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Microsoft: "Xbox One isn't a native media center extender."

Cartman86

Banned
lol why ask about fucking windows media extender. Ask about generic DLNA for video and music. God damn these questions are not hard.
 

eastmen

Banned
So wait a second. Its possible that you won't be able to stream audio or video from PC to the Xbox? I never used WMC but I did stream music and video.

Maybe they'll just require Gold for it. Adding value and all that.

you can stream music and video , just not live video through media center. You will need to find something else and reset up all your htpcs to run that new thing (which most likely sucks)
 

Duxxy3

Member
It seems like the console, and some games, are coming out 6 months too soon. They have been working on the system for 2 years less than the PS4, and it shows.
 

Iacobellis

Junior Member
I remember when last year someone from Activision(?) said that one console wouldn't be out until 2014. Most people expected them to mean it would be Sony's system.

Hm...
 

Synth

Member
So wait a second. Its possible that you won't be able to stream audio or video from PC to the Xbox? I never used WMC but I did stream music and video.

Maybe they'll just require Gold for it. Adding value and all that.

If you've never used WMC, then this means absolutely nothing to you.
 

thepg12

Neo Member
So wait a second. Its possible that you won't be able to stream audio or video from PC to the Xbox? I never used WMC but I did stream music and video.

Maybe they'll just require Gold for it. Adding value and all that.

You can. Just not through Media Center Extender functionality.

And of course, MS PR didn't even bother to clarify.

This fucking company.

What is there to clarify? Someone asked about it being a Media Center Extender. They said no.
 

Sean*O

Member
SenjutsuSage took out a key word in the title. "Xbox One isn't a native "WINDOWS MEDIA CENTER" extender." Since windows media centre is on the outs with MS for a few years now, that's understandable. It's going to be a streaming box, don't worry. But since that word is missing from the title, let the FUD spread far and wide!

You're mad if you think that guy would spread FUD about the Xbone.
 

PJV3

Member
It seems like the console, and some games, are coming out 6 months too soon. They have been working on the system for 2 years less than the PS4, and it shows.

The DRM change has probably got in the way of finishing some features and giving the console a final polish.
 

Synth

Member
It won't recognize Windows?


So it will have native support like the 360 does now? Fine by me.

Whatever you were using in the past, will work fine. This is WMC specific. If you don't use it, then there's no change.

I think the OP needs to have this information added to it.
 

harSon

Banned
I'm pretty much done understanding anything this company does anymore. It's like trying to look at one of those abstract paintings where if you tilt your head a little it seems like a totally different thing, maybe, if you squint.

What's not to understand? Microsoft is moving away from Windows Media Center as a whole, so they removed the functionality from the Xbox One. Hell, they moved away from it during the last generation. If you hadn't noticed, it wasn't really updated at all on the Xbox 360. Things like native divx/xvid support, netflix, hulu, hbo go and now HDMI in passthrough have rendered the functionality useless.

This is old news. Windows Media Center has basically been on life support since half way through the last generation. Remember when Microsoft used to sell Media Center desktops? Well, they don't do that anymore. Hell, the Windows 8 update of Windows Media Center is literally the same as Windows 7's, so it's been dead for a while now. If you want Windows Media Center functionality, you're better off building an XBMC machine, and using DLNA to stream to your console.

Or now that it's confirmed that the Xbox One can run Windows Store applications, wait for something like PLEX or XBMC to be ported to the console. Regardless, this is meaningless old news.
 
He means if you want to stream live TV from your PC to your Xbox One, you'll need to use something other than Media Center to do so. HDMI In and Miracast being two options off the top of my head.
Thanks for the details. Streaming audio in particular is a big feature for me, so its good to know its not at risk.
 
Then E3 happened and we saw all the games. First reveal was a vision reveal. It was a bad idea since core gamers are the first the buy consoles at launch, but to say it's not a true gaming console is garbage. Your argument holds as much weight as saying the PS4 is just an indie games console. Get over yourself with this crap.

While it is true that the XB1 is a gaming device, the point that gets missed and is intentionally obfuscated by Microsoft, is that its value for gaming is evaluated relative to its competition. Microsoft has clearly made compromises to the XB1's gaming capability in order to be able to offer Windows 8 and other non gaming features. So when evaluating the PS4 and XB1 as purely gaming devices, those compromises will be brought up, like being $100 more and having an inferior GPU.

So what is really being said is that for most people, the PS4 is a better console for gaming. To them it is not that the XB1 isn't a gaming device, it is that its gaming features have been diluted to the point where it is a multimedia device that also plays games. While there is no doubt that the PS4 will also have multimedia capabilities, no one thinks its gaming features will have been diminished because of them.
 

