New MF target: Xbox 360: Supports H.264 & MPEG4 Pt 2 now

Discuss encoding for devices and presets.
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Bobablob
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:01 pm

Post by Bobablob »

How did you redownload a plugin? I was looking forward to this update, but it seems my Movie Library won't work on the 360. Anyone willing to post a preset that's tested on the 360?
yoshimi
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:21 pm

Post by yoshimi »

Bobablob wrote:How did you redownload a plugin? I was looking forward to this update, but it seems my Movie Library won't work on the 360. Anyone willing to post a preset that's tested on the 360?
When a movie won't play on the 360 you'll get an error message, select 'download update' then even though it looks like you've installed it already, re-download then reboot 360.

The AppleTV and iPod presets work, but only for 30 odd seconds. Not sure what's causing it to freeze.

EDIT: Response from Nullriver....
were looking into it, at the moment were blaming shoddy Microsoft code :-)
if we find a workaround/fix we'll put it out as an update on our site
Bobablob
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:01 pm

Post by Bobablob »

Yes, I downloaded those plugins when first prompted. Regretably, no films in my library, even those created using AppleTV presets work. I get an error code when I try to play them.
ksmizz
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:36 pm

Post by ksmizz »

yeah... only a couple of my videos play also...

QUICK AND DIRTY WORKAROUND: after using the appletv preset or qhatever one that fits the supported formats... open the video in quicktime and then "save as" to a .mov... then try streaming the video and it WILL play... its quick... its dirty... it works...
Bobablob
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:01 pm

Post by Bobablob »

I can confirm that Handbrake Apple-TV presets work just fine when you aren't streaming the video . . . use a UBS drive to test it for yourself.

The problem is squarely one with Connect360 / 360's Network Code.
FritzsCorner
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 4:12 am

Post by FritzsCorner »

I can confirm that streaming H.264 vids encoded with the apple preset do stream to the Xbox 360 just fine. I am personally streaming my videos to the 360 through a WinXP session in parallels using the Zune software. The videos include the DVD cover art I applied using iTunes and don't stutter or skip a beat. I know this isn't an ideal solution for everyone especially those with PPC macs but for me it is way better than connect 360. I tried the 3.0 demo and I also had the problem of video stopping after 30-40 seconds. Connect 360 also doesn't support a folder structure and will only display all your videos in one giant list so you can't easily organize them by Movie, TV Show, etc.. If you currently have your videos in different folders like most people probably do the only way I found connect 360 was able to stream all of these was by creating aliases for every video and put them in one folder. Another minor complaint is that connect 360 doesn't support video cover art but like I said this is just a minor complaint and not a big deal to most people. Don't get me wrong, I love connect 360 for it's music and photo sharing abilities, but for me personally the video sharing feature is just a little lacking right now. I have no doubt that these problems will be addressed and at that time I will definately spend $20 and buy a copy.
Twist
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 11:00 am

Post by Twist »

I have been using a slightly modified version of the iPod preset and it is working great. My only modification is to encode them at DVD native resolution with aspect ratio preserved. I can notice a slight quality difference compared to DVD (mainly just extra artifacting in dark areas) but not enough to really bother me. Using 2000-3000 Kbps would probably take care of that but I want smaller file sizes. I have tested them at SD and at 1080i and 480p and I am pleased with the results.

I haven't checked out the latest version of Connect360 yet. I have just been using a external USB 2 HD. It has been plug and play even though the HD is formatted as Mac OS Extended. I suspect that the 360's iPod support is responsible for this.

I wasn't very hot for the AppleTV before this and now if you gave me one I would probably just turn around and sell it.
themacjedi
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 20, 2007 10:00 pm

Post by themacjedi »

Connect360 3.1 has just been released and fixed most of our problems.

Update to see if your files play properly now.

This is what the developer just emailed me:
START
There are some problems you may still experience even after updating:

WMV files that played before the Spring update show up as not recognized.
This is an error of Microsoft's and nothing can be done about it by us.

