XBox 360 Error 51-C00DF236 Fixed [Play Videos Offline]

The Annoying Introduction

If you’ve found this entry from a search engine, you’re probably at your wits end with trying to solve this issue. You’re trying to play a video file on your XBox 360, but it won’t let you watch it unless you’re signed on to XBox Live.

You attempt to play the video, but unless you’re signed on to XBox Live, you get a message saying you need to download an update in order for the video to play; an update that you’ve already (countless times) downloaded. Well, that’s not exactly the problem. In fact, that’s not the problem at all.

This all has to do with Microsoft’s annoying DRM (Digital Rights Management) practices. I’ll give you my story, and I’m willing to bet yours is similar. I got my first XBox 360 about 4 years ago. It finally died on me a couple months ago. Obviously, a 4 year-old XBox is not under warrantee any longer. So, I went out and bought another one. Kept my hard drive and stuck it on my new XBox.

Now, Microsoft’s sneaky little trick is that they only allow your videos to be played on the original XBox that you set your gamertag up on. Let’s call my original XBox that I purchased 4 years ago “XBox A,” and my new XBox will be called “XBox B.” Each XBox has a unique “Console ID” number. A long string of numbers uniquely identifying your particular XBox.

Because I initially set up my gamertag on XBox A, when I attempted to play videos on XBox B, Microsoft realized that I was playing videos on an “Unauthorized” XBox that I had not originally set my gamertag up on. So, obviously they had to weasel their way into my life and keep me from watching videos in a convenient manner – meaning I had to be signed in to XBox Live in order to watch anything.

That’s not to say there isn’t a fix, because there is. And here’s how to do it…

The Solution

Microsoft has a site where you can “Transfer Content Licenses to a New Console.” It’d be nice if something like this was mentioned on the XBox error message. It could possibly save a lot of anger and frustration.

From this site, you get all the instructions on how to transfer your “license” to watch your own videos on your own XBox! So much for “Digital Rights.” More like Digital TYRANNY! No wonder torrent sites are so popular. All of the content with none of the restrictions.

Anyway, that’s the fix. You have to go to that site and transfer your license to your new XBox.

Hope this helps!

Videos Have No Sound On XBox 360 [Fixed]

So, last night I was trying to watch an AVI video file from a USB flash drive on my XBox 360. For some reason, no matter what I did with the audio settings (on the XBox or the television), I couldn’t get any audio. The video worked fine.

Another strange thing I noticed was that the audio portion of the intro that plays when the XBox is turned on was no longer playing. I still had sound effects on the Dashboard, and games behaved normally. A real puzzler.

I should mention that my XBox is connected to my TV via HDMI. And this brings me to the solution of this issue.

After spending about a half-hour fiddling with the audio settings, I finally determined that it’s got to be something with the HDMI cable. Something to do with audio compatibility. So, I went downstairs and grabbed my HD cables that come with the XBox and hooked it up. Voila! Fully functional sound!

I’m not sure on the details of this, but it probably has something to do with the audio codec configuration and sound compatibility with HDMI. When using the standard HD cables that came with the XBox, the sound works normally.

That’s what I’ve been able to conclude. If you have additional information, leave it in the “Comments” section.

Update as of 7/19/2009

I’ve discovered that actually turning the television off and back on resolves the issue. So, it appears this could be a television issue and not an XBox issue.

Prevent Your Console Window From Closing [C++ Programming]

Introduction

First off, I’ll state that this solution has only been tested on Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 while writing a Visual C++ program. I don’t know how well it will work with other platforms, or in other situations. With that being said, let’s get into a description of the problem, and the solution.

When writing programs, it’s essential to run them in order to check for problems (debugging). If it’s a console application, a console window will pop up in which your program will run.

Let’s say, using a simple example, you’re writing the legendary “Hello World” application. You write your program, and then you run it. The problem arises when you run the program. You barely catch a glimpse of the window displaying “Hello World” when it immediately closes.

Not-So Solutions

There have been several solutions offered online. Usually, these solutions involve adding lines of code to your program, such as cin.get(), system(“pause”), or something similar. These solutions are rather cumbersome and unnecessary when taking into account that your program is not meant to be run from a developer environment. The end user isn’t going to need that type of code in the program. It is unnecessary and inefficient.

The Real Solution

Surprisingly, the fix for this problem is very simple. I found that when I ran my programs, I always hit the “Play” button on the Debug toolbar. That green arrow actually means “Start Debugging.”

If you press Ctrl+F5, or, in the “Debug” menu click “Start Without Debugging” when you want to run your program, the console window will not automatically close after your program is finished. You will get the “Press Any Key To Continue…” message. Voila!!

Problem solved. I hope this helps!

Read a book. It’s good for you.