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Xbox One: live TV available in US only at launch, requires separate device

vio

Member
Holy hell, when will it stop?
At1G5KH.jpg
 

bndadm

Member
Wait, are people really that fucking stupid as to think that the Xbox One would replace EVERY single possible combination of cable box/carrier/dish/satellite TV setup in the US and (by the posts in this thread), the world?

Hahaha! Holy shit, it's like a whole new level of stupidity.

Most likely not. But calling your console "One" and attempting to make it the premier experience in your living room...that requires a separate DVR box, negates a lot of the promise.

I think the real uproar is that it won't have built-in DVR functions. Since DVR's are the cable/dish box in a lot of cases, One is no different than having a 360 next to it.

So it really doesn't become the center of your living room like they want it to.
 

Vestal

Gold Member
FYI from what Ive read in a few sites there is no definitive answer to this. However, I think they will use the CEC through HDMI to control the cable box.

The IR blaster may be a backup in case the cable box does not allow such control.
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
Why no cl+ module? Is this not a thing in America? I can ditch my cable box and plug the module into the Telly....
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
As many analysts have said, Microsoft is no longer competing against Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft is competing against Apple & Samsung for ownership of the Entertainment living room. It may turn out to be a brilliant strategy, only time will tell.

Apple and Samsung are not fighting this battle.

Also: any device with an IR blaster is doomed to fail. Terrible technology that doesn't work right.
 
Most likely not. But calling your console "One" and attempting to make it the premier experience in your living room...that requires a separate DVR box, negates a lot of the promise.

I think the real uproar is that it won't have built-in DVR functions. Since DVR's are the cable/dish box in a lot of cases, One is no different than having a 360 next to it.

So it really doesn't become the center of your living room like they want it to.

Yeah, it still would though, unless you can't control your cable/dvr through this box. I picture it more like a Harmony Remote for some existing devices that would be required. My TV can stream stuff from my PC, but my PC still has to be on. That's what I picture with this, more of a centralized 'box' for your media to come through.

I never thought that it would be a replacement for a cable box, just another way to view/use it. But that's just me I guess.
 

Mindwipe

Member
As it stands it won't work with Sky or Virgin, so the UK is kinda fucked, too.

Good news - Virgin actually does support HDMI-CEC on the TiVo box (not V+).
Bad news - it wasn't implemented correctly and I've never seen anyone get it to work, including senior Virgin engineers.
Worse news - even if it did, Virgin would have absolutely zero, zip and nada interest in enabling it for Microsoft anyway. Why would they? The current EPG is their opportunity to upsell their unique ecosystem feature and PPV. They'd only let Microsoft replace it with a system where Microsoft got to sell that stuff via Zune ads on the Dashboard if Microsoft paid them a spectacular amount of money.

To be blunt, any TV provider needs to be frickin crazy to let Microsoft do this.
 
Most likely not. But calling your console "One" and attempting to make it the premier experience in your living room...that requires a separate DVR box, negates a lot of the promise.

I think the real uproar is that it won't have built-in DVR functions. Since DVR's are the cable/dish box in a lot of cases, One is no different than having a 360 next to it.

So it really doesn't become the center of your living room like they want it to.

People like you are missing the point. The point is you turn on your Xbox One, and you can do everything from there. Additional things will give you additional functionality. It's a central hub. It's much more silly to have expected the Xbox One to have every tuner compatibility out there built in.
 

bndadm

Member
Yeah, it still would though, unless you can't control your cable/dvr through this box. I picture it more like a Harmony Remote for some existing devices that would be required. My TV can stream stuff from my PC, but my PC still has to be on. That's what I picture with this, more of a centralized 'box' for your media to come through.

I never thought that it would be a replacement for a cable box, just another way to view/use it. But that's just me I guess.

Ah I see. So you were picturing being able to at least control the DVR portion through the Xbox One? That I would understand. Have they outright said if you can or can't yet?

I'm really behind in the times as I don't know anything about Harmony and such. I see what you were getting at.
 

bndadm

Member
People like you are missing the point. The point is you turn on your Xbox One, and you can do everything from there. Additional things will give you additional functionality. It's a central hub. It's much more silly to have expected the Xbox One to have every tuner compatibility out there built in.

If I am I would gladly like to rectify that. I'm learning a lot of new things from NeoGAF these past few days as I'm not as tech savy as many on here.

I'm starting to get an idea from Flyinpiranha about at least controlling the DVR and devices through the Xbox One.

