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[Burger]

OK So I'm a little confused.

I use a Mac at work, and a PC at home, both offer a relatively decent user experience. I double click a folder, it pops up, I open a picture, it pops up.

I also use a Xbox 360. The dashboard is reasonably well designed, items and tasks are for the most part kept in logical locations within the user interface. This machine, in terms of computational and graphical power is leagues ahead of both the Mac and PC I use. It has 2 more cores than both of these machines even.

What I find confusing is this: Why is the user interface so unresponsive and slow compared to nearly every other device I have ?

Is there any reason in particular for this ? I mean it's not just a little slow, hit the guide button and watch that blank blade crawl onto the screen, and the relative buttons and text slowly fade into view. Try and quickly navigate through your recent players list and give feedback on several players. Goto the downloads available for all games in the marketplace and watch it slowly load a list of 10 or so items, and then wait for it to load the next 10.

I don't even bother leaving feedback on people anymore, and I'm loath to send people messages or invites, because it's so mind numbingly frustrating. I mean, go set up a room in gears, and quickly invite 7 of your friends. The invites themselves take a fraction of a second to send (just hit X on the gamertag) but I get these little frikken messages pop up on my screen for the next minute, GAME INVITE SENT..........GAME INVITE SENT.........GAME INVITE SENT..... Does my 360 think I'm a slow reader ?

It's as if the whole thing is somehow emulated, inside a virtual machine, the os running on windows and the CPU being powerPC or whatever it is.

Has there been any comment from MS about this ? Or is it just me ?

 

[btrboyev]

wtf??

 

[Mifune]

Try playing a Wii.

 

[raYne]

So you sent multiple invites and didn't expect to get notifications for mutiple invites?

Anyway, depends on the console. Some have slower dashboards than others.

 

[Kiriku]

Yeah, I agree it is slow and unresponsive. Somehow I never see it mentioned when people talk about the Xbox 360 and thought it was just me. :/

 

[op_ivy]

i've wondered the same thing. i wish the guide were instantaneous. i'd take that over looks anyday.

 

[urk]

It seems to slow up while you're playing a game. I assume that it's access to system resources is being restricted to prevent the OS from making the game chug.

 

[therapist]

Try playing a Wii.

SO true

i have a 360 and a wii , and last night i was playin my wii - wii sports boxing - and i was done so i hit home then wii menu etc...it went black and it took so long to come back i thought my wii just died on me - it took literally 2 minutes to get to the wii menu.

the 360 guide menu is a tad slow at times when sending messages , other than that i think its fine. sure beats the wiis menu...

 

[J-Rzez]

Anyway, depends on the console. Some have slower dashboards than others.

Really, I never heard that before? I must have one of the slower ones...

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I imagine that calling up the blade during gameplay is taxing on the system since it is currently engaged in displaying the game and it's graphics. The OS is a relatively low-priority system process so the majority of the memory and power can go to the game at hand.

Have you ever alt-tabbed out to the desktop in any tasking 3D Windows game? Alt-tabbed back after doing anything? It usually takes FOREVER (if it works at all) so I think the blade is doing a fine job.

 

[Lord Error]

Welp, I've noticed that too with our X360 at work. I think part of the reason for that at least is the very fact that you can access dashboard while the game is running and leeching all the system resources for it at that moment (even though it's paused). On PS3, the interface is really very snappy, but right now you have to quit the game to get to the interface.

 

[brocke]

How's the ps3's interface speed?

 

[McBacon]

On PS3, the interface is really very snappy, but right now you have to quit the game to get to the interface.

Thats not snappy, thats crappy!

Lol, joking.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Also, most of the other items you mentioned (scrolling through available demos, friend list stuff, etc.) are slow because you are waiting on the network, not because your box itself is slow. The XB360 doesn't load EVERYTHING when you go to "all demos", it just loads the first page or two. Then if you scroll past that it loads some more. Bad design? maybe. Saves bandwidth at MS? You betcha.

