Media Center Extender – Cannot Play Video – The file type is not recognized and cannot be played

09 May

Posted by i.nconspicuo.us as Tech/Web

I’ve been running Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Media Center for awhile now with no problems. I have been streaming pictures and music to my Windows Media Center Extender (my Xbox 360) with no problems, but recently, I tried playing an AVI video file that I had on my Media Center PC through my Xbox 360.

The AVI video file plays fine on my Windows Media Center PC, which would lead me to believe that a Microsoft-based Media Center Extender (the Xbox 360) would be able to play the same type of video file that is being played on the Media Center PC, but when I try to stream it to my Media Center Extender, I get the following error:

Cannot Play Video
The file type is not recognized and cannot be played. Either the correct codec (a file that compresses/decompresses audio or video) is not installed or the file is corrupt.

Are their updates that need to be installed on the Xbox 360 if it is being used as a Windows Media Center Extender? I’d think that the video would be processed on the PC where it would then send a recognizable video stream to the Media Center Extender.

Has anyone had any problems with this? Are there any work arounds? I’ve read a couple articles that recommend converting all videos to MPEG2, however, I don’t want to spend the time or the effort to convert videos that I want to watch through my Media Center Extender… that seems like a waste of time.

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87 Responses

GreenMan

September 10th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
1

Were you ever able to resovle this? I have the same issue – are there codecs that need to be installed? If so, how does one intstall them onto the XBox 360? Are you using Vista or XP?
i.nconspicuo.us

September 10th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
2

I have not yet found a solution for this… in fact, my Xbox360 recently stopped working as a Media Center Extender all together. I don’t know what happened, I didn’t change any settings.

I’m running Windows Vista Ultimate.
Richie lee

September 26th, 2007 at 11:24 am
3

I have the same setup and the same problem.. did anyone find a solution???
Lee

October 2nd, 2007 at 2:35 am
4

Out of interest have you tried turning of the firewall on your pc and trying it?
As i was having similar problems until i disabled avast.
Dave

October 21st, 2007 at 11:38 am
5

http://runtime360.com/projects/transcode-360/
gnomie

December 3rd, 2007 at 2:33 pm
6

there are no codecs for the 360, it only plays mpeg-2 format .wmv files. with transcode 360 you can get it to play anything else but you cant fast forward or rewind really as its a stream coming from the pc that can be paused or played, it works 9 out of 10 times. i use it because i dont have a modded xbox original which is easily 100 times better.
Lee

December 13th, 2007 at 3:47 am
7

microsoft are not goin to support a video format on there products like xbox 360 that isnt from there own company thats why you cannot use like divx and shiz on yah 360 and im 15 and i know that :L
harry

December 13th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
8

At first I had the problem of the xbox not finding any media on the computer at all. I then reformatted vista over my xp and finally got it to find music/pics/vidoes but then it would only play more mainstream microsoft videos only. Just yesterday I was using the media center and for one day only it played every divx file; it was truly a miracle. Today it doesn’t work and I have no idea what made it recognize it last night. Guess I just got lucky.
Ben Weeks

December 28th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
9

Subscribed to see if anyone finds a fix for this. I have tried disabling virus protection on the PC and installing the Transcode360.co.uk software.

Regards,

Ben.
brad

December 31st, 2007 at 9:56 am
10

well what u do is take it apart and theirs a chip that u solder and it allows u to fly witht he 360
fuckmicrosoft

January 4th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
11

i bought a hard drive with my xbox thinkin i would b able to transfer media from my pc to the 360 hard drive.. then was told that it aint possible.. so purchasing the hard drive for the 360 was a complete waste of money.. tried streaming videoz from my laptop.. and am getting same problem as the rest of you.. so my suggestion is, FUK OFF ur 360 and get a PS3.. which i will b doin very soon.. by the way, sorry, i know this comment didnt help.. just felt like expressing my opinion on how gay microsoft is..
Pal

January 21st, 2008 at 6:41 pm
12

I have my xbox networked to an xp pc which has media player 11, all you do is enable media sharing on the media player and the pc will find the xbox. you can then watch any file. MSenabled the xbox to play AVI files also. I am however experiencing the same problem as above on my new laptop which is running vista premium. I cannot watch any of my files on the xbox from the laptop now on media centre although I can watch the same files streamed via media player 11 on my xp desktop. I have to admit that I have every codec possible on my desktop and am now tracking them all down for my laptop as I feel that is the root problem.
rolf

