So, does it transcode to the 360?
I've seen a number of people report "blockiness" or poor quality on the Xbox 360, which is clearly a sign of transcoding (although on a powerful enough machine this may be subtle and difficult to notice). What I don't know is if this is actually the expected behaviour for mkv playback, or if these people are doing something wrong. I don't have an XboX 360 to test it myself. So, if I:
-Perform a clean install of Windows 7
-Install the latest DivX bundle (which includes this preview)
-Connect an XboX 360 as a Media Center Extender
-Download one of the MKV files from the DivX 7 Showcase
-Play that file on the 360 in Extender mode
Will it stream the original video to the 360, or will it transcode on-the-fly?
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bartman01, try this vid and
bartman01, try this vid and see if it streams or transcodes:
http://showcase7.divx.com/BigBuckBunny[DivX7].mkv
Can you guys explain your
Can you guys explain your installation steps? I've done everything that is specified, installed DivXInstaller.exe, tried MatroskaSplitter.exe, and have AC3Filter installed. I can play mkv files an an hour just fine, but anything longer, the little circle icon just times out and the 360 XMC returns an error message that a critical process has failed.
I've had it working fantastic on all mkv's before, but once I did a clean install of Windows 7 I've been having issues.
I don't know if you just
I don't know if you just forgot to post it, but according to you, you haven't installed the techpreview. That's what might be missing. Hope that helps.
DivX, I could really use an
DivX, I could really use an answer to this. I'm communicating with D-Link regarding a firmware update to their DSM-750, and I need to know whether or not it's actually possible to play mkv files in Extender mode without transcoding.
I don't know about the
I don't know about the others but I'm pretty sure I'm streaming and not transcoding. I have a p4 yes a pentium 4 @3.0Ghz 2 gigs of ram running win7 x64 and it plays almost instantly on my 360 through media center extender with no loss in visual quality whatsover and dts is only streamed as stereo but ac3 is fine except for some weird instances where some mkv's have bad encoding and freeze after seconds of playback.... last time I tried transcode 360 it took at least 30-60 seconds for playback to begin and if you fast forward to soon without letting my outdated machine get ahead of the playback it would pause for 30-60 seconds to transcode enough buffer material. So either this is streaming which also explains why some mkv's are picky or this is some awesome new algorithm being tested for realtime transcoding of hd video on the fly which is so efficient it runs super smooth on my sh#tt# machine but then that wouldn't explain the non loss in quality or the random mkv not "transcoding" and the absence of said transcoded files on the harddrive, like transcode360 uses to better allow for seeking. So all in all I'd be surprised if this was not 1:1 streaming.
What size TV are you
What size TV are you watching with?
On my 65" I get the following results:
Widows 7 with DiVX tech preview to 360 = horrible macroblocking.
Played directly on the PC above = no macroblocking.
Re-muxed to MPG container and played on PS3 = no macroblocking.
So either:
A) the video is being transcoded.
or B) the 360 doesn't have adequate power and/or the proper codecs for clean playback.
I too would like a definite answer as to what is causing the macroblocking/loss of video quality when using the 360 as an extender.
Tv Size
I'm running the 360 and pc on a projector with a 102" screen.
The resolution is set to 1080p on the 360 and the pc is set to 1920x1080 @60hz. The only way I get away with watching hd mkvs on my
pc is by using mpc-hc with dxva enabled so the video is pretty much the same when using either the 360 or pc, which is to say very nice. You might be using the transcoding option in media browser under advanced or some other codec pack with bundled transcoding software might be interfering.
'You might be using the
'You might be using the transcoding option in media browser under advanced or some other codec pack with bundled transcoding software might be interfering.'
Now running a clean install. The only CODECs installed are the DivX package and AC3File/AC3Filter to allow playback in WMP. Default settings. Seeing video degradation/macro blocking.
Given your screen size, and the problems I am seeing, I would expect them to be plain as day for you. Are you 32 bit or 64 bit, there could be a difference there.
I agree that it has to be
I agree that it has to be streaming. I have a similar setup and it works flawless for me.
Just did a clean install of
Just did a clean install of Windows 7 RTM (was running the RC). Tested the same files, and it is trans-coding to the 360. Video is softer and has noticeable macroblocking using DivX tech preview to the 360 vs the exact same video played directly on the PS3.
So either
A) It is always transcoding and either due to smaller screen sizes or not being able to notice the differences (be thankful) some people do not percieve it to be.
B) It sometimes transcodes and we have no way to know or control when this happens.
Edit: could be a 32bit vs 64bit issue. I am running 64bit.
Got a chance to try a few
Got a chance to try a few more files. For the most part it does appear to be streaming. Possible that the issue is the CODEC on the 360 for H264 just has trouble with specific encodes.
Good to hear atleast some
Good to hear atleast some mkvs are responding well. I have problems with a few mkvs that have autoleveling or too high ac3 bitrate that just stop playing after a few seconds of playback so don't expect all to play perfectly until update of the software "hopefully".
I'm also on 64bit as mentioned in an earlier post.