USC-fan

Banned
LOL fucking UNBELIEVABLE! I would be in complete meltdown if i didnt see this coming miles away. With windows 8 they not only made media center pay add on, wouldnt let you boot straight into media center and they LOCKED out other media extenders. Then they drop it from the ALL IN ONE MEDIA DEVICE!

I am slightly confused, since I am not using WMC (and never used the 360 to stream media). Can somebody explain to me the difference (feature-wise) between a DLNA server and WMC(E)? Only the capability to stream TV from a PC-TV-card?
DLNA is complete shit. No fast forward or rewind. You cannot watch live tv.

I have a ceton cablecard tuner and digital dual tuner on my HTPC. I can watch or record 6 different channels. i have extenders in 4 different rooms.

Everyone saying its a non issue do not use the services clearly and i know it only like 8 million active Media center users out there so it clear that nothing to MS. Just keep shitting on your most loyal users.

I really hope they come out with a very low power x360.

Where is Albert Penello ? I want him to come in and make this all better and tell us its a mistake and its in the xbox one

Yeah fucking good luck with that. Guy dodge my question just last week about this.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=78848349&postcount=1069
 

therapist

Member
Even if it cant there will be ways around it a la ps3 media server type thing.

Of course, that is fucking sad.
I would of thought it would of had like XBMC built in or someting of the sort , for 499 console its sad if it cant even do streaming like a 360 did out of the box.

The excuse will be that they made it for cable top boxes and streamers / pirates can basically go fuck themselves really , because lets be honest , you *likely* arent streaming legit content =P
 
lol why ask about fucking windows media extender. Ask about generic DLNA for video and music. God damn these questions are not hard.

I just assumed it would be a given...

Now I'm wondering why I would assume that. Has there been any confirmation that the PS4 will support it?
 
What's not to understand? Microsoft is moving away from Windows Media Center as a whole, so they removed the functionality from the Xbox One. Hell, they moved away from it during the last generation. If you hadn't noticed, it wasn't really updated at all on the Xbox 360. Things like native divx/xvid support, netflix, hulu, hbo go and now HDMI in passthrough have rendered the functionality useless.

This is old news. Windows Media Center has basically been on life support since half way through the last generation. Remember when Microsoft used to sell Media Center desktops? Well, they don't do that anymore. Hell, the Windows 8 update of Windows Media Center is literally the same as Windows 7's, so it's been dead for a while now. If you want Windows Media Center functionality, you're better off building an XBMC machine, and using DLNA to stream to your console.

Or now that it's confirmed that the Xbox One can run Windows Store applications, wait for something like PLEX or XBMC to be ported to the console. Regardless, this is meaningless old news.

Just because they don't update something regularly does not mean it's "dead". Media center is still one if the best DVRs around, and a lot of people use it (myself included).

Someone else already nailed the reason they're not supporting it on Xbone: it's free.
 

eastmen

Banned
It won't recognize Windows?


So it will have native support like the 360 does now? Fine by me.

Media center allows streaming of live tv on window systems to either other pcs or windows media center extenders.

There are other programs like xbmc that will do it.


So on the one you can stream video files that you've downloaded or downloaded music from a pc. But you can steam live tv until someone makes an xbmc app for it or something else.

It sucks
 
You can. Just not through Media Center Extender functionality.



What is there to clarify? Someone asked about it being a Media Center Extender. They said no.

I do kinda get what he means though. PR should be able to anticipate that there may be concern over the basic ability to stream from PC after that answer, and should just clarify it anyway just for the hell of it, even if unnecessary. I don't think it's a mystery that I'm really excited to get an Xbox One, but even I was ready to cancel my pre-order over this if it was as bad as I feared. I'm sure not everybody will take this as seriously, but this is a pretty big deal for me.

I'm excited about the games, but I'm pretty excited about the other features, too.
 

harSon

Banned
Just because they don't update something regularly does not mean it's "dead". Media center is still one if the best DVRs around, and a lot of people use it (myself included).

Someone else already nailed the reason they're not supporting it on Xbone: it's free.

It's dead as far as Microsoft is concerned. When they fail to update it with a new OS release, and refuse to include functionality for it within their media Trojan horse, then it's pretty clear that they don't give a shit about it anymore.