February 7th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
13

and I thought, I did something wrong with my installation. After reinstaling my Vista Media Center maschine one month ago, playing AVI files on my XBOX 360 Media Center worked fine for a while. But know it dosen’t work anymore, It seems I’m not alone. I uninstalled all software which could have an impact with no success. AVI MPeg-4 files run on the Vista Media Player 11 and the XBOX 360 Video player, but not on the XBOX media center. I’ll give the XBOX support a try before I switch to a none none Microsoft system…
i.nconspicuo.us

February 8th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
14

Yeah, I still haven’t found a workaround other than Transcode360, but that seems a bit intensive to have to convert video files on the fly. Microsoft needs to cut the bullshit and get this fixed.
AG

February 17th, 2008 at 7:59 am
15

Why not just install TVersity, I use this to stream all my films and music and pictures to my xbox. Its not quite the same as Media Centre, but who gives a shit, as long as im watching all my sweet movies off the Xbox I couldnt care about shitty Media Centre. Try it out and let me know what you think. All you gotta do is install TVersity, follow the instructions and instead of going to Media Centre on the Xbox go to the Videos section and choose TVersity section and your sorted, all your films and no hassle.

PEACE OUT
i.nconspicuo.us

February 17th, 2008 at 10:14 am
16

I’ll definitely have to try out TVersity! You only mentioned videos… does it also support photos and music like Windows Media Center does?
Davo

February 26th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
17

All i did to play AVI files was in the XBOX dash board goto media, instead of clicking on windows media centre click on video’s, you can play them through there assuming you have media player 11 and have media sharing enabled on it.. All i had to do then was signinto Xbox live and download a 2.43Mb optional media file that allows you to play unprotected files…. enjoy
LEGA

March 8th, 2008 at 2:11 am
18

Don’t know if this will help but my Xbox also stopped working as an extender I could not see my PC from the Xbox went down the firewall route then found this, which was my problem.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6005374&postcount=25
Madprof

March 10th, 2008 at 4:21 am
19

I had the same problem with .avi files playing on my vista pc but got the error message when trying to play throught media extender. My only solution so far was to convert files to .mpeg then they work finew. I am going to try to turn off my windows firewall and see what happens. You are right…it is a pain!
Darren

April 2nd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
20

Thanks Davo, that worked a treat.
Dorijana

April 29th, 2008 at 10:56 am
21

The problem is in the Rollup 2 update for MCE. Videos are playing fine before that update
Antneec

May 2nd, 2008 at 8:09 am
22

I stream loads of videos from my laptop to my 360 elite in DiVX format but i dont use Media Center Extender as i found that to be the problem. I set up a file sharing network between the two and in the media page of the dashboard i go to videos and all the videos in the same folder on my laptop are there. When you first load one up it downloads a codec but since then its been great.

I don’t know if it plays AVI or others but DiVX is fine.

Dont know if thats anything new to anyone?
Doug

May 14th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
23

I set up Media Player to share with my 360, then was prompted to d/l an update from xbox live, now I’m watching the movie on my 360 that media center just told me was not supported. Jerks.
i.nconspicuo.us

May 14th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
24

Hey Doug,

What type of file is it that you are watching now? I still have problems watching certain types of files on my Xbox 360.
Robert Moore

May 20th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
25

HAS any 1 got this sorted yet?????
playing avi in media center from pc to xbox 360???
please somebody must know
Richard

May 22nd, 2008 at 7:42 am
26

Hey, I found that if you get the latest version of TVersity couples with FFDshow you can stream any file through to your xbox 360. It does take a while to get the setting just right from the xbox to tversity and playing around with the streaming settings. The only problem is that your pc does have to encode the video to your extender so it does take massive processing if you want good quality… which you do otherwise you would just watch it on the pc.
Rylo

