Albert Griscti-Soler, gamertag: runtime 360, was one of the original hackers on the Xbox Media Center project, and now he's taken up a similar cause on the 360. Following up on Casey Chestnut's pioneering effort /mceDivX360, Albert has created Transcode 360: "Designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and the Xbox 360, Transcode 360 aims to broaden the support for a wide range of video media including DivX and XviD."One of the primary complaints of the Xbox 360's integration with Windows Media Center is that it doesn't support the immensely popular DivX and XviD file formats, instead supporting only Microsoft's proprietary Windows Media format. Microsoft has maintained this is because there are no legitimate implementations of the alternative codecs, inferring they are only used for pirated material. This, of course, is like saying that MP3s are illegitimate simply because online music stores don't sell the format, instead opting for DRM-restricted formats.
There are, of course, plenty of legitimate uses for alternative video codecs; I'm not really sure what Microsoft gains by arguing otherwise. Either way, it's irrelevant, since the community has filled a void that was notably present in the functionality of the system. Great job! Now to get video streaming from Mac OS...
