How to Stream Music and Movies from a Mac to an Xbox 360

One of the best features of the Xbox 360 is it's ability to stream content from your computer to the console. Any Windows PC on the network can play movies, music, and tv shows over a network and on to your TV. What a lot of people don't know is that mac users can watch streaming movies, music and photos as well

Instructions

1. 

   Your mac needs a third party plugin to communicate with the Xbox. There are several available, but this tutorial is going to use Connect360 because it gives you the ability to start streaming movies. Download a copy of Connect360 from http://nullriver.com/products/connect360 and unzip it. You can get the trial for free, or pay a small fee for the full version.

2. Install the software by double clicking the .pref file to add it to your system preferences. You can now click go into your system preferences to change the settings. All of the streaming movies and music comes from iTunes, while the photos are pulled from iPhoto.

3. 

   Before we start streaming movies and other content to your console, we need to tweak a few settings. From the system preferences Connect360 item, click the settings button in the lower right hand corner. Use this panel to add an additional video folder for streaming movies. Also insure the "Enable Access Control List" isn't checked. If you'd like to enable the controls, make sure you add your host numbers to the list. Click the "Close" button.

4. 

   Click the new icon in the menubar at the top right hand side of your screen. The drop down should say Xbox 360 Media Sharing Enabled. This means your streaming movies, music and photos are turned on. If you don't see that, click "Connect360 preferences" and hit the Start button. Turn on your Xbox 360, and if it's connected to the same network as the computer you should see your console pop up in the Discovered Devices section.

5. 

   On your Xbox 360, go to the My Xbox categoy. all the streaming movie options are in the Video Library, so scroll over to it and hit the A button to continue.

6. 

   You'll be presented with several sources to watch streaming movies and other media from. At the top you'll see your Xbox drive. If you only have one computer set up to stream (the one we just set up) that'll be the only other source on the list. Choose that source and hit the A button to continue.

7. This will bring up a list of your video files. You can select any of these to start streaming movies instantly. If you'd like to play music or view photos, just navigate back to the My Xbox category.

Tips & Warnings

• Both the Xbox and the Mac need to be on the same network. This is as simple as connecting them both to a router via ethernet cable. You can also set up a wireless network.

• Xbox 360 supports Xvid, Divx, Avi, Mp4, Mpeg, and more.

Resources

• Connect 360 (w/ Features for Streaming Movies)