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How to Use an Old Xbox As a Streaming Media Center

Whether you have outgrown your Xbox 360 video games or just moved on to another gaming platform that you enjoy, your unused Xbox 360 console is probably just sitting in a corner somewhere, collecting dust. Rather than neglecting your old 360 console, though, put it to use a streaming media center. The Xbox 360 may not be the cutting-edge console it was upon its initial release, but it is still more than powerful enough to stream music, photos and videos. The fact that the Xbox 360's architecture is similar to a PC makes it the perfect candidate for a media center.

Things You'll Need

TVersity (free version)
FFDShow codec pack
Haali Media Splitter
RJ-45 cable or wireless adapter for PS3
Broadband router (wired or wireless)

Instructions

- 1
  Open your web browser and navigate to the FreeCodec.com website (see Resources). Download the FFDShow decoder and install the utility on your computer. Reboot the PC if prompted.
- 2
  Download the Haali Media Splitter utility and TVersity media-streaming server (see Resources). Install the applications on your computer. Reboot the PC again if prompted to do so.
- 3
  Launch the FFDShow application on your computer. Then click "Settings" and enable the "Enable Subtitles" option. Enable the following options in the "Settings" window: "Accept Embedded Subtitles," "Accept SSA, ASS, and ASS2 Subtitles (Experimental)" and "Decode Closed Captions." Click the "OK" button and then exit the FFDShow decoder utility.
- 4
  Launch the TVersity media server application. Click "General" on the menu bar, and then "Media Sharing Device/Xbox." Click and enable the "Always Transcode" option on the "Transcoder" tab. Click and enable the "Optimize for Quality," "1280x720" and "Minimum Compression" option. Click the "OK" button, and close TVersity.
- 5
  Open "Computer" or "Windows Explorer," and then navigate to the "C:\Program Files (x86)\TVersity" folder. Scroll down through the list file in the folder until you reach the "profiles.xml" file, and then right-click on it. Click "Open with," on the pop-up menu and then "Notepad." When "Notepad" opens the text file, click "Edit/Find," on the menu bar. Enter "Xbox" in the search box and click the "Find" button.
- 6
  Edit the text in the parameters below the first instance of "Xbox" in the "profiles.xml" file. In the "profiles.xml" file, you must change two values: "video=video/mpeg2" and "online Video=video/mpeg2." Change them to "video=video/mpeg16" and "online Video=video/mpeg16."
- 7
  Click the "Start" button. Enter "Services.msc" in the search box and press the "Enter" key. Scroll to the "TVersityMediaServer" entry in the "Services" window. Double-click the "TVersityMediaServer" value.
- 8
  Click the "Log On" tab in the "TVersityMediaServer Properties" window. Change the value in "Login" from "Local System" to a Windows user account that has Administrator privileges on the PC. To do this, click the "Find Now" button, and then browse the list of user accounts and choose the Administrator account to use when streaming video to the Xbox 360. Click the "OK" button.
- 9
  Restart the TVersity application on your computer and minimize the program to the task bar.
- 10
  Plug the RJ-45 cable or wireless network adapter into the Ethernet port on the Xbox 360. Connect the other end of the RJ-45 cable into a broadband router if not using a wireless network adapter. Turn on the Xbox 360, and wait for the console to negotiate with the router and automatically receive an IP address.
- 11
  Browse to the "Videos" tab on main Xbox 360 menu screen. Scroll to the "TVersity Video Server" on the list, and then press the "X" button on the Xbox controller. Scroll through the list of videos on the PC, and then press the "X" button to view the selected video on the TV connected to the Xbox 360.

Xbox 360