Movie playback is slow or jittery, perhaps with out of sync audio and eventually freezes.
Freezing can still occur if you are connecting over wireless and the signal isn't strong enough.
Also trying to stream very high bitrate high quality video may reach the limit of the transmission speed.
Fast forwarding over wifi may exhibit this problem due to the data transmission speed or lack thereof.

A Movie refuses to play saying that it's unsupported.
This is because the method or profile used to encode the movie is not supported by Microsoft
Microsoft has documented the supported formats here:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/syste ... ackfaq.htm

Here are some apps you can use to encode H264 Movies:

QuickTime PRO (not free)
FFmpegx FFmpeg/x264
Handbreak/Mediafork (for converting from a DVD Movie)

If you have any movies that refuse to play saying they are unsupported, but they play fine when ran from a USB stick, let me know.

We decided it best to list all movies found, even if they are known to be unsupported.
This is because checking the movies takes a lot of time and cpu. We have decided to focus our energy on developing a way to live transcode ALL movies formats, so everything! will work in future.

Any future updates/news related to Connect360 will be posted on our website

http://www.nullriver.com

and on our RSS feed

http://www.nullriver.com/index/rss
END

It looks like they have been working hard to correct the problem and I can confirm that files that would not play before are playing now.
Eug
Posts: 27
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:01 am

Post by Eug »

Annoyingly, there are still some weird audio sync issues with QT H.264 files played on the Xbox 360, even when the files are burned to disc first (not streamed).
mexifelio
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:53 pm

Post by mexifelio »

Hello All,
I was successfully able to stream wirelessly from my pc to my xbox using Tversity (I didn't see this mentioned in anyone's post so I'm not sure if everyone here is using mac or if there are some pc stragglers like myself :))

I followed the guide here Here Just ignore the MeGui crap... I couldn't get any files encoded with it to play or stream.

I have been messing around with different settings on pc handbrake to try to get very good quality. So far I know for sure that 1200 2 pass appleTV presets will work and stream with no problems. The quality is not that great so right now I am in the process of trying out 1500 with 2 pass and 2pass(1st turbo). Will enabling turbo on the 1st pass reduce the quality on the output? Is it better to leave turbo off if I want cleaner looking files?

The other question I had is that on the mac version you have the preview window to check through and see if you need to de-interlace the video, but on the pc version this seems to be missing. Is there an easy way to know if de-interlacing should be checked? I have done a little testing and found that "original" and "yadif (slow)" seemed to produce a playable file, but if I select "yadif + mcdeint (slowest)" I could not open the encoded file at all.

One last thing regarding the que feature. I'm wondering if anyone else has run into this. Say you have A, B and C queued up. Last night A had finished and the file worked fine. B was next in que and automatically started encoding. When it was done the program automatically started on C. While it was encoding C, I checked B and the file played fine. I was able to skim around and check the quality of the file and it was ok. This morning I checked to see how C was and I had an hbcli.exe.stackdump, C would not play, but the strange thing was that B would no longer play. I would get the "Couldn't open the file B because it is not a file that quicktime understands." It was really frustrating because it had opened just a few hours before and was playing fine. I've had other files outputted like this when the que runs into a stackdump. I'm just wondering why Handbrake would go back and touch a file that was previously completed, and if it is re-touching it, what is it changing that is no longer making it a valid video?
INFOLC
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:53 pm

Post by INFOLC »

I have been messing around with different settings on pc handbrake to try to get very good quality. So far I know for sure that 1200 2 pass appleTV presets will work and stream with no problems. The quality is not that great so right now I am in the process of trying out 1500 with 2 pass and 2pass(1st turbo).
i like the default 2500 with 2 pass and turbo first pass. quality is excellent. i've had problems only with a couple very dark movies like 'planet of the apes'.
i dont stream so i dont know how well this could possibly go over the network. i think it could be ok as long as you dont go wireless, of course.
Will enabling turbo on the 1st pass reduce the quality on the output? Is it better to leave turbo off if I want cleaner looking files?
i think i've read there is no big impact...

it's been months that the x360 was updated and now supports h.264. why is there no preset in handbrake? how about a modified appletv preset?
Cavalicious
Moderator
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Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:07 am

