TiVo & Sky+ through 360!

How much do we actually know about Microsoft' s plans for 360?! Having spent most of the afternoon reading through the February issue of the UK' s Official Xbox 360 Magazine i was surprised to learn a couple of things about the future of the console.

For starters it seems that Microsoft is planning to upgrade (or rather enable) their console to function as a Sky+/TiVo box. I' m presuming the hardware required is already in the machine and that it' ll be enabled via some kind of update. I doubt it' ll happen soon, it' s much more likely to be enabled after the PS3' s launch.

It would also seem that users will be able to buy or rent movies in high-definition through the internet using Xbox Live. It' s also stated that it' s likely that Microsoft will set up an iTunes-esque music download service. Sound good to me.

I' m hoping i' ve not just re-hashed what people already knew. I' ve been keeping track of 360 development since it made it' s announcement and i have only just heard about this stuff. At any rate, say goodbye to your TV and hello to your Xbox 360 screen!

Interesting. I was talking with someone from 360 Mag about all this last night, I think Windows Vista will significantly improve the 360 media capabilities... the feature you read wasn' t written by Richard Leadbetter by any chance?

*Runs and gets magazine...* It actually doesn' t say who wrote it, but it' s titled Xbox 360 Destroys.

It' s certainly interesting information as far as i' m concerned. If Microsoft can pull it off with even half the success of Live then it' ll obviously give them a number of advantages.

What' s your take on it?

I think windows vista will just do everything windows xp media center does with your xbox 360. Which is stream videos, music and pictures. It also lets you use windows messenger, although you can' t use a USB keyboard connected to your 360 with it. You can also stream live tv and radio.

But it isn' t really all that great streaming videos. The only formats that work completely are mpg and wmv. AVI is supposed to work but none of mine did.

If it supported all videos, and all you had to do was download the codecs if you didn' t have them it would be much better.

If you are able to use the xbox 360 alone as a tivo it will need a bigger hard drive. They could easily sell bigger ones and had bigger ones in test versions of the 360.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

ORIGINAL: locopuyo

But it isn' t really all that great streaming videos. The only formats that work completely are mpg and wmv. AVI is supposed to work but none of mine did.

What wireless protocol are you using? Supposedly you can do high-def stuff only if:

a) your computer is connected with an ethernet cable to your router (which, mine isn' t)

b) you' re using 802.11a (as opposed to b or g).

I' m not using wireless. I' m using gigabit ethernet. When you try to play videos that it doesn' t support it gives you a message that says it either doesn' t support the codec or the video is corrupt. Then when you check the help stuff it says it supports .mpg, .wmv and .avi. I know there are many different types of .avi files so perhaps it only supports microsoft avi and not any of the others.
It is just annoying though because I can play all of the videos fine on my computer. The thumbnails all show up for the videos too.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."