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Xbox 360 Questions Answered

B

Beer Monkey

Member
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=60737

You can also plug in a laptop or PC (or not plug it in - if you're using wireless networking) and play content direct from that. This is through Windows Media Player Extender, the software for which is pre-installed on the Xbox 360. In our example, Satchell first streamed a high-definition Project Gotham Racing 3 trailer, and then drew upon a high-definition recording of Star Wars: Episode II apparently captured on his home TV.
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Somebody show me a TV, PVR, or MCE PC that records high-definition WMV.

You can plug in a keyboard but this is for text input only - including in massively-multiplayer games. You can't use it to play games and that was a design choice.
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Probably for the best.

If a third-party peripheral manufacturer or publisher wanted to let more than four players play on one game, Microsoft would be happy to help them create a peripheral to do that.
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Bomberman? Yeah, right.

The Live blade is the default if you have a Live account, and shows you your gamer-card including a selected image (or photograph), your gamertag, the number of games you've played, your Gamerscore (more on that in a second), your achievements and your reputation.
Click to expand...

You know, there's no reason they can't have the Live blade slide over the edge of your screen to show invites when playing legacy games via emulation. This could effectively make games like Links 2004 Live Aware.

Mmmm, Bomberman.
 
I'm also sure you can record HDTV broadcasts and convert on a few HD tuner cards. And by sure, I mean, not sure really.
Click to expand...

I had a card that could do that (MyHD MDP-130), as long as the channel wasn't encrypted, but you sure aren't going to do it in realtime, and it's not very user friendly, and it takes a TON of space (1080i transport streams are HUGE, plus the space you'll need for conversion). Also, these cards are not supported on the treasured MCE of XP.

Given that this is a consumer-oriented, turnkey game console, they shouldn't show off functionality that isn't available to the general consumer (as opposed to a few hardcore hobbyists who are willing to build their own shit).

Three fans scare me. I hope they aren't noisy. Fans that the media thinks are silent might be loud as hell in a quiet home theater room.
 
When the console is laid on its side, it senses this and starts using the top-left quadrant as you see it with the console laid flat.
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The future.

I'm still wondering (it wasn't answered there) if the wireless controllers will be able to take a charge from any USB 2.0 port, or if it has to be the X360. It would be much more convenient, for me at least, to just plug the controller into my laptop when not playing to charge.
 
As mentioned before, I HATE that MS only supports video streaming through Media Center PCs. It's a cheap tactic to get people to buy their OS. UGH...
 
Considering that Vista/Longhorn has MCE built in, there's no reason for them to push it so hard, most consumers will have it anyway in a few years. I don't think this is about selling MCE as much as it is part of their DRM strategy with Hollywood. If 360 didn't require MCE, it's be easier to use with non-DRM video, and Hollywood doesn't like that...

What the MPAA wants, Microsoft does. Steve Ballmer would probably give Jack Valenti (I know, he retired) oral if it'd keep Microsoft codecs, DRM, and other technologies on Hollywood's approved list.
 
VictimOfGrief said:
And it works.
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You know they had this with Xbox. And it didn't make any splash at all. Only served to keep the feature off people's hands and possibly drive others towards modding their xboxes.
 
Since Windows Vistas is supposed to have MC built into it, I imagine it's something MS can use as a carrot to get people to upgrade their PCs next year to the latest OS. A small carrot, but a carrot nonetheless.

edit: dammit. beat by a minute.
 
beermonkey@tehbias said:
Three fans scare me. I hope they aren't noisy. Fans that the media thinks are silent might be loud as hell in a quiet home theater room.
Click to expand...


It is almost completely silent. Seriously. Quietest ever.
 
IJoel said:
You know they had this with Xbox. And it didn't make any splash at all. Only served to keep the feature off people's hands and possibly drive others towards modding their xboxes.
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Depends.... I swear though I'm beginning to think that the console MS is making is to "Test" the market to see what they can exploit in the PC realm.
 
Wolffen said:
Since Windows Vistas is supposed to have MC built into it, I imagine it's something MS can use as a carrot to get people to upgrade their PCs next year to the latest OS. A small carrot, but a carrot nonetheless.

edit: dammit. beat by a minute.
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I didn't know that. I'm definitely upgrading then but I always upgrade OSs anyway.
 
bishoptl said:
Oh yeah - one of the most noticeable differences between kits.
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geforceavatar.gif
 
I love your new avatar, Ijoel!

ninjabreadman_avatar.jpg


and uhh on topic I think the streaming media is one of the nice features to the X360 as an entertainment hub so to speak. I guess I'll hafta wait until I purchase a new PC with Vista on it before I can make use of the feature.
 
Somebody show me a TV, PVR, or MCE PC that records high-definition WMV.
Click to expand...
MCE 2005 perhaps. MCE doesn't even use WMV, but a subset of it.
Three fans scare me. I hope they aren't noisy. Fans that the media thinks are silent might be loud as hell in a quiet home theater room.
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they are silent :D
 
So is windows media center just the standard thing that comes with windows xp? If so what the hell is the problem.
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Windows Media Center edition is like a different OS seperate from the Home and Professional version.
 
beermonkey@tehbias said:
In our example, Satchell first streamed a high-definition Project Gotham Racing 3 trailer, and then drew upon a high-definition recording of Star Wars: Episode II apparently captured on his home TV.
Click to expand...

Really I was unaware that there were hi-def recordings of Star Wars : Episode II lying around unless they broke into the theatres and took those digital versions that theatres were playing or somehow found a DVHS or BluRay copy. Taking the 480p DVD version and recording it in 720p or 1080i does not an HD recording make.
 
