Video from your Mac on Xbox360, and Boxee
The Basics
In this run down I am going to go over what it takes to share this content freely through my house with no fuss. If you didn’t check out my post on the nuts and bolts of my system, check that out first. That post explains the wiring and how everything is connected. This post will tackle the software.
What I’m Streaming
Content gets distributed through network. The content I am sharing is pretty standard, its HD videos, photos, and music. I access this content via two different methods. The first method being the Xbox360 & PS3, and the second being Boxee.
The Nitty Gritty
We are an all Mac household, so If you’re on a PC you’re 360 connection solutions should be much easier. Since Xbox 360 is built by Microsoft it is set up out of the box to play nice with Windows, not the Mac. The 360 does not connect to my Macs by default. Thus lies the first problem with streaming video content from the Mac to the 360.
Connect360
Connect 360 is a third party app that makes the 360 play nice with my Mac. It is a very simple application that only makes minutes to set up (depending on your network configuration). I have also heard many people mention Rivet (but I have never tried them myself). If you’re using a PS3 try out Medialink. All these applications get us about halfway there, as you should be able to see the media on your 360 now and access it.
The Content
This next section mainly concerning video content as music these days is mostly DRM free and should play just fine on your 360. I’ll assume you already have video content on your computer. If you’re looking for content ideas stay tuned for part 3. Sharing video files can be a bag of hurt if you have the wrong file type, codec, bit rate, etc. These are the settings I use to get my stuff up and running on my 360′s. The 360′s should be able to stream H.264, DIVX, XVID, MOV, AVI, WMV, ASF. Check the Xbox support site for more details and limitations on each file type. If your video doesn’t meet the specific criteria for playback, you will have to get all fancy pants and convert your video files. If you have a video format other than MKV skip to the Visualhub section, else keep reading or (If (videoFormat != MKV) { $(‘.VisualHub’).show(); } else { $(‘.nextSection’).show(); }; //he he he).
MKV Files
MKV files were the trickiest files for me to wrap my head around. MKV files, like most video types, are just wrappers for your standard video and audio files. These MKV files are not supported by the 360 and will not play by default. You will need to convert your content to one of the supported formats listed above to play it on the 360. I use awesome application called MKVtools. It takes the guess work out of converting your files for the 360. Select the device: "Xbox 360", video: "Pass Thru", and audio: acc. I use "Pass Thru" to give me the original video quality. The conversion is fast and works pretty much without a hitch. If you buy the full version MKVtools allows batch conversion, which is a really great feature. However, if you’re trying to convert a movie you’ll be out of luck with this application. MKVtools has trouble with files longer than an hour or more.
VisualHub
VisualHub is the Swiss army knife for video conversion. Unfortunately VisualHub is no longer supported or sold. If you don’t have a copy check out VideoMonkey which is trying to become the Open Source answer for VisualHub as it uses much of the same source code. Another option is HandBreak to which I speak to below. For those of us lucky to still have VisualHub: you can simply drop your movie into the queue, select MP4, select "go nuts", go to advanced options, select at max bit-rate of "3600", and convert away. I have found this is the optimal settings for streaming movies to the 360. It is a fine science however, so you may have to tweak the settings every now and again for certain encodes. I use "3600" as my bit-rate as anything higher seems to cause major problems for the stream and in some cases won’t even play.
HandBrake
HandBrake was originally a DVD ripper/converter. It would take your DVD and rip it to many different formats. Today it’s the same program but now it has built in presets to help you convert easier. Also you can now load videos such as 3GP, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOD, MOV, MP4, MPG, and WMV. Select the 360 preset and start converting. Even with the presets selected you can still muddle around with the settings to get optimal performance. I love this program. It is heavily supported and they add stability and features with every update.
Video Exhaustion
Getting your content to the 360 can be more than a little time consuming. However, with the right tools you can view almost any video on your 360. I have a wired gigabit connection from my computer to my 360′s so it makes streaming HD video a breeze. If you are new to this whole video from the internet idea you will be interested in part 3 which will deal with getting content on your computer.
