Xbox One Insider Dashboard OS Previews [2016]

It's a hypothetical at this point. But the possibility is quite real as their emphasis on it has virtually disappeared, and they are basically stopping most of the work on it indefinitely.

Ironically it makes it more of a shame that Media Center got canned as the Xbox being increasingly moved into the Windows platform and ecosystem means it would have easily been a very good basis for TV and DVR on XBO with a bit of a XBO UI facelift.

Regards,
SB
 
Where have they said they're dropping tv going forward?
It's said by their actions, or rather lack of action in fixing the current issues that many are still having and MS have acknowledged. They haven't said much in the preview forums for TV either.

I would not be surprised if HDMI IN does not make it into Xbox Slim.

Complete shame cause they could have had a captive audience with Media Center functionality.
 
That makes me very sad. TV integration and voice commands and gesture related controls were the only reason I even bothered to jump in on this generation of consoles.
It's definitely a shame for those who bought in to that product, but MS have the utilisation numbers and know what they're audience is wanting/using. Moves in this direction simple means the demand wasn't there (at least, isn't there now. Still could have been a significant thing if they'd stuck to their guns and gone all-in with the entertainment vision).
 
So I tried Cortana and it was pathetic. It was slow to start up. It was slow to respond. It couldn't figure out what "My Games and Apps" was. It kept responding with "I'll look for that in the store". It didn't event respond to "Hey Cortana, Go Home" 8 out of 10 times.

Edit: More basic items it doesn't understand:

"Go to The Store", even when it's hilighted in green at the top of the damn screen.

I am using this in a perfectly quiet room too.

Fucking pathetic.
 
Exact opposite for me. Works really well & yes it does gives the odd result once in awhile. Certainly not like Brit. I will say that I've been using Cortana on my W10 phone since December. Maybe I've trained it better? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tommy McClain
 
Even better yet, once I disable the pathetic Cortana experience, the console doesn't respond to any voice commands even after a power reset. The only item that works is "xbox on". The old "xbox select" doesn't respond and neither do any other "xbox, ..." commands., and neither do any "hey cortana, ..." commands.

Unfuckingbelievable.
 
Even better yet, once I disable the pathetic Cortana experience, the console doesn't respond to any voice commands even after a power reset. The only item that works is "xbox on". The old "xbox select" doesn't respond and neither do any other "xbox, ..." commands., and neither do any "hey cortana, ..." commands.

Unfuckingbelievable.
Kinect or the headset?

If Kinect consider recalibration, if headset-- well that is a shame.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
This is with Kinect and after a calibration in a perfectly silent room. This is also on a system where the "Xbox" commands worked flawlessly nearly 100% of the time.


"Cortana Mute" takes 6 seconds to respond.

"Xbox Mute" is instant response.
 
More personal horrible performance experience...

"Cortana Select"
"Cortana Home"
Results in Cortana doing a Web Search for "Home".



Snippet from dev team response to the massive backlash in the preview forums:

[Dev team] Hey guys we hear your passion. The performance of the short commands is not meeting our perf goals yet. We are focused on significantly improving those short local triggers, and bias the server reco in the case were a local trigger doesn't meet minimum confidence thresholds, to get better recos of those commands and not end up falling back to a web search.

With those in place Xbox * is then fully covered by Hey Cortana...and you get all the other items like party invites, sign in and message with gamer tags, etc.
 
Might want to train it with the headset then. In fact, MS are looking for different voices to help with the training. In the Preview app one of the quests asked for young & women voices. Sounds like something that's going to get better with time. I do agree that they shouldn't have gotten rid of the old commands completely though.

Tommy McClain
 
Here's a Cortana command list I ran across. It uses more natural language so it no longer responds to "Pause" and requires one to say "Pause the movie" instead. Grrrrr!


Power - Turn your Xbox on and off
“Hey Cortana, Xbox on” (only with Kinect)
“Hey Cortana, turn off”
“Hey Cortana, restart”

Media controls - Control your media playback
“Hey Cortana, pause the movie”
“Hey Cortana, rewind”
“Hey Cortana, play the next song”
“Hey Cortana, mute”

Audio controls - Control your sound level
“Hey Cortana, volume up”
“Hey Cortana, mute”

Navigation -
Getting around on Xbox One
“Hey Cortana, go home”
“Hey Cortana, go back”
“Hey Cortana, show menu”
“Hey Cortana, change view”
“Hey Cortana, switch”
“Hey Cortana, show notifications”