HBO, Cinemax and other premium channels show several movies in HD that aren't available commercially. He probably recorded it from one of those.
 
acidviper said:
Really I was unaware that there were hi-def recordings of Star Wars : Episode II lying around unless they broke into the theatres and took those digital versions that theatres were playing or somehow found a DVHS or BluRay copy. Taking the 480p DVD version and recording it in 720p or 1080i does not an HD recording make.
Click to expand...
someone is unaware of 1920x1080 .TS captures (ATOC was shown OTA in HDTV)
 
I'm pretty sure Episode II has also played on FOX High-Def, where it wouldn't even be encrypted (though it would have commercials (removed on alt.binaries.hdtv), a nasty FOX logo in the corner, and probably some editing).

It would be 720p, not 1080i.
 
Well i kinda turns me off that one of the 360's best features(video streaming) will be unavilable until i have a Media Center PC. I won't be buying a new pc or upgrading OS for a long time.

Thinking about it, this "free" video streaming sure requires alot of expensive stuff: (xbox 360, wireless adapter, Media Cernter PC).

I'll stick to burning DVD's, and hopefully the ps3 will let me stream without needing a new Pc or OS.

90% of the reason i was going to get an xbox360 right away was so it would serve as a possible tivo and stream media, now i really have zero interst in the product.
 
bishoptl said:
*slap*


Oh yeah - one of the most noticeable differences between kits.
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Bish Slapped?! heheh

Seriously, I was irked by the Xbox's 30fps front end. Even the music thingamajiggy ran at 30 until they had a Live update that made it 60, and there is no excuse for that. It's hard on the eyes.
 
Fight for Freeform said:
Seriously, I was irked by the Xbox's 30fps front end. Even the music thingamajiggy ran at 30 until they had a Live update that made it 60, and there is no excuse for that. It's hard on the eyes.
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!
 
IJoel said:
As mentioned before, I HATE that MS only supports video streaming through Media Center PCs. It's a cheap tactic to get people to buy their OS. UGH...
Click to expand...


Hopefully there will be a way around away the Media Center boondoggle.

See here:

Windows Media Connect 2

and here, a quote from Amir Majidimehr (Corporate VP of Windows Digital Media Division) on AVS Forum:

Latest HiDef DVD News

Amir said:
We haven't made any announcement in this regard. However, Xbox 360 does support "WMDRM-ND" which is the streaming protocol for our Windows Media DRM (its code name was "Cardea"). This is how Xbox 360 streams secure content from the PC.

WMDRM-ND is a protocol for DRM to DRM communication. This is the same technology that is used in many media receivers today that stream Windows Media WMA files from the PC among other things.

DTCP is a lighter-weight protocol designed strictly for streaming. It does not support the rich set of rights that WMDRM-ND supports (e.g. subscription content, ability to save content at the other end, etc.). And no, we are not against DTCP at all. We simply needed a richer protocol for providing transparent access to our DRM content (without transcription -- decrypt+encrypt in the middle). Hence the reason we developed WMDRM-ND.

Amir
Click to expand...

WMDRM-ND is Windows Media DRM for networked devices. Possibly the only bad part about an implementation involving WMDRM-ND means we'll only, predictably, be able to stream WMV. That is, if any of this streaming to the 360 stuff actually does come to fruition.
 
Fight for Freeform said:
I'm trying to decipher what this means.

"Are you serious?!"

"I totally agree!"
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Look, I believe you and all, I just think that you may be overthinking it by about 30fps.
 
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mce/expert/hdtv.mspx

"Digital TV in Media Center allows you to watch and record high definition TV signals that might be available in your region. Media Center support for digital TV is only available in the United States and only for digital TV that is broadcast over-the-air (OTA). You must also have a working antenna that is capable of receiving digital TV signal. An antenna that is capable of receiving digital TV signals might be labeled as HDTV-ready or DTV-ready. However, most of the HDTV OTA channels that are broadcast today are in the UHF band so if you have a UHF antenna, you're probably covered. In addition, a small number of channels in some regions broadcast on the VHF band and more could be added in the future, so you might want to consider getting an antenna with both UHF and VHF."


http://msmvps.com/chrisl/archive/2005/05/26/49056.aspx
Why HDTV Support in MCE Won’t Change Until Longhorn Arrives


And a review of MCE 2005....

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/windowsxp_mce2005.asp
 
A friend posted this elsewhere but didn't give me a link.

Windows MCE is releasing the "Emerald" update to add the following:


* Native digital cable and card support
* DRM Content protection
* Improved burning with digital-rights management, network, HDTV, and DVD-RAM
* Platform security
* Additional languages and locations
* "Premium TV"
* Xbox 360 Media Extender support
* Remote rendering of the UI with Xbox 360
* Run 3rd Party apps out of the MCE process
* WinCE Media Extender integration
* "Bobsled" feature integration with other company’s devices

This may include WMV-HD.
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"Improved burning with digital-rights management", I can't wait. :lol
 
Stinkles said:
Look, I believe you and all, I just think that you may be overthinking it by about 30fps.
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*LOL*

I still don't understand. I could be too tired or too stupid. Or both. :P Ah well, forget all that I said, except the part that I hope it runs at 60fps.
 
Fight for Freeform said:
*LOL*

I still don't understand. I could be too tired or too stupid. Or both. :P Ah well, forget all that I said, except the part that I hope it runs at 60fps.
Click to expand...


Friends-forever-conny.jpg


Whoever is hosting this image is now learning what the acronym WTF stands for.
 
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