Xbox One: B3D User’s FAQ

[Gradthrawn]

This post is for information purposes only. Please discuss/comment/rage elsewhere.

General Information:
This purpose of this thread is to attempt to answer any questions people may have about the console. With the system releasing globally on November 22nd, there will be quite a few of us on B3D who have it on launch day and should be able to help address topics others may be curious about.

Formatting:
The format of this thread is fairly straightforward. If you have a question, post it. Each question should be clearly separated out into individual questions (even if they're within the same post). For example:

What notifications can I change?

What does the menu look like?

If you have the answer, please quote the original question, pre-fix it with a Q, and supply your answer, pre-fixing your answer with an A. If the answer to a question is also available elsewhere, please include the actual answer in your response as well as a link to the supporting article/picture/video.

Q: What notifications can I change?

A: None of them! See my video walk-through of the notifications menu below:

http://youtube.com/?00001

Q: What does the menu look like?

A: Here is a picture provided by MS.

The question and answer will be formatted to keep the look consistent, possibly reworded to make it a generic response, and then appended to this original post (you don't have to worry about matching the formatting of the OP for asking a question or supplying the answer). The original responses to the questions will be linked to directly, along with the author who provided the answer.

Q: What system notifications can I change?

A: At present, no changes to system notifications can be made. See the following video(s) for a look at the system menu.

Videos
(System Menu)

Originally Answered By:
SallyBeth

Q: What does the menu look like?

A: The menu, which resembles Windows 8's tiled interface, can be viewed in the following links.

Pictures
XBO Menu 1
XBO Menu 2
XBO Menu 3

*The above quote is for example purposes only, and not a factual response.

Guidelines:
Let me make this absolutely clear, the intent of this post is not for the discussion of features or debates around system/company policies. This post is for information purposes only. Please create a separate thread of your own if you wish to comment on something (good or bad). I'm well aware that by keeping discussion out, this will likely be a quiet thread. Which is just fine, as then it should serve as a good reference for new users free of noise and clutter. That said, please feel free to provide feedback about the format and structure of this thread. That type of discussion is more than welcome if it can help make this a more useful post.

General Note:
I'm creating this thread now, in advance of release, since I fully intend to have an XBO on launch day and would like to get an idea as to what questions people may have that may have not been addressed elsewhere. I'll try to provide video and/or screenshots when possible. This thread is only for Xbox One system (hardware), service and feature related questions. Game specific questions should be addressed in game specific threads. Thank you.

PS4 B3D User FAQ

 

[Gradthrawn]

QA:

(reserved for future use)

 

[Gradthrawn]

QA:

(also reserved for future use)

 

[Gradthrawn]

QA:

(this too is for future use)

 

[Davros]

Is there supposed to be a video in your first post ?

 

[Gradthrawn]

Is there supposed to be a video in your first post ?

Ah, no. Sorry for the confusion. That's just a blank example.

 

[Cyan]

Ah, no. Sorry for the confusion. That's just a blank example.

Many thanks for creating this much needed FAQ thread, Gradthrawn.

As of now I am mostly interested in the video and audio options. I pre-ordered an allegedly surround headset -I have enough time to cancel the reserve 'cos it won't be released til early 2014- still confused as to what should I do to get uncompressed sound.

I have to re-check whether the audio input of the headphones is optical or not.

 

[RudeCurve]

Does X1 support ANY type of wireless keyboard like the X360 does?

Does X1 provide speech to text for composing messages/emails?

Is it possible for the X1 to operate vertically even though it wasn't designed to be stood vertically?

 

[Gradthrawn]

Does X1 support ANY type of wireless keyboard like the X360 does?

I take it you mean wireless keyboards with USB dongles? I don't recall any level of BT support on the 360 (and I've already put my 360S away to make space to check against).

Does X1 provide speech to text for composing messages/emails?

This will be fairly easy to test.

Is it possible for the X1 to operate vertically even though it wasn't designed to be stood vertically?

I have absolutely no itention of even trying this with my new XBO! Are you mad, man?!?

 

[Dave Baumann]

I assume he means the keyboard peripheral that could attach to the bottom of the controller. If so, not aware of any at the moment, but the ecosystem will evolve over time.

