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[Ponn]

While I doubt there is support for streaming video without Windows MCE, I'm not sure what the issue with this quote is.



Media Center Extender only works with Windows Media Center so I'm not sure why you would expect an update for regular Windows XP

I'm not expecting an update for windows XP, what are you talking about? You said you didn't know of an update and just needed Media Connect. I was pointing out their was an update forthcoming and that an early reviewer had mentioned it was only for 2005 MCE (was posted on GAF earlier, about a couple weeks ago). My issue is I don't have a MCE PC and i'm sure most people don't.

 

[sangreal]

I'm not expecting an update for windows XP, what are you talking about? You said you didn't know of an update and just needed Media Connect. I was pointing out their was an update forthcoming and that an early reviewer had mentioned it was only for 2005 MCE (was posted on GAF earlier, about a couple weeks ago). My issue is I don't have a MCE PC and i'm sure most people don't.

Well you said

And a reviewer recently added the Xbox 360 update for the PC was only for Media Center 2005 PC's too.

But the update you pointed out is only to enable the Media Center Extender so I'm not sure why you pointed out that its only for Windows Media Center.

 

[Ponn]

Well you said



But the update you pointed out is only to enable the Media Center Extender so I'm not sure why you pointed out that its only for Windows Media Center.

Because........it is only for Windows Media Center 2005 PC's. Are we having a communication problem here? :lol

 

[sangreal]

Because........it is only for Windows Media Center 2005 PC's. Are we having a communication problem here? :lol

Yes, clearly we are.

There is an update for Windows Media Center 2005 PCs that enables Media Center Extender support for the 360.

Media Center Extender only interacts with Windows Media Center 2005 PCs.

Media Center Extender is seperate from the regular streaming features on the xbox 360.

No update is required for the regular streaming features, just Windows Media Connect.

So I guess my question is, why are you pointing out this WMCE 2005 update? What significance do you think it has?

 

[Ponn]

Yes, clearly we are.

There is an update for Windows Media Center 2005 PCs that enables Media Center Extender support for the 360.

Media Center Extender only interacts with Windows Media Center 2005 PCs.

Media Center Extender is seperate from the regular streaming features on the xbox 360.

No update is required for the regular streaming features, just Windows Media Connect.

So I guess my question is, why are you pointing out this WMCE 2005 update? What significance do you think it has?

Because I DON'T HAVE A WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER PC! If I want to use the full streaming abilities of the xbox 360 with my windows XP all signs, including the fact this update is only for Windows MC XP 2005 indicate I would be boned. Understand?

 

[sangreal]

Because I DON'T HAVE A WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER PC! If I want to use the full streaming abilities of the xbox 360 with my windows XP all signs, including the fact this update is only for Windows MC XP 2005 indicate I would be boned. Understand?

Nope, I still don't understand and CAPS LOCK ISNT HELPING.

I understand fully that you might not be able to use all the streaming capabilities without Windows Media Center. However, the update is only for Windows MC XP 2005 is because the media center extender only extends Windows MC XP 2005. I don't see how the update has an indicator of anything. Even if you had every streaming option available that update would still only be for Windows Media Center PCs, because it has nothing to do with non-media center PCs.

 

[DopeyFish]

the "xbox 360 update" for windows xp was SP2.

if you have SP2, you're fine

 

[Ponn]

the "xbox 360 update" for windows xp was SP2.

if you have SP2, you're fine

BAM! Thank you. If the only Xbox 360 update out there is for Windows Media Center Edition then that would lead me to believe you COULD NOT use all video streaming options with the MCE and Windows XP. In turn answering my concern the 360 would not fully work with a windows XP machine. I never even heard mention of a Windows XP 360 update so this is very nice news.

could you please give me a link, google isn't turning up anything?

 

[DopeyFish]

for vanilla XP, you just need some program to share things. I forget the name. But it should allow regular streaming through the network.

and afaik MCE through the 360 should work no matter what... because the "work for sure" label wouldn't make any sense if it needed a patch.

 

[sangreal]

If the only Xbox 360 update out there is for Windows Media Center Edition then that would lead me to believe you COULD NOT use all video streaming options with the MCE and Windows XP.

