Live TV on XBox One

[jhguth]

the guide isn't OTA, its probably from the internet. In the example they had the directTV guide showing.

 

[enthuz]

the guide isn't OTA, its probably from the internet. In the example they had the directTV guide showing.

I wasn't saying that it would be from OTA, but yet an OTA guide for that respective area. Just like a digital OTA tuner does (STB or built-in a TV).

 

[oldpueblo]

I think you guys are jumping to conclusions.

Please show me where you learned that Xbox One will not support being a Media Extender device. Or link me to the point in the Xbox One presentation where the speaker stated that this functionality is no longer possible.

All the features in the Xbox One, by design, seem like they would work perfectly if "Live TV" was fed by your HTPC.

All the negative remarks about Xbox One not supporting this are pure speculation. Stop causing your own grief.

I wasn't clear in my initial criticism. I assumed since they were retiring Media Center and the new Xbox was allegedly going to be the end all be all media/TV convergence device that they would basically have moved a newly designed Media Center directly into the Xbox. It runs a modified Windows 8 core after all, I mean I can't imagine it being some huge feat since media center runs right now in Windows 8. But sadly they didn't. If you think about it, and consider only the TV part of it, it's not really anything new conceptually. Hopefully I'm wrong and they blow me away, but it doesn't look good so far. I had a google TV for awhile to test and it was cool. But it just didn't do what I wanted. It just overlayed over an existing system.

Now, if it's going to be an extender then okay maybe I'll try one out. But that's not really an amazing improvement. It will just do what I'm already doing, but a little fancier.

 

[fpostrow]

I have a very similar setup and similar requirements from the One. Having said that I agree Media Center needs to go. It's redundant to boot xBox only to boot into Media Center via the extender functionality. MS wants xBox to be the hub, so do I. At the same time the One NEEDS to be able to pull in the stream from a Win8 Media Center machine. Anything less would be less than my current setup. I don't want a crappy cableco box sitting next to the One in my media cabinet. I don't have one now, and I won't be getting one. If they don't plan support for integrating this form of LiveTV then I won't be moving to the One and will stick with my current setup. If they do, I'll take 2 Ones on day 1.

 

[SnailUK]

IR blaster? It will communicate over hdmi.
Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_342 using Board Express

 

[glugglug]

Now, if it's going to be an extender then okay maybe I'll try one out. But that's not really an amazing improvement. It will just do what I'm already doing, but a little fancier.

Actually, it would be a significant improvement. Right now, there are some high bitrate blu-ray rips which the XBOX 360 has trouble playing back as an extender. With the faster CPU in the Xbox One, this would never happen. (especially given the fact that it plays blu-rays).

Also the split screen view would be pretty cool for it.

 

[Rishicash]

I have this exact same setup and agree with you completely. I think if more people knew of this capability, more would use it. I bought my Xbox 360 S to use as an extender and consider gaming to be an added benefit. The cost of the Xbox and quad-tuner card was the same cost of renting a DVR from my provider for three years but I have a lot more benefits. However, I curse Microsoft for requiring and charging for Xbox Live account to use the built in features like Netflix and Hulu that the competition offers for free. I'm OK with charging this for gaming use, but not for media viewing that's already built in.

 

[Robert Carpenter]

IR blaster? It will communicate over hdmi.
Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_342 using Board Express

Both actually.

 

[jhoff80]

Windows Media Center was created by the eHome team at Microsoft, who was created MediaRoom (AT&T Uverse DRV). They had a large team who created this. It is addon part of Windows 8, so it's not a product for a "Fringe/Niche customer" as you think a lot of people use the product.

It's important to note that this team was disbanded a long time ago. If you think they're not phasing out WMC, more power to you, but I'd be shocked if the One works as a Media Center Extender, and more shocked if Windows 9 kept WMC. It very much is a niche product, almost entirely because nobody knows it exists (a problem that many of Microsoft's better products have).

 

[jasqid]

You're right, the setup I have probably wouldn't be appealing to anybody. Oh wait, practically nobody knows a setup like that is possible and everyone who's come over has said they wished they had it. Don't mistake obscurity for bad design/tech. Media Center is an amazing product that wasn't executed well. But I guarantee you there is nothing on the market now with such flexibility, power AND simplicity once it's configured. Unless I'm mistaken, Xbox One is a more advanced version of Google TV, but still basically the same product. If it still requires a cable box I'm not interested, especially since most companies charge for each cable box.

And the fact that the Xbox is the ONLY media device in front of my TV tells me that I'm exactly the customer MS wants.

I just dumped directv saving me between 130-190 month (depending on Sunday ticket season). I became a cord cutter, added Hulu plus and amazon prime to my Xbox and increased my xfinity internet to blast!. I'll save 100-150 month and get most of what I need through my 360. I setup a HDhome run and get my locals... And really that only for live sports. Hulu plus is like anext day DVR anyway. MS may have given up on MC a bit early. More peeps are dumping traditional pay tv everyday.

 

[DavidinCT]

It's important to note that this team was disbanded a long time ago. If you think they're not phasing out WMC, more power to you, but I'd be shocked if the One works as a Media Center Extender, and more shocked if Windows 9 kept WMC. It very much is a niche product, almost entirely because nobody knows it exists (a problem that many of Microsoft's better products have).

