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emdawgz1
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 7949
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:19 pm Post subject: Microsoft's New Xbox Experience Launches |
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Microsoft's New Xbox Experience Launches, Netflix Users Go Wild
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154163/microsofts_new_xbox_experience_launches_netflix_users_go_wild.html
Today's the day your Xbox 360s get a total (and totally free) makeover, including fully integrated streaming Netflix video support.
Matt Peckham
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 06:29 AM PST
If you popped the No-Doze and stuck it out until 5AM ET last night, you probably managed to get your mitts on Microsoft's New Xbox Experience. If not, it's available as I type this. I've had it for a couple weeks now (see my review, parts one and two) and can't complain. It's not the second coming, but it's free, it looks great, and if it were a car, I'm sure it'd have that new car smell.
The only quibble I have is that the newly integrated Netflix service is region locked, so yours truly, sitting here in rainy Oxford, UK, can't download or stream a blooming thing. I'm not the only one annoyed, either. Not that I'm surprised about that, or that there's really anyone to blame. Might as well grump about the fact that I can't buy movies or console games this side of the pond.
According to VentureBeat, the Netflix service may have launched with a few hitches this morning. "It appears that no one has been able to activate the Netflix 'Watch Instantly' function on the Xbox for the past few hours," writes MG Siegler. I had a look at the Twitter search link offered and it seems to be working AOK at this point, so maybe we're talking typical startup temporary overload.
Lots of celebratory comments popping up right now, too.
"Streaming Netflix movies on the new Xbox 360 experience might be my most favorite thing ever," says one user.
"Holy crap! Netflix HD Streaming on XBOX is AMAZING! Goodbye DVDs (and ForGET Blue-Ray)," writes another.
A third user is slightly more cautious: "The selection of HD movies along with SD movies is limited, but it's still an excellent extra if you have Netflix and Xbox."
I still see a few "not activating" comments as I drill further back, so don't be surprised if things don't go swimmingly when you first load up. If it makes you feel any better, just remember at least you'll eventually get it up and running, something I'll have to settle for being extremely envious of here.
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting. I'm completely out of the loop on this stuff. But HD streaming catches my interest.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/nxe/
| Quote: | Welcome to the New Xbox Experience!†
A New Dawn in Home Entertainment
Published November 18, 2008
In 1954, the introduction of color TV heralded the dawn of a new era in entertainment. On November 19, more than 50 years after that dramatic shift, a new era in home entertainment begins with the New Xbox Experience, as millions of Xbox 360 consoles transform in an instant through the power of software. |
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/netflix/
| Quote: | | Xbox 360 is the only game system that lets you instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix. This movie-watching innovation is available to Xbox LIVE® Gold members who are also Netflix members and allows them to instantly watch movies streamed from Netflix via Xbox LIVE for no additional monthly fee. |
Ahhh... for XBox Live Gold $ubscribers with Netflix $ubscriptions. So much for the "it's not the second coming, but it's free" comment.
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Person99
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 4899
Location: Flower Mound, TX
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:41 pm Post subject: |
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At the pathetic rate blu-ray is catching on, I have no doubt that HD streaming through cable providers as well as outlets such as this will become the standard. This will be in full swing before 2010. My guess is that BD will become a LaserDisc like niche.
Ha ha Sony...you spent all that money to win and it is likely going to be added to your very large collection of less than profitable formats!
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Dave
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station....
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emdawgz1
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 7949
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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So you have to have an Xbox gold sub AND a netflix sub???
No thanks... i'm a sony PS3 guy anyway....
BTW there are no Sony titles available for streaming on this service..... i wonder why? 
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| emdawgz1 wrote: | | So you have to have an Xbox gold sub AND a netflix sub??? |
Yep... 
| xbox.com wrote: | | This movie-watching innovation is available to Xbox LIVE® Gold members who are also Netflix members |
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ecrabb
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Joined: 13 Mar 2006
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Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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To be fair, the "it's not the second coming, but it's free" comment was referring to the new Xbox experience, not specifically Netflix movie streaming. The new "dashboard" has a lot more in it than just Netflix streaming. I hope nobody thinks THAT part would be free, although it's easy to understand why anybody would be annoyed that it would require a LIVE subscription. I bet Microsoft is actually hosting the HD movies and paying the bandwidth, hence the LIVE requirement.
