The UK HD-DVD Firesales Begin.

First of all, Happy St. Patricks Day (Thanks for the Heads up Emma :D)-

Anybody who has a HD-DVD player will know that USA sites that sell HD-DVDs as well as Oz sites have been selling HD-DVD stuff at next to nothing prices. Well, while maybe not as low priced (for the moment) the UK has at last started to sell HD-DVDs from around £6.

Play has a 3 for £20 offer on, Amazon UK are selling discs like 'The Thing' for £6.97, Van Helsing for £5.97 and many many more so it's worth having a look if you have a player and are looking to add a few more HD discs before they are gone for good (bar ebay off course).

These movies will be on Blu-Ray before you know it, but they will not be at these prices for a very long time. I'm sure as more time passes the UK HD discs will drop to about £3-5 each and maybe less just to clear stock.

I've ordered a few from the US already like 'Feast' for £5.99 from Movietyme simply because you can't get the movies I ordered here in the UK, even on DVD. I've set my HD-DVD spending limit for UK discs at £4 a disc so anything more and it's no sale.

HD-DVD SINGS MY WAY

And now, the end is near; And so I face the final curtain...

So it was always the under-dog but HD-DVD has gave up the fight at long last. To tell the truth I'm surpirsed it lasted as long as it did, with very little studio backing it still managed to give us some great titles and In my opinion it was the best of the 2 formats (the other off course being Blu-Ray)

I was never a fan of Blu-Ray right from the off, I hate the name for a start, sure the discs were big and beefy but firmware problems, rubbish java and old school codecs made Blu-ray seem less than great.

HD-DVD on the other hand had a great name, it was High Def but it was also DVD, simple for even my gran to understand. The video codec was better and the extras were far better with pic in pic from the get-go and most important EVERY disc was region freee. Boo ya!

HD-DVD also cost far less to buy a player, I got my HD-DVD player for the xbox 360 for just over £110 with a free copy of King Kong, stunning picture quality and still one of the best HD discs I've seen on either format.

I'm sad to see HD-DVD lose because now Sony will up the price of both the players and the discs as competition will be non existent (until we have digital downloads that are quick and easy to get that is). There's also the fact that Blu-Ray just is not 100% ready yet, so unless you have a PS3 you might end up with discs that don't work when you get them home, also pretty much no region free. sure there's more than a few discs out there that ARE region free but not all like HD-DVD and as time goes by there will be less and less of those I bet.

I have very few HD-DVDs (over a year I've been buying HD), I did not want to invest in many because let's be honest, It never had a chance in hell of winning, but hey? It put up a pretty good fight and It gave me enough of a taste of stunning HD movies to keep me going for the next few years until everything settles down.

HD-DVD, you ill be missed..RIP

HD-DVD discs I have are -

Heroes season 1

Troy

Transformers (wow, amazing pic quality)

Mission impossible trilogy (this cost me £1..yep you read that correct, £1 :D)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Serenity (one of my fave movies and looks stunning in HD)

King Kong.

A long way off my 1200+ dvds and I'll stick with DVD for a long time to come.

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!

Yep, I'm back!!!! Wooohooo right???

Feb the 15th already, how time flies when you're having fun. So this post is a bit of a catchup kinda of post and nothing more for now, I'm back for good though so I'll be posting stuff much more often again.

So why the long break? Well Dec and Jan were all about Christmas, you have the big build up and then the aftermath of it. I spent a lot of my free time over Christmas on the Xbox 360 playing amazing games like Call of Duty 4. Call of Duty 4 is probably one of the best 360 games I had played to date. amazing single and multi player, almost perfect in every way.

After my long gaming spell and eating spell (ah the joys over excess at Christmas) I've spent the past 4 weeks getting back into shape and I must say I'm feeling great, I think I'm more fit than I ever was as I've put myself through a strict exercise regime, part of this has mean no Xbox 360 and pretty much no PC for a while hence the lack of posts on this blog.

I've been getting right into my Photography hobby and it's more than taken over my love for gaming, in fact I've been thinking of selling all my gaming stuff and probably would have if it were not for GTA 4 (pre-ordered) and Fallout this year. Those 2 games are going to be the reason I keep my 360, that and the fact I have 2 years left on my 360 warranty. My passion for the 360 though has died to such a low though that I've not even thought about it for those 4 weeks. so you could say I'm semi retired from gaming as of now.

I had a cancer scare in Nov and got the all clear on Nov 26, a very life changing time for me, and one that I've grasped with both hands since. I used to spent a lot of my spare time indoors on the PC, on the 360 and watching movies when I was not working, but now I would rather be out and about, this is where my Camera comes in handy, it gives me a reason to head out no matter what kind of day it is and just look for interesting things to take pics off… I now stop and smell the roses so to speak.

I love movies/tv shows on DVD too much to give that hobby up though so the trade off I made was to pretty much give up gaming bar the odd session maybe once a month, you never know though, I might just sell all my gaming stuff and be done with it one day soon as I would like to make my gaming room into a gym.

So that pretty much sums up my break from here the past 2 months.

Until next time

Be safe.

Xbox 360 Winter Update.. All the Details!

Here's the full list of details for the Dec 4 Dash update for the Xbox 360.

