News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

[novcze]

With rumours about "always-on" features, I think MS should make next XB more integrated in home network, share music/photo/video folders with sync function to PC, maybe act like NAS, proper DLNA server, etc.
Sony should do the same but for MS it would be more natural.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Roku, Google TV and WiiU all offer cross service search like Xbox Bing. At no extra charge. I can voice control my Roku with the free android app. Can Siri control an Apple TV? These features aren't unique, and will become less so, which is why MS is scrambling so hard with things like IE and Smart Glass to try and justify Live Gold's cost.

I don't really see Microsoft scrambling to do anything. They've always been ahead of the curve implementing new features each year.

The fact that other companies are catching up on features that MS have had for a while shouldn't be surprising, it's only natural that rivals will copy successful features of their competition.

As well, arguably the best feature of Gold still isn't well implemented, if at all by its rivals. Universal cross game voice chat.

I wouldn't be surprised if next gen Sony started charging for online multiplayer as well.

Regards,
SB

 

[wco81]

I think DVR features would have some appeal. Cable cos are overcharging for a real crappy DVR product so there's a vacuum there.

But MS is said to be moving away from WMC.

Of course if it turns out that you have to be a paying member of XBL to use these AV or HT features, then it won't be used broadly.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I think DVR features would have some appeal. Cable cos are overcharging for a real crappy DVR product so there's a vacuum there.

But MS is said to be moving away from WMC.

Of course if it turns out that you have to be a paying member of XBL to use these AV or HT features, then it won't be used broadly.

?
You realize there are quite a few xbl gold subscribers (like 20+ million) without that feature presently. I can only imagine additional features would add more.

 

[eastmen]

A redesign of WMC that also works on Durango with a built in tuner that will record at least 4 channels at once as I play video games would work. Esp if I can then stream it across my home to all my xboxs/pcs / tablets . I'd gladly pay the $60 a year for acess to it. Right now it costs me $15 a month for a 6 year old cable box that has a 80 gig hardrive in it and only 2 tuners. My TiVo premier costs me $18 a month also.

 

[french toast]

For years i thought the only things missing from a complete xbox 360 experience were dvr and a web browser....if those features were included right from the begining then xbox would have owned the living room...web browsing especially came on far too late to be a killer feature,, even though its recent addition is welcome.

One box to rule them all...tv,games,multimedia

 

[pjbliverpool]

For years i thought the only things missing from a complete xbox 360 experience were dvr and a web browser....if those features were included right from the begining then xbox would have owned the living room...web browsing especially came on far too late to be a killer feature,, even though its recent addition is welcome.

One box to rule them all...tv,games,multimedia

I don't see how a console can give even a half decent internet browsing experience. I'd genuinly much rather surf on my phone (Galaxy S2) than on a console. Even if the console came with a full keyboard, which in itself would be a pain in the ass.

 

[expletive]

I thought one of the leaks (one of the more reliable leaks) stated MS wanted to put the processing (or at least some of it) for Kinect data into the camera itself.

I guess this would be important if they intend Kinect 2.0 to be BC with the 360. I'm not sure whats a better overall strategy as a new Kinect might sell the new consoles but they may also want the opportunity for consumers to 'defragment' the market and upgrade.

As a pure streaming device I don't see how an Xbox TV could hope to compete with Rokus or Apple TVs that don't require an additional $60/year service to use Netflix and the like. I assume they will also function as extenders for the 720 providing the whole house dvr access similar to the "Joey's" that come with Dish Network's Hopper DVR. In addition they could also let you pipe game play to any TV in the house. Most of this is described in the 2010 presentation that leaked, but at the time they were talking about a "Xbox 361" that presumably would have been a further power reduced version of the existing 360 chip set.

How close is MS to further shrinking the 360 chipset, needing less cooling, pulling out the DVD drive and have solid state 360? The 4GB model is down to $179 already, surely they could be close to $125 soon enough and provide a much more robust experience than these hockey puck sized devices?

As you point out, I assume the major hurdle is throwing their Xbox subscription model out of whack...

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I guess this would be important if they intend Kinect 2.0 to be BC with the 360. I'm not sure whats a better overall strategy as a new Kinect might sell the new consoles but they may also want the opportunity for consumers to 'defragment' the market and upgrade.

I'd imagine only backwards compatible in the sense that it would function exactly like Kinect 1.0 on an X360.

