Fall '06 Supported Video Formats

As you may have heard, with the Xbox 360 Flash Fall 2006 System Update we are adding support for WMV video playback from new sources. Videos can be streamed from a PC running Windows Media Connect, Windows Media Player 11, or the new Zune client player, and can also be played from Optical Disc and most USB mass storage devices. For all these sources, only the WMV video file format and codecs are supported.

How do I know if a video file will work on the Xbox 360?

Currently only the Windows Media Video (WMV) file format and codecs are supported. If you have a file with a “.wmv” extension, then the odds are pretty good that it will work. Technical details on the types of files we support can be found at the end of this post, but the easiest way to find out if a file will work or not is to just try it. Hopefully after you click play the video will show up on your display, but if the content is not supported you will simply get an “Unplayable Content” message blade from the side of the screen and then be returned to the Video blade.

How do I create videos that will play on my Xbox 360?

Windows Movie Maker, a standard feature of Windows XPSP2, will output WMV video files compatible with the Xbox 360 console. Either use the default settings when you finish a movie and click “Save to my computer,” or just make sure that the output video format you select shows the file type as “Windows Media Video (WMV).”

Videos will usually look best when they are closest to the original resolution that they were created with. Try to create video files at least 360 pixels high in vertical resolution in order to minimize content upscaling on the console. 

If you decide you want finer control of the output video file format, download a version of Windows Media Encoder (https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/) and then start encoding away. Optimal size and bitrate settings will vary depending on the source material you are encoding. As a general guideline though, 1.5 Mbps is a typical bitrate that should be suitable for most standard definition content, and 8 Mbps is a common bitrate for high definition content.

Can I get more technical details about the kinds of files you support?

WMV video files with the extension “.wmv” are stored in a generic file container format known as ASF. ASF files can contain many different types of codecs within them. Xbox 360 supports most common WMV video codecs, as seen in the following chart:

Supported Video Codecs:

There are some files with “.wmv” extension that may play on a PC, but are unsupported on the Xbox 360 console. Windows Media Screen, Windows Media 9 Image (Photostory), and some older Microsoft codecs are unsupported, as seen in the following chart:

Unsupported Codecs:

Anamorphic content with nonsquare pixels is currently unsupported on Xbox 360 console, and will be displayed as if the pixels were square. If you want to play such content on your console, it is recommended that you re-encode the content in a square pixel format.

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
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• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  You wrote "Currently only the Windows Media Video (WMV) file format and codecs are supported.". Can we hope for more Codecs in the future ? I'm talking about non-Microsoft ones: XviD, x264, ... These are free, it's just a matter of will to support them.

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Well, as you probably already know, a lot of converted media simply does not work. I'm using VLC to convert with no success. See the file in the list, even see a picture of the first frame of the video but get the 69-04-80004001 error. If you guys are going to force us to convert all our stuff to wmv format then at least make sure all wmv formats work well. Using WMV2 codec at 1024kb/s in an ASF container.

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  I'm sure everyone wants to know if there are any plans to support more codecs? If so, which ones? Will Divx / Xvid be supported?

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
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• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Thanks for the little WMV guide.  Now, how about revealing how to get these higher HD resolution to work on with DVD's? >>"Video support for 50-Hz HDTV modes (DVD and HD DVD only)." My euro X360 only submits 50hz 576P/625P (progressive PAL) to my projector even if it tests OK with 50hz 1080i.

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Q1. Is WMVA supported? Q2. What is the maximum bitrate for WVC1 material and maximum resolution? Q3. You havent listed any of the supported sound formats within the wmv containers. Q4. Hurry up and sell a generic mpeg4-asp decoder on xbox live, having to reencode footage is getting very old. Q5. Why no mpeg1/2 support via usb, dvd, wmp11 XP?

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  The Wmv format has become a really excellent. Been working with graphic and video for many years, my experience is only good with the newer WMV formats and the compression is really good  -  still it doesn't move the fact that we want a more versatile player... should be good for business as well.

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  DO IT. Or we are going to buy a PS3 instead.

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Microsoft you say for unsupported codecs WMVP and WVP2 yet in Vista media centre extender I can stream both these codecs onto the 360 no problems. However playback via usbkey wont work. Also, you talk about non square pixels and while playback via usbkey provides the wrong display aspect ratio, playback via vista media centre extender respects the anamorphic footage and displays it correctly.