You cannot use any of the features of the MCE with Windows XP and there is no update to change this. MCE is a completely different beast than the normal streaming features found in the xbox 360. The question you should be asking is whether recorded video streaming on the xbox 360 is a feature exclusive to the MCE. Microsoft has given mixed answers on this.

for vanilla XP, you just need some program to share things. I forget the name.

Windows Media Connect

 

[Ponn]

for vanilla XP, you just need some program to share things. I forget the name.

and afaik MCE through the 360 should work no matter what... because the "work for sure" label wouldn't make any sense if it needed a patch.

I think I found what you are talking about, it's that Media Connect that was already mentioned and it doesn't do everything that the Media Extender does with a Media Center 2005 machine so it still looks like vanilla XP users are boned.

 

[Azih]

*swoon* My 20 gig mp3 player was not a waste of money!

 

[DopeyFish]

You cannot use any of the features of the MCE with Windows XP and there is no update to change this. MCE is a completely different beast than the normal streaming features found in the xbox 360. The question you should be asking is whether recorded video streaming on the xbox 360 is a feature exclusive to the MCE. Microsoft has given mixed answers on this.



Windows Media Connect

you see it on those dash screens, right? Safe to assume it will be in.... HOWEVER don't expect it to support a whole lot of codecs. Mpeg, AVI (basic avi codecs), wmv nothing too exciting.

I think I found what you are talking about, it's that Media Connect that was already mentioned and it doesn't do everything that the Media Extender does with a Media Center 2005 machine so it still looks like vanilla XP users are boned.

Yes, but it's in terms of support and stuff like that. regular xp streaming is just the file streaming over the network and xbox 360 playing it. MCE does all the video streaming/audio work on the PC end then streams the feed over to the 360. That is why you get away with using DivX/ Xvid / etc

MCE might be much more superior, but i don't think many people will be doing their photo slideshows or music playing through MCE but through just the regular dash considering it will be a lot easier to use, a lot less buttons to click and the best visualiser is at your fingertips

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I can't believe people are complaining about the dashboard. It looks fantastic and appears to be easy to use.

Two thumbs up from this developer!

 

[sangreal]

you see it on those dash screens, right? Safe to assume it will be in.... HOWEVER don't expect it to support a whole lot of codecs. Mpeg, AVI (basic avi codecs), wmv nothing too exciting.

Yeah, that is why I think it'll be in. But Major Nelson said it won't. Then again he is just a forum mod/event planner so who knows.

If Video streaming is built-in I'm not sure what you want the MCE for if you don't have a Media Center PC. The big thing about the MCE built in is watching/recording live TV and being able to get friends invites, etc. at the same time. Well that, and you might be able to use whatever codecs you wan't, not sure.

 

[FightyF]

Looks awesome!

It has everything you'd ever want in a GUI!

 

[Ponn]

If Video streaming is built-in I'm not sure what you want the MCE for if you don't have a Media Center PC. The big thing about the MCE built in is watching/recording live TV and being able to get friends invites, etc. at the same time. Well that, and you might be able to use whatever codecs you wan't, not sure.

Congratulations, you now get my dilemma with wondering what in the way of media/video streaming will be available for a Win XP user using the Xbox 360. :lol

If all video streaming and TV functions go through the MCE, and the MCE only works with Media Center PC's, then Win XP users = BONED!! Unless you enjoy having to dish out 100 plus bucks for a new OS to be able to use everything on your 360. At that point I would rather build a media center PC or wait to see what the PS3 will offer.

Even if you have basic video streaming available it won't be worth shit if you can't use proper codecs. I'm also wondering if the same will be held true for portable devices as well. If I hook up my PSP can I play the video files off it and have it stream the TV?

 

[Goreomedy]

The design is rather... dashing.

 

[----]

This to me is the most exciting feature of the 360. How much are people going to love the fact that they can play all of their music videos and photos off of their video iPod/PSP/Computer and use all the music on their computer or mp3 player in every single Xbox 360 game. It was such a hassle to rip songs and rename them to the Xbox hard drive, I bet most people didn't even bother doing it.

