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How cord cutters can use Xbox One TV features...

B

Bgamer90

Banned
Recently purchased this HomeWorx HW-150PVR.

pvr_zps56df033e.jpg



Hooked my OTA antenna into it and then plugged in a HDMI cable into it and connected the other end to the Xbox One.

Did the channel search on the PVR and then set up all of the remote and TV guide settings on the Xbox One. Everything is working well (at least so far)...

xboxtv_zpsef934c5f.jpg
Click to expand...

...The only bad thing is that the UI for the HomeWorx PVR is really basic/generic.But anyway, always being connected to XBL and my (digital) Xbox One games no matter what I do on my TV (e.g.: watch shows or movies) is cool. So yeah, check it out if you are an Xbox One owner that doesn't have cable TV. Pretty cheap solution that works.
 
That's cool, but my OTA choices are not worth bothering about, it's streaming or nothing for me.
 
Bgamer90 said:
But anyway, always being connected to XBL and my (digital) Xbox One games no matter what I do on my TV (e.g.: watch shows or movies) is cool.
Click to expand...

Does the Xbox One smartphone app push notifications? I think I might prefer that sort of method of staying 'connected'. Interesting experiment – I do OTA as well and it was a consideration re: Xbox One – but only get a handful of channels that I very infrequently watch.
 
Nerfgun said:
Does the Xbox One smartphone app push notifications? I think I might prefer that sort of method of staying 'connected'.
Click to expand...

The only notifications it will give you are for messages; it won't give full details about the message though and therefore you have to open the app to see it (at least on iOS).
 
I have XFINITY right now, but only one box in my living room (X1 in my bedroom), so I'm really hoping that XFINITY releases an Xbox One app like Verizon Fios just did so I can use my subscription on X1 without getting a second box.
 
Bgamer90 said:
The only notifications it will give you are for messages; it won't give full details about the message though and therefore you have to open the app to see it (at least on iOS).
Click to expand...

Hopefully they build that out a bit. The PS app shows game invites, alerts, and messages. I just like having all my messaging on my phone.
 
Tell me more about how you control this device through your Xbox One. Do you have to speak to Kinect? Can you change channels with the Xbox One controller? Are there any functions you still need the remote that came with the PVR to do, like powering it on?
 
Thanks for the tip, OP.

I currently have a computer hooked up to the HDMI in on my Xbox One. It's pretty neat having a fully featured computer to play with through the One's UI, though there is noticeable lag when using a mouse.
 
a Master Ninja said:
Tell me more about how you control this device through your Xbox One. Do you have to speak to Kinect? Can you change channels with the Xbox One controller?
Click to expand...

Unless I'm missing it I don't see anyway to change channels with the controller. Would seem easy to do since you can get to the TV guide with the controller but maybe it's something MS decided to do so that people will use Kinect more. The PVR comes with a remote so you can use that obviously but either way it's a head scratching omission (again, unless I'm missing something).

edit: You actually can; tech problem on my end.

Are there any functions you still need the remote that came with the PVR to do, like powering it on?
Click to expand...

I have the Xbox One set so that it turns the PVR on/off (as well as my audio receiver and TV).
 
you can change channels with the controller by hitting X to bring up the oneguide and select a channel or up/down on the dpad for channel up/down (but this sucks, because rather than send channel up/down they send the whole channel number)
 
sangreal said:
you can change channels with the controller by hitting X to bring up the oneguide and select a channel or up/down on the dpad for channel up/down (but this sucks, because rather than send channel up/down they send the whole channel number)
Click to expand...

I was doing this before and it didn't work. Tried it now and it's working. Guess something was interfering with the PVR.

So yeah, you can change channels with the controller.
 
JB1981 said:
Can you tell us what kind of OTA antenna you have and what kind of channels you are getting OTA??
Click to expand...

It's an antenna that has a wing shape. Don't remember the brand/name -- bought it for about $20 some years back.

I get all of the major networks -- ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, etc.
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
I recently bought this one and it works wonderfully, whereas my old antenna was really iffy when it came to signal reception. I use it indoors, but you can also set it up outside.
Click to expand...

How close are you guys to major broadcast areas (cities?) I am about 60 miles from Philly .. I'm in Toms River, NJ. I wonder if I will even get reception with an indoor antenna. I guess for $20 it can't hurt to try.
 
Bgamer90 said:
Recently purchased this HomeWorx HW-150PVR.

pvr_zps56df033e.jpg



Hooked my OTA antenna into it and then plugged in a HDMI cable into it and connected the other end to the Xbox One.

Did the channel search on the PVR and then set up all of the remote and TV guide settings on the Xbox One. Everything is working well (at least so far)...



...The only bad thing is that the UI for the HomeWorx PVR is really basic/generic.But anyway, always being connected to XBL and my (digital) Xbox One games no matter what I do on my TV (e.g.: watch shows or movies) is cool. So yeah, check it out if you are an Xbox One owner that doesn't have cable TV. Pretty cheap solution that works.
Click to expand...

Does the guide actually work? How does it know what channels to pull in? Can you take a picture of the guide with the OTA channel listings in it?
 
JB1981 said:
How close are you guys to major broadcast areas (cities?) I am about 60 miles from Philly .. I'm in Toms River, NJ. I wonder if I will even get reception with an indoor antenna. I guess for $20 it can't hurt to try.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I should've probably mentioned that I'm from Europe, where OTA is the norm and transmitters are everywhere.
 
