Xbox 360 can do HD video out of the box... kind of

[scooby_dooby]

Also, everyone should keep in mind that Windows Vista is just around teh corner.

I'd be shocked if Vista does not allow for all of Media Centres functionality out of the box.

Edit - apaprantly Vista will have a MCE, codename "Windows Diamond" apparently it's hardcore, requiring ~2GB of ram and a DX9.0 GPU. cool...

 

[J_Saint]

Windows Media Centre - $150
http://www.softwaresurplus.com/Guaranteed/Low.Prices?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=5114&utm_id=1758

MCE - $119 (It's OEM so add a cable to the cart)
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA30890

 

[seismologist]

For one, you don't need to spend $1500 to get a Media Center PC. Well, I'm pretty sure of that, anyway.

Also, I don't see how PDAs are now obsolete. PSPs do not do everything PDAs do. And if they did, they would be a superset of PDAs, not a competing paradigm. I think of "making obsolete" something more like what the iPod did to DVD audio.

I've seen my brother work a MC PC, and it's a pretty decent package. And looking at its future, it seems that MS has finally picked up steam with it. There's a lot to be said for momentum and having the bugs worked out of the system, and that's what the PS3 will have to compete with.

There's also something to be said for having the right model, but that's more opinion than the rest. Having a one stop shop is great, until everyone wants to use it. Having a dedicated server makes more sense in a family environment, IMO.

I didn't say PC's would become obsolete. "PC as a media center" could soon though. How many people do you see buying PDA's nowadays for their media capabilities.

Of course I've never used a media center PC so I'm not exactly sure what all it does. If the Xbox is being used for play back. I'm a little confused what;s the point of the media center on your PC if it's just streaming files to the Xbox.

 

[Inane_Dork]

I didn't say PC's would become obsolete. "PC as a media center" could soon though. How many people do you see buying PDA's nowadays for their media capabilities.

How many people do you see nowadays buying PSPs for their email needs? I'm really not in touch with the market, so I don't really know. I just never thought that PDAs "killer app" was media. Maybe I've been mistaken for some time.

I'm a little confused what;s the point of the media center on your PC if it's just streaming files to the Xbox.

Having one computer host all the media in the house and streaming it from there has obvious advantages. I'm not sure how you could see no benefit from that.

 

[jvd]

So wait let me understand

In order to get live pop ups on the tv while watching a movie i have to .


Have a tv in video card or card for my pc .

Windows media extender

And then run my regular tv over my network to my xbox 360 ?

 

[seismologist]

How many people do you see nowadays buying PSPs for their email needs? I'm really not in touch with the market, so I don't really know. I just never thought that PDAs "killer app" was media. Maybe I've been mistaken for some time.

Having one computer host all the media in the house and streaming it from there has obvious advantages. I'm not sure how you could see no benefit from that.

Like the poster said the average user isn't very savvy with home networking. Im pretty tech savvy myself and I'm not even sure what your supposed to do with Windows media center. Sometimes you see it hooked up to the TV, like they're trying to market it for PC's hooked up to your television. They even have a special keyboard remote for controlling your PC.

Now enter Xbox 360...and where does Media Center fit in now? It's almost like they didn't want to let go so they tried to shoehorn media center into the loop where it's not really needed.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Windows Media Centre - $150
http://www.softwaresurplus.com/Guaranteed/Low.Prices?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=5114&utm_id=1758

PVR-150 capture card - $65
http://cgi.ebay.com/HAUPPAUGE-WinTV-PVR-150-MCE-for-Media-Center-2005-NEW_W0QQitemZ5231870236QQcategoryZ3761QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This may be what we'd pay, but that's not what MS would have to pay to include these features. Including the OS costs nothing, though of course loses sales of the OS on MCE PCs. That said I imagine a lot of XB owners who would use an include MCE OS in XB360 wouldn't necessarily shell out for a MCE PC, so including it wouldn't cause a substantial loss in sales of the OS.

I don't know what the hardware requirements of video capture are to add to the cost, but I'd be surprised if it added $20 to the package. And of course a 20Gb HDD wouldn't be enough so MS would need to offer a bigger package.

It would still be an appealing package to offer a $600 MCE XB360 with TiVo and whatnot, so you don't NEED a MCE PC to use TV/film functions. These functions would be deactivated when playing games (hence no interference) which is of course a limitation, but all hardware is limited. You can only watch one channel and record another on MCE PC, so if you want to record three channels and watch a fourth one MCE PC isn't enough. For those that don't like that limitation of XB360 they can buy the Core version and an MCE PC. For those that don't care a great deal about extended functionality they can get the single $600 package and watch HD programming+record+play games without needed an expensive extra box.

