Xbox Spring Update To Offer Codecs, MSN Messenger 207
adachan writes "It seems that Microsoft has decided to add Xvid playback into the upcoming Spring Xbox 360 dashboard update. Xbox.com has a list of all the upcoming enhancements to the dash. The playback of video using H.264 and mpeg4 codecs seems to be the biggest news for those using the system as a media extender. If this is indeed true, my Xbox Media Center will be used less and less." Update: 04/09 17:29 GMT by Z : MSN Messenger is kinda interesting as well. Several sites are reporting that instant messenging is being added to the Xbox Live experience, with a USB keyboard controller attachment to be offered sometime in the near future.
external drives (Score:4, Insightful)
If you have a Zune it works great. (Score:2, Informative)
And it works great.
Re:If you have a Zune it works great. (Score:5, Funny)
Slashdot never ceases to amaze me.
Re:If you have a Zune it works great. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Translation: It's really fucking rare!
Re: (Score:2)
Re:If you have a Zune it works great. (Score:5, Interesting)
Let me tackle this one. People buy an Ipod for the same reason that they buy anything. Subjective reasons. You really can't be objective about discretionary expenses. No one needs an Ipod. So to be entirely objective, no one would be buying one. The subjective reason that I buy an Ipod over other items has to be due to universiality. I can use my ipod in my car, on my stereo and on my computer with very little trouble and a wide range of products to chose from. Call that being a market leader that everyone tries to sell to. I don't have a 'Zune Dock' in my car.
if I could live in a world entirely free of iTunes I'd be a happier person
I'm not sure this really helps your argument. Zune and Ipods are just different sides of the same coin. Locked into Itunes, or Napster/Urge/Real I'm not sure what the difference is. If you're like the majority of people, the device is a place where you store content *you already have*. I've purchased about 20 usd from itunes, all impluse purchases or purchases for parties where I couldn't just obtain a song from a store for that just right ambiance. Semantically, Itunes and Zune music outlets are the same. I buy my mp3s loose and free from eMusic.
The WiFi was the killer here and makes Microsoft's clamors for freedom from DRM disingenous for me. It encrypts your 'free range' music and ropes it into a format so you can't squeeze (squirt?) your music freely, but only for limited playbacks and limited duration. There is no online purchase capabilities and no extra features that the WiFi angle is just aching to take advantage of. Don't ask me to hack it myself. I want those features out the box. I don't have the inclination to waste my time 'hacking' a product that should 'just work' for me the way I want it. If it doesn't work the way I want it, I won't buy it.
Would I consider buying a Zune? Yes, if it had the features that I wanted. As of now, it's more or less an 'also ran' that doesn't present a significant enough deviation from the Ipod-type device to merit jumping ship. WOuld a larger capacity move me to jump? No, my 30 gig ipod hasn't filled up yet. I don't think an extra 50 would help me that much.
The Zune as it stands deserves to be mocked. It's a joke and a half hearted attempt to topple the king of digital music. If you're going to take on a leader in its own field, you better come with all your dogs fighting. As it stands, the Zune is a five year old idea wrapped up in a five year old design. Give me a reason to switch and I will.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Its just a bad copy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Disclaimer: I don't work for QNAP, but I do work for a company that
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately, the rumors coming out of Nintendo have been conflicting. From
Re: (Score:2)
AppleTV? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:AppleTV? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Your also missing the parent's point. Microsoft is adding support for codecs in reaction to AppleTv. There's nothing for Microsoft to be ashamed of here, MSFanBoi. They're just listening to the market.
Re: (Score:2)
Wait... I just remebered why I had stopped reading Slashdot comments.
Will it stream xvid and h.264? (Score:3, Informative)
Without the support for streaming, the only other option for someone trying to turn an Xbox 360 into a media center will be to use an external hard drive via USB. That's not an ideal solution because (a) the hard drive will need to be Fat32 -
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
# Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
The only mentions of streaming are for wmv protected content... The rest was already streamed, so I'm going to -assume- everything is streamable now.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't tried streaming with my 360 nor have UI got the latest firmware - I'm hoping to hack it. However a friend who is up to date claims that this makes his 360 a damned good computer for a home theater. I personally want unsigned code and XBMC on the 360 but that looks to be awful far away right now....
kill that trailing slash (Score:2)
Re:Will it stream xvid and h.264? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Don't count on it. You think Vista would be such a DRM-infested pile of turd if Microsoft was thinking of heading in that direction? No, what's more likely is that by supporting an open codec like XVID, Microsoft gains automatic, free compatibility with all the other media players that don't want to play Apple's or DiVX's proprietary-codec game (think: Archos, Cowon, etc). The only proprietary that Microsoft will a
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Needless to say, as MS have one of the best online sys
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Apple's the "me too" in this equation. They created AppleTV to compete with the offerings from Microsoft and those they partner with through their Media Center. This is also one area that Microsoft simply trounces Apple in terms of usability and a better interface. The only thing killing MCPC systems is the cable companies being stubborn assholes. Once the OpenCable cards are made available I'm going to get one and dump my Comcast cable b
Re: (Score:2)
Me thinks Microsoft has no vision.
