Play MP4 videos from the Movies library?

[bigjohn]

So sorry if this is redundant, but, google is no help. Seems that every search I try to do ends up with hack7mc (where has that guy gone?) or something that's just not related. I guess everyone who did what I'm about to ask did so in 2009 or 2010... sorry if i'm late to the table.

So.
My wife says the house is over-run with DVDs. I blame amazon, deepdiscountdvd, and her desire to own every iteration of any jane austin book that ever made it to film... But she's right. And the kids never ever put them back in the case, so we end up buying another copy, and so on...

I can digitize and back them up. that I got figured out.

My house has 5 xbox360 devices we use for 'extenders' - microsoft is probably pissed, I have 5 and spent not one penny on xbox-live gold or anything like that...

I want to be able to play MP4 videos from the movies library. Research says YAMM is probably what I need to get the movies/meta data into the library... but playback of the MP4s? That does not see to want to happy.

Anyone got a link to a step by step guide for how to do this?
WinMC7 - windows 7 home premium x64 on a quad core AMD with 8gb ram.

Thanks.

[LuckyDay]

I want to make sure I understand the question here, are you looking to be able to play the MP4 files on your extenders, do they already play and show up in the library on the main WMC machine?

If your problem is that WMC doesn't see or play the MP4 files at all, have you installed a codec pack?

If that's the problem you should be able to install a codec pack to fix the problem. I prefer Haali, many prefer Shark007.

Haali can be found here:

http://haali.su/mkv/MatroskaSplitter.exe

Shark Codec pack can be found here:

http://shark007.net


My reason for preferring Haali is the installation and setup seems to be quicker with WMC and requires less tinkering with settings once it's done.

[3rob3]

I would highly recomend LAV Splitters. Hack7mc has a registry file to get mp4 files to show up in the Movie Library.

[bigjohn]

I want to make sure I understand the question here, are you looking to be able to play the MP4 files on your extenders, do they already play and show up in the library on the main WMC machine?

If your problem is that WMC doesn't see or play the MP4 files at all, have you installed a codec pack?

If that's the problem you should be able to install a codec pack to fix the problem. I prefer Haali, many prefer Shark007.

Haali can be found here:

http://haali.su/mkv/MatroskaSplitter.exe

Shark Codec pack can be found here:

http://shark007.net


My reason for preferring Haali is the installation and setup seems to be quicker with WMC and requires less tinkering with settings once it's done.

So here's what I got so far.

using file2folder gets the movies into the right 'structure'.
Yamm seems to be pulling some data, and renaming folders, but I don't see images??? does that take time?
On the MC 7 PC itself I can see them and they will play.

I need to go check one of my xboxes - just wanted to update the thread.
Thanks for being so responsive!

[LuckyDay]

I would highly recomend LAV Splitters. Hack7mc has a registry file to get mp4 files to show up in the Movie Library.

Last time I used the registry edit before doing a new Windows install that REG file messed up a whole lot of stuff with my system.

In my new install MP4 files show up after just installing codecs. I'm not sure I'd recommend the registry edit anymore. Other users reporting similar issues on that page.

[LuckyDay]

using file2folder gets the movies into the right 'structure'.
Yamm seems to be pulling some data, and renaming folders, but I don't see images??? does that take time?
On the MC 7 PC itself I can see them and they will play.

I need to go check one of my xboxes - just wanted to update the thread.
Thanks for being so responsive!

I haven't used Yamm, I have been using MyMovies, and it works really well. May want to give that a shot if you're interested in trying other options.

I'm unsure if it plays well with extenders though, may want to wait for someone else to chime in on that one.

[bigjohn]

extenders is the whole point though...
The MP4 movies, even though they are in a directory that's in the MC pc's 'movie library', do not show up on the extender.

Lucky - which codec/splitter did you use?

[LuckyDay]

According to the MyMovies site it does work with extenders, I just didn't want to give it as a recommendation fully before hearing from someone who has experience with it.

I use Haali that I posted above and it plays everything I've come across perfectly fine.

LAV splitters mentioned above are also pretty popular.

[bigjohn]

According to the MyMovies site it does work with extenders, I just didn't want to give it as a recommendation fully before hearing from someone who has experience with it.

I use Haali that I posted above and it plays everything I've come across perfectly fine.

LAV splitters mentioned above are also pretty popular.

Ok. I just install the Haail splitters.
If YAMM does not get the movie posters, I'll have to try my movies.
does my movies use the same "movies" library or add another thing to the MC list?

