Hi there, I'm a newbie, but have tried to do my own research & tests before coming here to post a question. But I have run into some snags, and don't know where to go from here. My friend plays .avi files through her tv, but only has her laptop to do so. So when her latop is connected to her tv via HDMI, she can't sit back and use her laptop to do work/personal stuff. I just realized though (don't laugh), that her xbox (that I bought as a gift) has more capabilities than just playing video games. Hence playing videos, .avi files, and thas a 250HD built in. For xmas, I want to get her xbox set-up so that she could play a movie immediately without her laptop. She has all her files on a larger Seagate GoFlex 1.5TB portable hard drive, so I first tried one of the front USB ports on the Xbox. It didn't recognize it, and then I checked the format. It was NTFS, and I have read that it will never read NTFS. I tried to re-format the hard drive to FAT32, but that didn't work either. I also then learned that (even if it was in the right format) that an xbox only reads flash drives NO LARGER than 32gb. Is that true? If so, I grabbed a flash/usb drive her, checked the format, and it read FAT32. I then put that into the system to see if it would read. Which it did. But when I tried to play the file, the system mentioned I needed to update the system first. It ran a complete update, re-booted, and then ran a much longer update. When finished, I have a whole new xbox dashboard. My problem, is I can't find the option to "click on a portable drive" and see the .avi file that I could see before the update. On top of that, my flash drive now only blinks for 2 seconds when I connect it to the xbox, and then goes dark. Almost like it doesn't recognize or give it connection anymore. Which is strange. I re-checked the formatting, and it is still set at FAT32, so I am confused. I almost wonder if the "new updates my xbox received" has in fact taken away the ability to play external .avi files or or read other data. So this is when I needed to come to this community for help! So if there is any help, advice, or suggestions you have...that would be great. Do I have the right xbox dashboard? DO we think it's not reading my drives anymore? What devices or formats can actually be read? How large can an external HD (flash/portable) be? How do I just transfer .avi files to the xbox HD to keep the data there? Thanks to all of you in advance. Jp
I use a 1 TB harddrive for that, formatted in Fat32. The onboard tools in Windows won't do the formatting, but any partitioning tool will (don't worry, Windows still recognizes it). My Xbox 360 recognizes it and I can play video files (avi is just a container format, that normally contains divx or xvid files). Also the update you need isn't a dashboard update, but the media update. Your friend's console has to be online and signed in to Xbox Live to get it. It cannot be downloaded anywhere else and then be placed on the harddrive or something. It also isn't possible to transfer video files to the Xbox 360's internal harddrive.
paragon partition manager is a good one for taking ntfs to fat32, really fast and easy edit....Do I have the right xbox dashboard? DO we think it's not reading my drives anymore? What devices or formats can actually be read? How large can an external HD (flash/portable) be? How do I just transfer .avi files to the xbox HD to keep the data there? Thanks to all of you in advance. Jp there should be no reason that its not working unless the usb slot is damaged
Thanks to both of you. So it sounds like using a larger hardrive isn't a problem. I want to use the Seagate free agent GoFlex 1.5tb that we already have. That shouldn't be a problem then, right? As for the updates, I never know which updates are happening, but I am connected to Xbox live. I messed around a ton last night, and the best I could due is to stream movies thru windows media player. Still cool, but certain files arent seen. I did configure a 4gb flash drive yesterday thru the Xbox, but then I couldn't use it in my laptop. I am also realizing that its to save games, gamertags, and profiles. We aren't trying to do any of that, but rather bring movies or music to the tv. The USB ports seem to work, because it noticed everything before the updates that was on it, and it still turns the flash drive on for about 10 seconds before it stops blinking. Any thoughts? The reason you are both so helpful, is that I bought a WD live tv hub 1tb...for this very purpose. But she already has apps and such on her tv. So the only thing we were going to use it for was the hardrive. Then I notice the Xbox again, and think...thetes my easier, simplier, and already connected device. This seagate hardrive has 500gb of files (personal and work) so let me know if that is going to be a problem . As I mentioned. I am going to try and set everything up in 20 minutes, so if you get this, and have any other thoughts...thatt would be great. Merry christams. Jp
Using a large HDD should be no problem. Just have to make sure it's in FAT32 format. Like the others have said, do not use the Xbox itself as your means of formatting your HDD. Use a program on your PC to do so. As for what kinds of movie formats can be viewed, that is always a hit & miss for me. Just because it's in AVI format, does not necessarily means that it will play it. And unfortunately, outside of modifying your Xbox, you're not going to be able to put any movies on to the attached HDD that comes with the Xbox and be able to browse it. Once you have your HDD formatted and files placed on your HDD, you should be able to go to apps and I believe there is a box for some sort of Xbox media player and you can find your files there.
I use a 32gig flash drive for movies on xbox 360 no problem, formatted fat32, put the drive in xbox then scroll to browse my apps then xbox video player then portable drive, it plays my .avi and .mp4 files no problem but they have to be 2 channel audio if the file has ie 6ch audio the 360 won't play it, It also still works in my PC iam always swapping stuff round on it, it will play hd divx but not in a good quality, overall it's a nice touch as an extra, I use a 32gig integral neon flash only £12 on amazon and comes all ready no formatting needed
2@ Letsdothis You little beauty no wonder my avi's wouldn't bloody play @ jpersonette11 You may be able to set the xbox to auto download the required update if you sign into xbox live from the pc & search for optional media update You can also download the update to pc & place it on a usb thumb drive for offline install http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/system-updates/system-updates-info
No, you can't. Again, you need the media update, not a dashboard update. With a dashboard update, you can go that way, the media update has to be downloaded from Xbox Live.
yea the media update is needed but your seagate might still not work because very few devices still support seagate because they crash and burn i would recommend a western digital more reliable drive
the xbox does support seagate as i have one and can hook it up to the xbox, the xbox will support any external hdd/ thumbdrive/ sd cards in a usb stick as long as its fat 32 format.
