Video Converting Software?

[Omniscient]

I'm running Windows XP Pro with Media Center 11. I've got a XBox 360 that I'm trying to use as a Media Extender so that I can watch my videos on the big ole plasma TV. The catch is that the 360 only plays WMV format videos. Obviously most of my movies aren't in that format.

I've been trying and failing to track down a piece of software that will convert these AVIs and MPEGs to WMV files while maintaining their quality.

I've also looked into alternatives such as video streaming and transcoding but that was even more fruitless than finding a converter.

So, this certainly seems like it should be a fairly trivial task. Why the hell is it becoming such a headache?

[Baraqiyal]

Have you looked into Windows Movie Maker? I used it years ago to create a forward version of the movie Memento. I'm pretty sure it will import MPEGs and AVIs. Obviously, it will output Windows Media files.

[CynicalGabe]

http://www.tmpgenc.net/en/e_main.html

[Princhester]

I wouldn't use Windows Movie Maker. It might work but it has that Microsoft "treat you like an idiot" aspect, and I find it a bit dated.

I thought tmpgenc was for mpegs.

I have been having much success lately with SuperC (http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html) which is free, immensely flexible and easy to use. It will convert to .wmv

[Hodge]

An, open-source option is MediaCoder. It can handle practically any format, and the download page provides handy links to most of the required codecs.

Be aware that any sort of transcoding will degrade video/audio quality either a little or a lot depending on the settings. It's worthwhile experimenting a little to find the most acceptable settings.

[GuanoLad]

Windows Media Encoder is free. Use that, it's what it's for. You'll need the dot net framework installed if you want the batch encoder version.

[larsenmtl]

Gotta love Microsoft.

I've never used this but it was coded to solve the problem you're having...

http://www.videora.com/en-us/Convert...360/index.html

[Long Time Lurker]

I've used TVersity with good results: http://www.tversity.com/home

[Omniscient]

I've tried several of the pieces of software mentioned here in my search before posting and I must confess to being utterly and completely flummoxed by them all. Mind you I'm not a total computer retard, so either these tools are pretty tricky to get right or I'm missing something fairly obvious.

TVersity is a media server which transcodes the video on the fly for use with the 360. I love the concept but I'm not sure my PC is up to the task on on-the-fly transcoding. Plus getting the thing installed and configured properly was about as simple as assembling the Space Shuttle. So, I'm willing to give it another crack if it will indeed convert the video files to new files. A little guidance might be needed though.

I also tried the Videora and was able to make it work however it only encodes video to MPEG. This is useless as tits on a bull unless you have a Media Center Edition PC, which I don't have. Also it seemed unable to directly connect to my Xbox for whatever reason. Fine as a converter if you're looking to get MPEGs I suppose.

I also tried the Windows Media Encoder and it kept failing when it tried to convert. It's about as user-friendly Chinese finger-cuffs, I suppose I can try reinstalling it and give it another shot. I do like the fact that it's provided by Microsoft to encode it's own format and all.

The others I'll have to investigate further. Thanks for the help.

[Omniscient]

Originally Posted by GuanoLad

Windows Media Encoder is free. Use that, it's what it's for. You'll need the dot net framework installed if you want the batch encoder version.

I reinstalled the software and it keeps giving me a error when I try and encode an AVI file type, I think it's Divx which might be the issue. Do I need a special codec or something to make this work?

[Long Time Lurker]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

TVersity is a media server which transcodes the video on the fly for use with the 360. I love the concept but I'm not sure my PC is up to the task on on-the-fly transcoding. Plus getting the thing installed and configured properly was about as simple as assembling the Space Shuttle. So, I'm willing to give it another crack if it will indeed convert the video files to new files. A little guidance might be needed though.

Here's how I got TVersity to work:

1) Install the latest version of windows media player
2) Install tversity
3) Install ffdshow.
4) Run TVersity.
5) Add the media file (or folder containing the media folder) to the TVersity window.
6) Disable all software firewalls (I fumbled around with trying to get zonealarm to allow this, but gave up after a few minutes of frustration -- easier to just shut it off to watch a video)
7) Point port 41952 on your hardware firewall to the computer running TVersity (let me know if you need details on how to do this, and if so post the make/model of your router).
8) Start up xbox, go to media, video, computer, answer "yes", and you should get a menu with the tversity files. It will take a while to play after clicking "play" while your computer buffers the file.

Hope this helps.

[Omniscient]

Originally Posted by Long Time Lurker

Here's how I got TVersity to work:

1) Install the latest version of windows media player
2) Install tversity
3) Install ffdshow.
4) Run TVersity.
5) Add the media file (or folder containing the media folder) to the TVersity window.
6) Disable all software firewalls (I fumbled around with trying to get zonealarm to allow this, but gave up after a few minutes of frustration -- easier to just shut it off to watch a video)
7) Point port 41952 on your hardware firewall to the computer running TVersity (let me know if you need details on how to do this, and if so post the make/model of your router).
8) Start up xbox, go to media, video, computer, answer "yes", and you should get a menu with the tversity files. It will take a while to play after clicking "play" while your computer buffers the file.

