The Official Xbox One Thread

[Lil Frier]

See, I think that the debate on the Kinect's usefulness comes from 3 angles:

1. People who are just going to complain to complain.
2. People who use and enjoy the Kinect.
3. People who aren't opposed to the Kinect, but just don't have much (if any) use for it.

I'm definitely in the third category, and I think the split between the second and third groups is mainly media consumption. I have 0 interest in the existence of Netflix or Hulu Plus, so voice control on that stuff is pointless to me. I use my desktop for general media consumption, so the Kinect isn't used for that. I know how to Spike the ball without a Kinect or a playbook ('B' button does it, and it even says it on Madden 15 under the scoreboard). There just isn't a use case for me right now. I use it to turn my console on, but mostly so I can say my Kinect gets used, and it usually takes anywhere from 2-5 attempts to get it to cooperate.

There are then those who like to do Twitch streaming with a Kinect turned on. Some watch movies and stream stuff and listen to music. Some record and share game clips. Then there are those who just play games in relative silence, unless using a mic for online multiplayer chat. In those cases, the Kinect doesn't help much. I know I turned the Madden 15 Kinect controls off because it would pick up random words and think that they were audible instructions, and it irritated the heck out of me.

 

[KentState]

You're missing out then!

Out of the two games I have, it offers very little. I can scream at it for Dead Rising and hope it does what I want or quickly press a button. Found it takes more time to say drop weapon than hit the down arrow. Don't even recall Forza 5 doing much with it besides head tracking which wasn't a value add.

 

[RampantAndroid]

It'd be nice to say "Xbox start Titanfall"...but I have a disc version...so unless I happen to have the disc in, I can't say that very well.

And the XBox UI is terrible for media stuff anyway IMO - not at all geared towards a remote. My XB1 is a gaming machine - nothing more. Bluray and DVD duties fall to the PS3 - in part because of the UI design, in part because the XB1's DVD upscaling is godawful (I mean that - I watched a DVD copy of Divergent and within seconds realized something was wrong.) Netflix/Streaming duties fall to the 9Watt Apple TV - in part because Apple's UI is better, in part because why the hell are you going to use a console that uses around 75W while in media mode to stream something when a Roku box or an Apple TV uses below 10W.

 

[Drako]

Netflix/Streaming duties fall to the 9Watt Apple TV - in part because Apple's UI is better, in part because why the hell are you going to use a console that uses around 75W while in media mode to stream something when a Roku box or an Apple TV uses below 10W.

Why would you buy another device just to stream? Besides that, my TV uses ~500W, so who cares about a measly 75W? :biggrin:

 

[RampantAndroid]

Why would you buy another device just to stream? Besides that, my TV uses ~500W, so who cares about a measly 75W? :biggrin:

Noise and heat, among other reasons. Why use more power than needed? Plus, many of the low power streaming devices are $100 or less anymore. Microsoft has no excuse to be running around suggesting the XB1 is a media device when the connected standby mode uses twice the amount of maximum an Apple TV can draw. D:

 

[cmdrdredd]

Noise and heat, among other reasons. Why use more power than needed? Plus, many of the low power streaming devices are $100 or less anymore. Microsoft has no excuse to be running around suggesting the XB1 is a media device when the connected standby mode uses twice the amount of maximum an Apple TV can draw. D:

Well, the xb1 doesn't do Netflix super HD now anyhow. It is a difference I notice when switching between the ps4 and xb1. I use mainly the ps4 for that usage.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Well, the xb1 doesn't do Netflix super HD now anyhow. It is a difference I notice when switching between the ps4 and xb1. I use mainly the ps4 for that usage.

AFAIK, it does do Super HD - it just isn't made clear to the user.

 

[Lil Frier]

Noise and heat, among other reasons. Why use more power than needed? Plus, many of the low power streaming devices are $100 or less anymore. Microsoft has no excuse to be running around suggesting the XB1 is a media device when the connected standby mode uses twice the amount of maximum an Apple TV can draw. D:

So the logic is that media capabilities are not judged on what a device is capable of, but its electrical usage? What?

I mean, I'd personally use my desktop for that stuff, if I was to have it. Sure, it might use more power than Apple TV (like I'd ever buy an Apple product, hehe), but if my PC is going to be turned on anyway, why spend $100+ to have something else do the job?

Even for the console comparison, I don't consider power savings worth $100 for a separate device and the general inconvenience of multiple devices.

 

[cmdrdredd]

AFAIK, it does do Super HD - it just isn't made clear to the user.

No, it does not. It does 1080p but a more compressed version. This is an app limitation and not a console one.

 

[jpiniero]

in part because why the hell are you going to use a console that uses around 75W while in media mode to stream something when a Roku box or an Apple TV uses below 10W.

The funny thing about this is that both the CPU and GPU cores should be able to power save to be able to do media only using far less than 75 W. Both consoles are guilty on this, and it's pretty baffling really.

 

[RampantAndroid]

No, it does not. It does 1080p but a more compressed version. This is an app limitation and not a console one.

Anything to back that up? In the PS3 days Sony got 5.1 working and I don't think the 360 ever did...but this gen I don't think there's any difference. To the best of my knowledge, Netflix's terminology is confusing as heck - HD means 720P, Super HD means 1080P - no more. I don't *think* the bitrate is exposed on the XBox (and no clue on the PS4 since I don't own one); you'd have to look at current bandwidth usage to get an approximation of the bitrate...

Edit:

The PS4 and Xbox One support native 1080p for Netflix and LoveFilm by default, and video quality for each service is mostly identical across these platforms, bar small differences in colour temperature and saturation.

