Streaming video from PC to XBOX

First, it might not be necessary to stream if you transcode to WMV and it fits in 1GB: copy the movie you want to watch to a thumb drive and plug it in to the XBOX or burn onto CD or DVD. Any of those should work.This means you could put a number of WMVs on a single DVD and select them from the player.

Conversion to WMV: See happybeggar.com and this link:

http://happybeggar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=28

According to xbox.com you can install Windows Media Player 11 on an XP machine and stream video, not just pictures and audio, to an XBOX 360.

Get WMP11 at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11/default.aspx

When setup is complete, Windows Media Player should automatically start. If not, open it.

In Windows Media Player, click Library, Media Sharing.

Select Share my media, OK. Windows Media Player will search for devices on your network.

Click your console, then click Allow. If you want to apply more options, click Settings. When done, click OK.

On your Xbox 360 console, in the Media area of the Xbox Dashboard, select Music, Pictures, or Video, then select Computer.

Select Yes, continue, then select your PC.

The XBOX can only stream WMV files. So how to transcode?

Step One: Download VLC (official website). Exctract the folder to the root of your hard disc drive (usually "C:\")
Step Two: To make things even easier, Happy Beggar provides us with a supplemental batch file that optimizes transcoding (download here).
Step Three: Move/copy batch file into the folder where the videos you wish to transcode are contained
Step Four: Drag and drop a video file onto the batch file
Set up a PC folder for sharing using Media Player 11, put the WMVs into that folder, and voila.

This page was last edited April 26, 2008.