Help me find the right file type

[Solidify]

OK, I'm just going to get this out there. I've been bending over backwards trying to find the right file types that will play on both my Xbox 360 and XviD certified DVD player. I've been watching media on my console and DVD player for several years now and have never had an issue. What I usually do is donwload the standard sized DVD rip from torrent websites (approximately 700MB films) and burn them onto DVD+/-R discs as data discs, not DVD-Roms, since there's no sense in wasting an entire disc for one movie when I can fit several on one.

Since the DVD player is not Bluray and my Xbox does not have a wide-array of supported codecs, I would always try to get my films and TV series in AVI file format because that file type works on both my DVD player and Xbox 360.

Recently, I found a great video converter. Afterwards, I decided to download a 1080p version of a film (MP4 file) and converted it to an AVI so that I can play it on my Xbox 360 but it didn't work. Nor did it work on my DVD player. This led me to believe that the container is not what decides whether media can be played but rather, its the audio and video codecs that the film uses (codecs are streams inside the container). Having that said that, the usual 700MB films that I used to download must use different audio and/or video codecs that what the MP4 file uses, which is why when I converted it to an AVI, it still didn't work. At least that's how I understand it.

Here are my questions;

• Can anyone confirm that its the audio and video stream (codecs) that determine whether a DVD player or Xbox 360 can play the file and not the container (matroska, avi, etc.)?
• If I wanted to start watching full HD (1080p) films on both my Xbox 360 and non-Bluray DVD player (but still XviD certified), what file types would I need to be going for and what type of video and audio streams would this container need to have?

I'm looking for someone that really know their stuff to help me out with this, quite possibly backing up their information with sources and links to articles. Why? I'm tired of burning through discs to find out the file is not supported.

[hech54]

Your Xbox 360 supports a variety of video formats, with playback quality dependent on the type of video you are attempting to play. Read through these specifications and tips to understand the capabilities of streaming media from your PC to your Xbox 360

Supported File Types
The Xbox 360 supports AVI, WMV, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264 and QuickTime movie formats. The file extensions included are as follows: .avi, .divx, .wmv, .mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, and .mov.

Video Playback
For video files with the WMV container, playback occurs at 15 Mbps (Mega-Bytes Per Second) with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Files with the H.264 container have the same resolution, but are played back at 10 Mbps. For AVI and MPEG-4 Part 2 video files, playback is 5 Mbps at 1280 x 720 resolution.

Audio Playback
The Xbox 360 supports WMA 7-9 and Lossless audio profiles for WMV video formats. Dolby Digital and MP3 profiles are supported in AVI formats. For MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 encoded videos, the console supports only two-channel AAC audio encoding.

Streaming Video
With Zune software, the Xbox 360 can stream unprotected AVI, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264, and WMV video formats. Through Windows Media Player, protected and unprotected WMV videos can be streamed.

Source(s):

Video Playback & Audio Streaming FAQ for the Xbox 360

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100413121045AALfcHy

[Solidify]

Your Xbox 360 supports a variety of video formats, with playback quality dependent on the type of video you are attempting to play. Read through these specifications and tips to understand the capabilities of streaming media from your PC to your Xbox 360

Supported File Types
The Xbox 360 supports AVI, WMV, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264 and QuickTime movie formats. The file extensions included are as follows: .avi, .divx, .wmv, .mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, and .mov.

Video Playback
For video files with the WMV container, playback occurs at 15 Mbps (Mega-Bytes Per Second) with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Files with the H.264 container have the same resolution, but are played back at 10 Mbps. For AVI and MPEG-4 Part 2 video files, playback is 5 Mbps at 1280 x 720 resolution.

Audio Playback
The Xbox 360 supports WMA 7-9 and Lossless audio profiles for WMV video formats. Dolby Digital and MP3 profiles are supported in AVI formats. For MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 encoded videos, the console supports only two-channel AAC audio encoding.

Streaming Video
With Zune software, the Xbox 360 can stream unprotected AVI, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264, and WMV video formats. Through Windows Media Player, protected and unprotected WMV videos can be streamed.

Source(s):

Video Playback & Audio Streaming FAQ for the Xbox 360

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100413121045AALfcHy

That's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. Now I know which movies to download and what codecs they must have in order for them to function on my Xbox 360. However, I still have two unanswered inquiries;

• What about for my DVD player? How do I know what it supports? (KOSS KS5509-2) I tried calling their support but KOSS Electronics is no longer in existence apparently...
• And I noticed you didn't mention anything about DivX although most of the films I download have DivX as a codec. Can you elaborate on that?

[jman98]

Most DVD players that support Divx playback do not play files with resolutions greater than 720x576. So most likely there will be no HD Divx playback support on your Koss player.

To make things simple, just consider that AVI=Divx in hech54's post.

You might want to look at this sticky as the encoding options listed at the very top can cause playback problems on some players. Since you are downloading files, it's worth being aware of them as you may eventually encounter files that use some of these.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/290800-My-DivX-DVD-Player-can-t-play-my-avi-DivX-xvid-video