XBox and DVD-on-CD (miniDVD)... It does *something* but...

[tearex]

Hi XBoxers,

to be honest, usually I wouldn't have bought one but I won it... Now trying to get this thing to play any sort of movie stuff from CD-R/RW. VCD/SVCD obviously isn't recognized. I've made a couple of tries with 352x288 (both MPEG-1 and MPEG-2) low-res DVD format with 48KHz 224K stereo MP2 audio. (I've tried both on Windows 98SE with TMPGenc + ifoedit + ImgTool + Nero, and on Linux with transcode + dvdauthor + mkisofs + cdrecord). The Box does accept CD/R and RW *media* no problem (it's rather new obviously, Kernel/Dashboard 1.00.4871.01, Hardware V1.1) and can play Audio from those media just fine.

It does try to play the movies from the CD/R. what I get is a funny patchwork like thing on the screen. with crazy colors, but here and there parts of the images that really should be there thrown in. The image changes only every couple of seconds. And there are very short bits of sound (which seem to be from the film) about once every one or two seconds. Pressing the "INFO" button on the remote does reveal that the time ticks too fast and rather irregulary but it does advance. If I remove the DVD receiver thingy the box correctly does the little speech about "please remove this DVD" when I try to play the beast.

Unfortunately I don't have a DVD Burner, can't afford one, and don't know anybody who has one around here. So I can't test the stuff from DVD media.

My question is, did any1 ever succeed in replaying any sort of Video from CD-R or RW media on an unmodded XBox. I'd rather not mod it as I haven't decided on selling or keeping it yet and I don't want to spoil the warranty.

Any help greatly appreciated. Do I need certain bitrates maybe? Please get as technical as you need to, I think I can stomach that.

What I haven't tried yet is using the miniDVDs in another standalone player, however they play fine in PowerDVD and Linux mplayer.

Thanks *a lot* in advance.

[Wetmonkey]

the xbox bios will not allow it to read any recordable media, this is to eliminate pirating of games, you can however get a mod chip/ new bios and be able to then playback -r media

[tearex]

Wetmonkey: The media is not the problem. My Box reads CD-R and RW just fine if there's audio on it. Older XBoxen had drives not compatible wiht CD-R media, but CD-RW always worked. Also it doesn't refuse to play the movie, it just doesn't do it right.

[secretagent]

an unmodded xbox will not play cd videos and will only play dvd videos burned with prassi not nero

[Wetmonkey]

if you read above, as i stated above that your xbox bios is not allowing it to read the recordable media, i never stated the media was the issue, the bios in hand is, 2nd issue there have so far as i know have been 3 major variations of drives included with the xbox, yes you will have less issues with -rw media and higher quality media tend to work better, 3rd learn to read. if english is a 2nd or 3rd language then i can understand.
http://www.xboxhacker.net/forums/

[tearex]

if you read above, as i stated above that your xbox bios is not allowing it to read the recordable media, i never stated the media was the issue, the bios in hand is, 2nd issue there have so far as i know have been 3 major variations of drives included with the xbox, yes you will have less issues with -rw media and higher quality media tend to work better, 3rd learn to read. if english is a 2nd or 3rd language then i can understand.

I'm sorry I didn't mean to put you down. However the Box is obviously reading the media. Else how could it do this messy some-sort-of-playback that it is doing. If the bios wasn't allowing it to read the media shouldn't it just refuse to play the disk, like it refuses a VCD or SVCD or any non-XBOX CD-ROM?

As for the drives, seems I do have the newer one. It plays Audio-CD-R (I tried 3 different brands) without the least problems as I said above.

And yes English is not my 1st language so please do forgive grammar and vocabulary oddities.

[Buddah]

I have had sucess playing short videos using CD-RW's on the XBOX without a mod chip. Typically I will take a short movie or TV show and encode it using MPEG-2 making sure the final size of the file is smaller that 650mb. I then author the movie using dvd-it and burn the VOB files to the CD-RW, just like I was creating a DVD. The movie plays fine in my XBOX, but again the quality is no where close to DVD.

[tonyp12]

My guess:

The Xbox thinks the CDR disc is a DVD disc and tries to play it.

But maybe the Xbox as many stand alone dvd player do,
it have problems with that it requires the disc to spin at 8x.


If you created a MiniDVD with really low bitrate
where the Xbox could keep up, would it work????

[tearex]

I have had sucess playing short videos using CD-RW's on the XBOX without a mod chip. Typically I will take a short movie or TV show and encode it using MPEG-2 making sure the final size of the file is smaller that 650mb. I then author the movie using dvd-it and burn the VOB files to the CD-RW, just like I was creating a DVD. The movie plays fine in my XBOX, but again the quality is no where close to DVD.

Cool. So it IS possible. That's what I thought. Maybe dvdauthor and ifoedit don't work too great, or maybe my encoders are shite when it comes to DVD compatibility. Which encoder do you use? and is dvd-it a Good Thing® ?

[Wetmonkey]

its all good linard in the site above i linked to you will find info on how to check which version drive you have on you box by the serial, there have been a few cheap drive microsoft put in to drop the overall cost of the drives after soon after release and once again after that, xbox was costing them $150 US per unit soo.... check what drive you have, some just wont work well with cd media and your S.O.L. i do know there are other mods you can do to make things work out better but not sure if you want to waste the time or $$$

[fmctm1sw]

If you created a MiniDVD with really low bitrate
where the Xbox could keep up, would it work????

Hey...... what about this for PS2?

[tearex]

I've tried other authoring programs by now and the result is always the same: a mess with bits of the correct pictures thrown in here and there for good measure. Maybe my XBox is new enough but the DVD kit is too old. Does any1 know where the playback software is found? In the Box (the DVD receiver only enabling it) or in the receiver itself?

Well of course Microsoft doesn't seem to release firmware updates for consumer installation (typically Microsoft if you ask me - always assume your customers are too stupid to pick their noses - given MS's success maybe they are.)

So maybe this point is mood, but Buddha, can you tell me which Kernel/Dashboard numbers your XBox shows? Turn it on without a disk in the drive, chose Settings -> System Info and after a couple of seconds the numbers will scroll by. Mine has K:1.00.4817.01 D:1.00.4817.01, maybe you have a newer version. My DVD receiver shows Part-Number X08-25402 on the back label, but I didn't find a serial number or such anywhere in the DVD receiver package.

Maybe newer XBox firmware/OS versions can do miniDVD better (or worse ?) than older ones, which would explain the discrepancy. Or maybe the drive doesn't seek fast enough or doesn't seek to exact sector positions with CD type media.

Well whatever, probably I'll just sell the beast and get myself a CyberHome player or some such.

Thanks for anybody who helped so far.