Xbox one in the UK

[Bobvfr]

I am in the UK, my current set up for TV/entertainment is as follows:

TV with two HDMI inputs, one from my Virgin Tivo box and the other from a standard desktop PC running 8.1. The PC acts as our file server and I had hoped it would be an integrated entertainment system so is upgraded to Windows Media Center, but without Virgin supporting media center it is of limited use, so more often than not we just put the TV on and it goes to HDMI 1 and the Tivo box.

The PC is our only (Family) DVD player, it also has all our music and pictures (Plus the odd actual letter, spreadsheet etc.)

I am in a small flat and not into surround sound, so I just take the sound from the TV to a normal stereo with a small pair of decent speakers hooked up, for just watching the TV we don't normally put this on.

My wife is not a technician and wouldn't have a clue how to get past, turning on TV and change the channels on the Tivo box and altering the volume.

So you are already asking what's this doing in the Xbox One forum.

Well I saw an advert the other day and was intrigued by the apparent integration of the whole entertainment system approach of the Xbox One. I must say straight off, I am not a big games player, I do play the odd game and am not saying I wouldn't buy any, but it's not the most important thing in my life, however my lad who lives with us has a gaming PC and an Xbox 360 and he would probably make us of the games aspect when we are at work.

So it really is the entertainment integration that would be of more interest to me, but being in the UK I am a bit dubious to invest in an Xbox One if it doesn't work with UK broadcasting etc.

However it would be nice to just sit down and not have to hunt for remote controls to turn stuff on and change channels etc, play a DVD without having to get VNC fired up on the laptop to control the PC etc.

All pointers welcome:

We already have a lot of tech in the house, would the Xbox help in any way with tying this all together, this is what we have:

Decent 42 inch TV with two HDMI inputs, basic stereo

Me
Desktop PC (As mentioned so no monitor/keyboard, just hooked up to the TV/Network)
Laptop
Surface Pro
Lumia 1520

Wife
Laptop
Surface 2
Lumia 520
Wife has a Freeview TV with a Humax Freeview/recorder box in the bedroom

Boy
Gaming desktop
Laptop
Xbox 360
HTC Windows Phone on 7.8 (God knows why he hasn't upgraded yet).
His Xbox and desktop also use a separate TV for a monitor so not an issue of hooking these up to our system.

Everything is 8.1 or upgraded as far as it will go apart from my lads phone.

Cheers if you got this far without getting bored.

Bob

 

[Coreldan]

It would require some courage from your wife to re-learn some things. I love how both my TV and recording receiver box start up automatically as I power up the Xbox One. If I had a seperate audio system that would too. The receiver box is hooked up the Xbox One. I also have a PC hooked up to the TV that I rarely use these days cos Xbox One does most of it. However it doesnt support Media Center.

I can use my WP8 as a universal remote to both my TV and the receiver, which is a nice added bonus.

The biggest difference with your wife in mind would be that she would have to navigate to the TV app after starting up Xbox. This can be accessed easily with voice commands, but also with controller (or Smartglass) when you set it up. It's not hard to use or to learn, but some just have the attitude that they dont even want to learn which is always a bit sad.

So the only thing the Xbox One can't really help you with is the Media Center support, but otherwise I can recommend it from what I'm reading. Not sure though if you can get OneGuide to support your box, I'm not from the UK nor do I have a TiVo

 

[Bobvfr]

The thing with smart phones, Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 to my mind is they actually make it easy for dumb people (Like my wife) to actually do things instead of tinkering with menu's.

I am sure I can train my wife to say Xbox on :wink:

So I suppose it comes down to two issues, sorry make that three.

1 Do I want one.
2 Will it work with Virgin (Can I really change channels on the Tivo box by voice)
3 I suppose I can still have the PC using the HDMI 2 input as it is now, would be really nice if that could be voice controlled by the Xbox as well, but maybe next year.

4 (Sorry I forgot this one), how will I smuggle it past the wife and will she cope with talking to the telly, but at least she will then have someone to talk to instead of being ignored by me rly:


Bob

 

[Bobvfr]

Been doing a bit more research, it seems that as of this month (In time for the football tournament happening in Brazil) both Virgin and Sky's EPG now work with the Xbox One. So I can answer a couple of my own questions now, so 1 YES I WANT ONE, 2 it will work with Virgin in the UK, 3 the PC as mentioned can stay on HDMI 2 and not have much of a role to play in my entertainment system as it will be blown out of the water by the Xbox in terms of userbility, although the PC will still be our file/back up server.

And finally 4, I am sure the wife will notice the new black box in the front room, especially when I start talking to it, but what the heck, sometimes you just have to bit the bullet and spend some pennies.

I am still debating if I should ever actually tell her she could control it, hell that would be as bad as letting her get her hands on the remote control :wink:

Now top of the shopping list when we get back from holiday next month.

Bob

 

[VastZiN]

3 the PC as mentioned can stay on HDMI 2 and not have much of a role to play in my entertainment system as it will be blown out of the water by the Xbox in terms of userbility, although the PC will still be our file/back up server.

If youre gonna do that, i would advise you to get a NAS-server, and the app Plex (i know Synology has a great solution - thats what im using). There are talks about development of a Plex app for Xbox One, but i just use the Xbox's browser. Works very well as a Media Center/File Server!

In my setup with XboxOne i use it for Plex(Homevideo/Pictures), TV, Music(Xbox Music Pass), Video(Buy/Rents movies), and Netflix.

It covers my family's needs (and they use it WITHOUT me, even tho they are not.... nerdy)

Good luck, and i hope you will enjoy it as much as i do!

 

[Coreldan]

Been doing a bit more research, it seems that as of this month (In time for the football tournament happening in Brazil) both Virgin and Sky's EPG now work with the Xbox One. So I can answer a couple of my own questions now, so 1 YES I WANT ONE, 2 it will work with Virgin in the UK, 3 the PC as mentioned can stay on HDMI 2 and not have much of a role to play in my entertainment system as it will be blown out of the water by the Xbox in terms of userbility, although the PC will still be our file/back up server.

And finally 4, I am sure the wife will notice the new black box in the front room, especially when I start talking to it, but what the heck, sometimes you just have to bit the bullet and spend some pennies.

I am still debating if I should ever actually tell her she could control it, hell that would be as bad as letting her get her hands on the remote control :wink:

Now top of the shopping list when we get back from holiday next month.

Bob

Good to hear. My fiancee isnt really tech sawwy either, but she has learned the Xbox One pretty well. Then again, I guess as a bit younger generation (early 20s) we've grown around tech so it's not as weird and scary to us as it is to some a bit older folks.

 

[Bobvfr]

Good to hear. My fiancee isnt really tech sawwy either, but she has learned the Xbox One pretty well. Then again, I guess as a bit younger generation (early 20s) we've grown around tech so it's not as weird and scary to us as it is to some a bit older folks.

Enough with the ageism :wink:

Having said that we are both 58, but then again I am still smart and my wife is.......

But to me that's what's so good about what Microsoft have done with 8.1, Windows Phone and hopefully the Xbox, the stuff just works. I have been fighting with this stuff since DOS and at last computers are getting simple enough for even dummies to use (When they finally realise that and stop whinging about Menu's).

Even simple enough for us old folk :smile:


Bob