117 replies to this topic

[Tickled_Pink]

Yep. Great if you have Kinnect. Not so great otherwise.

Really - they should have included an option for using the old dashboard layout. Couldn't be that hard to do. We were thinking of getting Kinnect for Christmas but now? I just get the feeling that I'm being forced into it. So I'm gonna play silly buggers and not bother for a while.

Edited by Tickled_Pink, Fri Dec 9, 2011 11:50 AM.

[cimerians]

If I see another Dr. Pepper ad I will smash my Xbox 360.

On a more gentle note. This makes for interesting reading for those with crazy thoughts like me.



http://www.reddit.co..._dashboard_ads/

[Mendon]

onlysublime, on Thu Dec 8, 2011 12:00 PM, said:

so far the Syfy channel is a bit disappointing to me because I expected more. let me preface that this household no longer has a TV provider as we just recently cut the cord and removed our TV cable package and only have broadband access now. so maybe that's why Syfy is limited for us (similar to how ESPN is nerfed for Time-Warner people). but Syfy is not the entire Syfy channel. It doesn't provide full episodes to everything. I was hoping that I could watch current shows from the very beginning (the pilot episodes) but you have a subset of episodes you can watch.

but it's still early and maybe they'll roll out additional programming I'm curious what someone with a TV provider can see in the Syfy app.

The SyFy channel on XBL is working??

Hmmm... I'm going to have to go back and take a better look at the dashboard because all I recall seeing was that SyFy was listed as "Coming Soon" and my clicking on it did nothing.


Mendon

[onlysublime]

Mendon, on Fri Dec 9, 2011 12:41 PM, said:

onlysublime, on Thu Dec 8, 2011 12:00 PM, said:

so far the Syfy channel is a bit disappointing to me because I expected more. let me preface that this household no longer has a TV provider as we just recently cut the cord and removed our TV cable package and only have broadband access now. so maybe that's why Syfy is limited for us (similar to how ESPN is nerfed for Time-Warner people). but Syfy is not the entire Syfy channel. It doesn't provide full episodes to everything. I was hoping that I could watch current shows from the very beginning (the pilot episodes) but you have a subset of episodes you can watch.

but it's still early and maybe they'll roll out additional programming I'm curious what someone with a TV provider can see in the Syfy app.

The SyFy channel on XBL is working??

Hmmm... I'm going to have to go back and take a better look at the dashboard because all I recall seeing was that SyFy was listed as "Coming Soon" and my clicking on it did nothing.


Mendon

I'm still in the beta program and we're getting the channels before you guys.

[Tickled_Pink]

I'm slowly finding my way around. But games are still too difficult to find since they're not broken down into categories properly like they used to be. The search still doesn't work properly, which isn't helping. But at least I managed to find one of the games I was looking for - even if I did have to scroll through the entire Indie Game library to find it.

[Sir Guntz]

Man, this is seriously gonna suck. I can't get a Kinnect because my room isn't big enough to properly support it. Now the dashboard is gonna be even MORE of a pain to use! I miss the old blades dashboard...

[Hyper_Eye]

I don't think Kinect is sensible for my room because I use front projection which means 1) I will have to plug it in on the other side of the room from where I need it to sit and 2) the room is likely too dark for it to function.

[onlysublime]

Hyper_Eye, on Fri Dec 9, 2011 7:12 PM, said:

I don't think Kinect is sensible for my room because I use front projection which means 1) I will have to plug it in on the other side of the room from where I need it to sit and 2) the room is likely too dark for it to function.

there are like 4 threads on kinect with a projector setup at avsforum. the short answer is that you use an active USB extension cable. the kinect cable is 9 feet long. then you get a 25 ft or 50 ft active extension cable.

in terms of gameplay, you can play totally in the dark. the skeletal tracking is via the infrared and doesn't depend on light. the only possible issue with kinect is if sunlight hits directly on the kinect (then you're overwhelming the kinect with infrared, the visible spectrum, ultraviolet, etc.) but if the sunlight can hit directly the kinect, chances are you can't even see the TV because it would wash out the TV picture as well.

the only issue with lighting is if you use Kinect ID because Kinect ID uses the RGB camera. Kinect ID is the facial recognition software that log you into your profile by having the kinect scan your face. If the room is dark, Kinect ID usually fails.

