Xbox 360 Versus Apple TV (media streaming, airplay, etc)

[jalb]

Went to a friends house last night and they had an Apple TV settop box, as well as a couple iPhones, an iMac, an Air, and a Macbook Pro. Very Apple people. I had never seen Apple TV before - it was pretty awesome! All of their devices that were on and had iTunes open were available to stream media, and you could control it from the phones. Also, the apps on the phones could be mirrored on the television, and some apps were made for it, so you could play games full screen.

I want to do this with my Xbox, Windows Phone and Windows PC's. It was really neat, and very smooth, very little lag. My only complaint would be that the UI was ugly and made up of lists.

 

[Duvi]

It's a nice feature, but we have a lot more options with xbox.

 

[selfcreation]

that's exactly what Windows does.... just Windows is a little slow setting it up .. cause i think they are waiting on W8....

Xbox + WP+PC+tablet+TV

over heard a MS rep talking about Windows TV!!!! 2012-2013....

 

[HeyCori]

Computer + TV + HDMI + Laughing at those who spent money on an Apple TV.

 

[Pronk]

Something I've found out just the other day - since the dashboard update, the xbox will NOT play 1080p content unless it's purchased from the Zune store, regardless of source. Everything else is artificially limited by the software to 720p.

Seriously annoyed at this - with that, and requiring gold membership to download simple things like youtube apps and tv catch-up apps, Microsoft are deliberately crippling the xbox as a media centre for the sake of squeezing money out of their users.

 

[Duvi]

Something I've found out just the other day - since the dashboard update, the xbox will NOT play 1080p content unless it's purchased from the Zune store, regardless of source. Everything else is artificially limited by the software to 720p.

Seriously annoyed at this - with that, and requiring gold membership to download simple things like youtube apps and tv catch-up apps, Microsoft are deliberately crippling the xbox as a media centre for the sake of squeezing money out of their users.

What you're saying is that, my DVD would not play in 1080p?

 

[based_graham]

Something I've found out just the other day - since the dashboard update, the xbox will NOT play 1080p content unless it's purchased from the Zune store, regardless of source. Everything else is artificially limited by the software to 720p.

Seriously annoyed at this - with that, and requiring gold membership to download simple things like youtube apps and tv catch-up apps, Microsoft are deliberately crippling the xbox as a media centre for the sake of squeezing money out of their users.

They are working on a fix

 

[TheWeeBear]

They are working on a fix for the washed out colours but they have said not a peep about all the apps (Excluding Zune) having a maximum resolution of 720p instead of full HD.

What Went Wrong With The 360 Dashboard?

The colours (Video) are dreadfull since they updated the dashboard. Hope it's fixed soon.

 

[jalb]

that's exactly what Windows does.... just Windows is a little slow setting it up .. cause i think they are waiting on W8....

Xbox + WP+PC+tablet+TV

over heard a MS rep talking about Windows TV!!!! 2012-2013....

Yes, I can't wait for Win 8. Plus, you can stream via media center now but it's a little klugy. Also, I want the app/camera mirroring.

 

[selfcreation]

Yes, I can't wait for Win 8. Plus, you can stream via media center now but it's a little klugy. Also, I want the app/camera mirroring.

well the app thing will come im sure of it ( mostly on Xbox ..and maybe on a Windows TV .. if true lol )

the media center BLOWS chunk .. i cant even stream from my PC to My Xbox on WIFI , 5 feet away ... i cant even watch 10 min of a movie before the voice and image get offset by 20secs.. lol and MAN DOES IT LAG!!

i hate media center .... now i just Xfer movies to a external hard drive and plug it into my Samsung TV ( witch supports external HD .. much better lol )

 

[btbam91]

My brother uses Xbox 360's as his cable boxes. Thy stream from his computer, which has a tv card with 4 tuners. No lag whatsoever. He doesn't use his Windows Phone because he uses a universal remote to control his entire home theater.

Sent from my Windows Phone using Board Express

 

[welsbloke]

Where apple is currently strong at the moment is the simplicity of the setup this is because you buy into one eco system. They pay a high price for being putting it gently technically challenged. The good news is that if you are willing and able you can do everything (I exclude app sharing across the Eco system because that obviously cannot be totally replicated) on a budget.