May 29th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
27

I could stream .avi fine with MCE 2005. I went to Vista to fix some other compatibility problems, (with a Tvtuner card) and have now sacrificed being able to stream this type of media directly through my 360/extender. Must be related to the DRM copyright protection built into Vista that prevents this. I’d be interested if anyone discovers a direct patch for this to work with Vista. I would prefer to stick with MCE as things work ok otherwise, but if I cant find a fix this it defeats the purpose of why I am trying to use MCE; I want to access all of my media from one interface, not part of it!
Robert Moore

June 1st, 2008 at 1:37 am
28

I want to access all of my media from one interface, not part of it!
couldnt agree more, but still havnt found away to get this to work, iam able to stream from the video section of the xbox 360 dashboard it works fine but would like to have one interface like the above post says
Jaysmack

June 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
29

Do the active sharing from Media Center 11. That’s how I got all my AVI files to work. Don’t go into Media Center, instead choose Video and change the video source to your computer.
i.nconspicuo.us

June 4th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
30

Thanks Jaysmack, I’ll have to try it.

So from my Xbox360 dashboard, I just go to Videos? I don’t have to set anything on my computer?
robert moore

June 5th, 2008 at 4:52 am
31

ya that works but it would be nice to have it running from the media center so you could see the video covers, and it would look better
Travis

June 5th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
32

“So from my Xbox360 dashboard, I just go to Videos? I don’t have to set anything on my computer?”

You have to place your video files in you public video folder, or you shared video folders. Then in Media Player 11, go to Library, media sharing and click the share my media to:. You should see your xbox listed.
connolly86

June 7th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
33

does any1 know why some films i have will not play sound on the xbox but does on laptop?
dereck

June 8th, 2008 at 2:13 am
34

“does any1 know why some films i have will not play sound on the xbox but does on laptop?”

maybe the xbox doesnt recognise the audio codec, try using another audio codec, maybe mp3 or something else, im not sure cuz i havnt done it yet
hope it helps
oneway40

June 29th, 2008 at 8:25 am
35

Thanks Davo! davo had the right idea by going to the xbox360 dashboard then go to the media tab. (don’t sign into media center) then go to videos the press change video source. You should see the name of your pc. go to your pc running windows media player 11. then you will see a list of shared folders/drives. You will be asked to download an update on your xbos360 in order for it to play the avi files. This worked great for me.
Ramey

July 17th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
36

For anyone who might find this helpful, i had a problem with my media center not connecting, turns out it was the finger print reader that i was preventing it to do that, it was a verisoft finger print reader on a hp dv2000 laptop, to solve the problem i disable the “Use VeriSoft to log on to Windows”in general options.

im haveing the same problem with my xbob not playing avi files thou, quite anoying!!!
ilovemicrosoft

August 8th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
37

Same problem with MCE, and yeah it would look “cooler” but going through Video tab through normal dashboard works flawlessly, and faster too. Now…, they should include sub-titles support. Going to give support a try, they´ve been helpfull.
chris

August 20th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
38

Ok guys i had the same problem with my XBOX 360. what i do is put my AVI files and everything else into windows media player and stream it right of the XBOX 360(blue blade, videos). It works for almost all AVI’s.
And personally i think that streaming music is easier this way as well.
Sean

September 3rd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
39

Man, after a couple hours I finally find something very easy to do. Going to VIDEO and setting up your video folder to public was easy. Once it’s all set up. Go to VIDEO and play it. It will ask for an update (if need be), download there and you’re done. Wow!
Mark

September 12th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
40

How do you do “active sharing” in Media Center? I’m having the same problem (unable to play .avi files). I have Media Center in Vista and Xbox 360. When I go into the “Video” tab in my xbox under media, I don’t see my computer?
beastinem

September 30th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
41

Davo, you are the man. That did the trick. Thanks!!!
Johni

October 4th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
42

I don’t see my computer in the Videos tab either. Nor do I see my computer in Media Player’s sharing window.
gre

October 11th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
43

I am having the same problem as most people here. The thing is that I have an external hard drive with all my movies on it and I am unsure on how to stream them through the Xbox 360. I have one .avi movie under videos on my actual computers hard drive and it plays fine…..i just need to know how to stream from my external hard drive. thanks
dErEck

