Play MKV files on Xbox 360 without transcoding

[BajiRav]

Windows 7 has native support for AVCHD which is nothing but H.264/AC3 inside a m2ts container. This means that Windows Media Center can now play these files natively.

Most MKV media that I have seen (personally I have just two MKV files) is H.264 with AC3 audio. So all I needed to do was change the container from mkv to m2ts. Since this method does not need any lossy transcoding, it is far easier and much faster. As long as your source is good, the result is pretty much guaranteed.

Required:

1. A decent spec PC with Windows 7

2. SmartLabs tsMuxer (freeware, no install required)

3. Xbox 360 :p with Media Center extender enabled.

4. MKV media with AVC/H.264 video and AC3 audio

Procedure:

1. Start tsMuxer and add your MKV clip in the input section

2. In the Tracks section check if you see expected tracks. I included the subtitle track but apparently WMC and WMP don't use it.

3. Did not do anything in the General track options setting

4. In the Output section select M2TS muxing and select desired location.

5. Now hit Start muxing button at the bottom.

6. Depending on your PC, it will take 5-10mins to perform a pass through conversion of the clip.

7. If all goes well, Windows Explorer will display a thumbnail for this. Try playing it in WMP and check if it plays without problems.

8. Now move the m2ts file to your Video library.

OR

8. Media Center has a special library called "Movie Library" that you can setup from its settings. e.g. e:\Movies. Move the m2ts file to this location.

9. Now give Windows Search enough time to index the new file. For me it was roughly 5mins.

10. Launch WMC from Xbox 360

11. Navigate to either Pictures + Videos>video library or Movies>movie library and play the file.

For me this worked without any problems at the very first attempt. I haven't experimented much with tsMuxer besides whatever I wrote above. This obviously will not work through the dashboard since Xbox 360 doesn't recognize the format (it did not show up in list for me). I am sure they will add the support soon because all consumer HD camcorders use m2ts(or mts) files. PS3 probably supports m2ts format already because of Sony's handycam connection.

Hope this helps people who have Windows 7 installed. I am using build 7057. Although Media Center can be shaky at times so YMMV. :/

[Revolution.]

yeah but whats the point, you might as well convert it to a format it understands..

cbb until they release native support for most formats..

but nice work doing all this work :)

[BajiRav]

yeah but whats the point, you might as well convert it to a format it understands..

cbb until they release native support for most formats..

but nice work doing all this work :)

I don't know when MS will support MKV - probably never, knowing how long it took them to do H.264. Besides this is much better than lossy conversion. IMO anyway.

[Veedems Veteran]

hopefully Windows 7 will actually connect via media center to my xbox. im one of the many who can't get it to work with Vista.

[Argi]

Can't try it atm but looks promising. Shame that MS is still behind the times with mkv support.

[I am Reid]

My output file was only 720x480

[Konstanov]

Just buy Badaboom if you have a recent graphics card, it takes 15-30 minutes for my graphics cards to convert a .mkv file to .mpeg4 with the highest quality settings.

[limok]

So if this works then theoretically you can stream unprotected Bluray AVCHD to the 360 using Media Center.

[giga Veteran]

How about DTS?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

IIRC it is not possible to stream AC3 5.1 or DTS to the 360 if you remux H264 content.

That's from the creators of MKV2VOB and PS3Media Server.

If you want AC3 5.1 I believe you have to transcode. DTS is just not possible full stop - It only works on the PS3 as the creators of the above applications found a way to trick the PS3 into sending the DTS sound track to your receiver untouched, so your receiver is actually decoding it, not the PS3. It's done by confusing the PS3 into thinking the track is 2 channel PCM, but when it actually reaches your receiver, your receiver knows its DTS and not 2.0 PCM.

If the 360 supported LPCM I believe they may have been able to do the same trick, but the 360 doesn't support HD audio.

People need to understand MKV support on either the 360 or PS3 wouldn't really change anything, it's just a container, codec support is what matters most. Containers can easily be changed.

From 3r1c (MKV2VOB)

There is no way to get x264+ac3 working on xbox 360.

There is 3 ways:

1. convert the ac3 to aac stereo and mux to mp4

2. convert the video to mpeg2+ac3.

3. convert the video+audio to WMV

With transcoding set to always and codec set to xvid, mkv2vob will create xbox360 playable files.

but it converts the video not the audio, this will take much longer then AAC conversion.

But with AAC you will only get stereo, with xvid you get to keep the ac3 5.1

So it's either/or - You can get 5.1 if you transcode video, but if you remux video you get stereo AAC.

Edited April 4, 2009 by Audioboxer

[DanManIt]

i really wish microsoft would just add support for .mkv files

[bob21]

I really wish people would stop using this crap.