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
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• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
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• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  Once again you fail to listen to customer requests. We have requested on numerous occasions that you add MPEG-4 codecs such as DivX/Xvid. Everytime you don't listen is another time someone thinks of switching platforms to the PS3 - which will have DivX support. I never use WMV, I prefer the superior open source Xvid codec to convert my own DVDs. There are numerous third party DVD players that have DivX/Xvid support - so why not the Xbox 360?

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
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• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  You are good,My opinion is present xbox360 only supports the wmv file,The hope may support the more broadcast file for example:mp4,mpeg,rmvb,avi.....

• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
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• Anonymous
  October 31, 2006
  As MS is aiming to be an Industry leader can you realy address the issue of why there is no further support for more codec's or what the plans are for the future. I mean with music you support a true range (as only one format would be riduculous in this medium) this should also be the case with the now growing amounts of video content. I with the PS3 supporting the omre widly used open mpeg formats why is MS not doing this also. People obviously wanted the ability to stream video from the Windows (none media centre) PC's but they also wanted to do tihs in tandem with a broad codec support. Opening up the markets should make it simple to all users this aproach doesn't seen to get it. It would be appriachiated if you could address my points. Thankyou Gowans007

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  Although I would love for .divx/xvid to be supported formats (just like everyone else would) I think adding .wmv support is a nice step.  But why not support a folder structure when displaying the video files??  There is no arrangement to my videos when viewing them from the 360; they all just show up as a jumbled mess.  Please consider adding this support in the future.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  Please, give us more cidec support. I dont really want to spend another $600 for PS3 because 360 can only play back wmv. I appreciate this update since I have many videos in wmv but at least half of my videos are in other formats and I dont to go through the trouble of converting them all. Thanks.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  I would be interested to know why MPEG2 files aren't  supported in this upgrade.  The XBox360 already has that codec built in to play DVDs.  Plus MPEG2 files can be streamed now using a Media Center PC.  This is a much bigger disappointment to me than the failure to add new codec support.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  How about audio formats?  I've been trying to mux the original AC3 in with WMV9 Advanced Profile - it isn't easy to do but I think I've created such a file.  It won't play back in media player though, from what I've read due to lack of a de-muxer filter. So what WMA formats are supported by the 360?  WMA9?  WMA10?  WMA10 Pro?  What is the most advanced (efficient) WMA codec supported on the 360 that supports full 5.1 channel audio?  And will the 360 be able to decode/re-encode it in real-time back to AC3 to pass to my receiver?  What is the best way to convert AC3 -> WMA while keeping all the channels, since windows media encoder won't accept AC3 input.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  Thought of another thing... Don't bother with Divx, Xvid, etc. - I wouldn't want to deal with the licencing issues either.  But do do at least as much as Sony is with the PS3 and implement a generic MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile decoder.  That should play back 99% of Divx and Xvid files and there should be no licencing restrictions - it wouldn't be the first time MS has implemented MPEG-4 ASP. MPEG4 AVC should be in there too - especially since you have to already handle it as it is potentially used on HD-DVD disks.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  @Limech VLC isn't really bugfree so it wouldn't surprise me if VLC does something wrong. @L0G0 Check to link to the encoder, it's going through mail.microsoft.com that requires login.

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  Please, please, give us support for Mpeg4 (Divx, Xvid) etc.,

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  Seriously, one video format is offered for streaming? That's pretty weak guys. I'd even be willing to pay for other codecs via Marketplace if that's the issue.  Just don't leave us hanging by giving us 1 option for what types of files we can view...

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  Uh come on, I've waited so long to Windows XP streaming videos to X360 to be available, only to find out that it was WMV format. I have so many home videos that are other formats, which take up a lot less space, and to convert them to WMV takes a lot more time than just simply burning them as DVDs and viewing them on X360 itself... M$ give us a break and allow us to play other formats I know its possible 100%...

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  Without MPEG-4 / XVid / DivX the media capabilities of the 360 are completely wasted. Give us some decent codecs!!

• Anonymous
  November 01, 2006
  like everyone already said, MS needs to add divx and xvid codec's

• Anonymous
  November 02, 2006
  Here is a quick and easy way of converting your video to WMV using VLC: http://happybeggar.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=2 The problem for most people is that VLC won't give you the option of transcoding to WMA audio... you sort of have to force it to ;-)  When you do it right it works well!