As it is, if you don't want to spend extra on an MCE PC, PS3 looks to offer better media functionality, as long as Sony can pull of the software. I've been dubious of Sony's software capabilities but my sister got a Sony mp3 player and the software for that, SonicStage, was very good IMO, so there is some hope as long as the people writing the media software aren't the chumps that wrote Sony's PSP encoding software!

I agree with Acert. I think PS3 will have more appeal on account of the simplicity of accessing media. All those memory card slots and USB storage and networking and DVD+BRD and digitial out does present a 'future proof' box that'll adapt to emerging technologies, so in 4 years time PS3 will be selling at profit to Sony with the strength of these extra functions, and early adopters still benefit too when they upgrade their CE goods. Probably won't have much impact on most people, but I think it will have a lot of marketting strength for the PlayStation brand.

 

[J_Saint]

Not to get too off topic but has it been stated what DVD-ROM X360 will use? So far we do know Seagate will be providing the HDD and the three locations where assembly will be done. All we have is basic 12X specs for the optical drive but who will be making them?

 

[wco81]

That said I imagine a lot of XB owners who would use an include MCE OS in XB360 wouldn't necessarily shell out for a MCE PC, so including it wouldn't cause a substantial loss in sales of the OS.

Yeah most casual gamers and PC users who wouldn't build their own PC boxes would have to pay $800 to get an MCE PC from HP or whoever. So that's quite a console accessory you'd have to buy (so much for HD video out of the box, because peope have to set up a network as well, maybe a 802.11a network, which isn't supported by most routers). Of course, MS would love it, because they want to get into the living room in the worst way possible.

However, as a founding member, MS is active in setting the AACS specs. One of the things they're pushing for is managed copies which would let you rip an HD video disc to put on a media server and then stream to clients. HD-DVD has signed on to AACS and Blu-Ray may as well. The problem is, some studios are resisting the idea of consenting to having their movies copied to the hard drive so easily.

Now, both HD video disc formats are expected to allow HD resolutions only over HDMI/DVI with HDCP, not over analog component. So it's not clear if AACS would permit you to use an MCE PC with an HD-DVD drive to stream that HD video to the X360, a client which does NOT have an HDMI output. IOW, it would circumvent the protected path of the video.

 

[Sis]

This may be what we'd pay, but that's not what MS would have to pay to include these features. Including the OS costs nothing, though of course loses sales of the OS on MCE PCs. That said I imagine a lot of XB owners who would use an include MCE OS in XB360 wouldn't necessarily shell out for a MCE PC, so including it wouldn't cause a substantial loss in sales of the OS.

I don't know what the hardware requirements of video capture are to add to the cost, but I'd be surprised if it added $20 to the package. And of course a 20Gb HDD wouldn't be enough so MS would need to offer a bigger package.

A) You can't just throw in the Media Center edition of the OS--it has to be written sepcifically for the Xbox 360.
B) This affects all drivers, so I'd imagine any video capture card would need a special driver written just for this box
C) This affects all software, so any software you want that's available on the Media Center OS will have to be re-written for this brand new OS.
D) All of this adds up in development costs that have to be accounted for somewhere; that is, the market for this unit needs to be large enough to justify what in my mind is a sizable project.

Also note that any missing feature is a detriment to the package, since the negative impression will damage the credibility of the Xbox 360 Media Center. So just having a Tivo-enabled Xbox 360 probably won't quite cut it. (Why doesn't it surf the net? Why can't I buy new music? I want to use AIM! Wears my DVD burner feature? Etc etc.)

Finally, I think more information is needed about the PS3's media capability before we compare it with the Xbox 360's offerings.

.Sis

 

[Shifty Geezer]

A) You can't just throw in the Media Center edition of the OS--it has to be written sepcifically for the Xbox 360.

Ha ha! Slight oversight on my part.

 

[3dcgi]

Games are designed assuming all the system resources are available, if you bogged it down with an OS that had to capture, encode, and write video to the harddisk this would have an impact on games.

Agreed. I don't want Xbox 360 to be my media center. Although I do like the extender capabilities should I ever invest in XPMC. I think there is a better solution than XPMC for many people, but the Xbox 360 is not it. Nothing's stopping Microsoft from selling Xbox 360 media center edition in the future though should a large enough market demand it. And by large I mean more numerous than B3D visitors.