Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Using Transcode 360 with My Movies and Media Extenders like Xbox or Linksys

*****Transcode 360 will not work with MyMovies running on 64-bit operating systems. If you are using something like Vista Ultimate 64-bit you will get an error like 'Communication Failed' when you go to watch something. I think there was a 64-bit version of T360 but since the creator took down the files I have been unable to get a copy. If you have a copy please email me.*****

*****I apologize the troubleshooting section at the bottom is not very well formatted. Although the answer might be there, it might be difficult to find. I plan to redo this section and make it better formatted and easier to find solutions.*****

*****There is much valuable information in the comments section too. If you run into a problem, you might want to read through it. Also, you can always email me*****

Printer Friendly PDF Version


Introduction

NEW! I made an installer tool that pretty much does all the stuff described below for you. Download it here. If you are on Vista, download it, install it, right click the desktop shortcut and 'run as administrator'. There's a link to instructions inside the tool. It's pretty straightforward, easy, and quick. I hope it helps! Here's the blog post about it.

My main reason for using Transcode 360 is the ability to watch movies (movies I have backed up to hard drive and watch through the Vista Media Center) on my Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 is a Media Center Extender device, but it does not support playback of ripped dvds (.vob files), Xvid, Divx, and other formats for that matter. It does support WMV. I could transcode movies into WMV to watch them on the Xbox 360. I prefer to skip that step - it takes too long and will use up more space.

WebGuide option
Before using Transcode 360 (referred to as TT from now on) I used WebGuide. WebGuide is accessible through the Media Center interface on the extender device. We had problems though. Even though the server and extender are both connected to a 100Mbps LAN, trying to watch the movie on the extender at 8Mbps (Ultra) quality level always led to skipping and other issues. We would then try to watch the movie at 2000Kbps (High) and even then we would eventually have some kind of problem while watching the movie (usually freezing or skipping). Also, the quality level was awful when watching on a large screen.

Transcode 360 option
Next I explored TT as an option for watching movies on the extender. At first I had some problems with TT and gave up on using it. But, the inability to watch movies on the extender was a major loss. Later, I again tried TT and this time was able to get it working. Below I will try to describe briefly how to get TT up and running with My Movies and Xbox360.

These instructions are for Vista MCE 32-bit
Since I use Vista Ultimate 32-bit, Xbox 360 as extender, My Movies 2.42 and 2.44, and Transcode 360 1.6.3 I am limited to my experiences with the given versions. I will not have information on XP MCE, or other versions of these apps.

How you should already be setup
I will assume you have a Vista MCE running My Movies. You have movies ripped, and added to your My Movies database. Using My Movies on the MCE box, you can successfully watch ripped DVDs.

Transcode 360 download
On the Vista MCE machine, install Transcode 360 Version 1.6.3. Since the transcode.co.uk website has been down for weeks, I have an alternate location the file can be downloaded from:
http://www.transcode360.be/Transcode360Vista1.6.3.zip (keep in mind I've only tested this with Vista 32-bit). In case that location is no longer available, here is an alternate download location.

Installing Transcode 360
During the install the first decision you will need to make is 1) to run as a Service 2) to run as a tray app. I recommend choosing Service. Click Next. On the next screen you decide whether to run with local system permissions, or run service under dedicated accounts permissions. I recommend choosing the first option (if you want to change this for network file access we will do that later). Click Install. When the install finishes choose to manually reboot later. Click Finish.
If you will only be accessing movies stored on the Vista MCE machine, follow the instructions in the paragraph below titled registry update. If you need to access movies shared on another computer follow these steps: click on Start>Right click on Computer>click on Manage>under Computer Management at the bottom click the triangle next to Services and Applications>below click on Services>in the right pane scroll down to Transcode 360 Transcoding Service>right click on Transcode 360 Transcoding Service and choose Properties>click the Log On tab>put a dot next to 'This account:' In the first box type a username that is an administrator on the MCE machine, and is also configured to have access to the other computer. In the next to boxes type the password. Click Ok. Now follow the instructions in the paragraph below called registry update.

Registry update
I am providing a batch file that will do this change for you, or you can manually do it.

To do this automated, download this file to your computer. Browse to where you saved the file, double click on it. Inside you will see the TT_Network.reg file. Double click it. When prompted, choose 'Run'. On the 'sure you want to continue prompt choose yes'. You should then get a message that the keys or values were successfully added.

To manually do this, browse to C:\Windows and double click regedit.exe. Next expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software and click on Transcode360. In the right pane double click on InstallationType. In the Value data box remove the existing value and type in Network. Click Ok. Close the Registry Editor window.

Whether you did auto or manual go ahead and reboot the computer.

Update Mencoder.exe
After the computer reboots we want to update the version of the mencoder.exe used by TT. On the Vista machine you may want to enable viewing file extensions for this part. It will make things easier. To enable extensions go to Control Panel>Folder Options>View Tab>uncheck the box next to 'Hide extensions for known file types'. Click Ok.

Now go to My Computer and browse to C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder folder. Right click on the file mencoder.exe and choose rename on the menu. Rename it to something like mencoder.exe.old.

It appears people are having difficultly finding the mencoder.exe. So rather than using the instructions below I've made a copy of it available here. Or you can get it from the source, you just have to go into their archive, under Win32. The download is a .zip file. Save the .zip to your computer. Open or extract the .zip when the download is done. Inside you will see a file called mencoder (mencoder.exe). Right click on the mencoder.exe and choose Copy. Now browse to C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder and paste the file here (Edit>Paste or right click and choose Paste). Now we have updated the version of mencoder.exe we are using compared to the one that came with Transcode 360.

Go to Start>All Programs>Transcode 360>Transcode 360 Configuration Utility. On the menu on the left click on Advanced. Under Profile Name you should see Xbox 360 - Mencoder. That's what we want. Some have solved problems with TT by checking the box at the bottom 'Downmix multi-channel AC3 to stereo MPEG audio'. I am running with that checked. Click Exit.

Update ffmpeg.exe
There should be a copy of ffmpeg.exe in your Transcode 360 install directory (default is: C:\Program Files\Transcode360
Replace the existing ffmpeg.exe with a more current copy. Like this one. Download the zip, extract the ffmpeg.exe and overwrite your current one (or better, rename your current one in case you need it back).

You may need Microsoft Hotfix
If you run antivirus software on your Vista MCE machine you will want to apply this MS hotfix (SP1 users should not need this hotfix). If you do not, you may experience a problem with movies freezing when your try to watch them on the extender. This hotfix is for Vista x86 only. Click here to download. If you want to see the MS KB doc it is here Microsoft Hotfix KB933049

Adding Guest account to network movie folders and sharing them
If you will be accessing movies from an extender(Xbox 360), we need to alter permissions setting on the shared movie folders computer. The bottom line is 'Guest' account needs to be enabled on the other machine, and 'Guest' needs to have Read (Read and List) to the movie folders. On Vista Ulimate and Vista Enterprise Enabling go to Start>right click on Computer>choose Manage>expand Local Users and Groups>Highlight Users>in the right pane right click on Guest>choose Properties>on the General tab make sure that 'Account is disabled' is unchecked. Click Ok.
In Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium editions go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage Accounts, and Turn on Guest Account.
To give Guests access to the movie folders go to Computer and browse to the root folder containing all of the movie folders. Right click the folder and choose Properties. Click the Security tab. Click the Continue button (if UAC is enabled). Click the Edit button. Click the Add button. In the 'Enter the object names to select' box type Guest. Click Ok. Click Ok again. Click Ok.

Share the movies folders, if not already, and everyone should have read.

Add the guest account the the movie folders. Give Guest account Read access.

I intend to come back and give instruction on the above two sentences.

If the above is not configured, when you go to Watch Stream on your extender, you will get a 'Path not found ' error message.

To sum, enable Guest account, give guest account read to movie folders (do this by giving read to the parent folder (or drive) and the permissions will propagate down. Finally, share the folders so the UNC path matches the path you specified for the movies in My Movies.


Testing
Bring up your Xbox 360, connect to the Media Center, go to My Movies, pick a movie and choose 'Watch Stream'. If you click Watch you will get an error. So use Watch Stream. You should see 'Loading' for a short period, and then you should get the spinning circle in the middle of the screen. The spinning circle may stop spinning for a short period before the movie starts. If the spinning circle stops and you wait, and wait...and no movie, then something is wrong. The xbox may be frozen at this point. I'll get into some troubleshooting below.

Troubleshooting

If this guide didn't help, or my instructions are unclear, or you found something I missed, please email me at aamjohns@yahoo.com and I will update the blog.

The two versions of My Movies I have used TT with are 2.42 and 2.44.

It may be beneficial to disconnect from the Media Center on the Xbox 360 if the permissions changes were made while connect from the Xbox. I always do this when I make a change so I can't really so if it is not necessary. From the extender, close media center. Then reopen media center on the extender.

Valuable information will come from the TT log file. These are located at C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\Logs
If you tried to watch a movie on your extender using Watch Stream in My Movies and it did not work, look at the log file with the most recent 'Date modified' value. This should be the log created when you tried to stream the movie.

The error message you get when you try to stream the movie is important. Depending on what happens, you may not get a message.

The event viewer on the Vista MCE machine will also give valuable information. Go to Start>right click on Computer>choose Manage>expand Event Viewer>expand Applications and Services Logs>Click on Transcode 360 Service>in the right pane events will be listed. Looks for events that are 'Error' and 'Warning'.

Examples

Error: Connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it ::1:1401

Run Regedit, locate the keyHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Transcode360
In the right pane double click ServerAddress and change it from localhost to the IP address of your media server. After making the change, reboot the Media Center.

