Win 7 MC + Xbox 360 Extender = NZ HD Freeview??

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Jaxson

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#55581 6-Jan-2010 13:48

Hi all,

Thought I'd put this in the freeview section....

I'm looking initially at setting up a sat based system for my parents using the gear they already have to be able to record TV to their computer and export to DVD if necessary. They live in a non freeview HD / DVB-T area so it has to be sat. This seems a great fit as they already have a computer running windows 7 and I'll just need to add a hauppauge sat card.

I've also just become aware of the natural extention to Windows 7's Media Centre of using an Xbox 360 as a media extender. Seems Media Centre is built into the 360 consoles (?) and they can schedule programs off the guide (filled with EIT data off the freeview sat service) etc etc. This all sounds great and also allows them to view photos etc on their TV. I'll wire an ethernet lead too, so they're not trying to do this on wireless....

Assuming the above is correct (and I welcome any comments on this)....
Can this same setup work for the HD/UHF/DVB-T broadcasts?
Meaning can the media extender handle the freeview HD video and the unique AAC+ or TV3's 5.1 audio?
And I guess can it play a Bluray as well from a bluray drive in the main PC?

Cheers in advance!

billgates

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#287435 6-Jan-2010 13:58

Yep works like you said. I have a Pinnacle DVB-T 73E USB tuner plugged into my Windows 7 machine. Watch Freeview HD everyday on Xbox 360 connected to router via ethernet and works perfect. Record on push of a button using 360 remote. Although my EPG is only 2~3 hours because of MHEG5 (DVB-T uses this) not being supported by Windows.

DVB-S will give you full 8 day listing and Xbox 360 MC also support series recording.

TV3 & TV3 Plus both work fine on Xbox 360. No hassles.

No Xbox 360 cannot play the blu-ray files/disc because it cannot read the codecs.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Mattv

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#287443 6-Jan-2010 14:14

Pretty much as billgates says. It works very well.

You can get full EPG data with a DVB-T only setup with a few workarounds (basically downloading the data from the net and using a 3rd party app)

I believe there is also the option of ripping bluray discs to MKV format and playing them on the 360 that way although it is not simple obviously and I think a little buggy with high bitrate rips. Haven't ever tried it myself.

Jaxson

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#287445 6-Jan-2010 14:17

Wow, thanks man that sounds great.

Yeah I've been told here that within media centre you can map the sat EPG (EIT format) across to the DVB-T channels which sounds cool as. (I think the proviso was that when you record Media Centre will take the best quality format first, so will record a show from DVB-T over DVB-S where the channels have the same content, but hey that's fine).

Can 360 do TV3 dolby 5.1 surround out to receiver via optical/digital coax?

Yes I understand the 360 does not have a bluray drive, but can you put a bluray disk into a bluray drive on the computer (which win 7 media centre should hopefully play) and then view the disc via the 360 extender?

Thanks heaps!

Jaxson

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#287450 6-Jan-2010 14:19

Cheers Mattv, Stoked/surpised to hear that the 360 can play the AAC+ audio, that's been a real hang up in the past. This is looking pretty attractive. I have a PS3 at the moment but am strongly considering a Win 7 upgrade with media centre and the use of cheap 360's to farm this out to other tv's in the house.

billgates

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#287452 6-Jan-2010 14:22

Yep the 360 will do 5.1 surround sound if you have your 360 connected to your receiver via optical cable.

No the 360 cannot play bluray disks/files. Your PC has the necessary codecs installed to play bluray files/disks but 360 only supports limited codecs. Xbox 360 MC will only play files that it can read because of limited codecs it can support. Lucky for us, it can read DVB-T and DVB-S codecs.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Mattv

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#287461 6-Jan-2010 14:53

And as the 360 can decode H.264 this is why you can rip the bluray disc to an MKV file on the PC and then play it on the 360 but it's not a one step process and takes a bit of time :-(

Samsung

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Jaxson

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#288853 11-Jan-2010 08:59

Hi guys,

Silly question (?) but can this be done with an old school Xbox, or does it have to be the 360?

Cheers.