Bgamer90 said:
When you set up the oneguide it will tell you to put in your zip code and after you do that, there should be an option for "OTA Antenna".
Click to expand...


EA85099E-10B0-4E07-89C9-9DAC50E30626_zpsao66un5s.jpg

HMMMMMMM... wonder if I could get it to work. I'm in Canada (near Toronto) so Windows Media Center's cable listings don't work by default, but in the past I've gotten it to work by setting my Country to the US and using a Niagara Falls Zip code.
 
Just wanted to give an update since it has been a month now.

So far the device works really well. Some hiccups (e.g.: random black screen for 2-3 seconds when going to a channel) but they have been pretty rare.

I have kept my Xbox One on longer since getting the Homeworx box. I would say I now leave it on for at least 5 hours per day.

I really love the ability to see my Xbox one feed while watching a TV show and then instantly going from watching a TV show and jumping into a game after seeing one of my friends playing a certain game (my games are digital).

A few weeks ago, new (smaller, low budget) OTA channels have been added here in the area and the OneGuide still hasn't been updated for them yet. Wonder how long it will take (or just how often they update it period). Not a big deal though since I mostly watch the major networks in terms of live TV.

One more thing I will say too now that I think about it is that the Xbox One needs an option in which you can set the amount of (I guess) IR blasts for volume when controlling it via voice. Most of the time, when I say "volume up or down" it doesn't go up or down enough to the way I want it. Therefore, it would be good if I could set an amount for that (like "5 button presses").
 
infinityBCRT said:
EA85099E-10B0-4E07-89C9-9DAC50E30626_zpsao66un5s.jpg

HMMMMMMM... wonder if I could get it to work. I'm in Canada (near Toronto) so Windows Media Center's cable listings don't work by default, but in the past I've gotten it to work by setting my Country to the US and using a Niagara Falls Zip code.
Click to expand...

STEVEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Bgamer90 said:
Recently purchased this HomeWorx HW-150PVR.

Hooked my OTA antenna into it and then plugged in a HDMI cable into it and connected the other end to the Xbox One.

Did the channel search on the PVR and then set up all of the remote and TV guide settings on the Xbox One. Everything is working well (at least so far)...

...The only bad thing is that the UI for the HomeWorx PVR is really basic/generic.But anyway, always being connected to XBL and my (digital) Xbox One games no matter what I do on my TV (e.g.: watch shows or movies) is cool. So yeah, check it out if you are an Xbox One owner that doesn't have cable TV. Pretty cheap solution that works.
Click to expand...


Thanks for posting. I was just researching this the other day and came across some threads in other places (Xbox.com and AVS forums) about people with OTA set ups, and they mentioned this device. Good to know it works well. From the other threads I've seen, this video seemed to help people with the set up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qt6qqNyJXw

Do you have DVR capabilities with this set up? How does that work exactly? Do you need an external USB HDD? Then you program it to record things like a normal DVR?
 
Hockeymac18 said:
Thanks for posting. I was just researching this the other day and came across some threads in other places (Xbox.com and AVS forums) about people with OTA set ups, and they mentioned this device. Good to know it works well. From the other threads I've seen, this video seemed to help people with the set up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qt6qqNyJXw

Do you have DVR capabilities with this set up? How does that work exactly? Do you need an external USB HDD? Then you program it to record things like a normal DVR?
Click to expand...

I have never used it for DVR at all. The box does have USB ports for doing just that but I can't really talk about it since I never use it.

Also as a cord cutter, I have Hulu and sometimes use it just to watch major network shows I missed (or watch episodes again).
 
Bgamer90 said:
I don't have never used it for DVR at all. The box does have USB ports for doing just that but I can't talk about really talk about since I never use it.

Also as a cord cutter, I have Hulu and sometimes use it just to watch major network shows I missed (or watch episodes again).
Click to expand...

Yea, I'm a cord cutter, too, so watch Hulu and Netflix pretty much primarily. Just wondering if you had experience with it since I saw it mentioned in the reviews on Amazon. It could be useful for some shows that aren't on Hulu (probably not many) or live sports recordings.
 
Hockeymac18 said:
Yea, I'm a cord cutter, too, so watch Hulu and Netflix pretty much primarily. Just wondering if you had experience with it since I saw it mentioned in the reviews on Amazon. It could be useful for some shows that aren't on Hulu (probably not many) or live sports recordings.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have read some reviews and people have said that it works well though. Couldn't see there being any problems but I wouldn't feel right saying that it's perfectly fine since I have never used the device for that.

(And sorry for the typos and grammar in that previous post -- I'm on my phone).
 
About to cancel cable and just wanted to know if there are any other devices like this one confirmed to work with XB1 without the PVR functionality. Don't really need that.
 
I plug in a Chromecast and it works fine.
 
My PC is connected to my xbox via HDMI and I have the links to the sites of my channels on my favorite places in Firefox. This may be an archaic method to go about doing things.
 
The Beta for Xbox One SmartGlass with One Guide and better TV remote is now openly available on the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 app stores. This looks really useful. Pic courtesy of the Verge.

xboxonetvsmartglass1_1020.0_standard_640.0.jpg
 
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