickTime trailers and they're not working, be sure the files do not have 5.1-channel AAC audio. The Xbox 360 does not support that, and will only work with 2-channel stereo AAC.

If you still want to play these trailers, then you'll have to re-encode the audio to 2.0.

To do this, if you have QuickTime 7 Pro, you can export it to MP4 (not MP4 (ISMA)):

1) Video - Set to Pass through

http://www.eugbanana.com/files/Apple/Passthrough.jpg

2) Audio - Set to Stereo AAC (I generally use 160 Kbps.)

http://www.eugbanana.com/files/Apple/AACStereo.jpg

Because the video is set to passthrough there is no re-encoding of the video, so the only thing that gets re-encoded is the audio. For this reason, the file export is superfast. You end up with an MP4 file instead of a MOV file, but it still works fine in QuickTime and now it works on the Xbox 360.

If you don't have QT Pro and you're on a Mac, then you can simply use QTAmateur (http://www.mikeash.com/?page=software/qtamateur/index.html), which is a freeware program that exposes all the "Pro" features of QuickTime.

If you don't have QT Pro and you're on Windows, then you'll have to use some other software that will do the same thing.

[shutupfool]

All that re-encoding, and it will only play dolby stereo...geez :confused:
Don't know why i should even bother...

I'll stick with my pc for now, it'll play anything i throw at it..

how well does the ps3 fare in playing x264/h264 files ?

[Ronin-7]

Does anyone know why the Zune software only displays Apple compatible H.264 video or is it just me ?

The reason why is because the Xbox spring video FAQ (http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/05/09/spring-07-video-playback-faq.aspx) says this;

12. Does Xbox 360 display embedded artwork for MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 files?

Yes. You can embed your artwork that is less than 400KB in the video files and they will be shown in the Xbox 360 video area when streaming from the Zune software.

This works but only for Apple H.264 video which in the appears in the Zune library none of my other encodes which show in the WMP library & play will show in the Zune library.

The second problem is that iTunes only supports it's own H.264 video so other encodes wont work right which means using other software to embed the image does anyone know of any other software which can embed a JPG in MP4 video ?

:thanks:

[Zero1]

MP4Box can, you just need a recent build and to specify this in the command line: -itags cover="cover.jpg"

So an example will be:
mp4box.exe -add "video.264" -add "audio.aac" -itags cover="cover.jpg" "out.mp4"

[Ronin-7]

Cool thanks Zero1 much appreciated :thanks:

That's one half of the problem sorted. Edit: Also found another method MP3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/) (freeware) can also embed cover art into existing video MP4 files.

For other side of the problem I tried out Zune software on another machine/laptop both only showed Apple H.264 videos in their library and hence on the Xbox 360, veffremov or zambelli I don't suppose either of you guys would know a registry tweak to open up support for other H.264 or is the Zune software tied to it's own H.264 dll decoder which I saw it's it's folder.

Or does anyone else know of any other media server software that displays embedded art and works with the Xbox 360 ?


Edit: Just on a side note from my own mucking about I now sort of understand some of the weird playback issues.

The Zune software which is a version of WMP with H.264 support works with the Xbox 360 as long as you encode material to the specific profile settings as was mentioned in the threads, the video will show in the Zune library and generate a thumbnail in the Xbox 360 UI, it also correctly picks up & displays anamorphic encodes & embedded art.

On the other hand if you use the WMP MP4 Tag plugin the Xbox 360 will play generic H.264 with quite a few of the stock profiles all the way up to HQ-Slow so far I have tested, however you wont get thumbnails nor will it properly detect anamorphic video though the stretch feature in the player dash can offset that downside somewhat.

So it's a bit of a trade off between the two, here are the MeGUI profiles for anyone who wants them, thx to the Digital Digest guide (http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/Xbox_360_H.264_Conversion_Guide_page1.html) for the settings. These will allow you to encode video that is compatible with the Zune library & media sharing feature for the Xbox 360.
Xbox 360 baseline profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Baseline-Zune.xml)
Xbox 360 Main profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Mainprofile-Zune.xml)
Xbox 360 High profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Highprofile-Zune.xml)

[miklg21]

So what your saying is there is no 5.1 support for mpeg4 and h.264?

[Ronin-7]

miklg21 there is no AAC 5.1 audio support only 2ch AAC LC is supported in the MP4 container on the Xbox 360.