October 14th, 2008 at 4:00 am
44

@ gre

make sure the xternal hd u’re using is fat32 formatted or has a fat32 partition on it. cuz the 360 doesnt recognise ntfs.
try creatin a fat32 partition. easy 2 do. u can do it by using disk management under computer management in windows. but for a full fat32 partition, i recommend fat32 formatter.
remember that u cant store an avi file or other codecs’ file more than 4gb in fat32.
also, the 360 has playback issues with 1080p mp4 files (from my xperience)

hope it helps.
mystakilla

October 26th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
45

@dereck

I have been using a 400 gig external drive now for over a year formatted as NTFS and all my avi’s play flawlessly AND you dont have to worry about the 4gb limit. I dont know what issue your having or why yours wouldnt work with NTFS but mine is fine.
tom

November 15th, 2008 at 3:13 am
46

try going to windxows media pl*ayer, libary,media sharing allow xbox
banjo

November 19th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
47

i can play films through the xbox as i use windows media player 11, but i downlaoded a copy a spanish horror film, and had to download subtitles seperate, but the xbox wont show the subs, any ideas on how to get them to play together, the subtitles work on my laptop as they are in the same file togetehr, media player and VLC have no problem with it, hmmmmm

any ideas?
Alex

November 29th, 2008 at 6:02 am
48

Hi,
I am using Vista Ultimate and have an 360 that used to work fine playing from the dashboard but not thru media centre. The files played fine on the media centre on my desktop… but not through the extender.

Then they stopped working in the dash too. I get the “wrong file type message”.

If I disable the windows firewall they play no problem in both dash and MC.

I have allowed all the services/apps i can think of through the firewall but it still wont work >:(

I can play the music and look at the images from the same drive (an external USB on my desktop that i’ve shared with WMP11 media sharing) on my 360 so its not a permissions or sharing issue.

This is kinda annoying. I have to boot my fricking laptop and play movies on that now. It basically lives under my TV like a 360 anyway.

But whats the point of MCE if I can’t play my legally downloaded movies without disabling the firewall? There must be something I can allow through the firewall that is currently blocked to enabled this…

What else needs to be added to the exceptions list? At the moment the following apps are allowed through:

Media Centre Extenders
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

Thanks.
Crazyfoxdemon

December 15th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
49

I’ve been having this same problem and I really hope a solution is found….Anyone have any ideas?
i.nconspicuo.us

December 15th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
50

You haven’t been able to watch any of your porn, have you Crazyfoxdemon.
Crazyfoxdemon

December 15th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
51

lol…..if i wanted to watch my porn i’d just watch it on my pc…..no what i want to watch are all my movies………………….ok maybe a little porn
BLucifer

January 14th, 2009 at 7:15 am
52

ok guys listen up.. i can play any type of media from my computer to my xbox 360 wirelessly and with no hacks or anything. the thing is you cant play the movies you downloaded from media center. just go to media then video and go to the folder your music is in through that process. when u try to play it it will say something like “you cant play unprotected media files on your console and update is required”. after it says that it brings you right to the update (which is free) and after u wait 3 seconds for it to download then u just play the movie again and boom your done. no media center needed but who cares.. i mean its the same thing anyway
Matt

January 15th, 2009 at 7:13 am
53

Been trying to get this to work for ages, echoing what other people have said on here, basically the only way you can watch avi files on your xbox without installing any extra software onto your PC is to watch the videos through the videos section of the dashboard. This is a shame because Media Centre is a nice looking interface and it would have been good if there was a way of linking all of your media together. Fingers crossed Microsoft will release some kind of update in the near future.
Gary

January 17th, 2009 at 8:31 am
54

People here are saying its microsofts fault. Codecs are designed for Pc use not consoles.. this is why its hard to get it to work with media center.

Media center trys playing it using the xboxes codecs which are pre-installed

Using the windows media player setting runs Codecs from your PC to your xbox silently so use this method.

To set up:

1. Download windows media player 11 if you don’t already have.

2. Have the xbox and Pc connected to the same wireless network, alternative you can use an ethernet cable from PC to xbox

3.in windows media player 11 click on the library tab then media sharing.
and tick the share media box and click ok.

4. an xbox picture with xbox 360 written below it will be listed, click it then click allow.

Your PC is now set up

5. go to your xbox dashboard video section and click your PC or change source to your PC and all your windows media player folders such as films movies and pictures.

