As many of you will already know , the Xbox360 is the best games console on the market. Alright, alright – calm down! I jest. It is, of course, entirely opinion whether you prefer the Xbox360 or the PS3 (or even the Wii!). But one thing is certain – the media streaming experience on the Xbox360 is fantastic.
If you’re like me, you’d much rather experience your pictures, music and most importantly, videos on your TV and decent sound system than on your PC/laptop – but you’re probably not a fan of having to move your machine over to the TV and fiddle around with cables and such. The easiest way for most people to get their content onto their TV/sound system (and by most people, I of course mean most people likely to read this kind of blog, ie. Xbox owners!), is to stream your digital content to your existing system (TV, 5.1, etc) – via the Xbox. This is handy, because it’s already in place, supports 5.1 audio and, of course, High Definition.
There are a number of ways to stream media to the Xbox360. If you’re a proud owner of a laptop/PC running Windows 7, then you’re laughing! Windows 7 comes with an application called Windows Media Centre pre-installed. This basically allows you to add the folders in which you keep your videos, pictures, and music to a database – and let it index all of that for you, allowing you to a) play back on your PC, but in our case b) play back over your network, on via said Xbox. All you need to do (having added your media to Windows Media Centre) is start up Media Centre on your PC, then go to your Xbox. In the ‘My Xbox’ tab, scroll along to the ‘Windows Media Centre’ Extender button, follow the instructions to link the two and you’re done! Start streaming your media, and enjoy.
You might also be running a different variant of Windows which includes Media Centre – if so, get cracking on the above instructions – but if not, there is another way of streaming to your console, this time using Windows Media Player (version 11 and above, Windows XP SP2 and above). It’s essentially the same process – you use Media Player to index your folders for your videos, music and pics, then enable sharing to the Xbox (instructions here). This time, though, your media will be available on the Xbox through the individual channels – Videos, Pictures, Music. An advantage of using this method is that you can browse through your videos, etc without having to load up the Media Centre Extender. You also don’t even have to have Windows Media Player open – once its indexed your files, it’ll allow sharing automatically (you will need your PC on, though!).
There you have it – you can now listen to your music library, watch a slideshow of your pictures, and watch your videos, all from the comfort of your couch through your Xbox360 (comprehensive list of supported CoDec combinations for video streaming here). Personally, I actually prefer the second method of streaming – although I use a dedicated Media Server I built with my fellow Editor and ‘Big Boss Man’ of Gizunk, Ben (story for another day, folks!). Some people prefer the full, polished feel that the Windows Media Centre Extender provides – have a go with both options and see what you like! Do you have any questions on how to set up your media streaming experience – or do you have any tips/tricks to share? Let us know in the comments below.
Tags: media streaming, windows media centre, xbox360
Posted under Games, Software, Tech, Tutorials