This is not to be confused with the 4.1/5.1 level support within the H.264 specification which is an entirely different thing.

[lineman]

I was able to remux Planet Earth with the original VC-1 video and I converted the DD 5.1 to WMA 5.1 . I burnt this to a dual layer dvd and it plays flawless in the 360. I am going to try another release this weekend to see how it works. I also used nero to convert a CBS hdtv mpeg to Nero AVC, again I burnt the video to a dvd and the quality and playback was perfect, except the audio was only 2 channel.

[Bacon_67]

I tried to remux a x264 TV show (MKV) into a MP4 and couldn't get it to play (I encoded the ac3 track to aac as well).

All my other MP4s and QT movies stream fine though with Tversity. Don't know what the problem is. :mad:

[Ronin-7]

I tried to remux a x264 TV show (MKV) into a MP4 and couldn't get it to play (I encoded the ac3 track to aac as well).

All my other MP4s and QT movies stream fine though with Tversity. Don't know what the problem is. :mad:

The Xbox 360 will only play non-compliant H.264 content if you use local storage such as USB flash or DVD, for network streaming you must use the MP4 Tag plugin for WMP (http://www.softpointer.com/WMPTagSupport.htm) which only works on WinXP & use WMP as the media share server.

If it still doesn't play after that then it just might just not be able to play the original encode.

For maximum compatibility re-encode video using MeGUI and one of these profiles;
Xbox 360 Baseline profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Baseline-Zune.xml)
Xbox 360 Main profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Mainprofile-Zune.xml)
Xbox 360 High profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Highprofile-Zune.xml)

[Bacon_67]

I think it must be the original video encode, because I can stream 1080p apple.com trailers from my PC fine with Tversity. I was hoping a total re-encode wouldn't be necessary.

[Thorax12]

try http://transcode360.co.uk/ ... with that one you can watch your mkv file son the fly. you don't have to transcode them by yourself, they will be transcoded on the fly. so for me all works great... the only thing to figure out is how to add the ".mkv" into the registry that these files will go into the vide library of windows media player. any hints?

[tomos]

The Xbox 360 will only play non-compliant H.264 content if you use local storage such as USB flash or DVD, for network streaming you must use the MP4 Tag plugin for WMP (http://www.softpointer.com/WMPTagSupport.htm) which only works on WinXP & use WMP as the media share server.

If it still doesn't play after that then it just might just not be able to play the original encode.

For maximum compatibility re-encode video using MeGUI and one of these profiles;
Xbox 360 Baseline profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Baseline-Zune.xml)
Xbox 360 Main profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Mainprofile-Zune.xml)
Xbox 360 High profile (http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/Xbox360/Xbox360-Highprofile-Zune.xml)


mine wont show them to play (mp4 files). if i rename them to wmv then they play fine :confused:

[Ronin-7]

I think it must be the original video encode, because I can stream 1080p apple.com trailers from my PC fine with Tversity. I was hoping a total re-encode wouldn't be necessary.

The Xbox 360 can only play certain H.264 videos over a network connection which ad hear to a specific H.264 profiles of which the Apple H.264 type is supported.

From my own testing {though I could be wrong} Tversity will not play files which aren't compliant with the H.264 profile support in the Xbox 360.

If your videos are not compatible then the only way to stream them over a network is to use the WMP MP4 tag plugin I linked to & hope it plays it otherwise you have to re-encode the video.

[Ronin-7]

mine wont show them to play (mp4 files). if i rename them to wmv then they play fine :confused:

Use the Zune software (http://www.zune.net/en-us/meetzune/software.htm) as the media server, you must disconnect from any existing connection in the system blade before connecting to the Zune share, the MeGUI profiles definitely work with the Zune media sharing feature.

[tomos]

tried zune but no joy last time

will try again though tomorrow

[ChromeMud]

Hi all.

VC-1 Profile encode.

9.5 minute cut of 'Final Flight Of The Osiris' PAL 25fps
Resized/Filtered to HD rez through Avisynth.

VBR Q98 video

WMAPRO10 5.1 Q98 audio

25 Mbit average bitrate total.

1280 X 544 1:1

Played smoothly after 2 seconds of judder.

Looked exceptionaly detailed and sounded as transparent
as the original AC-3.