Account Management
· Added error text to direct under 13 year old user to the Web when attempting to change contact information
· Added Messenger Signup into Xbox LIVE signup
· Added PEGI logo icons to Game ratings scenes
· Added support for switching between Windows Live ID accounts
· Added Support for User Graduation
· Added support to allow users to change the Windows Live ID they use with their Xbox LIVE gamertag
· Added support to Migrate Zune Accounts to Xbox LIVE accounts with purchase rights
· Added text for "in-game voice" complaint option
· Display MS Points Web Address correctly for Korea
· Improved blocking support for Friends Only sessions
· Improved enforcement of Windows Live ID and Gamertag Regions
· Improved Informational Text for cases where Gamertag already in use
· Improved parental control support for 48 hour trial codes
· Improved robustness when viewing friends profiles and quickly backing out
· Improved support for account recovery when no storage devices attached to console
· Improved support for invalid characters in phone field
· Improved support to cancel out of Credit Card scenes during account sign-up
· Improved support to load Dashboard after exiting from Account Recovery
· Improved text for accounts that have been banned
· Improved text for Direct Debit in Germany
· Improved text for explaining Gamertag, Gamercard, etc to users signing up
· Improved text for recovering Gamertag dialogs
· Improved text for Zune Accounts in Sign Up app
· Improved text spacing for Recover Gamertag dialogs in Russian
· Improved text support for handling expired credit cards during purchase transactions
· Improved text to inform users that only 1 profile can have auto signin enabled
· Improved text translations for Account Management in German
Ads
· Added support for Audio Mute/Unmute for video ads
Community
· Added double-high friends list to show more details for each friend
· Added new feature "Inside Xbox" on the Xbox LIVE blade
· Added support for richer profile viewing including Real name, Bio, Locations, etc
· Added support to control privacy settings for Friends of Friends viewing
· Added support to show friends a real name
· Added support to view Friends of Friends
· Display actual friends count and not list item count in Add Friend page
· Improved German localized text for recent players blade
· Improved robustness in Friends area when rapidly pressing A and B buttons
· Improved support of viewing Friends profiles when friend has existing pending friends requests
· Improved text messages for Privacy Settings in Blocked Communication scenarios
· No longer report Invitations as 'sent' when communication set to 'blocked'
Dashboard
· Added ability to twist UI left and right to filter/sort in Media lists
· Added 'Downloads' button to game launch page on Games Blade
· Added fade out transitions for transitions from dash to video playback
· Added Friends Playing Now feature to Games Blade for Xbox LIVE Arcade, Xbox Originals, Xbox 360 disc based games, and Xbox 360 Demos.
· Added grouping support for TV & Game content in Media Blade
· Added localization support for AM / PM in 12-hour clock format for Traditional and Simplified Chinese
· Added sort by Title/Date for acquired Video library content
· Added support for Featured Downloads in Arcade area of Games Blade
· Added support for twist controls in offline Dashboard and Xbox Guide
· Added support for updating Marketplace, Xbox LIVE and Games blade without full system update download
· Added support for Video album art on attached hard drives in separate .jpg files
· Added support to not write trial-version Arcade games to user's played games history (this is only for newly downloaded games after the Dec'07 update is released)
· Allow all signed in users to access Banners in Dashboard or Marketplace, not just first signed in user
· Arcade area shows '--' instead of '0' for gamerscore when signed out
· Changed UI Flow for Media connectivity: default to console, and allow users to change device via X button. Also remember last chosen device
· Disconnected MU or Controller Message persisted when launching back to Dashboard from Game Title
· Improve accelerated scrolling speed for long lists
· Improve transition speed of blades
· Improved consistency in confirmation text when deleting items
· Improved enumeration speed of lists in games blade
· Improved error handling when signing out while viewing a marketplace ad
· Improved handling of moving game profiles from MU to HDD
· Improved localization text for Polish in System Update dialogs
· Improved performance of Guide Transitions
· Improved progress bar accuracy when moving large files from MU to HDD
· Improved responsiveness of Dashboard overall
· Improved robustness after attempting to resume an expired purchased video
· Improved robustness when comparing achievements after connection to LIVE is lost
· Improved support for Daylight Savings Time in Alaska time zone
· Improved support for handling disc full when downloading movies from Marketplace
· Improved text layout for blade names in CHT (Traditional Chinese)
· Improved text on Startup page in System Blade area
· Improved text translations for Arcade area in Japan
· Removed PC Affiliation from the System Blade
· Starting DVD playback with 2 or more wireless controllers shows all game pads on the console ring of light
· Starting DVD playback with a mix of wired and wireless controllers now shows all game pads on the console ring of light
· System Update Message in Russian properly formatted
DVD / HD-DVD
· Added CHT language support to video players
· Improved accuracy of tray state when ejecting multiple times
· Improved robustness when ejecting discs from external HD-DVD drive
Family Settings
· Added Family Play Timer Feature
· Improved handling for resetting parental controls to default
Font Support
· Added support for Virtual Keyboard and IME for Simplified Chinese
· Improved CHT (Traditional Chinese) font support for game achievements
· Gamer Profile
· Dates and Times support region specific attributes
HDMI
· Improved handling of AVMUTE for HDMI
· Improved handling of CEA861 mode for HDMI
· Improved handling of flashing during on/off mode changes
· Improved handling of Standby-3 mode for HDMI
Keyboard
· Added IME indicator for Messenger Conversations
· Added support for F9 and F10 in Virtual Keyboards
· Added support for Polish and Russian USB Keyboards
· Improved Chatpad support for Korean Language
· Improved handling of Caps Lock for JPN USB keyboards
· Improved IME Japan Keyboards in Xbox Guide
· Improved overall IME Self Learning support
· Improved support for USB Keyboard with System UI Message displays
· No longer show keyboard results when entering password via Chatpad or USB Keyboard
· Removed extra '@' from CHT Virtual Keyboard
Marketplace
· Added "Featured Items" as a top level section of Marketplace
· Added "Featured Trailers" and "Shorts" options within the Movies area of Video Marketplace
· Added Accelerated List Scrolling to Marketplace
· Added List wrapping to Top Download lists in Marketplace
· Added prefetching support for off-screen thumbnail images in Marketplace list views
· Added support for "New Arrivals" area within Marketplace for all catalog content types
· Added support for "Spotlight" area within Marketplace
· Added support for displaying audio support in top level UI for videos on Marketplace
· Added support for displaying Marketplace video previews in Full Screen mode (newly added files are encoded at higher bitrate, existing previews remain encoded at low bitrate)
· Added support for multiple previews (varying languages) for International Video Marketplace (this is content provider dependent)
· Added support for renting Movies in several international countries
· Added support to Browse, Purchase, Download and play Xbox Original Games