I recently got a 'Communication Error' when trying to watch movies and performed the above change and it worked.



Error: The path [some path] was not found when trying to watch a network movie
-> give 'guest' account access to the network folder

After doing the above try to watch the network movie and get 'Transcode failed transcode was unable to transcode the file [some path].
-> this could be that the service is running with an account that does not have permission to the remote computer
-> this could be the mencoder.exe file is not updated

If in the log file you see:

*ERR* Transcoding error:
*ERR* This codecs.conf is too old and incompatible with this MPlayer release! at line 6
-> you can delete the codecs.conf file located in the C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mplayer folder

If in the Event Viewer you have a message that includes 'Cannot open file/device.'
->it might be a permissions, network access, firewall type issue.

Video_TS folder
->Make sure your movies are stored in a separate folder for each movie. Inside the movie folder there should be a Video_TS folder and within it the movie files (.ifo, .vob). Transcode 360 looks for the Video_TS folder and the movie files within. If the folder and file structure described above is not used, the movies will not work.

JIT debugging error message when attempting to open the Transcode 360 Configuration Utility.
->Run the utility as Administrator. On Vista, if you have the UAC enabled, when you go to run the config utility, right click it and choose 'Run as Administrator'

Example log file - successful transcoding

126 comments:

Kristi & Phil said...

I have done this and it plays back great but on some movies the language is incorrect. Do you know how to fix this?

tobias said...

Yes, this most likely has to do with how the movie is being ripped. If you use a reauthoring program like AnyDVD or DVDShrink, make sure that the audio you have selected is English 5.1. If you choose any of the 2 channel audio streams, or any of the other 5.1 you could end up with the wrong language. Also, if you look in my blog for this I talk about it (and my own experience with this problem).

tobias said...

By the way, if what I said about the audio streams doesn't help you please feel free to tell me about how you rip your movies and I will see if I can provide any additional help.

Thanks,
toby.

Unknown said...

I have finished the installation according to your instructions. Now I've booted my 360 and clicked on "watch stream" and it gives me an error saying: "can not transcode video_ts.ifo file." I burn my movies using shrink mostly (dvdfab if shrink doesn't work) and I have a mix of .vob, .ifo, and .bup files in the movie folder. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks! :)

Anonymous said...

Worked a treat, should be noted the windows hotfix is not needed if running SP1 now.

Thanks for taking the time to detail this on line. I wanted to avoid using trans-code after hearing it does not work well and instead reformat the DVDs but this was to long winded and would have taken me an age.

Now thanks to your blog, transcode 360 & My movies I can rip the movie in around 10 mins and then it is ready to watch though the xbox, lovely.

tobias said...

@bryan,
First bryan, make sure the movie plays ok in Media Center. If it does then try a different movie. You didn't specify whether this is happening with one or more movies. It could be the particular movie. I have a lot of movies that work, but I know of one that does not. So, try another movie. If that doesn't work then confirm that your folder structure is right. Each movie should be in a folder (ex: movie name) and inside is a Video_TS, and inside the Video_TS folder are the movie files (.ifo, .vob., .bup).
You can email me a copy of your log file C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\Logs

@ashley,
Very glad it worked for you! Yes, when it works right it is so nice...
That hotfix should not be required for everyone. I believe it has to do with MCE and antivirus software. I'll note it in the blog.

Anonymous said...

Will Transcode 360 work with my Linksys media extender?

tobias said...

deejay,
Yes, it will work with your linksys. As long as you have MyMovies working on the linkysys, and the server computer properly configured, it will work.

Todd said...

Tobin,

great posts. this is a duplicate post from a different thread. this look smore active so here goes :

I have followed your examples to the letter. Still having an issue. here is my synopsis.

Todd-PC running:
Media Center fully patched to Date
MyMovies2
DSM-750 Extender

DVD's ripped to VoB's play fine on pc (as usual)

I followed instructions for Transcoder360. Installed w/o any problems.. set up as service lica account
Downloaded latest Mplayer mencoder.. lists as File Version 0.0.9.0 product version 1.0rc2-4.2.1

When I watch stream I get the same error as you did above.. here is a paste from my logs:

5/29/2008 9:11:09 PM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)

5/29/2008 9:11:09 PM Loaded configuration settings
5/29/2008 9:11:10 PM Transcode360 service started
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM Transcode360 SAO (1.6.3.0) created
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM Transcoding from beginning
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM Starting transcoding process
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM *VRB* Retrieving source stats:
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM *VRB* Output: 'FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004
Fabrice Bellard
configuration: --enable-mingw32 --enable-memalign-hack --extra-cflags=-I/usr/
win32/include --extra-ldflags=-L/usr/win32/lib --prefix=/usr/win32 --cc=gcc -mno
-cygwin --enable-faac --enable-mp3lame --enable-pp --enable-gpl --enable-theora
--enable-libogg --enable-a52 --enable-vorbis --enable-faad --enable-x264 --enabl
e-dts
libavutil version: 49.0.0
libavcodec version: 51.8.0
libavformat version: 50.4.0
built on Apr 4 2006 22:32:07, gcc: 3.4.4 (cygming special) (gdc 0.12, using d
md 0.125)
\\TODD-PC\Movies\Bad_Boys_2\VIDEO_TS.IFO: Unknown format
'
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
5/29/2008 9:12:44 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEn
coderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -delay 0.2 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcr
esample=48000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\Tra
nscodeBuffer\VIDEO_TS.360" -ovc lavc -vf scale=0:0,expand=640:352,harddup -lavco
pts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=8000:keyint=15
:aspect=16/9:acodec=mp2:abitrate=320 -ofps 24000/1001 "\\TODD-PC\Movies\Bad_Boys
_2\VIDEO_TS.IFO"
5/29/2008 9:12:59 PM *ERR* Transcoding error:
5/29/2008 9:12:59 PM *ERR*
WARNING: OUTPUT FILE FORMAT IS _MPEG_. See -of help.
============ Sorry, this file format is not recognized/supported =============
=== If this file is an AVI, ASF or MPEG stream, please contact the author! ===
Cannot open demuxer.

5/29/2008 9:12:59 PM *WRN* MEncoderTranscoder unable to handle request: \\TODD-P
C\Movies\Bad_Boys_2\VIDEO_TS.IFO
5/29/2008 9:12:59 PM *WRN* Failed to start transcoding


Any Suggestions?

tobias said...

Hey Todd,
Thanks for the log file. Transcode 360 needs to be able to locate the Video_TS.IFO file to index the streams (soundtracks and subtitles). T360 expects the Video_TS.IFO to reside in a Video_TS folder. Based on your log file, it looks like you do not have the Video_TS folder with all the movie files contained within it. Try changing it to \\TODD-PC\Movies\Bad_Boys_2\Video_TS and drop all of the movie files into the Video_TS folder.

Anonymous said...

I've been getting the:
*ERR* This codecs.conf is too old and incompatible with this MPlayer release! at line 6

You suggested I should rename the codecs.conf file located in the C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mplayer folder to codecs.conf.old

Which i have done but I'm still getting the error. Should I be replacing the codecs.conf files with something?

tobias said...

gsam,
You can delete the codec.conf file it is not needed. It also appears that you may see that error when the problem is the folder structure. Have a look at the comment above your's where I talk about the proper folder structure (@Todd). Each movie needs a Video_TS folder with the movie files in the Video_TS folder.

Thanks,
toby.

Anonymous said...

Hello Toby,

Great post about the transcode360 program. I followed it totally and it works on my vista x64 and xbox360 as extender.

I have one problem; I cannot stop the encoding proces. On the website of transcode360 it says that when you stop streaming a movie and start it again it should display a window in which it asks if you want to stop or resume.

I don't get this screen, it just starts the movie again. The only solution is killing mencoder.exe via the taksmanager.

Do you maybe have a solution ?

thanks in advance , Jeroen

Unknown said...

Hello... I'm having a problem with this and I hope you can help.

I cannot get network pathed files to work. I keep getting the error:

Path \\192.168.1.26\movies\21 cannot be found

I have the NAS device set to read only as when I go over to that path from the Media Center server I can view everything and play files but I cannot create a new directory.

Another twist to this is that if I move the files local, whether it's a mkv or a dvd ripped into a directory I can stream them no problem to my 360, it's just the networked paths.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Josh

tobias said...

Josh,
It sounds like a security problem. I cannot advise you directly on this because I do not have your NAS to test with. Somehow the security on the NAS will have to be configured to allow a 'guest' account to connect. I would imagine, when you try this, if you then go and look at the Security event logs on the Media Center you should see a record for the security failure.

You can try googling and see if you can find some helpful information. Because you NAS is probably running some form of linux OS, I am not sure how to configure the security on it to make this work. The Xbox 360 connects and authenticates to the Media Center, which then is connecting to the NAS on behalf of the Xbox. I am not sure...

Aaron.

tobias said...

Jeroen,
The way T360 works, once you start a movie, it will transcode the file to completion - whether you finish watching the movie or not. That's what makes T360 so nice is it transcodes to file and then the movie is played from the transcoded file (rather than being realtime and getting hiccups and freezing).

With that in mind, is it necessary to stop the transcoding process? When you stop a movie that you want to resume later, because T360 transcoded it, your Media Center see's it already has the transcoded file and plays from it. By default, T360 is set to only keep 1 or 2 'buffer' files - so if you start watching a movie, stop, start another movie, stop, start another movie, by this point the first movie's 'buffer' file will be gone, and replaced by the 3rd movie (if you are set for 2 files).

