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Streaming AVI video to Xbox 360 Error

Answered Streaming AVI video to Xbox 360 Error

  • Sunday, February 10, 2008 8:00 PM
     
     
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    I have taken all of my home videos and saved them on my WHS using Windows Movie Maker. 

     

    I saved the videos in the native AVI format.

     

    I can stream the videos fine from a computer using Windows Media Player 11, but when I try to play the videos directly from my WHS to the Xbox 360, I get the following error on the 360:

     

    'Can't play this content because it may not be supported.  For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support.

     

    Status code: 69-C00D36BE '

     

    Other AVI videos that I have on the WHS (not home videos saved via Windows Movie Maker) stream fine.

     

    Any idea why the home videos would not be streaming correctly on my 360?  This was I huge feature for me that I was looking forward to.

     

    Is there any solution to this problem? (encoding in another format would take a lot of time due to the number of home videos).

     

    I also have a WMC 2005 machine; would it be possible to point this machine to the WHS and then stream from the xbox 360 to the WHC thru this WMC computer?

     

    Looking for any help!

     

    Thanks!!

     

All Replies

  • Tuesday, February 12, 2008 6:49 PM
     
     
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    You will probibly need to re-encode the files. AVI is jus a container, videos in this container can be encoded in multiple different formats that may or may no be compatable with the XBOX 360.

     

    One thing that may work is to download a program called Transcode 360 to your Media Center PC and then add your videos folder on the WHS machine as one of the folders Transcode 360 will look at. Point your 360 to Transcode 360 instead of the WHS machine.

     
  • Wednesday, February 13, 2008 12:13 AM
     
     
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    Jeff,

     

    Please pardon me for asking such basic questions but :

     

    If I decided to re-encode the files, what would be involved?  Since I already have the videos saved to my hard disk, could I just run a batch program to re-encode the files (all 250 GBs)?  Would there be any degredation to the video quality?  If I did this, what would be the best codec to use to make sure it worked with the xbox?

     

    I downloaded and installed Transcode 360. I then set the video folder on my WHS as a folder that contained videos on my WMC 2005 computer.  From the WMC computer, I can stream the videos.

     

    However, when I go into the xbox 360's media center area, I can't see (or view) this folder.  If I choose to add a new folder that contains videos (similar to what I did on the WMC computer), I can try both local and network folders, but the WHS folder that contains the videos never shows.  So I can't see any videos on the WHS folder on the xbox 360 when I'm in the Media Center (extender).  (I can see the folder if I go to videos OUTSIDE of the Media Center extender on the 360, but that's when I get the error message mentioned in my first post.  It sounds as if it's a sharing issue, but I haven't been able to resolve it yet.

     

    Thanks for any further help/suggestions.

     

    Thanks

     
  • Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:01 PM
     
     
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    You will want to re-encode the files to wmv format for use within Media Center on the 360. There are many programs designed to do batch conversion of videos, although I have never used any so dont have one to recommend.

     

    To preserve the quality play around with the profile you use when converting to wmv, you will be able to specify the resolution, quality etc.

     

    If you are having a problem seeing the folder make sure that guest access is enabled for the vodeos folder on your homeserver.

     
  • Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:14 PM
     
     
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    I have had the same problem and I have now found a tool that generate AVI files that you can access from XBOX, without starting Media Center extender. I use AutoGK to convert my DVDs. Transcode360 did not work for me (subtitles are not showed). The AutoGK is not 100% and sometimes it does not generate the subtitles, will generate the subs manually later... when I have converted all my DVDs to AVI. For me it would be better if XBOX could support DVD format.

     
  • Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:39 PM
     
     
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    I'd recommend you check out the following link for the latest on video playback on the xbox 360: http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

     

    #10 illustrates under what scenarios different media can be played back on the 360.  From Windows Home Server to the dashboard video player you get:

    - WMV(Protected),

    - WMV(Unprotected),

    - AVI

     

    And as other posters have said, AVI is just a container type which could hold any number of encoded video/audio.  From #1, the Xbox 360 supports the following in an AVI container:

    - Video Profiles: MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple & Advanced Simple Profile

    - Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps.

    - Audio Profiles: Dolby® Digital 2 channel and 5.1 channel, MP3

    -  Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions.

     

    Note: MPEG-4 Part 2 is better known as Xvid.

     

    So whether you'll need to reencode your movies or not will depend on what encoders were used for your video/audio.  It's likely though that you'll want to reencode your files to either wmv or xvid in an avi container (with ac3 or mp3 audio) for the simplest method of streaming from whs (with the built in windows media connect) to the Xbox 360.

     

     
  • Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:53 PM
     
     
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    Any idea what kind of loss in picture quality I would get if I reencode.

     

    Not sure what '... in an avi container' means; looks like it's time to do more research!

     

    BTW - the current codec for the videos is showing 'dv/dvcpro'.

     

    Thanks

     
  • Thursday, February 14, 2008 8:29 PM
     
     
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    Try installing Tversity on your home server before you start re-encoding files http://www.tversity.com/home

     

     

     

     

     
  • Friday, February 15, 2008 5:13 AM
     
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    There are many correct answers to this question. Here's one...

    I suggest you use mencoder or ffmpeg. Neither are really well documented, so you need to tinker.

    A simpler, more expensive answer is to use TMPG Enc 4.0 Express. I purchased and use it daily.

    -- from the xbox web site:

    **1.    What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for AVI?

    Xbox 360 supports the following for AVI:

    ·         File Extensions: .avi, .divx

    ·         Containers: AVI

    ·         Video Profiles: MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple & Advanced Simple Profile

    ·         Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.

