MCEBrowser: Xbox 360 Controller Support
For some reason, I have received several questions recently about MCEBrowser’s support for the Xbox 360 controller. Since these questions seem to be increasing in frequency, I decided to address the question here on my blog.
MCEBrowser was originally designed for use with the Media Center remote control on the Media Center PC. When I added Media Center Extender support, I tested on several Media Extender devices, including the Linksys Extender and the Xbox 360 extender. The testing included the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote and the Xbox 360 Wireless Controller.
While MCEBrowser fully works with the Xbox 360 controller, the buttons are a little different than if you are using the remote control. Here is the operation:
In Media Center, the “A” button on the controller acts as the “enter” key, and the “B” button acts as the “back” button. This is pretty standard for most Xbox 360 games and applications, and also works for MCEBrowser.
To move between buttons within MCEBrowser (and in Media Center in general), you can use either of the two left joysticks.
In order to scroll around within a web page, select links, and use web-based form support, you need to put MCEBrowser in a mode that I call “browser lock mode”. In browser lock mode, some of the controls perform different functions. To enter browser lock mode, highlight the browser control in MCEBrowser and press the “A” button. The orange border around the browser will change to red, indicating that browser lock mode is active.
Once in browser lock mode, the following Xbox 360 controls will perform functions within the browser:
There is one issue with using the Xbox 360 controller, which is a little quirky. If you need to type text into a web form control, there are two ways of doing this. The first way is to highlight the control and press “A” (enter). MCEBrowser will open a triple-tap entry control that will allow you to enter text. This triple-tap control is not compatible with the Xbox 360 on-screen keyboard. If you have a remote control, you an use the triple-tap entry screen with the remote control. If you have only an Xbox 360 controller, do not use the triple-tap control. Instead, highlight the control in MCEBrowser and press the “Y” button to bring up the on-screen keyboard. This will allow you to type the text directly into the web form control. This is a somewhat annoying issue, but isn’t too bad once you get used to it. I plan to fix this in a future version of MCEBrowser.
Hope this clears up any confusion about MCEBrowser usage with the Xbox 360 controller. Thanks for asking!
Awesome browser. I do find it a little frustrating at times since it has no pointer and you can’t hit left or right to select links that are next to where you’re at. I guess I’m too used to LinksBox and the old Planetweb Dreamcast browser. I kept hitting “B” on the 360 controller and backing out completely. I couldn’t get my mouse to work either, but maybe you meant mouse support on the PC? LOL. Nice work….can’t wait to see the next version.
Comment by Billkwando — April 20, 2007 @ 9:10 pm
Oh my favorites from IE don’t show, and sometimes it won’t let me click on stuff that’s selected. Try http://ehowa.com
Comment by Billkwando — April 20, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
man this is just great!! especially for bein free even without an arrow or the ability to listen to stuff on the web its still great. im glad i found this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by willie — July 5, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
Really nice work! I know it is missing many feature sound and navigation is tough but it works well if you want to read the web pages.
Comment by Diamondxp — August 29, 2007 @ 9:10 am
I need sound is their any way i could get sound when i use the browser on my XBOX 360.Please i need it for YOUTUBE.
Comment by alex — October 24, 2007 @ 12:32 pm
will the browser ever have sound on the 360?
great work
Comment by Eddie — December 16, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
How do I start it? I’ve installed it on my Vista PC. Now do I go to the xbox and it will just show up when I go to Media Center on the xbox?
Comment by Jon Huther — January 27, 2008 @ 7:53 am
oh.this is amazing 4 the 360 since microsoft doesnt have a browser 4 the 360.i hope we will have a pointer on the next future release.
Comment by rico — February 21, 2008 @ 8:01 pm
Great work! I was just trying out the browser and it works great! One question, is it using IE on the PC and streaming the screen to the 360?
Comment by online tools — April 20, 2008 @ 3:14 am
It would be really cool if you could get the controller to act like a mouse in a future version.
Comment by Reuben — August 2, 2008 @ 10:28 pm
Nice 1 really enjoying it will there be a sound function in the near future slight let down for online videos is the lack of sound + the non ability to play games online, will these be available in the near future?
Thanks Loads Anyway ☺☺☺☺☺☺
Comment by Dave — September 3, 2008 @ 3:22 am