I did not feel they made it clear enough in their presentation that all of it could be controlled directly through the box.
 

RobbieH

Member
Ah I see. So you were picturing being able to at least control the DVR portion through the Xbox One? That I would understand. Have they outright said if you can or can't yet?

I'm really behind in the times as I don't know anything about Harmony and such. I see what you were getting at.

I haven't seen Microsoft directly address it, but this is what The Verge says:

The Verge said:
The problem is that the demoes weren't real — the Xbox One's TV integration is the same familiar nightmare we've known for nearly 20 years now. Instead of actually integrating with your TV service, the One sits on top of it: you plug your cable box's HDMI cable into the Xbox, which overlays the signal with its own interface. If you're lucky enough to own a newer cable box, you'll get to change channels directly through the HDMI connection, but most people will find themselves using the One's included IR blaster to control their cable or satellite boxes — a failure-prone one-way communication system that stubbornly refuses to die.

If this sounds familiar to you, it's because it's exactly the same way Google's flailing Google TV platform works. (Google TV even had an NBA demo when it launched in 2011.) If you're a little older it should be even more familiar: it's exactly how Microsoft's own doomed webTV platform worked. We've been overlaying fancy interfaces on top of cable signals and praying for IR blasters to adequately control the boxes for years now, and it's never worked — the content and information on your cable box is too valuable to relegate it to second place, and jumping back and forth between interfaces is irritating and stupid.

What's more, these systems only really work for live television, which you probably aren't watching. Want to watch a show recorded on your DVR? There's no way for the Xbox One to know about it, so you have to use the DVR interface. Found a great show using the One's search and discovery tools and want to record the season? Time to switch to the DVR interface again. IR blaster miss a channel change? The One's guide and channel bar will show different information than the cable box. The cable box is the canonical interface for television, and every attempt to usurp or overlay it has failed.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4...xbox-one-microsoft-didnt-learn-from-google-tv
 

Hrothgar

Member
I have the feeling these features will never reach (mainland) Europe. It's just too much effort for MS.

Is there a bad news aggregate thread somewhere, btw. There is just too much news coming in to keep track.
 

BigDug13

Member
People like you are missing the point. The point is you turn on your Xbox One, and you can do everything from there. Additional things will give you additional functionality. It's a central hub. It's much more silly to have expected the Xbox One to have every tuner compatibility out there built in.

But who watches live TV anymore? If you can't control your DVR list from the Xbox and you have to switch to your DVR to watch your recorded shows, then what's the point? I certainly don't watch my favorite shows live. What about on-demand on the cable box? Can the Xbox One access my HBO on-demand menu through my DirecTV? I mean what's the point in calling something an "all-in-one" box when it's not.
 

coldfoot

Banned
The two screen approach of communication/scores/fantasy team from your mobile device + the game from your TV is inherently better than what MS is doing IMO. Smartglass is a partial admission of this fact.
 

BigDug13

Member
How else was TV going to come straight into the device? Are you kidding me with the faux outrage? Jesus

The outrage has always been "why"? Why is Microsoft even bothering with this if they can't do it right. Why devote so much to the development of this machine that's only capable of accessing your cable box for live entertainment and not for DVR'd entertainment or on-demand entertainment? Why even bother adding that half-assed functionality? I certainly don't watch TV shows live because then I'm stuck with commercials. So their entire "TV interface" portion of the new console doesn't appeal to me at all.

Is there still a large segment of the population that watches their TV live who is still young enough to be clammoring for the next Xbox game system? The people I know that watch TV live are old people who can't be bothered to learn how amazing DVR's are.
 
How else was TV going to come straight into the device? Are you kidding me with the faux outrage? Jesus
I thought it would come at least with some sort of a tuner. All of my gaming friends and me here in Germany watch TV directly through the TV and no one uses an extra box. Since they spend so much time on it I thought it would be more than it is.
 
How else was TV going to come straight into the device? Are you kidding me with the faux outrage? Jesus

Coax input, CableCard slot, multiple tuners. It could have been done. My HD HomeRun Prime does that, plus has the ability to sling the live TV signal anywhere on my network with a WMC extender. I paid like $130 for it. I'd imagine parts cost about half that. It easily could have been worked into the Xbox One, and would have given people a reason to ditch their DVR devices. Could have been a huge selling point.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
How else was TV going to come straight into the device? Are you kidding me with the faux outrage? Jesus

Cablecard in the US? Tuner outside the US? Plenty of devices do it just fine.