Another great post. Thanks for the helful info. I’m in the market for a Mac (first one ever), and already have a 360. I was considering getting an ATV for the Boxee local install. I’m curious why you’re not using ATV. What are your thoughts on ATV running Boxee?
No problem! Have fun with your switch to the Mac. I can recommend some great apps. http://jasoncypret.com/2008/10/02/must-have-apps-for-all-mac-users/
It’s funny you mention ATV. I was strongly considering picking one up to run Boxee on. However the fact that you can run Boxee on ATV doesn’t mean it runs well. I’ve heard reports of crashing continuously. Boxee really should be run on at least a MacMini.
The ATV it’s self is awesome, but at that price point I figured I’d get more bang for my buck by picking up another 360. I mean for $199 you can stream movies/music etc, stream Netflix movies, download movies from LIVE, and play games. It would be nice to have Hulu integration though.
I also figure that a new ATV will be coming out soon. I mean it’s been out for awhile at the same price point, and WWDC is just around the corner. I would at least wait and pick one up after WWDC. That’s pretty much my advise for any Mac products too.
Glad you enjoyed it. I want to cancel U-Verse, but the wife really likes food network, and that’s hard to get over the net. :(
I’m not aware of a way to get Boxee running on a 360. The Boxee team just managed to get it working on windows and I don’t think there will be any development for the 360. http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=4436
If you need a way to show Boxee on your TV I can suggest a couple different cheap outlets:
1. Got a Mac/Linux/Win laptop? Plug that in to your TV > Run Boxee > Set it up to see the content on your Mac and your good to go
2. Get a cheap PC (or put an old one to good use) > Install Linux on it (or hackentoch) > Install Boxee
3. Get ATV > Install Boxee using the thumb drive hack
Hope these help. Good luck with the switch. Should save you money too!
[...] UPDATE Part 2 is here!!! [...]
Thanks for the quick follow-up and links. Your logic makes sense. I hadn’t heard of the issue with ATV crashing with boxee. I’m running boxee on an ubuntu box right now. Any luck streaming from a linux boxee install to the 360? Once I get the mac, I figure I’ll run windows and osx side-by-side and get both boxee and media center on the same hardware.
I heard the Boxee crashing issue on tWit. I haven’t tried streaming from Ubuntu to the 360. I’m sure there’s a guide out there for that. I have Boxee running on an old pc running Ubuntu. Boxee can see my mac just fine. Good luck with everything and keep me posted. :)
Hi!
Thanks for posting this article! It’s been helpful in my quest to get rid of Dish Network and only use internet tv.
Are you going to cover the steps/software needed to get boxee to run from my mac to my xbox360?
If I could get hulu on my TV… All would be perfect! I’m open to any suggestions!
Thanks!
Josh
Hi! Great tutorial. When converting MKVs for the 360, does it preserve the surround sound (if the original MKV had surround sound). How about subtitle support? Cheers! B
You can preserve the surround sound however the 360 only supports specific types of audio codecs. Most of the time I end up converting them with aac audio. You can opt to leave the subtitles in. Again I rarely do this as it requires a couple of extra steps, however . But I have done it before for certain films.
Do you ever run into any problems with audio and video sync?
I run hdmi from the satellite box to the tv and optical cable from the satellite box to the stereo receiver and I occasionally have the lips moving on the tv differently from the audio.
Maybe I need to rewire like you have it setup. hdmi to the tv and then tv-audio-out to the receiver…
Thanks for the great post.
Travis
I occasionally run into sync problems but this usually has to do with the content I converted and less to do with the wiring. Most times I’ll just re-encode in another format and play with the export settings.
I only wired up my HDMI & Toslink that way because my receiver is old and doesn’t have HDMI. My new receiver handles HDMI, so everything runs into it and then out to the TV. Much simpler.
Thanks for your comment.
Why not use VUZE, easy just install drag drop media file and plays straight in Xbox 360