By design, once you start a movie, T360 will transcode the whole movie, whether you watch it or not (unless you start watching another movie).

Later,
toby.

Unknown said...

Aaron, thanks for the reply.

I've checked all the security logs and nothing shows up. I just immediately get the error that the path is not found.

I also "assume" the guest account is working as I connected from a new pc that has never connected to the box before and didn't specify any credentials and that seemed to connect as well but in read-only mode.

Let me ask you this. Can I map the network paths to my local Media Center PC as Y:\ for instance and then have it work since it will already be authenticated or no?

Thanks

Josh

Unknown said...

Also, does the Xbox 360 always use the guest account or is it something else that I might need to add to the NAS?

Thanks

Josh

Unknown said...

Ok.. After doing a little more research on the NAS (Promise NS4300N) I think I've discovered the problem (maybe). It seems that the guest account has a password and it's not blank (maybe this is normal). The password is also guest.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the great post. It helped me get my movies going on Xbox360.

I also have issues with remote path errors. I currently have movies on my VMC machine. I want to put them on my Windows Home Server machine, but can not avoid the path error. It is odd, because I am able to populate my library on Xbox from the WHS machine and only get the error with My Movies.

tobias said...

Kevin,
Have a look at my post - "Using Transcode 360, Media Extenders, Vista Media Center, and movies stored on a NAS". What you want to do should be very similar. I think if you have the extender's account map a drive on the VMC to the WHS, it should work.

Unknown said...

In ref. to earlier post ... I figured out my issue based on tip on My Movies site. When I import movie to My Movies, I had to find the path via network share path, not from a mapped drive path. When I do this, I can play ISO files from Windows home server directly to my Xbox360.... and I only have my movies installed on the VMC machine that connects to the Xbox360.

This is a great set up for me. Again, great article here.

Unknown said...

Toby,

Hi Toby, I have tried for several days to get this thing working. I've pulled just about all my hair. I'm trying to get my Vista ultimate 64 bit working with the Linksys DMA 2100. I got My Movies showing on my Linksys MCE but when I try to stream the video, I get communication error every time. Also I can't seem to make any changes on the transcode 360 utility. I change I make I get a,
"Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click Continue. the application will ignore this erro and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the application will close immediately."
I've read your article may times and tried everything. Please help.

Alex

Anonymous said...

toby, thanks for your reply. You are right, the feature of stopping the encoding proces is not really necesary.

I think transcode is one of the best plugins for MCE. It is a pity that the offical site is not updated anymore.

Lets hope the new Fall update is going to bring some nice features to the xbox360 (hopefully mkv support, this could make life so much easier)

Anonymous said...

quote: In ref. to earlier post ... I figured out my issue based on tip on My Movies site. When I import movie to My Movies, I had to find the path via network share path, not from a mapped drive path. When I do this, I can play ISO files from Windows home server directly to my Xbox360.... and I only have my movies installed on the VMC machine that connects to the Xbox360.

Well kevin, can you tell me how you manage it, playing iso movie from a WHS to Xbox360? I search the whole internet for something to stream iso or video_ts from WHS to Xbox360. I hope you can tell me how you did it.

tobias said...

Ralph,
This should work. I will make another blog post addressing this...Although I cannot test it because I do not have a WHS. But, you can play .ISO on an extender using MyMovies provide you have an imaging mounting software installed and you have configured MyMovies to use it. The other issues are sharing and permissions on the WHS and setting the paths correctly in MyMovies collection. Kevin feel free to add on how you are doing this.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Carlo.Rousseeuw said...

Hello there,
i have a question , i looked thru some forums and the one at transcode 360 but some people, including me, are looking for de vlc wrapper plugin for transcode, DO you happen to have a mirror to download it ?

Scott said...

My understanding is that fast forward and rewind won't work using transcoding. Is that correct?

tobias said...

Technically yes, but in a limited fashion. I don't see how to fast forward like you would normally with a show or a movie but you can 'jump' fast forward. It looks like each jump is 30 seconds. I just documented this with the xbox controller here:
http://tobias-tobin.blogspot.com/2008/08/xbox-360-controller-controls-for-use.html

Anonymous said...

@alex:
Hi Alex and toby, i got the same issue with my Linksys DMA 2100. When connecting, i get the 'communication with transcode 360 failed'.
Is there any solution for that?

If I have had any hair, then they would probably be pulled out...

thanks,
Richard

tobias said...

Richard, on the information you provided I cannot help. Not much to go on.

Anonymous said...

hi toby,
ive got it working. Not through My Movies (still get the communication error). When going to my video's, selecting MORE and then selecting TRANSCODE it works. Well, for a few movies. Ive got 4 movies to test with. 2 work, 2 dont. I have noticed that the working films are written as extension .361 in the transcode buffer. These work fine.
Other movies which dont work are written as extension .360 like : nacho_libre.360
The error i get is something like: "cant add movie to transcode queue"

tobias said...

Hey Richard,
So you have already done the stuff in my instructions like the registry setting and putting in a new mencoder? I'd like to know some about your setup, and the files you are playing. You've got your extender, is it wired or wireless? Is you MCE Vista? Are your movies stored on the MCE? Are these DVD rips? Anything else? H.264,avi, divx, etc? If the movies are ripped, are they store in a movie_name folder that contains the Video_TS folder, that then contains all the movie files? Did you get the DMA added to MCE as an extender already? What version of MM are you running? What version of T360 - the one I have for download? Would you email me a copy of your T360 log? When you try to watch a movie on the DMA are you choosing 'watch stream' instead of 'watch'? If you can answer all this for me it would help me figure out what's going wrong. You can just email it all to me if you like aamjohns@yahoo.com.

Anonymous said...

Toby, I just wanted to say thanks for this post. After hours of ripping my hair out, smoking way too much and taking it out on anybody who would ask "what's wrong?" ... I managed to get everything working by just following the steps listed here.

Thanks thanks thanks

Unknown said...

For some reason my videos are all freezing. It will play for about 5 seconds at a time then freeze for 5 secs. and then play for 5...it cycles like that. I thought it was a buffer issue, so I paused it to try and build up the buffer but to no avail. Any ideas? BTW, I'm connected using a wired powerline adapter to my Vista Home Premium MCE PC

tobias said...

J,
It does sound like a bandwidth issue. What happens if you try to watch TV streamed from the Media Center on the extender. With what you are describing, it doesn't sound like the buffer on the MCE, it sounds like maybe the extender uses a small buffer (I dont' know) and it is playing until the buffer empties, then rebuffering. Like I said, see if TV will stream ok. I think there is a network test you can run from within the Media Center on the extender and I think it will tell you how much bandwidth you have. You might try that and see what it says.

Anonymous said...

Toby,

I am having the same problem as Alex earlier. (setup: Vista x64, Phenom X4 9950, ATI 3870 video card, 5GB Ram) On my XBox360 and my Linksys DMA2100, when I click watch stream and it says "Communicating with Transcode 360 Failed". I checked my event log on my MCPC and all it says is "Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)" It doesnt say anything about loading configuration or ready to communicate. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Chris

tobias said...

Chris,
From the feedback I've had and what I have read on the MyMovies forum, it looks like T360 does not work right with x64 Vista.

Chris, in my instructions I talk about troubleshooting with the T360 log file. Would you email me a copy of your log. Also, one of the comments (Richard) suggests a work around. You could try that. Also, the guy who converted T360 to .Net is supposed to be working on a new solution that should work for you. I'm watching to see if and when he releases it. Until then, let's see what your log file says. Also, for giggles try disabling the UAC and your firewall and test.
email: aamjohns@[nospam]yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Hi, first thanks for teh instructions this has worked really well thus far. I have 32 vista home premioum and most of my movies work just fine. But some of the movies don't (.avi off a torrent) I am also emailing a copy of my log, but basically some movies that work fine on the local pc don't on the 360. I get audio but no video and the spinning circle goes to the middle of the screen and is grey. Any help is appreciated

Anonymous said...

I just downloaded transcode, opened up mymovies and played AVI's straight off the bat, without all the hotfix / mencoder updates etc..is this good or bad.

I haven't tried VOB's yet, so maybe that is when I need to follow the remainder of the instructions..

Only problem I have had is that 1 AVI displays a black screen, but plays the audio, which doesn't seem bad out of 30+ films

Anonymous said...

I followed these instructions from "These instructions are for Vista MCE 32-bit" and it works fine for my vista 64 bit. I do not use my movies, but transcode works fine. Thanks alot. I also put a keyword that hopefully google will pick up for those trying to get it to work.

How to install transcode on vista 64

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great instructions on using Transcode 360 with Vista MCE. I have followed the instructions but when I try to play a DVD on the 360 I get a Video Error - Files needed to display video are not installed or not working correctly. Please restart windows media center pr restart computer.

My Computer is running Vista Ultimate with My Movies 2 installed and TT installed according to your directions. The DVD plays fine on the Vista MCE machine. Any troubleshooting suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Bob

tobias said...

Bob,
Thanks for the kind words. The error you are getting is new to me. What kind of file(s) are trying to play? You said DVD so I am assuming a ripped DVD. Have you tried any other movies? You might want to email me a copy of your t360 log file. At this point I have no suggestions other than maybe google t360 and that error or send me a log.

Thanks,
toby.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Toby. Below is a paste of one of my log files (there are several of these but this contained the most info). Sorry I forgot to give more details earlier but yes it is a Ripped DVD I am trying to play. Currently I have only ripped one DVD but I will try another to see if it is something wierd about that title. Thanks again for any other suggestions you can offer.

