360 Questions--Do you use it for media, AND, ...?
 

I just realized that since I have a router, and the 360 is connected, as well as my PC, I can be/am networked (duh). I used the media connect feature, but I thought you could transfer pics & music from your PC to the 360...I guess not. I couldn't do video, so I tried running the media center expander, BUT...you need Media Center 2005, and I have 2002.

Here are some questions:

• Do you use the 360 for media, what kinds, and how do you do it?
• Is there a way I can run the expander (so I can watch video) with MC2002?
• Can you transfer pics to the 360 without a direct camera hookup?
• How can I get MC2005 without buying a new PC, as it says it's only OEM available?
• Is the only way to get music to your 360 possible with a CD (not a direct hookup with a PC)?

Thanks,
S2

I don't have a 360, but if/when I get one, it'll be for gaming only.. I just don't find the media features useful.

1. I will sometimes stream music from my PC over to the 360 while playing games. Works great.
2. The expander only works with MCE.
3. Pics and music (mp3's) can only stream from the source device.
4. Not sure about this one.
5. CD's can be ripped to the xbox but, it won't copy from an mp3 cd.

I believe this is right. Someone can expand if I missed something.

Yes, I use my 360 for media... music and photos. I only have Win XP Pro. I installed Windows Media Connect and that gives me music/photo capabilities. No video until MS can fix the UPnP client code on the 360.

TwonkyVision is a 3rd party UPnP server (similar to Windows Media Connect) and it can share streaming internet radio to the 360! I tried the demo and it is great to be able to listen to luxuriamusic.com through the 360.

No. You'll need to upgrade to MCE 2005 for Video capabilities. You can purchase WMCE2005 for about $130 online.

no.

It's available online at numerous places, like eBay, and NewEgg.com. I've been holding off buying it myself because I believe that MS will eventually fix the UPnP code on the 360 and I doubt that my PCMCIA TV Tuner card is supported by MCE.

The only way to get music physically onto the 360's harddrive is to put an audio CD in the 360 drive and use the dashboard to rip the disc. Otherwise the only way to get music is to use a USB memory stick or portable music player attached to one of the 360's USB port. I will probably end up buying a USB hub and and going that route for my music.

The only useful thing is streaming music directly to the 360, but I've had problems with that too. It really sucks that you can't download music directly to the 360 from the PC, I started a thread a while ago about that.

The problem I have even streaming music is that there is roughly 40 gigs of music on my HD and it takes forever for the 360 to organize the folders and data on the dashboard. The music is organized by band and then by CD, but a lot of the comp CDs I have give the 360 a rough time on the artist listing. It got to be too much of a pain so I download a new CD to the 360 every few days and disabled the music streaming. I tried video a and pics a few times but that was even more of a pain. I'm only moderate on the tech-savy level, but it was just a pain personally for the most part.

I used mine to stream music, that is about it. I put all my music in seperate folders (Rock/Rap/Techno...blah blah), then those are in seperate folders like System of a Down, etc....it seems to work ok. I've been copying all my music to a seperate HD also and that will be my music player HD.

When you say "separate HD" is that a separate 360 harddrive or a external USB harddrive? Or is it a separate harddrive on your desktop PC/notebook that is sharing the music?

I have 'Connect360' on my Mac (not the registered version), but I never use it.

I've just never had a need to look at pictures or listen to music from my computer on my 360.

It's neat, but only for 10 minutes and I haven't touched it since. But if I ever have a room full of people in my living room and they say "Hey, could we look at some pictures without having to walk upstairs to view them on a 20" widescreen display?", I'll be ready. :)

Thanks for the answers guys.

So, you can stream music, AND it will be available AS you play games, just as if it was on your 360 hard drive? I don't have a game that I can listen to custom tracks at the moment, so I can't check it out for myself.

S2

i do, I have Media Edition 2005 and I use it for TV shows, and HD Videos like HD WMV videos. They look and sound amazing.

No. What's the benefit of doing this? Perhaps I'm missin' out...

Anyway, I have a 360 but I see no reason to use for anything other than gaming. I guess I'm a bit short sighted in this area because going all the way back to when PS2 first hit I never liked the idea of playing dvds movies or CD's on it. It just seems like extrea wear and tear on the sytem that's not as easily replaced as a dvd player of cd player. I don't play CD's on my DVD player.

Ive had my PC using my TV and just dont have a need to use my 360 for anything the computer can do.

