Xbox One gets external storage, real name support, auto-sign in w/June system update

I did not read all the comments in the thread, but looking at some I am surprised no one mentioned this (if someone did, I apologize)....

Was anyone else expecting, even slightly that when they mentioned external storage that they were going to stick it to us and make their own external HD's and charge up the nose for it? Part of me was expecting that because that is what MS has done in the past.

I was on Newegg the other day and you can get up to 5tb HDD now and the fact that you can have 2 of them connected is even better for those that have extra drives laying around and don't want to buy new ones.

This is such a great addition to the console. Now to decide what HDD to get! :)
 
Team Vernia said:
The 4TB is tempting.
Click to expand...

Do it. I have a 4TB. Should pretty much last me through the whole generation with deleting some games I'll never play again and if not fuck it I'll connect another 4TB.

8,5TB on a videogames console yo.

Hawk269 said:
Was anyone else expecting, even slightly that when they mentioned external storage that they were going to stick it to us and make their own external HD's and charge up the nose for it? Part of me was expecting that because that is what MS has done in the past.
Click to expand...

Not all because they didn't have any restrictions of brands or whatever on the 360 for external storage. Just the size limit.
 
Hoo-doo said:
Good stuff. Having the HDD non-replaceable is nothing but a scam this day and age.
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This is a big problem (and probably my biggest one since day 1), but as you'll remember Microsoft at the time of release didn't even let us see how much space was left on our hard drive! Obviously the point was to make it invisible, and less technical as much as possible, but...well yeah that was a bad idea.

So now that they reversed that, and we can see and manage our hard drives, I hope this means in the next revision of the Xbox One we will see user-replaceable hard drives.

This is seriously like my number one request from Microsoft regarding the One's Hardware. Make the hard drive user replaceable/upgradable.
 
Vinc said:
Now please give me HDMI-CEC. My Smart TV doesn't like IR blasting, and won't switch inputs automatically without it. PS4 does it amazingly, pressing the PS button quickly brings me back to the game. It's legitimately faster to have a cable box / antenna plugged directly into my TV or receiver and tapping the PS button to return to the game input than it is to say "Xbox Watch TV".
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Wait, you can switch TV inputs with your PS4 controller? How?
 
molvetica said:
Auto sign in is the nail in Kinect's coffin.

Thank goodness.
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Either the nail, or the dirt on top, will be when/if they allow the use of a microphone for voice commands and/or supply/add access for use of a cheaper usb camera for gaming and Skype. But auto sign-in is a very nice option.
 
thefunkyman said:
That's already available in the SmartGlass open beta and has been for a while. If you install it on your phone (it doesn't overwrite your existing SmartGlass app), then go to Pins, you can long press on a pin, then drag and drop it to a new position and that causes the pins to automatically rearrange on the console itself.

The SmartGlass beta is cool for a couple of other reasons too. You can set it to give you notifications when your favourite friends come online, or if a friend starts broadcasting on Twitch. Also, the OneGuide stuff is excellent IMO. For instance, you can scroll through app channels, tap on Top Movies for Amazon Instant Video, scroll through the movies, then when you tap on one you get a description and a play button. Hit the play button and the app automatically launches on the One, the movie starts playing, and the phone's screen turns into a basic remote control.

Here's some images of that: -
Click to expand...

This is great.
 
Great update! The real name change will be a welcome addition. It'll be nice my family no longer needs to see "BonnerMan69 logged on" and instead see "Thomas Bonner logged on".

I've purchased 5 game, currently hovering around 10% storage used but the external hard drive solution will be greatly appreciated for those buying multiple larger games. However, with Games for Gold starting next month that should fill in some of that empty space. I'm also looking forward to retiring the TiVo app from my iPad's home screen and having everything in one app.

Speaking of which, has anyone without a Kinect connected, plugged in an IR blaster into IR out port on the back of the One? Does it function without the Kinect? If not, I wonder if this will happen now since Kinect is no longer bundled with all boxes. Though really, I'm hoping that HDMI-CEC and network control of devices is on the roadmap.

EDIT: Yes, the IR out port works without a Kinect plugged in according to: http://support.xbox.com/en-GB/xbox-one/live-tv/use-external-ir-with-xbox-one. Wish they would throw one in the $399 boxes. The manufacturing costs have to be less than $1 for those wired emitters and it keeps the Xbox's "all-in-one" mantra more relevant.
 
