Xbox 360 Update for on Dec 4 (xvid, divx, removable storage etc)
As some might know, there’s going to be an Xbox 360 dashboard updated on Dec 4.
Major Nelson has a high level list of the updates here. And the full list is here on the Xbox site.
Heaps of cool stuff coming out in it such as; download to own Xbox originals games (read Xbox 1), cheaper XBLA games, better integration with Xbox.com (friends and news), and improved codec support.
What? A little mention of a little thing called “improved codec support”. What could this be? So I looked a little deeper. There’s a very detailed FAQ over on the Xbox teams blog. But the things that are standing out to me in a big way are:
- The Xbox 360 supports files encoded using MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple and Advanced Simple Profile. These files are often referred to as Xvid or DivX® video files.
- Xbox 360 supports the following for H.264 (and MPEG-4), File Extensions: .mp4, .m4v, mp4v, .mov
- You can play video from a USB 2.0 FAT32 removable drive, optical media, and by streaming from the Zune software, Windows Media Player 11, or Windows Home Server.
People of the XBOX team, these are feature number 1 of this update for many gamers and owners of your xbox! THIS IS HUGE! Don’t beleive me? Check the comments over on Major Nelson’s blog. IMHO, these improvements should be front row centre of the feature list!
Bring on the Dec 4 update!
-dg
Damn right it should be front and centre- this is the one thing that we have been crying out for – to make the Xbox the true media centre it has purported to be!!
I can download Halo 1? GREAT, but I can watch DivX- AWESOME!
Tom
Waiting patiently! It’s yet to be seen if I can play AVI’s off my external HD, but it’s sounding like it might be possible ;)
this is awsome, ive tested it out, all is working well i can sell my USB divx player now!
@Jay
by all is working well do you mean you’ve got it playing through an external HDD or just from DVD? Details?