The market has simply changed too much. There's not much of a market for high priced media centers anymore, outside of hardcore enthusiasts, and that group is more likely to use something like Plex or XBMC (They're honestly 38732983749382x better than what the PS4 or XB1 are going to be able to realistically offer at launch). The rest of the market has been undercut by cheaper alternatives like Roku and AppleTV, or functionality built within stuff like the video game consoles and smart televisions.
 
Seems like a non-issue, then. Anything that can't be covered by DLNA (and is relevant) will be covered by some Metro app eventually. Although, Microsoft might prevent certain apps from its store to enforce some sort of monopole, similar to Apples policies in some areas.

At least in the W8 store Ms is being far less restrictive than apple. I think metro itself is less restrictive by default. For instance, metro allows apps a extensible platform for codecs, with hardware acceleration support.

On the W8 store Ms haven't banned media players that play mkv video and use hardware acceleration, nor emulators or even full blown bit torrent clients...

Well, the Windows 8 connection may potentially provide some hope. Maybe they plan on doing this through some kind of Windows 8 app or something instead of building it into the OS? I wouldn't mind if there was an awesome third party alternative, but it'd be extremely awkward if MS didn't have their own solution for the Xbox One.



Really? I've never tried this. This works right now on the Xbox 360? If so, this could maybe be what Microsoft does with the Xbox One. Stream from PC to the Xbox 360 using Xbox Video on Windows 8 works currently?

I think one of their solutions is to put an hook at OS level. That means any video player app can seamlessly stream to xbox. Their own apps (Video and Music) stream to xbox using this same hook, though since the apps themselves are somewhat limited (no mkv support for instance), if you don't use a 3rd party app you will be somewhat limited...
 
Yep! Just tested it and it works. I can even pause, rewind and fast forward. Although, I can't access my entire pc library without using my pc it seems through this, but perhaps that'll be sorted out for the Xbox One.

I'm much less worried about this now since Xbox Video support on Xbox One should be a given, but I hope they give it some much needed updates, so we can see our entire library from the tv without having to go back over to the PC, which can be pretty annoying.

Yea, I just streamed an episode of south park over to my Xbox 360 that was definitely from my own collection. If they don't have an equivalent to the system video player on Xbox One, then I guess I don't mind using a metro app of some sort to handle this stuff, but being able to see your entire PC library through the Xbox One is a must.

yeah we still don't know if the xbox will see library.
 

Synth

Member
Even if it cant there will be ways around it a la ps3 media server type thing.

Of course, that is fucking sad.
I would of thought it would of had like XBMC built in or someting of the sort , for 499 console its sad if it cant even do streaming like a 360 did out of the box.

The excuse will be that they made it for cable top boxes and streamers / pirates can basically go fuck themselves really , because lets be honest , you *likely* arent streaming legit content =P

please, PLEASE read the thread. This does not affect your ability to stream files from your PC.
 

thepg12

Neo Member
I do kinda get what he means though. PR should be able to anticipate that there may be concern over the basic ability to stream from PC after that answer, and should just clarify it anyway just for the hell of it, even if unnecessary. I don't think it's a mystery that I'm really excited to get an Xbox One, but even I was ready to cancel my pre-order over this if it was as bad as I feared. I'm sure not everybody will take this as seriously, but this is a pretty big deal for me.

I'm excited about the games, but I'm pretty excited about the other features, too.

The question seem to be more specifically about streaming live TV through media center extender which they said it would not and then said they'll "continue to work to enable more ways for everyone to get the television they want over the life of the program." The question and answer was based around one way of getting live TV
 

The Crimson Kid

what are you waiting for
And just when I thought MS's PR was turning around...

While I can't imagine that the Xbox One would be unable to stream content from PCs in some form, it is astounding that a totally-prepared PR statement given to the biggest gaming site on the Internet would directly imply that a core feature of the 360 is absent from the XB1.

Seems like a non-issue, then. Anything that can't be covered by DLNA (and is relevant) will be covered by some Metro app eventually. Although, Microsoft might prevent certain apps from its store to enforce some sort of monopole, similar to Apples policies in some areas.

If that were the only way to stream content from a PC to Xbox One, then that is still a HUGE issue.

Most people do not have Windows 8, and plenty of PC owners have little desire to upgrade to it. They shouldn't have to upgrade to it just to perform a function that works just fine on older versions of Windows and with plenty of other media boxes.

If this were the only way to stream content from a PC to a XB1, then they would be, in effect, erecting a $200 pay wall to stream in this manner for people without Windows 8.

Streaming from Windows 7 works perfectly fine on every other dLNA device out there, and I'm sure that MS could get it to work on the Xbox One if they really wanted to.
 

eastmen

Banned
That does suck to hear. I never used it myself, but I can understand the disappointment.

