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Eug · May 9, 2007, 10:17 PM

I knew the Xbox 360 was going to support H.264, but I thought it would only be with ASF and MP4 files.

However, to my surprise, the 2007 Spring Dashboard Update also adds QuickTime .MOV support.

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. See question number 6 for more information.
· Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)
· Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 6 for more information.

I tried several of the Apple QT HD H.264 trailers, and they play fine on the Xbox 360 now. They look awesome too.

I now will have no reason to get an AppleTV, especially once Nullriver updates Connect360 to enable QuickTime streaming to the 360.

Sure I can't buy AppleTV content with the 360, but I can't with AppleTV anyway, cuz I live in Canada. Furthermore, AppleTV can't even play 1080p HD.

analogue SPRINKLES · May 9, 2007, 10:25 PM

Not me. You?

smacintush · May 9, 2007, 10:31 PM

That's cool. I liked the IDEA of using my 360 to play videos but WMV only made it almost useless for me.

Eug · May 9, 2007, 10:39 PM

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES

Not me. You?

I was considering AppleTV, at least once it got 1080p support. However, now I have little need for one. I don't have much DRM'd content, since I encode 99.9% of my music myself and because video content for AppleTV is unavailable in Canada. So, AppleTV is not all that attractive for us here.

Originally Posted by smacintush

That's cool. I liked the IDEA of using my 360 to play videos but WMV only made it almost useless for me.

Yeah, WMV was useless. However, MS put up a thread at Doom9 asking what people wanted. People said H.264, MPEG4, and DivX (MPEG4 Pt2 ASP), among other things.

We got H.264 and MPEG4, but no DivX. That's fine with me.

mduell · May 9, 2007, 10:41 PM

Same thing Apple TV has always been useful for... iTMS appliance.

Eug · May 9, 2007, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

Same thing Apple TV has always been useful for... iTMS appliance.

Yeah. iTMS appliance but not iTunes appliance.

ie.

It's kinda pointless for many of us iTunes users outside the US, and for those of us who like using 1080p clips.

Stogieman · 01:17 AM

Hey Eug, how much HD content can you store on the 360 hard drive? Does it support 802.11n? I don't have any ethernet cables running in my living room. How well do you think it would stream 1080p content wirelessly?

Originally Posted by Eug

I now will have no reason to get an AppleTV, especially once Nullriver updates Connect360 to enable QuickTime streaming to the 360.

Good luck with that, I've been waiting almost 2 years for Nullriver to update PSPware to support H.264 encoding. They seem to have abandon it.

analogue SPRINKLES · May 10, 2007, 01:14 AM

Originally Posted by Stogieman

Hey Eug, how much HD content can you store on the 360 hard drive? Does it support 802.11n? I don't have any ethernet cables running in my living room. How well do you think it would stream 1080p content over a wireless connection?

On the non-elite XBOX you can only store very very little as it is only a 20 gig drive. A few demo's and video's and the thing is totally full.

ajprice · May 10, 2007, 04:46 AM

Well I wouldn't use either at the moment, the Apple TV, as is said above, is an iTunes Store viewer, and the 360 is just too damn loud.

Adam Betts · May 10, 2007, 09:59 AM

I have an Apple TV and it's considered as a toy to me right now. While it's got nice interface, it has lot of flaws in how it works. One thing I dislike greatly is how Apple TV seem to randomly save files in hard drive while streaming other files directly from my computer. There's no clear way of telling if it will download the files to hard drive.

Not a worthy purchase now and even more so with recent update to Xbox 360. That might will change as they're working on a major software update for Apple TV to tie in with Leopard.

Eug · 10:36 AM

One advantage of AppleTV: It supports playback of QT trailers and videos with 5.1 AAC files. The Xbox 360 does not. It only supports QT files with 2.0 AAC files.

It's kinda moot though, since AppleTV won't play 1080p anyway.

Originally Posted by Stogieman

Hey Eug, how much HD content can you store on the 360 hard drive? Does it support 802.11n? I don't have any ethernet cables running in my living room. How well do you think it would stream 1080p content wirelessly?

The 360 wireless does not support 802.11n, presumably because it's still draft. It supports 802.11a, but my router doesn't support 802.11a. I did manage to stream some HD WMV stuff with my old router using 802.11g, but I haven't tried with my current router (also using 802.11g). It only seemed to work well when there was little interference. During the day when nobody was around it worked, but in the evening after work I got stuttering. (I live in an area with about 20 visible wireless networks.) Once Connect360 is back up and running, I'll try it again with my new router, cuz it seems it may be a bit stronger than my old one.