· Added support to cache metadata information for off-line usage in Media Blade library scenes
· Added support to Play Now from Marketplace storefront for items already downloaded
· Added support to prefetch off-screen thumbnails in Video Store
· Added support to send actionable Marketplace recommendations to Friends for Arcade games
· Added support to show audio language and subtitles for International Video Marketplace
· Added Twist Control support for navigation and sorting
· Allow Banner Messages to link to Arcade Titles
· Changed "Media and Entertainment" to "Video Store"
· Improved error handling for corrupt video content
· Improved localization text for Belgium Profiles with Netherlands Marketplace
· Improved robustness when service returns incorrect number of items when viewing Download History
· Improved support of Parental Ratings with Arcade recommendations
· Improved text for cases where License is not available for purchased video content
· Improved text messaging for playing rental movies on consoles other than the console purchased with
· Improved User Experience for Credit Card scenes in Russian
· List wrapping functionality identical now between Media blade and Marketplace blade lists
· More robust error handling for Add Points dialog page
· TV Series on Marketplace now navigate directly to episode list instead of Season1
· Unrated Titles now display ratings as "Rating: Pending or Unrated"
Media - All
· Added more user friendly text for various error related messages
· Added Shortcut keys from Remote Control: Pressing Play on a Video/Song/Picture will immediately start playback of that item from the list (pressing Start from gamepad does the same thing)
· Added support for Album/Video artwork larger than 500kb
· Added support to enumerate metadata in the background and not just when selected by the user
· Added support to make sort options sticky across console reboots
· Added support to show all available Media Sharing Servers on the local network and allow automatic re-affiliation
· Automatically delete older versions of Optional Media Update package when new ones are downloaded
· Improved consistency in storage naming across all areas
· Improved performance for displaying Album Art when connected to remote sources
· Improved text messaging when connection to PC is lost when streaming Music/Photo or videos
Media - Music
· Added support for CD Playback from music area in Xbox 360 Guide area
· Added support for listing multiple computer sources in Xbox Guide music sources
· Added support for Y button to toggle full screen on and off for music visualizer
· Disable 'play all' button when folders only contains playlists (with no audio files)
· Disable Y button when no list items selected in Music player
· Improved device support for new iPods (classic and 3rd gen Nano) - iPhone and iPod touch are not supported
· Improved error handling for mixed encoded playlists (aac,mp3,wma)
· Improved handling for MTP Music devices with >200k entries
· Improved handling of game background music after playing videos in Dashboard
· Improved handling of music playback over games (if music source terminates or has errors, background music returns to game background)
· Improved performance for "Play All" with attached MTP devices
· Improved performance of music enumeration via Guide
· Improved robustness when playing back HFS+ formatted iPods
· Improved support for returning to game background audio when user's music player session terminates
· Improved support for scrolling song lists while listening to music during game playback
· Improved support when ejecting game disc while selecting music source through Guide
Media - Pics
· Added support to display PNG files when streamed from Windows Media Player 11 on Vista
· Improved enumeration for PTP cameras including Cannon Powershot SD 630 and Apple Iphone
· Improved playback performance of "Play All" when PC source has 1000s of photos and subdirectories
· Support Folder view of Photos from MTP Portable Devices
Media - Video
· Added 2 line support for entries in the Video Area of the Media Blade
· Added ability to recognize Colorspace attribute for Video Marketplace Content
· Added fade in transition for start of video playback
· Added full screen buffering animation for streaming videos from Xbox LIVE
· Added Suggestions scene for Video Library area in Media blade of the Dashboard
· Added support for 16x Fast-forward/Rewind
· Added support for AC3 embedded audio (see video faq for full information)
· Added support for enumeration of video files from Zune 2.0 devices
· Added support for Left Shoulder button on controller to chapter skip backward
· Added support for Left Trigger button on controller to rewind
· Added support for moving past the point user has viewed when doing progressive downloads of Video Marketplace videos
· Added support for MP3 embedded audio (see video faq for full information)
· Added support for Mpeg-4 part 2 video files in AVI containers
· Added support for Right Shoulder button on controller to chapter skip forward
· Added support for Right Trigger button on controller to fast forward
· Added support for Zune Podcast video playback from Zune device
· Added support to display metadata and thumbnails embedded in video files
· Added support to enumerate .divx video files
· Added support to group TV shows by Series in Video Library of Media Blade
· Added support to group Video and Game Trailers into same area of Video Library of Media Blade
· Added support to sort Movies or TV Shows by Title or Download date in Video Library of Media Blade
· Added top level support to show expired or soon to expire information for purchased movies from Video Marketplace in Media Blade
· Improve support for "Play Now" calculations with ISP that boost download for the first 20MB of a file
· Improved accuracy of bookmark positions when video player abnormally ends
· Improved accuracy of download progress bar after chapter skipping operations
· Improved auto resizing experience for small (under 100x100) video files
· Improved Bookmark / Resume experience with 60fps Interlaced WMV videos
· Improved bookmark support while progressively downloading videos from Marketplace
· Improved calculations for "Play Now" for Video Marketplace downloads
· Improved deinterlacer support for video playback
· Improved enumeration speed for user-generated video content in Media Blade
· Improved error message support when playing back video files without valid licenses
· Improved error message support when pulling USB drive while playing back video files
· Improved handling for USB memory stick removal while on Video device selection list in Media blade
· Improved handling of video playback when transitioning from 4x FF to Play with MP4 video files
· Improved handling of WMV bookmarks when rewinding and shutting down video player
· Improved info pane timer when playing back DRM's WMV content from Windows Media Player 11 from Windows PC
· Improved message support for progressive video playback
· Improved overall UI, content descriptions and navigation of Video Library of Media Blade
· Improved performance during Fast Forward to Playback transition when playing back MP4 content
· Improved performance for buffering and playback of streaming videos from Xbox LIVE
· Improved performance for low bandwidth streaming of MP4 videos from Zune PC software v1.0
· Improved performance of skip forward/backward with WMV video files
· Improved performance of trick modes when streaming videos from Zune PC client
· Improved performance of WMV playback for WMV7 & WMV8 encoded video files
· Improved playback experience after extended pauses of video files from Marketplace
· Improved playback experience when resuming from a stopped/paused state
· Improved playback performance for h264 720p .MOV files
· Improved playback performance with 1920x1080 MP4 files