Post by Cavalicious »

I'll say this again... The Xbox360 can handle anything the AppleTV can (and a little more) when it comes to Video. With audio, use DPL2 or stereo...the 360 will not see a file encoded with 6ch AAC.
i think it could be ok as long as you dont go wireless, of course.
Sure you can, and it will be fine. Better if you were 802.11n through & through.
i think i've read there is no big impact...
Umm...Very big impact...better quality.
it's been months that the x360 was updated and now supports h.264. why is there no preset in handbrake? how about a modified appletv preset?
Because pretty much every current preset will work.
INFOLC
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:53 pm

Post by INFOLC »

Quote:
i think i've read there is no big impact...



Umm...Very big impact...better quality.
i think the question waws turbo pass or not. what i meant was as long as one chooses 2nd pass, turbo pass or normal first pass result in practically no difference at all. that's what turbo pass is all about, isnt it?
Quote:
it's been months that the x360 was updated and now supports h.264. why is there no preset in handbrake? how about a modified appletv preset?



Because pretty much every current preset will work.
sure, but a tweaked preset for quality (like a modified apple tv prest) would be great! i tried several other presets and settings, none look as good as @tv's with 2 passes. :D
jbrjake
Veteran User
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Post by jbrjake »

INFOLC wrote:it's been months that the x360 was updated and now supports h.264. why is there no preset in handbrake?
Because none of us own the device? Because when we asked people to come on IRC and help us beta-test to find the best settings, no one volunteered? Try reading the thread you're posting in.

"A little early to be adding a preset for it, though, until someone actually tests."

"Yes, assuming someone with a 360 is around to beta-test it, it will probably have a preset in the next beta."

Right from the beginning, I've been asking people to help beta-test a preset and *no one* has. From this, I can only infer that HandBrake's userbase doesn't care about 360 support.

I'm not going to just add one that's exactly the AppleTV preset but with a different name -- a 360 preset should play to the device's strengths and minimize its weaknesses. To do that, an interested party has to be willing to run tests like how many non-adaptive b-frames it can support, how it handles large numbers of multiple reference frames, if b-pyramid plays smoothly, etc. And then test varying settings to see how they actually look on the device to find a time/quality balance.
Cavalicious
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Post by Cavalicious »

That said, I have one (missed the request to beta), but like jbrjake said...I don't remember there being a whole lot of interest. Between the AppleTV and the iPhone...Xbox360 threads just faded away.


For Now:

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

A: 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.
* Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)
* Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions.

Q: What is the "real" max bit rate, resolution, and frames per second that you support for all the different formats?

A: Xbox 360 does not specifically block video from playing based on a maximum bit rate, resolution, or frames per second. The maximums listed above for each codec are what we have tested for various video playback sources. Higher rated content will not be blocked, but playback may be less then optimal. Use higher bit rates at your own risk.
Q: What is the maximum video file size that is supported?

A: The maximum file size for an MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 file that can be played is 4 GB. However, Windows Media Player 11 and the Zune software do support streaming WMV files greater than 4 GB.
Q: Do you support 5.1 channel AAC?

A: No. Only 2-channel AAC is supported. If you want to play a 5.1-channel video on your console, you will need to encode it to WMV with WMAPro 5.1 audio.
mexifelio
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:53 pm

Post by mexifelio »

sorry for the ridiculously stupid question, but does:

" * Video Bitrate: 10 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. "

equal to 10,000 in the "average bitrate" field?

So far I am up to 2,000 and am coming out with pretty crisp movies, even with high action and dark scenes like in Chronicles of Riddick.
File size came out to about 2.092 GB and I am streaming from 802.11g pc wirelessly to enet connected xbox via TVersity and it is playing without any stuttering. I am using the appletv preset, 2 pass, turbo 1st, 128 audio downmixed to the dolby pro logic II

I am very happy with the results.

