WMV transcoding for the Xbox 360 is here

Here is an early preview for the on the fly WMV transcoding feature for the 360. Since we have other stuff that needs to make it into the next release and since this is not yet ready we are releasing a patch. Please try it and let us know what you think.

The patch is available at:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/download.tversity.com/Xbox360Patch_0_9_8_4.zip

Installing the Patch:

1. Stop Tversity
2. Extract the content of the patch zip file into the installation folder of TVersity (by default it is \Program Files\TVersity\Media Server)
3. Start TVersity, go to the 360 and browse your computer for videos. You should now see all the videos shared via TVersity plus all the online video URLs and assuming your directshow has the filters needed to decode these videos they should all play on the 360.

Some additional notes:

• Videos may take from 10 seconds to a minute to start. It depends on the bitrate of the video. The 360 requires 2 Megabyte of data to be provided before it starts playback. For low bitrate content (like the stuff coming from the Net) it can take a minute to get to 2 Mbyte. For hi-def content it happens very fast.
• Transcoding in real time of high resolution material requires a very fast computer
• The quality of the result of the transcoding, can be controlled via the TVersity GUIl. Increasing the resolution will improve the quality but will require a faster machine. You can also experiment with the compression ratios and bitrates, these all affect the WMV transcoding just like they affect the MPEG transcoding that TVersity has been traditionally doing.
• You can even upconvert videos to HD if you wish and if you have a fast machine by tweaking the minVideoInfo in config.xml.
• If your computer is not fast enough, you can decrease the resolution and then try again or wait till the transcoding is done and then play it.
• Transcoded videos cannot be FF/Rewind during the transcoding (this is a 360 limitation) however after transcoding is done if you play some other video and then go back to the transcoded one, you will be able to seek in the file.
• It is highly recommended to upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 as it includes more recent and more stable encoders.

This is it, enjoy and be sure to send us your feedback!

We have a thread on our forum dedicated to this topic at:
http://forums.tversity.com/viewtopic.php?p=14300#14300