21 replies to this topic

[Metal Ghost]

Hi all. I think a lot of you have heard by now about the upcoming Xbox 360 dashboard update (i.e. new look) along with the new TV capabilities available on the 360. This was originally talked about I think about a year ago, but now they've announced partners, screen shots of the new dashboard, have talked/shown more about Kinect integration, Bing search for TV and entertainment, integration with WP7, etc.

Anyway, has anyone heard about DVR integration and how that might work?? When I say 'how that might work', I mean any news on pending larger HDD's being made available, or perhaps storing DVR content in the cloud (admittedly unlikely, but Comcast I thought had been playing with the idea).

From what I understand Verizon FiOS is one of the partners that will make live TV available over Xbox 360. I'm fortunate enough to have FiOS for data, and may make the move to TV, but I'm just not sure how the DVR functionality will work. See, I'm the guy who had a 1TB drive on my PC just for Media Center use. Maybe if they introduced at least a 500GB drive for 360 that would be sufficient....I admittedly had way to much junk on my DVR before my PC crashed. However 250GB (that's the current max on a licensed HDD, right?) doesn't seem like a lot for HD content. Am I wrong?

[Rex Dart]

I've got nothing more to add other than the reminder that the 360 has at least three USB ports.

[Itchy Koala]

Metal Ghost, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:33 PM, said:

Anyway, has anyone heard about DVR integration and how that might work?? When I say 'how that might work', I mean any news on pending larger HDD's being made available, or perhaps storing DVR content in the cloud (admittedly unlikely, but Comcast I thought had been playing with the idea).

I hadn't heard of this yet, do you know if they're going to enable the 360 to act as a DVR or if it's just going to be another method of playing what one has recorded in their DVR?

Even if it was stored in the cloud wouldn't we have to pay for a subscription to hold more than x amount of data in the cloud? I'd rather go get a new HDD as I'm not yet convinced of the cloud's reliability.

And I don't store HD content on my HDD, so the next comment is out of stupidity, but I could imagine 250 GB would be sufficient for the "average" user, wouldn't it?

[Metal Ghost]

I don't know....my 1TB drive used to fill up awfully fast. Again, I know that my wife and I recorded an awful lot of stuff....a lot of 1 hour crime dramas in HD, kids shows, hour long shows on PBS in HD, etc., but we constantly bumped up against the storage limit (I think formatted with was maybe 940 GB). But again, instead of having 3 of each show in queue and saying after that chances are we weren't going to watch it, we'd have 6 or 7 episodes of each show in the hopes of catching up.

[onlysublime]

we're moving away from a world where episodes float by on a stream and you have to watch it live, record it, or lose it. we're moving toward a streaming world where you watch it whenever you feel like just by selecting it. It's a Netflix or Hulu style world now. There's no need for you to DVR it if it's available whenever you want to watch it.

[atarian63]

Just use a ps3 and you are all set.

[Metal Ghost]

onlysublime, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:39 PM, said:

we're moving away from a world where episodes float by on a stream and you have to watch it live, record it, or lose it. we're moving toward a streaming world where you watch it whenever you feel like just by selecting it. It's a Netflix or Hulu style world now. There's no need for you to DVR it if it's available whenever you want to watch it.

I agree, but in the transition things get lost. For example, my HULU+ account get's be access to much of the new NBC and Fox shows, but I've found ABC to be hit or miss (Modern Family yes, but Pan Am is PC only...what the hell?). And CBS is a complete no show, as well as most PBS stuff (there's some stuff, but no enought, and we watch a lot of PBS in my house). So in the meantime I still like the DVR ability.

atarian....seriously? Am I on an IGN forum where we have to get into a PS3 vs bla-bla-bla disucssion?

But in any event, if we need to go here, there is absolutely nothing that a PS3 is able to do that I cannot do better with a 360/Media Center combo. I got a good 4-5 years of enjoyment with my HTPC and streaming through 360's as extenders. I'm just not sure I want to go through the hassle anymore (it can be a hassle to get everything working just right) if these slick new live-TV capabilities are coming to Xbox.

[moycon]

atarian63, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:00 PM, said:

Just use a ps3 and you are all set.

Back on topic...
I agree with some peoples opinion that this isn't something that would affect most people. Having 1000's of TV shows and movies at a press of a button is enough. No need to "hoard" media (keeping 100's of files of shows and movies that you won't watch sitting on an HDD).
It reminds me of my VHS collection. It sits in the garage now. I have literally 1000's of VHS tapes and I spent a lot to get them. Most I never watched. Not once. Many are still in shink wrap. When I moved to a new house the stupidity of this hit me.

