What Audio/Video codec does XBMC4Xbox support best?

[CardcaptorRLH85]

I'm trying to figure out which audio and video codecs XBMC4Xbox supports best since I've dug my old dusty Xbox out of storage to use as a stream receiver in a bedroom. I'm streaming from my computer using Universal Media Server which itself is a fork of PS3 Media Server and it allows one to choose which output format it streams to a specific renderer.

For the XBMC renderer, according to the configuration files, UMS transcodes to 'MPEGAC3' for video and 'WAV' for audio. Now, I may be confused on this one but I've always thought that MPEG and AC3 were separate entities and, more importantly, that AC-3 was an audio codec. Either way, after I get more information concerning what codecs I need to be using then I'll pop into the forums there and get some answers concerning how to make the application convert into those.

Thanks for any help I can get concerning this codec question. It's been forever since I've even tried using XBMC on my Xbox. For example, the version that I deleted from my box before installing XBMC4Xbox 3.1 was an XBMC 9.4 T3CH build!

[Dan Dar3]

Set your default video player to DVDPlayer (Settings > Video > Playback), that might work better than the old MPlayer.

I don't know what they mean by MPEGAC3, but if you need a tutorial for the old PS3 Media Server, see if this helps.
http://dandar3.blogspot.ie/2010/12/ps3- ... oding.html

[BuZz]

ffmpeg's mpeg4 codec works well as does avi. I tend to transcode to ffmpeg's fmpeg4 codec as you can control maximum bitrate so it never goes above (which you can't do with xvid).

I use mediatomb to transcode. i basically transcode with ffmpeg, to ffmpeg's mpeg4 codec at 3500bitrate max 4000bitrate (these can go higher depending if you use passthrough for audio or software decoding), at res 1280x720, in mkv format, copying the audio directly.

here is the ffmpeg commandline

Code: Select all

<agent command="ffmpeg" arguments="-i %in -scodec copy -acodec copy -vcodec mpeg4 -b:v 3000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 2048k -s 1280x720 -f matroska -y %out"/>

[spicemuseum]

ffmpeg's mpeg4 codec works well as does avi. I tend to transcode to ffmpeg's fmpeg4 codec as you can control maximum bitrate so it never goes above (which you can't do with xvid).

http://ffmpeg.org/faq.html#How-do-I-enc ... fmpeg_003f
"Both Xvid and DivX (version 4+) are implementations of the ISO MPEG-4 standard (note that there are many other coding formats that use this same standard). Thus, use ’-c:v mpeg4’ to encode in these formats."

I use mediatomb to transcode. i basically transcode with ffmpeg, to ffmpeg's mpeg4 codec at 3500bitrate max 4000bitrate (these can go higher depending if you use passthrough for audio or software decoding), at res 1280x720, in mkv format, copying the audio directly.

here is the ffmpeg commandline

Code: Select all

<agent command="ffmpeg" arguments="-i %in -scodec copy -acodec copy -vcodec mpeg4 -b:v 3000k -maxrate 4000k -bufsize 2048k -s 1280x720 -f matroska -y %out"/>

Out of curiosity, any reason you stick it inside a Matroska? Is it just because it's convenient, or is there a specific use case?

[BuZz]

Out of curiosity, any reason you stick it inside a Matroska? Is it just because it's convenient, or is there a specific use case?

so I can copy the embedded subtitles across. it's also better supported and open etc - when transcoding to avi "container" with certain source videos there were problems. avi has lots of issues.

[CardcaptorRLH85]

Thanks for the informative posts. I'll try changing the settings and testing when I get back home.