LIVE Gold is $50/year, and a Netflix sub with unlimited streaming is $9/mo. So, for $158/year or just over $13/mo, you could watch as many movies as they have available via streaming on top of watching as many BD movies as you could with the 1-at-a-time plan. I imagine they'll get some takers...
Still, I'm not convinced that HD movie streaming or download is going to put as big of a dent in BD as Dave and some others seem to think. I know it'll do well in some of the big cities with awesome broadband, but here in Nowhere, IA, I have mo choice of the evil cable company with their 5-10 mbps service, or 1.5 mbps DSL. I can't imagine the HD movies are going to work well for anybody but folks with a 10mbps+ broadband connection... How many people is that? 10% of the population? Even that?
I also read that there are only 300 HD titles available, and that the HD titles only include stereo audio - not multichannel. Of course, like all things marketing, more titles and multichannel audio were "in the works".
SC
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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| ecrabb wrote: | | Still, I'm not convinced that HD movie streaming or download is going to put as big of a dent in BD as Dave and some others seem to think. I know it'll do well in some of the big cities with awesome broadband, but here in Nowhere, IA, I have mo choice of the evil cable company with their 5-10 mbps service, or 1.5 mbps DSL. I can't imagine the HD movies are going to work well for anybody but folks with a 10mbps+ broadband connection... |
I proposed that instead of live real-time streaming, you should select your titles and they trickle in to your digital video player. Whether it takes an hour or overnight, depends on your bandwidth and network traffic. You can keep the movide until you watch it, then delete it when you want to make room for a new selection. That's pretty much how I use my HD cable DVR... we rarely watch anything live, so true streaming is not required.
Plus, this way the providers could stop squeezing the damn compression rates. Give me full 1080P BD quality.
My cable company finally flipped the protection bit, so I can no longer archive .ts files from my DVR. So I'm shopping around for other options.
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emdawgz1
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 7949
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: | | ecrabb wrote: | | Still, I'm not convinced that HD movie streaming or download is going to put as big of a dent in BD as Dave and some others seem to think. I know it'll do well in some of the big cities with awesome broadband, but here in Nowhere, IA, I have mo choice of the evil cable company with their 5-10 mbps service, or 1.5 mbps DSL. I can't imagine the HD movies are going to work well for anybody but folks with a 10mbps+ broadband connection... |
I proposed that instead of live real-time streaming, you should select your titles and they trickle in to your digital video player. Whether it takes an hour or overnight, depends on your bandwidth and network traffic. You can keep the movide until you watch it, then delete it when you want to make room for a new selection. That's pretty much how I use my HD cable DVR... we rarely watch anything live, so true streaming is not required.
Plus, this way the providers could stop squeezing the damn compression rates. Give me full 1080P BD quality.
My cable company finally flipped the protection bit, so I can no longer archive .ts files from my DVR. So I'm shopping around for other options. |
I was just about to ask you about archiving..... I'm a new comcast customer  and i dont have the DVR, or an effective way to chance the output for my tv.... it sucks...
Please let us know what you find
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JustGreg
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3098
Location: Kenosha, WI
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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I have a 26 yo WOW junkie that just moved back in...for the 4th time. The odds of me getting enough residual bandwidth to stream anything is slim to none. He's a seasonal worker (licensed agro applier) so there is no off peak downloading in my house. Hell, just getting Outlook to dl my email takes 10 minutes. rakenfrakenbraken 'kid'.
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"Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don't know and I don't care!" --Jimmy Buffett
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overclkr
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 4227
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: |
Plus, this way the providers could stop squeezing the damn compression rates. Give me full 1080P BD quality.
