May 1, 2008 10:55 AM

One of the first things I did with my MediaSmart Server was get it talking to my XBOX 360. As a first test, I dropped a home movie into the videos folder and some photos from a recent vacation into the photos folder. Once I pointed the 360 to it, it worked like a charm. Photo viewing was quick, and the video streaming was quite impressive.

May 1, 2008 4:58 PM

Using the files from the WHS to XBOX360 was easy. I only wish we could do the opposit and save files from the XBOX to the server. This way we could save downloaded games or purchased movies on a central location that could be shared all through the house via extenders or other XBOX360's. The games and movies would also be available in case of the XBOX "red circle of death" I've read so much about.

I plan to use the server as a center location for XBOX, the media center application and movies I've ripped from my collection. I have not purchased movies from MS XBOX Live because I didn't want to have a large collection on the XBOX console only.

I can see the day when the home server can be used as a home automation , entertainment center and storage location. If they upgrade the server to include cable cards and have a bit more robust processing, it could really take off as a center piece of the home computing.

May 16, 2008 9:36 AM

JesD said: I use my 3 XBOX 360s to stream my music , photos, and videos from my MSS. My challenge was this: I also have 3 Apple TVs and the XBox cannot display .h264 format ( m4v )when streaming but it can show it if you burned it to a dvd and played it locally. SO I installed ZUNE player ( a little tricky ) to stream the same content to the XBOX 360 and I have no problems

Okay, that's pretty cool. I may have to look into using ZUNE player so I can get .264 content on my 360.

However, the one thing you said that peaked my interest, "I use my 3 XBOX 360s..."

Why exactly do you have 3 XBOX 360s? It's cool that you do, just wondering why 3 is better than 1.

May 16, 2008 11:41 AM

TheOfficeMaven said: I have three Xbox 360's as well. The reason for three is that they are used as Windows Media Center extenders. Thus, one Media Center PC and then three Xbox 360 extenders connected to the one PC and three different TVs (either wired or wireless). The best part about using extenders is that all TVs then share the same guide info, recording schedules, etc. and everything is maintained from the one WMC PC.

Totally. I get that, but aren't there cheaper Media Center Extenders out there than the 360?

I guess having three 360s must be nice when you do a COD4 LAN Party though. :-)

May 18, 2008 5:22 PM

Wont be using my 360 as a media player with WHS or anything else. Too noisy.

Im using an apple tv with itunes installed on the server, serving up all my music, tv shows, films, podcasts.
The one annoying thing about this is that the HP mediasmart server has no sound card, so when itunes starts up it complains and needs user interaction to get rid of the dialogue box.
I had to turn off automatic updates as this can cause the server to reboot itself.

November 17, 2008 10:43 PM

JesD said: Matt: I have alot of my nephews and nieces come over so 3 allows them to play LAN and over XBox live all together without splitting the screen 4 times...I hate split screens.....Also it allows the little punks to be able to watch whatever movies they want....you should have heard all 10-15 of them trying to decide on what movie to watch when I only had 2!!! iTunes: Just becuase you use iTunes to stream, doesnt mean you have songs that have DRM....I have 20,000 songs of which 0 were purchased through iTUnes...I have 180 movies of which 0 were purchased through iTUnes....need I go on???lol I use iTUnes simply to stream music, photos and movies to my Apple TVs

JesD, if you get a chance, please explain to me how you have your Apple TV setup with your server. This is the setup I want to have, but I was lead to believe this was not an option. I assume you converted most of your movies to MP4 format for Apple TV and simply stream them with the server on? How did you set this up?

December 2, 2008 11:22 AM

I have the HP MediaSmart linked to my PS3. I'm using the packet video client to enable a better sharing experience i.e. a variety of video encode types, rather than the restricted experience under windows media connect 2.0. It also serves as the music hub for the flat and on occasion a photo viewer. It's great in a household where people aren't IT orientated, where the girlfriend can just pick-up the ps3 remote, choose a film of the server and she's watching on the big screen rather than on the tiny laptop screen. With proper encoding from the original DVD you even get the 5.1 surround.

This took a little work the first time to get it set up right. Nothing I couldn't handle but probably not easy for those who don't like messing around with computers. Now it's up and running, it takes no real maintenance and has been very reliable to date.

A set-up like this just wasn't practical before the Home Server came along, as keeping a pc running 24/7 with the power consumption downside was just not an option.

It would be nice, if that once the movie service for the ps3 launches in the UK it supported exporting to the Hp server. Just so I can share them to other extenders in the flat as well as keep the PS3 hard drive free for games saves and expansion installs. But with DRM around I don't think this will happen anytime soon.

February 1, 2009 12:01 AM

Aelim said: I have the HP MediaSmart linked to my PS3. I'm using the packet video client to enable a better sharing experience i.e. a variety of video encode types, rather than the restricted experience under windows media connect 2.0. It also serves as the music hub for the flat and on occasion a photo viewer. It's great in a household where people aren't IT orientated, where the girlfriend can just pick-up the ps3 remote, choose a film of the server and she's watching on the big screen rather than on the tiny laptop screen. With proper encoding from the original DVD you even get the 5.1 surround. This took a little work the first time to get it set up right. Nothing I couldn't handle but probably not easy for those who don't like messing around with computers. Now it's up and running, it takes no real maintenance and has been very reliable to date. A set-up like this just wasn't practical before the Home Server came along, as keeping a pc running 24/7 with the power consumption downside was just not an option. It would be nice, if that once the movie service for the ps3 launches in the UK it supported exporting to the Hp server. Just so I can share them to other extenders in the flat as well as keep the PS3 hard drive free for games saves and expansion installs. But with DRM around I don't think this will happen anytime soon.

I have the same set up and was wondering what format are you ripping you DVD's in to enable them to stream from WHS. I have tried a couple of formats but do not seem to get consistant results. TIA

February 3, 2009 11:10 PM

Thanks, I will give that a try it seems that what the PS3/ 360 will actually play does not mean that you can stream to it.

June 5, 2009 2:09 PM

Any suggestions on ways to improve my PS3 talking to my HP MediaSmart via a wireless network? My video is choppy and not flowing when I try watching even short clips on my PS3 from the server. I can't run a wired conenction really and would really prefer to get the wireless working better. Any suggestions and things to try?

Cheers!

June 5, 2009 5:34 PM

Got to second the above. Wireless ain't great. I got a good boost from updated drivers once but distance, walls, floors will always be big factors in wireless performance.