Oh, I do know that, there are teams in Microsoft that work with it (as they still do some TV based things at Microsoft)

Just saying that it would be NICE if they allowed the "One" to be a Media Center extender in the aspect for sources for TV and Recorded TV (keeping the DRM support for cable card users). I would not be shocked if they did because it would be easier for tuners for the "one".

Windows Media services I would bet they would use (standard in Windows 7, WIndows 8 and even back to XP) so your libraries would share with it (Movies, Music, Pictures,etc)and Windows Media Center depends on Windows Media Player, so I KNOW that part of it will work. Just wondering how it will be configured.

Has anyone here used a Tivo or antying controlling a cable box or sat box with IR blasters before ? It works for the most part but, it's slugish and not always dependable (can have problems with other IR items in the room). I have setup a few of these when I was doing HTPC building/installing and this part always gave me issues (IR blasters eyes falling off and other issues), infact, it gave me so many problems that I stopped using them and would no longer offer that feature to my clients. Warrany work/support does not pay the bills and you need items that work to keep happy customers.

 

[Mystictrust]

I haven't seen this posted anywhere in this thread, but I found this from the official Q&A at news.xbox.com:

Q: Do I need to have a specific cable or satellite TV provider to watch live TV on Xbox?
A: Our goal is to enable live TV through Xbox One in every way that it is delivered throughout the world, whether that’s television service providers, over the air or over the Internet, or HDMI-in via a set top box (as is the case with many providers in the US). The delivery of TV is complex and we are working through the many technologies and policies around the world to make live TV available where Xbox One is available.

That confirms OTA, which makes me happy, and also says that it's not exclusively focused on cable-box setups It also of course shows that they're clearly working on many different delivery methods. I just hope they have a wide enough variety available at launch... Of course, I hope that any relationship they have with cable providers in the US doesn't have them thinking along the lines of "cable box only in the US, OTA and whatever else is used for the rest of the world"

 

[dgr_874]

You're right, the setup I have probably wouldn't be appealing to anybody. Oh wait, practically nobody knows a setup like that is possible and everyone who's come over has said they wished they had it. Don't mistake obscurity for bad design/tech. Media Center is an amazing product that wasn't executed well. But I guarantee you there is nothing on the market now with such flexibility, power AND simplicity once it's configured. Unless I'm mistaken, Xbox One is a more advanced version of Google TV, but still basically the same product. If it still requires a cable box I'm not interested, especially since most companies charge for each cable box.

And the fact that the Xbox is the ONLY media device in front of my TV tells me that I'm exactly the customer MS wants.

I have pretty much the same set up as you do. one HTPC serving 4 xbox 360's that do all my media. Everyone who comes over and looks at it drools over it too. Media center was Microsoft's home run that never seemed to take off for whatever reason. Nothing is a flexible or performs better.

 

[dgr_874]

I have a very similar setup and similar requirements from the One. Having said that I agree Media Center needs to go. It's redundant to boot xBox only to boot into Media Center via the extender functionality. MS wants xBox to be the hub, so do I. At the same time the One NEEDS to be able to pull in the stream from a Win8 Media Center machine. Anything less would be less than my current setup. I don't want a crappy cableco box sitting next to the One in my media cabinet. I don't have one now, and I won't be getting one. If they don't plan support for integrating this form of LiveTV then I won't be moving to the One and will stick with my current setup. If they do, I'll take 2 Ones on day 1.

You can set your xbox to boot directly into media center if you want...

 

[OzRob]

That confirms OTA, which makes me happy, and also says that it's not exclusively focused on cable-box setups It also of course shows that they're clearly working on many different delivery methods. I just hope they have a wide enough variety available at launch... Of course, I hope that any relationship they have with cable providers in the US doesn't have them thinking along the lines of "cable box only in the US, OTA and whatever else is used for the rest of the world"

Yes. Glad to see they are already talking about OTA and the 'rest of the world'. I've been using Media Center in Australia since the XP days. Initially it was very US focused and there was limited support for the way TV was configured and consumed here. I'm currently using Media Center on a dedicated Win 7 box with quad DVB-T tuners and two Xbox 360s doing extender duties in various rooms. All my TV consumption is free-to-air as I don't want to pay for our lousy (and very expensive) cable or satellite access (and I also prefer the FTA channels). It all works well now, but it took from XP to Win7 for Microsoft to open out Media Center enough for Australian users to load the guide data broadcast OTA by the networks (Australia doesn't have an official free source for the TV schedule online) and really take advantage of Media Center without jumping through a lot of hoops and hacks.

Hopefully MS will be quicker off the mark supporting non-US countries with Xbox One TV features.

 

[Coreldan]

That's good news! I don't necessarily need the guide and voice controlling to work (cos I dont expect it to be able to understand what channel I mean with finnish channels and finnish pronounciation), but what would be important is that I can say "Xbox, TV" and it would switch the input to my tuner and I could control it with the remote from there. As long as I dont have to mess with 3 different remotes and/or switching cables back and forth. So as long as the HDMIpassthru overlay works and the switching between console and TV etc, I'd be happy.

 

[oldpueblo]

You can set your xbox to boot directly into media center if you want...

Yes mine are set to do this, but still wouldn't it be better if it just booted directly into a media center app internally?

 

[dgr_874]

Ya, I guess so, but, with Microsoft's love/hate relationship with media center, I am just glad the option is still there.1