Fall 360 dashboard update details

[AzBat]

Hmm. See I might still have a problem since my family's 3 other Live accounts are Silver and don't have credit card info. One's my wife's and the other two of them are child accounts. I also also have a non-Live profile for my youngest son. In the past all of them have been able to play my full version Live Arcade games. Hopefully there won't be a problem when I try it tonight. Nobody in my family has played Arcade games since the update.

Tommy McClain

 

[PARANOiA]

A few thoughts on what I'd like to see change/improved in future updates now this functionality has been added:

• MKV support - this format is becoming a lot more common, especially for multi-language or foreign language stuff like anime, as well as HD material
• Subtitle support
• Let the user choose the default zoom option. Having to manually go to the display menu, press left twice, then press A three times just to get full-screen on every single file is a stupid design choice. The "auto" option, which is the current default, leaves too many videos playing in a small box in the centre of my screen
• Speed up the file browsing speed... it takes about 2-4 seconds to view a directory with 10 files.

I'm sure I'll think of some more. A fantastic feature however. When the PS3 gets it in an update in the near future, it'll set a basic benchmark for expectations in future consoles, too, which is great. Maybe the end of the HTPC!

 

[AzBat]

That would assume that I am good enough to even get some achievements! Also, I can't keep up with which games were bought on which 360 since I have gone through three other 360s, all of which had 10+ purchases on them. Also, my son does not have an account on my 360 only on his own (which is the one that was having the problem) and the only arcade games he has are the ones that came with my replacement 360 Arcade that has the disc with the XBLA games on it. Since, I was given the MU with my replacement 360 I can try and move my account with a couple games he doesnt have to his 360 and see what happens.

Looks like my issue isn't an issue. We tested out all of our Live Arcade games and we can run them with no problems. Even get achievements too. It seems the problem with Geometry Wars is a design feature. I've been told that Geometry Wars doesn't register the achievements immediately like all the other games. You have to finish the current game without ending it prematurely. If you do, you don't get the achievement. Oh well. Looks like the issue with the new update was a bit premature. Sorry to cause a fuss.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

Pfft...I could have told you that!

LOL, yeah well thanks.

Tommy McClain

 

[Red Herring]

A few thoughts on what I'd like to see change/improved in future updates now this functionality has been added:

• MKV support - this format is becoming a lot more common, especially for multi-language or foreign language stuff like anime, as well as HD material
• Subtitle support
• Let the user choose the default zoom option. Having to manually go to the display menu, press left twice, then press A three times just to get full-screen on every single file is a stupid design choice. The "auto" option, which is the current default, leaves too many videos playing in a small box in the centre of my screen
• Speed up the file browsing speed... it takes about 2-4 seconds to view a directory with 10 files.

I'm sure I'll think of some more. A fantastic feature however. When the PS3 gets it in an update in the near future, it'll set a basic benchmark for expectations in future consoles, too, which is great. Maybe the end of the HTPC!

I don't think MKV likely to happen at least anytime soon it was one of the top choices in the poll MS did at doom9 for video support way back before it got H.264 support and they have ignored that one from the start, still never say never so one day perhaps.

External .srt,.sub subtitles would be nice at least for AVI's though.

If you have to do that zoom method every time then something sounds wrong, if your videos are playing in a small box in the centre than that is usually native mode. Depending on the source materials resolution/aspect ratio with auto mode it should stretch to full screen or have black borders ala widescreen DVD. I've never seen it once default to native mode with all of my videos

Browsing speed for me is instantaneous no delay though I'm using a wired ethernet connection and WMP11 if that makes any difference.

 

[PARANOiA]

If you have to do that zoom method every time then something sounds wrong, if your videos are playing in a small box in the centre than that is usually native mode. Depending on the source materials resolution/aspect ratio with auto mode it should stretch to full screen or have black borders ala widescreen DVD. I've never seen it once default to native mode with all of my videos

From the FAQ - italics mine:

Q: How do display modes work?
A: There are five display modes: auto, letterbox, full-screen, stretch, and native. You can access these modes while watching a video by pressing Display on your remote or A on your controller.

• The auto setting attempts to automatically determine what the best viewing experience is for your video. If it is a very low-quality video, it will enlarge it enough to be viewable on your screen while limiting the size for optimal viewing. If the video is of higher quality, it will enlarge it to fit the TV screen. For both scenarios, it will retain the aspect ratio of the original video (for example, 4x3 or 16x9).
• Letterbox mode will display your image full screen while retaining the aspect ratio of the original video. Use this if you want to override the auto function and fit the content to your TV.
• Full-screen mode will display your image full screen with the assumption the video is 16x9 formatted for 4x3 screens. This can be helpful for older content that may be 4x3 with black bars encoded into the video. This mode will allow you to zoom through the black bars and see it as wide screen.
• Stretch mode will display your image full screen and stretch 4x3 content horizontally to fill a 16x9 TV screen. This can be helpful for those who always want to fill their TV regardless of the aspect ratio of the content. This causes 4x3 content to appear stretched.
• Native mode allows you to see the content at its original resolution. Use this to view content that is extremely low resolution or very low bit rates.