[Vandalsquad]

You make a point, but its good for anime... and which is why im guessing 90% of the people want the container supported including me.

[BajiRav]

IIRC it is not possible to stream AC3 5.1 or DTS to the 360 if you remux H264 content.

That's from the creators of MKV2VOB and PS3Media Server.

If you want AC3 5.1 I believe you have to transcode. DTS is just not possible full stop - It only works on the PS3 as the creators of the above applications found a way to trick the PS3 into sending the DTS sound track to your receiver untouched, so your receiver is actually decoding it, not the PS3. It's done by confusing the PS3 into thinking the track is 2 channel PCM, but when it actually reaches your receiver, your receiver knows its DTS and not 2.0 PCM.

If the 360 supported LPCM I believe they may have been able to do the same trick, but the 360 doesn't support HD audio.

People need to understand MKV support on either the 360 or PS3 wouldn't really change anything, it's just a container, codec support is what matters most. Containers can easily be changed.

From 3r1c (MKV2VOB)

So it's either/or - You can get 5.1 if you transcode video, but if you remux video you get stereo AAC.

Media Center is independent of the Xbox dashboard. That's why with Vista you couldn't play Xvid in WMC but you could do it in the dashboard. Windows 7 Media Center now supports AVCHD which is H.264 + AC3. I think I was able to play 5.1. I will check that later today.

[giga Veteran]

Media Center is independent of the Xbox dashboard. That's why with Vista you couldn't play Xvid in WMC but you could do it in the dashboard. Windows 7 Media Center now supports AVCHD which is H.264 + AC3. I think I was able to play 5.1. I will check that later today.

Your own screenshots show it downmixing to two channel AC3. (I think, I've never used either of those programs)

edit: Nevermind, it looks like its just demuxing and muxing it, not downmixing.

Edited April 6, 2009 by giga

[OhMuffin]

I really wish people would stop using this crap.

This crap?

MKV is an amazing container. Just because you have no use for it doesn't mean thousands of people do.

Most of the *Video* I download is MKV. I would love to simply stream it to my 360 and watch it on my huge plasma.

[kazuyette]

Media Center is independent of the Xbox dashboard. That's why with Vista you couldn't play Xvid in WMC but you could do it in the dashboard. Windows 7 Media Center now supports AVCHD which is H.264 + AC3. I think I was able to play 5.1. I will check that later today.

Mate, u're doing it wrong and don't understand a lot of stuff, let me show u it ... :)

As AB already wrote a lot of interesting stuff, I'm gonna add some stuff to this thread since I own both consoles and know my way around playing mkv on both.

1- The xbox CANNOT play 5.1 AC3 out of the box.

2- The xbox CAN play H264 content up to profile 4.1

3- The xbox CANNOT play files with a DTS track AT ALL ! ( except DVDs and HDDVDs if you still have one )

4- The xbox CAN play H264 files with an AC3 track once the profile is changed ( see n?2) and the AC3 track downsampled to AC3 2.0

5- when playing H264 content, you're limited to 1280*720.

6- The only way to get 1080p files, with 5.1 sound, playing on your xbox is to transcode them to WMV9 or 10.

7- The only software you'll ever need for converting/transcoding stuff on your 360 is GotSent ( A LOT much simpler than mkv2vob if you only got an x360 ).

That's all I remember now:))

P.S. : for all misinformed dudes out there check this link straight from msdn : CLICKY

[digitalsoft]

Don't have time to read this thread but the only MKV converter you need is 'XenonMKV' - best one I've found. Perfect, literally!

[limok]

Is anyone else else have problems playing m2ts and ts files on Xbox via Media Center, I get a slight noticeable stutter when playing these files. The same file but in a mpeg container play fine.

[kazuyette]

Is anyone else else have problems playing m2ts and ts files on Xbox via Media Center, I get a slight noticeable stutter when playing these files. The same file but in a mpeg container play fine.

I never tried to play a m2ts file with Media Center since the Xbox can already play them via the dashboard

[BajiRav]

Mate, u're doing it wrong and don't understand a lot of stuff, let me show u it ... :)

As AB already wrote a lot of interesting stuff, I'm gonna add some stuff to this thread since I own both consoles and know my way around playing mkv on both.

1- The xbox CANNOT play 5.1 AC3 out of the box.

2- The xbox CAN play H264 content up to profile 4.1

3- The xbox CANNOT play files with a DTS track AT ALL ! ( except DVDs and HDDVDs if you still have one )

4- The xbox CAN play H264 files with an AC3 track once the profile is changed ( see n?2) and the AC3 track downsampled to AC3 2.0

5- when playing H264 content, you're limited to 1280*720.