IMO, for Xbox Next they'll likely be using USB 3.0 and higher data transfer rates than is currently possible on X360. That would allow for a more accurate and performant experience. As X360 is rather limited in the amount of data it can transfer to and from the Kinect camera, I don't expect Kinect 2.0 to offer many, if any, benefits over Kinect 1.0 on that device.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

I don't see how a console can give even a half decent internet browsing experience. I'd genuinly much rather surf on my phone (Galaxy S2) than on a console. Even if the console came with a full keyboard, which in itself would be a pain in the ass.

the 360 qwerty pad is really good. Surfing wouldn't be bad expect your sitting far away from a 1080p screen.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I don't see how a console can give even a half decent internet browsing experience. I'd genuinly much rather surf on my phone (Galaxy S2) than on a console. Even if the console came with a full keyboard, which in itself would be a pain in the ass.

Have you ever actually tried it? With the chat pad and controller, it's a ton better than using a phone.

 

[orangpelupa]

does kinect voice command works in xbox web browser?
if it works, then it looks like very convenient.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Kinect has some functionality there, but I don't see it as that useful. If you're thinking about replacing text typing, you can't do that.

 

[V3]

My take on HDMI in, is that Durango will have a display of its own of some kind. Maybe it will have a tablet controller. So you can connect your set top box or whatever into Durango and Durango into TV. That way it can display it in a window on the tablet or TV, heck you might be able to play games while doing it. That way it can sort of fit in with whatever everyone got going in their home, compare to Wii U implementation which kinda forced with something like TVii and kinda broken at the moment.

 

[dobwal]

Have you ever actually tried it? With the chat pad and controller, it's a ton better than using a phone.

I've done internet browsing on a big screen TV and it only works if I use it like a 50 inch PC monitor with the screen a few feet away from my face. Sitting on the couch, the experience becomes undesirable for me. Maybe its me and the typical content I consume because my eyes aren't used to reading large amount of text from so far away. I seem really sensitive to the change in focal points.

The only options for me is to make the text much bigger to the point where the amount of text on the screen makes for a lot scrolling which is not desirable either.

The first thing that comes to mind when talking about this topic is the beginning of Star Wars films. I can't imagine the opening credits rolling in any smaller size without the text becoming harder to read and that scene is pretty lacking in terms of how much text one can comfortable consume on a PC monitor at any one time.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I've done internet browsing on a big screen TV and it only works if I use it like a 50 inch PC monitor with the screen a few feet away from my face. Sitting on the couch, the experience becomes undesirable for me. Maybe its me and the typical content I consume because my eyes aren't used to reading large amount of text from so far away. I seem really sensitive to the change in focal points.

The only options for me is to make the text much bigger to the point where the amount of text on the screen makes for a lot scrolling which is not desirable either.

I regularly do internet browsing on my TV via my HTPC. It's a 55" model that sits roughly 3-4 meters away. A simple zoom of 125% (25% larger) is sufficient to make my old and aging eyes able to read it. At that point it's roughly similar to browsing on 1366x768 screen (typical laptop screen size).

When I used to use a 46" TV I used to have to set the zoom to about 140% (40% larger). Basically as long as the browser on the console is configured with the expectations of a TV at typical TV viewing distances it shouldn't be any worse than browsing the internet on most laptops/tablets and certainly better than most smartphones.

And in the case of MS, I'd imagine it'd be based off of IE which would allow the user to set a zoom factor if they wished.

Regards,
SB

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I sit about 2.2 meters away from a 60" TV. It's my primary display for everything. Zoom is not really required at that ratio, but sometimes I use a little.

 

[french toast]

Just found this...seems plausible and backs up most of what we have heard..
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/49454/xbox-720-called-xbox-x-surface

 

[inefficient]

Just found this...seems plausible and backs up most of what we have heard..
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/49454/xbox-720-called-xbox-x-surface

Pretty big risk to gamble a successful Xbox business model on 2 new peripherals, surface and a new tablet. MS does not have a good track record launching new hardware. Also their first surface device already bombed. Besides the Xbox, nearly every other product line has been a flop. Designing this device around Kinect is one thing. Designing this box around some tablet like devices they intend to launch in the future seems pretty foolish. And I can't believe they would be that naive.

 

[jaosobno]

Just found this...seems plausible and backs up most of what we have heard..
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/49454/xbox-720-called-xbox-x-surface

Ignore it:

https://twitter.com/Rob_Crossley_/status/294032819582296064