Profile - Sign in, out, and off
“Hey Cortana, sign in”
“Hey Cortana, sign in as John”
“Hey Cortana, sign out”

Friends - Play and chat with friends
“Hey Cortana, is Michael online?”
“Hey Cortana, what’s Amy doing?”
“Hey Cortana, start a party with Ryan”
“Hey Cortana, send a message to Jasmine”

Games & apps - Jump in and have fun
“Hey Cortana, snap friends”
“Hey Cortana, launch settings”
“Hey Cortana, play Forza”

Game captures - Record your awesomeness
“Hey Cortana, take a screenshot”
“Hey Cortana, start broadcast”
“Hey Cortana, record that”

TV & OneGuide - Sit back and enjoy
“Hey Cortana, watch TV”
“Hey Cortana, watch ESPN”
“Hey Cortana, show the OneGuide”

Search - Find what you’re looking for
“Hey Cortana, search the web for news about Xbox One”
“Hey Cortana, search the store for Minecraft”

Help - Get answers
“Hey Cortana, help”
“Hey Cortana, what can I say?”

Places - Get directions
“Hey Cortana, show me a map of 123 Main Street”
“Hey Cortana, how far to the Grand Canyon”
“Hey Cortana, when does Starbucks open?”
“Hey Cortana, find cheap pizza restaurants near me”

Facts - People, places, things, stuff
“Hey Cortana, who is the tallest woman in the world?”
“Hey Cortana, who is the president of Finland?”
“Hey Cortana, what’s the capital of Qatar?”
“Hey Cortana, who won the first Super Bowl?”
"Hey Cortana, how tall is Mount Kilimanjaro?"
"Hey Cortana, how many floors are in the Empire State Building?"
"Hey Cortana, who built the White House?"
"Hey Cortana, who are Tom Hanks’ parents?"
"Hey Cortana, when does Fall begin?"
"Hey Cortana, where was Obama born?"

Tracking - Flights and packages
"Hey Cortana, what time does Alaska 32 depart?"
"Hey Cortana, flight status for Southwest 11?"
"Hey Cortana, what’s the status of Hawaiian flight 21?"
"Hey Cortana, when will my package arrive?"

Sports - Scores, stats, and predictions
"Hey Cortana, when is the next Seahawks game?"
"Hey Cortana, what is the score of the Packers game?"
"Hey Cortana, what’s the Arsenal score?"
"Hey Cortana, who will win the 49ers Cardinals game?"

Show times - Movies and concerts
“Hey Cortana, what are the showtimes for Star Wars?”
"Hey Cortana, what movies are playing near me?"
"Hey Cortana, Daft Punk events near me?"

Finance - Currency conversions and stocks
"Hey Cortana, convert 60 dollars to yen?"
"Hey Cortana, bitcoin exchange rate?"
"Hey Cortana, how much is Costco stock worth?"
"Hey Cortana, what’s the stock market symbol for Ford Motors?"
"Hey Cortana, how are the US markets doing?"
"Hey Cortana, what’s the value of Microsoft stock?"

Math - Calculations and conversions
"Hey Cortana, convert 172 pounds to kilograms"
"Hey Cortana, how many meters in 1 kilometer?"
"Hey Cortana, what’s the value of cos 60?"
"Hey Cortana, what is the square root of 256?"

Dictionary - Define and translate
"Hey Cortana, define delve"
"Hey Cortana, what is the meaning of spartan?"
"Hey Cortana, translate hello to German"
"Hey Cortana, how do you say how are you in French?"

Weather - What’s it like out there?
"Hey Cortana, is it hot in Rio de Janeiro?"
"Hey Cortana, will it rain this weekend?"
"Hey Cortana, do I need an umbrella?"
"Hey Cortana, what’s the weather right now?"
 
So there is no way to turn off Cortana except to un-enroll and opt-out of the preview program completely. That only buys some time, as it will be forced over to Cortana voice commands once the Anniversary Update Dashboard is released to the public.
 
