News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

[AzBat]

AzBat, apparently Plex did support Hulu through a plug in but from what I can see it does not anymore. I did not dig too hard though. Hulu isn't available here in Canada so I never really paid much attention to it. For the most part I only use Plex to stream local content from my HTPC (I have a boatload of HD Movies) which are much higher quality that what you can stream from Netflix etc.

I have some channels set up for streaming with Plex but not a lot to be honest. My son uses Netflix a lot but we don't need Plex to run that anyway as every PC, TV, 360, Tablet, and the Xbox One all have the app on them already.

I know that it is not a big deal to watch my local content by switching to my Samsung Smart Hub and opening the Plex app but it sure would be nice to be able to do that from the Xbox One. I would also be nice to get some decent current television content streamed to the Xbox One, i.e. not he last season stuff that Netflix usually has.

Thanks for the info. I don't have any local content. So I don't think Plex will be a good alternative. I stream everything or use DVDs, but I'm slowly converting some of those to UltraViolet. Netflix & Hulu are my two primary services. Just never seen the value of paying for Hulu+ when the free version is available & has the same ads that Hulu+ has. As long as PlayOn can stream Hulu I will continue using it, but was hoping to eventually replace it with something better since my PlayOn server/desktop is an aging beast that won't last very much longer.

Tommy McClain

 

[dagamer]

Okay, some feedback and a little rant.

It would be a good idea in the future to bundle all those extra services with the console and having them installed on the HD by default with every console, especially for casual gamers so they don't have to go to the Store to have things working from the get go.

By those services I mean the likes of Youtube, Demand 5, Wuaki TV, RTVE, Hulu Plus, 4oD, Amazon Instant Prime, Netflix, Lovefilm, Crackle, Machinima, BBC, ITV, ABC, RTE from Ireland.

As for the rant, I prefer to watch Youtube on the Xbox One rather than on a web browser. The image is full screen, high quality, by default, BUT there aren't voice controls for it, and it kinda kills the purpose of them when you have to use the controller and you just want to watch video content from your couch or bed.

News, DLNA streaming is coming for the Xbox One, said Major Nelson. Doest it mean Media Center support? Because I've been using DLNA a lot already via PlayTo.

http://o.canada.com/technology/gami...support-is-coming-to-the-xbox-one-eventually/

The Xbox One can act as a receiver of DLNA content, but it cannot currently browse DLNA content that is being advertised on your network. As such, it requires another device to tell the Xbox One "hey, there is content here, play that" instead of "Xbox, find content on my network".

Media Center support is never coming to the Xbox One because a) not enough people use it b) the team has been disbanded and c) it's clearly not the future of television (the passthrough stuff isn't either, that's just a stopgap).

 

[Cyan]

The Xbox One can act as a receiver of DLNA content, but it cannot currently browse DLNA content that is being advertised on your network. As such, it requires another device to tell the Xbox One "hey, there is content here, play that" instead of "Xbox, find content on my network".

Media Center support is never coming to the Xbox One because a) not enough people use it b) the team has been disbanded and c) it's clearly not the future of television (the passthrough stuff isn't either, that's just a stopgap).

Thanks for explaining that to me. Aahhh, so as I understand your words, the Xbox One receives the DLNA content because I tell my PC to offer that content to the console, but the console itself isn't offering a solution to browse my PC's content without having me resorting to Play To features included in some OSs....

Some interesting improvements for Rayman Legends on the current consoles compared to the previous gen consoles. -more playable characters, uncompressed textures, no loading times-.

http://www.gamingunion.net/news/ray...utm_campaign=Feed:+gamingunion+(Gaming+Union)

 

[KingDadXVI]

dagamer, you are absolutely correct in how the DLNA works for Xbox One and I agree that Media Center is never coming back per all of your points. I do believe however that eventually we will see 3rd party apps available to offer the capability to browse our PC's contents. I am in the camp pushing for Plex but there are others out there too like XBMC. I know that the Plex developers are currently trying to work with MS for just this thing.

Eventually if I understand their strategy correctly MS is going to make it so that they only have one app store for all MS devices. Here are a few links for anyone interested discussing both Threshold (will affect Xbox One UI OS), and Cortana (will probably be used in conjunction with Kinect).

