Streaming to the 360

[Zeus]

OK, I never bothered updating to SP2 'cause I know it screws up your Winblows if it's not a real version. But now, I have the option of streaming video from my PC to my 360. This is highly useful to me as my router has both my 360 and PC on it. If I can watch stuff from my PC on my comp through the 360, it's awesome. So, the questions I have for you are:

1) How do I update to SP2? I know there's a process but I can't seem to find it.

2) Has anyone tried streaming from the PC to the 360? How does it work exactly? Does it have to be a certain format? Or do you just queue up a file in the Zuma program and it simply streams to the 360? If it's the latter, it's worth it for me to upgrade. If it has to be a specific format, it's not. All the stuff I have is Xvid and I somehow doubt the 360 would support that.

[Kupek]

If you don't have a legit copy of XP, you probably won't be able to upgrade to SP2. I tried many times on my old computer. Any product key you're able to find, the developers at MS are probably able to find as well.

[kali o.]

Meh - I updated back when my Windows copy wasn't legit. So it was possible (at least with the copy I was using at the time)...I have no idea how to do it now though (especially with all the recent changes to MS's updating system), as I scammed my way into a legit key after I formatted recently (via a call into MS).

So in other words, I'm no help other than to say it's probably still possible.

But as for the streaming, it is so-so. Here's why:

If you aren't running a Media Center PC (or Vista maybe) the only file format that will be supported (atm) for streaming is WMV. Now, assuming all your downloaded eps are AVI (probably), it's not that big of a deal since WinAVI converts them reliably and relatively quickly...still a minor pain in the ass. If you have a bunch of mpeg's, mov's, anything with an odd codec or whatever else, good luck converting it.

[kali o.]

Oh yeah, so when I updated my non-legit copy of XP, I ran a prog that scanned my PC to generate a few legit codes (some worked, some didn't), then I had to activate via a secondary prog that faked on "over the phone" code. I wish I still had the stuff, but I don't - but I do remember that's basically how I had to do it.

For the streaming stuff, I've converted all my Family Guy, South Park and House Eps. They all work great. My only complaint is that the 360 streaming system is pretty basic. For instance, it doesn't let you queue up multiple files to play back. WinAVI helps here since it can output multiple video's into one file (so, for instance, every southpark WMV I have is actually a compilation of 5 eps, Fast Forward in the 360 interface skips to the next ep within the WMV file).

All in all, pretty handy.

[Tessian]

wtf are you guys talking about? It's easy as pie... At the least you can easily download a Windows XP SP2 CD and just upgrade.

At the most you get a cracked copy of SP2 and install that...it's not rocket science people

[Blotus]

Seek you a program called Transcode 360, Zeus. It'll convert your AVIs to WMVs on the fly... if you have Media Center. If not, go with Kali's suggestion of WinAVI. Media Center still will only play WMVs (and MPEGs, I think) at this time.

[Zeus]

That blows, man. I HAVE to have it in WMV format? My computer is 6 1/2 years old, so I don't think it's going to be able to do on-the-fly. But, even if I get a new comp, which I'm thinking of, and I get Media Centre instead of XP, it'll only play WMV and MPEG? What's the benefit of me switching to Media Centre if it don't play .avi? 95% of what we watch on the comp is in that format. I might as well stick to XP and convert on the fly to the 360 if that's what I want.

I was just hoping I could use the PC-to-360 connectivity to watch the stuff on my HD on my TV without converting. Until I get a new comp with more power and more HD space (only have 52 GB right now, so I can't really afford to convert a ton of stuff), it's just too much of a hassle.

[kali o.]

I recently discovered this:

http://www.tversity.com/

For zeus, this ain't too helpful because it's a resource HOG and would probably cause his PC to implode...but everyone else should check it out. I now have pretty much everything streaming to my 360. It's pretty badass.

Note: I had some trouble setting it up - seems Norton Worm Protection was the culprit. If anyone knows what options I need to configure to prevent that (rather than just disabling), I'd appreciate it.

[Zeus]

When I get my new comp in a month, this will be the best, thanks

[Oracle]

If you have a non-legit copy of windows and want to update it, try this:

MuBlinder: http://www.p2plife.com/forums/Official_ ... -t320.html

It is an excellent program and I've never had an issue with it working. Let it be known that I haven't tried it on a pre-SP2 machine, though.