Xbox 360 Spring Update Adds DiVX, XViD, H.264 Support

Not only do we get the crazy keyboard controller, but we also get some crazy new features in the Xbox 360 Spring Dashboard Update.

Of particular note, H.264 and MPEG-4 Part 2 (read DiVX, XViD) support has been added. This is something people have been begging for with the Xbox 360 for a long time. No longer do users need to use Transcode 360 over Media Center to watch these videos.

[2tired2day2hate]

i was kinda dissapointed with this update until i found out about the divx things and some of the other features

[stingray9191]

AWESOME greatest thing ever!

[ChaosKnight]

I agree, The update was fair, nothing spectacular, but this really gives a nudge in the right direction.

[Diselage]

This is fantastic, I will for sure be using the 360 alot more because of this.

[Black Republican]

OMG FINALLY
DIVX/XVID

ABOUT DAMN TIME

[sak500]

WOW no need to use tversity or orb now, my huge collection of erm... files will be now easily viewable.

[PSN Starfleets]

So now people to get stream porn onto to their TV screens? Wow amazing *yawn*

[Boink]

title says it all, WOHOOOOO!!!

although transcode works just fine...

[TheSadTruth]

SERIOUSLY THIS IS BIG FUC*ING NEWS AND PROBABLY THE BEST UPDATE YET.. I CAN FINALLY WATCH MOVIES I DOWNLOAD TO MY COMPUTER ON MY 360 xD

[SmokeyMcBear]

yeah thats a really good updates, there was just something wrong of only being able to play wmv's, but this divx things should be really great. I'm just wondering though, does that mean it can play the vob files you get when you rip a dvd, cuz that would be awesome, something both the 360 and ps3 should have. It gets tiring waiting hours to convert the vob file to a mp4, but it looks really good, just wish I could skip that step and directly play the vob file.

[kewlkat007]

Good update, I can stream all of them 70 Gig of videos I have.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Yeah I have lots of divx vids myself about 150 to 200 hrs of content. Mostly shows I recorded of Heroes and Lost.

[joemutt]

Heroes and Lost!

The only two shows that are locked into my tivo box.

4,8,15,16,24,32

[Balance]

i am excited about the option to have the 360 auto turn off after your downloads. i will be downloading a lot more now, queue up 5 or 6 things and go to bed and the 360 shuts itself off when it is done. sweet!

[shikwan]

But now you don't need it. And say bye-bye to converting software too.

[outofstep]

ok so i am excited to hear the divx/xvid support, but is this feature limited to the streaming media center OS or can this be taken advantage of from any OS, i personally use Mac OSX, and I have 100s of gigs of video files, being a designer i use mac OS, so am i gonna be able to stream it from my mac or will i be stuck using an external drive to get the files to the 360? anyone know?

[Evil Rant Monkey]

I believe (don't know for sure) this option will work without using WindowsMediaCentre OS; considering that you can now stream wmv and audio from Zune, WindowsMediaPlayer, etc...

[shotty]

Well you can wait for hell to freeze over...hehehe....microsoft doesn't provide mac support and its usually up to third party to fill that in. Windows is made by microsoft so they wouldn't just start making software for other OS when they receive nothing out of it.

[fjtorres]

...and from LINUX too...
Even some dedicated NAS devices.

The 360 fully supports generic UPnP media streaming.
(That's all that Windows Media Connect was. The feature is now embedded in Window Media Player 11 on the PC side. But its not the only way to stream PC content to the 360 without Vista Home Premium or XP MCE.)

Just google-up "UPnP server" and the OS of your choice and you're in business. Works right now for the file-types currently supported.
You can always D/l a few WMVs to play with for the next few weeks while waiting for the update...

[agent864]

oh never mind ....

[neogeo]

This is only good news for me. I have tons of Xvid to play.

[sovietsoldier]

now i dont have to transcode my porno no more!

[OC_MurphysLaw]

but I am more curious to learn what the new changes around messenger and chat are going to be. I mean dont get me wrong..its awesome to add these video capabilities...but I use it on a limited basis. Chat is the number 1 feature from Live I use constantly.

[Ps3007]

If you have a computer connected to your hdtv you could do this all along?!?

Guess if you dont have a computer but being as most stream there music I was thinking they had one...

A lot of piracy will stem from this. Is the 360 now becoming the new PSP? You can now hack without opening AND play online undetected and now rip basically any movie.

[eques judicii]

streaming digital media to the 360 does not allow you to hack it. Some people don't like having their computer hooked up to their hdtv and so set up their xbox 360 on their home network. From there they can then stream the media through a router to the 360 and watch movies on the 360 from their computer. This is just a data stream, you are not loading anything onto or taking anything off of the xbox... therefore this is not a conduit for hacking.

[outofstep]

cause i know the earlier config you could only stream video from the media center, unless you used orb or some 3rd party app. is this gonna open up the video streaming to xp as well, or is it just a format update?

