How To Play DivX Files Off Your IPod Video On Your Xbox 360

The recent dashboard update means it's now possible to play DivX (and XviD I believe?) files on your Xbox 360. This has to be good news! Well, as I have a memory stick that is only 256MB big and don't really want to be burning discs all the time, I decided to have a little go at using my iPod Video as a mass storage device to play DivX movies off. This may (I see no reason why it wouldn't) work with other/all iPods but this guide is based around an iPod Video. I'd love to hear about it if you got it working on other iPods!

I managed to get it working, but not quite as elegantly as I would have liked! The method I'm using should potentially be fine for anyone to use, but if it does mess up your IPod or your Xbox or whatever else, it's not my fault! Make sure you read all of the information below as if you don't follow it all you could end up not being able to play any music off your iPod even! It would be sensible to backup all your music first - I didn't but if you're paranoid, do it! To find out how to do it, read on…

• Ok, you'll need your IPod set up so that it can be drag-and-dropped to in Windows Explorer or if you're on Linux then you need to be able to drag-and-drop onto it in Konqueror or whatever. You may need to head into iTunes and find some tick boxes saying something like 'Manually manage music and videos' and then 'Enable disk use'; you want these both ticked (although it might not be essential).
• Pop up Windows Explorer and head to your iPod. There should be a folder called 'ipod_control'. If you can't see it, you may need to show hidden files and folders. Don't know how? Click here!
• Rename this to whatever you want, it's easiest to just call it something like 'backup_ipod_control'. This contains all your music, so don't mess this up!
• Now, simply drag and drop any .avi files into the root of your iPod drive (not into any folder).
• Plug your iPod into your 360, start it up, go to videos and you should see the videos! If it is showing videos off your Xbox you may have to press 'x' to change the video source and then select your iPod.
• When you're finished watching your videos, plug it back into your PC and change 'backup_ipod_control' back to just 'ipod_control' - this should put your iPod back to exactly how it was before you watched videos on it. If your iPod has made a new 'ipod_control', just delete it first.

Notes

• It seems if you don't rename the 'ipod_control' folder then the 360 will obviously detect it as an iPod and thus won't let you play videos off it, or even browse it from the video window. When you rename the 'ipod_control' folder it simply treats it like an external USB drive.
• When you rename the 'ipod_control' folder your iPod will no longer play music! Be sure to change it back and don't delete/loose it.
• Try to keep iTunes off your iPod! Everyone knows what iTunes is like, it always knows best! Well don't go synching your iPod without changing your folders back as it will cause no end of problems! If iTunes wants to start managing your iPod when it's had it's folder temporarily renamed, don't let it!
• Seem like a lot of hassle? Maybe, but for me at least, it's better than going through loads of discs or streaming the videos. Lets hope a more elagant solution comes out one day!

If you have any problems, comments or whatever else, head on over to the forums and drop us a message, we'll try our best to help!

The Quickest and Best Way to Convert AVI to IPod Video Files

After recently picking up an iPod video, I wanted to know the best and fastest way to convert my video files (mainly AVI files - DivX and XviD) to an iPod-friendly format. I tried a selection of tools, which are amongst the ones I found most highly recommended - the results however, may surprise some people. I'm running on an AMD 64+ 3000 with 1GB of RAM. Whilst each conversion was running, the computer was left alone. I do realise that each program could be tweaked - but this guide is aimed at the beginner, so I left the default settings. The video file I converted was a 9 minute long AVI file. I've arranged a summary of the results in a table below:

Here is a screenshot showing the videos, side by side.

As you can see - they all look very similar. They also, all sound very similar. The two that looked better were the ones on the right - Videora and WinAVI. Videora looks slightly brighter and more vivid, whereas WinAVI looks sharper. Upon viewing them actually on my iPod, its a tough call but I think the WinAVI one looks better.

Program Breakdown

Xilisoft - $29 Pros - Good UI, simply interface. Cons - It's not free, output not brilliant, conversion time wasn't brilliant

WinAVI MP4 Converter - $ 24.95. Pros - Very simple interface, has lots of options, can export to other formats too, best conversion time, best results. Cons - It's not free.

Videora - Free! Pros - It's free, offers good output, easy to use, lots of options. Cons - Not very good conversion time, not quite the best quality.

3GP Converter - Free! Pros - It's free, not bad output, very small file size. Cons - English is not the default language, very little support available, not many options.

I'm looking for…

• A free program and I want small file size
  • 3GP Converter is your best option
• A free program and I don't care about file size
  • Tough call - trade off between quality and conversion time. If you want better quality, go with Videora, if you want a quick conversion time, try out 3GP Converter
• A paid program to convert my videos quickly.
  • WinAVI without a doubt. Offers best quality, and best conversion time.

I was surprised when I was collating these results, I found the two most popular converters (Videora and Xilisoft) to be not all that great. My recommendation goes with WinAVI on the whole. It offers quality output, the best conversion time, and it's cheap as well. What could be better? Got any recommendations of your own? Drop by the forums and let us know!

Beginners Guide To Tribal Wars

Just thought I would post up a few guidelines for playing Tribal Wars. In no particular order:

• Find a tribe! This is so important, especially as you advance in the game. You need a tribe to advance. End of. If you get to a decent amount of points, and you are not in a tribe, your easy pickings and the first choice if a player in a Tribe is looking for another village.
• Make friends with the people in your tribe. Any established tribe should have a forum. Use it, get to know the people your playing with. Have a chat, talk, it doesn't always have to be about the game though. Doing this means people will like you, they will be wanting to help you out when you're in trouble.
• Help others. If someone in your tribe needs help, and you can give that help, give it. Most players will remember it, and in the future will probably help you back when you need it.
• Know your neighbours. Monitor the people around you, see if they are taking village quickly - you could be next. If you like, mail them and ask what their intentions are. If possible recruit as many neighbours as you can to your tribe. You are less likely to be attacked if you are surrounded by fellow tribe members.
• Use web resources. Use twplus.org. You can show the whole world map you are in, and make it show your tribe members, where you are in relation to them. You can also show other tribe's members, great for knowing where your threats are coming from.
• Build resources first! When you start out, its best to build your resources up a few levels, after all, without them you can do nothing!
• Don't rush into nobling. Taking your first village is all well and good, but getting a noble and rushing straight for the first abandoned village you can find is not always the best method. Wait until your first village is in a good position, then think about nobling.
• If your world has paladins, use them! Paladins make your troops travel faster, so you can send your troops and a paladin to a village as support, then just recall the paladin - gets your troops there much faster.
• Get a decent defence up. At about 500 points its good to have around 400 sword at least. Especially if you are starting on a world that is already well established.
• Be diplomatic. Being abusive, argumentative or cocky will get you no-where. Being polite and helpful will earn you respect, and lessen the chances of someone taking a hit at you.
• Use the market. You will probably find that you have lots of Iron spare at first, try trade it on the market for wood or clay.
• Build lots of scouts. The sign of a weak player can be its lack of scouts.
• Read the forums - you'll get lots of good tips and ideas.
• Have fun! Above all, enjoy it - it's a game, don't take it too seriously!

I am by no means a Tribal Wars expert, but this may help some people. If you feel anything needs adding or changing, drop us an email or sign up to the forums and let us know!

How To Stream AVI (DivX / XviD) To Your Xbox 360 From A PC

This guide will talk you through setting up VLC360 to stream Avi movie files to your Xbox 360. I created this guide using Windows Media Centre on Windows Vista Ultimate but I see no reason why this won't work on Windows Media Centre Edition. Microsoft only currently allow you to play MPEG and WMV video files through Windows Media Centre - using this technique you can play other video types, including DivX and XviD.

Introduction

So what does stream mean? Well, if you are playing Avi files through your Xbox 360 at the moment you must be converting them first. No one likes to do this - it takes time and it seems easier to simply watch the videos on your PC. Using this technique, the videos are converted to a valid Windows Media Centre format, and can be played at the same time. This means you don't have to wait around for the videos to finish converting - you watch them as they are converting.

There are a number of applications that let you do this, I've tried a few of them and have had little or no success. I stumbled upon an application called VLC360, which is what this guide is based on. As most of the documentation is in French it can be quite tricky to get working, which is why I have written this guide.

What You Need

• A decent PC that can handle the streaming (I'm running on an AMD 64+ 3000, 1GB of RAM).
• VLC360 (Download Here or Here (courtesy of www.xbox-scene.com)
• Windows Media Centre Edition or Windows Vista with Media Centre
• An Xbox 360 (duh!)

Setting it all up

This guide assumes you have already set up Windows Media Centre and can stream music or WMV/MPEG video files. Now follow these instructions (Please note - you may not need to do all this, I don't know French and this is what I did and it worked).

• Install VLC360 to wherever you want.
• Go to your start menu, find the VLC360 entry and click Relancer VLC.

• Open Windows Explorer and browse to the directory in which you installed VLC360 (C:\Program Files\Dun 74\VLC360 by default).
• Run VLC360.bat

• Restart your PC
• When Windows starts up you should see a black DOS Prompt window pop up for a second, that is VLC360 starting up.
• Start Media Centre on your Xbox.
• When Media Centre is running, there should be a new entry in the menu, along with Music and Videos etc, there should be a menu item called VLC360, select it.
• You should now see a list of the drives on your PC, simply browse to the video file you want to play and select it. (Please see the notes section if you have problems here). After a moment you should see a black box, with some play controls underneath it. The video should start playing and automatically fill the screen, if it doesn't then click play (the first button on the left).

Notes and Troubleshooting

• If you receive an error telling you that you don\'t have the correct codecs installed, try play the file on your PC in Windows Media Player. If it works, you do have the correct codecs. To get VLC360 to play these files, copy them to the route of your hard-drive, and call them 1.avi (or something short with no spaces - but try 1.avi first then experiment). Try play the files now, and you shouldn't get the error when trying to play them on your 360 - worked for me at least!
• The controls under the video look a little strange, so here's an explanation…
• From left to right: Play    | Pause/Un-pause    | Stop    | Rewind    | Fast-Forward
• If you are in full screen and you want to get out to see the controls press the B button on the controller.
• VLC360 apparently has support for .iso / .img files so you should be able to play DVD\'s through it.
• There are a bugs with this program that are also worth mentioning.
• When browsing drives your cursor will often stop displaying on screen, to get around this you have to rely on looking at the number at the bottom, showing where you are in the list.
• Pausing causes lots of problems don't do it unless you really have to. Also, don't press play after pausing, just press pause again.
• Fast-Forward / Rewind is similar, don't do it unless you really have to as it does mess up quite often.
• Using the remote has mixed results, I just use the controller as it saves a lot of hassle.

So, I hope this helped. I have been using this program for about a year now and it does have a few problems, but I had no success with any of the other transcoding programs (Transcode360 for example).