 

[RampantAndroid]

The funny thing about this is that both the CPU and GPU cores should be able to power save to be able to do media only using far less than 75 W. Both consoles are guilty on this, and it's pretty baffling really.

I'm not horribly surprised, really. I'm not sure how low you can get what is essentially a PC with some specialized chips in it. The Apple TV by comparison is basically an iPhone 3GS minus the cell modem (I believe it's the same CPU design in there.)

The proper way to get around this was have some form of smaller board built in with a low power ARM cpu (or MIPS or something) the the XB1 could switch to. Intel's best HTPC build has a 15W CPU and a 150W PSU.

 

[purbeast0]

that quote about netflix and the ps4/xb1 supporting "native 1080p" is hilarious, because netflix can't even come close to streaming "native 1080p".

 

[RampantAndroid]

that quote about netflix and the ps4/xb1 supporting "native 1080p" is hilarious, because netflix can't even come close to streaming "native 1080p".

AFAIK, it steams 1920x1080 at quality good enough I cannot complain...especially when I run it over my VPN and bypass Comcast...(and using my VPN at work to test it - without VPN, my work internet maxes out gigabit ethernet; with VPN, I still hit near the maximum speeds of gigabit when using the Seattle endpoint.)


Is a bluray better? Yes. But I'm not sure I expect a streaming service to do BD quality really.

 

[cmdrdredd]

AFAIK, it steams 1920x1080 at quality good enough I cannot complain...especially when I run it over my VPN and bypass Comcast...(and using my VPN at work to test it - without VPN, my work internet maxes out gigabit ethernet; with VPN, I still hit near the maximum speeds of gigabit when using the Seattle endpoint.)


Is a bluray better? Yes. But I'm not sure I expect a streaming service to do BD quality really.

https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/24ngta/no_netflix_superhd/
http://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/1vvdt1/issues_with_netflix_on_the_x1/
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=721421

 

[RampantAndroid]

https://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/24ngta/no_netflix_superhd/
http://www.reddit.com/r/xboxone/comments/1vvdt1/issues_with_netflix_on_the_x1/
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=721421

Your first link actually kinda supports what I said if you look down a bunch. The two consoles support "super HD" which is just 1080P. HD is 720P. Unless someone does screen grabs showing that the actual picture is worse, or does some network traffic analysis to see what the bitrate is, I'm going to stick with my earlier assertion: the quality is on par with the PS4. The UI...isn't.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Your first link actually kinda supports what I said if you look down a bunch. The two consoles support "super HD" which is just 1080P. HD is 720P. Unless someone does screen grabs showing that the actual picture is worse, or does some network traffic analysis to see what the bitrate is, I'm going to stick with my earlier assertion: the quality is on par with the PS4. The UI...isn't.

Actually, we CAN test this. In Netflix, look up "Example Short 23.976" - it's a test stream that'll display bitrate. 5800 is the max, and the XB1 should be able to hit it (or equal to what other consoles/streaming devices can hit on your connection.)

 

[purbeast0]

AFAIK, it steams 1920x1080 at quality good enough I cannot complain...especially when I run it over my VPN and bypass Comcast...(and using my VPN at work to test it - without VPN, my work internet maxes out gigabit ethernet; with VPN, I still hit near the maximum speeds of gigabit when using the Seattle endpoint.)


Is a bluray better? Yes. But I'm not sure I expect a streaming service to do BD quality really.

yeah and that is why i find it hilarious they claim "native 1080p" when it's not even close. and the public eats it up though because they don't know any better. more power to netflix!

 

[mnewsham]

Actually, we CAN test this. In Netflix, look up "Example Short 23.976" - it's a test stream that'll display bitrate. 5800 is the max, and the XB1 should be able to hit it (or equal to what other consoles/streaming devices can hit on your connection.)

Was going to mention this, just play this video and it will tell you the bitrate, I hit 3000Kbps using google chrome. 5800Kbps using the windows 8 netflix app, and again 5800Kbps from the PS4.

 

[cmdrdredd]

yeah and that is why i find it hilarious they claim "native 1080p" when it's not even close. and the public eats it up though because they don't know any better. more power to netflix!

Yeah it's pretty sad when you think about it. They are able to give people lower quality and they don't know that their TV has potential for better.



Apparently there has been an update to the app that opens up the 5800kbps stream support because it is doing it now. I assure you that when I used it previously which admittedly was months ago, it didn't.

 

[Tweak155]

XB1 + Madden + Destiny pre-order $399:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...1814760&cm_sp=

 

[Lil Frier]

Kind of a pointless bundle, since Microsoft is doing the promo where you can pick your free game with any Bone purchase before 9/13. That means you don't have to wait for shipping, and you don't HAVE to take Destiny, if you don't want it (though I assume that will be the popular pick). My guess is that Newegg wasn't let in on the Microsoft promo, so they put together this bundle.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Well this is...odd. I thought it was a typo in the article title at first...A 500GB Xbox 360 w/ 2 free games is coming out next month. trying to get rid of old stock? Seems like an odd move.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/xbox-360-500gb-sku-arriving-october-tempting-price-100825207.html#QHBxKxx

 

[Tweak155]

Kind of a pointless bundle, since Microsoft is doing the promo where you can pick your free game with any Bone purchase before 9/13. That means you don't have to wait for shipping, and you don't HAVE to take Destiny, if you don't want it (though I assume that will be the popular pick). My guess is that Newegg wasn't let in on the Microsoft promo, so they put together this bundle.

Can't pick Destiny with that promo as far as I know.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Can't pick Destiny with that promo as far as I know.

The titles aren't specified it just says total retail value of $59.99 or less