· Improved playback performance with 5Mb h264 encoded video files
· Improved playback performance with 60fps 720x480 MP4 content
· Improved playback performance with h264 files in .m4v containers
· Improved quality for upscaled user videos when played back full screen
· Improved quality of MP4 decoder: Global Motion Compensation and VMX optimizations
· Improved quality of MP4 decoder: improved Interlaced Support
· Improved quality of MP4 decoder: Out of order frame output, bidirectional motion vector handling, etc.
· Improved quality with non-square pixel video files
· Improved responsiveness of trick mode controls for video playback
· Improved robustness during chapter skipping of h264 video files
· Improved robustness for streaming problematic video files from Zune PC Software 1.0 or Windows Media Player 11
· Improved robustness of video player when playback catches up to downloads in progressive playback scenarios
· Improved robustness of video streaming when network congestion / stalls occur
· Improved robustness when closing video player after attempting to play a video file that would not open
· Improved robustness when entering and exiting video playback on a portable device repeatedly
· Improved robustness when exiting video files encoded in h264 and playing back from attached USB HDD
· Improved robustness when playing back Mp4 video with consecutive bad aac samples encoded into it
· Improved robustness when shutting down console during h264 video playback
· Improved robustness when trying to play a video recently moved from MU to HDD or vice versa
· Improved robustness with video player when exiting player via Xbox Guide button -> Y
· Improved support for AAC-LC 2 channel encoded audio in MP4 video files
· Improved support for chapter skipping during progressive downloads of Marketplace Video content
· Improved support for MP4 video files with discontinuous time stamps encoded in
· Improved support for MP4 video playback from burned optical dvd-r's
· Improved support for resuming downloaded videos after reaching end of an uncompleted download
· Improved support for resuming partially downloaded videos from Marketplace
· Improved support for using Big Button controller during video playback
· Improved support for Video bookmarks when playing MP4 videos from USB portable hard drives
· Improved sync of video display and info pane display when rewinding
· Improved text for Windows Media Center setup instructions
· Improved Trick mode support when streaming videos with AAC embedded audio
· Improved video performance for 60fps interlaced WMV videos
· Improved Video performance with 15Mbs 1080i 24fps WMV video files
· Improved video playback for Fast-forward and immediate exit usage with h264 video files
· Improved video playback of MP4 content from Zune PC Software v1.0
· Improved video playback when source content has incorrect sync samples encoded
· Improved video quality for SD Composite AV pack displays of the on-screen display for video controls
· Improved video support for chapter skipping of MP4 videos
· Improved Videotrick mode support with 24fps 1080i WMV video files
· Improved visual display of WMV video files while rewinding
· Improved WMV Playback performance for 60fps and 1080i 30fps videos
· Improved WMV7 performance with VLC encoded content
· Removed occasional purple flickers in video playback when transitioning between FF and RW
· Removed potential 9 second delay when rewinding WMV video files
Messaging
· Removal of stale Xbox 1 Team Recruit Messages from Xbox 360 Message Center
Messenger
· Added "Invite Friends" scene after Messenger/Windows Live ID switching dialog
· Added localization support for " has joined conversation" in Messenger
· Added messenger notification to Private Chat
· Added support for adding contacts via Windows Live ID from Xbox 360 console
· Added support for child accounts (ages 13 through 17)
· Added support for dual platform invites / text messages to PC client
· Added support for IME in Chatpad overlay
· Added support to send game invite to Messenger Contact from Xbox 360
· Display Signin option instead of Join Xbox LIVE when accessing messenger from a signed out profile
· Improved handling of transitions between messenger conversations and personal profiles
· Improved localization text for Spanish, Portuguese and Russian in Chat and IM dialogs
· Improved online status reporting with accounts that have passcodes set
· Improved performance of buddy list enumeration
· Improved performance with greater than 250 contacts
· Improved performance with Messenger and large lists
· Improved support for sending multiple friends requests from messenger contact dialog
· Improved support for signing up for Messenger on 2nd signed in profiles
· Improved sync performance between buddies and gamertag friends during login
· Improved text message for blocking Windows Live ID Child accounts
· Improved visual display of Up/Down arrows on Select Contacts scene
· No longer displaying '??' when Kanji characters are used in Messenger Display Names
· Nudges from messenger now translated into rumble notifications on controller during game/movie playback
· Remove flash of LED on controller when Chatpad keyboard is invoked
· Removed 2nd notification when connection to LIVE and signed into Messenger
· Updated icons for Messenger in Private Chat area
System
· Added fade out transition when powering down console
· Added support for browsing XNA games within the Games blade
· Added support for video playback from UDFS formatted USB devices
· Added support for XNA Game Studio Express V.2
· Added support to connect to Apple Extreme routers in 802.11a/n mode
· Added support to pause background downloads when streaming full screen videos or ads
· Added support to retrieve game thumbnail directly from XNA game package
· Added system wide support for Simplified Chinese language
· Added text to explain flashing LED in the Ring of Light during background download low power mode
· Addressed rare case where game disc would spin in the DVD drive while playing HD-DVD Movie in external HD-DVD drive
· Disable Optical audio output when in low power background download mode
· DVD player no longer converts to YCbCr709 when output is over HDMI
· Improved auto sign-in to Xbox LIVE with Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter
· Improved clock accuracy for S/PDIF optical streams
· Improved compatibility with NEC WR8400N WiFi routers
· Improved download speeds when in low power background download mode
· Improved DVD Tray State notifications immediately after application of System Update
· Improved Forced Aspect Ratio Changes via HDMI output (including DVI)
· Improved handling when ejecting game disc during game start
· Improved handling when removing MU after sending Arcade game recommendation to friend
· Improved localization text for Wifi setup in German
· Improved performance for Game Titles to reboot in backcompat scenarios
· Improved performance of Xbox Guide during Messenger signin
· Improved robustness when ejecting game disc when prompted for game title update
· Improved robustness when inserting two MU's at the same time on the device selector scene
· Improved support for 3rd Party Controllers
· Improved support for Buffalo WiFi routers
· Improved support for Creston AV receivers with HDMI
· Improved support for JPN Corega CG-BARFX network router
· Improved support for signing into Xbox LIVE with Big Button Controller
· Improved support for starting console with Big Button Controller when console is charging attached Wireless Controllers
· Improved Xbox guide performance ~2x
· Removed "Windows-based PC" from Computers area in Systems blade
· Removed option to "Turn off Controller" when using Big Button Controller
· Resync the Ring of Light pattern to the boot audio/animation
· Updated copyright dates for 2007

