Xbox One TV Guide is US Only at Launch

[Pete]

Bang goes my hopes of Sky TV integration on day one. Looks as though the guide feature is US only for now with other countries following on.



Xbox One Guide won't hit UK until 'some time in 2014' | News | TechRadar

 

[Coreldan]

Well, personally I don't expect it to probably ever work in Finland (or at least with my tuner), I'm just happy to hook the tuner to the Xbox One to be able to switch through Xbox and then use just the tuner remote for the rest. Still eliminates switching cables or input sources from my TVs remote.

I really wanna hear more about the IR blaster feature of Xbox One.. I really hope I can do what they said at one point, where saying Xbox on would be programmable to have the IR blaster fire up the TV itself and preferably my tuner.

 

[Pete]

From this article

Xbox One interface and dashboard revealed | News | TechRadar

The new Kinect itself is an IR blaster that literally sends signals bouncing around the room and off players to reach the cable box and change the channel. That's also how the Xbox can adjust the volume on the TV or on separate AV receivers.

Sounds like it can perform what you need.

 

[Coreldan]

From this article

Xbox One interface and dashboard revealed | News | TechRadar



Sounds like it can perform what you need.

Yeah, they said that pretty much in the first announcements, but they havnt really talkeda bout the feature at all since. I asked Major Nelson on Twitter if they could make a video showcasing that too, but not yet at least

For me, being able to say "Xbox on" which fires up the Xbox, TV and my tuner/DVR is already worth the extra 100€

 

[astondg]

I really hope we get some more info about this at the launch. I realize that a T.V. Guide for other countries might come much later or never but it would be nice to know if its definitely in or out and some sort of general time frame.

Right now I use PlayTV on my PS3 for all my T.V. watching and recording so I need to replace that for the XBox One but I don't know if I should go all out now or just find a temporary solution. I'm n Australia and looking at:
- Foxtel Cable T.V. Box - I don't really want Foxtel but given MS previous work with Telstra I'm wondering if it has the best chance of guide integration
- Building a HTPC - maximum flexibility but eems like overkill when the XBox will do most of the same stuff and given MS move away from media center its a less shiny route
- Off the shelf PVR - keeps things simple, cheap and is all I really need but who knows if MS is going to support the particular brand I end up with

Anyone in a similar situation? What are you planning?

 

[Pete]

As described in the install guide, I inserted my Xbox One between my Sky box and TV (Sky box feeds into the Xbox).

However, the TV won't play while the Xbox is off (not even in sleep mode) - I have to turn the Xbox on and go into the TV app.

As expected, the OneGuide has no content apart from App Channels, but my Sky remote works perfectly well.

 

[Coreldan]

As described in the install guide, I inserted my Xbox One between my Sky box and TV (Sky box feeds into the Xbox).

However, the TV won't play while the Xbox is off (not even in sleep mode) - I have to turn the Xbox on and go into the TV app.

As expected, the OneGuide has no content apart from App Channels, but my Sky remote works perfectly well.

So I've also read elsewhere about no standby-mode passthrough. It's a bit of a shame in a way, but I guess personally the only use for me in that would be that my fiancee could skip the whole Xbox part of it to watch TV, however she's also quite interested in the Xbox so I don't think she will mind using it. I wonder if this is a HW limitation or whether a software update could fix this?

Especially when the "Xbox, on" command (not sure if just pressing power button?) should be programmable to start the TV and tuner as well. But if nothing else, it adds up to the electricity bill.

 

[Pete]

As far as I can see, the Xbox cannot power off the TV when you turn the Xbox off, but it will turn the TV on.

You're not able (currently) to default any app to start on boot. So, you'll have to tell the Xbox to turn on and then start the TV app. It's not difficult at all, but adds another step if you simply want to watch TV.

If (like me), you have an amp that accepts multiple HDMI inputs and outputs to the TV, it might be possible to put a HDMI splitter on the lead from the digital TV box. This means you'd be able to bypass the Xbox and watch TV as you were before.

Another point of interest is that the Blu Ray player isn't 3D capable, so if you have a 3D TV, you'll need to keep your existing Blu Ray player.

 

[Dos101]

Ya same here in Canada. It really does suck, but I was still able to hook up my STB (Telus) to the HDMI pass-through and watch TV, just have to use the STB remote to control it.