XBOX and resume/pause problem

[dados 0]

Hi,

 

I've been using XBOX 360 as an extender and now i'm having pause/resume/skip issues.

It seems that only transcoded files from server are unable to pause or skip. When I try it I receive an error and have to start from beginning. But when files are "Direct Playing" pause/skip.. works

Do you have any solution to my problem?

 

Reg,

Arni Thor

Edited May 25, 2014 by dados

[ebr 15346]

If the item is being transcoded on the fly then you cannot skip ahead because there is no "ahead".  This is a limitation of the WMC player.

 

As for pause, I'm not sure.  I'd need to see the error that happens, log, etc.

[dados 0]

Ok, thanks.

 

So preventing or minimizing transconding would be the ideal setup.

 

What does it take to make a video file play directly to WMC on XBOX360 ?   Is it "just" correct codec setup ?

Do you have any recommendations ?

[dados 0]

I have the newest server dev build (3.0.5264.17006) running on Win7 64bit. All MBC clients are up-to-date also. On the same computer I'm running Media Browser Classic and that runs everything smoothly.

Everything from Media Browser Classic runs smoothly from computers on the LAN.

It's just Media Browser Classic on XBOX 360 (bedroom) that has to transcode some files and that is the problem. 

 

Does anyone have an idea how to make MBC on XBOX 360 not transcode video files ?

 

Reg,

Arni Thor

[ebr 15346]

Does anyone have an idea how to make MBC on XBOX 360 not transcode video files ?

 

You would have to re-encode them into a format the 360 can play natively.  I don't know what those are off the top of my head but there aren't a lot of them.

[dados 0]

Thanks,

 

That clears up some things. I always thought that It had something to do with the codec setup on the server.

Because few months ago I had this issue and after updating MBC or MB Server or both I was able to pause/skip/resume the same video that would not before and now it's back like before. The thing is I just cannot remember when exactly or what video file it was.

 

Who on your team knows best about MBC on XBOX 360 ?

I'm curious to know more about playing video through MBC on XBOX 360.

Is there just one player available for XBOX 360 (build-in) ? What player ? Limitations ? 

Is it possible to "hack" XBOX 360 to use some other player?

Should XBOX 360 be able to play mkv's?

Edited May 31, 2014 by dados

[ebr 15346]

360's as extenders experts are dying off quickly (so to speak) because there are so many better options for light clients now and MS abandoned the whole Extender thing along with WMC itself quite a while ago.

 

@@BAS used to be our expert but I haven't seen him around here in a while.

 

In short, only the internal player and, yes, it is quite limited.  I believe some people have gotten the 360 to work okay with some MKVs depending on what they contain but, as a general rule, the 360 does not like that container.

 

You are dealing with almost 10-year-old technology in a world that moves ahead very fast.

[dados 0]

Yea I know WMC is old but as a TV setup it works so well. I've been using it from XP and now I have one terrestrial and two satellite (different sources) in my EPG and my ohh my it works so well and also with the extenders and Media Browser it's complete

 

You guys have started working on Live TV in Media Browser that could replace the whole MS extender thing.

What device do you recommend to replace XBOX 360? I have tried Raspberry Pi but it's just to slow.

And I know that Live TV is available though web client but is it available through any other client?

[ebr 15346]

It is getting pretty cheap now to build a small Windows box that, if you want the full WMC experience you can have it for a few hundred US.  Or, for $100 or less a Roku or, if you have a tablet/phone to use as a browsing interface you can even go down to a $35 Chromecast in secondary areas.

[dados 0]

It would be nice to be able to get full WMC experience with anything else than XBOX extenders (I'm talking about native WMC extender with live tv and EPG) but I was my understanding the a Windows computer could not work as I WMC client. Is that incorrect?

[ebr 15346]

It would be nice to be able to get full WMC experience with anything else than XBOX extenders (I'm talking about native WMC extender with live tv and EPG) but I was my understanding the a Windows computer could not work as I WMC client. Is that incorrect?

 

I was suggesting building a relatively cheap HTPC which would have WMC on it.

[Macburp 110]

Thanks,

 

That clears up some things. I always thought that It had something to do with the codec setup on the server.

Because few months ago I had this issue and after updating MBC or MB Server or both I was able to pause/skip/resume the same video that would not before and now it's back like before. The thing is I just cannot remember when exactly or what video file it was.

 

Who on your team knows best about MBC on XBOX 360 ?