[Ronin-7]

A slight bump to this thread as all I can do is ask if veffremov or zambelli see this would it be possible to add Adaptive DCT support into the Xbox 360's official H.264 playback requirements.

As it does not support this though it will play videos back through local storage (minus a few extras) but it will not play if streaming through the Zune software. I assume the lack of support has some sort of linkage to the Zune software being the media server software in the first place & it's own built in H.264 support as well so a new version of that would probably be required. At least it would be nice of third party media servers worked regardless of the Zune software.

Thanks.

[veffremov]

Hi Ronin-7,

I'm not sure I understand correctly. You have trouble with Zune being Windows Media Connect Server for Xbox 360, but local playback (from DVD/USB storage) works fine, correct?

Sorry about that, but it is not really my department. As far as I know any "Windows Media Connect 2.0" server would do the trick. I don't think there is anything special about Zune.

The only difference between Zune SW and WMP11 is that Zune does not block some mp4 files.

I'll ask around if the WMC spec is publically available so someone could build a decent server and people don't have to use Zune or WMP11.

[Ronin-7]

Hi Ronin-7,

I'm not sure I understand correctly. You have trouble with Zune being Windows Media Connect Server for Xbox 360, but local playback (from DVD/USB storage) works fine, correct?

Sorry about that, but it is not really my department. As far as I know any "Windows Media Connect 2.0" server would do the trick. I don't think there is anything special about Zune.

The only difference between Zune SW and WMP11 is that Zune does not block some mp4 files.

I'll ask around if the WMC spec is publically available so someone could build a decent server and people don't have to use Zune or WMP11.

Thank for the reply and sorry for the belated reply as I was away.

What I was asking about was adding Adaptive DCT support to the H.264 decoder/profile of the Xbox 360 as currently it does not (officially) support videos encoded with this feature enabled.

The stock H.264 high profile setting in MeGUI {CE-HighProfile} has this turned on but the Xbox 360's H.264 decoder is missing this feature (even though it is meant to have H.264 High Profile support).

If streaming H.264/MP4 video over a network from the Zune software then it will not see any MP4 files in it's library that have been encoded with Adaptive DCT support enabled but videos encoded without it & I8x8 work. {It is technically possible using a hack/third party media server to stream non-compatible videos to the Xbox 360 but it has problems playing them which I comment on at the end of this post}

I hope I have explained it properly as I'm not a video guru but basically it is missing that feature from the high profile and if it was enabled then it would deliver better picture quality and cross compatibility between the Xbox 360 and PS3 with H.264 video.

Here are screen shots of the MeGUI settings which I'm referring too;
Standard CE-HighProfile
http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/temp/HP-CE.png

MeGUI's Xbox 360/PS3 profile (currently not 100% compatible on Xbox side)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/temp/HP-X360-PS3.png

Custom Xbox 360 100% compatible profile
http://homepage.eircom.net/~rock2002/temp/HP-X360.png

So as you can see there are differences between them, now the Xbox 360 can still play videos encoded with Adaptive DCT as long as they are on a DVD or USB stick but without the following;

* Anamorphic H.264 video is not properly detected.
* No thumbnail is displayed in the dashboard.
* Total time length of video is not displayed.

So it would be nice if support for this was added as it would remove the need for a separate Xbox 360 H.264 video profile & improve picture quality :thanks:


The reason I was commenting on the Zune software which I have no problem with, it works fine for what it does is that I was guessing that because the Zune software will only stream H.264 video that appears in it's library, that might mean the Xbox 360's H.264 decoder/profile was tweaked to be inline with the limitations of the Zune H.264 decoder/profile which according to one site is main profile only which would explain why it lacks Adaptive DCT & I8x8.

Now I could be totally wrong but I think in effect the Xbox 360 is sort of being held back by the Zune software as it is currently the only official H.264 media server for the Xbox 360. To get full H.264 compatibility with the console you must encode to the custom profile which is closer to H.264 main profile instead of actual H.264 high profile if you want thumbnails, proper anamorphic video support & that's regardless of what media server your using as it's the consoles own H.264 decoder which lacks official support for Adaptive DCT & I8x8.

So ideally it would be great if the Xbox 360's H.264 decoders high profile support is improved on even if the Zune software will not support such videos as a third party media server like Twonky could handle streaming such videos to the console.

I hope all that rambling makes sense :)