Dynopia said:
Surprised noone is complaining about the lack of Xbox.com integration for XB1, they've really fallen down on that one.
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You can already pay for games or queue downloads on Xbox.com and have it appear on the console. It just won't automatically install it.

The website could be better organized though.
 
watership said:
Wait, you can switch TV inputs with your PS4 controller? How?
Click to expand...

Enable HDMI-CEC on your PS4 and TV.

On your PS4 it's under settings -> system -> enable HDMI Device Link.

On your TV it's where ever but most likely enabled by default.

Turning on the PS4 will then result in switching to your correct HDMI input on your TV and connected AV-Receiver.
 
Team Vernia said:
Yeah, but Ryse and EA's Frostbyte games don't have the same issue. Maybe it has to do with games that display the rendered images on one display plane and the UI on another plane?

EDIT: Also, I don't trust Digital Foundry. Xbox One doesn't send a signal to HDTVs to account for switching from Limited to Full Range like PS3 and PS4. You have to manually change the setting on your TV which is find for my old Samsung, but some TVs don't allow for the manual change, like my new Bravia, so I can't even play in Full Range. I don't understand why the gamma issues can't be fixed. It should be easy.
Click to expand...

The crushed blacks are horrible but I doubt they even want to fix it. Why you ask? Read this...
 
Excellent news all around for Xbox!

Will Sony keep letting MS close all the gaps? MS is not joking around now, it seems. If only Nintendo responded this fast... oh boy.
 
Chettlar said:
This is a big problem (and probably my biggest one since day 1), but as you'll remember Microsoft at the time of release didn't even let us see how much space was left on our hard drive! Obviously the point was to make it invisible, and less technical as much as possible, but...well yeah that was a bad idea.

So now that they reversed that, and we can see and manage our hard drives, I hope this means in the next revision of the Xbox One we will see user-replaceable hard drives.

This is seriously like my number one request from Microsoft regarding the One's Hardware. Make the hard drive user replaceable/upgradable.
Click to expand...

I don't think they should make the internal replaceable. Can cause problems.
 
link1201 said:
" Another great companion feature now in SmartGlass is pin reordering. With the touch of your finger you can easily organize your pins in categories or favorites based on your preferences and have those changes refresh to your console."

YES!
Click to expand...

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally!!!
 
Lima said:
Enable HDMI-CEC on your PS4 and TV.

On your PS4 it's under settings -> system -> enable HDMI Device Link.

On your TV it's where ever but most likely enabled by default.

Turning on the PS4 will then result in switching to your correct HDMI input on your TV and connected AV-Receiver.
Click to expand...

Ahh it's auto-sensing the HDMI-CEC. Right, but how do you switch between two or more connected sources that are already active and powered on? I've never been able to figure that out.
 
Dynopia said:
Surprised noone is complaining about the lack of Xbox.com integration for XB1, they've really fallen down on that one.
Click to expand...

I remember Major Nelson addressed this in his podcast once, he basically said different team is in charge of all the Microsoft site related things, and this is definitely in their list and should be coming soon. But then again, this was in a poscast few months ago.
 
This along with the Kinect is what makes the X1 exciting to have. This system keeps evolving, this makes sense for the long term.
 
Oh.. Wow. Thats a huge update. I really like my PS4, but sony definitely need to learn how to do an system update with MS.
 
watership said:
Wait, you can switch TV inputs with your PS4 controller? How?
Click to expand...

Enable HDMI control in the options, then simply turning on your console will turn on the TV and switch to the right input immediately. If the console is already turned on, pressing the PS button will do the same thing. It's super cool. I wish the Wii U and Xbox One did it too, IR blasting is outdated and doesn't work as well. It doesn't work at all on my smart tv.

Edit:

watership said:
Ahh it's auto-sensing the HDMI-CEC. Right, but how do you switch between two or more connected sources that are already active and powered on? I've never been able to figure that out.
Click to expand...

Pressing the PS button on the DS4 instantly switches my TV back to the PS4, even if the TV, PS4, or any other device are already turned on. If I pick up my TV remote, pressing any button switches back to TV input due to HDMI-CEC as well. It's great, and much faster and better than IR blasting or manual input switching. Playing Wii U or Xbox One feels like a huge step backwards in terms of user friendliness because of that. I need HDMI-CEC on the Xbox One, especially since it's supposed to be a media device and all...
 