FYI

  • To get started you can just say “Hey Cortana”. You can also launch Cortana from Snap Center in the Guide, or from My Games & Apps.
  • Cortana works with headsets. If you don’t have a Kinect just plug in a headset and start using speech on your console. You'll notice a new microphone icon in the top right corner of Home dashboard which indicates when a microphone is connected and available for use with Cortana.
  • Cortana also understands you when you speak naturally, and will recognize commands you’re already familiar with. Just say “Hey Cortana” instead of “Xbox” for commands you already use. For instance you can say “Hey Cortana, go home” in place of “Xbox go home”.
Things to Try:
  • Launch a game or app by saying “Hey Cortana, open {game/app name}” or something fun like “Hey Cortana, let’s play {game name}”.
  • Check on what a friend is up to without pausing your game by saying “Hey Cortana, what is {friend name} up to?”
  • Invite a friend to a party with a single phrase by saying “Hey Cortana, invite {friend name} to a party.
  • Search the web with “Hey Cortana, search the web for Xbox One”.
Known Issues:
It’s early for Cortana on Xbox One and we’ll continue to make improvements and build new features. We’re still tuning Cortana, so please bear with us, and be sure to report issues via Report a problem!
  • If Cortana doesn’t hear you the first time, you can usually try saying the phrase again.
  • In some cases Cortana won’t recognize the name of any game or app (ie. "Hey Cortana open Netflix"). This is an issue we’re working to address, so please use Report a problem if you encounter it.
  • If Cortana says she didn’t hear you right after you say “Hey Cortana”, navigate to Settings > Account > Privacy > App > Speech > Collect Info (accept)” and confirm the setting is checked.
  • When Cortana is “Thinking…” sometimes the sounds continue longer than intended. You can open Cortana from Guide or My Games & Apps and then close it again by hitting B button.
  • On the first use of "Hey Cortana" after a reboot or crash, Cortana snaps but may display no results.
  • You may be unable to use See-It-Say-It in various apps such as Netflix, YouTube, and the Blu-Ray Player app.
  • Cortana sometimes needs to spend more time "Warming up..." than she should.
  • Sometimes short commands are recognized incorrectly (ie. "Hey Cortana mute", "Hey Cortana pause") and initiate a web search instead.
  • Sometimes short commands take longer than they should to be recognized (ie. "Hey Cortana mute", "Hey Cortana pause").
  • "Hey Cortana snap TV" sometimes launches Movies & TV, rather than TV, until you say "1" or "2".
  • "Hey Cortana turn off the Xbox" ... "Yes" in UK, FR, IT, DE, and ES sometimes gets stuck on the confirmation and fails.
We need your feedback to make Cortana the best experience possible. When you encounter an issue, please use Report a problem (hold down the Xbox button on the controller and select Report a problem from the power menu) to let us know.

Tommy McClain
 
^ Oh wow, that really pisses me off. The point to voice commands should be simplicity, not "Hey Cortana, Pause my freaking movie...oh wait I mean TV show...erm I mean Netflix!"

How did "Xbox Pause" turn into this mess? I remember at launch saying "Xbox Play 'Arstist' name" The music app would launch and go to that artist and start playing the top songs. Now that is gone, and I have lost the ability to use the Xbox while the display is off. I hate to fire up my projector when I just want it to play music, I always wanted them to add different Xbox On routines. For example saying Xbox Music Mode would turn on the console, turn on the receiver but leave the display turned off. Now I have to find the artist I want, start it playing and then turn off the projector. Or use the streaming option when it actually decides to work.

Edit: They could have had such killer features, but they never seemed to see the bigger picture or ran from it. I don't want an Amazon Echo when I have an Xbox One hooked up to great speakers, but I sure as heck would like for it to work a bit more like an Echo.
 
^ Oh wow, that really pisses me off. The point to voice commands should be simplicity, not "Hey Cortana, Pause my freaking movie...oh wait I mean TV show...erm I mean Netflix!"

How did "Xbox Pause" turn into this mess? I remember at launch saying "Xbox Play 'Arstist' name" The music app would launch and go to that artist and start playing the top songs. Now that is gone, and I have lost the ability to use the Xbox while the display is off. I hate to fire up my projector when I just want it to play music, I always wanted them to add different Xbox On routines. For example saying Xbox Music Mode would turn on the console, turn on the receiver but leave the display turned off. Now I have to find the artist I want, start it playing and then turn off the projector. Or use the streaming option when it actually decides to work.

Edit: They could have had such killer features, but they never seemed to see the bigger picture or ran from it. I don't want an Amazon Echo when I have an Xbox One hooked up to great speakers, but I sure as heck would like for it to work a bit more like an Echo.

Hearing this is just making me sadder and sadder. Perhaps it's time to disconnect my XBO from the internet so I'm not forced to update it when the Anniversary update is pushed out to all users.

I'd rather lose the ability to play any games in the future rather than lose the convenience of my current XBO voice commands.

Regards,
SB
 
Cortana not available in Canada ... for reasons.

fyi, since Cortana is not available all of the old xbox commands are still working for me.
 
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