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Xbox 360 extender issues

post #1 of 11
9/28/12 at 1:27pm
Thread Starter 
I built my first HTPC a few weeks ago using Assassin's awesome guides. The thing works almost flawlessly and I am extremely happy with it. The only problem I have been having is getting MKV's to stream to my Xbox 360. I've done some research online and this topic comes up quite a bit, but the latest posts I have read state that running the latest Shark007 codec (which I am) allows you to stream MKV's to the Xbox using the WMC extender. I am using media browser as my front end and this seems to run kind of slow on the Xbox. I also can't get any of the blu ray rips in MKV format to run properly through it even though using the Shark007 codec should be capable. DVD MKV rips seem to work fine. If I change the bluray MKV over to a M2TS file it works fine as long as I use PS3muxer to do this. But I would prefer not to have to change all of my MKV files over to M2TS files because it would take quite some time and the M2TS files use more space.

I have the Shark007 codec set to what Shark recommends for Xbox streaming. Ie. (Disable Divx foundation is unchecked under MKV tab, and subtitles are turned off on the first tab). Also I am not pulling subtitles in when I rip my MKV's using MakeMKV.

Some of the movies will start, but be completely stuttery and unwatchable. Others will play the video fine, but the audio sounds like it is running at 10x speed. Other still won't start at all.

Any ideas?
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post #2 of 11
9/28/12 at 2:08pm
What bitrate are your blu-ray MKVs? 15-20Mbit is around the most I could push to the xbox (sometimes higher, but rare exceptions). Though what helped me most was having a gigabit switch that supports flowcontrol (hp 1810g-24); have you tried configuring this on your htpc NIC?

When you create your MKVs, make sure you have header-compresson set to "none" for each of the tracks (don't leave it blank) - this was a source of issue when I first started mkvs with the xbox as well.

Are you running Win 7 64bit or 32bit? If 64bit, make sure you unchceked Disable DIVX Foundation in the 64bit shark007 app, not the 32bit. (side note - I find that label combined with the checkbox unnecessarily confusing).

If you're still having issues, you may want to post in Shark's forum - he's pretty good at answering questions.
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post #3 of 11
9/28/12 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by natedogg661 View Post

I built my first HTPC a few weeks ago using Assassin's awesome guides. The thing works almost flawlessly and I am extremely happy with it. The only problem I have been having is getting MKV's to stream to my Xbox 360. I've done some research online and this topic comes up quite a bit, but the latest posts I have read state that running the latest Shark007 codec (which I am) allows you to stream MKV's to the Xbox using the WMC extender. I am using media browser as my front end and this seems to run kind of slow on the Xbox. I also can't get any of the blu ray rips in MKV format to run properly through it even though using the Shark007 codec should be capable. DVD MKV rips seem to work fine. If I change the bluray MKV over to a M2TS file it works fine as long as I use PS3muxer to do this. But I would prefer not to have to change all of my MKV files over to M2TS files because it would take quite some time and the M2TS files use more space.
I have the Shark007 codec set to what Shark recommends for Xbox streaming. Ie. (Disable Divx foundation is unchecked under MKV tab, and subtitles are turned off on the first tab). Also I am not pulling subtitles in when I rip my MKV's using MakeMKV.
Some of the movies will start, but be completely stuttery and unwatchable. Others will play the video fine, but the audio sounds like it is running at 10x speed. Other still won't start at all.
Any ideas?

I gave up on using MKVs on the 360, and just converted everything to M2TS with ps3muxer. I did have issues with some higher-bitrate movies not playing back smoothly, and finally gave in and transcoded the worst offenders to 18Mbit. It's not the ideal solution, but it works.
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post #4 of 11
9/28/12 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the ideas guys. I'll give them a try an let you know how it goes.
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post #5 of 11
9/29/12 at 6:45pm
The option you are following is causing (by design) the HTPC to pass the video to the Xbox to decode. The Xbox cannot handle decoding 1080p h.264 more than about 10mbps per MS. It just isn't meant to handle bluray. We may finally have our extender answer with the Ceton Echo, which is supposed to come out this fall. Details still aren't out yet, though.
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post #6 of 11
10/10/12 at 11:41am
Got a question for you guys using Xbox as an extender. I was wondering if there was any way to maximize the GUI on the xbox. On my PC, the guide and all the screens have a lot less wasted space around the edges. On the xbox, it's as if the whole GUI is shrunken a little, with more blue space around the edges. The video if full screen on both systems. It's the GUI that's sized better on the PC. I'm 1 to 1 pixel mapped on the PC with no overscan, so nothing is cut off. So I'm not talking about black bars or cropping or anything like that. The GUI is full screen on both. It's just that there is less wasted space on the PC.Does that make sense?
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post #7 of 11
10/10/12 at 12:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tgrinch View Post

Are you running Win 7 64bit or 32bit? If 64bit, make sure you unchceked Disable DIVX Foundation in the 64bit shark007 app, not the 32bit. (side note - I find that label combined with the checkbox unnecessarily confusing).
If you're still having issues, you may want to post in Shark's forum - he's pretty good at answering questions.

Funny I have no problems watching my 1080 mkv's on my xbox, besides some buffering issues sometimes (sure wish the xbox had gigabit card) and I have that box checked on my shark settings. I am going to uncheck it just to see what happens. Probably will mess up live tv.
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post #8 of 11
10/10/12 at 2:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdavej View Post

Got a question for you guys using Xbox as an extender. I was wondering if there was any way to maximize the GUI on the xbox. On my PC, the guide and all the screens have a lot less wasted space around the edges. On the xbox, it's as if the whole GUI is shrunken a little, with more blue space around the edges. The video if full screen on both systems. It's the GUI that's sized better on the PC. I'm 1 to 1 pixel mapped on the PC with no overscan, so nothing is cut off. So I'm not talking about black bars or cropping or anything like that. The GUI is full screen on both. It's just that there is less wasted space on the PC.Does that make sense?

This should help: http://community.mediabrowser.tv/permalinks/7529/how-do-i-fix-the-blue-borders-on-an-extender
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post #9 of 11
10/10/12 at 5:48pm
Awesome! That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

(Sorry, didn't mean to thread-jack Natedogg. I'm done now).
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post #10 of 11
12/6/12 at 6:28am
I'm having the exact same problems as the OP. Did you figure anything out?
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post #11 of 11
12/6/12 at 7:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rec head View Post

I'm having the exact same problems as the OP. Did you figure anything out?

its a simple matter that the Xbox 360, especially in WMC mode, is a lousy media player.

the 360 has a very low maximum bitrate for mkv video. Anything about that, and Windows Media Connect will chime in and attempt to transcode it into something playable. If you're getting a stuttering pixelated mess and notice your CPU at 100% this is whats happeneing.

the curious thing is that the maximum bitrate changes by container and by video codec used. wtv has the highest max which I guess makes sense because of the bitrates used by digital cable providers.

the 360 can play hd-dvd discs just fine. but once you remux them into another container and try using windows media center instead of the hd-dvd application, they are a mess.
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