If you see no Data there then you may have to change your windows media players library folders to the ones you want to share.

If you have trouble setting up email me at Gary.Live@live.co.uk.
encrypted soul

January 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 pm
55

Gary is absolutely correct.. it’s odd but it works

the media center extender does not wor for avi files but like gary said:

1. install media player 11
2. right clik library > media sharing
3. go to video section of 360 dash
4. play whatever video you want off your pc

the only trick here is sometimes getting the xbox to recognize the pc.. if help is needed i could post a quick guide.

it’s a shame that the media centre can’t pick up on the pc codecs.. it’s so pretty! upgraded to media center 2005 (not a vista fan) just to use the extender function lol

going to toy around with transcode 360 latter in the day…..
i.nconspicuo.us

January 24th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
56

For some reason when I do it that way (Comment #55), none of my media shows up on my Xbox360. I see all of the folders, however no media is available (pictures, music or videos).

Any ideas/suggestions???
Ross Darling

January 26th, 2009 at 3:36 am
57

I have a Linksys dma 2100 Media Extender and the same thing happens. .AVI will not play and have to be converted to MPEG.
Go to the Linksys site and this is what you find:
The Digital Media Extender only supports the following video file format:

Video from Disc: DVD-Video / MPEG2 – VOB with AC3 5.1 and down mix to Stereo

Video from Vista PC:

*
MPEG-1 – Up to 352×240(NTSC),352×288(PAL) – Up to 1.856Mb/s – 23.976 & 24F/s, 25F/s(PAL), 29.97 & 30 F/s(NTSC)’ – Audio: MPEG-1 layers I & II (Both program & elementary stream content)
*
MPEG-2 – Main Profile @ High Level – Up to 1920x1080x30F/s & 1920x1152x25F/s – CBR & VBR up to 19.39Mb/s- 23.976 & 24F/s, 25F/s(PAL), 29.97 & 30 F/s(NTSC) – Audio: MPEG-1 layers I & II, AC-3 – (Both program & elementary stream content)
*
WMV9 (VC-1 Main profile) – @ High Level – Up to 1920x1080x30F/s – CBR & VBR up to 20Mb/s – 24,25,30F/S
*
VC-1 Advanced profile – @ Level 2 – 720x480x30 & 1280x720x30 F/S – CBR & VBR unto 20Mb/s – 24,25,30F/S –
*
H.264 – High Profile 4.0 – Up to 1920×1080 – Up to 20Mb/s – 30 & 25 F/s – Audio: MPEG-1 Layers I & II, MPEG-2 Layer I & II, AC-3
*
HTTP AV Streaming – MPEG-1 & MPEG-2 – play, pause, stop, seek forward 30s (+/- 3s), and seek backwards 7s (+/- 1s).
*
MPEG-4
Gary Orsler

January 31st, 2009 at 2:29 am
58

@ comment 56 the media you want to play has to be in a shared folder. you can rather use windows media settings to set up your shared folders or you can put the media you want shared into the following folders:

C:\Users\(username)\Music
C:\Users\(username)\Videos
C:\Users\(username)\Pictures

This is where its located on my vista account, the only thing that would change is if your using an opperating system on a second harddrive in which the letter C would be different.

Not sure if thats where its found on XP computers.
tazz1982

February 2nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
59

i had same problem an done my ead in, if u have movie saved on own eg. just on desktop and not in a file it will play through media (video) havent triedit through media centre yet, hope this helps
Bern

February 14th, 2009 at 6:01 am
60

Response to #56
Pull up Media player 11
Click On Library Tab
Select “Add to Library”
From This window Choose Add if you dont already see your Files
Then Click OK This should work for Ya
Toro

February 16th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
61

Ok Guys…..One simple question… Can you watch an .avi from your PC on your xbox 360? Whether it may be through the Media Center or the Video folder? Thanks
Elv

February 19th, 2009 at 6:58 am
62

Response to n60 the answer is yes…..only via media player and not media centre
Toro