My cable company finally flipped the protection bit, so I can no longer archive .ts files from my DVR. So I'm shopping around for other options. |
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
Casey brought one over a couple of weeks ago. It's kick ass. 
Also records DD bitstream as well!!!! Only 200 bucks. Thinking about picking one up to archive all of my tapes......... 
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emdawgz1
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 7949
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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| JustGreg wrote: | | I have a 26 yo WOW junkie that just moved back in...for the 4th time. The odds of me getting enough residual bandwidth to stream anything is slim to none. He's a seasonal worker (licensed agro applier) so there is no off peak downloading in my house. Hell, just getting Outlook to dl my email takes 10 minutes. rakenfrakenbraken 'kid'. |
Sounds like the kid needs to get his OWN dsl service.... WOW is a luxury ....
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:59 pm Post subject: |
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| emdawgz1 wrote: | I was just about to ask you about archiving..... I'm a new comcast customer and i dont have the DVR, or an effective way to chance the output for my tv.... it sucks...
Please let us know what you find |
looks like it's been a problem in other areas for months...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1032148
I just tried the "Pause" workaround and it didn't work.
But I was still able to capture .ts files from realtime broadcasts, including the premium channels, but not from programs I scheduled/recorded on my DVR.
I might have to dust off my DVHS recorder, but .ts files are a lot easier for me to playback (through xbox) instead of messing with tapes.
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| overclkr wrote: | | Clarence wrote: |
Plus, this way the providers could stop squeezing the damn compression rates. Give me full 1080P BD quality.
My cable company finally flipped the protection bit, so I can no longer archive .ts files from my DVR. So I'm shopping around for other options. |
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
Casey brought one over a couple of weeks ago. It's kick ass.
Also records DD bitstream as well!!!! Only 200 bucks. Thinking about picking one up to archive all of my tapes......... |
Ooh.. interesting... I'll have to read up on it, especially at only $249 MSRP
I was also going to check to see if the new HD camcorders could do HDMI, component, or firewire input
Did Casey say if the H.264 files would playback on PS3 or XBox360?
From FAQ it looks like XBox360 is not going to work...
"HD PVR captures video streams in a compressed H.264 format. Current versions of Media Center do not support this video compression format so currently, the HD PVR will not function within the Media Center application."
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Person99
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 4899
Location: Flower Mound, TX
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: | | ecrabb wrote: | | Still, I'm not convinced that HD movie streaming or download is going to put as big of a dent in BD as Dave and some others seem to think. I know it'll do well in some of the big cities with awesome broadband, but here in Nowhere, IA, I have mo choice of the evil cable company with their 5-10 mbps service, or 1.5 mbps DSL. I can't imagine the HD movies are going to work well for anybody but folks with a 10mbps+ broadband connection... |
I proposed that instead of live real-time streaming, you should select your titles and they trickle in to your digital video player. Whether it takes an hour or overnight, depends on your bandwidth and network traffic. You can keep the movide until you watch it, then delete it when you want to make room for a new selection. |
This has already been tried and pretty much failed. I don't think it will ever succeed. If people were good with the "pick and wait" model, Netflix would be more popular. I think the only thing that keeps Netflix is biz is the low cost for those that watch 4+ movies per month (compared to local rental).
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Dave
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station....
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emdawgz1
Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 7949
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: | | overclkr wrote: | | Clarence wrote: |
Plus, this way the providers could stop squeezing the damn compression rates. Give me full 1080P BD quality.
My cable company finally flipped the protection bit, so I can no longer archive .ts files from my DVR. So I'm shopping around for other options. |
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
Casey brought one over a couple of weeks ago. It's kick ass.
Also records DD bitstream as well!!!! Only 200 bucks. Thinking about picking one up to archive all of my tapes......... |
Ooh.. interesting... I'll have to read up on it, especially at only $249 MSRP
I was also going to check to see if the new HD camcorders could do HDMI, component, or firewire input
Did Casey say if the H.264 files would playback on PS3 or XBox360?
