Fall 360 dashboard update details

[mrcorbo]

Nice job on Microsoft on getting the DivX support out there before Sony ...

Also, great job on the FAQ.

Is there a chance they'll do DNLA at some point though?

I think its already there in a long time now.

It is? I didn't look that hard but I didn't see it, only saw the media extender features that I don't think use DNLA.

It is (Not to be pedantic, but it's DLNA, BTW). Has been since launch, AKAIK. They just don't make it clear that some of the media playback features are actually accomplished via DLNA. The only thing that has changed is added codec support. Accessing media through the Dashboard interface sucks, though.

If you go into the media tab and select either video or music and select "computer" as source it will find any DLNA servers you have running on the network. The description says that you have to be running the DLNA server on a Windows PC but I think that is really more of a suggestion than an actual fact....

Anyway, I have tested a couple of Windows-based DLNA servers like the one included with Nero Ultimate and Orb and they show up in the list along with the entry for WMP's sharing feature. The cool thing about the former two is that they will transcode most media to a format the 360 can handle, if necessary. And Orb additionally allows you to access your media over the internet through a web gateway. Since Orb also supports a wide range of mobile-friendly target formats to transcode to, chances are if you have a web enabled cell phone you can playback most of your media from anywhere. Cool stuff, IMO. Some have expressed concerns about privacy and security given the connection to your home server is being managed by Orb's web servers, but I am comfortable with the setup.

 

[Rockster]

Can you still download updates from the web and burn them to CDs? I don't have Live yet and only plan to connect my Xbox after moving to a new apartment early next year, but these media extensions are very interesting...

Should ship with new games released after the update and also available on the web here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/console/systemupdates.htm

 

[assen]

ok.
This is we called it *an update*.

MPEG4-ASP(Xvid/DivX w/AVI container) implementation is really good.

Does it support subtitles?

 

[LightHeaven]

Does it support subtitles?

Unfortunatelly, no.

 

[pipo]

Full Features List for 2007 Fall Update

And there I was thinking that was the complete list.

The *complete* list is even more impressive...

 

[Arwin]

It is (Not to be pedantic, but it's DLNA, BTW). Has been since launch, AKAIK. They just don't make it clear that some of the media playback features are actually accomplished via DLNA. The only thing that has changed is added codec support. Accessing media through the Dashboard interface sucks, though.

If you go into the media tab and select either video or music and select "computer" as source it will find any DLNA servers you have running on the network. The description says that you have to be running the DLNA server on a Windows PC but I think that is really more of a suggestion than an actual fact....

Anyway, I have tested a couple of Windows-based DLNA servers like the one included with Nero Ultimate and Orb and they show up in the list along with the entry for WMP's sharing feature.

Ah, cool, thanks.

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

* Added support for video playback from UDFS formatted USB devices

I got a question about this. Not to sound like a moron, but what device would you consider as UDFS? would an ipod video count as one, or is that in a different category

 

[AlphaWolf]

I got a question about this. Not to sound like a moron, but what device would you consider as UDFS? would an ipod video count as one, or is that in a different category

Isn't UDFS a file format for RW optical media?

 

[Diamond.G]

Isn't UDFS a file format for RW optical media?

Yes. It actually is a file format for optical media in general.

 

[infinity4]

I actually can't wait for this! I want the feeling of buying a new console by update!

Shame 16:10 issues remain unfixed

 

[PARANOiA]

It's out. Go to "Text XBox Live settings" and you should get a prompt while it does its thing.

My thoughts:
Interface is much faster - the old dash was definitely sluggish, like Windows XP with all the default UI "goodies". This is much quicker.
Creating the merged "Games" tab is very smart, with a simple "Game Store" to get your XBLA and Originals in one spot
Free themes and gamer pics for the Originals!
I'm getting Psychonauts, 5.4gb ! My poor ADSL and download limit.

 

[J_Saint]

Tversity has already posted a new version to take advantage of the update.

 

[Red Herring]

Streaming from WMP11 with XviD AVI's works great no problems at all.

The UI is a lot snappier than before definitely an improvement.

Also the video browsing UI is much better as you can quickly switch between sources and they have altered it so long file names are much better on screen.

Time to do away with my HTPC it seems.

Xbox originals are also nice wouldn't mind playing Crimson skies again but my HD is starting to feel the strain, will have to take a look at the 120GB add-on.

 

[AzBat]

It's out. Go to "Text XBox Live settings" and you should get a prompt while it does its thing.

My thoughts:
Interface is much faster - the old dash was definitely sluggish, like Windows XP with all the default UI "goodies". This is much quicker.
Creating the merged "Games" tab is very smart, with a simple "Game Store" to get your XBLA and Originals in one spot
Free themes and gamer pics for the Originals!
I'm getting Psychonauts, 5.4gb ! My poor ADSL and download limit.

I updated mine about an hour after it went live. I thought if I left it on all night it would get the update automatically, evidently not. Signing out and back into Live did the trick. They need to fix that. That way when I wake up in the morning it's already downloaded and updated. Anywho...

My very first impression is that it's nice, but I'm an avid Arcade player and I'm not really sure I like the idea of having to press more buttons to get to them. I like the idea of them not letting Arcade demos add to My Games/Played List, but then again it only works on new games going forward. Why the hell couldn't they do that on all previous Arcade games? As it stands, I've already downloaded all the Arcade demos. So the "My Games" list has 100+ games in it. Not just the ones I've bought. That's really irritating.

Anyway, that's all I've noticed so far. I wasn't really awake when I looked at it. So, I'll look at it again when I get home from work.

BTW, here's the GamerScore blog video on the new dashboard.

Gamerscore Blog

Tommy McClain

 

[Fu3lFr3nzy]

Yes!!! my animes work on the X360

This is the one thing i've wanted the most ever since I saw the X360 back in E3 2005

The quality is nice too as promised, so Kudos to MS for this early holiday gift

 

[Silent]

I've never noticed this until today but is their a reason why Microsoft doesn't support NTFS ?

There also seem to be no support for subtitles For me that is no big deal but for some members of the family this is a whole different story.

 

[pipo]

Now that's how you do an update. Download + install in 15 seconds flat.

And the Dash is zippy indeed!

 

[AlNom]

I wonder what they did to improve the dash speed.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I wonder what they did to improve the dash speed.

Ya it's a fairly significant speed improvement.

 

[Pozer]

I've never noticed this until today but is their a reason why Microsoft doesn't support NTFS ?

Probably because of the size of the libraries required to support NTFS. remember NTFS natively interfaces file security permissions, auditing, ownership as well as a file recovery system, all of which must be able to scale to an enterprise size active directory user lists and membership groups, if need be. In the 360 OS every byte counts.