Video troubles:  To simply playback a DVD on your new Windows MC machine you’ll need a codec that is compatible with Windows Media Player10.  If you’ve bought a pre-built WinMC HTPC it’s probably already installed.  But if you’ve installed the Operating System like I did you’ll need a decoder to playback DVD. 

If you’re scouring the internet looking for free codecs you’ll want to see if the one you’ve found is really DRM 10 compatible.  To see if your codec is compatible with Windows MP10 DRM check it with this handy utility.

Here is Microsoft’s list of suitable codecs you must pay for.  Nvidia’s is highly rated among users and has a free 30 day trial.  It’s sad that a fresh install of WinMC isn’t enough to play back dvd.  As crappy as that sounds, you just have to bite it. 

Now for your next hurdle, you want to play back video through the Xbox360 extender.  Microsoft’s Xbox360 extender feature list is a bit deceptive because it doesn’t come right out and tell you what can’t do!

Microsoft says:

Xbox.com’s FAQ says:

Q: What media file types are supported when streaming content from a PC running Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005?

A:  Video

Windows Media Video (WMV) 7, WMV 8, and WMV 9

Maximum resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p)

Windows Media Audio Standard or Windows Media Audio Pro audio

WMV content may be Windows Media DRM-protected

MPEG-1 with MPEG-1 layer I or II audio

MPEG-2

Maximum resolution of 1920x1080 (1080i)

AC-3 or MPEG-1 layer I or II audio

WMV Image 1 (Photo Story 1 & 2), and WMV Image 2 (Photo Story 3)

Your Windows Media Center PC can back up a DVD by copying its VIDEO_TS folder onto your computer.  WinMC will happily play this back as a full DVD.  If you’ve got your WinMC box hooked directly to the A/V system you’re all set.  But if you’re avoiding that by using an extender like me (because you’re too cheap to buy the high end video/sound cards) you’re in trouble.

Try to stream that VIDEO_TS from your WinMC machine to the Xbox360 and you’ll get this dreadful wakeup call:

Video Not Supported

Video cannot be viewed in media center from a remote desktop connection.

This FAQ will give you a straightforward run down of what video you can and cannot stream to your Xbox360.  It’s a nice presentation with nice images, and probably the utility it sells you (Videora's Xbox360 Converter) is probably the best utility for anything but a backed up DVD.

So you want to playback DVD backups through WindowsMC to your Xbox360 extender?

What you need.

• DVD Decoder.  Must support Windows Media Player 10.  This gets your computer reading DVDs period.  You can’t do anything without this.
• DVD Decrypter:  Most DVDs are copy protected today.  WinMC will playback a DVD with only a decoder.  But to stream it to the Xbox360 you must remove the encryption.
• MPG2 Conversion:  This is where it’s confusing.  A VOB file is MPG2, this will stream to Xbox360 but not as a VOB.  Videora’s message board is full of confused individuals who believe they must transcode from VOB using the Xbox360 Converter utility.  This works but is not optimal.

Tomorrow we'll cover the rest of Video using good old fashioned logic

Spok will be proud

Get ready, tomorrow I’ll close the deal on Video streaming to your Xbox 360.  You’ll learn the Kung-Fu secrets that one might expect would normally require several consecutive hours learning on AV message boards.  But it’ll all be distilled to the bare facts, Monday before noon EST.

Not being here would be illogical.