http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/ Engadget Comments for Xbox 360: now with H.264, MPEG-4, PlaysForSure http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 2:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 7:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
It is nice that it displays the name of the game in the drive from the dashboard now (the freaking Gamecube could even do this...)]]>Apr 9th 2007 2:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
uh, ok. ]]>Apr 9th 2007 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 10th 2007 3:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 11:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 2:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 4:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 2:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
We get to stream more media from out computer! Wow!

I mean c'mon, why not allow playback from cd/dvd/external harddrive?]]>Apr 9th 2007 2:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/digitalmedia/viewvideo.htm]]>Apr 9th 2007 3:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
I just got pulled in by the article saying "streaming" so i assumed we would only be able to stream!

Thanks for the info guy's.]]>Apr 9th 2007 3:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 2:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 2:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 5:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
Being that there is an ass-load of free encoders everywhere hopefully people will start using it more.]]>Apr 9th 2007 3:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Being that there is an ass-load of free encoders everywhere hopefully people will start using it more."

Don't forget that HD-DVD and Blu-ray also use H,264 (and VC-1).

I personally would like to see that, but I don't it's going to happen anythime soon. H.264 does offer better compression which, of course, is more conducive for internet downloads, but DivX/Xvid/3viD is still pretty good and takes a lot less time and effort to encode and subsequently decode.

However, the ball has dropped since most manufactures are now supporting it. So the next change we need to see to make H.264 ubiquitous and make DivX/XviD/3viD fall to the sidelines is for torrent uploaders to start using the H.264 codec. When that happens the change will happen fast.
]]>Apr 9th 2007 7:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
FFS, M$oft just put a major spear right thru Apple & Sony's hearts. This type of update only serves to enrich your living room media experience -- by forcing all players to step to the plate or fall by the wayside. M$oft has forced Sony's non-networking and ATV's limited-codec-supporting asses to improve the user experience or to fail. We, as a user base, are getting *EXACTLY* what we've been begging for!..

Are we seriously griping about that?]]>Apr 9th 2007 3:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
Please grow up and move out of your parents' basement, no one is impressed.]]>Apr 9th 2007 5:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
Ac'shly i jus 2 laZ 2 spel out 'Microsoft'.

So let's spread the love -- and drop the backhanded comments. Because I know you're a great guy.

Don't forget how much I love you.]]>Apr 9th 2007 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

Video formats supported
* H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): Up to 5 Mbps, Progressive Main Profile (CAVLC) with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 1280 by 720 pixels at 24 fps, 960 by 540 pixels at 30 fps)

* iTunes Store purchased video: 320 by 240 pixels or 640 by 480 pixels

* MPEG-4: Up to 3 Mbps, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps (maximum resolution: 720 by 432 pixels at 30 fps)
]]>Apr 9th 2007 3:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/ Mpeg4 doesn't mean Divx/Xvid.

It's vice versa: Xvid/DivX means MPEG4. (And x264 means H.264 aka MPEG4/AVC.)

Many people use DivX and XviD to produce MPEG4 files.

Thanks to general stance of M$ on de jure standards - M$ did all they could possible do to make MPEG4 playback with WMP a PITA - people create .avi files instead. Those are well known and by now everybody thinks that AVI == DivX/XviD.

IOW, what under Mac OS X is MPEG4, under M$Wind0ze is AVI or DivX/XviD.

P.S. But even DivX people abandoned (read: stopped hacking) AVI for MP4 for H.264 content.]]>Apr 9th 2007 3:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/What does AppleTV do for me that I already cannot do?]]>Apr 9th 2007 5:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/ "Added H.264 video support: Up to 10 Mbps peak, Baseline, Main, and High profiles with 2 channel AAC LC.
Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 5 Mbps peak, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC."

So that's H.264 at twice the bitrate that Apple TV can do, and Mpeg 4 at 5Mbps instead of just 3. Oh and by the way the 360 isn't limited to 1280x720 at 24 FPS it can go all the way up to 1080P at 30fps. ]]>Apr 9th 2007 9:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
MPEG-4 Part 2 includes Simple Profile and Advanced Simple Profile.]]>Apr 10th 2007 10:18AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/#1 DivX support,
#2 a way to upload pics to my HDD from a DVD
#3 a way to upload porn to my HDD from my DVD's
#4 An INTERNET BROWSER in one of the dashboard blades.

Hopefully the MSN integration + keyboard attachment will allow you to chat on MSN with your mic and your Vision camera BUT, I truly will not be happy until Microsoft caves into Sony pressure and adds an Internet Browser to the system.

The 360 should have launched with an internet browser in the first place]]>Apr 9th 2007 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
Maybe it's not what you wanted, but either way, why would you shout 'Sony and Apple loose'??? Are you calling them sluts or something?

This is a disturbing trend that has becoming increasingly common on the intarwebs. So look, I'm only going to say it once, here we go:

LOSE! It's spelled L-O-S-E! As in "to lose". 'Loose' is the opposite of tight, it's an entirely different word!

Sorry if you knew that and just made a little typo, but I see someone make this mistake just about every day...]]>Apr 9th 2007 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 5:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 10th 2007 2:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/Apr 9th 2007 4:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/
WMV is not a codec - it's a file format - a container for various things including video. Same with AVI, which is essentially the predecessor to WMV. While we're at it - there's also ASF (Advanced Stream Format) which is actually the 'daddy' format from which WMV and WMA derive.

WMV supports all sorts of codecs including some classics like Indeo and Cinepak. The same is true of AVI. You can even host DiVX encoded streams in a WMV file if you like. All it requires is a WDM/BDA compatible codec filter.

And while we're at it - for everyone who is about to say 'I prefer AVI because I prefer to avoid Microsoft formats'... AVI IS a Microsoft format. It's the CODEC (typically DiVX or XViD) which isn't Microsoft (although DiVX started out as a hacked version of Microsoft's MPEG-4 Codec).

In terms of efficiency as a container - WMV is actually superiour to AVI in most ways and is more flexible. The best argument against WMV is that the actual format isn't easily obtained and so it is difficult to support on non-Windows systems.

Finally - why is this better than an Apple TV? Simple - you get a high end gaming/multimedia console as well as an 'iPod for your TV' and if you go for the XBox 360 Core - it's the exact same price - although in truth, you'll want to spring for at least the next one up at $399. The only downside is that it doesn't support iTunes or iTMS - but if you're on a PC, that's not really much of an issue.]]>Apr 9th 2007 4:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/09/xbox-360-now-with-h-264-mpeg-4-playsforsure/I have been using my Linktheater, which not only plays my files, but also has a much easier folder-based interface that is far more usable.

Finally, why is Microsoft not upconverting the DVD video to 1080i? Again, the upconverted output from my Linktheater is far superior to the video I get from the (much more powerful) XBox 360! Why do I have to buy the HD-DVD to get upconversion is beyond me...]]>Apr 9th 2007 4:34PM