Turning Your Xbox 360 Into A Wireless Hi Def Media Extender

The XBOX 360 is a great piece of technology that will let you not only play next gen (I think we can start calling them current gen by now) games but can also serve as a media entertainment center in a few simple steps.

I am by no means a techy or an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I wanted to share with everyone the way that I got my setup to work, and believe me, if I can do it, so can you!

Hardware

Lets first outline the hardware that you are going to need in order to get this setup working at peek efficiency:

1. XBOX 360

Ok so you’d think this is a given right?….Well yeah it is, but there are quite a few different types of 360’s out there (short 360’s, skinny 360’s, 360’s that climb on rocks!). The one you have or chose may have different outputs such as the Premium which comes packing component and RCA connections while the badass Elite and Halo editions come with HDMI. This is somewhat of a moot point as the 360 only outputs in 1080i (720P), but if you want to figure out the inputs for your TV, you might want to consider your choice wisely.

2. Windows based PC (Vista or XP)

I’m not sure how this would work if you tried it with a Mac or Linux, although you could be using Windows on a Mac, so…..whatever, you need a computer.

3. Windows Media Player 11

This might not be absolutely necessary but it was used in my setup.

4. Wireless Router ($150 after tax)

Theres lots of different options in routers, I recommend Linksys but I have a D-Link Extreme N DIR-655. For High def you’ll need an N router otherwise you dont have enough bandwidth to stream high bitrate media. G won’t cut it.

5. Wireless adapter for the 360 ($133 after tax and shipping)

I picked up the only N adapter I could find for the 360, the Linksys WGA600N gaming bridge and its working like a dream.

Setup

You want to get your XBOX 360 setup with the wireless connection before anything else. The Microsoft wireless adapter is very straightforward, plug it in and play. The Linksys WGA600N was not so  forthcoming with me.

I am sorry to say that I can’t show you what I did to get mine working, because I didn’t keep track, but the Linksys tech support people were pretty helpful in that department, so when in doubt, call tech support. I’ve read that some people had no problems setting it up out of the box though, so follow the instructions as you see em and you’ll probably be fine. It probably helps if you have a Linksys Router too.

Next step is going to be on the computer that you’ll be using as your storage drive for the media. Start up Media Player. Click on Now Playing and click on More Options.

Click on the Library Tab and then click on the Configure Sharing button.

Next you’re going to see a list of the hardware that is connected to your network. As long as your XBOX’s wireless is working, it will show up here. Click on the XBOX and click the Allow Button.

Once the green check mark is there, your XBOX has been cleared for sharing files over your network. Bada Bing bada Boom! Next you want to select the folders that you have your media. Hit Ok and click on the Monitor Folders button and you’ll see this screen:

Click on the Add button and select the folders you want to share on the network.

To play the movies on the XBOX go into the My XBOX section of the Dashboard and scroll over the the My Videos window. You should see your PC’s name show up and the folders you specified and under there will be the glorious hi def that you’ve been waiting for.