[Hyper_Eye]

Thanks for the info. That is good to know. At this point I still have zero interest in the device but should anything ever trigger my interest it is good to know that it can work with my room.

[HammR25]

It took me awhile the first night I was looking but I found the Indie game section. Go to Games then Game Marketplace then hit R1 once and go into Game Type and they have their own section in there.

[Karyyk]

I've been in the beta program for a while, so I've had a little more time to play around with it, and honestly, I'm not feeling it. Things actually seem to be more difficult to find (especially indie games). The idea of having "Apps" is nice, but I think it will go as far as "Channels" did on the Wii. How about a browser Microsoft? That's an app...

Maybe it will grow on me and I do like the Cloud save feature, but this reeks of Microsoft trying to shoehorn the Metro UI onto the XBOX, and I really don't think it's everything it's cracked up to be on this type of device.

[Austin]

All right, I have a complaint now: games via the marketplace are no longer grouped into alphabetical categories. This is pretty bad for the Indie section, where there's 2,000+ games available.

[onlysublime]

Youtube app is up (at least for people in the beta dashboard program)!

works great! very slick interface and very metro. netflix, you should be like this!!!!! the kinect controls are good but you can't do everything that you can with the controller like rate the video up or down. unfortunately, there's no voice search which would've been awesome!!!

I was able to browse my video uploads, playlists, etc. Youtube did a great job with this app.

I can't figure out if there's a way to change the resolution of the video. It defaults to the highest (which is good) but the neat thing about the PC is if you don't need to watch it in 720P, you can watch it at something else like 480P.

[madmax2069]

I sure wish that they gave us a option to choose between dashboards in the themes. I do not like this new dashboard at all. It seems rushed if you ask me.

Edited by madmax2069, Sun Dec 11, 2011 6:19 PM.

[Metal Ghost]

onlysublime, on Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:06 PM, said:

Youtube app is up (at least for people in the beta dashboard program)!

works great! very slick interface and very metro. netflix, you should be like this!!!!! the kinect controls are good but you can't do everything that you can with the controller like rate the video up or down. unfortunately, there's no voice search which would've been awesome!!!

I was able to browse my video uploads, playlists, etc. Youtube did a great job with this app.

I can't figure out if there's a way to change the resolution of the video. It defaults to the highest (which is good) but the neat thing about the PC is if you don't need to watch it in 720P, you can watch it at something else like 480P.

Did it work for you? I keep seeing that the download is corrupted. I went onto the feedback section of 'Connect' and there's a few threads on it. There seems to be a workaround, but it looks way to long for me to really want to try. I may just wait until I can just download the app and run with it.

I really can't wait either....I'm excited about watching my Google TechTalks on the big screen!

[onlysublime]

Metal Ghost, on Sun Dec 11, 2011 6:29 PM, said:

onlysublime, on Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:06 PM, said:

Youtube app is up (at least for people in the beta dashboard program)!

works great! very slick interface and very metro. netflix, you should be like this!!!!! the kinect controls are good but you can't do everything that you can with the controller like rate the video up or down. unfortunately, there's no voice search which would've been awesome!!!

I was able to browse my video uploads, playlists, etc. Youtube did a great job with this app.

I can't figure out if there's a way to change the resolution of the video. It defaults to the highest (which is good) but the neat thing about the PC is if you don't need to watch it in 720P, you can watch it at something else like 480P.

Did it work for you? I keep seeing that the download is corrupted. I went onto the feedback section of 'Connect' and there's a few threads on it. There seems to be a workaround, but it looks way to long for me to really want to try. I may just wait until I can just download the app and run with it.

