December 28, 2006

MCEBrowser: Xbox 360 Controller Support

Filed under: Uncategorized — Anthony Park @ 9:50 pm

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:

  • Left Joystick (Up/Down) – Move between links and controls on a web page.
  • Left Joystick (Right/Left) – Scroll the web page to the right or left.
  • Right Joystick (Up/Down) – Scroll the web page up or down.
  • “A” Button – This acts like the “enter” key, selecting the currently active link and navigating the browser to it, or selecting the currently active web form control and allowing input to it.
  • “B” Button – Deactivate browser lock mode.
  • “X” Button – Simulates a right-click. This pops up a context menu with some additional options.
  • “Y” Button – As usual, this pops up the on-screen keyboard.

    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!

    • 28 Comments »

    1. 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

    2. 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

    3. 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

    4. 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

    5. 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

    6. will the browser ever have sound on the 360?
      great work

      Comment by Eddie — December 16, 2007 @ 12:52 pm

    7. 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

    8. 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

    9. 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

    10. 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

    11. 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

    12. hey thanks for the browser hook up so far so good, a little hard to use but i haven’t worked with it much yet and i haven’t tested the sound but this is a good start

      Comment by MasterMind413 — February 25, 2009 @ 2:10 am

    13. i already download it,when i went on my xbox to open it it wont open it freeze my xbox and it doesnt work help me plz thank for your help

      Comment by CHRISTIAN — May 23, 2009 @ 10:43 am

    14. When you enter text using the controller and popup box, you cant delete anything entered! How do you delete entered text? i cnat log into face book cause it adds “email” to the front of my entry because it is already in the field? Any ideas?

      Comment by ii TizZLe ii — May 24, 2009 @ 5:32 pm

    15. I can use windows media center on my xbox and I have installed the MCE browser but when I run it in Media Center on my 360 I see the loading circle and then a blank blue screen. Ive tried re-installing the browser. Can anyone help me?

      Comment by John — June 2, 2009 @ 10:53 am

    16. great stuff wii has a browser so does ps3 now 360 yayyyyyy mouse for next one plzzzzzzz

      Comment by chcobreeder (gamertag) — June 8, 2009 @ 12:04 am

    17. Are you ever going to update this program again? I get script errors all the time now when trying to browse, and some sort of fix would make this browser worth its download if it would only work as it is intended. Please consider fixing it, as it is the only way for 360 users to browse the net.

      Comment by Wrath — June 19, 2009 @ 12:26 am

    18. Awesome work! It is very cool. I’m sure you’ve heard it a lot, but as a suggested feature maybe one of the analog sticks on the 360 controller could be used as a mouse pointer? Scrolling through web pages with tons of links is a bit of a pain.

      Sound would be a great addition as well so we could all watch Hulu videos from our couches! :)

      Comment by Francisco — July 13, 2009 @ 3:51 pm

    19. We need sound sound sound sound sound sound :)

      Comment by codec — August 20, 2009 @ 2:42 am

    20. I have it installed but mine dont work, I open WMC on my 360, go to online media than to program library, browser, select home and than it freezes..I’d try again but select enter URL it wont let me type in anything…….kansas_dude_1027@sbcglobal.net

      Comment by James — September 15, 2009 @ 7:04 pm

    21. Hey I just had a quick question. For some reason when I press enter url I get an “X” in the box and I can’t type anything. Is there something I need to change in the settings?

      Comment by Sebastian — November 23, 2009 @ 11:27 pm

    22. cool software but just changed to 64-bit please hurry

      Comment by chris — January 3, 2010 @ 3:46 pm

    23. Very good start. Really needs a pointer/mouse support for it to be truly usable. Sound support would also add to the user experience especially when on sites like youtube. I can’t seem to get rid of the silly activeX warning box appearing though.

      Comment by Carl — January 4, 2010 @ 10:13 am

    24. everything boots up ok ,apart from i cannot enter anything in the enter url box ive tried lots of things please could anyone help , i just want to browse the net on my 40 inch plazma which is connected to my xbox 360 . i am also running windows 7 helllllllllllllp plz

      Comment by martin — February 11, 2010 @ 9:42 am

    25. hey, when I go into enter URL on my windows 7 media center or xbox 360 I cant click any of the snippets or type anything in the main box, as well as actually click enter URL

      Comment by Dan — February 15, 2010 @ 3:44 am

    26. i downloaded the mce but it’s not showing in my computer ether my xbox i have windows vista thank you for your time

      Comment by abdoul — March 13, 2010 @ 6:42 am

    27. It looks very nice on Youtube videos etc. but my screen is, how could you say that? It’s not moving I can’t select a thing or scroll with my controller to select a button. It’s just a picture… What’s wrong. The first time I started it I got an ActiveX Error…

      Comment by YourNew[notatmoment]Fan — March 16, 2010 @ 12:47 pm

    28. please prepare mce browser to windows 7 compabitle

      Comment by sdfdsfdsf — March 30, 2010 @ 8:48 am

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