XBMC for XBOX Tip: Play mp4's Without Distortion / Problems

I have been downloading everything I get in .avi format. Why? Because it plays better on my system. I do not have HD enabled blah blah blah....

Lately, it seems, that everything is being encoded in .mp4 or .mkv. On my system mkv's do not play, or rather, DID NOT play. It was annoying. It was sooooo annoying to see everything new come out encoded to a format that I could not use on my media center.

Recently, I downloaded some "Survivorman" episodes. They were mp4 format. It pissed me off because a couple of years ago, I had all three seasons in .avi format and they played perfect... Mp4's were sort of a hit or miss for me. Some played perfect, some played with an extremely washed out screen... some NEVER played.

Normally I wouldn't care. I would just download a new torrent or what-not. In the case of Survivorman, I could not find divx or xvid.. avi, wmv, mpg... formatted material... period.

So, I did a search and came up with very little documentation on the matter.
It took me all of an hour to figure this garbage out on my own. If you select the file and (use a device that applies to you)
-mouse: right click
-controller: white button
-remote: title

select "Play Using"
Select "DVD Player"

I couldn't believe how damn easy it was when I was sitting here for years sticking to .avi only. Now... if you want to set your system to use DVD Player as the default player, so you can retain the ability to use playlists and NOT have to "right click" each and every file every time, it's simple.

Using the Confluence skin with horizontal scrolling:
-scroll (left or right depending on your orientation) to "System"
-push the "up" button (to bring up the sub menu)
-Select "Settings"
-Select "Video"
-In the left plane, select "Playback"
-push the right button and go down to "Default Player"
-Select "DVD Player"

You retain ALL of the normal functions that M Player utilizes. I have not tried out an .mkv yet, but I can only assume that if it was not encoded in HD, it will most likely play.

If you need screen shots, drop me a comment and I will be more than happy to add what I can.