 

[RudeCurve]

The reason I ask is because typing using a controller is very slow and annoying...so either having wireless keyboard support and/or speech to text would solve that problem. Many times when playing online with randoms I get text messages from them and would like an easy way to respond. I have a mini wireless USB keyboard that works with my X360S.

As for the verticality thing..it might be a better option for some people. My X360S is always stood vertical and never horizontal. It saves space and looks better. If the X1 can only be operated horizontally then I'd have to stack it on top of my home theater receiver which vents warm air out the top causing the console to get hotter.

I assume he means the keyboard peripheral that could attach to the bottom of the controller. If so, not aware of any at the moment, but the ecosystem will evolve over time.

Actually I was referring to the wireless USB keyboards that work with Xbox like the one I have.

http://www.iogear.com/product/GKM571R/

 

[AlNom]

Does party chat work the same way as 360? Heard some weird things about it.

 

[Gradthrawn]

The reason I ask is because typing using a controller is very slow and annoying...so either having wireless keyboard support and/or speech to text would solve that problem. Many times when playing online with randoms I get text messages from them and would like an easy way to respond. I have a mini wireless USB keyboard that works with my X360S.

Okay, good, we're talking about the same thing. I have a Logitech wireless keyboard with a USB dongle I'll test with that I planned on using with the XBO anyway until they release a chat-pad.

As for the verticality thing..it might be a better option for some people. My X360S is always stood vertical and never horizontal. It saves space and looks better. If the X1 can only be operated horizontally then I'd have to stack it on top of my home theater receiver which vents warm air out the top causing the console to get hotter.

I will very carefully, with it powered off, see if it looks stable vertical. However, from pictures, it does not look safe to stand up.

Does party chat work the same way as 360? Heard some weird things about it.

That should be easy to check. The main complaint I hear (from a user perspective) is that you have to enable party chat after creating a party for voice to work.

 

[Gradthrawn]

As of now I am mostly interested in the video and audio options. I pre-ordered an allegedly surround headset -I have enough time to cancel the reserve 'cos it won't be released til early 2014- still confused as to what should I do to get uncompressed sound.

If you have a specific question let me know. What I can tell you generally speaking is that it supports dual HDMI + Optical audio output by default. Here are the settings it supports:

HDMI:

• Off
• Stereo uncompressed
• 5.1 uncompressed
• 7.1 uncompressed
• DTS Digital Surround

Optical:

• Off
• Stereo uncompressed
• DTS Digital Surround

Does X1 support ANY type of wireless keyboard like the X360 does?

Not sure about any, but the Logitech Wireless Keyboard/Touchpad combo I was using with a WMC box works with no issue.

Does X1 provide speech to text for composing messages/emails?

Xbox > Go to Messages > New Messages > Select Recipients > Person 1 (literally person 1) > Select

That's as far as speech can take you. From there you need a keyboard or Smart Glass. Smart Glass actually works pretty well for this, it only took me a second to figure out how to use it for this purpose.

Is it possible for the X1 to operate vertically even though it wasn't designed to be stood vertically?

Now that I have one in my hands, I would say that's not optimal. On one side you have a USB port and some button that I can't quite figure out what its for (it's not a second eject button as I thought at first glance). On the other side you have a row of vents.

Does party chat work the same way as 360? Heard some weird things about it.

Appears to be. The only differences that I can note are that it now seems to require Live Gold (I don't recall that being the case, before) and that you do have to manually enable Party Chat in order to get audio. But that setting is front and center as soon as you create a Party. It can also be activated fully with voice.

