Play MKV files on Xbox 360 and PS3
Posted by Patrick in Uncategorized on May 2, 2012
Occasionally I’ll download an MKV file that I want to watch on my Xbox 360. Unfortunately the Xbox 360 doesn’t support the MKV format natively. I tried a few conversion programs but they either took hours to run or just didn’t work. I finally found a simple and quick way to play these files which I describe below. This has been tested on the Xbox 360, but you should be able to play these files on the PS3 too.
- Obtain a large USB memory stick
- Download and install Rebox.NET.
- Run Rebox.NET
- Click the “Matroska” button and select your MKV file.
- Click the “MP4″ button and select the drive letter for your USB stick.
- Click the green button in the lower left corner. This will start the conversion process.
- Once the conversion process is complete then insert the USB stick into your Xbox 360 or PS3.
- Play the file on your console like usual, it should play perfectly.
Rebox.NET runs very fast because it doesn’t re-encode the video like some other programs. All it does is repackage the audio and video into the MP4 format so that consoles can play the file.
Windows Phone Emulator Is Doing A Complete OS Boot
I recently installed the Windows Phone 7 Development Tools on my Acer AspireOne netbook. Visual Studio works pretty well on this machine. But unfortunately when running my app for the first time the emulator started up and then just sat there with a message that said, “Windows Phone Emulator Is Doing A Complete OS Boot”.
After reading some discussion about the problem online it seems that the emulator doesn’t work with some types of hardware virtualization. Apparently the AMD cpu in my netbook isn’t supported and there is no way to turn off the virtualization enhancements in the BIOS.
So I looked around and found the emulator config file. In the file is a setting to turn Hardware Assist off. I set the value to false, started up the emulator and now it works perfectly. It may not work too well if your app is CPU intensive like a game, but for my use it works fine.
Here is how to configure it:
- Open a command window and go to %LOCALAPPDATA%\microsoft\xde
- There will be a file similar to config_*.decfg
- Open the file in notepad and look for a line that looks like this:
<EnableHWAssist Reconfigurable="static" Type="bool">true</EnableHWAssist>
- Change “true” to “false”
- Save the file and start the emulator.
Lapdawg: Search For An Inexpensive Laptop Bed Stand
Summary: Here is the link to the cheap Lapdawg Clone:
As of this writing the price is $49.99 with free shipping, no coupon required. This is less than half the price of the Lapdawg branded version when shipping is included.
I frequently use my laptop while lying down in bed. I’ve tried using assorted pillows to prop up the laptop but that never seemed to work, it was never in the right position.
So I started looking around and found out there is a company that makes a nice looking laptop bed stand called the Lapdawg. The Lapdawg X4 stand looks pretty good from their site, it is very adjustable and it looks high quality. I was interested in buying the Lapdawg X4 until I saw the price of $89 + $16 shipping ($105 total + possible tax), more than I wanted to spend on a laptop stand. They have a coupon field when you purchase, but I looked around and couldn’t find any Lapdawg coupon codes that would reduce the price to something I was willing to pay.
So I started looking around for a laptop stand for a more reasonable price. On Amazon I found a laptop stand that looks exactly like the Lapdawg and has decent reviews. The stand is a clones of the Lapdawg and exactly the same (find the link in the summary at the top of this page). In comparing the pictures from Lapdawg’s site with the pictures on Amazon you can see that it is likely the exact same stand. Look at the hinges on the legs, you can see it has white markings around them to measure the degrees, these are exactly the same on both. It looks like the Lapdawg company rebrands these laptop stands with the Lapdawg name and then they sell them on their own site.
I went ahead and ordered the laptop stand from Amazon since it was significantly less expensive than the Lapdawg and the shipping was free. The laptop stand that I received from Amazon looks exactly like the Lapdawg. It has all the same folding features and has the white degree dials around the hinges. The only difference I can see is that my stand comes with a a cooling fan powered by USB. Personally I don’t bother to use the fans, my laptop stays cool enough, but in case you want them they are there. Luckily I never notice the fans, they are small so they don’t take up any extra space and the cord is detachable so it doesn’t get in the way.
I’ve been using the laptop stand for a month now and it is great (I’m actually using it to type this blog post). The hinge adjustments are kind of a pain because there are six of them. I just leave it in the configuration that I like because it is a hassle to reset all six hinges everytime you want to put it way.