Watch movies from your PC on your Xbox 360

As we've seen, Media Center is nifty - but wouldn't it be great if you could access it from elsewhere in the house? Microsoft makes a set-top box called a Media Center Extender that enables you to stream media from your PC to any room in the house - and there's one inside every Xbox 360. Provided your Xbox and PC are networked, either using a wired or wireless network, you can use your Xbox to access your PC's music, photo and video library. As we'll see over the next few pages, getting your Xbox to communicate with your Windows Vista PC couldn't be easier.

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Wireless networks are the most convenient way to network things at home, but it's worth noting that they're not as fast or as robust as wired ones. It's not a huge problem if you're streaming music or photos from your PC, but network problems can be the kiss of death for streaming video. If you fancy using your Xbox to stream TV programmes from your Windows Vista PC we'd strongly recommend either a traditional Ethernet network or a powerline network, which enables you to create an Ethernet network by plugging adaptors into your domestic plug sockets instead of running network cables through walls or floors.

Extend it

To stream things from your PC to your Xbox you'll need to configure your console's Media Center Extender. To do this, launch Media Center on your PC and then select Tasks > Settings. Click on Extender to continue.

No mates

As you can see, we don't have any Extenders configured for our system. That's easy to change: click on Add Extender to make your PC and your Xbox make sweet music together.

Get ready

Before you start the setup process on your PC, you'll need to switch on your Xbox 360. From the main Xbox dashboard select the Media blade (the blue one) and then Media Center. Follow the on-screen instructions and you'll be given an eight-digit code; this is an authorisation code that tells the Xbox that your PC is trying to connect legitimately, so take a note of it - you won't be able to connect without it.

Number crunching

Windows Media Center setup will now ask for the authorisation key. If you don't have it or mistype it, setup will ask you to try again; if you enter the correct code then setup will continue.

Firewall Fiddling

In order to connect to your Xbox 360, the Windows Firewall needs to be configured to allow such connections. Click on Next and the setup program will make the necessary changes for you.

Share your stuff

Media Center Setup will ask whether you want to share your media folders with your Xbox. Saying "no" rather defeats the point of the whole exercise, so click on Yes and then on Next.

Finish the job

Windows Vista will now configure itself for Xbox streaming by looking for your console, adjusting the settings, and telling it where to find your music, movies and photos. It takes a few minutes to do this so don't worry if the spinning circle stays on your screen for a while.

Successful setup

You Are Done! says Media Center: you can now view and play your movies and music from the comfort of the sofa. Click on Finish to complete setup.

There it is

As you can see, you've now got a lovely picture of an Xbox 360 in Media Center's Extenders menu. To add another Xbox simply repeat the process by clicking on Add Extender, or use the back button to return to the main Media Center menu.

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