• Anonymous
  November 02, 2006
  69-04-80004001 error Tell us how to make the files play other than from movie maker. Give us the necessary file specifications THIS WILL BE AWESOME if it works

• Anonymous
  November 03, 2006
  At least provide support for dvr-ms!!!

• Anonymous
  November 04, 2006
  And let's not forget Matroska! This one's the real way to go. Also, you can probably try and support .mp4 and .ogm... But MKV with embedded soft subtitles (SSA format and SRT format) would be for the best.

• Anonymous
  November 05, 2006
  Are there any other specifications that are required? Ie. bitrates, resolution, audio codec? Can you please provide more details?

• Anonymous
  November 05, 2006
  What audio codecs are supported?

• Anonymous
  November 06, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 07, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 09, 2006
  I've testet a lot of different WMV Files. They are running smooth on my PC, but: Every single WMV with sound stutters, on my 360. Encoded without sound, it plays smooth. Is it a bug ?

• Anonymous
  November 09, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 09, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 10, 2006
  Mpeg-4 AVI and Xvid. MS - please give up your own lousy codecs. I had this conversation with Jim Allchin and he was very keen to do standards. So, get it on the schedule !

• Anonymous
  November 12, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 12, 2006
  Having to use VLC 360, get with the program M$!

• Anonymous
  November 15, 2006
  After watching a streamed video, I am now seriously impressed.  A 20GB hard drive in the 360 doesn't seem like a huge issue anymore when my main computer already has 400GB and a 1TB NAS unit is in my plans. However, I'm not going to be AS impressed if Windows Media Encoder does a bad job of converting the MPEG-2 stuff I have that I'd like to watch.  I'm hoping for the best. Support for non-Microsoft codecs isn't support for the competition, it's support for Microsoft customers.  Please remember that...

• Anonymous
  November 19, 2006
  I agree, wmv is not the most popular format... all of us what better video support ie avi mpeg mov rm etc... be a leader and give us what we are looking for!

• Anonymous
  November 19, 2006
  how can i write a wmv HD movie (4gb) o a dvd?

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2006
  Please extend your codec range!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2006
  Please extend your codec range!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2006
  Please extend your codec range!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2006
  If I want to burn a WMV larger than 2gb, does the 360 drive support UDF ?

• Anonymous
  November 22, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 23, 2006
  WMV is useless...Please support the following codecs which are popular among us. If you call xbox360 home entertainment  system, i advised that it is NOT.

• Anonymous
  November 24, 2006
  So, let me get this right... Zune supports MP4 ... but XBOX 360 doesn't?  This means I have to rip 2 versions of my video.   If you smart Redmond guys are working on MP4 support please let us know.  I'm sure I'm not the only one wishing you are.

• Anonymous
  November 25, 2006
  AVI, Mov and MPEG formats are the most commonly used video formats. Support for these formats would make perfect, moreover, common sense. Let us have it...

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2006
  Why don't you respond to these comments?

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2006
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• Anonymous
  November 29, 2006
  According to this blog only WMV is supported, yet according to this Microsoft webpage http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/extender/mcefaq.mspx MPEG1 and MPEG2 are also supported!!! Obviously Microsoft don't know what they are doing. What is the real story? Regardless, I would add my support for MPEG4, MEPG4 H.264, and of course MPEG2 rather than proprietary WMV. As Microsoft have now released the HD DVD add-on for the XBox 360 and MPEG4 H.264 is the most common codec used for HD DVD disks Microsoft have got to grit their teeth and support MPEG4 H.264 or HD DVD disks will not play.

• Anonymous
  November 29, 2006
  Hey - what's up with Microsoft leaving out the ability to do single-frame advance in Windows Media?  I love stepping through special effects movies and I know others who do.  If windows media is to be the future of videophiles this needs to be addressed.  Maybe Xbox could lead the charge!

• Anonymous
  November 30, 2006
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• Anonymous
  December 01, 2006
  I FEEL THAT 360 ORIGINAL ADVERTISING ON THIS MATTER WAS SOMEWHAT MISLEADING. THIS AN EXPENSIVE MACHINE-I PAID FOR IT AND NOW IM STILL PAYING FOR IT. XBOX WILL BE HEARING FROM MY LAWYER SOON.

• Anonymous
  December 02, 2006
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• Anonymous
  December 03, 2006
  develop what yu can, and as always, hackers will do better...

• Anonymous
  December 10, 2006
  This is a joke.  Why do people stand for this?

