HomePage 8 of 8: Zune: Playing the MP4 file on your Xbox 360
Step 7B: Zune: Playing the MP4 file on your Xbox 360
So you have decided to use Zune. Cool. Currently, MP4 files will not play through the Media Center Extender interface, only through the Xbox 360 Dashboard player. This guide assumes you have already connected your Xbox 360 to your home network, and that there are no issues related to firewalls and other software which prevents you from connecting your Xbox 360 to your PC. More information on this can be found on the Microsoft Xbox 360 website (here).
At the time of writing, Windows Media Player 11 does not seem to allow MP4 files to be added to your media sharing library, and even if you manage to somehow add them in, they will not show up when you share media with your Xbox 360. The solution is to use Microsoft's Zune software, which supports MP4 files.
Turn on your Xbox 360. Download and install Zune (this can take a while). During the installation, you will be presented with the option of streaming to the Xbox 360 - check all 3 options and continue.
Once installation has finished and you're in the main Zune interface, from the "Options" button, select "Library" and then "More Options".
Click on the "Configure Sharing" button and enable sharing, and allow sharing to your Xbox 360. Press "OK" to close this window.
Back to the Library options tab, click on the "Monitor Folders" button and then add in which folders you want to share with your Xbox 360 (just make sure the MP4 file you just encoded is in one of these folders).
Once you add in the folders, Zune will scan through your media and at the end of it, you should be able to access the MP4 file from the Zune interface, and it should play.
Now to your Xbox 360.
Go to the "Media" blade and select "Video". Press the blue "X" button to go to the select source screen. Here, the name of your computer/Windows User Account should be listed. Select the computer that you wish to connect to and after a while, the shared folders on the computer will show up. Now all you have to do is to browse through the folders/files to select a video, and then play it. Couldn't be any simpler.
You can see some photos of an actual H.264 playback on the Xbox 360 in my post here.
If you run into any problems along the way with Zune, please have a look at this page for further instructions.
We're done 
Got more questions? Post them in our H.264 Conversion/Encoding Forum and get them answered by other expert users.