Bob


11/17/2008 11:58:38 PM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
11/17/2008 11:58:38 PM Loaded configuration settings
11/17/2008 11:58:38 PM Service is ready to accept requests
11/17/2008 11:59:51 PM Transcode360 SAO (1.6.3.0) created
11/17/2008 11:59:51 PM Transcoding from beginning
11/17/2008 11:59:51 PM Starting transcoding process
11/17/2008 11:59:52 PM *VRB* Retrieving source stats: -v -oac copy -ovc copy -o "" dvd://1 -dvd-device "C:\Users\Bob\My Movies\I, Robot\VIDEO_TS"
11/17/2008 11:59:53 PM *VRB* Output: 'MEncoder 1.0rc2-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz (Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 11)
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
Configuration: --prefix=/usr --language=all --enable-win32dll --enable-static --enable-qtx --enable-real --enable-md5sum --enable-menu --disable-vidix-internal --disable-sdl --enable-caca --enable-gl --enable-freetype --enable-png --enable-jpeg --enable-gif --enable-tga --enable-mad --disable-tv --disable-dvb --disable-dvbhead --with-extraincdir=/c/Work/mplayer/live --enable-runtime-cpudetection
init_freetype
get_path('font/font.desc') -> 'C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc'
Bitmap font C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplay
WINSOCK2 init: 0
URL: dvd://1
Reading disc structure, please wait...
There are 11 titles on this DVD.
There are 40 chapters in this DVD title.
There are 1 angles in this DVD title.
DVD successfully opened.
audio stream: 0 format: ac3 (5.1) language: en aid: 128.
audio stream: 1 format: dts (5.1) language: en aid: 137.
audio stream: 2 format: ac3 (stereo) language: es aid: 130.
audio stream: 3 format: ac3 (stereo) language: fr aid: 131.
audio stream: 4 format: ac3 (stereo) language: en aid: 132.
number of audio channels on disk: 5.
subtitle ( sid ): 1 language: en
subtitle ( sid ): 3 language: es
subtitle ( sid ): 5 language: es
subtitle ( sid ): 7 language: fr
number of subtitles on disk: 4
DVD start cell: 0 pack: 0x0-0x2B87
DVD start=0 end=3337710
STREAM: [null] dvd://1
STREAM: Description: DVD stream
STREAM: Author:
STREAM: Comment:
success: format: 2 data: 0x0 - 0x976f7000
DVD Seek! lba=0x0 cell=0 packs: 0x0-0x2B87
Angle-seek synced by cell/vob IDN search!
system stream synced at 0xD (13)!
==> Found video stream: 0
MPEG-PS file format detected.
==> Found subtitle: 0
==> Found subtitle: 1
==> Found subtitle: 2
==> Found subtitle: 3
==> Found subtitle: 4
==> Found subtitle: 5
==> Found subtitle: 6
==> Found subtitle: 7
==> Found audio stream: 128
Searching for sequence header... OK!
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x480 (aspect 3) 29.970 fps 9800.0 kbps (1225.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x480 fps:29.97 ftime:=0.0334
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
dec_audio: Allocating 3840 bytes for input buffer.
dec_audio: Allocating 6144 + 65536 = 71680 bytes for output buffer.
AC3: 5.1 (3f+2r+lfe) 48000 Hz 448.0 kbit/s
A52 flags before a52_frame: 0x2A
A52 flags after a52_frame: 0xA
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 448.0 kbit/29.17% (ratio: 56000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
==========================================================================
WINSOCK2 init: 0

Exiting...
'
11/17/2008 11:59:53 PM *VRB* Parsed video stats: filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x480 fps:29.97 ftime:=0.0334
11/17/2008 11:59:53 PM *VRB* Parsed video dimensions: 720x480
11/17/2008 11:59:53 PM *VRB* Parsed audio stats: [liba52] ac3 decoding with liba52
dec_audio: allocating 3840 bytes for input buffer.
dec_audio: allocating 6144 + 65536 = 71680 bytes for output buffer.
ac3: 5.1 (3f+2r+lfe) 48000 hz 448.0 kbit/s
a52 flags before a52_frame: 0x2a
a52 flags after a52_frame: 0xa
11/17/2008 11:59:53 PM *VRB* Parsed audio channels: 6
11/17/2008 11:59:54 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
11/17/2008 11:59:54 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
11/17/2008 11:59:54 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
11/17/2008 11:59:54 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -oac copy -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\I, Robot.361" -ovc copy dvd://1 -dvd-device "C:\Users\Bob\My Movies\I, Robot\VIDEO_TS"
11/18/2008 12:00:09 AM *VRB* Request handled
11/18/2008 12:00:09 AM Transcoding started
11/18/2008 12:04:36 AM Transcoding complete
11/18/2008 12:08:31 AM Complete pre-buffered media was found

Anonymous said...

Toby

I went back and restored back and went back through the setup process and now everything is working great. I must have missed something along the way the first time. Cool stuff. Thanks again for your helpful setup guide.


Thanks


Bob

Anonymous said...

Ive tried everything except throwing a brick through the screen. The only problem I think I have is that my machine is 64-Bit. I still get the error "Communication with Transcoder 360 Failed"

Here's my log:

12/1/2008 1:07:28 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 1:07:29 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:07:30 AM Service is ready to accept requests

12/1/2008 1:32:04 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 1:32:04 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:32:05 AM Service is ready to accept requests
12/1/2008 1:54:04 AM Service controller stopping Transcode360 service

12/1/2008 1:54:00 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:54:10 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:54:11 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:54:12 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:54:13 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:54:15 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:54:16 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:55:30 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 1:55:31 AM Loaded configuration settings


12/1/2008 4:07:57 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 4:07:57 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:07:57 AM Service is ready to accept requests

12/1/2008 4:09:49 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 4:09:50 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:09:52 AM Service is ready to accept requests
12/1/2008 4:11:54 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:55 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:57 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:58 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:58 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:59 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:12:37 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:12:38 AM Loaded configuration settings

12/1/2008 4:11:52 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:54 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:55 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:57 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:58 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:58 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:11:59 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:12:37 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:12:38 AM Loaded configuration settings


12/1/2008 4:43:14 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 4:43:15 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 4:43:16 AM Service is ready to accept requests
12/1/2008 5:38:27 AM Service controller stopping Transcode360 service

12/1/2008 5:38:34 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 5:38:34 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 5:38:34 AM Service is ready to accept requests

12/1/2008 5:38:40 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 5:59:31 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 5:59:32 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 5:59:33 AM Service is ready to accept requests
12/1/2008 6:11:10 AM Service controller stopping Transcode360 service

12/1/2008 6:11:27 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 6:11:27 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:11:27 AM Service is ready to accept requests

12/1/2008 6:13:13 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
12/1/2008 6:13:13 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:13:13 AM Service is ready to accept requests
12/1/2008 6:15:04 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:15:05 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:15:06 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:15:07 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:15:07 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:15:08 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:15:32 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:15:33 AM Loaded configuration settings

12/1/2008 6:28:13 AM Loaded configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:28:25 AM Detected a change in configuration settings
12/1/2008 6:28:26 AM Loaded configuration settings

tobias said...

Dustin,
Don't throw a brick! It is not your fault! As I understand it, it does not work with 64-bit. I believe he actually made a 64-bit version but I have tried and tried to find it and I never have been able to. I'm sorry but I have found multiple references that state it does not work with 64-bit.

tobias said...

Dustin,
Here is an example of what I mean:
http://www.overclock.net/xbox/192226-transcode-360-alternative.html

tobias said...

One more comment - if you look at the last entry in this thread you will see them mentioning a version that works with 64. I remember seeing it back when that site was up. But he took the site down and now I cannot find a copy of it. If anyone has a copy let me know so I can make it available to others. Much thanks, toby.

tobias said...

Dang it forgot to post the link:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/xbox-360/511793-transcode-360-media-streaming.html

Anonymous said...

Hello, I have finished the installation according to your instructions. I can get it to stream movies with Audio_TS and Video_TS folders but not with .ISO images. I would like to stream my .ISO images. Any suggestions? Thanks

This is the log :
DVD successfully opened.
number of audio channels on disk: 0.
number of subtitles on disk: 0
DVD start cell: 0 pack: 0x0-0x6
DVD start=0 end=6
STREAM: [null] dvd://1
STREAM: Description: DVD stream
STREAM: Author:
STREAM: Comment:
success: format: 2 data: 0x0 - 0x3000
DVD Seek! lba=0x0 cell=0 packs: 0x0-0x6
Angle-seek synced by cell/vob IDN search!
system stream synced at 0xD (13)!
==> Found video stream: 0
MPEG-PS file format detected.
--- END OF CELL !!! ---
DVD next cell: 1 pack: 0x0-0x6
--- END OF CELL !!! ---
MPEG Stream reached EOF
ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: audio)
MPEG: No audio stream found -> no sound.
Searching for sequence header... OK!
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x480 (aspect 2) 29.970 fps 100.0 kbps (12.5 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x480 fps:29.97 ftime:=0.0334
WINSOCK2 init: 0

Exiting...
'
12/5/2008 9:46:16 PM *VRB* Parsed video stats: filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 siz
e:720x480 fps:29.97 ftime:=0.0334
12/5/2008 9:46:16 PM *VRB* Parsed video dimensions: 720x480
12/5/2008 9:46:16 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
12/5/2008 9:46:16 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
12/5/2008 9:46:16 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
12/5/2008 9:46:16 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEn
coderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -delay 0.2 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcr
esample=48000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\Tra
nscodeBuffer\1408.360" -ovc copy dvd://1 -dvd-device "\\Computer\g\1408\140
8.iso"
12/5/2008 9:46:31 PM *ERR* Transcoding error:
12/5/2008 9:46:31 PM *ERR*
WARNING: OUTPUT FILE FORMAT IS _MPEG_. See -of help.
Limiting audio preload to 0.4s.
Increasing audio density to 4.

