"Getting it": Confessions of an X XBox hater

glimmerman

OK.

I've got to lay my cards on the table.

I've hated Microsoft for years. I've been a Linux user since 1994. And I've hated many of the things Microsoft have done, from Win98 to all their anti-competitive market strategy, to the various statements they've made over the years about their competitors (mainly Linux ).
I have a PS2, and PSP and a Nintendo DS. I'm not a fanboy, you won't catch me saying the PSP is the best machine ever, but I like my PS2, and I like my Ninty DS.

But I've made a few inflammatory remarks about the Xbox, and naturally laughed at the XBox360 launch, mainly because I didn't see how they added anything over what I already have. It was all about the games.

So I've been thinking about HDTV for a while, mainly in preparation for the PS3.
And so, off to Harvey Normans to go check out the HDTV options, start a bit of research and get a feel for what the different HDTV technologies look like.
HDTV rocks. I like the projector option myself, plasma looks nice, but I reckon you get a lot of bigscreen bang for your buck with a projector.

And while I was there, I wondered over to the console section.

Offhandedly, I asked the guy at Harvey Normans "You got an xbox360 premium?". And he did. One. Well, whats the worst that could happen? I could buy it, hate it and Ebay it in the space of a day. And probably make most of the money back.
So I caved in, and bought the XBox360. "Just to try", I thought. It was more of a whim than anything else.

I got PGR3 and, crucially, a sub to Xbox Live.

Well, in a nutshell, I don't think the game is all that great. The wireless controller is nice, the headset is nice. The game is nice, but not brilliant, and not a huge step over anything I've already played. Of course, I still don't have a HDTV. Maybe that will change my mind.

But tonight, after messing about a bit with downloading stuff on Live, I think I'm finally getting what Gates and co are really trying to sell.
Its not really about the games. Its really about media, and the XBox being a hub for it.

I've downloaded a few trial version arcade games on Live. And I have to say, I'm really enjoying Geometry wars. I've probably spent about 20% of my XBox time on it. But even so, as a gaming machine, I still don't think its all there.

But the turning point came tonight. I started downloading movie trailers, watched some of the shorts that it came with, downloaded a music video, played some MP3s, watched a photo slideshow.

I discovered that what I really like about it, is the media stuff.

I love being able to stream music of my XP box downstairs over the wireless network. I love being able to download movie trailers. I love being able to hook up my photos from my computers to the tv via the network. In short, I like the box as a media hub. Its great.

I also have a linux box in the lounge, running Freevo. Check out freevo, its a brilliant app. Its flexible, I can configure it anyway I like, download any codecs I need, use mplayer for any type of move I want to watch. It does photos, plays MP3s etc etc. But it does require a bit of messing with to make it work well.

But the XBox360, although being much less flexible for movies, is brilliant at user interface stuff. And I love being able to download trailers etc just through my Live marketplace. And its ease of use is stunning. In short its an amazing achievement from a company whose sole claim to hardware fame, as far as I was concerned, until two weeks ago, was the original Microsoft Mouse.

So I think I'm starting to "get it". The XBox360 really *might* have a shot at being a media centre in the home. And the games will definitely get better as developers get a grip on the console itself. And of course, Live Arcade has a good shot at actually producing some games that aren't cookie cutter sequels and sports sims. Games I might enjoy.

So all in all, I think I've turned.

My linux mates are going to go spare when they see I bought one.

lafors

Bravo I think you've put that perfectly, I must forward this link to all my mates who think I'm a nutjob for buying my 360 and then don't listen to why I think is brilliant, maybe they'll read this and change......maybe

CiaranC

Thats great, good post. But most people into Xbox I know modded their Xbox 1 to do all this stuff. XBMC *is" a media centre in my home.

steviec

I agree with pretty much everything you say there, as someone who also disliked the original xbox and loves the 360.

XBMC is more flexible yes, but you don't have to open up your 360 and void your warranty to make it a great media centre. Also, I'm not sure if the original xbox even had the hardware to decode high definition movies at a reasonable frame rate...

But yea, when I think of my 360 I think of Arcade and the market place and the media centre features and the wireless controller and the ease of use. And I think that's proving more important than how many polygons it can push. Not that its a slouch in that category either!

Alnilam

very eloquently put Glimmerman, that's a large part of the reason I bought a 360 as I have an MCE PC as well, I can't help thinking of this when i read your post

danbhala

although its nothing compared to xbmc, it is nice and seemless. like a perfect media solution for your sitting room straight out of the box (well apart from it not being able to play divx simply)....

i wonder if there will be any changes in the 360's menus and stuff in the future incase new media technology comes... what about that webcam feature they mentioned? how will that be integrated?

glimmerman

I'd imagine MS will make all kinds of changes to the media side of the 360. Its an opportunity for them to get a toehold in consumer electronics, something they've looked for, for years. I don't think any of the big CE players wants MS anywhere near the CE market, due to the MS culture of embracing, extending, and proprietarising standards and technologies, making them licensable to MS.