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Here's a FAQ on the Video Playback.

December 2007 Video Playback FAQ
** Represents a new feature or change in functionality from the Spring 07 release.
**1. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for AVI?
Xbox 360 supports the following for AVI:
· File Extensions: .avi, .divx
· Containers: AVI
· Video Profiles: MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple & Advanced Simple Profile
· Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
· Audio Profiles: Dolby® Digital 2 channel and 5.1 channel, MP3
· Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.

2. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for H.264?
Xbox 360 supports the following for H.264:
· File Extensions: .mp4, .m4v, mp4v, .mov
· Containers: MPEG-4, QuickTime
· Video Profiles: Baseline, main, and high (up to Level 4.1) profiles.
· Video Bitrate: 10 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
· Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)
· Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.

3. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for MPEG-4 Part 2?
Xbox 360 supports the following for MPEG-4:
· File Extensions: .mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, .mov
· Containers: MPEG-4, QuickTime
· Video Profiles: Simple & **Advanced Simple Profile
· Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
· Audio Profiles: 2 channel AAC low complexity (LC)
· Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.

4. What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for WMV (VC-1)?
Xbox 360 supports the following for WMV:
· File Extensions: .wmv
· Container: asf
· Video Profiles: WMV7 (WMV1), WMV8 (WMV2), WMV9 (WMV3), VC-1 (WVC1 or WMVA) in simple, main, and advanced up to Level 3
· Video Bitrate: 15 Mbps with resolutions of 1920 x 1080 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.
· Audio Profiles: WMA7/8, WMA 9 Pro (stereo and 5.1), WMA lossless
· Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.

5. Can I mix and match the video and audio codecs outside of those defined in questions 1 through 4 above?
No you cannot. We only support each audio and video codec in the explicit containers defined in questions 1 through 4.

