Stream video to Xbox 360 with Winamp Remote and Windows Media Player

Posted by Andrew Frame on 1/3/2008

Microsoft recently added support for Divx and Xvid video to the Xbox 360 via a Dashboard update. I already knew how to stream music to my Xbox 360, but had never tried video. In this article I'll describe a couple of applications that allowed me to stream video content to my Xbox 360.

I successfully streamed both Divx and Xvid content from both my desktop (Windows XP) and notebook  (Windows Vista). Apple users may be interested in Connect360, which is not covered in this article. Both PC's are connected through a wireless home network. The programs work independently and do not interfere with each other, so installing both on one machine will not cause problems.

Connecting to Winamp Remote

1) Download and install Winamp Remote. (Note: Winamp Player is not required). Registration is not required to download, but is required to use the application. Winamp Remote is beta software as of this writing.

2) Right click the Winamp Remote icon in the system tray, then select Configure. On the Media tab you can add locations of your videos and music.

Configuration settings for Winamp Remote

Winamp Remote configuration

3) Go to the Media area of the Dashboard on your Xbox 360, select Videos. Select your PC. The PCs on your network are listed by name and should be titled “Orb: <computer name> - <username>” (Note: if a media source is already selected, press X to select a different one).

Xbox 360 Selecting video source

You should now see the drive and folder location you selected in Step 2 (example: 'c:\videos'). Select a file. If this is your first time watching a Divx/Xvid video, you will be prompted to download the optional update through the Xbox 360 Dashboard. After the update is downloaded and installed, select a video file again and you should see the video buffer, then play.

Orb drive letter and options

Winamp Remote will also buffer and play online videos from AOL videos, Photobucket, Guba, Dailymotion, and YouTube as of this writing. Buffering is there again, and taking 20-30 seconds to buffer a YouTube video may not be worth the wait. This feature may improve over time as well, and currently Windows Media Player does not offer online video support for Xbox 360. Some other options like "Live TV" and "Internet TV" do nothing when clicked from Xbox 360. Support for those options may arrive while Winamp Remote is still in beta.

Winamp Remote Pros and Cons

Connecting to Windows Media Player 11

The tutorial at xbox.com is posted here. My steps are as follows:

1) You'll need to upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 if you don't have it. (Note: To connect the Xbox 360 console your computer, you must be running Windows XP Service Pack 2, Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, or Windows Vista.)

2) Start Windows Media Player. Click the arrow below the Library tab, then click "Media Sharing." In the Media Sharing dialog box, select the Share my media to: checkbox. In the device list, select your Xbox 360 console. Click Allow. Click the settings button to name your media where it says “Share media as:”

Sharing media to Xbox 360

3) Click the arrow below the Library tab, then click Add To Library. Click the Advanced Options button. From here you can add Folders to your Library. The media cannot be played on the Xbox if it’s not in your library. Folders are monitored for updates.

Adding Folders to Windows Media Player

4) Go to the Media blade on your Xbox 360 and select Videos. Select your PC. The PCs on your network are listed by name and will appear in the following format: <Computer name> : <name entered in step 2> (Note: if a media source is already selected, press X to select a different one). Now you should see the folders and files from your Media Player Library. Select a file, if this is your first time trying to watch a Divx/Xvid video you will be prompted to download the optional update. After the update installation completes, select a video file again and you should see the video play.

Windows Media Player 11 Pros and Cons

Conclusion

I like the idea of watching my iTunes podcasts on my 50” TV, but waiting for the buffering isn’t always worth it. If Winamp Remote had the speed of Windows Media Player 11, I would give it the nod, as it has more features and is easier to use.

For now Windows Media Player 11 is the way to go because it's faster at video playback (no buffering). Both applications are useful however, so I recommend installing and configuring both to try for yourself.

Diggnation video podcast streamed to TV

About the author(s)

Andrew has been involved with Pain in the Tech since January 2008.

Comments

Note: Comments may be viewed by authors, but if you have a more specific question you'd like to ask them, please email fram0027@gmail.com.

# MNMOOSE at 1/4/2008 7:43 am cst

Why use either of those programs when TVersity works great and is fast and the newest versions don't transcode for xbox360 or ps3 since they both now handle divix just fine. Website can be found at http://tversity.com/home

# Rich N at 1/4/2008 8:19 am cst

The absolute best way is to have a Windows Home Server. The XBOX 360 will see the media share and be able to stream the files immediately. Works like a champ!

# djshorty at 1/4/2008 10:21 am cst

Does the xbox360 upscale streamed video to 1080p?

# Andrew Frame at 1/4/2008 11:06 am cst

The Xbox 360 doesn't do any upscaling while streaming that I am aware of, but you can download 1080p videos that will play on your Xbox 360.

# Bruce at 1/4/2008 12:46 pm cst

Seconding TVersity. Not only does it "just work" but it also gets around a big problem for me. I host most of my media on a NAS and while I can link that media to the WMP Library, WMP won't server remotely hosted files to the XBox360. TVersity does, without a hitch.

# Andrew Frame at 1/4/2008 2:50 pm cst

Update: I installed TVersity, so far it works great. It does seem a little bit slower than Windows Media Player but much faster than Winamp Remote (Orb). It has also played most files I have tried. One negative so far was the installation/setup, which is much easier with the other two programs. After installation I had to read a couple FQAs on the TVersity site to find out why my Xbox 360 couldn't find my PC. Eventually I found out I needed to disable WMP sharing and allow a specific file of TVersity as an exception to the Windows Firewall. Thanks for the recommendation, I might add it to the review/tutorial.

