Server transcoding application running on a PC?

[icehot]

been reading a lot on these forums about limitations of the xbox playing certain files, and not having enough processing power to play hdtv files etc.

had a thought that you could write a server program which sits on a pc, and uses the windows codecs that are on the system, to decode all the video/audio streams, before sending the raw output data over the network cable.

although this wont work for files stored on an xbox, it would provide a neat way of streaming video over the network, letting another computer use it's own processing power, and the xbox just has to play raw data.

[Butcher]

there isn't enough network bandwidth to do that.
even at ntsc res you're looking at 40 mb/s for a 30 fps stream. the xbox network interface peaks at about 10-11 mb/s

[icehot]

ummm it peaks at 10/11?? but it's a 10/100 network card, it should be able to handle up to 100 megabits per second?? *plus other boxes do that too i believe, like the hauppauge media mvp. *and cant the xbox media center can play uncompressed files as it is?

[pike]

icehot, you're only making a fool of yourself.
this is a (former) developer you're choosing not to believe.

hint; megabit is not the same as megabyte :lol:

[icehot]

firstly i know what a megabit is, i have a degree in computer science. and i do believe him, i never said i didnt. i'm asking him questions so i can learn more about it, i'm not trying to sound rude and like i dont believe him.

[pike]

all i can say is, i saw what you wrote and you clearly confused mbit vs mbyte

butcher;

even at ntsc res you're looking at 40 mb/s

icehot;

ummm it peaks at 10/11?? but it's a 10/100 network card, it should be able to handle up to 100 megabits per second

[icehot]

well i may have done, i do know the difference but all he said was mb, which could be interpretted both ways. if he meant 40 megabytes per second, then fair enough, and that would all make sense. i appologise for anything i said which may have been taken the wrong way.

[pike]

it is indeed a confusing matter, thats why i always write bit or bytes

but 40mbit for uncompressed video is unrealistic, so i didnt think it could've been misunderstood

[icehot]

hehe well it was, and i'm a network programmer, however i dont know as much about video as i probably should as that's not my area of expertise.

i may actually later though test the xbox with playing an uncompressed avi file or something though, to see what results that achieves.

[Gamester17]

mb (lower-case "b") = megabit (always!), mb (captial "b") = megabyte (always!), ....but it ispartially moot point anyway, you can already do what you want with vlc (link to 'how-to').
...though butcher is right, there is not enough bandwith for a uncompressed 720p/1080i hdtv stream on a 100mb (megabit) network which is only what the xbox nic supports :hmm: