Update: XBOX 360 to support h.264 and mpeg-4 part 2
April 9, 2007
Microsoft is officially announcing the following information regarding changes of video format support:
- Added H.264 video support: Up to 10 Mbps peak, Baseline, Main, and High profiles with 2 channel AAC LC.
- Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 5 Mbps peak, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC.
- Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices.
- Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file.
- Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content.
- Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters” allowing you to quickly skip around video content.
- The information bar that is turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows you exactly where you are in the playback of the video file. In addition it will also show for Video Marketplace content how much of the file has been downloaded and where the “chapters” exist in the file.
It appear as if h.264 and mpeg-4 part 2 audio will be limited to AAC LC audio format. This might seriously restrict playback of xvid/divx files containing mp3 or AC3 audio formats. Let hope that Microsoft just omitted to list MP3 and AC3 support.
Another hurtle for xvid/divx playback will be the statement that the XBOX 360 will only support MPEG-4 Part 2 SP… and not ASP. Without ASP there is no B frames, Qpel and GMC to name a few.
It is also unclear what container will be supported for mpeg-4 part 2 and h.264. MPEG4 file format (.mp4) is a likely candidate but the venerable AVI format deprecated years ago by Microsoft will most certainly not be supported.
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