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Why Xvid, Mkv and Subtitle Support Are Vital For The Xbox 360

by Guest
7/2/2007
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Why Xvid, Mkv and Subtitle Support Are Vital For The Xbox 360?
Article by: Aquanox

In the latest dashboard update, Microsoft boosted the hype of millions of users when they announced the upcoming support for the H264 video codec and “MPEG4 part 2” which many automatically read as .Mkv and Xvid support.

However, many hearts were broken when they found out that the h264 support was limited to .mov and .mp4 containers, not supporting the extremely popular .mkv format. A similar fate experienced Xvid fans since this “MPEG4 Part 2” support didn’t allow them to stream the Xvid files through the Xbox 360. If it wasn’t enough, another unpleasant surprise was that even when the Xbox 360 indeed supported a broader codec variety than before, it still didn’t feature text subtitle support (read .srt, .sub), which ruled off any possibility to actually understand any video content you might have stored in your PC, even if it used the codecs the Xbox 360 natively supported.

Screenshot
Xvid is the most popular SD video codec out there.

After this information was shared over the internet, the hype surrounding the new codec support instantly faded away. The reason was simple: the worldwide massively used Xvid (MPEG Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile) and Mkv (Most popular container for HD content) videos were still not supported, therefore, you still wouldn’t be able to stream those videos in your Xbox 360 even when any PC with Windows can.

Said this, one could say that Microsoft is leaving in the air the importance of this market. From one hand, they aren’t supporting subtitles at all, an essential feature for every single non native English speaking user when thinking about streaming media, and considering it’s exactly in those countries (Europe, Asia, etc…) where they need the biggest boost, it’s difficult to believe this hasn’t been taken in consideration yet.

Screenshot
Matroska is quickly becoming "The" standard in High Definition
media due to its multiple subtitle and audio support.


Alongside with this, comes the importance of Xvid and Mkv support. Only by looking at the tremendous popularity of the Xbox Media Center (an independent program for modded Xboxes in the original Xbox), which was the most wanted feature, was Xvid streaming. It’s easy to foresee the impact the support of these codecs and its subtitles would have for the console. To put things in perspective, this mod was so popular that thousands used it even when it would mean an automatic ban of your console from Xbox Live. It isn’t hard to imagine what it would be like if you could have both options in one single box. The Xbox 360 would finally become a true media extender and appeal to a much broader audience. After all, $300-$400 bucks for a console that also acts as a superb HD Movie Player is a hell of a deal even for non-gamers. (Standalone HD movie players that support xvid and mkv containers are around that price or higher)

It’s up to Microsoft to evaluate this and implement it in their next dashboard iterations and more important, before the competition does it.

  Aquanox Says  
From the look of things, it’s hard to imagine anything outside few triple A games that would boost the popularity of the console in such a powerful way, especially in regions where it’s most needed for them.

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charles0511
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Posted 7/2/2007
I wish they would come out with an update to fix it. But, I doubt it. I mean. The xbox 360 supposed to be the ultimate machine. But, it still lacks so much.
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drfred79
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Posted 7/2/2007
XForce has deaf members so for them not to support subtitles for media is savage and insensitive. I can't play most my backed up movie because of their arrogance.
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xbm360
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Posted 7/4/2007
I totally agree, that's why I bought my Xbox 360 in 1st instance; to function as a mediacenter. Luckily wmv is a little bit supported on many HD torrent sites, but there's another big issue with the Xbox 360, which is overseen a lot... The incredible noise it generates! Why the hell, should the fans be so loud? Why can't I adjust them myself to run them at half speed when I watch a movie?

Another thing though... You are talking about mkv & xvid support. You forgot a more important codec; x264! The majority of the HD movies these day are encoded with x264, which is an extreem optimal, cpu friendly codec & it's open source! I guess the guy at the MS headoffice are alergic to open source :)
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ahme
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Posted 10/26/2009
the big reason why microsoft wont support mkv is because its a prominent container for pirate blurayrips ( aka x264). it would led to downfall of bluray and lawsuit and sue from hollywood studios and sony and its partner to microsoft. thats not what microsoft wants (i know m$ wants bluray to fail, but this dirty tactic would backfire against them).

dont lost hope though, we know sony have partnered with divx, and we know divx guys is adding mkv as their container for hd videos. this means if sony adds mkv support on ps3.... microsoft would follow. the only problem i see on this is sony is not idiot. they would never initiate the first move adding the mkv support on ps3 because it would destroy bluray sales and microsoft is the only the benefactor.

as for microsoft initiating the first move supporting mkv.... like i said from my first two paragraphs, theyd never do it because of paragraph #1.
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Crucio
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Posted 1/24/2010
Yes! I'm beginning to feel frustration towards this MKV and Subtitles business. MKV IS the most widely used HD container, almost all anime fansubs use it, almost all BluRay rips use it. Its just time for an update Microsoft! Get to it!
Yes The DivX Tech preview actually lets you play MKVs on Media Center and on Xbox 360 extender but they still havent figured out how to make MKV subtitles work.... Disappointing!
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