 

[Philthy]

It's not even just in a game, though. I've noticed the friends panel crawling when sitting at the main menu. It's little faster, but not much. All of this stuff should be instant and smooth. It's still sad going into the arcade games menu and watching it load the graphics in EVERY TIME I GO IN. I mean geez, just cache this stuff so it's displayed instantly! Whats the point of using the 'Last game played' as a shortcut when you STILL have to wait for it to load in whatever game it was you played. It should have this all stored somewhere already.

I love XBL, but man is this slow as crap. There is no excuse for it, it should all be instant with zero lag. Ever. Browsing game content is so freaking slow, too. It should take a 10th of a second to load the list into memory and cache it.

The entire XBL front end feels like im using some crappy Java app.

 

[Lord Error]

How's the ps3's interface speed?

It's really good. I never got it to slow down even while quickly scrolling through the video section, where all of my 30 or so videos have video-thumbnails.

Thats not snappy, thats crappy!

Lol, joking.

Oh snap! :lol

 

[raYne]

Really, I never heard that before? I must have one of the slower ones...

I have two, so I'd know. :lol

Both always updated with the newest dashboards, but one is always slower than the other.

urk is right about the dashboard slowing up while a game is in the drive as well.

 

[Chris_C]

It frustrates the heck out of me, not so much the dashboard blades slowly crawling on screen as that hardly ever happens, so much as the click movie folder, wait.... wait.... wait... ok, no wait... wait... here you go! Also noticed that the speedy update of XBLA listing that was fixed in the last update has gone back to being kinda slow, not as bad as before tho.

What's the PS3's XMB like in comparison? The PSP's is pretty zippy and only ever hangs up for a sec when accessing the UMD.

 

[Bebpo]

How's the ps3's interface speed?

1/100000000000 of a second*

*rough estimate.


Though I agree that the X360 one is more like ALT+TAB on a PC so it's expected to run choppy.

Spoiler

Or maybe they just wanted the interface to run at the same framerate as the average game! j/k

 

[Lord Error]

What's the PS3's XMB like in comparison? The PSP's is pretty zippy and only ever hangs up for a sec when accessing the UMD.

Compared to PSP? PS3 XMB is *much* quicker.

Another example I just remembered, even when you connect a slower-than-ideal USB drive with say, music, to it, it loads files and folders from it's sequentially and updates the list, but the actual responsiveness of the interface doesn't change.

(Again, keep in mind, right now PS3 XMB pretty much always has the system for itself, how much of system it actually uses, I don't know)

 

[Panajev2001a]

SO true

i have a 360 and a wii , and last night i was playin my wii - wii sports boxing - and i was done so i hit home then wii menu etc...it went black and it took so long to come back i thought my wii just died on me - it took literally 2 minutes to get to the wii menu.

That's because the Wii quite probably just reboots (look at the Wii controller's lights ).

Do you remember what happens with the DS if you want to quite the current game, if you exit out of PictoChat, if you go in the settings menu of the OS GUI and then want to get out even though you have not changed a thing, etc... and the system just tells you that it needs to shutdown. Well, with the Wii is basically the same just that the console handles the re.booting for you.

Very Windows 95-ish experience, but it could be worse (not many BSOD's produced ).

 

[Kai Ozu]

Every time they update, it gets slower.

 

[Burger]

It's not even just in a game, though. I've noticed the friends panel crawling when sitting at the main menu. It's little faster, but not much. All of this stuff should be instant and smooth. It's still sad going into the arcade games menu and watching it load the graphics in EVERY TIME I GO IN. I mean geez, just cache this stuff so it's displayed instantly! Whats the point of using the 'Last game played' as a shortcut when you STILL have to wait for it to load in whatever game it was you played. It should have this all stored somewhere already.

I love XBL, but man is this slow as crap. There is no excuse for it, it should all be instant with zero lag. Ever. Browsing game content is so freaking slow, too. It should take a 10th of a second to load the list into memory and cache it.

