Wireless stream HD video to Xbox?
Discussion
I've seen this mentioned a few times now, and I am very interested in getting the whole Forza 2 thing going...
If I buy an X-box, can I use it to stream downloaded video content (mostly HD stuff) from my PC upstairs to the big screen downstairs? Do I need to use an ethernet cable? Does the Xbox come with all the stuff I need to do this or are there extra bits I need to buy? Will I need a "luxury spec" Xbox with hard drive etc to do this or will the poverty-spec one work?
I know nothing about wireless ethernet rout switcher internet things, and would like to keep it that way . . .
If I buy an X-box, can I use it to stream downloaded video content (mostly HD stuff) from my PC upstairs to the big screen downstairs? Do I need to use an ethernet cable? Does the Xbox come with all the stuff I need to do this or are there extra bits I need to buy? Will I need a "luxury spec" Xbox with hard drive etc to do this or will the poverty-spec one work?
I know nothing about wireless ethernet rout switcher internet things, and would like to keep it that way . . .
Firstly an xbox 1 will really struggle to play any decent HD stuff.
If you mean the 360, then this will do it no problem, but it will only play windows media video (wmv) files, so to play any divx/xvid youll need to use some software that uses the host PC to convert the movie on the fly and then stream it to the 360 in wmv format (transcode 360 etc.)
For HD stuff youll need a fast-ish PC to encode the file on the fly fast enough so that it plays smoothly on the 360.
You can set up transcode so that it sends the stream at a specific bit rate, so i suppose you could lower this until it works fine over the wireless network, but youll lose loads of quality which then defeats the whole point of a HD stream really. And even with an excellent wireless connection youll be lucky to sustain a 1Mb/sec stream, which equates to slightly better than DVD quality.
Another vote for cable here.
Mark
If you mean the 360, then this will do it no problem, but it will only play windows media video (wmv) files, so to play any divx/xvid youll need to use some software that uses the host PC to convert the movie on the fly and then stream it to the 360 in wmv format (transcode 360 etc.)
For HD stuff youll need a fast-ish PC to encode the file on the fly fast enough so that it plays smoothly on the 360.
You can set up transcode so that it sends the stream at a specific bit rate, so i suppose you could lower this until it works fine over the wireless network, but youll lose loads of quality which then defeats the whole point of a HD stream really. And even with an excellent wireless connection youll be lucky to sustain a 1Mb/sec stream, which equates to slightly better than DVD quality.
Another vote for cable here.
Mark
I have a "premium" 360, not a core. Apparently it will stream h.264 over wireless since the last update. Not tried it, but I have no problems with wmv at 1280x720 with a bit rate >2500kbps.
FWIW, transcoder-wise, I use Apex Video Converter Super and Encode 360 depending on the weather, or something.
FWIW, transcoder-wise, I use Apex Video Converter Super and Encode 360 depending on the weather, or something.
Edited by Mekon on Friday 15th June 21:08
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