February 20th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
63

My 360 wont recognize avis only divx
Toro

February 20th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
64

how do i fix it to play all avis
Mark

April 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
65

Windows Media Player 11 is the way to go!
Bern

April 6th, 2009 at 2:33 am
66

YES YES YOU CAN PLAY AVI ON XBOX

First you need an XBOX live membership ($50\yr)
second you need to be signed in under your membership name (internet required)
Third You need to download a media update from XBOX Live Marketplace (Free). If you cannot find this download simple attempt to play any .avi (WHILE SIGNED IN), The xbox will inform you of the required update and take you to it.
Bern

April 6th, 2009 at 2:44 am
67

Follow up on previous comment:

Even After this update for your 360, you cannot play an .avi file unless you are signed in under your membership name (A.K.A. GamerTag)
this means the files will not play unless you are hooked to the internet.
By the way, if you do not want to take the chance with this and pay the $50 then goto an Wal-Mart or BestBuy or GameStop or any other store that sells video games and purches a 1 or 3 month membership for a fraction of this.
Bern

April 6th, 2009 at 2:59 am
68

Follow up on 66

This Still will not allow you to play the movie on the “Media Center”
Just play the movie staight from the XBOX dash board. (MY XBOX -> Video Library)
Kyle

May 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 am
69

Everyone needs to justy stop trying to use the extender, jus follow the many replies stating to use the network hook up, if your connected to the internet on your xbox it will dl the codec needed to play the files, ive never had any problems doing it this way. Just enable file sharing with your xbox.
Vvviper

June 4th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
70

Wtf. I have read all the comments here and have a comment of my own.
I networked my xbox to my vista media center based pc. Using the media center from my xbox I got the same message as was posted in the original post. I went in through the dashboard video library and everything worked fine to watch avi files streaming straight from the pc.
Then the 3 red light ring of death. Sent in for repairs. Sent back a different xbox with different serial number. In the meantime I had change Internet providers and then tried to set up new xbox again to do the same thing. After a few frustraiting days fighting with firewall, new router issues, tech support from both my Internet provider and xbox support I was finally successful in connecting to my pc. Using media center I get the same message. Going to dashboard / video library, it sees my computer but when trying to get in it says I need to set up xbox for the of. But I already did. Media center works fine to view pictures.
Well back I go to xbox support. After an hour trying different things, he tells me because I can play same videos ( avi ) with my flashdrive in the usb port and not in the media center, and the fact I can’t connect to my pc in the dashboard / video library, he says I need to send it in for repairs.
Frickin, I just got it back. Xbox support guy tells me they do support avi and I should be able to play them in the media center.
Can anyone here tell me if in fact I do need to send it invfor repairs again? Or should I just be happy amd just play my videos with my flashdrive.
I will try a few of the suggestions above and if they work for me I will update you all.
Josh

June 4th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
71

ROFL ALOT OF YOU GUYS ARE ALL STUPID!!!!!!!

Media Center uses Media Player to play all its formats. So w/e doesn’t work for media player doesn’t work for media center! When it asks for codec obviously not the xbox, for the computer dummies. I haven’t looked into updating media player with codecs yet, could be possible?, but not sure because alot of legal issues with pirated movies and such
Charles

June 16th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
72

For you guys saying “use the network connection”, be aware, that ONLY works if Xboxlive is up, if its down, then you CANT watch ANY media via that option.
Dave

July 27th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
73

Windows Media Center is not the way to go! Download the latest version of Windows Media Player. When you start Windows Media Player it should have six buttons at the top. From left to right they read Now Playing, Library, Rip, Burn, Sync, Media Guide. Click the little down pointing arrow under Now Playing when that button is highlighted > Click More Options.. > Library > Configure Sharing. Under Configure Sharing click on the symbol of the xbox 360, then click allow. If there is no xbox symbol there, then go onto your Xbox 360 > System Settings > Computers, and then set up the connection. Good luck
Mj Cooper

August 3rd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
74

Davo

February 26th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

17
All i did to play AVI files was in the XBOX dash board goto media, instead of clicking on windows media centre click on video’s, you can play them through there assuming you have media player 11 and have media sharing enabled on it.. All i had to do then was signinto Xbox live and download a 2.43Mb optional media file that allows you to play unprotected files…. enjoy

THIS WORKED A TREAT FELLA THANKS 4 PUTTIN THAT UP ON ERE
hplaya

August 8th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
75

where did u find that 2.43mb optional media file on xbox live? i searched everywhere for it but couldnt find it..
fleshTH