The biggest question is why did they not announce partnerships right away, "we partnered with Comcast, ATT Uverse, and Dish to make sure this will work". Instead the official PR is that they have not confirmed any devices at all that will work with the Xbone, which puts the whole demo into questions as to whether it was real or faked.
 
Yep this function will work like horseshit for the vast majority of people. IR blasters are a goddamn joke and cable companies have their own ads and shit they want to serve you with their interface. They aren't going to take a backseat to Xbone's.

If Microsoft would have done it right, the cable companies wouldn't have been able to do shit about it. There are federal laws/regulations on DVR devices. Cable companies have to let you "bring your own box." If the Xbox One was a DVR itself, the cable companies couldn't have stopped them. And consumers would have been able to ditch the lousy DVR rental fee (likely in the neighborhood of $250 a year), thus helping to justify the cost of an Xbox One.
 

Zoe

Member
Apple and Samsung are not fighting this battle.

Also: any device with an IR blaster is doomed to fail. Terrible technology that doesn't work right.

This won't be using IR, if that's what you're implying. It will most likely be using HDMI-CEC.
 

Caddle

Member
How was the demo fake? They showed the system, the ui for it and how it will work. Sony showed video and a few games being demoed on pc hardware, yet microsoft gets the most flack.
 
But who watches live TV anymore? If you can't control your DVR list from the Xbox and you have to switch to your DVR to watch your recorded shows, then what's the point? I certainly don't watch my favorite shows live. What about on-demand on the cable box? Can the Xbox One access my HBO on-demand menu through my DirecTV? I mean what's the point in calling something an "all-in-one" box when it's not.

People still watch live TV. I DVR my regular shows, but I still watch live TV for other things. Plus they've already mentioned DVR usage, and you'll have full access to the interface of the box anyway. There's nothing to stop you from using it.

Cablecard in the US? Tuner outside the US? Plenty of devices do it just fine.

The biggest question is why did they not announce partnerships right away, "we partnered with Comcast, ATT Uverse, and Dish to make sure this will work". Instead the official PR is that they have not confirmed any devices at all that will work with the Xbone, which puts the whole demo into questions as to whether it was real or faked.

Great, you either dramatically increased the cost per box, introduced multiple skus if you make unique boxes that have only the tuner you need, or you only support some services when there are a bunch of different ones to support.

Everyone keeps mentioning cablecard, but that does me jack with DirecTV which needs a tuner, and in reality two tuners, and a access card. What kind of device are you guys thinking they should make that is also reasonable?

How was the demo fake? They showed the system, the ui for it and how it will work. Sony showed video and a few games being demoed on pc hardware, yet microsoft gets the most flack.

It was live and fake. I'm more than willing to bet the gestures and voice commands were not controlling it. It's best to fake these things so that nothing goes wrong in a venue like this. There's a chance it was all real, but I'm willing to be it's someone with a controller or someone pressing a button in sync with what he's doing to guarantee the gesture or command does the right thing.
 

fiyah

Member
This set-top box, said by industry insiders to be available to a limited beta of customers in March, will offer cable channels delivered “over the top” to televisions anywhere there is an Internet connection regardless of provider. (Microsoft Mediaroom, for example, requires AT&T’s service, and Xbox has limited offerings for Comcast and FiOS customers). For the first time, consumers will be able to subscribe to content per channel, unlike bundled cable services, and you may also be able to subscribe per show as well.

http://iq.intel.com/iq/2000011493/why-intel-s-new-iptv-service-will-do-what-google-apple-and-microsoft-can-t

I'm really disappointed with the TV approach by MS. I really was expecting something akin to what intel is doing. This is the gamechanger I was expecting.
 

Mindwipe

Member
How else was TV going to come straight into the device? Are you kidding me with the faux outrage? Jesus

There are lots of us who were quite aware of this mess.

But just puzzled at why you would lead a console launch with a feature that is broadly useless?
 
Addons.

Man haven't seen this since the downfall of Sega. 32X and Sega CD say hi!

Microsoft clearly doesn't understand the meaning of "ONE".
 

ghostmind

Member
How else was TV going to come straight into the device? Are you kidding me with the faux outrage? Jesus



Err, I have been using IPTV on my 360 for 2 years now. It runs as an app on my 360 dashboard and does not require a physical connection to my cable box. In fact, my cable box can be anywhere on my home network and it will work - I have two 360's in my house that receive cable from my provider.