From FAQ it looks like XBox360 is not going to work...
"HD PVR captures video streams in a compressed H.264 format. Current versions of Media Center do not support this video compression format so currently, the HD PVR will not function within the Media Center application." |
If h.264 files are the same as mkv files, then the ps3 plays them. I have a couple of movies a friend gave me in this format and my ps3 had no worries. It wont play WMV files but mkv's ok.
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Person99
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 4899
Location: Flower Mound, TX
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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| ecrabb wrote: |
Still, I'm not convinced that HD movie streaming or download is going to put as big of a dent in BD as Dave and some others seem to think. I know it'll do well in some of the big cities with awesome broadband, but here in Nowhere, IA, I have mo choice of the evil cable company with their 5-10 mbps service, or 1.5 mbps DSL. I can't imagine the HD movies are going to work well for anybody but folks with a 10mbps+ broadband connection... How many people is that? 10% of the population? Even that? |
But, what will be the bandwidth on HD streams ordered through your cable providers STB? 14, 15? That will make 90% of the population happy. My wife already prefers the convenience and she doesn't care that the audio is DD vs. lossless or that it has some pixelization on fast motion and the BD does not. Convenience and "good enough" beat everything else in my wife's eyes. And I dare say she is much more representative of the consuming public than you and I are with regard to this issue.
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Dave
A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station....
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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OK, I think I'm going to order one of the Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVRs to play with.
Sounds like it's easy to burn to DL DVD for playback on blu-ray players as long as you don't need to edit the clips (requires re-transcoding).
$211 at amazon, $219 at newegg
I tried adding the tag so Kal gets the kickback...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0018LX0DY/?tag=curtpalmecrtp-20
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overclkr
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 4227
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: | OK, I think I'm going to order one of the Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVRs to play with.
Sounds like it's easy to burn to DL DVD for playback on blu-ray players as long as you don't need to edit the clips (requires re-transcoding).
$211 at amazon, $219 at newegg
I tried adding the tag so Kal gets the kickback...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0018LX0DY/?tag=curtpalmecrtp-20 |
Casey captured one of my Dtheater movies for about 15 minutes and burned to DVD in Blue Ray format and my PS3 played it back just fine as well as my PC.
It captures 2 seperate streams one audio and one video (.TS file), it took about a whole 20 seconds (about 20 minutes of video) to transcode the two into a single .ts file that he used to burn to BD format all using his laptop. It worked great and was VERY easy to do.
You can also schedule the PVR to record which is pretty sweet as well, not to mention ANY HD component capable device can be hooked up to it.
If you wan't, I can try to upload the clip he did at my place so you can check it out..........
Cliff
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dropzone7
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 1069
Location: Charlotte, NC
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: |
Ahhh... for XBox Live Gold $ubscribers with Netflix $ubscriptions. So much for the "it's not the second coming, but it's free" comment. |
I'm already paying for both so I might give it a shot.
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AnalogRocks
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Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26706
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| overclkr wrote: | | Clarence wrote: | OK, I think I'm going to order one of the Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVRs to play with.
Sounds like it's easy to burn to DL DVD for playback on blu-ray players as long as you don't need to edit the clips (requires re-transcoding).
$211 at amazon, $219 at newegg
I tried adding the tag so Kal gets the kickback...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0018LX0DY/?tag=curtpalmecrtp-20 |
Casey captured one of my Dtheater movies for about 15 minutes and burned to DVD in Blue Ray format and my PS3 played it back just fine as well as my PC.
It captures 2 seperate streams one audio and one video (.TS file), it took about a whole 20 seconds (about 20 minutes of video) to transcode the two into a single .ts file that he used to burn to BD format all using his laptop. It worked great and was VERY easy to do.
You can also schedule the PVR to record which is pretty sweet as well, not to mention ANY HD component capable device can be hooked up to it.
If you wan't, I can try to upload the clip he did at my place so you can check it out..........
Cliff |
I'm liking this. Can't wait to see the results.
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