Still, I can understand and the options today are much better. Where as I would spend probably $1000 on 100 VHS tape movies that took up a lot of shelf space (I had a walk in closet dedicated). A person today could spend $88 on a 250 GB HDD and fill it up with 100 movies, then go buy another. In the grand scheme of things, they are still saving a bundle and a HDD doesn't take up a lot of space in a drawer somewhere. Again, I don't think many people care enough about media to do this, it's just too easy to press a button and watch something these days, but it is an opinion for sure. Swapping out HDDs isn't a big deal.

[Lord Helmet]

atarian63, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:00 PM, said:

Just use a ps3 and you are all set.

the PS3 has DVR capabilities?

[Rex Dart]

I can't get jack $#!^ to play, video-wise, on my PS3 OR my 360. All's I need is my $8 VGA cable though.

[onlysublime]

Metal Ghost, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:19 AM, said:

onlysublime, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:39 PM, said:

we're moving away from a world where episodes float by on a stream and you have to watch it live, record it, or lose it. we're moving toward a streaming world where you watch it whenever you feel like just by selecting it. It's a Netflix or Hulu style world now. There's no need for you to DVR it if it's available whenever you want to watch it.

I agree, but in the transition things get lost. For example, my HULU+ account get's be access to much of the new NBC and Fox shows, but I've found ABC to be hit or miss (Modern Family yes, but Pan Am is PC only...what the hell?). And CBS is a complete no show, as well as most PBS stuff (there's some stuff, but no enought, and we watch a lot of PBS in my house). So in the meantime I still like the DVR ability.

atarian....seriously? Am I on an IGN forum where we have to get into a PS3 vs bla-bla-bla disucssion?

But in any event, if we need to go here, there is absolutely nothing that a PS3 is able to do that I cannot do better with a 360/Media Center combo. I got a good 4-5 years of enjoyment with my HTPC and streaming through 360's as extenders. I'm just not sure I want to go through the hassle anymore (it can be a hassle to get everything working just right) if these slick new live-TV capabilities are coming to Xbox.

Yeah, what tech companies want and what media companies want don't often jive. Tech companies want all media to be conveniently available because they want to charge for that convenience while media companies want to maintain their traditional powers and fat profit margins.

I think the limitations with Hulu, Netflix, etc. come from the content providers. They have irrational thinking. That playing the show on a PC doesn't take away from TV viewership because the experience isn't the same while playing through a media device like the 360 does take away from viewership because the experience is the same.

As for Atarian, I'm ashamed he's a fellow Atarian. He must have owned the Sears version of the 2600. Or maybe the 2600jr

[Metal Ghost]

Here's a question based on Rex's 1st post (and I was reminded when I just saw word of MS's release of a 320GB HDD this month): Does anyone know exactly what you can do with a 3rd party HDD connected to a 360, and what you can't, if anything? I was under the impression that there were certain things that you couldn't do without a 1st party HDD. For example, Xbox Backwards Compatability.

I know you can utilize a USB stick for game saves, but is that also true for a 3rd party HDD? You'd assume so, but I don't know for sure.

Also, can you access music and pictures from a 3rd party HDD connected to 360 via USB?

Again, I'd assume yes to all of these questions, but I don't know for sure, and I do know that lots of times companies in general have built in restrictions to certain things.

[onlysublime]

Metal Ghost, on Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:19 AM, said:

Here's a question based on Rex's 1st post (and I was reminded when I just saw word of MS's release of a 320GB HDD this month): Does anyone know exactly what you can do with a 3rd party HDD connected to a 360, and what you can't, if anything? I was under the impression that there were certain things that you couldn't do without a 1st party HDD. For example, Xbox Backwards Compatability.

I know you can utilize a USB stick for game saves, but is that also true for a 3rd party HDD? You'd assume so, but I don't know for sure.

Also, can you access music and pictures from a 3rd party HDD connected to 360 via USB?

Again, I'd assume yes to all of these questions, but I don't know for sure, and I do know that lots of times companies in general have built in restrictions to certain things.

I don't know if it's okay to wander into the gray area.

But if you buy a cheap Chinese drive knockoff 250 GB, 320 GB, etc., it's mostly likely missing the second partition which is the partition you need to do things like maintain Xbox backwards compatibility. You can manually add this second partition. If you don't need whatever is on this second partition, you can use the drive like any other 360 hard drive. There are some commercial titles that checks for the presence of this partition but it's a small number.