Vinc said:
Enable HDMI control in the options, then simply turning on your console will turn on the TV and switch to the right input immediately. If the console is already turned on, pressing the PS button will do the same thing. It's super cool. I wish the Wii U and Xbox One did it too, IR blasting is outdated and doesn't work as well. It doesn't work at all on my smart tv.

Edit: Beaten
Click to expand...

The one downside is if you want to boot your ps4 while watching something else it will auto switch you from the other input.

Doesn't seem like a big deal but it happened often enough for me that I turned that setting off.
 
Finally that auto-sign in returns

That useless kinect auto sign-in was useless and slow.

Now if they can only remove previously downloaded demos and not show them as "ready to install" again, after i deleted them.
 
pixlexic said:
The one downside is if you want to boot your ps4 while watching something else it will auto switch you from the other input.

Doesn't seem like a big deal but it happened often enough for me that I turned that setting off.
Click to expand...

Yeah I guess that can be a problem, but I never really want to turn on my PS4 if I'm not gonna play it. Especially if it's just to download something on it, I do it from the website and standby mode takes care of the rest. When instant-on gets patched in on PS4, I think it'll negate the issue. That's also long overdue, I hope they update it soon. Microsoft has definitely been better at updating their system... I wonder if part of the reason could be that the OS of the PS4 simply isn't as easy to upgrade or micromanage like that...
 
Have they said if the external HDD needs to be self powered or will the console power the HDD? I know on the WiiU it had to be a self powered HDD. Just need to know before placing my order. I have 2 Xbox One's in my house and don't want to order 2 incorrect HDD's.
 
Vinc said:
I wonder if part of the reason could be that the OS of the PS4 simply isn't as easy to upgrade or micromanage like that...
Click to expand...

I was going to mention this back when there was a little squabble going on about the Youtube app vs Youtube uploading earlier in this thread. I'm pretty certain this is the case. On the Xbox One Upload Studio, Twitch, and Youtube apps all handle their own sharing functionality, so I'd assume the Xbox One simply has hooks in place that allow other apps to simply extend the featureset (like charms in Windows 8). From what I can tell of the PS4, it has all this sort of functionality tied individually to the OS, so updates aren't as modular. As much as the party/achievement stuff sucked, one thing the X1 definitely has over the 360 is not requiring significant OS updates for minor added functionality. Right now the PS4 seem to be closer to the 360/PS3 model.
 
Hawk269 said:
Have they said if the external HDD needs to be self powered or will the console power the HDD? I know on the WiiU it had to be a self powered HDD. Just need to know before placing my order. I have 2 Xbox One's in my house and don't want to order 2 incorrect HDD's.
Click to expand...

Major Nelson said on reddit that bus powered or external powered is fine. Don't worry about it.
 
Time to get an external! :)

Just curious, how does one get into the update previews? I thought it was easier back on the 360, but now I can't find out how to do it on the Xbox One.
 
-Yeti said:
Time to get an external! :)

Just curious, how does one get into the update previews? I thought it was easier back on the 360, but now I can't find out how to do it on the Xbox One.
Click to expand...

I believe you have to get invited by someone already in the beta then selected. All those invited are not selected apparently .
 
danhese007 said:
Because clearly adding features that are already on PS4 is beating Sony. And no adding external storage support is not better than the ability to change your internal storage to whatever size you want but it will be a welcome addition when Sony adds it to PS4.

Its funny reading these threads, with every update Microsoft releases you see these comments. Most of the update features are things that were on PS4 from day 1.
Click to expand...

They are clearly not the same feature. I won't argue which is better, but being able to exchange the internal drive is completely different to add an external drive through usb. They might serve the same goal, that is increase storage space, but's that's all.
 
Synth said:
I was going to mention this back when there was a little squabble going on about the Youtube app vs Youtube uploading earlier in this thread. I'm pretty certain this is the case. On the Xbox One Upload Studio, Twitch, and Youtube apps all handle their own sharing functionality, so I'd assume the Xbox One simply has hooks in place that allow other apps to simply extend the featureset (like charms in Windows 8). From what I can tell of the PS4, it has all this sort of functionality tied individually to the OS, so updates aren't as modular. As much as the party/achievement stuff sucked, one thing the X1 definitely has over the 360 is not requiring significant OS updates for minor added functionality. Right now the PS4 seem to be closer to the 360/PS3 model.
Click to expand...

Yup. The modular design of the OS is showing how useful it can be with all these quick updates. For instance, Skype is snappable now and didn't require an OS update. Certain things seem better tied to the OS, though, like the party chat and invite system which works better on 360 and PS4.
 
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