A friend has plans to store music on a network drive, partly to
be able to play it using his XBOX but he also wants access via
the internet (so he can access non-music files remotely).

He has tried a storage drive which can be accessed via the LAN
but needs software to be installed (not an option on the Xbox)
on any remote PCs and uses USB for connection (so his main PC
needs to be left on for it to be available)


As things stand he has a PC and ADSL wireless router in one of
the bedrooms, which is accessed using wireless from a laptop
and the Xbox (downstairs). He wants to be able to plug some
network storage unit into the router (ie using ethernet not
USB) to be available from anything...

Any ideas as to what might fit the bill? From what he has
said, the Xbox will recognise the drive if plugged in on USB
but for it to be seen over the LAN, it needs to be seen...

From what I have read on CNET (1) it seems that the Xbox is
versatile in its networking and media support, but I do
not know what one should be looking for to match up with
"Ability to stream media from portable music devices, digital
cameras and Windows XP-based PCs"

Now I'm guessing that a storage box such as the SV 8989 (see
http://preview.tinyurl.com/23uypr ukdvdr.co.uk) *might* do
the trick as it offers Samba but if someone is using an Xbox
and network storage (not connecting with a USB cable) I'd be
interested to know what make and model it is.

This really is for a friend, and I really don't have an Xbox
so don't know the full story of what it can and cannot do...
Just looking for guidance, please, guys!


Follow-ups set to uk.comp.home-networking *getting the Xbox
to access this storage is more important to him than using
it via the net)


(1) http://preview.tinyurl.com/amcee (CNET)

Gareth R Halfacree wrote:
Indeed... Do you know of any such media servers, please?

My mistake for not knowing the Xbox 360 is significantly different. I
have cross-posted because it seems hardly anyone here is using an Xbox
360 and it might find someone on u.t.b who knows what can work that's
not a USB-connected drive, or accessed via special drivers...

Thanks in advance...

Knoppix User wrote:
Your best bet is with a NAS which can run the Twonkyvision server. A
list of known-compatible systems is here:
http://www.twonkyvision.de/Products/...Media/nas.html

Twonky turns a Linux-based NAS into a UPnP media server. There are
disadvantages, however:

1) Can't use 'Media Center' function of Xbox 360
b) Only streams photos, MP3s, and WMV videos
iii) No transcoding of unsupported content

The last is the main drawback, and the reason I use a PC-based solution.
Microsoft have artificially restricted the functionality of the Xbox
360 by preventing it playing any video content which is not provided in
Windows Media Video format (WMV). This means it won't accept MPEG,
MPEG2, MPEG4 (DiVX, XViD), or any AVI-wrapped video at all. Which is
rubbish, to be frank.

There are add-ons for Windows Media Center [sic] Edition like
'transcode360' which allow a MCE PC to transcode a video on-the-fly from
whatever format it's in to WMV and then stream it to the Xbox 360.
There are others such as TVersity (the package I use) which work on any
Windows version - not just MCE. Providing you've got a PC powerful
enough to decode an XViD video and re-encode it into WMV in real-time or
greater then you're laughing. TwonkyVision running on a NAS can't do this.

--
Gareth Halfacree http://gareth.halfacree.co.uk
"If Ace Books ever came out with an edition of The Bible, both books
would be edited down to 40,000 words, and they'd be renamed "Master of
Chaos" and "The Thing With Three Souls." - Terry Carr