I really can't wait either....I'm excited about watching my Google TechTalks on the big screen!

yes, it works great. I was even watching it when I saw that you logged on. I didn't do anything special. I downloaded it in the Apps marketplace. then I launched it. it showed a code. Then I went to http://www.youtube.com/activate (note that my browser is always logged into my account at Youtube) and inputted the code that was showing on the 360. So then the 360 was activated as a device for Youtube (the exact same procedure as was with Netflix). And now, my Xbox Live gamertag is associated with my Youtube account. So I could see my history, my playlists, my uploaded videos, etc.

There was a warning that some content could not be viewed on the 360 due to content restrictions but I remembered seeing that on my WD TV devices as well. There is a security setting that I turned off that was the equivalent to "safesearch". No need to filter for me!

[onlysublime]

the IHeartRadio app is out!

Disclaimer: I don't know if the new version is being pushed out to the general public yet. I'm in the beta program.

also works great! very slick interface and very metro. netflix, you should be like this!!!!!

the kinect controls are great and has more functionality than with the Youtube app. You can save your favorite stations, sort by stations in your area, etc.

The installation process is just like Youtube or Netflix. You launch the app and get an activation code. Then you go to your web browser and URL. then you enter the activation code and your IHeartRadio account is tagged to your 360.

It's weird the dichotomy of app design. Youtube and IHeartRadio have a very metro interface and is consistent with the dashboard. Netflix, ESPN (and if my memory serves me right, EPIX) have their own unique design.

There's a new version of the ESPN app so redownload it to ensure that you have the new copy. Disclaimer: I don't know if the new version is being pushed out to the general public yet. I'm in the beta program.

[Skarrj]

Austin, on Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:42 AM, said:

All right, I have a complaint now: games via the marketplace are no longer grouped into alphabetical categories. This is pretty bad for the Indie section, where there's 2,000+ games available.

Not sure about this, Mine has an Alphabetical grouping, it just isn't obvious at first

[GrizzLee]

MS... if your listening....

I HATE THIS NEW DASHBOARD!!!!!!

-GrizzLee

[Austin]

Skarrj, on Mon Dec 12, 2011 9:49 AM, said:

Austin, on Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:42 AM, said:

All right, I have a complaint now: games via the marketplace are no longer grouped into alphabetical categories. This is pretty bad for the Indie section, where there's 2,000+ games available.

Not sure about this, Mine has an Alphabetical grouping, it just isn't obvious at first

You can sort each list alphabetically, but from what I can tell they no longer have separate groups you can sift through for each letter. If there is, then let me know how to get to it.

[Zeptari1]

Austin, on Sat Dec 10, 2011 1:42 AM, said:

All right, I have a complaint now: games via the marketplace are no longer grouped into alphabetical categories. This is pretty bad for the Indie section, where there's 2,000+ games available.

This was the first thing that pissed me off!
2,000+ games just lumped together.. what a mess..

[Hyper_Eye]

Go to marketplace, then RB to games section, then third item column contains "Titles A to Z".

[onlysublime]

TMZ is up! so is MSN/MSNBC!

the TMZ app has the metro look but you can definitely tell it's TMZ's style (kind of gaudy).

But the MSN/MSNBC app looks beautiful. the colors are peaceful and it's just well put together. If the MSN and MSNBC websites could look this clean!

Disclaimer: I don't know if the new version is being pushed out to the general public yet. I'm in the beta program.

[HammR25]

Hyper_Eye, on Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:21 PM, said:

Go to marketplace, then RB to games section, then third item column contains "Titles A to Z".

There aren't any Indie games in that. Something else I find annoying is if you go into the Indie game section and use the search it searches the entire Games section so you'll end up with titles from the add-ons, XBLA, original X-box and Games on Demand as well as the Indie games if you don't know the title of what you're looking for.

[Curious Sofa]

I'm not hating on how it all looks, but I'm having crashing / freezing issues just since the update. I do not like.
I also am still not accustomed to finding things, as the above poster mentioned, stuff like Indie Games are hard to get to.
Jury's still out, but for the time being, big thumbs down based on the freezing / crashing alone.