12/5/2008 9:46:31 PM *WRN* MEncoderTranscoder unable to handle request: \\computer\g\1408\1408.iso
12/5/2008 9:46:31 PM *WRN* Failed to start transcoding

tobias said...

Hey Omar,
My first question - what are you using to mount the .ISO. I use the free tool from slysoft called Virtual CloneDrive.

I blogged about this:
http://tobias-tobin.blogspot.com/2008/08/using-iso-files-with-media-extenders.html

Let me know what you are using.

Try a different .ISO too, just in case the problem is that particular movie.

You can email me at aamjohns@yahoo.com.

rfmullerjr said...

I get the following error when using the config in TT360 to resolve an audio/video sync issue.

Help for a novice? I need a step by step to resolve this JIT debugging error whenever I use the config utility.

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

tobias said...

That's a new one to me. Maybe your version of Java is too old, or too new? Maybe try a different version of Java.

tobias said...

rfmullerjr,
Feel free to email me aamjohns@[nospam]yahoo.com. I am interested to see that this problem gets resolved. Please keep me posted.

toby.

Unknown said...

I've got Vista x64 and Transcode 360 (v. 1.6.3) works fine and am also having troubles with My Movies and T360. I get the "Communication with Transcode360 failed" error.

The weird part is that Transcode360 itself is working fine. I can choose the ISO directly from the Xbox360 and it will work. It's just the MyMovies interface where I have trouble. Any idea why the two won't talk?

Great instructions - thanks for posting them!

Thanks!

tobias said...

If you go to the MyMovies site you will see that Brian Binnerup (the developer) states it does not work with T360 under x64. Unless he does something to fix that, we are stuck. You could try posting on the MyMovies forum to see if you can encourage him to come up with a solution but others have already and he has not fixed it. The problem may have more to the with T360 and maybe that is why he cannot do anything about it.

Brad said...

I am running a 86 bit Vista & mm 2.51 have done everything 3 times to make sure i didnt miss anything and I am getting the same error "Communicating with Transcode 360 Failed" BTW i am running on a linksys 2100...Any help?

Brad said...

Sorry it says "transcoder 360 cannot transcode...then the file location.. Any help would be awsome.

Brad

tobias said...

Brad,
You said 86 bit but do you mean 64 bit? It won't work with 64 bit using MyMovies with T360. You'll always get the communication failed error.

James Warne said...

"Some have solved problems with TT by checking the box at the bottom 'Downmix multi-channel AC3 to stereo MPEG audio'. I am running with that checked. Click Exit."

So does this mean you're losing the surround sound and just listening to stereo?

tobias said...

Yes. I believe since T360 is a compromise to be able to watch streamed movies on the MCE's, if it makes it so you can watch them, then it is worth it. You are also probably losing image quality in the transcoding process. You don't have to have the box checked, but if your movies stop working properly, and checking the box fixes it, then it may be necessary to use it.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

When i installed this, i get a black screen but with audio via xbox 360.

When i try media center on its own its fine. Any ideas?

Sam

Anonymous said...

Hows it going everyone. I don't know if anyone is reading this blog anymore but I thought i would try.

I followed all the instructions but I can't get this to work. I am using windows xp media center edition 2005 roll up 2. I am using My Movies 2 and use it to rip my dvd's into My Videos folder. The file structure is how it should be ( Movie Name Folder with Video TS folder with VOB files in that)

When i try to "watch stream" on the xbox i get Trancoder Failed Error: Transcode 360 was unable to transcode the file C:Documents and settings********

If i look at the error in the Event Viewer on my computer It says Warning: Output file format is MPEG. See of help. Limiting audio preload to 0.4
Increasing AUdio density to 4.

I also get this error message.

This Codecs.conf is too old and incompatible with this Mplayerrelease! at line 6

PLEASE HELP!!! i would love for this to work!

tobias said...

Heck yeah it's still read and monitored :)

You should probably email me a copy of your t360 log that shows the movie that fails. aamjohns@[nospam].yahoo.com

Two things I'll suggest right away. One, make sure you are adding the movie according to the MyMovies multizone documenation. The movie needs to be added to the collection manager using a network path. The other, look for unusual characters in the path for the movie stuff like ( or ). Remove those types of characters from the path and remmove and readd the movie to MM. T360 has trouble with those characters.

Anonymous said...

I can not get my 2100 to see MyMovies via T360. Can anyone help.

tobias said...

Hi,
I can probably help but I need to better understand what you mean. Are you saying MyMovies is not showing up on your extenders Media Center interface? You won't see MyMovies via T360. You won't see T360 at all. It runs in the background on the Media Center. What should happen is on your extender you should see MyMovies, you pick a movie and choose Watch Stream. That causes T360 to encode the movie on the Media Center and stream it to the extender.

Anonymous said...

Hi Toby. Yes MyMovies does not show up on my Linksys Extender. I am using Windows 7 and my extender sees movie library, picture and video library. The movies show in up in the video library. If I select the movie then hit the info button, I can select "more". That brings up the Transcode 360 but it craps out from there.

Anonymous said...

Hi Toby
great blog, hope this is still monitored.
i have loaded tt360 on my Dell XPS420 with Vista 32 MCE, along with mymovies and using an xbox360 as an extender. initially had many issues, but resolved them with permissions and deleting old files, (for some reason i couldn't get mymovies to recognize the new file paths when i moved files, even though i had made all the changes that i could find). anyway, once i had created a movies folder directly on my C drive, and ripped new movies to it (using mymovies), they played fine.
now the problem, i then moved the folder to my K drive, (external WD 1TB) and i now get a different error on the xbox (transcode failed to open...), this is with newly ripped movies, and with copied movies that did play from C drive. when i open the log file, i find this...
2/14/2009 9:15:34 PM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
2/14/2009 9:15:34 PM Loaded configuration settings
2/14/2009 9:15:34 PM Service is ready to accept requests
2/14/2009 9:19:59 PM Transcode360 SAO (1.6.3.0) created
2/14/2009 9:19:59 PM Transcoding from beginning
2/14/2009 9:19:59 PM Starting transcoding process
2/14/2009 9:19:59 PM *VRB* Retrieving source stats: -v -oac copy -ovc copy -o "" dvd://1 -dvd-device "K:\movies\The Princess Bride ‑ (Special Edition)\VIDEO_TS"
2/14/2009 9:20:00 PM *VRB* Output: 'MEncoder 1.0rc2-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 11)
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
Configuration: --prefix=/usr --language=all --enable-win32dll --enable-static --enable-qtx --enable-real --enable-md5sum --enable-menu --disable-vidix-internal --disable-sdl --enable-caca --enable-gl --enable-freetype --enable-png --enable-jpeg --enable-gif --enable-tga --enable-mad --disable-tv --disable-dvb --disable-dvbhead --with-extraincdir=/c/Work/mplayer/live --enable-runtime-cpudetection
init_freetype
get_path('font/font.desc') -> 'C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc'
Bitmap font C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplay
WINSOCK2 init: 0
URL: dvd://1

Exiting...
'
2/14/2009 9:20:00 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
2/14/2009 9:20:00 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
2/14/2009 9:20:00 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
2/14/2009 9:20:00 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -delay 0.2 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\The Princess Bride ‑ (Special Edition).360" -ovc copy dvd://1 -dvd-device "K:\movies\The Princess Bride ‑ (Special Edition)\VIDEO_TS"
2/14/2009 9:20:15 PM *ERR* Transcoding error:
2/14/2009 9:20:15 PM *ERR*
WARNING: OUTPUT FILE FORMAT IS _MPEG_. See -of help.
Couldn't open DVD device: K:\movies\The Princess Bride - (Special Edition)\VIDEO_TS
No stream found to handle url dvd://1
Cannot open file/device.

2/14/2009 9:20:15 PM *WRN* MEncoderTranscoder unable to handle request: K:\movies\The Princess Bride ‑ (Special Edition)\The Princess Bride ‑ (Special Edition).vol
2/14/2009 9:20:15 PM *WRN* Failed to start transcoding

i only pasted the failure, but i can send you the whole thing if that would help.
just to clarify, the movies are in a folder directly on the K drive, called movies, and in the folder each movie is in it's own folder (movie title found in mymovies when ripping) which contains the VIDEO_TS folder with all of the movie files in BUP, IFO, and VOB files.

thanks

josh

tobias said...

Barron,
Go to the MyMovies website and search for how to get that to show up on the media extender. I'm sure it is answered either in the forum on the wiki. I'd try the forum first.

Josh,
Redo the path for the movie and remove the ( ) from the path. T360does not work right with certain characters in the path. Once you redo the path, make sure you remove and re-add the movie to MyMovies (or use the discs button to update the path).

Anonymous said...

Toby
thanks for the help. it did work, (eventually). i did have a bit of trouble with what to delete, i started with just the (), but ended up deleting everything inside of them as well, (i'm guessing tt360 didn't like the - as well, but i didn't need the "widescreen" or "special edition" or whatever part of the title anyway, so i got rid of everything except the basic title. it probably goes without saying that i had to reboot before it took effect, but i'll say it anyway.
again, much thanks for the informative blog and the help.
as an aside, do you happen to know a way to copy the movies (in mymovies) with that part of the title already removed? just to save the trouble of going back into the drive, changing the title there, then going back into collection management, and changing it there... might make things more conventient.