But XBLive is a great entrypoint for them to do this.

Imagine downloading TV episodes, or movies, or music albums, through Live marketplace. Episodic games like Sin too. They might even make divx playable if they see people want it badly enough (although who knows if this will have some kind of DRM malware requirement)

I'd be very surprised if that doesnt come to pass with this iteration of their console. Live is their unique selling point. PS3 can probably do all the media stuff to, plus Sony has the advantage of the PSP media integration with PS3.
But Sony doesn't have the online experience that MS have from Live. it could well be that Sony will start on this type of functionality tho, given the fact that they are sending out questionnaires asking Live-type questions. But they are a generation behind, as is Nintendo. of course, Ninty isn't making a play for the media hub side of things

FrankGrimes

good post glimmerman. I have a post around here somewhere where I outlined my main reason for buying the 360 - as a Media Center Extender.

Whack a TV tuner into a PC in another room, stick media center 2005 on it, connect it to tv signal and your 360 (wired or wirelessly), download the electronic program guide, and sit on your couch and enjoy the 360 as it was intended. media center doesnt just give you a class PVR, it gives you shlick ass UI and also the ability to add in plugins, like MyUK which gives you access to certain websites, web TV, web radio, webcams, bbc news, and more. Webguide 3 will let you schedule recordings over the web on your pc or phone. this is what you need to do to fully "get" what MS were talking about when they said the 360 would act as the hub at the heart of the family's media needs. Its not quite perfect, but dammit its close

Julez

Didnt want to start a whole new thread to ask this, but is there anyway to watch the videos on ur pc without the media center, and also is windows media center just a programme or is it a whole new OS?
cheers

FrankGrimes

Don't believe there is a way to watch videos from the PC without media center. And media center is a whole separate OS. Its pretty much XP Pro with media center running as an app on top.

Alnilam

Julez wrote:

Didnt want to start a whole new thread to ask this, but is there anyway to watch the videos on ur pc without the media center, and also is windows media center just a programme or is it a whole new OS?
cheers

Media connect will let you stream "my music, My pictures and My video" from your pc but the movies have to be in a particular format to play on the 360, there applications to "convert" them on the fly starting to appear online a little bit of research should turn something up.

As for Media Centre edition it is another version of Windows XP (same as windows XP for Tablet) the latest version is based on Win XP Pro, if your interested google for "The Green button" and "the media centre show" by "Ian Dixon" the later is a podcast and site/blog all about MCE and how to get the most out of it.

iregk

Very good post gilmmerman. Personally i dont hate or dislike any company for particular reasons. Each and every big company on the plays under hand games so I wouldn't hate MS nor single them out for their part. They have simply been more in your face about it.

As for the 360 I haven't gotten one yet but I will. The PS3 doesn't interest me at all as it doesn't do what I want it to do, which is be a central media hub. I have an original xbox that I have chipped and it is just the muts nuts. So like yourself I will also be using mine for the media and arcade side of things.

stevieg_irl

if u dont like microsoft,
how come you already hada pc with XP on it?
just wonderin

glimmerman

stevieg_irl wrote:

if u dont like microsoft,
how come you already hada pc with XP on it?
just wonderin

I like gaming. It still going to be a while before linux gaming takes off.

wayne040576

I've been messing with the media capabilities of the 360 a lot, especially with XP Media edition. It has a lot of potential but I think it is a few years away from being a media solution for the average person. The connection between the xbox and PC is great. To be able to flawlessly stream video over a wireless network a good step. The setup is still not as user friendly as it could be. While I had no problems with it, I could see areas where an inexperienced user could.
As an example, one issue I came across (a warning to others). XP media centre doesn't ship with an mpeg codec. When you download the extender software for the xbox, it installs a special mpeg codec that seems to be optimised for streaming to the xbox. If you have any mpeg files and for some reason you want to play them on the pc, this codec will not work as it is only for playing on the xbox. DO NOT download any mpeg codec for XP as it registers over the the one for your xbox, thus disabling proper video streaming. It took me ages to sort this issue because I could not find the name of correct codec. I had to download software that listed all of the codecs on my system and try them one by one. Why am I so concerned with mpegs? Well, I have quite a few avi files and the free xbox 360 converter from videora, only creates mpegs.

I also had issues with the content available online to download. For one thing, Media centre offers a lot of downloadable TV content through the Online spotlight. But this is ONLY for US customers and has been for some time. All we get is a crappy menu of hints and tips. I have a fear that if xbox kicks off something similar, we'll be screwed in the same way.
If you have sky digital, you can get sky by broadband to download movies and sports events, but this does not currently integrate into media centre (something I'd like to see). So you need to use their own app to download the content and then play it on media centre.
If we can get a lot more content to download at the click of a button, then I can see this taking off. But there are sill a lot of hurdles to get over, some technical, others related to licencing of content (I think this will be a big hurdle) that will slow things down.

Oh, for the person who asked, XP media centre edition is not an add on. It's a different version of XP with 'extended media functionality' added.