6. How can I determine if a video file that I am trying to play conforms to the specifications as laid out in questions 1 through 4?
You can use a 3rd party tool to analyze your video files to determine what audio and video codec is used. A popular 3rd party tool to analyze video files can be found at http://www.headbands.com/gspot/.

7. How do I create WMV, AVI, H.264 and MPEG-4 content? What encoders does Xbox 360 support?
You can create this content on one of many 3rd-party applications. Xbox 360 supports many popular encoders. Specifically for encoding to WMV you can use Microsoft Expression Encoder or Windows Media Encoder.

**8. What specific features of Mpeg-4 Advanced Simple Profile does the Xbox 360 support?
The Xbox 360 supports Bidirectional Frames (BVOPs), Interlaced Frames, Quarter Pixel Motion Compensation, Global Motion Compensation, and MPEG Quantization.

9. What are the different ways to play video content on Xbox 360?
You can play video from a USB 2.0 FAT32 removable drive, optical media, and by streaming from the Zune software, Windows Media Player 11, or Windows Home Server.

10. What are the different video codecs that are supported in all the different ways to play video content on the Xbox 360?
See table below for more information:

Scenario
Supported Codecs
From USB storage device to Xbox 360 Dashboard Video Player
WMV(Unprotected),
Mpeg4,
H.264,
AVI
From Windows Media Player 11 to Xbox 360 Dashboard Video Player
WMV(Protected),
WMV(Unprotected),
*Mpeg4,
*H.264,
AVI
From Zune Software to Xbox 360 Dashboard Video Player
WMV(Unprotected),
Mpeg4,
H.264
From Windows Home Server to Xbox 360 Dashboard Video Player
WMV(Protected),
WMV(Unprotected),
AVI
From Windows Media Center to Xbox Media Center Extender
WMV(Protected), WMV(Unprotected),
Mpeg2

* = Please refer to question 32 on how to configure Windows Media Player to share these file types to the Xbox 360.

11. What is the "real" max bit rate, resolution, and frames per second that you support for all the different formats?
Xbox 360 does not specifically block video from playing based on a maximum bit rate, resolution, or frames per second. The maximums listed above for each codec are what we have tested for various video playback sources. Higher rated content will not be blocked, but playback may be less then optimal. Use higher bitrates at your own risk.

12. What size USB storage device does the Xbox 360 support?
The Xbox 360 will support as big of a storage device as you can format using FAT32. Unfortunately when formatting a device in Windows Vista or Windows XP you will be restricted to a maximum FAT32 size of 32GB. You can work around this limitation by using a 3rd party utility or using an alternative Operating System that does not have this restriction. Please note that the maximum size of any single file on FAT32 is 4GB.

13. What is the maximum video file size that is supported?
The maximum file size for an AVI, MPEG-4 Part 2, and H.264 file that can be played is 4 GB. 4GB is also the maximum size of any single file that you can store on a FAT32 USB hard drive. However, Windows Media Player 11 and the Zune software do support streaming WMV files greater than 4GB.

14. Do you support 5.1 channel AAC?
No. Only 2-channel AAC is supported. If you want to play a 5.1-channel video on your console, you will need to encode it to WMV with WMAPro 5.1 audio or use the AVI container with Dolby® Digital 5.1 audio.

**15. What types of AVI files are supported?
The Xbox 360 supports files encoded using MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple and Advanced Simple Profile. These files are often referred to as Xvid or DivX® video files. Many common PC DVD authoring tools, cameras, and camcorders are capable of encoding files using MPEG-4. Note that some files authored for DivX devices may also contain additional functionality(menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc). The Xbox 360 will attempt to play these files, but does not support any of the additional functionality and in some cases will be unable to play the file.

16. Why don’t some of my older versions of DivX® files play?
Since we only support Mpeg-4 compatible codec implementations, we will not be able to play video files older than DivX® 5.0.

17. Does the Xbox 360 support video artwork when browsing my collection from Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune PC software?
The Xbox 360 will display whatever video artwork that is displayed in Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune PC software for each video file.

**18. Does the Xbox 360 support video artwork when browsing my collection from a USB 2.0 FAT32 removable drive or optical media?
For all video types we will search for a corresponding .jpg file and use that as the artwork. For example video1.avi would display the artwork in video1.jpg if it existed. In the absence of this file, for the mp4 container, we will search if the video file has embedded album artwork and display that instead. Please note you cannot use this method when streaming from Windows Media Player 11 or the Zune PC software. See question number 21 for more information.

19. What is the maximum album artwork size that the Xbox 360 supports?
You should not exceed 512KB for all scenarios. This includes embedding artwork in the mp4 container, storing artwork alongside the file in a separate .jpg container, or streaming from Windows Media Player 11 or Zune PC software.

**20. How does the “Sort by Type” and “Sort by Title” option work when browsing my own generated video content?
The “Sort by Type” option is the typical Windows Explorer view that a computer would show your files in. It will first alphabetically sort your folders and then alphabetically sort your files. The “Sort by Title” option allows you to sort all folders and files alongside each other. Both of these sort options are persistent and linked to your profile so that you do not need to set them every time. See question number 21 for more information.

