So Window Media Center has it all over the Mac for its robust support of a number of movie file formats and for playback and streaming through an Extender (i.e. Xbox 360)...cool.

So, why is it that support for MPEG-4/H.264/AVC seems to be lagging. Is it because its a competitive codec to Microsoft's own VC-1 or what? Well, no matter the reason, I want the ability to stream H.264 .TS files (a growing collection is gathering on an external HDD) to my Xbox, dammit, and I'm not taking no for an answer. It'd also be great if there was a fast, efficient and cheap way to transcode such to MPEG-2 .TS so that these files can get archived to D-VHS, but it seems that MPEG-4/H.264 support is rare out there in cheap transcoder app-land.

The only murmur I've heard on the streaming end is TVersity, but I'm not sure if that works w/ .TS files or not, or how it would work w/ an external HD-based library.

Any info/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

BTW--before calling this OT for this forum (HDTV recorders), know that this, while an MCE question, is also an inquiry into a bridge solution between R5000-HD recording and D-VHS archiving, so I figure its pretty valid for this part of AVS.

The Extenders currently receive the MPEG2 encoded TV files from Media Center on the host. And the current extenders have a builit in hardware MPEG2 decoder chip which prevents any possible chages using software or firmware.

Give it some time. We finally found an exploit last week which will allow developers to write homebrew code for the 360. Eventually you will get players similar to XBMC ported to the 360 and be able to play whatever you want. Currently the exploit only works on firmware from 2006 so don't update if you care more about video than playing the latest games. I suspect that eventually exploits will be found for newer firmware as well.

An IPTV STB, such as http://www.aminocom.com/products/ipstb/aminet131.html supports streaming AVC/H264, as well as MPEG2TS etc over IP.

A server for that, and one of these boxes, and there's no need to waste money on a CONSOLE DESIGNED TO PLAY GAMES. (Not to mention breaking DMCA/etc while 'modding' it to play homebrew).

I own the 360 and use it for games (of course), but also its media capabilities, including movie downloads, HD-DVD playback, music serving, and...I wish to use it for .TS stream playback (until that day when I have a dedicated HTPC in my main home theater rack).

I don't see it as wasted money...it performs extremely well at a fraction the cost of all the seperate components necessary to do all that I do with it. A solid value, imho.