[LuckyDay]

It adds a Movies and TV Series row to the list. It may be possible to prevent that, but I have my list customized to remove the old "Movies" and some other rows so I keep them both there.

[bigjohn]

It adds a Movies and TV Series row to the list. It may be possible to prevent that, but I have my list customized to remove the old "Movies" and some other rows so I keep them both there.

Does the MC pc have to be rebooted after installing the Haiial splitter?
IF so shame on me.
if not, damn. the mp4 are still not showing - guess I'll need the reg-hack.

[DrSmith]

I have 3 xbox extenders and all my movies (currently 297) are in .m4v files which I generated using MakeMKV and Handbrake. I used Mp3tag to edit movie meta-data including titles, dates and poster images. I just copy the final file to the WMC Movie folder and voila - it shows up in the extenders and is ready to watch (provided you only have a single AAC audio track). I have not installed any codec packs or 3rd party WMC enhancments. WMC + extender will play .m4v files no problem. WMC does update its own codecs when m4v''s are first used, but after that it's transparent.

The 3rd party codecs and movie management add-ons are convenient and useful, but are in no way required for mp4 movie viewing in xbox extenders for WMC.

[LuckyDay]

I have 3 xbox extenders and all my movies (currently 297) are in .m4v files which I generated using MakeMKV and Handbrake. I used Mp3tag to edit movie meta-data including titles, dates and poster images. I just copy the final file to the WMC Movie folder and voila - it shows up in the extenders and is ready to watch (provided you only have a single AAC audio track). I have not installed any codec packs or 3rd party WMC enhancments. WMC + extender will play .m4v files no problem. WMC does update its own codecs when m4v''s are first used, but after that it's transparent.

The 3rd party codecs and movie management add-ons are convenient and useful, but are in no way required for mp4 movie viewing in xbox extenders for WMC.

Well you're right, if you're willing to convert to .m4v it's not required, but his question was how to get MP4s working. Whether he wants to use a different format is up to him.

[3rob3]

Last time I used the registry edit before doing a new Windows install that REG file messed up a whole lot of stuff with my system.

In my new install MP4 files show up after just installing codecs. I'm not sure I'd recommend the registry edit anymore. Other users reporting similar issues on that page.

Now that you mention it I don't think I ever did the reg edit on my latest install.

bigjohn,
Where are your mp4 files stored, on a different pc? If they are on a different pc the extenders may not have rights to that share.

[DrSmith]

Well you're right, if you're willing to convert to .m4v it's not required, but his question was how to get MP4s working. Whether he wants to use a different format is up to him.

OP didn't really specify his file extension. All m4v's are MPEG4s, but not all MP4s are m4v!

[mcewinter]

I thought MP4s play natively inside MC. The downside is lack of FF and RWD, but should play without any intervention.

Place movie in folder titled as such...point library to folder...watch movie. It should be that simple wether it's MP4, divx, xvid, DVD, there may be more but I think that covers the native file types supported in W7.

I too, use MyMovies and it just works. I don't mean to blame YAMM but this shouldn't be difficult.

[bigjohn]

I thought MP4s play natively inside MC. The downside is lack of FF and RWD, but should play without any intervention.

Place movie in folder titled as such...point library to folder...watch movie. It should be that simple wether it's MP4, divx, xvid, DVD, there may be more but I think that covers the native file types supported in W7.

I too, use MyMovies and it just works. I don't mean to blame YAMM but this shouldn't be difficult.

They are local to the media center, in a folder on D: that is in the WM7 media center library for "movies"
I can rename them to M4v if that helps.
I use VidCoder which does a great job via handbreak of getting nice quality for a reasonable disk cost.

[LuckyDay]

Well you're right, if you're willing to convert to .m4v it's not required, but his question was how to get MP4s working. Whether he wants to use a different format is up to him.

OP didn't really specify his file extension. All m4v's are MPEG4s, but not all MP4s are m4v!

I thought it was pretty universally recognized that when people say MP4 now it refers to the .MP4 extension, not the MPEG-4 format, I could be wrong.

[bigjohn]

yes it is.
I ran the 64 bit registry 'hack'.
I rebooted the unit.
Do the Haiil splitter need any configurations?

Still no joy on the Xbox. Works great on the PC itself.

[LuckyDay]

No, I suspect you have another issue somewhere.

Let's clarify a few things. Do you have the Movies strip in WMC on the extender and it's just empty? The movies there and just don't play? Is the movies strip not there entirely?

Have you tried to play the files through the "pictures and videos" strip on the extender (can't remember if that exists) and are you able to see the files there?