I wonder if Sony is eventually going to do something to the PSP firmware that specifically keeps it from working with the Xbox 360. I could only see them doing that if they wanted to say that this functionality was exclusive to the PS3. I don't think it's worth it for them to do that though because that only helps PSP's multimedia competitors. It's not like Xbox 360 is interacting with PSP games. Although that would be cool if MS and Sony allowed that to happen, the 3rd parties would certainly appreciate it.

Who knows maybe the 360 modders/hackers will come up with a program that lets you play UMD movies or games through the Xbox 360. I'd love to see that happen.

 

[bitwise]

looks great.

 

[littlewig]

Can I get my green back?

 

[bitwise]

Can I get my green back?

whats this mean?



edot: ohhh, nevermind.

yeah, you can customize the colors.

 

[----]

Even if you have basic video streaming available it won't be worth shit if you can't use proper codecs. I'm also wondering if the same will be held true for portable devices as well. If I hook up my PSP can I play the video files off it and have it stream the TV?

The 360 or Media Player for XP/Vista will probably offer to convert your video codecs to WMV.

Not a great solution, but pretty much the way Xbox 1 handled audio and the way that portable media center devices handle video codecs.

If PS3 has these functions and supports more video codecs MS will probably have to update the 360's software to support more codecs. Problem is that Sony is usually even less open of a company than MS. Sony just recently realized that they couldn't ignore mp3 and force everyone to use Atrac. I seriously doubt that Sony will be supporting WMV, Divx, and Xvid assuming the PS3 is even capable of streaming video from a PC. Sony does not have a good reputation in this area.

 

[GhaleonEB]

.

 

[Zeo]

Bleh, it looks alright. Looks a little too cluttered and PC for my tastes though.

Of course it's still better than PS2's dashboard. Anything is.

Alright, so we got some "in-game" screen shots of 360's dashboard. How about some in-game screen shots of.. games? )))):

 

[shpankey]

It's hard to believe that whole thing is only 3 megs.

btw, looks very sleek and sexy. i really dig it. also, with customizability and skinning, there's not reason for anyone to hate.

 

[----]

Blue and silver :drool.

So glad green and black got the boot.

Blue is just for the media tab. The game tab is green. The Live tab is orange. System tab is purple I think. The reason why all the screens here are blue is because they are all showing off the media functions of the console.

The main dashboard screen you see will still be green. So boo hoo for you. Green is still the trademark Xbox color. Orange is still the trademark Live color.

Going by the Xbox 360 logo and by the dashboard, Green and Silver are Xbox 360's official brand colors.

 

[FightyF]

It's hard to believe that whole thing is only 3 megs.

Maybe there aren't any bitmaps and it's all being done in real time. I used to do demos in DOS that didn't use any bitmaps while fellow classmates did. Thier programs were 10 times larger than mine, while my stuff looked way better

 

[----]

Considering they're bragging about how you'll be able to voice chat with someone over Xbox Live while streaming live tv from a media center PC I guess this is a silly question to ask, but will you be able to browse photos or run a slideshow while listening to music?

 

[ckohler]

It looks interesting... but also very confusing.
I'm not yet sold on the whole "tabs to either side of the screen" thing.

 

[jetjevons]

I think that looks great.

 

[----]

It looks interesting... but also very confusing.
I'm not yet sold on the whole "tabs to either side of the screen" thing.

I was confused by that at first too, but I think I get how it works now.

The order of tabs never changes from left to right. It is always Xbox Live, Games, Media, System. When you select a tab it pushes all other tabs on top of it to the right side of the screen. The current tab you are using is always displayed on top on the left side of the screen.

So if you choose the Xbox Live tab it will always be on the left side of the screen by itself. If you choose the Games tab the System and Media tabs will be pushed to the right side of the screen and the Games and Live tabs will be on the right. This is why Games is the second tab because in this default position there are always two tabs on each side of the screen mimicking the signature sucked-in shape of the hardware. The design is pretty clever.

You can play around with the dashboard at Xbox360.com to see how it works.

 

[sangreal]

Considering they're bragging about how you'll be able to voice chat with someone over Xbox Live while streaming live tv from a media center PC I guess this is a silly question to ask, but will you be able to browse photos or run a slideshow while listening to music?