Xbox > Go to Party > Start a Party > Invite More People > Person 1. > Invite > Turn on Party Chat > Stop Spying on Us

 

[Gradthrawn]

Some initial first impressions:

• The unit is quite nice. Looks even better sitting next to its counterpart than the 360S and PS3 Slim did. Two peas in a pod.
• Controller is, generally speaking, great. Analog sticks, triggers, face buttons Guide button and the 2 center buttons all feel wonderful.
• Not quite sure about those bumpers yet. They have a nice feel to them when depressed, but it takes a very deliberate action to activate them.
• D-pad is okay. But a nice step up from the 360 (before and after update).
• Unit is very quiet. It has its own rather unique idle sound to it that I can hear when I put my head to it. Not quite sure what that sound is exactly, but its quiet all the same. Haven't played any games yet (going almost all digital this time around) so I don't know how it sounds under load yet.
• BD and Audio playback on their own separate apps that have to be downloaded. Not a big deal but I thought that was strange. Upload Studio is the same way, along with Skype.
• Kinect works far better in small spaces than it did previously.
• Voice commands can be great if you know what to say. If you don't, you'll likely be fumbling around and repeating yourself to Kinect a lot (I know I did), with the Xbox taking interpreting commands that you think it shouldn't. "Xbox > Help" is not as robust of a command as would have liked, but it is at least context sensitive which is nice. There is also a Voice Command video in the Store (downloading now, haven't checked it out yet).
• Interface has a great look and feel to it. But it's going to take a little more time to acclimate to how it works than I anticipated.
• Settings menu (once I finally found it), has a nice little TV calibration guide in it. Very handy for testing RGB Full and Limited.

 

[Gradthrawn]

One more thing, QC code scans via Kinect for code entries is awesome. Truly a killer feature, I mean that wholeheartedly.

 

[Eolirin]

Now that I have one in my hands, I would say that's not optimal. On one side you have a USB port and some button that I can't quite figure out what its for (it's not a second eject button as I thought at first glance).

That's the manual sync button for syncing the controller if the automatic Kinect sync doesn't work (or if for some crazy reason you've disconnected the Kinect from the system).

 

[Eolirin]

Oh, also important to note: The button that is where the "start" button used to be on the controller pulls up a lot of menus that are otherwise hidden, and this is not at all obvious if you don't watch the Welcome videos that come with the console. If you're in the App/Game list that shows all your installed apps and games, that button will bring up a set of options for whatever app/game you've got selected. Including pinning or deleting them. It has other functions in other contexts as well.

 

[Gradthrawn]

That's the manual sync button for syncing the controller if the automatic Kinect sync doesn't work (or if for some crazy reason you've disconnected the Kinect from the system).

Oh, also important to note: The button that is where the "start" button used to be on the controller pulls up a lot of menus that are otherwise hidden, and this is not at all obvious if you don't watch the Welcome videos that come with the console. If you're in the App/Game list that shows all your installed apps and games, that button will bring up a set of options for whatever app/game you've got selected. Including pinning or deleting them. It has other functions in other contexts as well.

Those are good tips, thanks.

 

[RobertR1]

Initial impressions:

Hardware:

• The build quality is great and feel solid
• The rumble makes playing Forza (only played so far) very much next gen than any graphical update could. Once again, they nailed it with the controller.
• Kinect 2.0 work fine for me but so did 1.0 for voice commands. I like the new hand gestures for navigation. Will try out fitness apps this weekend
• Wifi speeds are good but I'll be going wired tomorrow. Annoyed that Wifi isn't AC spec
• The console is SILENT. Its' easily the quietest CE device I've owned in memory

Software:

• The GUI is a great mix of simple on the surface but deep
• Really like the detailed privacy options
• Lack of being able to see the download queue is annoying
• All the snap, pin, etc. work fine for me
• The speed of the GUI is impressive. LIke the 360, they'll only make it faster which is weird to think about
• Since I'm digital only, I can't believe how quickly I can spend all my time outside of Forza and then click on the game and i'm instantly where I left off. I can't wrap my head around this bit still.
• There should have been a cheat sheet with voice commands pakced with the console. There are actually too many commands. It'll take some getting used to but I can already see how certain things are much faster with voice, esp universal search
• Seeing all games digital put a smile on my face
• While I hate Metro on the desktop, it's cleary the right choice for a console UI
• I would like detailed A/V settings for BR playback to ensure that IQ and sounds aren't being touched on the way out

Going forward, I 'm really looking forward to how the console evolves from a UI and functionality standpoint. It's quite refreshing to see a device that really does take a chance to do something different. I do suspect it'll take them about a year to tighten up all loose ends and really have it flow consistently across all services.