    ·         Audio Profiles: Dolby® Digital 2 channel and 5.1 channel, MP3

    ·         Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information

    2.    What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for H.264?

    Xbox 360 supports the following for H.264:

    ·         File Extensions: .mp4, .m4v, mp4v, .mov

    ·         Containers: MPEG-4, QuickTime

    ·         Video Profiles: Baseline, main, and high (up to Level 4.1) profiles.

    ·         Video Bitrate: 10 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.

    ·         Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)

    ·         Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.

     

    3.    What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for MPEG-4 Part 2?

    Xbox 360 supports the following for MPEG-4:

    ·         File Extensions: .mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, .mov

    ·         Containers: MPEG-4, QuickTime

    ·         Video Profiles: Simple & **Advanced Simple Profile

    ·         Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.

    ·         Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)

    ·         Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.

     

    4.    What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for WMV (VC-1)?

    Xbox 360 supports the following for WMV:

    ·         File Extensions: .wmv

    ·         Container: asf

    ·         Video Profiles: WMV7 (WMV1), WMV8 (WMV2), WMV9 (WMV3), VC-1 (WVC1 or WMVA) in simple, main, and advanced up to Level 3

    ·         Video Bitrate: 15 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.

    ·         Audio Profiles: WMA7/8, WMA 9 Pro (stereo and 5.1), WMA lossless
    ·         Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.

     

    5.    Can I mix and match the video and audio codecs outside of those defined in questions 1 through 4 above?

    No you cannot.  We only support each audio and video codec in the explicit containers defined in questions 1 through 4.

     

    6.    How can I determine if a video file that I am trying to play conforms to the specifications as laid out in questions 1 through 4?

    You can use a 3rd party tool to analyze your video files to determine what audio and video codec is used.  A popular 3rd party tool to analyze video files can be found at http://www.headbands.com/gspot/.

     

    7.    How do I create WMV, AVI, H.264 and MPEG-4 content? What encoders does Xbox 360 support?

    You can create this content on one of many 3rd-party applications. Xbox 360 supports many popular encoders. Specifically for encoding to WMV you can use Microsoft Expression Encoder or Windows Media Encoder.

     

    **8.    What specific features of Mpeg-4 Advanced Simple Profile does the Xbox 360 support?

    The Xbox 360 supports Bidirectional Frames (BVOPs), Interlaced Frames, Quarter Pixel Motion Compensation, Global Motion Compensation, and MPEG Quantization.

     

    9.    What are the different ways to play video content on Xbox 360?

    You can play video from a USB 2.0 FAT32 removable drive, optical media, and by streaming from the Zune software, Windows Media Player 11, or Windows Home Server.

     

    10. What are the different video codecs that are supported in all the different ways to play video content on the Xbox 360?

    See table below for more information:
    on.
     
  • Friday, February 15, 2008 1:14 PM
     
     
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    A related, but slightly different issue I found with streaming to the Xbox 360 from WHS was that none of the .mp4 H.264 files that I had on the WHS machine showed up in the Xbox 360 dashboard.
       These files play correctly from a usb hard drive connected to the 360 but it appears that the WHS machine doesn't want to provide them via it's media sharing interface. However renaming these files to .avi meant that the WHS made them available to the Xbox and they playback fine.
       This isn't the original posters problem but it may be something to think about if you convert to mp4 H.264.
     
  • Thursday, December 10, 2009 10:10 AM
     
     
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    A related, but slightly different issue I found with streaming to the Xbox 360 from WHS was that none of the .mp4 H.264 files that I had on the WHS machine showed up in the Xbox 360 dashboard.
       These files play correctly from a usb hard drive connected to the 360 but it appears that the WHS machine doesn't want to provide them via it's media sharing interface.
    I'm having similar issues.   About 85% the Xbox360 will not list or play any videos in my WMP11 library.   I have to go back to the dashboard (sometimes 10-15 times) before it will list anything and play.  If I plug in my usb external hard drive or a flash drive it will play it no problem.   Any ideas why this is happening and any suggestions?   I have Zune, but do not want to convert all of my videos to wmv.

    Help!
     
  • Sunday, January 02, 2011 11:19 PM
     
     
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    Did you find a solution to this issue?

    I am also having troubles playing AVI videos created by Windows Movie Maker  - the source is my mini-dv camcorder.

    I am newb to all this craziness with codecs and stuff. But it seems kind of lame to me that Microsoft as owner\creator whatever you call it to both WMM and Xbox is using\supporting different codecs in different software\firmware. Not surprized but frustrated for sure.

    Help! Anyone?!

     
  • Tuesday, November 22, 2011 11:10 AM
     
     
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    I've had varying degrees of success playing AVI and MP4 files. Unfortunately, the specification above is not complete. I recently had an AVI file that was encoded mpeg4 and mp3 audio, but the audio was 32kHz and refused to play on the Xbox. Just for experimentation, I re-encoded the audio to 48kHz using ffmpeg and it worked. I have a Mac, and I installed ffmpeg via a port, but it looks like there are builds for Windows as well. The command line looked like:

    > ffmpeg -i show1.avi -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -ar 48000 show2.avi

    What this does is it copies the video stream straight across and transforms the audio only to 48kHz.

    How did I know to do this? Well, I had a TV show that I knew worked, and so I used ffmpeg -i <file> to determine what exactly was different between the two! :)

    Good luck!

     


    • Edited by Clint O Tuesday, November 22, 2011 11:11 AM
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