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/cortana-everything-you-need-to-know-about-microsoft-s-siri-rival-1183607

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-codename-threshold-the-next-major-windows-wave-takes-shape-7000023832/

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-to-share-windows-threshold-plans-at-build-2014-show-report-7000025047/

 

[dagamer]

dagamer, you are absolutely correct in how the DLNA works for Xbox One and I agree that Media Center is never coming back per all of your points. I do believe however that eventually we will see 3rd party apps available to offer the capability to browse our PC's contents. I am in the camp pushing for Plex but there are others out there too like XBMC. I know that the Plex developers are currently trying to work with MS for just this thing.

Eventually if I understand their strategy correctly MS is going to make it so that they only have one app store for all MS devices. Here are a few links for anyone interested discussing both Threshold (will affect Xbox One UI OS), and Cortana (will probably be used in conjunction with Kinect).

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/cortana-everything-you-need-to-know-about-microsoft-s-siri-rival-1183607

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-codename-threshold-the-next-major-windows-wave-takes-shape-7000023832/

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-to-share-windows-threshold-plans-at-build-2014-show-report-7000025047/

Open app development for the Xbox One has been strongly suggested since BUILD 2013, the question really has always been when. It seems like the Unified OS group has a ton of stuff on its plate right now including Windows vNext, Windows Phone 8.1, and Xbox One OS updates (its still based on Windows 8 not 8.1 right now) that it may not be a 2014 thing but instead a 2015 thing.

 

[Cyan]

Marc Whitten says that there is space for Occulus Rift and Steam Machines.

http://spong.com/article/31180/Xboxs-Whitten-Unconcerned-about-Steam-Machines-Oculus-Rift

Phil Spencer; Xbox One won't be the last Microsoft's home console.

http://www.videogamer.com/news/xbox_one_wont_be_microsofts_last_home_console.html

 

[RudeCurve]

Phil Spencer; Xbox One won't be the last Microsoft's home console.

http://www.videogamer.com/news/xbox_one_wont_be_microsofts_last_home_console.html

Well they did design the new OS using virtual machines for a reason...

 

[betan]

Well they did design the new OS using virtual machines for a reason...

Yes, it's called security.

 

[RudeCurve]

Yes, it's called security.

And easy forwards compatibility regardless of hardware architecture...

 

[Deleted member 11852]

And easy forwards compatibility regardless of hardware architecture...

Really? I've heard this before yet in the past fifteen years I've written and had to re-write code to support more than 5 server ISAs (80x86, PowerPC, ARM, Alpha and SPARC) and a virtualised host OS did little to assist in switching CPU architectures. It's probably better in supporting a shifting in GPU architectures where abstracting the task from the hardware (i.e. DirectX, OpenGL) has clear benefits but virtualisation itself is limited unless your are writing a platform around a language running in a virtual machine like Java or Dalvik (Android), it's limited.

The next Xbox could be based around an ARM architecture.

 

[betan]

And easy forwards compatibility regardless of hardware architecture...

You keep dreaming.
Hardware virtualization cannot be done independent of the architecture without huge software overhead.

 

[DrJay24]

They should make a VM out of the 360 OS, easy BC!

 

[JPT]

They should make a VM out of the 360 OS, easy BC!

You still need to emulate the hardware the VM must run on.

 

[temesgen]

You still need to emulate the hardware the VM must run on.

If you are using the same hardware base (slightly off the 360 topic) like x86 and GCN, is emulation truly needed?

 

[betan]

You still need to emulate the hardware the VM must run on.

me thinks it was sarcasm as in "making something VM doesn't give you free BC, otherwise One would already have 360 compatibility".

 

[DrJay24]

me thinks it was sarcasm as in "making something VM doesn't give you free BC, otherwise One would already have 360 compatibility".

Yes, it was sarcasm

 

[(((interference)))]

The VMs were implemented not primarily for security but mainly because it allowed them to do multitasking and allocating resources between game and system features easily.

 

[Rockster]

You can do multitasking and distributed resources without VM's. They did it so the "APP" and "GAME" development platforms could differ and progress independently of each other. It's expecting for APP's to be founded in winrt, html, javascript, xaml, etc. so devs can target same code base across phone, tablet, console, and pc; and which games have little use for. We'll see how that pans out; as there were seemingly big sacrifices on the game side to do so.

On PS4 you'd just use the same tools and languages for both apps and games, since Sony doesn't have a broader device play in the same sense; with their own phone and tablet OS's. So while they might not get the same breadth of apps in the long run, they don't/won't care as long as they get the right ones. And they'll probably end up with the better performing ones anyway as a result.

 

[RudeCurve]

There are rumors MS is working or releasing a $150 WinRT tablet. That would be sweet for Smartglass usage.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Does Smartglass not work with Android + iOS?