How do I connect my Xbox 360 and to my PC/home network to stream media and to the internet for Xbox Live?
There are 3 main ways to connect your 360 to a PC or home network, and there are 3 Windows packages that you can stream media from – Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows XP Media Centre. If you have Windows XP, you can stream music, pictures and video (though only .WMV format video) to your 360, while if you have Media Centre, you can also stream more formats of video (see Q 1.3). Some versions of Vista have Media Centre included in the package also. The first way to connect your 360 is a via wired home network. This means you’ll have a router which may be connected to the internet, and ethernet runs from this to your connected PCs. All you need to do is run an ethernet cable from your router to your 360 and that’s it – if you’ve already connected to Live this way, you don’t need to do any more. The second way to connect is a wireless home network. This is where you’ll have a wireless router, which may be connected to the internet, broadcasting a wireless signal throughout your house.