Is this something you could do on the PS4?

Sony doesn't support windows media center. They would have to make an app like xbmc or something else just like on the xbox one.


I have no interest in a ps4 however.
 

PJV3

Member
I do kinda get what he means though. PR should be able to anticipate that there may be concern over the basic ability to stream from PC after that answer, and should just clarify it anyway just for the hell of it, even if unnecessary. I don't think it's a mystery that I'm really excited to get an Xbox One, but even I was ready to cancel my pre-order over this if it was as bad as I feared. I'm sure not everybody will take this as seriously, but this is a pretty big deal for me.

I'm excited about the games, but I'm pretty excited about the other features, too.

It's basic PR, we're removing x, but don't worry because you can use y. So if they don't do it, it can be worrying.

You're not gonna have to cancel by the looks of it.
 
It's just really confusing.

I posted this in another thread... and this is just stuff we're learning of post 180s, if you factor in all the changes that occurred as a result of the 180s, it's gotta be the most confusing launch in videogame history. I am seriously having trouble keeping track, and I'm way more tuned into the industry than the average consumer, so imagine what they are going to think.

I really don't think it has to be that confusing. Senior leadership came up with a gameplan that early adopters fiercely rejected, so MS expunged the principle players (e.g Mattrick) and is now working diligently to undo their plan in a brutally short time frame and within the parameters already set by the initial blueprint.

It's understandable that this is a huge mess. I really hope MS gets its shit together because competition is good for the industry and Nintendo is content to take their ball and play their own game.
 
It's dead as far as Microsoft is concerned. When they fail to update it with a new OS release, and refuse to include functionality for it within their media Trojan horse, then it's pretty clear that they don't give a shit about it anymore.

The market has simply changed too much. There's not much of a market for high priced media centers anymore, outside of hardcore enthusiasts, and that group is more likely to use something like Plex or XBMC (They're honestly 38732983749382x better than what the PS4 or XB1 are going to be able to realistically offer at launch). The rest of the market has been undercut by cheaper alternatives like Roku and AppleTV, or functionality built within stuff like the video game consoles and smart televisions.

Still pretty inexcusable for them not to include the functionality if they're serious about trying to sell and market this thing as an all-in-one solution.
 

Gskyace

Member
It's just really confusing. It's hard to tell what's what anymore

● Self-publishing coming to Xbox One; won't be fully in place at launch.
● "Our priority is ensuring our customers get the best Xbox One experience the first day it is available." --> Kinect will only work fully in 5 countries out of the 13 launch countries.
● Xbox One will be available in 21 countries for Launch -> Xbox One will launch in only 13 countries
● External Harddrive is supported --> External Harddrive support won't be ready at Launch
● Xbox One pre-orders in Europe Tier 1 countries receive FIFA 2014 for free --> Wait, we mean it's for Xbox One Day One Edition pre-orders.
● Pre-loading not ready for Launch; Will Come Later

I posted this in another thread... and this is just stuff we're learning of post 180s, if you factor in all the changes that occurred as a result of the 180s, it's gotta be the most confusing launch in videogame history. I am seriously having trouble keeping track, and I'm way more tuned into the industry than the average consumer, so imagine what they are going to think.

"Xbox One, say something!"
"Xbox. Xbox? Xbox!!!"
 

eastmen

Banned
I mean, I'd assume they'll have some Win8 app equivalents - if not a launch, then not long after...

...Right?

i'd have to change all my set ups and since I'm not going to buy 5 xbox ones at launch I'd have to find something that works on xbox 360 and xbox one.

I rather just not deal with the hassle and I was already considering droping the xbox one after the horrible drm changes they made. This is really just the icing on the cake .

A new video card would serve me better at this point
 
Just because they don't update something regularly does not mean it's "dead". Media center is still one if the best DVRs around, and a lot of people use it (myself included).

Someone else already nailed the reason they're not supporting it on Xbone: it's free.

I doubt that's the reason.

It's not free on W8, even if you purchase the pro version. And all W8 versions do getnthe play to charm, which is supported, free, on xbox.
 

Finalizer

Member
i'd have to change all my set ups and since I'm not going to buy 5 xbox ones at launch I'd have to find something that works on xbox 360 and xbox one.

Just curious - and I'm not trying to convince you to keep your pre-order or anything like that, just genuinely curious - but is it really such an issue if it's not media center on one specific box? Like you need them all to work within that same system for some reason?

