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How to Make a Movie Work on an Xbox 360 Using a Portable Device

The Xbox 360 is much more than a video game system, the USB ports allow you to plug a portable device into your Xbox 360 in order to play video files, taken from your computer, onto your TV screen. Unfortunately the Xbox 360 is not set up to play movie files directly out of the box, so you will need to set this feature up yourself. Once you have accomplished this, you will be able to enjoy your computer's movie files from the convenient viewing of your TV set.

Things You'll Need

AVI or WMV video files or video converting software
FAT32 formatted portable device or a disk formatting program
Computer with Internet connection
Internet connection for your Xbox 360

Instructions

- 1
  Turn on your Xbox 360 and plug in your portable device to the USB port on the front of the console. The portable device needs to be in the FAT32 format for the Xbox 360 to read the device. If your device is not formatted in FAT 32, see resource 1 below to download free formatting software.
- 2
  Select "Videos" from the Xbox 360 menu. On the next menu, select the "Portable Device" option. This option may not be available immediately, so give the Xbox 360 20 seconds to recognize the portable device. On the next menu, select the file you want to play. If you have not downloaded the necessary updates that allow your Xbox 360 to play videos, you will be prompted to do so now. If you already have the update, skip to step 4.
- 3
  Connect your Xbox 360 to the Internet. If you have a wireless router for your Xbox 360 you will already be connected. Otherwise, connect an Ethernet cable to the back of your Xbox 360 and plug the other end into the back of your router. Download the update from the on-screen menu and follow the instructions.
- 4
  Convert your video files to WMV or AVI format. If your file is already in one of these formats you are good to go and your video should now play. If your file needs to be converted, find a free converter by clicking the website link for resource 2 listed below and download the program. You will need to unplug your portable device from the Xbox 360 and plug it into your computer to convert the video to another format. Follow the instructions from the downloaded program to guide you through the conversion process.
- 5
  Plug the portable device into the Xbox 360, select "Video" from the menu, select "Portable Device," then select the file you want to play and choose "Accept" to play the video.

Xbox 360