Umm do realize there is a wireless adapter that you can buy for the 360 so you don't have to run an ethernet cable to it? So wireless is not a problem since the 360 already has it. I think you have no vision (literally) since you could have found that information yourself with a 1 second search on google.
Another thing you c
Do Xbox users listen to music? (Score:4, Interesting)
Still no sign that the update will enable fast forward and rewind in audio tracks.
What year is this?
Re: (Score:2)
sorry but the DRM requirements prevent you from rewinding, or fast forwarding through a song. you must listen to it all.
Re: (Score:2)
They confirmed that there is no way to rewind or fast forward (seek) within audio tracks.
Perhaps the guy who thinks this is possible is
Re: (Score:2)
You know, I've heard this before. In fact I just went home from work to test this. It doesn't work.
Let's be clear: when playing a track that is being streamed from a networked computer, on the Xbox 360, you can fast forward/rewind tracks?
I can't, and numerous people on the Xbox 360 forums can either.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Do Xbox users listen to music? (Score:4, Interesting)
No, what I am saying is worse than that. I just tried the parent's technique for seeking within
Re: (Score:2)
Tracks ripped by the Xbox 360 onto its own hard drive
I can do both of these... not entirely sure what's going on here...
Si
Re: (Score:2)
Are you using a Microsoft branded remote to do this? This is the only thing I can imagine that provides you, but not countless other Xbox 360 owners, with the ability to do this.
Re: (Score:2)
OK... this is really freakin' weird. I could have sworn I did this last night... but I just tried it on the kit we have at work, and nope, it doesn't work.
Sorry
POSTER SAYS WRONG - PLZ MOD INITIAL ASSERTION DOWN (Score:2)
I may seem a little nervy about this issue, but I mainly listen to 75 minute, or longer, dj sets, and if I turn off my Xbox at any point I can't fast forward to that point again next time.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not defending it, mind you... it's just that the guy you want to lynch may be in a retirement home somewhere forgetting everything he knew about engineering in the first place.
Transcode (Score:4, Interesting)
This is obviously much better, but doesn't actually make anything possible that wasn't before.
There's other updates that interest me, as well, though.
Windows Live Messenger: Why the fsck didn't they do this from the start? It just makes too much sense.
"A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list." Nice. I almost always went to check out what it was I'd done.
Should be a nice update.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe they were afraid that the EU would fine them another $1m per day?
I have no idea how they are getting away with the Xbox since it now consists of
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Phew, I thought for a minute that the EU was actually going to have to pay for it's daily biscuit budget out of taxes for a moment. Much easier when they can just tax Microsoft for the cash following another blatant monopoly abuse
Re: (Score:2)
A way to crush OpenGL (direct X devel
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Meh-dia center more like... (Score:2)
The cycle (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
If I wanted to be chatting online I would just use my $1500 PC... The voice chat on 360 is great, but text chat could easily take away that "simple yet effective" kind of feel that the 360 has. I hold a lot of value in the fact that I can just press the power button on the console, sit wherever I want with my
360 + Windows Messenger (Score:2)
At the same time, that controller with the built in keyboard is kind of obscene... holy crap! Cue all the second generation of "huge xbox controller" jokes [penny-arcade.com]... wow... !
Re: (Score:2)
TVeristy rules (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
1. You have to be physically close to the TV (or get a very long cable) and manually do the cabling.
2. You have to play the video on your computer which interferes with your other work.
I've never used S-video since I got Xbox 360. I no longer have to carry my laptop to the TV, plug in the cable, go to control panel to turn on theater mode, and all other hassles. I just start TVersity with one click and XBox 360 with the remote control. All on
Hope for the future... (Score:2)
Then again, it is still only hope... they will find another way to make that money.
Re: (Score:2)
They already do, all Xbox 360 controllers (including wired, wireless, racing wheels, etc) work just fine on Windows PCs with the supplied microsoft drivers. For the wireless devices you need a $20 RF dongle, the wired ones are regular USB.
Surely the next generation of consoles will all but abandoned the d-pad controller types for the far superior keyboard/mouse type set-ups.
Yeah! That'll be awesome. C
doh (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
Re: (Score:2)
Looks good but still missing... (Score:2)
Other than that it sounds good, though I want to see divx support whether or not this gives us it is up in the air.
Re: (Score:2)
Microsoft has done some cool things in the space over the last two years. USB peripherals that are PC interchangeable, unified online environment for consistent gameplay experiences.
