XBOX360 Fall Update includes XviD and DivX support
Hot on the heals of the announcement that PS3 will now support XviD and DivX playback Gizmodo.com just announced that the XBOX360 fall update includes XviD and DivX support. This was not included in the original Microsoft press release but is said to be accurate:
From Gizmodo.com:
The Xbox 360 supports files encoded using MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple and Advanced Simple Profile. These files are often referred to as Xvid or DivX® video files. Many common PC DVD authoring tools, cameras, and camcorders are capable of encoding files using MPEG-4. Note that some files authored for DivX devices may also contain additional functionality(menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc). The Xbox 360 will attempt to play these files, but does not support any of the additional functionality and in some cases will be unable to play the file.
Since we only support Mpeg-4 compatible codec implementations, we will not be able to play video files older than DivX® 5.0.
This is interesting because XviD and DivX are the most common formats for shared videos, both movies and TV shows. Up until now playing such files on your TV required either a computer connected to your TV, a DVD player with XviD/DivX support or an old modified XBOX. With the addition the XBOX360 becomes a true media extender bringing the web closer to your TV.
