MP4/MKV Files

[kelemvor]

Howdy,

I've had XBMC on my old Xbox for ages. However, I also have XBMC on a PC as well. I recently started getting all my TV episodes in HD when I can and never had a problem on the PC. However, tonight my wife tried to watch one on the old Xbox and it wouldn't play. We got some audio but just a gray screen or some very jerky pixelated video.

I'm assuming the old Xbox just isn't capable of playing higher quality files such as MKVs or MP4s. The build I have on my xbox says:
xbmc4xbox r26941 (compiled jan 17, 2010)
mplayer xbmc-svn-r17397 (Jan 27 2009)

I don't know what has changed in the last couple years, but I'm wondering if any of the changes would allow me to play these files back or if the hardware in the old Xbox simply can't handle it. Just don't want to waste time trying to remember how to FTP into the thing if installing a new version won't help anyway.

Thanks for any info.

[whufclee]

Well there has been some massive improvements over the past couple of years, especially with speed and playback. The xbox can play HD files but it all depends on how they have been encoded so I would suggest having a search on the forum as there is a great guide on playing HD content. I think ThePitt done a very good guide somewhere in the tutorial section, "handbrake" might also be worth searching for.

[bigkidoz]

All the tv shows i acquire are HD mp4's and the xbox has no trouble playing them, 480P MKV's are fine but full 720P make it struggle, using a memory lite skin helps a lot.

[spicemuseum]

Howdy,

I've had XBMC on my old Xbox for ages. However, I also have XBMC on a PC as well. I recently started getting all my TV episodes in HD when I can and never had a problem on the PC. However, tonight my wife tried to watch one on the old Xbox and it wouldn't play. We got some audio but just a gray screen or some very jerky pixelated video.

I'm assuming the old Xbox just isn't capable of playing higher quality files such as MKVs or MP4s.

It's not the file container that's the problem, it's the video stream contained therein. If it's H.264 (MPEG4-AVC, x264) encoded, and greater resolution than 480p (at typical bitrates) then X80X does not have enough CPU to handle it (and no hardware acceleration).

X80X will play 720p if encoded with H.263 (MPEG4-ASP / DIVX / XVID) irrespective of container (avi, mkv, mp4...).

Search these forums for the terms used above, you'll find lots of information describing the parameters, variables and limitations, and some advice on settings to help with marginal content.

[kelemvor]

So I installed version 3.2 and I'll give that a try.

Does the skin make a difference when it comes to playing the videos since the skin isn't actually being shown? If so, what's the best skin to use for the best performance?

Also does it matter if I use Library mode where I see all the fancy screenshots and stuff vs just going in as a file listing?

Thanks!

[bigkidoz]

A memory intensive skin with take resources away from the player , PMIII HD , Slik or one of the memory optimised skins will help.

[kelemvor]

SO I installed 3.2 and am able to play some mp4 and mkv files. However, it seems that if the file is over 600 megs or so, I get massive stuttering problems. These files also seem to be 720p which is probably part of the problem.

I'm just using whatever skin was installed by default when I installed the new version.

Can I change any settings regarding allocated memory or anything to try to get better performance out of anything? Otherwise I may have to move my 360 downstairs and retire the old xbox.

[bigkidoz]

I dont know what your trying to play but i rarely have problems playing any file even up to 2.2gig in size, no way to allocate ram only switch off those options which hog resources.
You are probably using the confluence skin which although looks visually appealing also uses a lot of ram.

[spicemuseum]

SO I installed 3.2 and am able to play some mp4 and mkv files. However, it seems that if the file is over 600 megs or so, I get massive stuttering problems. These files also seem to be 720p which is probably part of the problem.

Yep. Not surprised.

Can I change any settings regarding allocated memory or anything to try to get better performance out of anything?

Search this forum. One obvious setting is the H.264 skip filter under video playback (I think). Set it to skip everything.

Regarding skins, if you want the best performance (least memory usage) use old-fashioned PMIII skin, not pretty but works well. And switch off library mode which consumes RAM.

[spicemuseum]

I dont know what your trying to play but i rarely have problems playing any file even up to 2.2gig in size....

His problem is 720p in H.264. At anything other than very low bitrates at that resolution it* will drop frames. ...and at those bitrates the quality is sh^H^Hrubbish anyway.

*it's a 733MHz PIII with no H.264 hardware acceleration after all!

[PhilYHC]

you can play 720p and i believe 1080p mp4's, the trick is to deal with the bitrate "spikes"

thread i made here (with link to the original explanation): http://www.avforums.com/forums/original ... sible.html

[spicemuseum]

you can play 720p and i believe 1080p mp4's, the trick is to deal with the bitrate "spikes"
thread i made here (with link to the original explanation): http://www.avforums.com/forums/original ... sible.html

As you have recognised in your post over there, MPEG4 ASP (AKA H.263 / DivX / xvid) is no problem at 720p. The problems come when you try to do that resolution with H.264 encoded video.

Note 1: This has nothing to do with the MPEG4 (part 14) file container ".mp4".

Note 2: I don't believe an (original) X80X can output video at 1080p.