Anonymous said...

whoops, that anon comment was me, josh NW

Anonymous said...

Toby,

I installed TT and it all installed fine, or so I thought. I went to my Linksys Extender called up my movies clicked on watch stream. The loading came up on top and sat there for a while and nothing happened. I am on a wired network. I checked the logs and they say they are waiting for requests but nothing happens, any ideas? Thanks


Barry

tobias said...

Try a different movie. Email me a copy of your t360 log file (aamjohns@[nospam]yahoo.com.

toby.

Anonymous said...

Toby,

I tried another movie with no luck. I have emailed you my log files. Did you get them? Any ideas? Thanks.

Barry

Gustav said...

Nice guide, it has helped me a lot.

Everything works fine, but I do not know how to enable subtitles and change audio streams. I have some anime files in .ogg and .mkv format that play fine, but do not load subtitles are on the wrong language track.

tobias said...

Yoshi,
Unfortunately, transcoded files do not support subtitles or choosing the audio track.

There is a method of embedding the subtitles in the rip. If you want the subtitles, investigate embedding them into the rip.

Regarding the audio track, to get an audio track other than the default, you need to re-author the rip (using something like DVDShrink) and remove all audio tracks except the one you want. That will cause your chosen audio track to be the default.

If you want info on re-authoring with DVDShrink do a search on my blog.

Thanks,
toby.

Anonymous said...

Hi Toby,

Thanks so much for this guide, I think Im nearly there! but I keep getting this "connection refused error" Please any advice would be appreciated...

Recent log is

14/03/2009 19:12:03
MceUiAddIn.Launch
System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it ::1:1401

Server stack trace:
at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress)
at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Connect(EndPoint remoteEP)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.RemoteConnection.CreateNewSocket(EndPoint ipEndPoint)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.RemoteConnection.CreateNewSocket()
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.SocketCache.GetSocket(String machinePortAndSid, Boolean openNew)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp.TcpClientTransportSink.SendRequestWithRetry(IMessage msg, ITransportHeaders requestHeaders, Stream requestStream)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.Tcp.TcpClientTransportSink.ProcessMessage(IMessage msg, ITransportHeaders requestHeaders, Stream requestStream, ITransportHeaders& responseHeaders, Stream& responseStream)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Channels.BinaryClientFormatterSink.SyncProcessMessage(IMessage msg)

Exception rethrown at [0]:
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
at Transcode360.Interface.ITranscode360.IsMediaTranscoding(String filePath)
at Transcode360.AddIn.NewModule.Launch(AddInHost host)


Thanks so much!

tobias said...

Hi,
Sounds like a firewall issue. Make sure you open port 1401 on your media center PC.
http://tobias-tobin.blogspot.com/2008/12/firewall-exceptions-for-transcode-360.html

Anonymous said...

Using Vista 32bit (confirmed in Computer -> Properties -- System Type: 32-bit Operating System). Installed Transcoder 360 on Vista machine, updated registry entry with "Network" setting. Copied newer mencoder.exe file. Rebooted. Go to extender (Linksys) and start My Movies. Select a movie and select Watch Stream. Receive "Communication Error" message. Says "Communicating with Transcoder 360 failed." I can watch the same move on the Media Center box just fine. Transcode 360 service is running. Log file in Logs directory shows nothing other than service started up. Any ideas?

Unknown said...

I'm in trouble showing in correct aspect ratio. Although I set transcode 380 and extender to 16:9, and all movie are formatted as 1080 or 720, when movies are streamed, all movies are narrowed down little bit, and my monitor shows black space. While WMC is shown monitor shows correct aspect ratio, though. Is there anything wrong in my setting?

tobias said...

I don't know Iggy. It sounds like it is right. Is it a situation where you need to change how the display is showing it? Like my TV has different display modes. Zoom, stuff like that.

Anonymous said...

Hi Toby. I've been using My Movies and T350 for ages with no problems thanks to your guide. Recently it has stopped working, and I get the '...actively refused ::1:1401' error. I don't really understand why, as I have no MS F/W running (or any other S/W firewall for that matter), and I haven't made any changes for ages.... I have a horrible feeling there has been an MS update that has messed it up - your thoughts?

I've reinstalled T360 1.6.3 to be sure, but there is nothing meaningfull in the logs, just service started, ready to accept, etc.

Cheers
Matthew

Anonymous said...

Hi - sorry just realised I've left half a story:

I'm running Vista Home Premium with auto updates on.

The '....actively refused ::1:1401' message is created when trying to transcode directly using the More... option under Videos. My Movies just reports that a connection cannot be made.

This then is a T360 problem I would think, rather than My Movies.

Thanks again
Matthew

tobias said...

Hi,
It sounds like a firewall issue. 1401 is the port that t360 uses. Check your Windows firewall. You may need to make an exception for 1401. Search my blog if you want, I have instructions on doing this.

Anonymous said...

Hi Toby

I don't have the Windows Firewall running, and the Xbox360 and Vista machine are CAT5e connected via a gig switch (ie not via my NAT router [not that that should matter]).

I have uninstalled all the Windows updates since the last time I knew it ran okay, but still get the same results...

Weird.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Matthew

tobias said...

Since you reinstalled t360 I wonder if you need to redo the registry update (in the blog post). Also, maybe you need this?
Microsoft Hotfix KB933049

tobias said...

Reboot the media center if you do either of the above before you test it again.

Anonymous said...

Hi Toby
Have checked the 'Network' setting in the registry, and all is well.
Tried to install the hotfix, but it said it wasn't needed (I think it was superceded by SP1).

Rebooted, checked both through My Movies and direct from the Videos>More...T360 way, same result.

I just can't think what else has changed.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Cheers
Matthew

tobias said...

1401 is the port that t360 uses. If it is actively refusing that port it sounds like a network/port blocking issue. So you don't have anything on there that could be blocking the port? Does it still work with MyMovies? What does the t360 log file say?

Unknown said...

Toby, I have been struggling with this for a while. I have a VMC and an HP MediaSmart Connect extender. I also have My Movies on an HP WHS. I have all of the software installed (Transcode 360, mplayer, etc). The watch stream function starts but it seems like it only plays one VOB file. I have all of the videos stored in the VIDEO_TS structure. But I can never get a video to play completely without saying "FINISHED" on the VMCE. Here is a log to help you help me:

3/5/2009 7:43:52 AM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
3/5/2009 7:43:52 AM Loaded configuration settings
3/5/2009 7:43:52 AM Service is ready to accept requests
3/5/2009 7:54:48 AM Transcode360 SAO (1.6.3.0) created
3/5/2009 7:54:48 AM Transcoding from beginning
3/5/2009 7:54:48 AM *VRB* Deleting old buffer: C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\Moulin Rouge.360
3/5/2009 7:54:48 AM Starting transcoding process
3/5/2009 7:54:48 AM *VRB* Retrieving source stats: -v -oac copy -ovc copy -o "" dvd://1 -dvd-device "\\GW-SERVER\DVD Movies\Drift\VIDEO_TS"
3/5/2009 7:54:48 AM *VRB* Output: 'MEncoder 1.0rc2-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (Family: 6, Model: 15, Stepping: 11)
CPUflags: Type: 6 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
Configuration: --prefix=/usr --language=all --enable-win32dll --enable-static --enable-qtx --enable-real --enable-md5sum --enable-menu --disable-vidix-internal --disable-sdl --enable-caca --enable-gl --enable-freetype --enable-png --enable-jpeg --enable-gif --enable-tga --enable-mad --disable-tv --disable-dvb --disable-dvbhead --with-extraincdir=/c/Work/mplayer/live --enable-runtime-cpudetection
init_freetype
get_path('font/font.desc') -> 'C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc'
Bitmap font C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplay
WINSOCK2 init: 0
URL: dvd://1
Reading disc structure, please wait...
There are 3 titles on this DVD.
There are 1 chapters in this DVD title.
There are 1 angles in this DVD title.
DVD successfully opened.
audio stream: 0 format: ac3 (stereo) language: en aid: 128.
number of audio channels on disk: 1.
number of subtitles on disk: 0
DVD start cell: 0 pack: 0x75E5-0x530B3
DVD start=30181 end=340147
STREAM: [null] dvd://1
STREAM: Description: DVD stream
STREAM: Author:
STREAM: Comment:
success: format: 2 data: 0x3AF2800 - 0x29859800
DVD Seek! lba=0x75E5 cell=0 packs: 0x75E5-0x530B3
Angle-seek synced by cell/vob IDN search!
system stream synced at 0x3AF280D (61810701)!
==> Found video stream: 0
MPEG-PS file format detected.
==> Found audio stream: 128
Searching for sequence header... OK!
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x480 (aspect 2) 29.970 fps 9608.0 kbps (1201.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x480 fps:29.97 ftime:=0.0334
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
dec_audio: Allocating 3840 bytes for input buffer.
dec_audio: Allocating 6144 + 65536 = 71680 bytes for output buffer.
AC3: 2.0 (stereo) 48000 Hz 192.0 kbit/s
A52 flags before a52_frame: 0x2A
A52 flags after a52_frame: 0x2
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 192.0 kbit/12.50% (ratio: 24000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
==========================================================================
WINSOCK2 init: 0

If you can shed any light on this I would be so grateful.

Regards,
John

tobias said...

I don't see anything in the log. I've heard this complaint before with other HP and Linksys extenders. You might want to try changing the settings for encoding profile. T360 Configuration Utility>Advanced.

