Just two days after the Xbox 360 Fall Update added DivX and Xvid support, Connect360 – the app that shares your Mac's music, photos, and videos with your 360 – has been updated to support the new codecs. We imagine the update wasn't that difficult, since simply changing a video's file extension from .avi to .wmv tricked the app into streaming our totally legitimate collection of videos, but we're happy for the official fix. $20 buys you the app, but the upgrade to 3.2 is free for existing users. Wanna try it out? Download the demo. Dare we say, it actually works better than the official Windows solution? We dare!

[Via Megatonik]

The Xbox dev team has posted an updated FAQ answering a smorgasbord of video playback questions. Confirming the results of Joystiq's own tests -- yep, DivX and Xvid files now play perfectly -- the guide acknowledges support for MPEG-4 Part 2 (Simple and Advanced Simple Profile) videos, which will be playable once tomorrow's update has been installed. The post does note that additional functionalities (menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc.) that are sometimes contained in DivX files will not be supported by Xbox 360, and in some cases can render such files unplayable. Though, for the most part, all of your BitTorrent'd cache will play whether streamed from a computer or fed directly from a USB storage device.

The Xbox Team's guide also gives pointers on how to organize your files into a hierarchy that takes advantage of 360's sorting filters and how to associate a thumbnail image with each video, in addition to a list of gamepad shortcuts: Push 'Start' to begin video playback from a bookmarked position and bypass the Resume/Restart sub-page. But it's not all just "duh" tips, the FAQ gets into the nitty-gritty of BVOPs, quarter pixel motion compensation, and even ... quantization! (Yeah, we're just gonna keep on pretendin' like we know.)

[Thanks, Thomas]

Things were a little different this year. For their second Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update, Microsoft decided to trickle the features out instead of dropping them on us all at once. Around Halloween, we realized things were awful quiet, so we asked you what you wanted to see in the Fall Update. On November 7, Microsoft kicked things off by announcing the Parental Timer, a feature we're certain you're all eager to try out. They followed that up on November 13 by confirming Xbox Originals, downloadable Xbox 1 games for your 360. On the 26th, they spilled the beans on the social-networky "Friends of Friends" feature, ostensibly to give paranoid folks some time to disable the functionality (which they can do here). Capping it all off a day later, MS Japan dropped some info, notably the ability to set your real name (your real name is xXsmokezmadbluntz420Xx?), your location, and a brief bio – more of that social networking stuff the kids are crazy about.

Finally, after what seemed an interminable wait, Microsoft was ready to let us in on the big picture. We spoke with Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg about next Tuesday's update and what was still in store. "There are three different categories that speak to a majority of the updates," Greenberg told us.

DivX, Inc. today revealed a partnership with Sony to integrate its video playback technology into PlayStation 3. While a consumer-targeted firmware update has not been dated, developers who update their SDKs to version 2.00 can already utilize the DivX decoder technology for use in their games. But who cares about games anymore? With DivX support enabled (hopefully in the near future) for PS3 owners, a lot of that juicy BitTorrent content you've compulsively horded on your basement PC can be effortlessly streamed upstairs to the console. Now if they'd just add Xvid support you could finally cut the cable bill altogether...

[Note: Xbox 360 is not natively compatible with DivX or Xvid formats, though DivX support has been rumored to be included in the pending Fall Update.]

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

The first list allegedly detailing the feature set of the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update has landed on Xbox Forums, and promises some wonderful possibilities. None more so than Xvid codec support. But opening up the console's media player to this popular video format would almost certainly take away from the blossoming success of Video Marketplace; an apparent contradiction that makes this rumored feature list both suspect and deliciously compelling.

Also included in the supposed leak are plans for a new XBLA blade, IPTV support, integrated clan functionality, a PIP setting, and improved slideshow effects. But it's not all good, as the list also anticipates the emergence of Flash-based advergames -- yuck! If it's true, let's hope the following Spring Update includes a pop-up blocker.

[Via X3F]

Last week's Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update added support for the Windows Media Video (WMV) video codec. The feature was a welcomed gain for non-Media Center users who have been limited to photo and music sharing between their Windows PCs and Xbox 360s -- and to anyone who's longed to watch video files on 360 via a thumb drive or CD/DVD.

Unfortunately, licensing fees and digital rights concerns have limited the patch to WMV-support only. Being Microsoft's proprietary format, WMV is neither popular or oft-used, taking a backseat to preferred codecs like DivX and XviD. And so, we're still left scrambling for a solution to getting our video content onto Xbox 360.