Q: How are display mode settings saved?
A: Every time you watch a new video, the display mode defaults to auto. If you decide to change the setting, each time you watch the same video the console will default to the setting you chose last time.

Not sure what their definition of "very low quality" is, however most video files I've been watching require zooming - these aren't bad quality files either *shrug*. If anyone knows what the cut-off for "low quality" is, I'd like to see it.

I'd also suggest the viewing resolution has something to do with the automatic scaling option, since I'm watching in 1080p. Maybe it's a calculation of horizontal result ion (i.e., if your video is 1/4 the horizontal resolution then put it in a 2x window, else set full screen).

 

[Dave Baumann]

I tried DiVX from a USB stick for the first time yesterday. I ripped the stick out during the end credits, expecting it to stop, but was mildly susprised to note that it didn't. I guess, regardless of source, it caches the video on the harddisk and actually plays back from the cache.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

To HDD and not to RAM?

 

[Dave Baumann]

Well, there's no indication as to where its actually coming from. However, a file can easily exceed the limits of the RAM so I would assume that it caches it on disk (if its available). I'm sure there is some buffered in RAM though.

I wasn't really actually testing it, but one thing to try would be to see if the entire thing is still available even without the original source.

However, for me this, just dumping files on a USB and taking them downstairs is a lot easier than cutting to a rewritable DVD. I just gotta source a very large USB key now.

 

[PARANOiA]

I don't think MKV likely to happen at least anytime soon it was one of the top choices in the poll MS did at doom9 for video support way back before it got H.264 support and they have ignored that one from the start, still never say never so one day perhaps.

After a little bit of reading and some messing about, I've been giving this one some thought. How much of a step forward can it possibly be to include MKV support now that Divx is fully supported? MKV as I understand it is just a container for Divx audio and video content, correct?

 

[mrcorbo]

MKV as I understand it is just a container for Divx audio and video content, correct?

Not hardly. The advantage of MKV is that its codec support is actually quite flexible and you can throw most of the popular A/V formats in there. It is also the format of choice for doing HD backups (both HDTV and ripped disc) as it can fully support H264 (AKA MPEG-4 AVC) video combined with Dolby Digital (AC3) audio. This last is something that none of the currently supported container formats can do since putting H264 in .avi is a bit of a kludge and .mp4 only supports MPEG standard audio formats (no Dolby Digital).

 

[J_Saint]

One thing I noticed since replacing my launch 360 with an Elite is that every time I want to watch a Divx, Xvid or MPEG-4 video, it requires me to sign into Live. It seems like the new codec support works like premium content purchased on a different 360 requiring you to validate your download every time.

 

[Tap In]

I like how the screen fades now on selection of a game or movie

 

[AntShaw]

One thing I noticed since replacing my launch 360 with an Elite is that every time I want to watch a Divx, Xvid or MPEG-4 video, it requires me to sign into Live. It seems like the new codec support works like premium content purchased on a different 360 requiring you to validate your download every time.

You don't need Live to play any of those files. Unplug your internet connection and try.

 

[J_Saint]

You don't need Live to play any of those files. Unplug your internet connection and try.

Nope. It keeps telling me I have to sign into Live and download an update. I downloaded the optional media support numerous times and it didn't matter. I didn't have this problem when I first downloaded the update on my launch system. Because it was downloaded to my launch system first, it now has to be validated through Live like an Arcade title.

 

[Rockster]

Seems like a known bug. Might want to try installing the update with another account.

http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

34. I received a message that says a media update is required to play the content. When I download the update I get the message "The download could not be completed. Please try again later. Any points you used for this transaction have already been deducted from your balance and will not be deducted again" with error code 80070005. Explain.

You'll get this error if you previously downloaded the media update on another Xbox 360 console with the same profile. You are only allowed to download the update on one console per profile. You can work around this by creating a temporary Silver membership to download the update. Once it's downloaded, you will be able to use the update with any profile.

 

[AlNom]

I've got the same problem too. When I had my 360 hooked up to the internet, I could play the new formats with no problem. When I disconnected the internet, the console told me that I required an update to play the same file.

My profile is only on this one console, and I've only downloaded the update once. I am also the sole user.

 

[J_Saint]

Seems like a known bug. Might want to try installing the update with another account.

http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx

34. I received a message that says a media update is required to play the content. When I download the update I get the message "The download could not be completed. Please try again later. Any points you used for this transaction have already been deducted from your balance and will not be deducted again" with error code 80070005. Explain.

You'll get this error if you previously downloaded the media update on another Xbox 360 console with the same profile. You are only allowed to download the update on one console per profile. You can work around this by creating a temporary Silver membership to download the update. Once it's downloaded, you will be able to use the update with any profile.

That worked, thanks.

 

[Rockster]

Isn't that what we are here for?

 

[Laa-Yosh]

I get the "need to download media update" message too, but my console isn't connected to Live, I've burned the fall update file to a CD for my console. Anything I can do here?