Yup, they talk about that in the winsupersite interview

Paul: Now you can play that music and then go back and do other stuff, right?

Jeff: You can start a game while the music is playing, you can start an audio chat while the music is playing...

Paul: It's not happening in isolation.

Jeff: No, it's not.

You can also broadcast your music/photos to other people which is a feature that isn't mentioned a lot

Jeff: Where things get even cooler is--where Xbox Live really revolutionized gaming on the console by taking it online with your friends--Xbox 360 is going to revolutionize music and pictures by making those experiences shared with friends too. With Xbox 360, you'll be able to share your music playlists, and actually broadcast your music out to your buddies who are online with Xbox Live. Or, you can share digital photo slideshows with friends on Xbox Live.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Blue is just for the media tab. The game tab is green. The Live tab is orange. System tab is purple I think. The reason why all the screens here are blue is because they are all showing off the media functions of the console.

The main dashboard screen you see will still be green. So boo hoo for you. Green is still the trademark Xbox color. Orange is still the trademark Live color.

Going by the Xbox 360 logo and by the dashboard, Green and Silver are Xbox 360's official brand colors.

Then I pray for a hacked dash, again. Nothing can be worse than xbox's dash + bootup, NOTHING!

 

[----]

Yup, they talk about that in the winsupersite interview



You can also broadcast your music/photos to other people which is a feature that isn't mentioned a lot

Oh great another opportunity for Paris Hilton to let her slutty pics leak out onto the internet. :lol

So can I play someone on Xbox Live and stream a custom soundtrack for the game from their Xbox 360 while we're playing a game? Or is that not supported in-game? I would think that doing that could affect the quality of the gameplay experience and cause a lot of lag if everyone is streaming audio to each other.

 

[FightyF]

I was confused by that at first too, but I think I get how it works now.

The order of tabs never changes from left to right. It is always Xbox Live, Games, Media, System. When you select a tab it pushes all other tabs on top of it to the right side of the screen. The current tab you are using is always displayed on top on the left side of the screen.

So if you choose the Xbox Live tab it will always be on the left side of the screen by itself. If you choose the Games tab the System and Media tabs will be pushed to the right side of the screen and the Games and Live tabs will be on the right. This is why Games is the second tab because in this default position there are always two tabs on each side of the screen mimicking the signature sucked-in shape of the hardware. The design is pretty clever.

You can play around with the dashboard at Xbox360.com to see how it works.

I like the design of having the tabs on the left/right because in many cases you'll be dealing with a widescreen format. Meaning that the screen isn't that tall for displaying info vertically. Putting the tabs on the sides, rather than the top means you can find more info vertically.

 

[sangreal]

Oh great another opportunity for Paris Hilton to let her slutty pics leak out onto the internet. :lol

So can I play someone on Xbox Live and stream a custom soundtrack for the game from their Xbox 360 while we're playing a game? Or is that not supported in-game? I would think that doing that could affect the quality of the gameplay experience and cause a lot of lag if everyone is streaming audio to each other.

hehe, its probably more for the likes of XBL Arcade

infact:

Jeff: Enjoy the rest of your morning dude, bye.

So you can envision us releasing checkers ... with a shared photo album. Or a shared music playlist. And having the social dynamics around listening to music and looking at photos coupled with real time communications like video chat. We think that it's going to provide an entirely new set of experiences to people on consoles, who might otherwise not have had a reason to buy one.

the full interview can be found at http://winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_inside.asp

 

[----]

It's interesting that they decided to integrate all of the optional multimedia software programs they came out with for Xbox including DVD, media center extender, and Xbox Live Arcade right into the dashboard. I wonder why they didn't include the karaoke software that they came out with for Xbox too. Maybe that was in service to Konami.

 

[Prine]

Looks fantastic. I reckon we'll be able to breeze through all those menu's.

Great design, love the fact i can link my ipod to it

 

[_Angelus_]

How about if youre using a dinosaur operating system?(Windows ME)

Would it be fairly accurate to assume that one could throw their non encrypted multi media onto a DVD,then copy it over to the X360's hard drive?