ok, this is a very very basic question but I've searched xbox.com, google, and now these forums for a clear answer and I just get conflicting information.

Does the 360 have a 10/100 or 10/100/1000 ethernet port?

What is the best networking setup to stream HD? What I was planning on doing was using my dlink DI-655 wireless-n with gigabit ethernet ports attached to a NAS external SATA II hard drive by gigabit ethernet. However, if the 360's only got a 10/100 ethernet port then that kind of defeats the purpose of the other gigabit equipment. Can anyone confirm the spec?

Assuming the 360 does not have a gigabit ethernet port on it then are there USB2.0 devices I could use to connect the 360 to my router for 480mbps streaming? Wired or wireless? I'd prefer wired since my 360 is beside my router.

Thanks in advance for any advice : )

10/100 unless they snuck 10/100/1000 in the new ones.

I have successfully streamed 1080p 23515kbps video w/ 243kbps audio shows from my 10/100 laptop (w/vista premium) using Belkin N1 (10/100) to my new Arcade xbox via ethernet.

zero macroblocking, or freezing/frames dropped
wireless worked for about 40 seconds and then froze.

you can also use USB external hard drive formated in either FAT32 or HFS+.
Fat32 restricts files to be less than 4GB though.

Does anyone know the best method to format ext HDD in HFS+ and read/write to HDD from a Windows PC.

GParted (linux) doesn't really support it. Macdrive only works for 7 days and then you must purchase.

All I have found is HFSexplorer and that is to read ( and I think write) but not format.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing now but I want to switch to a NAS because I have more than 1 360 and I want a centralized store of my media files. Too bad about the 10/100 but thanks for the info.

Is there a gigabit ethernet to USB cable converter that would work. So, gigabit ethernet NAS to 360 USB2.0 port should be 480mbps right? Is there such a thing?

I am curious what content you guys have at 23515kbps? Are these .ts or some other mpeg 2 format?

no, no, not me anyway. It's just I'm upgrading my equipment now for the future - HD media streaming, IPTV, etc. I want to basically get the biggest pipes possible today even though I know it's overkill for what's currently possible with the 360's media playback. The main concern is smooth streaming. Mostly I have .avi's and some HD .wmv's right now.

Ok, looks like your question was answered so I hope I'm not derailing, but I just built a new pc and want to know the best way to rip/stream dvds through the 360. My main concern is maintaining high video quality, so is it best to rip to a folder and use something like tversity?

People knock WMV9 as not being as 'good' as divx, but WMV9 streamed very well with WMP11 and TVersity before divx was supported, and will likely still be supported if some contract dispute removes divx down the line.

I'm not sure you can preserve 5.1 surround, as I only know of converters that make WMV9 with plain stereo, but I'd consider ripping to WMV9 if I were you...

People knock WMV9 as not being as 'good' as divx, but WMV9 streamed very well with WMP11 and TVersity before divx was supported, and will likely still be supported if some contract dispute removes divx down the line.

I'm not sure you can preserve 5.1 surround, as I only know of converters that make WMV9 with plain stereo, but I'd consider ripping to WMV9 if I were you...


Ya WMV9 = VC1 = HDDVD/Bluray So id say its pretty good.

from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/vc1techoverview.aspx
"The Windows Media Video 9 codec is functionally equivalent to VC-1; it is the Microsoft implementation of the VC-1 standard."

I'm not sure you can preserve 5.1 surround, as I only know of converters that make WMV9 with plain stereo, but I'd consider ripping to WMV9 if I were you...

You can preserve 5.1 surround. The easiest method I have seen so far is using DVD-WMV. It is an adventure however so be prepared. If you don't require 5.1 surround it does become an easier conversion by far.

I encoded 1000 places to see tv show I found that was 1080P. It originally was .mkv h.264 based.

I used Encode 360 RC2 to do it. I used WVC1 settings ( highest settings) with quality based VBR 1 pass. Video anywhere from 93-98% and audio @ 90-98%. Files sizes are larger than original but don't really care as I have hdd space.

I believe encode 360 supports 5.1. It has an option to downsample to 2ch if you want.

I only tried one 5.1 video, but haven't watched it yet.