• Anonymous
  December 11, 2006
  I am so mad right now.  I just spent 2 hours waiting to encode a movie using 360 Videora.  The 'xbox 360 converter' and only found this thread after more internet digging to find out why it wasnt working.  Only to see that it doesnt support mpeg2.  It is strange that the ms website says this is a compatible format????

• Anonymous
  December 12, 2006
  Make sure you are not trying to store the files for WMP11 on a network resource.  IT WON'T WORK!  The files that WMP11 sees MUST BE ON A LOCAL DRIVE.  RIDICULOUS!

• Anonymous
  December 13, 2006
  I was looking at getting a 360 mainly to use as a HD media player but no Divx/Xvid/h264 support means no xbox for me M$ sort it out!

• Anonymous
  December 19, 2006
  I'd love to buy an Xbox 360 to play back video and music from a NAS drive and play games but this poor video codec support is going to stop me for now. People don't want to convert their files to a proprietry format or fiddle about with transcoding.  What a pain! :-(

• Anonymous
  December 20, 2006
  Another call for more 'on-board' codecs.  Let's face it, the means to stream most content, whether from a native supported format or an 'unsupported' codec exist now, either via re-encoding or transcoding.  I honestly think that in order to continue your positioning as the 'hub of the digital media center', which I believe was one of the goals with the X360, Microsoft should focus on interoperability and ease-of-use, rather than requiring users to jump through arbitrary hoops in order to achive the desired results. If licensing costs are the main issue, these can be defrayed by making the codecs part of a 'media-center-enhancement' update pack available on Marketplace.  I find it hard to believe that DRM could be the driving factor behind the decision not to include other codecs natively, because not only are other non-DRM codecs are supported, but there seems to be a lack of support for existing DRM schemes.

• Anonymous
  December 20, 2006
  Lol at the hate.  I'll be picking up a 360 during Boxing Day deal season, and this is one of the biggest features for me - it'll be nice to be able to watch videos from the computer in my media room without lugging over the computer.  Sure, I'd welcome some other formats - but I'll also survive converting.  Sure it might be a pain to figure out, but I'm sure it's doable and will be worked out soon. Many of you need to chill.  I'm sure whatever influence you have will go further if you come across as not insane.

• Anonymous
  December 22, 2006
  Other formats aside there is stuff to fix for WMV first! Firstly read the meta data tags (Title, etc) and use that info when browsing video on the 360 dashboard. Secondly, if markers are present in the file then use them! Having to skip 30 seconds at a time is painful over wifi.

• Anonymous
  December 24, 2006
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• Anonymous
  December 26, 2006
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• Anonymous
  December 28, 2006
  Microsoft.....add more codecs....Ive spent hours trying to get my videos to play, only to get an error message....

• Anonymous
  December 28, 2006
  My understanding Gaz is that Mpeg1/2 are supported through media center extender and thats what you can use the xbox 360 converter for, but straight video or 'media sharing' through WMP 10/11 the 360 will only support .wmv... I to would love to see the codec range extended, but with Vista Ultimate around the corner I can live with mpg1/2/wmv for now.

• Anonymous
  January 02, 2007
  Hi Xboxteam! Thank you for an excellent product, the xbox 360 is fantastic! I use it as an "media" player but the content providers here in Sweden/Europe often use h.264. It would be great if you try to built in support for this format in every way, so that we can consume localy produced HDTV media content (Swedish televison/public service and others) with our Xbox's. This is a very "strategic" format for you to support... as you probably already know... /Michael - Sweden

• Anonymous
  January 03, 2007
  So inconvenient - how many people like myself heard th@ we could play media files, messed about getting rid of WMP11 (doesn't seem to work for streaming no matter what I do when WM Connect does) only to find out that almost our entire collection of videos fail to work? Lets hope th@ Sony do include a good range & the 360 suddenly gets a kick up th backside into running them too!!! Plus if anyone ever finds out a way to get WMP11 to connect to their PC as easily as WMConnect please tell the rest of us!!!

• Anonymous
  January 06, 2007
  You NEED to support the avi codec because most of my Vids are avi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think it would be really shweet if I were able to watch all my anime on the T.V. with no hassels like converting every single video I have.