But there's this 10% that's missing. I can buy s
Divx/Xvid NOT suppported (Score:5, Informative)
There is a possibility that Microsoft cannot claim "MPEG4-ASP" because they do not support GMC and QPEL however nobody cares about those features of ASP and 99.9% of the divx/xvid videos dont use them. This leaves open the possiblity that Microsoft may still support Xvid and Divx, just not the full suite of MPEG4-ASP features. Im not holding my breath.
xvid is GPL (Score:2)
It is more likely they are adding DivX [divx.com] which, although generally serves the same purpose, is another different best.
Re: (Score:2)
Xvid (upper X, lower "vid") is an specific codec implementation, provided under the GPL. Not xvid, or XVid, or even XViD.
You might also notice I didn't write "divx" on my post, but DivX.
That is EXACTLY why I posted to many links, so thank you for proving my case.
Bluetooth Keyboards? (Score:3, Insightful)
Cautiously optimistic... (Score:4, Interesting)
H.264/MPEG-4 support could mean significant storage savings in the long run for me. As others have already mentioned, it's not really Xvid, and it would mean lots of transcoding with some quality lost, but I will be experimenting with it when I get my update to see if I can still get decent quality with some storage savings.
[wandering off topic/troll] Although my setup requires more setup and nerd-skills than the Apple TV option, the audio and video quality is significantly better AND I can stream. The lack of streaming of the Apple TV for video is what killed the Apple TV option for me (that and it looked terrifyingly horrendous in the Apple Store - even on the streamed "HD" trailers). For those that are unaware, the Apple TV only allows you to synch selected video content to the measly 40GB drive. You can stream audio from iTunes and some trailers from the Introweb, but you can't stream video from iTunes. With MCE/Xbox 360 I can hang whatever storage I want off my MCE server and stream 'til the cows come home.
I wouldn't recommend the MCE/Xbox 360 combo for everyone, but it was the choice for me because it streams DVD quality video and 5.1 surround AND I was able to convince my fiance to go with it, which also got me a decent gaming console. That and she LOVES Feeding Frenzy HD, which is strangely addicting yet simple.
I still love (and own) Apple/Mac and I would bet Apple TV v2.0 or 3.0 will overcome some of the current shortcomings.
MSN Messenger, Xvid? (Score:2)
I guess the only reason to go for the Xbox is that it runs Linux.
Nice! But... (Score:2)
MSN Messanger, XVid, Codecs....Browser, Mac? (Score:3, Insightful)
In other words, I'm pretty sure they want to make the XBox a home PC, with games, messanging, browsing. email, Voip, a home version of office, some other home productivity crap and stuff. That way they can take on Apple directly in the market segment where Apple has an advantage, and slowly build up their own empire here.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It does need a better interface for media libraries though. At least the PSP allows you to create playlists on your memory cards (by creating boxes/folders when you load your music from your PC). The PS3 is pretty annoying in terms of music playback. Video playback isn't too bad, though. No playlist control there either, to my knowledge.
Re:In your face Sony! (Score:5, Informative)
The PS3 is also finicky about the container, and certainly won't play any of the H.264 files you can find online, TV shows etc. You cannot simple passthrough the streams and write a new container header.
The PS3 doesn't support Baseline, Main, and High profiles. I believe it's limited to Main only.
The article doesn't mention xvid or vidx, so the 360 still offers less than the old xbox with XBMC. It's a shame the original xbox doesn't have the processing power to cope with HD, because nothing comes close to matching its functionality as a media hub compared to the newer consoles or Apple TV.
0WNED by TinyURL (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Not sure which world you live in. In my world my coworkers, friends, and family all use standard IM clients. In fact I don't know a single person that uses IMVU or Second Life. Most of us prefer to be productive (or actively goofing off doing something else) while we chat.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
But if they're going to IM you from a game console it will increasingly be from a 3D app. And your PC-IMing friends and family will find their way to current or future 3D apps, too.
Re: (Score:2)
That's where we disagree. I have no trouble that console gamers will prefer to use 3D apps to do their online socialization and chatting. After all, MSN and Gears of War are not very multi-taskable, so therefore it's logical to presume that Xbox, PS3, Wii, or whatever console users will be more interested in a "dedicated" chat experience.
I doubt PC-IM will ever move there though. I enjoy chatting with my friends while working, while surfing, while doing just about anything. I enjoy doing it while at the a
Re: (Score:2)
I failed to address your multi-tasking comment...
You can multitask while using a 3D app. I always have at least a browser, text editor and Photoshop handy while chatting in Second Life, and the TV is mounted right over the computer monitor. I can do my work in Illustrator/Photoshop/Visual Studio while a 3D chat app is running. Chat doesn't get my full attention while working, but, well, I'm working.
Fans o
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm completely torn on the 360 though. I have one with ancient firmware bought new at COSTCO last week. a friend is teling me about the wonders of Live! and how he's got his streaming video fine via ORB. But I want XBMC or something like it and that means I have a painf
Yea! along with OS/2. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)