I'm curious to know more about playing video through MBC on XBOX 360.

Is there just one player available for XBOX 360 (build-in) ? What player ? Limitations ? 

Is it possible to "hack" XBOX 360 to use some other player?

Should XBOX 360 be able to play mkv's?

 

For SD, a 360 plays avi's without a problem. The majority of SD content out there is xvid, which is fine.

 

For HD, the 360 hates MKV. I installed the haali splitter before I could even get the MKV to play, and the quality was awful. So I re-encode to MP4, the results on my 50" LED are very good.

 

My extender is a bit unstable under MB3, but at least I can direct play all my media with it. I'm thinking about alternative solutions for it now, it is yesterday's tech after all.

[dados 0]

I was suggesting building a relatively cheap HTPC which would have WMC on it.

 

I think I understood, but in my situation I don't think It will work. I have a rather large WMC (TV/EPG) / MB3 (VIDEO) server that has 3 tv tuners and other stuff connected to it. That is the server. My 50-inch is connected to that server in the living room and one remote controls everything from there. Right now I'm extending that whole experience into my bedroom with XBOX 360. I don't think that a HTPC with WMC can replace my XBOX 360 in the bedroom. WMC cannot act as an extender for another WMC. Isn't that correct ? Maybe I'm just not excepting to not use WMC "extenders" as it is old tech

[SpiderValley 8]

I agree about the 360 and MKV files. It handles MP4, AVI, and WMV files wonderfully, but most others, especially MKV, cause trouble. For me personally they always skip like an HD youtube video on a dial-up connection or a scratched DVD.

Not an ideal solution but you can use a program to change containers from MKV to MP4 without transcoding in a fairly quick manner. (i.e. GotSent, MKVtoMP4, XenonMKV)

[Macburp 110]

I agree about the 360 and MKV files. It handles MP4, AVI, and WMV files wonderfully, but most others, especially MKV, cause trouble. For me personally they always skip like an HD youtube video on a dial-up connection or a scratched DVD.

 

Not an ideal solution but you can use a program to change containers from MKV to MP4 without transcoding in a fairly quick manner. (i.e. GotSent, MKVtoMP4, XenonMKV)

 

I use MKVtoMP4, it works well and is quick - 5 minutes to reencode an hours video.

[ebr 15346]

Okay, no, you cannot share tuners among WMC installations.

 

However, you could install ServerWMC and then use a Roku which does now support our Live TV interface.  Or, convert your containers as suggested by the others and continue to use your 360.

[DeeMac 17]

I think I understood, but in my situation I don't think It will work. I have a rather large WMC (TV/EPG) / MB3 (VIDEO) server that has 3 tv tuners and other stuff connected to it. That is the server. My 50-inch is connected to that server in the living room and one remote controls everything from there. Right now I'm extending that whole experience into my bedroom with XBOX 360. I don't think that a HTPC with WMC can replace my XBOX 360 in the bedroom. WMC cannot act as an extender for another WMC. Isn't that correct ? Maybe I'm just not excepting to not use WMC "extenders" as it is old tech

 

My Setup is pretty much the same, please see my signature.

I have setup multiple WMCs in my home as "extenders",  I simply setup each WMC and installed the HD Homerun tuners on each machine, therefore allowing each WMC to get livetv and a guide.

The recordings from the main WMC server is shared and each WMC "extender" adds the shared folder to its own recordings library.  This enables all recordings to be shared and luckily, FIOS does not have a copy once flag on the channels I record.  If you dont have a shareable tuner like ceton or hdhomerun, use ServewrWMC for livetv on other devices.  

 

I've come to the conclusion that I hate media containers.  MKV, AVI, MP-whatever, DVIX, XVID... blah blah blah.... Nothing is 100% perfect.... & the XB360 only supports a few.  See here h t t p://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb189661.aspx  &  h t t p://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/system/audio-video-playback.  So, I've decided to only use ISOs.  This provides menus, extra content, subtitles, different languages, and the ability to future rip to any format when necessary.  This also provides backup copies of my dvds.  I believe transcoding will allow you to push/pull ISOs to other devices such as the XB360.