Good luck with that, I've been waiting almost 2 years for Nullriver to update PSPware to support H.264 encoding. They seem to have abandon it.

Dunno about PSPware, but they've been pretty good with Connect360 updates.

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES

On the non-elite XBOX you can only store very very little as it is only a 20 gig drive. A few demo's and video's and the thing is totally full.

I don't generally keep the demos around very long. As for videos, I keep a few, and then download the rest and just burn them to DVD.

I think for me a bigger drive would have been a bonus, but I don't really care all that much, as I stream all my music, and most of my videos are burned to DVD.

Originally Posted by Adam Betts

I have an Apple TV and it's considered as a toy to me right now. While it's got nice interface, it has lot of flaws in how it works. One thing I dislike greatly is how Apple TV seem to randomly save files in hard drive while streaming other files directly from my computer. There's no clear way of telling if it will download the files to hard drive.

Not a worthy purchase now and even more so with recent update to Xbox 360. That might will change as they're working on a major software update for Apple TV to tie in with Leopard.

Yeah, I do wonder if Leopard + AppleTV will mean something cool, but right now I'm just not overwhelmed with AppleTV, esp. since I'm in Canada where there is essentially no downloadable AppleTV video content.

ink · May 10, 2007, 10:32 AM

Can the 360 play MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX)? If so, I may just have to pick one up...

Laminar · May 10, 2007, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by Eug

We got H.264 and MPEG4, but no DivX. That's fine with me.

Originally Posted by ink

Can the 360 play MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX)? If so, I may just have to pick one up...

Am I missing something?

analogue SPRINKLES · May 10, 2007, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by ajprice

Well I wouldn't use either at the moment, the Apple TV, as is said above, is an iTunes Store viewer, and the 360 is just too damn loud.

The 360 is only loud when spinning a 360 game disk. Anything else and it is pretty damn silent.

Eug · May 10, 2007, 10:52 AM

Originally Posted by Eug

We got H.264 and MPEG4, but no DivX. That's fine with me.

Originally Posted by ink

Can the 360 play MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX)? If so, I may just have to pick one up...

Originally Posted by Laminar

Am I missing something?

Nope.

The 360 does not support MPEG4 Pt2 ASP, which is what most DivX/XviD files are.
It doesn't support the .AVI container either, which is what most DivX/XviD files come as.
And finally, AC3 5.1 audio in MPEG4 which a lot of DivX AVI files use, is also not supported.

Anyways, that doesn't bug me either, as I have a US$40 DVD player that plays DivX/XviD just fine (at least up to 480p) if I ever need it.

Laminar · May 10, 2007, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES

The 360 is only loud when spinning a 360 game disk. Anything else and it is pretty damn silent.

Wait...is SWG defending the 360?

Eug · May 10, 2007, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Wait...is SWG defending the 360?

Well, he does have one, and before he got his PS3 he often gushed when talking about the 360.

Kenneth · May 10, 2007, 02:53 PM

I was pretty impress with Connect360 when I was still a Xbox 360 owner. I remember that when the Xbox 360 was on, it did generate a quite annoying fan noise.

I'm not in the market for tv tho.

How about the ease of use? Does the Xbox 360 come bundle with the 40+ keys Universal Media Remote? The text on the Xbox 360 UI is a bit small compares to the tv IMHO.

analogue SPRINKLES · May 10, 2007, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

Wait...is SWG defending the 360?

Huh, when do I bash it?

All I ever said the hardware is mostly junkie but everything else about it makes it the best GAME machine on the market now.

Laminar · May 10, 2007, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES

Huh, when do I bash it?

I can't think or any particular time...

All I ever said the hardware is mostly junkie

analogue SPRINKLES · May 10, 2007, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Laminar

I can't think or any particular time...

This is all I don't like about the XBox 360. None are deal breakers as I got it on day 1.

1) Erxtremely high rate of failure.
2) Retarded, huge assed power supply.
3) Loud as hell DVD drive
4) Xbox Live costs money
5) Hard drive not standard, nor HDMI
6) "next Gen" system with only DVD player unless you pay for it.
7) No wiFi in any model
8) Proprietary wireless so no bluetooth headsets or wireless keyboards etc.
9) Only system with no web browser

It might sound like a lot but like I said none of those things would make me skip it entirely. Not to mention I can say 20 good things about it.