The software/hardware needed: Xbox 360 (w/ HD), computer, home network (not necessary, see below), digital media (avi, mkv, etc), XenonMKV (to convert MKV files to playable files on the Xbox 360), TwonkyMedia Server (Used to stream videos from your computer)

1. Setting up your media server
   

   You will use your computer as a ‘server’ to stream media to your Xbox 360. We will use TwonkyMedia Server to achieve this. TwonkyMedia supports Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. To setup TwonkyMedia Server, simply follow the instructions provided, and configure which folders you would like to share with your Xbox 360.

2. Set up your Network
   

   You will need to have some sort of network in place for the server and your Xbox 360 to communicate. If you already have a home network, great, you’ve set up the network already. If you don’t have a home network, you can directly connect the computer to your Xbox 360 via Ethernet cable. Getting Your Xbox 360 Connected to Xbox Live Via Windows Vista Laptop discusses how this can be achieved in more detail. Make sure that your network is set to private mode and your computer can discover the Xbox 360, and your Xbox 360 can discover your computer. You can do this check on the Xbox by running the PC connectivity test. If you do experience connection problems, try connecting the Xbox 360 and computer directly for debugging purposes.

3. Playing Media
   

   To play media, go to the My Xbox tab and browse over to Video Library. You will see something like “*:TwonkyMedia”, this is your server. When you click this you will be able to browse your shared folders and play the media within them.

4. Playing MKV Files
   

   The Xbox 360 does not natively support the playback of MKV files. There are various more restrictions on the playback capabilities of the Xbox 360 which can be found here. Unfortunately for us, almost all of the high definition media content available is contained in a MKV file. Converting an MKV file to a playable format on the Xbox 360 is a tedious process which involves many steps. Fortunately the good people at XenonMKV have created an application that does all the work for us. Simply specify the MKV in question, and specify an output folder (your shared folder) and start the conversation. All you have to do is wait, and all the work gets done for you.

That is all.