I usually like to do several things at once: Watch a DVD and surf the web, or listen to music and surf the web. Its easier to do all that with my PC instead of use the 360 for it.

It depends upon your home setup. I'm a minimalist. My DVD collection is entirely out of sight... behind a door in our wall unit. In addition to my 34" Toshiba HDTV direct-view monitor, I have a Pioneer DV-578A DVD player and a Motorola cable box. For audio I use a Logitech Z-540 5.1 speaker setup... they're self-powered, so no amp or receiver.

Using the 360 as a music/photo jukebox gives me versatility without having yet another component.

There's no need to put a CD in the 360 or even rip music CDs to the 360's harddrive. You can put music on a USB memory stick and use THAT on the 360... no moving parts, nor wear and tear.

This thread has given me the incentive to drop by OfficeMax and pick up a 2GB USB memory stick ($59) and a USB hub ($15), load the stick up with photos and music, and attach it to the rear USB port on the 360. (out of sight)

If you bought the premium 360 package, it came with a remote control... which can navigate through the dashboard nicely.

It's not custom soundtracks like the original xbox had. On the 360, while playing any game, you can access your PC, external usb drive, ipod, whatever and stream it real time.

So you can't have your own radio stations ala Project Gotham 2? I loved that!

Sounds cool. I did buy the Premium but I guess I missed out on the Remote Deal. But I can get it discounted at my second job. ;) Anyway, all that stuff is cool and more power to all who want to do that. Like I said, I don't have any need for any of that.


That sounds cool too.

Not at the moment. But I have another Xbox 360 on the way for my other room and might tinker with Connect360 for my Mac. Currently for media I use my MythTV box and my original Xbox with a 300GB hard drive and XBMC hooked into the bigscreen.

My wife and I use the music streaming all the time. :thumbsup:

Windows Vista is supposed to have the MCE controls, so I'm waiting for that to stream video to my 360.

Sorry, it's a Seperate USB HDD that I have connected to my PC still. I think you need to format it in FAT32 if you want the 360 to recognize it. I didn't bother to do that....

I have an HTPC so I don't use the 360 for media, though playing your streamed music while playing games is pretty cools for certain ones.

I don't think a few of you are getting it.

You can stream any music from your PC to your 360 while playing ANY game.
So, you can stream MP3s off your computer while playing EVERY 360 game.

It's awesome. Why would you want to listen to music on your PC while playing your 360 if you could stream it to the 360 and have the game mix the music and sound effects for you? It's an excellent system.

You can also do cool photo slideshows and set custom backgrounds for your 360 dashboard.

Agreed listening to the soundtrack through the game is much better than listening to it from your PC. Listening from your PC or home stereo while playing the game is a serious distraction, the 360 mixes it all very well for you so that you can still hear game sounds while you enjoy your music.

Oh and if you want to use an externall HDD you absolutely have to format in FAT32 this IS the only way it will work DJ was spot on there.

I did the music stuff when playing PGR3 and Call of Duty. It was fun rocking to Led Zeppelin while kicking German ass. :lol:

I used a USB stick when I did it. My laptop has WMC 2005 and I've used it for video streaming and photos, but I found it a little cumbersome for any kind of casual use.

Right now I'm playing Oblivion and the music is one of the ways you know you're being attacked, so as much as I'd like to listen to my own songs, I keep the Oblivion music for this reason...and it's really pretty decent music too.

Streaming custom soundtracks AKA playlists!!!


I play all of my Arcade games to media player songlists on my PC and I seem to do much better! I also like them with driving games. It is really cool that you can have your music playng and still hear the sound effects from the game.

Also if I am cleaning in the living room or just want to chill, I'll just stream music from the PC and have one of the screen visualizations on.

Pixy: You can't have different radio stations but you can access different playlists from media player. The fact that you can do this without having to reset or end your game is awesome! A simple press of the X-Box button in the middle of the controler and you are set.

My only gripe is that you can't set the X-Box player to random from the start (before accessing your playlists). I always hear the first song on playlist before it goes random. Luckily this only happens the first time you access the player. After that, the randomness sticks.

I am almost always listening to custom mp3s streamed from my computer while playing CoD2 and when i used to play DOA4. Many times i even setup the 360 to do the slideshows of photos while listening to music for my 2 year old daughter who loves to see pictures of babies, animals, and such and i keep pics on my PC harddrive just for her slideshow. It is also fun to teach the words for the animals and such in Spanish and English.