You will see different profiles and settings. Try the HP/Linksys Extender setting. Or try custom settings. After you change the setting you may need to click on 'Home' and then stop the service and then start the service.

Unknown said...

Toby,

I already had this setup on the HP/Linksys Extender, changed it to XBOX 360 Mencoder but the movie still stops after 20-30 minutes. It does seem like just the length of one .VOB to me though the .360 file it creates is pretty big like it could be the whole thing. How big should the .360 file be?

I have put lots of time and effort into this project and it's so disappointing that it doesn't work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. There are very few options on the settings, any idea what I should try to change?

Cheers,
John

Unknown said...

Toby,

As an example, I tried watching "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and the first .VOB file is named VTS_01_0.vob and is 366418KB. This movie stopped after about 5-10 minutes.

But I also tried to watch "Gladiator" and the first .VOB is 213946KB. So my theory there is not correct.

Cheers,
John

tobias said...

It is easier and quicker to do some of this stuff over email. Can you start corresponding through email? aamjohns@[nospam]yahoo.com
I doubt the issue is .vob related. The encoded file, the .360 or .361 files will be large once it has fully transcoded the movie. Upwards to 4GB. You can test that the transcoding is working right. Change the extension from .360 to .mpg and play the file on the media center. You can see whether it is transcoding the whole movie or not. Like I said, I've heard of this problem before. It has something to do with the extender. You may want to talk to HP or look for firmware updates. For whatever reason, it sounds like the extender it timing out on something after a while.

tobias said...

Also, there's a little discusison on here (at the bottom) about playback ending too soon.
http://unmitigatedrisk.com/archive/2007/01/16/26.aspx

You'll notice the one person then says it was Mcafee. So, you might want to check and see if you have any virus software running on the MCPC that might be creating an issue. But, again, in the blog post, and comments they talk about how when transcoding the extender has to guess when it ends, thereby creating a early termination issue in some cases.

Anonymous said...

Hey toby, if you find the "actively refused ::1:1401" issue, a lot of people would be very happy.
I have the same thing and it is making me creazy.....

Greetings Koen

tobias said...

Those with actively refused 1401 error. Try this. Go to Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services>scroll down to the Transcode Service. Right click it and choose properties. Click the Log on tab. If it is set to an account, try it as Local Service. After you change it you may need to stop and start the service. Or if it is Local Service, try running it as an account with admin on the Media Center. Somebody please let me know if this works.

Anonymous said...

I followed your setup instructions and everything worked a treat.

However recently all I get is the message

no connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it ::1:1401

I've uninstalled and reinstalled, switched off the firewall etc. etc. but to no avail.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Ooops forgot to mention changing the account for the service doesn't help.

The problem seems to be the address ::1:1401 but I don't know where this is coming from

MadMonkey said...

If you are getting the error

connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it ::1:1401

Run Regedit, locate the key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Transcode360\ServerAddress

and change it from localhost to the IP address of your media server. Note it must be an IP address as the problem seems to be with resolving names to IP addresses.

Transcode360 then starts working again :)

Hope this helps

Anonymous said...

Toby, thanks a million for the blog
MadMonkey, thanks a million for the actively refused it ::1:1401 fix... it worked like a charm

kOne

tobias said...

MadMonkey,
Your going to make a lot of people happy. Thanks for posting that. If you don't mind I am going to add it to the blog under the troubleshooting section. Thank you very much!

toby.

Matthew Roberts said...

Thanks Toby for the great Blog (and to MadMonkey for his ::1:1401 fix), this had been driving me up the wall, but now fixed.

Thanks again
Matthew

colinc said...

Not sure if this Blog is still being monitored but just in case.

I am running two setups one is Vista Premium and the other Vista Ultimate both 32bit. With My Movies 2.55 (mm) and one with daemon tools lite and the other with Virtual Clone DVD, both are using anydvdhd.

I have installed everything as per the instructions given and have everything working just fine through the media centres one is using a Xbox360 and the other a DMA2100 with only one problem. Common to both setups

if through mm I copy a DVD to my hard drive and I chose a hard drive location to be the public/video directory the DVD image can then be view from both media extenders and from the media centre, I can move the location of the copied DVD and fix up the path in mm and I have no problems still viewing the DVD, However, if through mm I was to copy the DVD to any other location, Including the location that I may have move my previous copy of a DVD to In this case F:/movies I am unable to view the movie from the extender, but it works fine from the media center, If I move the DVD files for the non working copy into the //public/videos directory it makes no difference I still get the same issue.

The Extender reports Transcode 360 was unable to transcode the movie f:/movies/"title" (the Log is pasted at the end)

Now the interesting thing is I can use other programs such as dvdfab, or CloneDVD2 to create the same file structure of the same disk in the same location and then add the movie to my movies with auto discovery or through the management interface for mm and I do not experience this problem.

I am at a loss to explain this behaviour I have researched shares and privileges and can not find any problems with the files when comparing them with each other it simply that when using the mm interface in media centre to copy the DVD if the files are not copied to the C:\Users\Public\Videos directory they simply will not transcode to the extender. I am hoping someone can spread a little light on what the problem may be.

colinc said...

Colin C LOG
LOG

4/07/2009 9:21:07 PM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
4/07/2009 9:21:07 PM Loaded configuration settings
4/07/2009 9:21:09 PM Service is ready to accept requests
4/07/2009 9:48:35 PM Transcode360 SAO (1.6.3.0) created
4/07/2009 9:48:35 PM Complete pre-buffered media was found
4/07/2009 9:49:35 PM Transcoding from beginning
4/07/2009 9:49:35 PM *VRB* Deleting old buffer: F:\Transcoder\Sword Fish.360
4/07/2009 9:49:35 PM Starting transcoding process
4/07/2009 9:49:35 PM *VRB* Retrieving source stats: -v -oac copy -ovc copy -o "" dvd://1 -dvd-device "F:\Movies\How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days\VIDEO_TS"
4/07/2009 9:49:35 PM *VRB* Output: 'MEncoder 1.0rc2-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz (Family: 15, Model: 2, Stepping: 9)
CPUflags: Type: 15 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
Configuration: --prefix=/usr --language=all --enable-win32dll --enable-static --enable-qtx --enable-real --enable-md5sum --enable-menu --disable-vidix-internal --disable-sdl --enable-caca --enable-gl --enable-freetype --enable-png --enable-jpeg --enable-gif --enable-tga --enable-mad --disable-tv --disable-dvb --disable-dvbhead --with-extraincdir=/c/Work/mplayer/live --enable-runtime-cpudetection
init_freetype
get_path('font/font.desc') -> 'C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc'
Bitmap font C:/Program Files/Transcode360/Wrappers/MEncoderTranscoder/mplayer/font/font.desc loaded successfully! (206 chars)
Using MMX (with tiny bit MMX2) Optimized OnScreenDisplay
WINSOCK2 init: 0
URL: dvd://1
Reading disc structure, please wait...
There are 33 titles on this DVD.
There are 1 chapters in this DVD title.
There are 1 angles in this DVD title.
DVD successfully opened.
number of audio channels on disk: 0.
number of subtitles on disk: 0
DVD start cell: 0 pack: 0x0-0x7
DVD start=0 end=7
STREAM: [null] dvd://1
STREAM: Description: DVD stream
STREAM: Author:
STREAM: Comment:
success: format: 2 data: 0x0 - 0x3800
DVD Seek! lba=0x0 cell=0 packs: 0x0-0x7
Angle-seek synced by cell/vob IDN search!
system stream synced at 0xD (13)!
==> Found video stream: 0
MPEG-PS file format detected.
--- END OF CELL !!! ---
MPEG Stream reached EOF
ds_fill_buffer: EOF reached (stream: audio)
MPEG: No audio stream found -> no sound.
Searching for sequence header... OK!
VIDEO: MPEG2 720x576 (aspect 3) 25.000 fps 9800.0 kbps (1225.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x576 fps:25.00 ftime:=0.0400
WINSOCK2 init: 0

Exiting...
'
4/07/2009 9:49:35 PM *VRB* Parsed video stats: filefmt:2 fourcc:0x10000002 size:720x576 fps:25.00 ftime:=0.0400
4/07/2009 9:49:35 PM *VRB* Parsed video dimensions: 720x576
4/07/2009 9:49:37 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
4/07/2009 9:49:37 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
4/07/2009 9:49:37 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
4/07/2009 9:49:37 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -delay 0.2 -oac lavc -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "F:\Transcoder\How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.360" -ovc copy dvd://1 -dvd-device "F:\Movies\How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days\VIDEO_TS"
4/07/2009 9:49:52 PM *ERR* Transcoding error:

tobias said...

Damn, I wrote a big post and then it crapped out when I clicked to publish. I suspect it is a path issue. Make sure 1) all of your movie folder roots are configured to be shared folders, 2) make sure MM is using the shared folder path for monitoring, not a local path. It should not be F:\Movies, it should be \\machine\share path.

Next, in collection manager, find the movie that is failing. Click the little 'discs' icon. Location Type should be online folder. Location - I suspect it will be a local path (F:\Movies). Click the little button to browse for the path, this time, browse to it by the network share. So you change it to \\machine\share\movie. Now save the title so the change is implemented in the database. Try the movie again and see if it works. If it does we know the issue is how MM is adding the path when you do this move. If it does not, it is probably a permissions issue, maybe inheritance is not happening when the folder gets moved into the directory. If it doesn't work send me another log, and take a screenshot of the permissions settings on one of the .vob files. For faster communications email me at aamjohns@yahoo.com

colin c said...

