Media Centre Streaming to Xbox Question??

bazcaz

If I have a computer with mce 05 and a 360 connected up to my television,is it possible to stream video from the computer through the 360 to the tv with just an ethernet cable connecting the computer and the 360??

Basically I want to know if I can still stream video if I just have a direct connection between the 360 and the computer and no network setup?

Also there is no tv tuner on the computer I am thinking of putting mce onto so I know I wont be able to record tv programs with mce but will having no tv card hold me back from streaming videos like I describe above??

8T8

Yes you should be able to stream video to the Xbox 360 with a direct connection (no network hub) but you will probably need what's called a crossover ethernet cable most places that sell network cable should stock them. A crossover cable is used for when you are networking two PC's together without a network hub. I have read but not tried it out myself that the Xbox 360 does not require a crossover cable so the ethernet cable that shipped with the unit should suffice, easiest way is to try it out and see if it works.

The TV tuner is required for Live TV and recording TV shows so without that in your PC you wont have access to that part of the system. A tuner is not required for playback of video, pictures or music.

In order for the Xbox 360 to work as an extender you have to go to this web page and install some plug-ins (it's fairly straight forward I've done it myself) & once done you will be able to access the MCE interface of your PC though the Xbox 360 (assuming the network link is functional between the two).

A guide on Microsoft's site will walk you through the setup I would recommend taking a look at this section in particular.

Keep in mind the Xbox 360 MCE extender only supports certain types of video WMV, WMV HD, MPEG 1 & 2 it does not support MPEG-4 (like XviD) even if you have a decoder installed that allows playback through MCE on your PC.

In order to playback such content you have to use a plug-in like Transcode 360 that transcodes the video on the fly into wmv, there is some loss of quality of course but you may or may not notice that.

bazcaz

Cool so your fairly sure it should work with direct connection then and not necessarily require a network??

Thats great I was just wondering because I am thinking of getting a 360 and I wanted to be sure I wouldnt need access to a full network setup for the media centre functionality to be of use.

Thanks

SouperComputer

Cool so your fairly sure it should work with direct connection then and not necessarily require a network??

It will work alright. How good are you with TCP\IP?

You may need to use static IP's on the computer/XB360 for things to go smoothly.

8T8

What SouperComputer said, if you get stuck you can ask here anyway

bazcaz

what if the computer is not necessarily connected to the internet will it still work??

How might that work in terms of static IP's??

SouperComputer

internet connectivity is not needed. But you will still need to specify IP addresses so that that can commuicate with each other.

What is your current setup? Do you have a broadband modem?

bazcaz

Ya my current setup is fine for it I have a wireless network setup at home its a linksys wrt54g and have bt bband I am only wondering because I am going to be moving to rented accom in dublin in september.

Im not sure wat the setup will be regarding internet etc. there so just wanted to know if the media centre functionality would still be of use if I didnt have net access there.

Thanks for the help

SouperComputer

should be not problem without net access. Only issue I foresee is not being able to get programming updates.

8T8

Net access for MCE is only required for pulling down the EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) essentially the TV guide if you have a tuner in the system.

Also it would retrieve the meta-data for music CD's ripped to your library.

Bar that it doesn't have any other major purpose, the online spotlight in MCE cant be used outside North America though you can enable it with a tweak but the content personally is not all that great to begin with.

Though you will need some net access to install the Xbox 360 extender plug-in for MCE and you also need to have the MCE update rollup 2 installed as well before that.