Thats what I'm talking about.

I can appreciate that if I have Gears in the background then things aren't going to be spiffy, but in the main OS ?? Why ?? Where are all my resources ?

 

[Illuminati]

The OS is a relatively low-priority system process so the majority of the memory and power can go to the game at hand.

If it was designed truly like an OS it should be able to switch priorities as soon as you hit the dash button and give itself normal priority and the game the low priority. Then when you go back to the game swap the priorities again.

It short of is annoying in game though, the blade looks choppy coming from the left side of the screen and it responds slowly.

 

[RubxQub]

...it went black and it took so long to come back i thought my wii just died on me - it took literally 2 minutes to get to the wii menu.

This has happened to me as well, however it's not a common occurrence.

 

[J-Rzez]

I have two, so I'd know. :lol

Both always updated with the newest dashboards, but one is always slower than the other.

urk is right about the dashboard slowing up while a game is in the drive as well.

That's something else... I've played around at my friends house and his was like mine too... maybe we got a crappy allocation? hehe...

 

[PhatSaqs]

The PS3 interface isnt even comparable right now since you cant access it during a game.

I notice the 360 menu runs sluggish at times.

 

[Mrbob]

Yeah I don't know what happened in the last update by my dash runs REALLY SLOW at times.

I'll hit the button and it takes 10-15 seconds for it to load up.

 

[Tieno]

The PS3 interface isnt even comparable right now since you cant access it during a game.

I notice the 360 menu runs sluggish at times.

What does it do when you press the home button?

 

[Lord Error]

The PS3 interface isnt even comparable right now since you cant access it during a game.

I notice the 360 menu runs sluggish at times.

I tend to agree, except in the instance of using X360 dashboard while no game is running (and my experience with that is very limited so I can't comment)

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

How's the ps3's interface speed?

As others have said, the main interface with all the media is quite snappy and clean. The XMB is pretty neat. However:

1) You're getting bare-bones sorting on the mp3s, it's basically just a single-folder depth file listing. It's nothing like the full media library interface on the 360. Then again, the way the PS3 handles pictures and movies is very impressive.

2) Browsing the PSN store/downloadables is just as slow as XBL's downloadables, except you're using a modified web-browser to do it and there are only 3 items on each page, so you end up loading a lot more often to see everything the first time. (I hate the PSN interface but some folks love it). It does cache though, so if nothing changes (and unfortunately so far it hardly has) it is not bad.

 

[raYne]

That's something else... I've played around at my friends house and his was like mine too... maybe we got a crappy allocation? hehe...

That'd make sense if they both share the same or a close build date. Even more if they're both from the same plant.

No way should it be..

..it takes 10-15 seconds for it to load up.

..that slow though. That's definitely not normal.

 

[PhatSaqs]

What does it do when you press the home button?

Gives options to quit the game and go to the dash, turn off controller, turn off system, etc.

 

[ElNino]

Thats what I'm talking about.

I can appreciate that if I have Gears in the background then things aren't going to be spiffy, but in the main OS ?? Why ?? Where are all my resources ?

I don't believe that it has anything to do with system resources per se, well when the guide is slow to pop-up while playing a game that is because of resources but in the dash it isn't. As stated a few posts earlier the things you described in the op appear slow because that data is being populated from Microsoft while you navigate so there is obviously a delay (sometimes more or less depending on your network configuration).

 

[Xamdou]

32mb of ram is dedicated to the UI, while the game takes the rest of the remaining ram. Considering you can read/send text mesasges, hear/send voice messages, send/accept game invites, access friends list/recent players and access your own custom music DURING the game it's not really surprising that it tends to run slow while playing a game since the UI and the game are sharing the same ram.

 

[Lord Error]

1) You're getting bare-bones sorting on the mp3s, it's basically just a single-folder depth file listing. It's nothing like the full media library interface on the 360. Then again, the way the PS3 handles pictures and movies is very impressive.

