Live beta access

[bkilian]

I was going to sign up but in the agreement contract it says beta testers risk having their Xbox bricked...so I opted out...

Heh, there's always that risk. Generally if the beta bricks your console, MS will replace it. (I've had that happen)
Before the Beta gets to the public, it goes out to the xbox-team-only takehome group, and then the microsoft-only private beta group, and then the public group (With often a week or four in between - and sometimes the private and public beta groups get merged). There are enough consoles in the first two groups that any ship-stopper problems can usually be caught before they go public.

Sometimes it feels like every time I turn my console on at home, it takes an update...

 

[Squilliam]

Heh, there's always that risk. Generally if the beta bricks your console, MS will replace it. (I've had that happen)

You've probably got the easiest return ever.

Step 1: Console breaks.

Step 2: Remember to take console to work.

Step 3: Remember to take new console home from work.

Step 4: ???

Step 5: Do some cardio.

 

[bkilian]

You've probably got the easiest return ever.

Step 1: Console breaks.

Step 2: Remember to take console to work.

Step 3: Remember to take new console home from work.

Step 4: ???

Step 5: Do some cardio.

I wish. I have to go through the same process you guys do

 

[BadTB25]

I was going to sign up but in the agreement contract it says beta testers risk having their Xbox bricked...so I opted out...

If they didn't put that agreement contract in there and the console bricked, some posters on here would be lambasting MS for a shoddy update and that they should have put the notice out. It's a you can't please everybody scenario.

I applied it without any issues, but can't talk about it here because of the NDA.

I really love the expanding functionality of consoles this generation from MS and Sony. My only real major gripe is the video players not playing all formats. MS or Sony really needs to hire some of the guys that did the XBMC. With a few tweaks, XBMC could really look good in a metro-type environment.

 

[pipo]

So...

Is the Beta forum up? It looks like I can't access it...

 

[Squilliam]

I wish. I have to go through the same process you guys do

So the first person who drops Surface has to buy everyone at Microsoft a beer?

 

[Rotmm]

So...

I can't access it either (it doesn't appear to exist from the link on the Connect page)

Edit: Ok, so scratch that - I now have Beta forum access. After this post I decided to log into MS Connect page again to see if there was a link I was missing and it asked me to update my registration details. Once that was done I tried http://forums.xbox.com/xbox_forums/live_update_fall_2012/default.aspx and got access this time.

So my suggestion is to go to https://connect.microsoft.com/ again, click on Dashboard at the top and see if you are also asked to complete your registration.

Hope this helps.

 

[pipo]

It works fine now. Thanks anyway!

 

[bkilian]

If they didn't put that agreement contract in there and the console bricked, some posters on here would be lambasting MS for a shoddy update and that they should have put the notice out. It's a you can't please everybody scenario.

I applied it without any issues, but can't talk about it here because of the NDA.

I really love the expanding functionality of consoles this generation from MS and Sony. My only real major gripe is the video players not playing all formats. MS or Sony really needs to hire some of the guys that did the XBMC. With a few tweaks, XBMC could really look good in a metro-type environment.

Our media player support has nothing to do with the ability to play a codec. We could add any codec we wanted pretty quickly. The problem is not technical, it's legal. Implementing a codec or container would implicitly be supporting it, and as a company, we have to be very careful what we do and don't support. We could open ourselves to patent litigation or lose patent protection if we support the wrong codec. There's also licensing costs. Every codec we include tends to incur a licensing cost (something that small, non-profit groups can get away with, we often can't) and those costs can add up quickly.

 

[BadTB25]

Our media player support has nothing to do with the ability to play a codec. We could add any codec we wanted pretty quickly. The problem is not technical, it's legal. Implementing a codec or container would implicitly be supporting it, and as a company, we have to be very careful what we do and don't support. We could open ourselves to patent litigation or lose patent protection if we support the wrong codec. There's also licensing costs. Every codec we include tends to incur a licensing cost (something that small, non-profit groups can get away with, we often can't) and those costs can add up quickly.

Good to know.
thanks

 

[Tap In]

got it today...

 

[RudeCurve]

Not directly related but with the upcoming IE integration I'd like to mention that MS recently launched Outlook.com which allows you to set up your email accounts online all in one location. I've been using it for a couple weeks now and it works well. Basically you'll be able to check your emails using IE via the updated Xbox dashboard from a single location...nice!

 

[BadTB25]

Not directly related but with the upcoming IE integration I'd like to mention that MS recently launched Outlook.com which allows you to set up your email accounts online all in one location. I've been using it for a couple weeks now and it works well. Basically you'll be able to check your emails using IE via the updated Xbox dashboard from a single location...nice!

Yeah tried it out this week.
It's replaced hotmail.com after I only used it once automatically.

I was a little surprised, but it works well and seems to retrieve emails faster.
I haven't played with the social integration aspect yet.