 

Lastly, and more importantly, no manufacturer or format is more universal that the native DVD format... which means ISO is basically universally supported now and in the future.  As technology improves, and as other formats like h.323 and the like become more standard, DVDs will still be supported.  I believe sooner or later, BR disc ISOs will become my preferred format because of 4k resolutions that DVD cannot support.  Until then, get or upgrade to a decent machine that can transcode - and dont go cheap.  My setup cost was least $600... bought 2 years ago and is still going strong.  I even have vmware workstation running other VMs on my main WMC host server and cpu usage is rarely greater than 5% during normal usage.... I have yet to look at the usage when transcoding but transcoding ISOs to my xb360 works great.  

 

One day my xb360s will die, but the universality of the iso format will allow me to easily move away from WMC when/if necessary in 2020 when XB360 and/or Win7 support is dropped.

[dados 0]

Okay, no, you cannot share tuners among WMC installations.

 

However, you could install ServerWMC and then use a Roku which does now support our Live TV interface.  Or, convert your containers as suggested by the others and continue to use your 360.

 

Ok, ql. Is the Roku client the only one except from web client that supports live tv?

[Luke 38499]

Windows phone has it.

[dados 0]

My Setup is pretty much the same, please see my signature.

I have setup multiple WMCs in my home as "extenders",  I simply setup each WMC and installed the HD Homerun tuners on each machine, therefore allowing each WMC to get livetv and a guide.

The recordings from the main WMC server is shared and each WMC "extender" adds the shared folder to its own recordings library.  This enables all recordings to be shared and luckily, FIOS does not have a copy once flag on the channels I record.  If you dont have a shareable tuner like ceton or hdhomerun, use ServewrWMC for livetv on other devices.  

 

I've come to the conclusion that I hate media containers.  MKV, AVI, MP-whatever, DVIX, XVID... blah blah blah.... Nothing is 100% perfect.... & the XB360 only supports a few.  See here h t t p://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb189661.aspx  &  h t t p://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/system/audio-video-playback.  So, I've decided to only use ISOs.  This provides menus, extra content, subtitles, different languages, and the ability to future rip to any format when necessary.  This also provides backup copies of my dvds.  I believe transcoding will allow you to push/pull ISOs to other devices such as the XB360.

 

Lastly, and more importantly, no manufacturer or format is more universal that the native DVD format... which means ISO is basically universally supported now and in the future.  As technology improves, and as other formats like h.323 and the like become more standard, DVDs will still be supported.  I believe sooner or later, BR disc ISOs will become my preferred format because of 4k resolutions that DVD cannot support.  Until then, get or upgrade to a decent machine that can transcode - and dont go cheap.  My setup cost was least $600... bought 2 years ago and is still going strong.  I even have vmware workstation running other VMs on my main WMC host server and cpu usage is rarely greater than 5% during normal usage.... I have yet to look at the usage when transcoding but transcoding ISOs to my xb360 works great.  

 

One day my xb360s will die, but the universality of the iso format will allow me to easily move away from WMC when/if necessary in 2020 when XB360 and/or Win7 support is dropped.

I have one hauppauge SD tuner card connected to a set-top-box and two hauppauge colossus cards (HDMI input) connected to two satellite set-up-boxes aimed at different sats. I don't think they can be shared. So I guess my option is to go for the ServerWMC

[ebr 15346]

Space reserved for my real response

 

Nice to see ya BAS.  I hope recovery is going well.

[BAS 225]

Space reserved for my real response

[ab123ga 11]

@@dados. I have a main WMC and 3 extenders. I mainly did my investigation about what format to choose mainly b/c I used to be a heavy Plex user on Roku (that's how I started in this game) but wanted everything on the Xbox so concentrated on using MB Classic. After some extensive testing, I found what seems to me to be the perfect configuration to ensure good quality, no transcode on the xbox. I use UNC paths, MP4, Audio AAC and ensure the bits per second is no greater than 6.4M/s. The reason for the 6.4M/s is once I figured out the format that gave good quality, anything larger than this size would cause stuttering of the video even though I have a gigabit network. So after trial and error, worked to the the 6.6M/s bit rate.

 

I know many people question re-encoding to a lower format but it works for me. It was a pretty extensive process for me to re-encode all of my movies. I have over 1000 movies and all that were under 6.4M/s I used xmedia recode to change the format. Any above this number I used either handbrake or xmedia recode to bring it down. 

[Luke 38499]

@@dados

@@BAS

@@Macburp

@@DeeMac

 

We now have native Hauppauge support available for testing in the Emby Server beta: 

 

https://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/54560-32609-hauppauge-support/?hl=hauppauge

 

No plugin required. Thanks !