Video conversion for Xbox 360

[SilverStrike]

Okay, so I have a TV with my Xbox hooked up to it.
I have a ton of videos on my PC. Of varying things, like mp4, wmv, avi, mkv, etc.
Except that Xbox is REALLY picky about what format it will even admit exists, let alone actually play.
I've two methods of getting it to the Xbox. External in FAT32 format, or Windows Media Center streaming from PC. But there are videos that neither method works for. So I gotta convert them to specific types that work.

But with what? And how? I've got VLC, and that -can- do it.. once you find the right setting.. One at a time. I have over 200GB worth of videos. I'd rather not convert each one individually.

I tried googling, but all I find is freeware of an indeterminate reliability. I tried one, Videora, stay away. It fucks up your registry for Windows navigation and was a ***** for me.

At the end of the day, all I wanna do is watch stuff on my big TV when I'm in bed. And I only have an Xbox on my TV.

What do?

 

[Frezzato]

snip

I've never tried streaming to my 360, mostly because I refuse to pay for the wireless adapter. According to this site [http://www.wondershare.com/convert-video-audio/play-videos-on-xbox-360.html], these are the formats supported:

Formats:
AVI
H.264
MPEG-4 part 2
Quicktime
WMV

Extensions:
AVI
Divx
M4v
Mov
Mp4
Mp4v
Wmv

I've heard of people using scripting [http://www.hanselman.com/blog/BatchConvertingADirectoryTreeOfVideosRecursivelyWithHandbrakeForStreamingToAnXbox360.aspx] to do things in batches. Maybe that's your best bet. Here's a quote from that site from a user regarding Handbrake:

Handbrake is the bomb, but I hate it when you spend literally 2 or 3 days encoding a hi-def video only to find accidentally messed up a parameter and the resultant video isn't compatible with your media setup (PS3 in my case). Also, the UI is bug-ridden and can cause no end of pain when you think you're encoding with one set of parameters only to find those parameters weren't correctly passed onto the command line.

 

[SilverStrike]

It's only streaming because they're on the same network, wired. Just hooked my Xbox up to the switch, it was how it got net anyway.

Also, I'm familiar with what formats etc the Xbox can handle. Except that it's not quite so black and white. Avi, for example, is only supported if it's a particular resolution, so HD shit won't work. Or -specific- types of MPEG-4. It's very much on the variation, hence me not being able to just change everything to avi and be done with it. Not that I could.

Also, thanks, but the prospect of spending days working with parameters and coding is not something I could do. Not only might I as well spend that time doing each one individually in VLC, I'd fuck it up. I know hardware and Windows, not media and video parameters.

Thanks, though!

 

[SnowyGamester]

I suggest downloading the Total Video Converter [http://www.effectmatrix.com/total-video-converter] trial and using that. It can convert a bunch of videos at once, supports a wide variety of formats and is free for 15 days which should give you plenty of time to sort out your backlog. It's just a matter of working out the ideal format to convert everything to.

 

[OliverB]

Xbox 360 reads mp4, wmv well.
As for solution,I prefer AppGeeker WMV MP4 converter [http://www.appgeeker.com/how-to/convert-wmv-to-mp4-mac.html] for re-encoding videos, it's easy to use and availalble for both Windows, OSX.
It has a bundle of options for you to convert videos for Xbox 360. and supports batch process.
Anyway, it is worth a try, tell me how it goes.

Sam