I recently got a Windows Home Server (HP EX485) and am beginning to rip all my DVDs to put on the server and stream from the server to my Xbox 360.
I have done lots of research and it appears that the only formats that will stream from a WHS to Xbox360 are AVI and WMV. Anything in an AVI bucket however will not play if the audio is encoded at 5.1. It has to be stereo only. That is unacceptable since I am playing on a surround system. As much as I may not want to, I need to encode in WMV.
The main problem is that my household consists of 2 macbook pros. I installed the Windows 7 beta on mine just because I needed it to administer the new server. I would MUCH prefer to rip to WMV using my mac. I was planning on getting a netbook for my girlfriend over the summer since she wants one and I was secretly planning on using that to admin the server after the beta ceases. But a netbook would stink to use for ripping since it won't have a built-in drive and will be seriously underpowered compared to my MBP.
I appreciate that not many people here probably have a lot of wmv since flip4mac takes a lifetime to convert, but maybe someone was in my position... Any suggestions are very much appreciated. I'd prefer a simple interface that can rip in very high quality (up to HD) and 5.1 audio.
I have done lots of research and it appears that the only formats that will stream from a WHS to Xbox360 are AVI and WMV. Anything in an AVI bucket however will not play if the audio is encoded at 5.1. It has to be stereo only. That is unacceptable since I am playing on a surround system. As much as I may not want to, I need to encode in WMV.
The main problem is that my household consists of 2 macbook pros. I installed the Windows 7 beta on mine just because I needed it to administer the new server. I would MUCH prefer to rip to WMV using my mac. I was planning on getting a netbook for my girlfriend over the summer since she wants one and I was secretly planning on using that to admin the server after the beta ceases. But a netbook would stink to use for ripping since it won't have a built-in drive and will be seriously underpowered compared to my MBP.
I appreciate that not many people here probably have a lot of wmv since flip4mac takes a lifetime to convert, but maybe someone was in my position... Any suggestions are very much appreciated. I'd prefer a simple interface that can rip in very high quality (up to HD) and 5.1 audio.