# Daniel at 1/5/2008 2:59 pm cst

You can use connect360 by null river if you're on a mac. I use it and it works great.

I'm running it on a mac mini sitting in my entertainment center with a 500 gig external drive. I use leopard's screen sharing to control the mini from my laptop, setting it to download whatever videos I want, then streaming them to the xbox.

# Jan at 1/6/2008 9:51 am cst

Is this just me, but why stream the videos if you can simply connect a 500+ Gig external USB HD straight to the xbox 360. Now, if that would work, it would be dead simple, no? Plus no need to have an extra PC running. (global warming and so on)

Tried this, but does not seem to work for some reason (xvid with mp3 audio). Probably some settings in the used codec I guess.

bummer.

# Andrew Frame at 1/6/2008 11:25 am cst

Why stream videos? If you had a 500+ Gig external USB HD, you have to connect it to a PC, download the content (hopefully your using USB 2), then bring it back to your Xbox 360. To me, this is an extra step that can be avoided. Since the media is already on my internal hard drive, why not let your Xbox see those files instead.

# Jimmy K at 1/6/2008 12:10 pm cst

I need help!

I previously had Winamp Remote (ORB) setup for MP3 sharing from my XP PC to 360. It worked fine for MP3 but was too slow for any videos, just like Andrew said.

SO I enabled WMP 11 media sharing and it does NOT show up on my 360! Even after uninstalling Winamp Remote, my 360 can't see WMP 11! What's going on? Did stupid Winamp kill my 360?

# John at 1/7/2008 12:45 am cst

Make sure you don't have ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) enabled on the PC you're running WMP11 on. I had the same issue as you but as soon as ICS was disabled then the XBOX360 was visible to WMP11 (and vice versa).

# Andrew Frame at 1/7/2008 5:54 pm cst

@ Jimmy K I doubt Winamp Remote has anything to do with it, they should show up as different sources. My guess is that John is on the right track. Whenever I have had connection problems it seems to do with your network configurations or firewall settings. If you are using Vista the issues expand (ie. security settings and Media Center Extender).

# Andrew Frame at 1/18/2008 11:14 am cst

The converter you need to play divx/xvid files should be downloaded through Xbox Live when you try to play your first divx/xvid file. Depending on the file size, Winamp Remote can take a long time to buffer, and that might be why you are getting a blank screen.

# PicAxKillr at 2/10/2008 1:05 am cst

Great info! Thanks for the work! I got all hooked via the WMP 11 way. Streams MUCH faster and doesn’t eat up PC performance.

I have just got going and noticed the 360 won't recognize some file types. Does anyone know the specific file types the 360 will recognize?

# Andrew Frame at 2/14/2008 1:38 pm cst

Check out the Video Playback FAQ: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/digitalmedia/videoplaybackfaq.htm

Hope this helps answer your questions.

# mike at 3/18/2008 5:13 pm cst

Sweet this helped me, I also stream from NAS and couldn't get WMP working.

# XBOX360 Streaming Video at 7/24/2008 10:08 pm cst

I agree Winamp Remote is slow, very SLOW. Im hoping that there will be some update to prevent so many glitches with playback. I think its still easier / better to just use a DIVX compatible dvd player with movies burned to DVDRW. A great player is here: Magnavox MWD7006

# Nate at 9/14/2008 11:33 am cst

You may want to look at some other clients to stream your media to your PS3. There is Tversity, Twonkymedia, Orb, Fuppes, Medialink, EyeConnect, etc.

So far I believe that Twonkymedia is the best for Windows and Medialink for Mac users. If you need some help setting them up, I have a few tutorials available to make it as painless as possible. http://blog.hillbillyhardware.net then click on the PS3 tab.

I am going to look at the Winamp Remote but I have a feeling that I am going to be very frustrated from what I am reading here. Tversity worked well earlier this year, but I have my preferences.

# Brian at 10/1/2008 10:06 am cst

I finally got this sorted out thanx to this page!!! I tried and failed with both MCE encoder, and TVersity...both of which seemed way more complicated than the VERY simple WMP 11 solution above. My 360 and MCE PC were already linked via the media extender, so adding the files to the windows media player library was all I needed to do. Now I can watch all my divx downloads on my tv...wirelessly...which RULES!!!! My only beef is that the video quality suffers on the bigger (HD) screen...but that was to be expected.

# Shane at 10/8/2008 9:45 am cst

Just an observation, but having that center speaker with that real nice magnet may cause you some damage with all that rotating media in say your DVR, Xbox360, etc.

Just helpin a brother out.

# Andrew Frame at 10/15/2008 7:53 am cst

Center channel speakers from most, if not all, quality speaker companies are magnetically shielded, specifically design not to interfere with other electronic components.

# oL GoodGuys Manager at 10/27/2008 1:24 am cst

I agree with Andrew...quality speakers are now magnetically shielded. You only run into that problem if you have really old 80's speakers or less...possibly cheap home theater in a box systems as well. You get what you pay for with surround sound speakers.

# woodsman at 11/10/2008 2:31 pm cst

WMV method works like a charm, even files that wont play through the media centre on xbox.

thank you!

# Ryan at 11/22/2008 2:24 am cst

i got a new hard-drive added it switched all my media to the drive. and i added the new folder to wmp11 and now i cant stream my files any ideas?

# E at 12/6/2008 11:07 am cst

Ryan, You just need to add those folders to whatever program you are streaming from. If the program can monitor the new folders on the new drive everything should work fine.

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