Hope this helps.

OK, got to the part where I'm supposed to point my router to the computer. I have access to the router configuration screen, but I'm not sure what setting we're looking for here.

It's a D-Link DI-514 Wireless Router. The XBox is direct connected to it as is the PC.

[Long Time Lurker]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

OK, got to the part where I'm supposed to point my router to the computer. I have access to the router configuration screen, but I'm not sure what setting we're looking for here.

It's a D-Link DI-514 Wireless Router. The XBox is direct connected to it as is the PC.

Ok, try this:

Hold down the windows key and hit R (or just click start, then run). Type "cmd" and hit enter to open up a console. Type "ipconfig" and hit enter to get the IP address of your computer. It will probably be something to the effect of: 192.168.1.xxx.

Now bear with me here.. Going based on a quick read of the manual for your router. Click "advanced", then "virtual server" and set it up as follows:

Name: Anything you want. Suggest "TVersity"
Private IP: The IP address found from the above step
Protocol Type: TCP
Private Port: 41952
Public Port: 41952
Schedule: always

That should do it.

[Long Time Lurker]

Two other things: 1) The IP address of your computer is most likely assigned dynamically by your router and it could change if you shut down the computer and another device is given that address. You can fix by changing to a static IP address or just make sure when you boot up the computer is given the same address (otherwise, you'll need to adjust the virtual server setting).
2) I used the default TVersity port. Make sure it's correct by clicking settings from the main tversity window and look under "Home Network" / "Port".

[Omniscient]

OK. I've got TVersity working and I'm able to access the folder with the videos on it. All fine and dandy, but it won't play one of my videos. Not sure what it is about this video that's causing the issue. All of the other videos I've tried seem to be working just fine, but this one is giving me trouble. It's of a higher quality than the rest which is the only difference that I can identify.

[Long Time Lurker]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

OK. I've got TVersity working and I'm able to access the folder with the videos on it. All fine and dandy, but it won't play one of my videos. Not sure what it is about this video that's causing the issue. All of the other videos I've tried seem to be working just fine, but this one is giving me trouble. It's of a higher quality than the rest which is the only difference that I can identify.

Are you able to play the video in windows media player? If not, it sounds like codec issue. If it plays fine, then you've gone beyond my TVersity knowledge.

[Omniscient]

Yeah, it plays in Media Player just fine.

Also it appears that my PC isn't up to snuff for transcoding video. The videos that I am able to play hang periodically. So, I think my first instinct was correct in that I need to be able to convert these files instead of transcoding them,

Why TVeristy doesn't find it helpful to convert videos as well as transcode is beyond me .

[Long Time Lurker]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

Why TVeristy doesn't find it helpful to convert videos as well as transcode is beyond me .

I think TVersity caches the file in one of its directories. I haven't tried this, but after it's done transcoding, you may be able to directly play the cached file (may have to add the .wmv). Granted this would be a painfully slow way to convert the file (real time).

[Omniscient]

Out of curiosity, what kind of specs does your machine have to use TVersity?

[Long Time Lurker]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

Out of curiosity, what kind of specs does your machine have to use TVersity?

I'm not sure if you me specifically, or just generally. I have a somewhat outdated P4 2.53Ghz processor, 1 gig of ram, and a 128MB GEForce Nvidia graphics card and it runs fine for me.

From their site:

Real-Time transcoding of high quality videos indeed requires fast machines, the higher the quality of the video, the faster the machine needs to be. However videos that do not require transcoding, i.e. they are encoded in formats supported by your target device, can be played even on very slow machines disregarding their resolution or bitrate, and so the discussion here is relevant only to content not supported natively by your target deviceb. It is currently impossible to watch that kind of content on machines that are not fast enough to transcode it in real-time due to the fact that it will constantly skip. Future releases will allow this kind of transcoding to be carried out prior to the playback, such that halfway through the transcoding process you will be able to successfully play the video. The speed of your computer will only determine how long you need to wait (if at all) prior to starting the playback and not whether the video can or cannot be played. Already now you can initiate playback of such a file and let it run to the end without watching and then play it from the start and watch it successfully since the second playback is using the cached transcoding result.

If you have patience, I think you can start the movie, click pause, wait about 20 minutes for it to buffer, then click play.

[Omniscient]

Yeah, I was asking you specifically. My machine is pretty similar to yours but has a AMD 2500 that clocks somewhere around 1.8 GHz. Thats probably all the difference in the world.

I might just use this as an excuse to upgrade my CPU and Motherboard and in the meantime I can give that buffering trick a shit.

Still frustrating that I can't find a decent conversion software though. Seems pretty ridiculous that I'm stuck there.