**21. What is a sample way of organizing my video hierarchy so that I can best utilize artwork and folder structure on the Xbox 360 for my personal video collection?
The following example uses the sort option “Sort by Title” on a USB hard drive connected to the Xbox 360:
· Genre 1 (Folder)
· Genre 2 (Folder)
· Video 1.avi (File)
· Video 1.jpg (File) (Artwork)
· Video 2.mp4 (File) (Artwork embedded in file)
· Video 3 (Folder)
· Video 3-1.wmv (File)
· Video 3-2.mp4 (File)
· Video 3-2.jpg (File) (Artwork)
· Video 3-3.wmv (File)
· Video 3-3.jpg (File) (Artwork)
· Genre 3 (Folder)

22. How do display modes work?
There are 5 display modes: auto, letterbox, fullscreen, stretch, and native. You can access these modes while watching a video by pressing Display on your remote or A on your controller.
a. The auto setting attempts to automatically determine what the best viewing experience is for your video. If it is a very low resolution video, it will enlarge it enough to be viewable on your screen while limiting the size for optimal viewing. If the video is of higher resolution, it will it will enlarge it to fit the TV. For both scenarios, it will retain the aspect ratio of the original video (for example, 4x3 or 16x9).
b. Letterbox mode will display your image full screen while retaining the aspect ratio of the original video. Use this if you want to override the auto function and fit the content to your TV.
c. Fullscreen mode will display your image full screen with the assumption the video is 16x9 formatted for 4x3 screens. This can be helpful for older content that may be 4x3 with black bars encoded into the video. This mode will allow you to zoom through the black bars and see it as wide screen.
d. Stretch mode will display your image full screen and stretch 4x3 content horizontally to fill a 16x9 TV. This can be helpful for those who always want to fill their TV regardless of the aspect ratio of the content. This causes 4x3 content to appear stretched.
e. Native mode allows you to see the content at its original resolution. Use this to view content that is extremely low resolution or very low bitrates.

23. How are display mode settings saved?
Every time you watch a new video, the display mode defaults to auto. If you decide to change the setting, each time you watch the same video the console will remember what you chose last time.

24. What is the information bar?
The information bar on the on-screen display now shows you exactly where you are in the video and where the chapters are in the file. In addition, for downloaded content, it will also show how much of the video has been downloaded.

25. How are the chapters determined?
Each video is divided into 10 chapters, allowing you to quickly move around the video content. Use skip to move to the next or previous chapter. Each chapter appears as a tick on the information bar.

**26. Can I fast forward, rewind, and skip while watching content while it's being downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace?
You can move around in video as much as you have already downloaded. If you skip or watch past the point that you have already downloaded, you will be required to wait for it to buffer enough to begin normal playback again.

27. Is there other 3rd party software out that I can use to stream from my PC to my Xbox 360?
The Xbox 360 team extensively tests that we work well with Windows Media Player 11 and the Zune PC software. If you do decide to use 3rd party software, please contact them directly for support.

28. How can I stream content from my Mac?
To share from a Mac computer you will be required to use a 3rd party streaming solution. Please note that we do not support 3rd party streaming solutions and you will be required to contact them directly for support.

29. After the May 2007 update, my 3rd party software doesn't stream videos correctly. Why?
Video navigation was changed in the May 2007 update. 3rd party software that does not support folders through network sharing will not work correctly. You'll have to contact the software developer for support.

30. How can I set up Windows Media Player 11 or Zune to share my media to my console?
For info about setting up sharing, see www.xbox.com/pcsetup.

31. Should I continue to use Windows Media Connect (WMC) to stream video to my Xbox 360?
Windows Media Connect can be used but is no longer supported outside of Windows Home Server. We strongly suggest people upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 or use the Zune software to receive the best experience for managing and streaming content to Xbox 360.

32. How can I get Windows Media Player 11 to stream MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 to my console?
By default, Windows Media Player 11 does not support MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264. Your first option is to install a 3rd party MP4 DirectShow decoder to import MPEG-4 part 2 and H.264 files into your library. Once they are in your library they can be streamed to your console and they can be played from within Windows Media Player 11 on your PC.

An alternative approach is to rename all of your mp4 files to have an “.avi” file name extension. This will enable Windows Media Player 11 to import them into the library and will allow them to be played on your Xbox 360. To enable the playback of these files on the PC, you will still need to install an appropriate decoder on the PC.

33. I can't see my video files from the Zune software on my console. What's wrong?
Make sure that the folders containing the videos you want to share with your console are included in the Zune software's list of monitored folders.

34. I received a message that says a media update is required to play the content. When I download the update I get the message "The download could not be completed. Please try again later. Any points you used for this transaction have already been deducted from your balance and will not be deducted again" with error code 80070005. Explain.
You'll get this error if you previously downloaded the media update on another Xbox 360 console with the same profile. You are only allowed to download the update on one console per profile. You can work around this by creating a temporary Silver membership to download the update. Once it's downloaded, you will be able to use the update with any profile.

**35. What shortcuts can I use with my gamepad while using the Video area?
LB skips backward one chapter. RB skips forward one chapter. RT fast forwards. LT rewinds. Start toggles between play and pause. X and Y bring up the On Screen Display for more advanced options. While browsing through your lists of videos you can also push Start to automatically begin video playback using the bookmark if it exists bypassing the Resume/Restart page. You can also use RT or LT to page up or page down through lists of items.

