Stream MKV to XBOX360 from Twonky?

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dimsim

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#105516 5-Jul-2012 20:18

Have just bought an xbox360 for the kids but want to stream media from my QNAP Nas. Some already work well AVI, MPG, WMV, and Music files etc but am struggling with MKV. I see that's its possible via via Windows 7 when the XBOX is acting as an extender but haven't found any info when streaming form a DLNA server.

If its not possible does anyone have a great way to convert all those mkv's and other video files to a more useful format for the Twonky/Xbox relationship?

Also DVD's ripped to a VIDEO_TS folder and VOB files also don't play easily (20 minute chunks). What's the best format to have a DVD in? ISO? MPG?

Regs

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#651566 5-Jul-2012 22:31

mkv is just a container, you should be able to grab any number of tools that can demux the audio and video streams and remux them in mp4. because its a de/remux, it should take a minute or so for a gig of video, instead of a couple of hours for a transcoding...

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gehenna

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#651588 5-Jul-2012 23:10

Quicktime 7 Pro will let you do this if you have it.

dimsim

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#651609 6-Jul-2012 00:05

gehenna: Quicktime 7 Pro will let you do this if you have it.

I get Error -2048: Couldnt open the file <MOVIE>.mkv because it is not a file that quicktime understands?

stevenz

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#651742 6-Jul-2012 10:49

WinFF will convert pretty much anything to pretty much anything else, and it's free. It'd be a full transcode though.

You may need additional codecs installed for Quicktime to understand MKVs assuming it uses DirectShow codecs.

The .VOB files on DVDs are essentially just MPEG files with a different extender. If you rename them to .MPG (assuming they're decrypted) then they should play directly using the default audio stream.

The 360's DLNA support is very temperamental in my experience. The DLNA built into my cheapish TV seems to be less picky much to my surprise.

You might want to see if you can upgrade Twonky on the NAS as well, some versions of it are horribly broken.

If your NAS is a compatible versoin, then you might want to look at Plex media server, it's a far superior DLNA solution to Twonky.

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lostangel

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#651862 6-Jul-2012 13:42

Try another app that will transcode from mkv on the fly (if your nas cpu is fast enough).

If you have a server box around I'd recommend running xbmc to stream from your shared folders on the nas.
I have it running on both win and linux here and having no problems with mkv files.

And having it grab the movie covers and info makes finding things to watch much easier too :)

dimsim

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#651869 6-Jul-2012 13:51

lostangel: Try another app that will transcode from mkv on the fly (if your nas cpu is fast enough).

If you have a server box around I'd recommend running xbmc to stream from your shared folders on the nas.
I have it running on both win and linux here and having no problems with mkv files.

And having it grab the movie covers and info makes finding things to watch much easier too :)

its a QNAP NAS, only entry level single disk so I doubt the CPU is good enough for on-the-fly transcoding. I'll have a look at XBMC but was hoping to achieve all this with a single box NAS solution.

I'm wondering now if I would have had better luck with PS3?

lostangel

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#651889 6-Jul-2012 14:21

dimsim:
I'm wondering now if I would have had better luck with PS3?

I doubt you would have, previously i've tried using tversity and twonky on a windows core2 duo machine and found them both to handle mkv poorly although, if you have a modded(hacked) ps3, you can use the showtime media player app which can play some mkvs and supports playing streamed contents.

I'm uncertain if there is anything similar to showtime for xbox 360 but if there is it'd require modding of the xbox too to use the non-official apps.

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stevenz

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#651968 6-Jul-2012 16:15

I found PS3MediaServer to work better than TVersity and Twonky when streaming to the PS3 or the Xbox360. I don't think it's been updated for a while, but the formats have hardly changed so I doubt it'd matter much.

Plus it's free. It's java based so will run on most things, possibly not the QNAP though.

Both TVersity and Twonky have poor console compatibility in my experience. I don't think DLNA is a very well adhered to "standard".

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th3r3turn

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#651978 6-Jul-2012 16:37

stevenz: I found PS3MediaServer to work better than TVersity and Twonky when streaming to the PS3 or the Xbox360. I don't think it's been updated for a while, but the formats have hardly changed so I doubt it'd matter much.

Plus it's free. It's java based so will run on most things, possibly not the QNAP though.

Both TVersity and Twonky have poor console compatibility in my experience. I don't think DLNA is a very well adhered to "standard".

+1 PS3MediaServer is the best ATM. Works great steaming to my 360.

gehenna

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#663819 30-Jul-2012 09:04

dimsim:
gehenna: Quicktime 7 Pro will let you do this if you have it.

I get Error -2048: Couldnt open the file .mkv because it is not a file that quicktime understands?

Sorry you probably need to install Perian first for QT to be able to open and play the file.

draculahowsby

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#664333 30-Jul-2012 23:59

i use ps3 media server 1080p lags on wifi but flawless on wired. works with ps3 and internet bravia tv perfectly. fastforwarding has issues but seeking works perfect.