August 10th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
76

p 72.
you are the moron. they are *NOT* talking about media center on the PC, but media center extender for xbox. which you can’t install codecs on, MS needs to do that, but they haven’t. which really really sucks btw. I’d like to use the extender because i want to create my own interface, which i have created and looks very cool, but i can’t use it because all my files are avi. I refuse to use wmv. my only other option is to throw together a cheap pc and have it running in the living room. which kind of sucks.
sadfucks xbox mf traitors for costumers

August 29th, 2009 at 12:46 am
77

I have tried many times to play everything on my xbox extendern:( . Fucking pricks they wont do to create the specials codes for your xbox so you can play everythings , everytime those fucking issues about hardware or software of xbox and then i have to hear Xbox is family device and you can do everything what you want ? yeah grow some balls microsoft because you meant to say ( what we want )
but the oppertunities about menu of libarary video ? maybe you noticed it is almost the same when you watch on your pc or with inputtv(( cabel)between your pc and tv ( Hd tv )
My opinion about xbox it can be very good console but they wont upgrade stuff for it , so it sounded for me ? like a very nice car but from inside it is reall shit

i agree with fuckmicrosoft and the others ?

buy pxs 3 or buy an extern device where you can put lots of different video`s no shit anymore

goodluck you all^^
dr brown

October 18th, 2009 at 9:13 am
78

ok heres the work around …. since microsoft wont let you stream anything but what that want you to stream download tversity. its a nice program and streams anything and it uses the fddshow codec ……… works great enjoy
Juwan

November 14th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
79

Thanks Davo, that worked amazingly
dave

November 22nd, 2009 at 5:45 am
80

Davo what a legend what do you need the media centre for!
Benny

December 1st, 2009 at 12:04 am
81

This is stupid we already get that you can stream .avi’s through the dashboard but the whole point of this is trying to get a work around so we can play EVERYTHING through the MEDIA CENTER EXTENDER. We know it works the other way but it would be really nice to just have it all work on the one interface without having to convert to .mpeg…… I mean if it’s gonna work with a conversion anyway, why can’t Microsoft just make life that little bit easier for us by making a codec update considering they push the Media Center Extender side of the 360 for sales.
matt

December 27th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
82

I used the transcode360 app mentioned above and it works very very well. I got the dl from softpedia as the original site is down. For me, this is a much better solution than using the shared feature – as stated above I want all media thru the MCE interface.
Tmaswupass

March 9th, 2010 at 2:20 am
83

Hi there all,i had the same problem back when i was using win vista ULT..never able to play anything from my based PC..but all that changed when i Installed my Win 7 Ult 64Bit OS.it work’s fine..Try it.
Tmaswupass

March 9th, 2010 at 2:30 am
84

Ohh Davo’s way also works,the one i gave you is the alt way to do it as well…
jibber

March 9th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
85

The way around it is simple just share videos through wireless video library just instead use a ethernet cable and WALLA whaddya know it’s working
Christo

April 9th, 2010 at 6:09 am
86

this will fix your problem. i have vista x64 connected to xbox 360 wmc extender. i couldn’t play back live Tv, or recorded TV, until i did this and it fixed it
if it works for you, let me know at naturebee07@hotmail.com

http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/showthread.php/34029-Possible-Cure-for-those-unable-to-watch-LiveTV-on-their-360-s?p=292511#post292511

1. On the Media Center computer, click Start
Collapse this imageExpand this image
Start button
, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. In the Programs list, right-click cmd, and then click Run as administrator.
3. At the command prompt, type cd %windir%\system32, and then press ENTER.
4. Type Lodctr /R, and then press ENTER.
5. Wait until you receive the following message, and then type exit:
Info: Successfully rebuilt performance counter setting from system backup store
6. Restart the computer, and then reconnect the Extender.

after a restart, it will work for you it worked for me
thanks.
Christo.
Johnnybhoy79

August 6th, 2010 at 9:43 am
87

Hi guys i was having the same issue the easy fix for this is to allow file sharing with your xbox then going to your videos blade on the xbox and selecting your pc all avi’s and divx works fine