• Anonymous
  January 11, 2007
  Was going to buy an xbox360 to stream divx from my pc and eliminate some cables. Looks like a $140 hdd enclosure with a video chipset inbuilt does a better job than Xbox 360, actually plays formats like divx mpeg. A dvd player from china for $30 plays divx and other popular video formats, you guys are a joke

• Anonymous
  January 11, 2007
  its strange why microsoft wants to limit the 360's supported video to just wmv. Ive tried windows media encoder and it wont work, not even for mpeg1 or 2. Right now I'm trying windows movie maker but I'm not expecting anything to happen. Why isnt there more free transcoders to make wmv format videos or better still why doesent microsoft follow sony and let the 360 support mp4, divx...etc.

• Anonymous
  January 12, 2007
  "Higher Quality Audio (VBR90)   Note: If I select (default) "Lossless Quality Audio", XBOX refused to play the file etc... Then, under EDL tab, select "EDIT EDL", specify an in and out point, apply the changes, and click "Start Encoding" WME Results: Action: Capture file Sources used: Canon DV Device Output files: C:myWMVTestCapture.wmv Content duration: 00:00:00:13  (dd:hh:mm:ss) Session duration: 00:00:03:03  (dd:hh:mm:ss) Session:  Bytes encoded (total): 48.47 MB  Bit rate (expected): Unconstrained  Bit rate (average): 29.12 Mbps Video [Unconstrained]:  Bytes encoded (total): 48.14 MB  Bit rate (expected): Unconstrained  Bit rate (average): 28.93 Mbps  Frames per second (expected): 29.97  Frames per second (average): 29.89  Frames (total): 417  Frames (dropped): 0  Profile conformance: MP Audio [Unconstrained]:  Bytes encoded (total): 339.61 KB  Bit rate (expected): Unconstrained  Bit rate (average): 198.05 Kbps  Samples (total): 39  Samples (dropped): 0  Profile conformance: L3 The file is large (48 MB) but when streamed, looks almost as good as the original DV played through the composite cable (how I normally watch them).   At least I now know it's possible to enjoy my home movies on my XBOX 360, without upgrading to XP MCE !   But I would rather just capture and stream the DV-AVI files at 25 Mbps.     I will play around with more compressed versions. Let me know if you're interest in what I find.   One note: I noticed a Dashboard update a couple days ago.  Make sure you have it.  

• Anonymous
  January 15, 2007
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• Anonymous
  January 20, 2007
  i just wasted 3 hours  converting a video using wmv2 codec.  play video shows,but wenn i pres play, it says not supported.%$king unbelievable...

• Anonymous
  January 24, 2007
  Time for a class-action lawsuit!

• Anonymous
  January 27, 2007
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• Anonymous
  January 29, 2007
  Transcode 360 will allow the more popular codecs (DivX, Xvid, MOV etc.) to be streamed to your 360 by re-encoding them to WMV on the fly.

• Anonymous
  February 11, 2007
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• Anonymous
  February 20, 2007
  i dont understand, since ms dosnt want to listen, can anyone else help me...it says it's supposed to accept wmv2 and i just bought the $30 winferno and it still wont play.  i finally was able to make the preview picture appear on the video screen of the 360, but it says it dosnt support what im trying to play...i dont understand, help??

• Anonymous
  February 26, 2007
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• Anonymous
  February 27, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 27, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  March 02, 2007
  more codecs = more customers happy customers = buy more product do the math MS

• Anonymous
  March 14, 2007
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• Anonymous
  March 21, 2007
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• Anonymous
  March 22, 2007
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• Anonymous
  April 04, 2007
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• Anonymous
  April 04, 2007
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• Anonymous
  April 04, 2007
  Sorry Microsoft and Major Nelson. You chose unwisely and lost my business and all the others here on the forums. Until you start listening to us, I will have to take my business = $$$$ elsewhere, perhaps over to Sony and the dreaded Playstation 3.

• Anonymous
  April 13, 2007
  Having been fortunate enough in the past to visit Redmond and meet some of developers I know MS employ enthusiasts who monitor not only forums like this but also those of the competition.  With release of the PS3 wouldn't it be a good time to respond to some of the above comments, with at least some information regarding future plans with regard to format support ?

• Anonymous
  April 29, 2007
  is it that hard to support more codecs? come on MS, get on the ball. when i first got my 360 i was excited to see that i could stream media from my pc. But I will not convert everything i own just to watch it, when my dvd player supports divx. even just adding mpeg2 would be better then just WMV, that does not even play if converted with anything other then windows movie maker. as a leading player in the computer world, I expected more.

• Anonymous
  May 04, 2007
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• Anonymous
  May 06, 2007
  more codecs please or we look at PS3

• Anonymous
  May 12, 2007
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