On the Microsoft website, I read that if my PC and Xbox 360 were connected to the Internet via a router, I can stream music, videos, and pictures from my PC to my Xbox 360 without any additional cables and without a wireless adapter. However upon countless Google searches I'm still unable to find a decent article describing how to do this! I read that the only software required (for Windows XP SP2 users) is Windows Media Player 11. But still I can't share any media. Any help/ guidance/ links would be helpful. Thanks

Hmmmm, I could have sworn it was Vista only. I could be wrong though, never looked into it.

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure my friend had to install Zune software on his PC to do that.

Okay, let me give that a try. I also opened all the necessary ports.

Potentially stupid question: are the 360 and the PC behind the same router?

Yes.

Yes Jon, I thoroughly read everything on there. It doesn't tell me anything about how to connect it via Zune, or any troubleshooting tips if it isnt working

You have to make sure that your router supports multicast routing and that you have something like Windows Media Connect installed.

Well, I don't know what you're doing wrong but I had my Xbox 360 connected to my PC exactly 12 seconds after I plugged it in. with no problems at all.

You can use WMP11 on XP. You just need to turn on Media Sharing.

Video sharing is much more picky than music, because it only supports WMVs and MPEG2s (h264 with Zune software).

Well, I'm running both my PC and my Xbox 360 from behind a router

So the PC and Xbox are not directly connected.

Any I also tried sharing with WMP11.

Fixed it!

So apparently I have to go to services.msc and stop the Windows Firewall/ ICS process. And it doesn't make any damn sense.

On another note: What program do you guys use to stream movies / videos to Xbox 360?

...

You stopped the firewall process?

Go find Windows Media Connect. It's a small program, and probably the best solution, because then you aren't using unnecessary Zune software, or WMP 11. Making it talk to the 360 is beyond simple as long as WMC finds it. All you have to do is authorize it, and then select folders you wish to share.

If you CAN'T find it, (you should be able to, but if you can't I won't be terribly surprised, I had to dig a bit last time I needed it) I'll send it to you.

But yeah, WMC is probably the best solution. It's small, not obnoxious or annoying, doesn't install crap you don't need, and doesn't force you to route your media through a program you might not want to use in the first place.

Okay, I'll give it a whirl. But right now TVersity is working great for me (although its video streaming capabilities are somewhat over-rated)

I stream data from my Mac to my 360 - I had to buy a little piece of software to do it (connect360) but it's well worth it. Great having backing music when I'm playing worms, and also just nifty for playing loud music - my speaker system's hooked up to my telly/360.

I didn't want to start a new thread so:

I need a conversion program to convert my avi movies to wmv so I can play them on my Xbox. This tutorial requires me to download and install K-Lite codec pack. However when installing, the exe closes about 2-3 seconds after opening it. I don't know if this is a virus or something, but its really annoying. Anything like this happened to you guys? Know any solution?

I think WinAVI Video Converter will do it without making you pay for it, but don't hold me to that. There's probably better solutions though.

Really I wish MS would just stop being foolish and let the 360 play other formats. WMV sucks.

What program do you use? I wouldn't mind shelling out a few bucks as long as the program is relatively dependable.

I gave TVersity a try. Its supposed to transcode other formats to WMV on the fly, but its not working with all movies, especially DivX encoded ones.

WinAVI. It'll convert to and from a variety of formats.

Awhile back I converted my AVIs of Stand Alone Complex to WMV so I could stream them to the 360. Took forever, and then I decided it was ultimately a waste of time, since I was often pausing to catch up with subtitles that'd flash by too fast.

I just wanted to resurrect this because I recently purchased a Win XP MCE computer (great deal from TigerDirect). I made the decision to do so after watching some of the promotional videos downloaded from Xbox Live on the Media Extender functionality of the 360.

Well the 360 hooked up to a Media Center PC is beyond cool. I was annoyed by the lack of AVI file support and converting files is a pain. I found this awesome little gem: MCE Video Encoder. This program was extremely easy to setup and worth checking out for anyone who might be interested.

Does it actually do anything "OMQAWESOME"? Because right now I'm totally satisfied with just streaming my music. For everything else (DVDs, downloaded movies, picture viewing) I still use my computer really. Mostly because it's right behind me when I'm playing. But if it does something "OMQAWESOME" I might look into it.

The OMQAWESOME feature comes in when you get a TV Tuner. Then you can schedule and watch your shows on it.

Although really, you can do just about everything you can do in Media Center on the PC, besides watch media with weird codecs.

Ah.

Well I have a TV Tuner. And I record shows. But generally it's just easier to watch them on my computer. Makes skipping commercials easier too.

I watch streamed movies and TV shows all the time with my friends/girlfriend, it's easier on the TV.

Xbox 1 is where the real media center's at: XBMC. Hacked Xbox blows me away. They can do so much.

*shrugs* To each his own.

That's what I do my streaming with. It's also the only reason I keep my old xbox around