ESS Beta 2: XBox 360 & Windows Vista Media Center

[sjgore]

Hi,

I've just installed ESS Beta 2, and (unlike Beta 1b) my XBox 360 can detect my PC and then successfully connect to it.

In Windows Vista Media Center on the 360, everything seems to work fine. I can watch live TV, play MP3's, and view pictures. But when I try and play a video (any video) from the Video Library, I get a message saying 'Video Error - Check codecs are installed properly and restart media center'. When I go into Media Center on the PC, the same videos play fine.

I'm running ESS Beta 2 in Interactive Mode, and I've clicked Allow/Remember for any pop-ups. My OS is Vista Ultimate 32-Bit, by the way.

If I disable ESS Beta 2 completely (from within the GUI), the problem still persists. If I uninstall ESS Beta 2, the problem disappears.

FWIW, I also have this exact same problem with Kaspersky Internet Security 7, but interestingly not with ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.1 (Vista version).

Any help appreciated.

Steve.

[pdawg17]

-{ Quote: "Hi,

I've just installed ESS Beta 2, and (unlike Beta 1b) my XBox 360 can detect my PC and then successfully connect to it.

In Windows Vista Media Center on the 360, everything seems to work fine. I can watch live TV, play MP3's, and view pictures. But when I try and play a video (any video) from the Video Library, I get a message saying 'Video Error - Check codecs are installed properly and restart media center'. When I go into Media Center on the PC, the same videos play fine.

I'm running ESS Beta 2 in Interactive Mode, and I've clicked Allow/Remember for any pop-ups. My OS is Vista Ultimate 32-Bit, by the way.

If I disable ESS Beta 2 completely (from within the GUI), the problem still persists. If I uninstall ESS Beta 2, the problem disappears.

FWIW, I also have this exact same problem with Kaspersky Internet Security 7, but interestingly not with ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.1 (Vista version).

Any help appreciated.

Steve." }-

You are using Transcode360 I assume? Go to www.transcode360.co.uk and find a download called "anti-virus fix"...that should correct your problem...

[sjgore]

-{ Quote: "You are using Transcode360 I assume?" }-
No. Just the 'bog standard' Windows Vista Media Center, with no add-ons.

Steve.

[sjgore]

Anybody?

[kC_]

your mediacenter will support whatever codecs you instal.. e.g xvid/x264 etc

but if you try to use your xbox360 as an extender, it will only play the codecs that xbox360 supports..
you will need to convert your videos to .mpeg or .wmv for the xbox to play them.

or another alternative is to use tversity or transcode360 as a media server, these will automatically convert whatever your source formats as they stream.
but as this is ESS beta forum, you will have to look elsewhere for help with that.
http://www.transcode360.co.uk/
http://tversity.com/

-{ Quote: "What kind of videos can I play using the Media Center Extender?

Microsoft Windows Media Video (WMV) 7, 8, & 9

* - Maximum resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p) at 30 frames per second
* - Windows Media Audio Standard or Windows Media Audio Pro audio
* - WMV content may be Windows Media DRM-protected
* - Bitrates up to 8 Mbps

WMV Image 1 & 2

* - Maximum resolution of 800x600

MPEG-1

* - MPEG-1 layer I and II audio

MPEG-2, DVR-MS

* - Maximum resolution of 1920x1080 (1080i)
* - MPEG-1 layer I and II or AC-3 audio
* - Bitrates up to 19.2 Mbps
" }-

[sjgore]

Thanks for the reply.

The video files are MPEG2, and play perfectly on the XBox 360 until I install ESS Beta 2 on my PC. Disabling ESS doesn't fix the problem, but uninstalling it does.

ESS would therefore appear to be installing something that interferes with Media Center, regardless of how ESS is configured.

Steve.

[pdawg17]

-{ Quote: "Thanks for the reply.

The video files are MPEG2, and play perfectly on the XBox 360 until I install ESS Beta 2 on my PC. Disabling ESS doesn't fix the problem, but uninstalling it does.

ESS would therefore appear to be installing something that interferes with Media Center, regardless of how ESS is configured.

Steve." }-

It sounds like it is something with ESS...however I have it working for me so it can be done...do you have the prog set to automatic or interactive?

[kC_]

yeh my xbox is workin in extender mode (from an mce2005 machine)
also running a tversity upnp mediaserver on an xp pro sp2 machine for streaming mainly Mp3 & Pictures

was a bit flaky in beta1b but allworking great in beta2..

so only difference here is mines extending from MCE2005 yours is extending from Vista...

[sjgore]

Problem still exists in ESS RC1.

Please could somebody from ESET comment on this?

Just to re-iterate an important point from above: It is NOT a firewall setting that is causing the issue, it is simply the fact that ESS is installed on the machine.
Disabling ESS doesn't fix the problem, but uninstalling it does.

Steve.

[sjgore]

I installed NOD32 v3 RC1 last night (instead of the full ESS) on a fresh Vista install, and the above problem above still exists.

Therefore, I think it can safely be concluded that it is NOT the firewall causing the issue, but something that the AV component is installing.

The problem does not exist with the latest version of NOD32 2.7. As with ESS RC1, uninstalling NOD32 v3 RC1 fixes the problem.

Steve.

[sjgore]

One further post (this is like talking to myself in a big cave):

After a bit of googling, it seems that this is a common problem with Vista & XBox 360s with anti-virus and firewall products, and also affects Kaspersky KIS & KAV Versions 6 and 7.

From my own investigations, I already knew that the same problem existed with KIS7, but I tried the trial of ZoneAlarm 7.1 (for Vista) and the problem does not exist.

The problem is specifically related to streaming MPEG2 files from a PC to a XBox 360, and a lot of people are having the problem:

http://forums.xbox.com/1/10059806/ShowPost.aspx#10059806

http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/174917.aspx

There would be a lot of grateful people if ESET could get this problem sorted.

Steve.

[sjgore]

Yes!!! After a bit more searching...

The following Microsoft hotfix resolves the issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933049

I hope this solution is useful to somebody.

Now running ESS RC1 quite happily.

Steve.