Microsoft Needs to Standardize Format/Codec Support Across Platforms
Now that Microsoft has announced that v2
Extender’s will support MPEG-4 ASP (DivX/Xvid), the question everyone has
been asking is when the
Xbox 360 will get the same. Sadly,
nothing was announced for the Xbox 360 but much of the feedback around the v2
Extender posts centered on adding support to the Xbox 360. The architecture is different between what
the Xbox 360 Dashboard uses and the Xbox 360 Extender uses, but Microsoft
really needs to add support to the Xbox 360 Extender and standardize format/codec support throughout their platforms. I’ve made a quick chart to show what some of Microsoft’s
main hardware products/platforms support.
Format support is pretty poor with the exception of the v2
Extender. As I’ve talked about in the
past, format support is really something you need to not only attract customers
but also to keep it simple for them. In
the end, people
are only going to be happy with a product that supports the content that they
have.
Microsoft needs to get format support standardized across
all of their platforms. It’s pathetic
that they are making consumers understand subjects like video/audio codecs and
container formats before their purchase.
In addition, Microsoft needs to stop creating new formats if
they are not even going to support them in their own hardware! There is no reason the Zune shouldn’t play
WMA Lossless, and not that I’d ever use it but how long before any of the above
products support HD Photo? Even better, Apple's container format (MOV) is supported on the Xbox 360 Dashboard and yet one of Microsoft's own containers (AVI) is not. That's sure a formula for success.
A few notes on the chart above.
Xbox 360 Dashboard:
- Only MP4 and MOV containers
supported for MPEG-4 SP and H.264. Does not support AVI or MKV containers.
- Only supports 2 channel AAC audio
for MPEG-4 content.
- AAC support requires free download
form Xbox Live Marketplace. Need hard
drive or Memory Unit.
- Chart does not account for
PC-based on-the-fly transcoding.
Zune:
- MPEG content transcoded to WMV
using the Zune Software before sync.
v1 Media Center Extenders:
- Only WMV9 is supported. WMV7, WMV8, etc not supported.
- Chart does not account for
PC-based on-the-fly transcoding.
v2 Media Center Extenders:
- Devices have not been released; formats can be added on a per-OEM basis.
- *AAC can be playable by installing
a third party DirectShow codec on the PC.
- *Official hardware-based support
for AAC has not been “announced”.
- Container support (MP4, MOV, AVI,
MKV, etc) has also not be announced.
- Chart does not account for
PC-based on-the-fly transcoding.