**36. Why do I see the message “Updating content. This may take a few minutes. Please wait.” the first time when entering the Console video area?
To support grouping television and game videos your content metadata needs to be updated. Once this process is completed subsequent entries into the Video area will be very quick. Please be patient during the update process and allow it to complete updating all of your content metadata.

**37.What changes have you made to selecting the source for Videos, Music, and Pictures?
The source selection is now mapped to the X button for each of these areas. The Xbox 360 will remember the last source that you picked and default to that. We have also removed the computer affiliation from the System Blade and we now show a list of all the computers that you can connect to directly in the Select Source scene. This allows you to quickly jump between Windows Media Player 11 and Zune PC software media shares.

**38.How can I play music from my iPhone® and iPod Touch®?
Unfortunately the iPhone® and iPod Touch® uses a different mechanism for storing your music then a traditional iPod®. We are currently unable to play music from the iPhone® or IPod Touch®. You can still browse the pictures stored on these device through the Pictures area in the Xbox 360 dashboard.

**39.Can I play videos from my iPod®?
The Xbox 360 does not support playing videos from an iPod®.

Xbox 360 gets Divx/Xvid

Well details are now in about the winter update and the 360 will at last get Divx/Xvid support. (stick that in your pipe and smoke it PS3). The update seems OK, it could be better but there's always the spring update for things like more screen res support and the DRM problems...Anyway read on to see what you can expect come Dec 4th.

Here's details of the update from IGN.com

Xbox Originals -- While this one was announced a few weeks ago, that
doesn't take away from its magnitude. On the first day the update is available
you'll be able to download Halo, Fable, Crimson Skies, Psychonauts, Fuzion
Frenzy, and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex each for 1200 Microsoft Points
(US$15) on December 4. Plenty more backwards-compatible titles are in the
works.

Xbox Live Blade -- The first thing that you'll notice when you fire up your
console with the update installed is that the Live Blade has been reorganized a
bit. Messages and friends have been consolidated into one menu item to make room
for Inside Xbox, a new section that acts much like an RSS feed of content from
Xbox.com. There you'll find things like videos, pictures, news items, The Major
Nelson Minute, and pretty much whatever else the folks at Microsoft want to add
to it.

Marketplace Blade -- The hub for marketplace content has clearly received
the most attention when compared to the rest of the blades. Gone is the old set
of six gaudy buttons and in its place is a much more concise package. Now you'll
see four prominent options: There's Spotlight, New Arrivals, Game Store and
Video Store. Spotlight points out the hottest items that have been added to
Marketplace. Be it demos, videos, movies, arcade, whatever it is, you'll find
Xbox Live's most popular offerings there. New Arrivals is arranged similarly
only there you'll find the newest content, rather than the most popular. Game
Store and Video Store house all of their respective content types, be it demos
and Xbox Originals in the Game Store or TV Shows in the Video Store. It should
be noted that the Video Store can also be located on the Media Blade.

Xbox Live Arcade Hits --Gamers have been wondering why XBLA games rarely
see price drops. Well, this is your new bargain bin, ladies and gents. This one
is essentially Platinum Hits for Xbox Live Arcade games. Bankshot Billiards 2
and Lumines Live can be found here for 800 MP (US$10) with Marble Blast Ultra,
Small Arms, and Zuma Deluxe dropped to 400 MP (US$5).

Profile Expansion -- The oddest addition, and likely one that nobody saw
coming, is the biographical additions to the profile page. Now while editing
your online persona you can add in any name you like, as well as any location;
city and state, and a short bio about yourself. We were able to create the
oh-so-mature name of "s3cks with elephants" without a problem so we're sure to
see plenty of inappropriate and fake titles out there once the update drops.
Sure, that kind of defeats the purpose (the intention is to have a proper name
to go with someone's Gamertag), but it's too much fun making up obnoxious fake
names not to give it a try.

Enhanced Video Codec Support -- This addition will please the majority of
the video streaming Xbox 360 community. MPEG4 Part 2 support which, in layman's
terms, opens up DivX, Xvid, and Nero Digital compatible videos to being sent
through your Xbox 360 from your PC and onto your TV. What kind of content that
is, well, Microsoft had no comment on that.

Movie Previews -- Another exciting addition for the video and movie
enthusiasts of the world is the movie preview which can be accessed by simply
clicking on any piece of marketplace video media for purchase. Whether it was
movies or TV shows, every one that we clicked on had a short preview available
that played after a short buffering sequence. Who knew that Bad Girls from Mars
was worth renting?

Parental Controls -- The only item on the list for the parents of the world
to hang their hats on is the new Family Timer. For Mom and Dads out there who
feel like their children are sitting inside too long playing that blasted Xbox
360, Microsoft has given you the ability to set daily or weekly limits on the
amount of time the system can be turned on. Play for a second longer and the
system will shut down.

The Little Things -- There were two nuances that we saw while tooling
around that were worth mentioning as an aside to the main features listed above.
First, there's a snazzy new fade to black that happens when you turn the system
off. The Xbox 360 used to pop off instantly, and while it may be a small change,
we do like the gentler power-down procedure in comparison. Second, and this is
an even smaller detail, some of the Guide's menu items, such as your friends
list, now expand and contract depending on where you're scrolling. Essentially
it makes the gamertag you've landed on more prominently featured on the screen.
Again, it is small, but it's an improvement nonetheless.