Thanks For the fast responce i will try all this and get back to you

Matt said...

Toby,

I used your install tool (thx btw) and got everything up alright, but when I go to stream my xbox throws the error "A port was expected because of there is a colon present but the port could not be parsed."

I have the right port open and tried turning off Windows Firewall as a test but nothing. Any ideas?

tobias said...

Matt,
This is the second report of this issue. The first person didn't get back with me. I would very much appreciate it if you get back with me so I can figure out what is causing this. It must be something my tool is doing because 1) I've never seen this error before 2) the last person used my tool to set this up.

I am wondering if it is the 'ServerAddress Reg Edit part'. Bring up the tool and make sure that in the box is your Media Center's IP address. Probably something like 192.168.0.2. If it is in this format xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx (IPv6) that would be the problem. If it is like xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx we need to put the IPv4 address of your media center in that box, and click the run button to the right (so it corrects the address).

Please get back to me at aamjohns@yahoo.com. I want to make sure we figure this out so my tool is not messing people up!

Also, if you need to get your ip address do this (on the media center computer). Go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt
At the prompt type:ipconfig and hit [Enter]. In the information that comes back you should see your IPv4 address. Write it down, and go back to the tool and put it in the ServerAddress box, and click run. After that, reboot the media center, and then try your extender again. Please let me know how it goes.

goforbroke01 said...

Toby - you've done some great work here - thanks. However I can't get one little bit working! When I run watch stream I get an error and the log file looks like there's something wrong with the audio. I tried patching the MEncoderTranscoder.cs file with replacing -oac copy to -oac pcm and the video now plays but with no sound. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
This is the log file:
7/18/2009 7:52:42 PM Starting Transcode360 service (1.6.3.0)
7/18/2009 7:52:42 PM Loaded configuration settings
7/18/2009 7:52:42 PM Service is ready to accept requests
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM Transcode360 SAO (1.6.3.0) created
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM Transcoding from beginning
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM *VRB* Deleting old buffer: C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\Nothing_But_The_Truth.361
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM Starting transcoding process
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM *VRB* Retrieving source stats:
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM *VRB* Output: 'FFmpeg version SVN-r19159-Sherpya, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
libavutil 50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
libavcodec 52.30. 2 / 52.30. 2
libavformat 52.34. 0 / 52.34. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libavfilter 0. 5. 0 / 0. 5. 0
libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
built on Jun 12 2009 04:25:02, gcc: 4.5.0 20090517 (experimental)

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 47.95 (48000/1001) -> 23.98 (48000/2002)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'G:\DVD\MP4\Eagle_Eye\Eagle_Eye.mp4':
Duration: 01:57:33.88, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1951 kb/s
Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264, yuv420p, 720x360 [PAR 32:27 DAR 64:27], 23.98 tbr, 48k tbn, 47.95 tbc
Stream #0.1(und): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16
At least one output file must be specified
'
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM *VRB* Parsed video dimensions: Video: h264, yuv420p, 720x360
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM *VRB* Parsed video dimensions: 720x360
7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM *VRB* Parsed audio stats: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16

7/18/2009 7:54:20 PM *VRB* Parsed audio channels: 2
7/18/2009 7:54:21 PM *VRB* MEncoderTranscoder loaded
7/18/2009 7:54:21 PM *VRB* VLCTranscoder loaded
7/18/2009 7:54:21 PM *VRB* Using optimal resolutions
7/18/2009 7:54:21 PM Spawning: "C:\Program Files\Transcode360\Wrappers\MEncoderTranscoder\mencoder.exe" -quiet -oac copy -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd -o "C:\Users\Public\Transcode360\TranscodeBuffer\Eagle_Eye.361" -lavdopts threads=4 -ovc lavc -vf scale=720:360,expand=720:400,harddup -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=8000:keyint=15:aspect=16/9 -ofps 24000/1001 "G:\DVD\MP4\Eagle_Eye\Eagle_Eye.mp4"
7/18/2009 7:54:36 PM *ERR* Transcoding error:
7/18/2009 7:54:36 PM *ERR* Cannot get Console handle of stdout

WARNING: OUTPUT FILE FORMAT IS _MPEG_. See -of help.
WARNING: Multithreading is experimental and may break in weird ways.
Unsupported PixelFormat -1
Audio format 0x332d6361 is incompatible with '-oac copy', please try '-oac pcm' instead or use '-fafmttag' to override it.

7/18/2009 7:54:36 PM *WRN* MEncoderTranscoder unable to handle request: G:\DVD\MP4\Eagle_Eye\Eagle_Eye.mp4
7/18/2009 7:54:36 PM *WRN* Failed to start transcoding

tobias said...

Hi,
Are other videos working ok? I am wondering if it is an issue with that file.

You can try going to the Transcode 360 config utility and on advanced, at the bottom 'Downmix multi-channel AC3 to stereo MPEG audio'. You might want to change the .cs file back before testing the audio change. I'm not sure if the service needs to be restarted or not, you might want to do that for the heck of it before testing. You can do that in the config utility also.

Issues like this are pretty much beyond me. There are too many elements to know about for me to know the answer.

If downmixing helps let me know.

Thanks,
toby.

Unknown said...

Some of my movies started working after I installed this tool and changed t360's config to HP/Linksys
Thanks Toby !

But most of the movies fail to show up on my DMA2100.

The error usually is:

*ERR* Transcoding error
*ERR* Cannot get Console handle of stdout

I have sent you a log via e-mail.

Unknown said...

Hi Toby,

Thanks for the Installer tool! It made the installation go much much smoother this time.

I am having a little problem with about half of my movies not playing. On the Xbox I get the "Video Error: Files needed to display video are not installed or not working correctly, etc" when I play one of the bad movies.

The movies were all ripped exactly the same way and they are in folders as .vob files. The movies reside on multiple drives, but of two movies on a single drive, one will play and the other will not.

I've compared the T360 log entry for both the movie that plays and the movie that doesn't, and I cannot see a difference.

Have you got any idea what could be causing this?

Thanks!

tobias said...

Mike,
Getting ready to go to bed. Feel free to email me more questions. Check the paths of the movies that don't play of characters like ( and ) in them. T360 doesn't like those.

You can email me logs if you want. Also, take one of the movies that won't play, re-rip it and only take the main title and one audio track. Like in my dvdshrink instructions on the blog. If neithe of those two, try to figure out some kind of pattern.

Roy said...

Hi, i've tried your installer and everything seems to install ok, but I can't get subtitles to work. It worked for a moment, but for some reason. I can't get it to work anymore. I am also getting errormessages when I use "Transcode360Config.exe".
I changed the config file manually to locale "nl-nl". restarted the service, but nothing. Do you have any ideas?

tobias said...

Roy,
I am sorry to say that I've never gotten the subtitles to work, at all, ever. Even though others say it works for them.

I cannot really recommend anything for you.

Regarding the config tool crashing, I would say either try a reinstall of t360, and clear out the directory before you do the new install, or see if undoing the changes you made fixes it.

Sorry I'm not much help.

BDO said...

I have bee using T360 on my Linksys and HP extenders for a while now with no problems. Recently I setup another PC running media center, installer MM on the PC as a client to connect to the MM server. I had problems getting this to work and found that the problem was all my movies were using the server drive letters for the file path. Changing this to a UNC path fixed it so that movies work on the PC. Now however when I try to use MM on my extenders, I get an error message saying file path not found, and it shows the unc path in the error message. Should UNC paths work ok on extenders? Maybe there is some other setting I am missing that I need to change for the extenders. I am running MM 3.0.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Your blog is always very helpful.

Unknown said...

Thanks for your effort!

Too bad, it does not work for my Windows 7 setup, though it should?

I get the error "Unable to queue file for transcoding". Anyone any idea what that could be?

Thnx,
Mark

Anonymous said...

Hello Tobias

I was wondering if you could help my out. I just downloaded and installed the latest Meida Browser 2.3.0, Shark Vista Codecs_v590 on to my windows 32 bit Vista PC (with SP2). Everything works will on teh PC but when I try to use Media Browser on my Xbox 360 extender I get the following error

TRANSCODE EROOR: could not start transcode process.

1) My directory structure for my movies are in the following format

Movies/Drama/Davici Code/VIDEO_TS/
video_ts.bup
video_ts
vts_01_0.bup
vts_01_0
vts_01_1
vts_01_2
vts_01_3
vts_01_4
vts_01_5
vts_01_6
vts_01_7

2) under the "advanced" tab under the "extenders + ios" section of the Media Browser configurator have toggled the Enable transcode 360 box off and on which will either produce on of the two following errors

(when transcoed360 is enabled) TRANSCODE EROOR: could not start transcode process.

(when transcoed360 is disabled) MEDIA BROWSER: Application will now close due to broken MediaCenterEnviornment object, either due to five minutes of idle time or TV PACK installed (when transcoed360 is disabled)

tobias said...

Could you email me (aamjohns@yahoo.com) a copy of your transcode log files? Also, have you confirmed the transcode360 service is installed and running? Does it ever work?

Sara said...

Thanks for revealing this super valuable resource!An informative hub, must say. Keep writing.
HP Deskjet 2050 Drivers

Fernando said...

Hi,

Does anyone knows how to change the subtitle font color for Transcode360 please ?

Unknown said...

I have done installation and it works great. Many thanks!!
Microsoft windows 8 professional oem version

New beginner's guide to PowerShell on my GitHub page

 I created a beginner's guide to PowerShell here: https://github.com/aamjohns/Powershell_Guide/blob/main/README.md I hope it helps someo...