The only issue i am seeing is trying to get subtitles on foreign movies to line up to the dialog. The subtitles show up about 10 sometimes 15 seconds before the person speaks. I am wondering if this is because I am ripping the cd with RipIt4Me. I noticed it had options to remove cells and cleanup the vob files, which I am thinking might be causing the subtitles to fall out of alignment.
I will have to do a little bit more testing with another rip of the dvd with dvddecrypter that won't remove anything from the files and see if that will give me synced up subtitles.

I asked my friend who is using handbrake on mac if he has to rip a dvd to HD first with something like Mac the Ripper to remove the encryption before using handbrake and he said no, he just encodes from handbrake straight from the dvd.
If i try that on the pc i get garbled up files with colored blocks all over the place. If i rip with Ripit4me or DvdDecrypter first, then encode with handbrake, the video plays fine. Is there something that is in the Mac version for the decrypting that isn't in the pc version???

Cheers!
hawkman
Veteran User
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Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 9:46 pm

Post by hawkman »

The Windows version can't decrypt at all. The use of a separate ripper is required at all times.
mexifelio
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:53 pm

Post by mexifelio »

hawkman wrote:The Windows version can't decrypt at all. The use of a separate ripper is required at all times.
ok, that's what i figured. thanks :)
Carlsen
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:18 pm

Post by Carlsen »

I've been playing back my x264 MP4's on the 360 since the spring update.
I copy the file on a USB stick and run it from there directly on the 360.

Settings are:
MP4, h.264 (normal profile)
128kb/s AAC
1500-2000kb/s, 2-pass, 1st turbo (turbo pass since the new release, GREAT feature btw)

No anamorphic, never used it.
Haven't messed with chapters yet.

--

I have no in-depth knowledge of video encoding, but will be happy to contribute with testing on different settings.

Handbrake is an awesome project, credits to the dev team for this.
chashock
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:28 am

Post by chashock »

I would be happy to help beta test. I am very new to the whole concept of video encoding and ripping, but I am happy to help. I am not new to computers or networking (or Xbox for that matter).

I am most interested in the combination of TVersity, HandBrake, and Windows, but I am fluent in Linux as well, and if there is something I could do there, I'd be happy to.

If you can tell me what you need tested, and how to properly test it, I'll test it out!

I've had some very mixed results thus far in my encoding for streaming via TVersity. I'm streaming from an XP machine to a fully updated Xbox 360, which is connected to a 60" Sony Bravia through a Sony receiver. My video success I think has to do with trying things that the Xbox doesn't support (I just read the MS post on what it will actually support), but the movies that work are awesome -- no jitter, good picture, etc.. This is something I've been wanting to do since Media Center came out and the Media Center Extenders showed up on the scene but it never worked well.

I'm also interested in how a mixed environment works. Is there a good setup that the AppleTV could use from Tversity as well the Xbox. I haven't shelled out the $ for the AppleTV yet, but will probably do so shortly.

Tell me where and how you need help! I love this software, it has really helped me get a jump start in all of this streaming media "stuff". Keep up the good work.
dmeeve
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 3:09 pm

Post by dmeeve »

Just received my new imac so am switching from doing all my encoding on megui to handbrake and would be happy to beta test xbox 360 presets.
jbrjake
Veteran User
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Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:38 am

Post by jbrjake »

I'm not going to play forum tag (post...wait a day...read reply...post response...wait a day...etc) to build a preset for a console I don't own from a corporation I despise.

If you're interested in this, get in touch with me in realtime (contact info readily available below, or better yet just come on irc) so this can be handled efficiently. It'd help if you know your way around the CLI, so I can just give you strings to paste and test and you can pass me back encode logs and immediately tell me how it plays back on the 360.
siromega
Posts: 36
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2007 5:06 am

Post by siromega »

FYI, I've managed to get my Windows Home Server to stream H.264 to my 360, and I found that the PS3 preset works fine with the 360. My difficulty is figuring out an appropriate bitrate for 1920x1080 video that looks good on my 61" HDTV.
robber
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 3:32 am

help pls siromega

Post by robber »

Hi there. I too have Windows Home Server and am working thru getting it connected to an xbox that I have not yet purchased. I am wondering if u could take a few minutes and explain how you have it set up for streaming and how well it works. Many thanks in advance!!!
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