Best Format (AVI vs WMV) to Stream Movies to XBOX 360

Although, I have been able to get movies to stream to my Xbox 360. I would have thought that the WMV format would work best since it is streaming from a Win 7 PC wired LAN (360 also wired) to a Microsoft product. But, while the image looks better in WMV
the video playback has a slight stutter every 3-5 seconds. On the other hand, my AVI files look pretty good and seem to stream without a problem.

I am using Freemake to encode the video files. Surround Sound is essential to me, because I could always put the DVD disc in, so I want my streaming experience to be the same (or nearly) as watching directly from disc.

Freemake AVI setting: Frame Size (Original), Video Codec (MPEG4), 30 fps, Bitrate (Auto), Audio Codec (AC3, 5.1, Original Sample Rate, 320 Kbps)

Freemake WMV setting: Frame Size (Original), Video Codec (WMV3), 30 fps, Bitrate (Auto), Audio Codec (WMA Pro, 5.1, Original Sample Rate, Auto Bitrate)

Do you have the same experience?

What is the best encode settings you have found (must support 5.1 surround)?

Do you use another video converter (preferably free or cheap) that you believe gives better results?

I have watched my files using Windows Media Center and the System Video Player via Zune, Plex, and directly from PC and haven't noticed any advantages to one over the other regarding playback quality. I prefer Plex as it shows the movie artwork automatically,
but I think I have the settings for it wrong and it is trying to transcode on the fly which makes the playback horrendous (have had excellent results with MP4s but only with stereo audio). I like the playback controls of the System player much more than in
WMC.

Do you know a way to get WMC to find movie artwork automatically?

Thanks for any help!

BTW: If you are reading this and thinking of trying Freemake, then I must warn you that it will attempt to install adware (AdLoad OpenCandy) with it's program installer. AVG Free was able to stop it in its tracks and Freemake works fine without the adware.
Otherwise, Freemake appears to be an excellent converter. It is capable of many more formats than Handbrake (also fantastic free software). But, Handbrake is incapable of creating AVI or WMV files.

:)

 

what kinds of video does my x-box support??

Hiya, bit long winded, but hope this helps!:

Supported File Types

The Xbox 360 supports AVI, WMV, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264 and QuickTime movie formats. The file extensions included are as follows: .avi, .divx, .wmv, .mp4, .m4v, .mp4v, and .mov.

Video Playback

For video files with the WMV container, playback occurs at 15 Mbps (Mega-Bytes Per Second) with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. Files with the H.264 container have the same resolution, but are played back at 10 Mbps. For AVI and MPEG-4 Part 2 video files, playback
is 5 Mbps at 1280 x 720 resolution.

Audio Playback

The Xbox 360 supports WMA 7-9 and Lossless audio profiles for WMV video formats. Dolby Digital and MP3 profiles are supported in AVI formats. For MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 encoded videos, the console supports only two-channel AAC audio encoding.

Streaming Video

With Zune software, the Xbox 360 can stream unprotected AVI, MPEG-4 Part 2, H.264, and WMV video formats. Through Windows Media Player, protected and unprotected WMV videos can be streamed.

Streaming Tips

Download a third-party video codec package to expand the amount of video formats you can stream using the Windows Media Player. For better playback, convert video files into the more Mircosoft user-friendly WMV format using a third-party video conversion
program.

Source(s):

Video Playback & Audio Streaming FAQ for the Xbox 360

 

Xbox one S video format support

quick Google search shows that the Xbox One S does NOT support HEVC. best solution is to convert them.

Xbox One S supported file formats

Video formats: 3GP video, 3GP2, AVI DivX, DV AVI, AVI uncompressed, asf, AVI Xvid, H.264 AVCHD, M-JPEG, .mkv, .mov, MPEG-PS, MPEG-2, MPEG-2 HD, MPEG-2 TS, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, MPEG-4 SP, WMV, WMV HD

Audio formats: 3GP audio, AAC, ADTS, MP3, WAV, WMA, WMA Lossless, WMA Pro, WMA Voice

Xbox One S unsupported file formats

Video formats: FLV, XAVC, XAVC S, H.265/HEVC, MPEG-1, VP8, VP9, MVC, Real Video, Theora, Prores

Audio formats: Vorbis, Opus, AC-3, DTS, PCM, LPCM, FLAC, ALAC, MLP/Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD

 

The video stutter in my WMV files appears to be induced by the conversion by FreeMake. I put the WMV file onto a USB flash drive and it performed exactly the same as when I streamed it. The stutter is more like every 1-2 seconds. The video quality is fair-poor
especially on scenes where the camera is panning.

The AVI files from FreeMake do not have the stutter, but the quality is mediocre as well. Almost identical to the WMV files it makes. There is very noticeable compression blocking during fast moving and especially panning camera scenes. Scenes where the
camera is mostly still look acceptable, but not as good as watching the DVD itself.

Also, FreeMake adds a FreeMake.com logo screen to very end of your file. It's not really offensive, but it is there at the end for 5 seconds or so.

I noticed that DVDFab's video preset for Xbox 360 uses H.264 video in the AVI container, which is not identified as a compatible format on Microsoft's page:

support.xbox.com/.../audio-video-playback . I am going to give that a try in FreeMake to see if a better quality AVI file results and will still play.