6- The only way to get 1080p files, with 5.1 sound, playing on your xbox is to transcode them to WMV9 or 10.

7- The only software you'll ever need for converting/transcoding stuff on your 360 is GotSent ( A LOT much simpler than mkv2vob if you only got an x360 ).

That's all I remember now:))

P.S. : for all misinformed dudes out there check this link straight from msdn : CLICKY

Oh boy, is it too difficult to understand this part?

Media Center is independent of the Xbox dashboard.

If you connect xbox 360 to a Vista media center, it won't even play Xvid/Divx. But with Windows 7 it supports a whole lot of different formats.

[The_Observer]

Windows 7 has native support for AVCHD which is nothing but H.264/AC3 inside a m2ts container. This means that Windows Media Center can now play these files natively.

Most MKV media that I have seen (personally I have just two MKV files) is H.264 with AC3 audio. So all I needed to do was change the container from mkv to m2ts. Since this method does not need any lossy transcoding, it is far easier and much faster. As long as your source is good, the result is pretty much guaranteed.

Required:

1. A decent spec PC with Windows 7

2. SmartLabs tsMuxer (freeware, no install required)

3. Xbox 360 :p with Media Center extender enabled.

4. MKV media with AVC/H.264 video and AC3 audio

Procedure:

1. Start tsMuxer and add your MKV clip in the input section

2. In the Tracks section check if you see expected tracks. I included the subtitle track but apparently WMC and WMP don't use it.

3. Did not do anything in the General track options setting

4. In the Output section select M2TS muxing and select desired location.

5. Now hit Start muxing button at the bottom.

6. Depending on your PC, it will take 5-10mins to perform a pass through conversion of the clip.

7. If all goes well, Windows Explorer will display a thumbnail for this. Try playing it in WMP and check if it plays without problems.

8. Now move the m2ts file to your Video library.

OR

8. Media Center has a special library called "Movie Library" that you can setup from its settings. e.g. e:\Movies. Move the m2ts file to this location.

9. Now give Windows Search enough time to index the new file. For me it was roughly 5mins.

10. Launch WMC from Xbox 360

11. Navigate to either Pictures + Videos>video library or Movies>movie library and play the file.

For me this worked without any problems at the very first attempt. I haven't experimented much with tsMuxer besides whatever I wrote above. This obviously will not work through the dashboard since Xbox 360 doesn't recognize the format (it did not show up in list for me). I am sure they will add the support soon because all consumer HD camcorders use m2ts(or mts) files. PS3 probably supports m2ts format already because of Sony's handycam connection.

Hope this helps people who have Windows 7 installed. I am using build 7057. Although Media Center can be shaky at times so YMMV. :/

what a waste of time, i just installed the codecs ran xbox 360 media center ext, and played the file! Windows 7 build 7000-7077 has allways done this for me!

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

If you connect xbox 360 to a Vista media center, it won't even play Xvid/Divx. But with Windows 7 it supports a whole lot of different formats.

I don't quite understand how software on your PC can magically change the codec support built into the 360 firmware?

Are you sure Vista Media Center isn't transcoding?

[BajiRav]

what a waste of time, i just installed the codecs ran xbox 360 media center ext, and played the file! Windows 7 build 7000-7077 has allways done this for me!

Umm, no you did not. MKVs won't be shown in the media center no matter what you do. Although I will be glad if proven wrong. Will save me time. Can you elaborate?

I don't quite understand how software on your PC can magically change the codec support built into the 360 firmware?

Are you sure Vista Media Center isn't transcoding?

I have no idea how media center extenders render video. I am guessing that it doesn't involve the dashboard at all (beyond launching the extender app). For a while other extenders were supporting xvidd, divx and h264 whereas xbox 360 extender (vista) did not. But now with Windows 7, they all work on 360.

Audio, did you ever try running AVCHD(.mts, .m2ts) content on PS3? wikipedia says PS3 supports it natively.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I have no idea how media center extenders render video. I am guessing that it doesn't involve the dashboard at all (beyond launching the extender app). For a while other extenders were supporting xvidd, divx and h264 whereas xbox 360 extender (vista) did not. But now with Windows 7, they all work on 360.

Audio, did you ever try running AVCHD(.mts, .m2ts) content on PS3? wikipedia says PS3 supports it natively.

Yeah I'm just wondering because native video playback either off hard drive or streaming depends on the codecs your console supports, not your PC. The only time PC codecs matter is if you require to transcode a video on your PC first before streaming it.

Also yes, .mts/.m2ts and AVCHD's work on the PS3.