It would not be a stretch to imagine that the evolution of IPTV would have been to eliminate the cable box and have the 360's stream content from the cloud (or even my cable provider's nearest hubs), but instead the XBONE seems to be going backwards, now requiring a physical connection to my cable box.
 

JJD

Member
Err, I have been using IPTV on my 360 for 2 years now. It runs as an app on my 360 dashboard and does not require a physical connection to my cable box. In fact, my cable box can be anywhere on my home network and it will work - I have two 360's in my house that receive cable from my provider.

It would not be a stretch to imagine that the evolution of IPTV would have been to eliminate the cable box and have the 360's stream content from the cloud (or even my cable provider's nearest hubs), but instead the XBONE seems to be going backwards, now requiring a physical connection to my cable box.

It's worse than that.

Besides the physical connection to the cable box, you need to place the XONE IR Blaster next to the cable box aiming it at the set top box infra red input.

I've just read this on Digital Foundry:

It's a fundamental part of the Xbox One proposition and its major point of differentiation with PlayStation 4. Potentially it is also its Achilles Heel, for several reasons. Firstly, Microsoft needs to be able to make this work with any and all set-top boxes in the world. Its solution appears to be the time-honoured IR blaster - a little cable plugs into the rear of the One, its emitter pointing towards the infra-red input on the set-top box.

This is downright stupid MS.

It's the next gen. version of the annoying Wii sensor bar.
 

conman

Member
So many colossal blunders. It's just one after another with this thing. The only thing that can save it is a very, very well funded marketing campaign.

But, man, the thing even looks ugly. Makes it a hell of a lot harder to sell--even with MS's deep pockets.
 

Cizard

Member
How else was TV going to come straight into the device? Are you kidding me with the faux outrage? Jesus

The outrage is there because Microsoft is spending a lot of recourses on a feature that might not even work for a lot of people. How common are cable boxes in America? How likely is it that Microsoft supports a broad range of them?

I can't see myself going back to a cable box just for this and I imagine i'm not the only one. We've finally been phasing out these damn cable boxes with things like CI+ and then Microsoft makes a TV feature that requires one? Doesn't seem like a smart move.
 
Holy fuck, I wanna support the Xone but this is just outrageous. They might as well sell a different console outside the US since half the features wont be available at launch for non-US
 

ghostmind

Member
It's worse than that.

Besides the physical connection to the cable box, you need to place the XONE IR Blaster next to the cable box aiming it at the set top box infra red input.

I've just read this on Digital Foundry:



This is downright stupid MS.

It's the next gen. version of the annoying Wii sensor bar.


The IPTV app on my 360's has full access to my DVR (programming and playback). It even uses Kinect voice commands to do basic controls.

It is sounding like if I upgrade then I lose all of that for the XBONE's ass-backwards solution.

No thanks.
 

TheHater

Member
So you need to buy a separate add-on plus a monthly XBL Gold fee just to get access to these TV features?

Dudes.

Plus the fee you are already paying for the cable service. Yeah, so I don't see how Xbox One can replace all the device under your living room TV stand.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
The DVR thing from the verge is wrong. You can absolutely see what is recorded on a networked TiVo for example, over LAN. And start a program playing. Including TiVo in the UK from virgin.

Not on the Xbox, just generally. So MS could do it on at least some devices

It'd take some effort and the addressable market would be small, but you'd be able to search/pin recorded content as well as scheduled live TV which would be fairly compelling for me personally



Does anyone know if voice search can search across services (Netflix etc) and the live guide at the same time, or do you have to do it separately?
 

K.Sabot

Member
Pretty much assumed the XBONE wouldn't decode the cable signal by itself, and that would also make a whole bunch of providers mad that they can't rip you off with their boxes.
 

BigDug13

Member
People still watch live TV. I DVR my regular shows, but I still watch live TV for other things. Plus they've already mentioned DVR usage, and you'll have full access to the interface of the box anyway. There's nothing to stop you from using it.

This is not what I got out of it. I keep reading that in order to use your cable box DVR features, you'll need to swap to the DVR's interface. Is this not correct? Is there an article that truly spells it out or is it all still too vague from MS's conference?
 
Xbox One - Your All-in-one* Entertainment Device




* Must own separate device for live TV functionality (USA only), must use a separate device for DVR features, internet-connection required every 24 hours to access content, separate fees required to play used games, must install all games before playing them, must have internet access to install XBONE games, all XBONE games are tied to a single account, XBONE compatible with HD TVs only, separate device required to play Xbox 360 and Xbox games, no indie self-publishing capabilities on the system, etc.
 
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