Really just wondering here. I've never really bothered with WMC myself.
 

teiresias

Member
I've always found DLNA janky as hell, and despite what I think of MS as a whole, I've only ever heard (relatively) good things about Windows Media Center and how it works with extenders, so can't imagine DLNA is a really great substitute for people.
 

Skeff

Member
It's basic PR, we're removing x, but don't worry because you can use y. So if they don't do it, it can be worrying.

You're not gonna have to cancel by the looks of it.

Yup, Instead of:

WHITTEN: Xbox One isn’t a native Media Center Extender. We’ll continue to work to enable more ways for everyone to get the television they want over the life of the program.

We should have had:

Xbox One isn’t a native Media Center Extender, However, I'm pleased to say the Xbox One is a fully capable media client and will allow the streaming of your favorite content from your local PC in other ways. The Xbox One all in One entertainment System will provide a quality Media service from launch and we’ll continue to work to enable more ways for everyone to get the television they want over the life of the program.

that would have been more of what I expected at least.
 

eastmen

Banned
Just curious - and I'm not trying to convince you to keep your pre-order or anything like that, just genuinely curious - but is it really such an issue if it's not media center on one specific box? Like you need them all to work within that same system for some reason?

Really just wondering here. I've never really bothered with WMC myself.

I have about 4 years of recordings on my media center along with 8 4TB drives housing them.

So I'd have to find something that will play them. Sometimes recordings from windows media center wont work on xbmc or other apps that do it.

So its not easily switched. Not to mention that I've set up a lot of family with media center to save money and some of them will want to buy an xbox one.

Its a lot of work for something that is already working on the windows kernel .
 
I doubt that's the reason.

It's not free on W8, even if you purchase the pro version. And all W8 versions do getnthe play to charm, which is supported, free, on xbox.

They don't get a cut of the action when you stream recorded TV from your own PC.

They want you watching Netflix and paying for your Xbox live to do so. Make sense?
 

Nif

Member
You've clearly never used it, then. It's a great product.

I have. It was fine in 2006, but there are better alternatives. Even boxee box has a better UI. If you're talking about purely streaming TV, you're better off getting multiple set top boxes and just using your PC to record and stream out video over DLNA to whatever device you prefer.
 

harSon

Banned
Still pretty inexcusable for them not to include the functionality if they're serious about trying to sell and market this thing as an all-in-one solution.

It's inexcusable for them not to include something they don't consider a crucial aspect of their business anymore? Windows Media Center was Microsoft's attempt at putting Windows into the living room, but with the advances in the media capabilities of consoles, Windows Media Center is no longer needed.

Honestly, what's the point of having it? You can stream content without Windows Media Center. You can watch live television without Windows Media Center (although I suppose you'd need a cable box). You have stuff like HBO Go, Netflix, Hulu Plus, NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB.TV, and whatever they plan to release down the road. They received a patent last year for recording television programming with the Xbox One, and judging by the current road map, it's clear that they plan on going in that direction in some point this generation. If you really want to stream recorded content to your Xbox One, then you can simply install XBMC on the computer you're currently using Windows Media Center on, and literally do just that with DLNA. They announced that the Xbox One would be able to run Metro Store Apps, so native 3rd party support of stuff like Plex and XBMC are a definite possibility.

There's simply no reason to continue support for Windows Media Center considering all of its functionality is being absorbed into Xbox One sans the WMC UI.
 
Wait, how do you figure that? In 3 of those countries it won't have ANY voice support? Then how does Microsoft justify the delay to the tier 2 countries? I'm so friggin' confused lol
Yeah, it appears so. Here's the quote from Albert Penello:
Albert Penello said:
In November
- We will launch in 13 geos
- 10 of those geos will support some voice features

...NOW – the nuance to this is that some voice *features* won’t be available in all countries right away. “Xbox On”, for instance, is only available in 5 (hence the confusion on Xbox.com in the small print).
Note the "10 of those geos will support some voice features". At first glance, it might seem to mean "Of 13, 10 will only support some voice." But his further clarifying nuance specifically mentions 5 geos with restricted features, which seems to contradict the idea that 10 have partial voice.

Then there's the footnote on the Xbox website that started the discussion:

Microsoft said:
Xbox voice commands will not be available in all markets on the product release date. Voice commands will be available at launch in US, UK, CA, FR, and DE.
The list of specific countries has been removed, but note that nevertheless the sentence doesn't say "Some voice commands, etc." It just flat-out says "Voice commands will not be available."

That all seems to indicate pretty clearly that the real meaning of Penello's statement is "Launch in 13, but only 10 of those will support some voice features. (Even fewer of them will support all.)" I can hardly believe it myself.
 
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