Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Can I use my xbox 360 as a media center wth my mac?

J

jrm27

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 3, 2008
579
31
Hi all,

Please forgive a very very very dumb questions. I'm not really a big tech fella, so I know I ask questions that must have very easy answers. My apologies in advance.

Anyways, I've been ripping my dvd collection with handbrake (using the apple universal preset.. mp4). I'd love a way to watch these through my xbox360. Looking around at a few articles online, it appears as though this is possible?

Currently, my movies all reside on an external hard drive connected to my mac mini in another room. Is there a way to network them together? We have no internet at our place (saving some dough), but I've got an old router and such laying around if I need to create some kind of ad-hoc network to bring the two together.

I really have no idea if what I want to do is possible... or how to go about watching my ripped movies on my xBox if it is. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!

-jon
 
Did I misread the xbmc link.. can that not be done on a 360? I probably missed something.
 
jrm27 said:
Did I misread the xbmc link.. can that not be done on a 360? I probably missed something.
Click to expand...

This is correct xbmc can not be installed on the 360.

If I were you I would look into getting a dedicated streamer such as:

1.) Syabas Popbox $130 coming this spring (this also does itunes streaming)
2) Boxee Box $200 coming this spring (this also does hulu)
3) WD TV Live - out now.

Connect 360 only works with certain mp4's. Most of my mp4's with not stream properly at all to my 360 even with Connect 360.
 
Thanks for all the help her guys (and maybe gals?)

If I wanted to use one fo these programs (Connect360 or Rivet), how woudl I network the xbox and the mac together wirelessly without an internet connection? I know jack-crap about wireless networking devices like this, so any direction would be most apprecaited.

As I said, I've got a wireless router (I think N) sitting in my closet. I'm assuming I'll need to get an Xbox wireless dongle (can I use the xbox one, or does it need to be the 360 one) and some how make the two things talk to eachother?
 
I haven't tried the other software people are suggesting, but I use Connect360 and think its great. Set up is simple, just install it, by default it streams iPhoto, iTunes, and for video, you can stream movies you have in iTunes as well as selecting a different folder on your mac and share videos from there. I use this feature to stream video from my external drive to the 360.
 
Why not just use ps3 media server so that you can transcode if necessary?

Being that it's free and all, I think it might be worth it.;)
 
jrm27 said:
Thanks for all the help her guys (and maybe gals?)

If I wanted to use one fo these programs (Connect360 or Rivet), how woudl I network the xbox and the mac together wirelessly without an internet connection? I know jack-crap about wireless networking devices like this, so any direction would be most apprecaited.

As I said, I've got a wireless router (I think N) sitting in my closet. I'm assuming I'll need to get an Xbox wireless dongle (can I use the xbox one, or does it need to be the 360 one) and some how make the two things talk to eachother?
Click to expand...

You might be able to save some coin by just wiring your xbox to the router via ethernet and then streaming wirelessly to the router from your Mac. The xbox wifi adapters are 80 or 100 bucks.
 
Thanks guys. using the Xbox as a media center would have been the best option for me... but as I don;t haev internet at my house I can't update the needed files on my xbox with the media update. Microsoft said that the only way to get the update is through microsoft live. Since I cant connect to the internet with the xbox, I'm outta luck. Oh well!
 
Connect 360 is great, the real problem is the X Box 360. The fans on that thing sound like a 747 taking off. Even in the so called "quiet" mode, the thing is stupid noisy. I can put up with the fan noise while blasting away in Halo, but not so acceptable when watching movies.

A dedicated streamer may be the better way to go, but I always wanted to reduce the number of toys under my TV (and the associated remotes), not increase them. :D
 
Another vote for Connect360. Movies Handbraked with Universal setting seem to stream just fine. I stream from my imac to an Airport Express connected to Xbox with an ethernet cable. A little cheaper than Xbox usb dongle, more reliable, and has added functionality (airtunes for one).
 
jrm 27

Your initial question at the beginning of this thread is exactly what I've been trying to figure out for a few days now. Did you ever find out if it's possible to set up a connection between your xbox-Mac without an internet connection? If so, how??
Thank you so much for your time if you get the chance to respond.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back