Converting for play in XBox 360 results in incorrect aspect ratio

[Mule52]

I have been downloading videos and trying to convert them for play on my XBox 360. One of my movies is originally in this format, 720p, BluRay, DD5, 1, X264. MKV file type. I am not sure if all of that is needed. I am using XMedia Recode and I am converting this MKV file to AVI. After conversion, it plays fine on my PC. However, when I play it in XBox 360, the aspect ratio is not correct and it looks awful. It need to be wide screen, but it isn't. I tried changing my XBox settings to be in wide screen, but that did not help.

After conversion, it's codec details are the following:
Type: Video
Codec: XVID
Resolution: 720x576
Display Resolution: 720x576
Frame Rate: 24

Type Audio
Codec: mpga
Channels: stereo
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
Bitrate: 128 kb/s

Can anyone offer suggestions on how to get this to format properly to play on my non-HD TV that has my XBox hooked up to it? I have other movies playing just fine. It is as if this movie needs to be in wide screen and for my XBox to understand this when it plays it.

Thanks for the help!

Mule

[Baldrick]

Use a mkv to mp4 converter, https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/all-in-one-mkv-to-mp4-avchd-ts . The xbox supports mp4 in hd format.


But if you really want it in avi xvid then just use a widescreen size/resolution like 1280x720 or low resolution 640x360(use the same aspect ratio as the source video).

[mh2360]

XenonMKV will probably work. It repackages the MKV file into a MP4 using the original video, though the 5.1 audio would be converted to Dolby Surround 2 channel AAC.

It takes just a few minutes, much quicker than converting the whole thing to another video format.

[Mule52]

Thanks for your help. Still no luck. I think I am confused about one major issue. Will the XBox 360 play MP4 files? I have provided my MediaInfo log dump of the movie I am trying to play.

Will the XBox play MP4? Or will it only play MP4 if I am using TVersity to transcode it on the fly? I am growing tired of trying several different applications to convert my MKV file to an AVI or MP4. If XBox will NOT play MP4, then why am I converting it to MP4? So I can then stream it via TVersity?

General
Unique ID : 231321264417532713185456055991100467092 (0xAE06DAE0B97B981F95150A03721F6794)
Complete name :
Format : Matroska
File size : 5.54 GiB
Duration : 1h 37mn
Overall bit rate : 8 138 Kbps
Movie name :
Encoded date : UTC 2010-10-13 23:27:24
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.1.1 ('Bouncin' Back') built on Jul 3 2010 22:54:08
Writing library : libebml v1.0.0 + libmatroska v1.0.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 9 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 37mn
Bit rate : 7 500 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 692 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.850
Frame rate : 24.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.353
Stream size : 4.99 GiB (90%)
Writing library : x264 core 85 r1442 781d300
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=9 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.40:0.20 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=7 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=7500 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.90
Language : English

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 37mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 446 MiB (8%)
Title : AC3 5.1 640 kbps

[mh2360]

The Xbox 360 will play MP4 files from a USB storage device, an optical disc or over a network share, but it is quite fussy about how H.264 should be encoded.

No more than 3 reference frames should be used, your file has 9, so i'm guessing that XenonMKV threw up an error when you tried to convert your file.

Try XenonMKV again, but first go into "Options" and disable the reference frame check under "Xbox 360 compatibility", it should process the file, and it may or may not play back correctly.

If it doesn't, your choices for this particular file are either conversion or transcoding.

[Mule52]

I gave up and downloaded an Xvid version of the film. I don't like to give up, but that was the better ROI at this point. Thanks for the help.