[fjtorres]

The update is to the local media player, not the MCE extender client.
So as long as your PC, Mac, Linux box, or NAS supports UPnP media streaming and your files are in an acceptable format (big if), they'll play.

[Fresh_A]

So when is the Update????

[sak500]

it would allow playback through dvd drive as well. You can burn your files to dvd r/rw and play it using 360's drive.

@outofstep: You could also stream wmv vids through media player 11 on xp w/o using 3rd party software. Now it would be possible to stream divx/xvid etc vids as well.

[outofstep]

yea thanks for the tips i was unsure since i never made it that high up in the MP versions before switching to mac. and i forgot about burning vids to DVD lol, duh..... yea this is an update that has been needed for a while, i got spoiled on my modded xbox as a media station for all my Vids. And i will check out that UPnP Server setup as well, thanks guys!

[PS360PCROCKS]

Yes!! Awesome thank you Microsoft about damn time. Now I can watch mo movies on my TV

[silent ninja]

what too you so long micrsoft

[Douglasp]

I hated the media center only part. Then we got XP only wmv. Now hopefuly we get XP with mpeg, wmv, h.264 and divx. So we still have to wait till may 7 to really find out. Or does anyone have a official link this applys to XP also.? Not just media center or vista.?

[sak500]

@douglapse "So we still have to wait till may 7 to really find out"

You thankless imbecile ;) You are spoiled by MS, you cant even wait less than a month for this? Imagine being in the sony camp and waiting foreva for any good games ..

[Imknow1]

$400 well spent. There is a god :D

[Marriot VP]

This is so great, I'm happy Microsoft is taking a new stance on formats with the zune and now the 360. Put your HD divx stuff on your plasma....YAH.

Maybe they got some new management, or perhaps they just gave up on copyright because they know the people who use divx and what else know how to get around those blocks. I know a kid with a zune who has hours of movies and illegal stuff on it. Copyright just can't compete with the public.

[Smoove808]

I dont't have Media Center on my PC. I am trying to understand how the streaming of videos to the 360 works. I am aware that it makes use of the network adapter to stream wirelessly, but is there any other way to view the media. For instance, will the 360 recognize a DivX file on a USB stick? What different ways are you people viewing content from your PC on the 360. Thanks ahead for those who enlighten me!

[power of Green]

More will come they seem to be releasing parts of the update at a time.

[gta_cb]

seriously i have ALOT of .avi files, and there great quality, i use to have to convert them to WMV 8 or WMV 9 (9 if i was doing overnight as took soo long) and the quality still didnt seem as good on them as my AVI files :( ... please let it play them... anyone know?

[baronvonzach]

The xbox 360 will support h.264, MPEG-4, and playsforsure content. Divx and Xvid both require MPEG-4 advanced simple profile support. According to the features press release, on www.xbox.com, it only supports simple profile. So don't count on the 360 playing Divx or Xvid until Microsoft says specifically.

[romaink]

I think you're right. I think we've gotten too excited without a confirmation from MS.

[Bathyj]

I can understand why it might not be included, for piracy concerns but if most modern DVD players support DivX why shouldn't the consoles. Hopefuly PS3 will follow suit now and I wont have to convert my .avi's to Mp4. I'm just gonna buy a 500GB external HD and fill it up with TV shows. My DVD play has a USB port in front but it only reads Mp3's and Jpegs, no video. What a stupid thing to do. So at the moment I either watch through my PC straight to my TV or burn stuff to disc and play throught the DVD. Still, it would be nice just to plug a usb HD into either the DVD, PS3 or XB and play avi's straight from that.

[gta_cb]

yeh i agree, as for buying an external HDD hehe i already got a 250GB external HDD :D

[SmokeyMcBear]

Thats what I have, a 750 GB external hooked up to my ps3 via the usb port. All the movies I have are in mpeg4 avc format. They look really good, I but I think the ps3 is limited into what types of format it can play.

[Black Republican]

it would be cool if in a future update they let us select individual pictures for each blade in the x360 o.s.

because now if we select one picture its the same picture for each blade, for the people who don't know...

[shikwan]

with 3 (250Gb) hdd and 1 (500Gb) hdd, I've accumualated 127 movies and 4 weeks of mp3s and still have Gbs to spare! Rockin Vista Ultimate and Zune makes this is perfect.

[shikwan]

This is a year old PC that I've obviously upgraded. It was a Dell XPS 400 with 1GB RAM and 1 250Gb hdd. I've since bought 2 more 250Gbs hdd--the 500Gb was a gift ; ) And it has 4Gb RAM and a Vista Ultimate upgrade. So my pockets aren't hurting at all!

Why would I want an external when I use the PC to stream to my 360's?? I'm eventually gonna get another 500Gb and move 1 or 2 of the 250Gb hdd to another PC.

[SmokeyMcBear]

why not just get a TB external? Set up must have cost you a pretty penny, add up the pc (upgrades if any), the internal Hard drives, the external Hard Drives, pushing 2 G's eh. Whatever floats your boat.