With 1.5 system you can sort by genre, artist, album, etc. It's not like PSP anymore. (I dunno if this is what you meant)

2) Browsing the PSN store/downloadables is just as slow as XBL's downloadables, except you're using a modified web-browser to do it and there are only 3 items on each page, so you end up loading a lot more often to see everything the first time.

Hold on! I see at least 10-12 items per page, even more on the main page. I have an HDTV, maybe that's why I see more?

Of course the speed here depends on the speed of internet connection also.

What does it do when you press the home button?

Gives you the option to quit the game, shut the console down, and turn the controller off. You also see the battery charge of controller and it's assigned number.

 

[jetjevons]

Is it something to do with the fact that 360 dashboard (or at least the Home dashboard) is handled by the bios?

At any rate I'd rather have a sluggish unified interface that I can access at any time than being forced to quit my game.

 

[The Innocent X]

You can tell its a slow news month when people start moaning about things like this

 

[Wolffen]

Doesn't the dashboard only use around 32MB of system memory, and only 30% or so of one core? If so, the performance is not bad for an HD interface with those constraints.

 

[Burger]

I understand the dash is an 'always on' type of service, it also lives in firmware. Perhaps it only ever has 3-5% of all cpu resources, all of the time ? That would explain the slow speed while not playing a game...

Perhaps a developer could comment...

 

[White Man]

I find it at least a little disingenuous to compare the PS3 and 360 dashes. When you can access as much of the dash in-game on PS3 as you can on 360, then it will be a more fair comparison.

 

[Burger]

You can tell its a slow news month when people start moaning about things like this

Perhaps a videogame discussion forum isn't really the place for you.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

With 1.5 system you can sort by genre, artist, album, etc. It's not like PSP anymore. (I dunno if this is what you meant)

Hold on! I see at least 10-12 items per page, even more on the main page. I have an HDTV, maybe that's why I see more?

1. Did not know that 1.5 added tag sorting to the MP3s! I'll have to play around with this.

2. I am on an SDTV, and I only get 3 items per page. It's annoying. They should have the options to go with small icons or a list instead.

 

[Dirtbag]

I agree with all thats been said.
PS3 and 360 aren't comparable here.

The lag on the 360 ui irritates the hell out of me.
It makes little sense to me, why it is so slow loading, even when a game isn't loaded up.

 

[ypo]

Wait for the $200 XBL Premium version.

 

[Burger]

32mb of ram is dedicated to the UI, while the game takes the rest of the remaining ram. Considering you can read/send text mesasges, hear/send voice messages, send/accept game invites, access friends list/recent players and access your own custom music DURING the game it's not really surprising that it tends to run slow while playing a game since the UI and the game are sharing the same ram.

I'm still not necessarily talking about WHILE playing a game...

Anyway, at what point did it become acceptable during the 360's development ?

"Well, it's a bit laggy and unresponsive, but people won't mind, and at least it looks good right ?"

Sorry, but my iPod has a faster response time than my 360.

 

[The Innocent X]

Perhaps a videogame discussion forum isn't really the place for you.

This thread is barely about games as it is. We`re parched for actual games news.

 

[Burger]

This thread is barely about games as it is. We`re parched for actual games news.

Oh sorry, I mistook this for www.neocurrentandnextgenvideogameconsoleuserinterfacedisccusionforum.com

 

[Lord Error]

1. Did not know that 1.5 added tag sorting to the MP3s! I'll have to play around with this.

Yep, just press triangle, over any song/folder like you do for any operation, and you'll see options called "Sort by:" and "Group by:"

You can also access this sorting quicker by just pressing square while you're in the music list. It will cycle between all the sorting options. I hope PSP gets this feature soon.

2. I am on an SDTV, and I only get 3 items per page. It's annoying. They should have the options to go with small icons or a list instead.

Yeah, that must be it. They really should give some options to SDTV users then.

 

[mylilbuddy]

anyone want to make a video of this slow interface? My 360 hauls ass through its blades.