360 Video Streaming - Soon In Reasonable Formats!

No longer will we be confined to our very least favorite video codec, WMV -- the new update will enable Windows Media Connect or Media Center streaming MPEG-4 up to 8Mbps, H.264 up to 15Mbps, and PlaysForSure WMV videos (and, as we understand it, PlaysForSure audio as well). Wow, finally we can actually use the 360 to play video that wasn't recorded off our Media Center or converted by our Zune software (cough, hack). See, was that so hard, Microsoft?

Xbox 360: now with H.264, MPEG-4, PlaysForSure - Engadget HD



That is pretty damn sweet! Of course my first question was: will this cover DiVX files, and I think the answer is yes. I think (take with a grain of salt) that MPEG-4 playback will cover DiVX files. I guess we'll see after the update rolls out.



"But wait!" you sez. "I thought you were all about the TVersity software - as praised by you here."



"Wow!" sez I. "How'd you get a hyperlink in dialog like that?"



Cutesy dialog aside - yes I'm still pro-TVersity. But what I haven't done yet is set it up on TinyGod's XP Boot Camp installation. Nor tested whether it runs OK in Parallels, or whether I'd have to reboot into "real" XP to run it. (My guess is yes - Parallels doesn't have as much RAM available as my old Windows system.)



I did some streaming video to the 360 a couple of weeks ago and fired up the old Windows box to do so. I plan on retiring that box permanently, but I haven't gotten around to the final archive yet. So I always intended to set up TVersity - but maybe now I'll sit pat and see if Windows Media 11 will get me close enough.



technorati tags:,

Blogged with Flock