If you hook up an external USB hard drive, you have to prep it for the 360 and it's limited to 16 GB per device so it's not worth using an external USB hard drive on the 360.

[Rex Dart]

You can absolutely access music and photos stored on a standard USB device, with a standard PC format like FAT or NTFS.

[Austin]

onlysublime, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 12:37 PM, said:

As for Atarian, I'm ashamed he's a fellow Atarian. He must have owned the Sears version of the 2600. Or maybe the 2600jr

It's typical behavior for him, you just have to learn to ignore his comments.

Edited by Austin, Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:48 PM.

[onlysublime]

Metal Ghost, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:19 AM, said:

And CBS is a complete no show, as well as most PBS stuff (there's some stuff, but no enought, and we watch a lot of PBS in my house).

But in any event, if we need to go here, there is absolutely nothing that a PS3 is able to do that I cannot do better with a 360/Media Center combo. I got a good 4-5 years of enjoyment with my HTPC and streaming through 360's as extenders. I'm just not sure I want to go through the hassle anymore (it can be a hassle to get everything working just right) if these slick new live-TV capabilities are coming to Xbox.

A lot of CBS stuff is available via Windows Media Center. does the Internet stuff pipe to the 360 (I remember some providers didn't want some of the PC WMC content to be accessible via 360)?

[Metal Ghost]

onlysublime, on Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:15 PM, said:

Metal Ghost, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:19 AM, said:

And CBS is a complete no show, as well as most PBS stuff (there's some stuff, but no enought, and we watch a lot of PBS in my house). But in any event, if we need to go here, there is absolutely nothing that a PS3 is able to do that I cannot do better with a 360/Media Center combo. I got a good 4-5 years of enjoyment with my HTPC and streaming through 360's as extenders. I'm just not sure I want to go through the hassle anymore (it can be a hassle to get everything working just right) if these slick new live-TV capabilities are coming to Xbox.

A lot of CBS stuff is available via Windows Media Center. does the Internet stuff pipe to the 360 (I remember some providers didn't want some of the PC WMC content to be accessible via 360)?

No....all that CBS content is available on the Media Center, but not via the Extender. Which is actually a moot point for me right now anyway (unfortunately), because my HTPC is deader than a doornail. It had been a software issue, or at least I thought that was the only issue, but today after letting the problem go for 6 months with the computer simply turned off, I decided to finally fix it, and now it won't even power up. So that's why I'm laying out all my options on the table as far as entertainment goes. During the summer I simply don't play a lot of games or watch much TV, but starting in the fall and through winter I want my entertainment!

[Wntermute]

Metal Ghost, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:19 AM, said:

But in any event, if we need to go here, there is absolutely nothing that a PS3 is able to do that I cannot do better with a 360/Media Center combo.

Play Uncharted 1-3, Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus, or the PS2 Classics? Just throwing that out there.. there's normally exceptions to most rules.

[Metal Ghost]

Wntermute, on Fri Oct 14, 2011 12:16 PM, said:

Metal Ghost, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:19 AM, said:

But in any event, if we need to go here, there is absolutely nothing that a PS3 is able to do that I cannot do better with a 360/Media Center combo.

Play Uncharted 1-3, Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus, or the PS2 Classics? Just throwing that out there.. there's normally exceptions to most rules.

Oh, good god. I would have expected that the 'TV Capabilities' thread title would have been self-explanatory. I suppose not.

*sigh*

Must be a special feeling one gets going into the 'Xbox 360' forums and arguing how much better the 'fill in the blank' console is. I wouldn't know.

[Wntermute]

Get a sense of humor man.. seriously. Why would I bash a console that I own? It was a joke since you were so adamantly claiming another console couldn't do something.

[Wntermute]

On the topic of video capabilities.. there is still a lack of Blu-Ray/Blu-Ray 3D playback via 360 and most common Windows Media Center setups. So there is that.

[Metal Ghost]

Wntermute, on Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:31 PM, said:

On the topic of video capabilities.. there is still a lack of Blu-Ray/Blu-Ray 3D playback via 360 and most common Windows Media Center setups. So there is that.

Not when you have an LG Super Multi Blu Blu-Ray drive in the HTPC

Not really sure where you're 'joke' was....and I like to think that I have a sense of humor, but it's the second time tha a conversation that has abolutely nothing to do with a PS3, in an Xbox 360 fourm, has been steered in that direction. I've owned both too. I'm not a fanboy....if I wanted a PS3 today i'd run and buy one right now. But given the thread topic and fourm, it's obvious the perspective such comments are coming from and they serve no purpose.