Now I have Netflix on my Xbox and most of the terrestial UK catch services (Just waiting on BBC and ITV) I am very happy. My Lovefilm subscription will be going in the bin unless they can do something and fast which they are not to mimic the Netflix offering, I mean 4 hours of streaming a month whats that about? I watched that much last night on Netflix.

 

[Gorki247]

The Netflix guy recently mentioned in one of his interviews about the UK launch that they were looking to release an update to their app which would enable 1080p. This makes me believe that the 720p limitation is not a permanent thing. Who knows, maybe it was a limitation in the early development tools for the new dashboard apps.

 

[Pronk]

I just don't get why they couldn't have left it alone - I can't see why a front end change would make any difference to playback capabilities.

 

[TricBox]

What I don't get is the Xbox through Media Center will not play my .264 movies with surround sound. If I use the Zune Video player it will. Makes no sence. The Apple TV works great if your system is up and running iTunes and you plan on using the Apple Universe for your entertainment. But I do wish there was more cohesion on the M$ side of things. They are getting there, but it is taking awhile. They also need to support more codecs. And will someone do something about DRM on movies! All of this would be moot point if they would get rid of DRM on movies just like music. Then finding the best media player would be easier and DVD/Blue Ray would go away. JM2C.

 

[kevm14]

Yeah I use Media Center on a custom/purpose built HTPC that is the only input to my TV other than my Xbox. I have a dual tuner ATSC card for OTA, as well as the usual online sources. Don't cr@p on media center if you're in-house network is lacking. My HTPC is connected my network via gigabit...I CAN play 1080i content on my laptop (recorded shows on my HTPC) over wireless G but just barely. If something else was serving that content up on wireless, there would be no way...

I have companion apps for WP7 that work with Media Center (remote potato and media buddy). But I have no idea how to put content from my phone directly onto the TV, nor would I care to. Perhaps the HTC DLNA stuff would work.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Okay, some parts that I hate.


The lack of ntfs support. Really!? It even supports apple proprietary hfs, AND hfs+ - both of which are useless, unless if you have an iPod classic. Catering to a specific group, somehow. Otherwise, have to put up with file size cap in fat32. Not that it really matters, due to the next...

Codec and container support. Not much more to be said, it's utter crap. What's worse? In the publicly supported media formats, none of them allow for soft subtitles

Zune media player - what on earth was wrong the with the old one? It DID NOT waste several seconds to startup, just to do nothing more than the old one.

Zune marketplace - why can I only download music videos upto 5 times, and on top of that, cannot stream my video purchases, and some of the MV I bought FROM Zune, VIA the xbox360, will not playback. Seriously? I've already installed the (mostly) useless optional media update, and it still doesn't play back.

Kinect integration. It's there, but mostly in the first level of the dash.

DLNA streaming support. Rather, the lack of functionality. Unlike AirPlay, I cannot tell my cellphone to stream to the Xbox, instead, failing that, I've been told I have to setup my cellphone as a streaming server, and access it via the xbox360!?

Which gets me to the. Next part. AirPlay mirroring... I'd buy a LOT more Xbox units at work if this was done with WP7. Usefull beyond belief when making a presentation (the AirPlay mode of apple keynotes (inferior ppt clone - but vastly superior for slide creation on the mobile device vs wp7-office mobile), gives the presenter a presenter mode with presentation notes and control via the device!).

Don't get me wrong, I love my xbox360, and refuse to get a glorified bluray player, however, as a wp7 developer (and sometimes, user), these are the points that instantly come to mind on the Xbox-wp7 relationship.





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[shingi_70]

most of what your complaining about seem to be os limitations that should be fixed for the next box.

also when i buy movies on zune fromcmy Pc they work on my xbox and vice versatile. not sure about phones though.

 

[jeremyshaw]

most of what your complaining about seem to be os limitations that should be fixed for the next box.

also when i buy movies on zune fromcmy Pc they work on my xbox and vice versatile. not sure about phones though.

Almost all of my complaints can be fixed in the current xbox360 OS. The biggest ones I'd love to see fixed involve ntfs support and public media format support.


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