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View Full Version : Xbox 360 Launches in North America!


Jeremy Charette
11-22-2005, 10:00 AM
http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/xbox_360.jpg

Today is the day video game fans around the world have waited for: November 22nd, launch day for the Xbox 360 console. We here at Digital Media Thoughts have waited with equal anticipation, but not necessarily for the games. The Xbox 360 represents the next evolution of the Media Center concept, and a huge leap in power and usability. Streaming HD media, a complete Windows MCE interface, the ability to access all of your recorded shows from any TV in the house; and all at lightning fast speed. We'll be bringing a variety of Xbox 360 related stories and news coverage to you throughout the day, but don't worry, we'll be returning to our previously scheduled programming tomorrow. :wink: Until then, welcome to the age of High-Definition digital entertainment!

Phronetix
11-22-2005, 10:21 AM
Is that right? The 360 comes with MCE loaded - or just the interface? From a practical standpoint, I hadn't really considered this. Please, consider the fact our house has three Macs, and no PC's, so from a security standpoint I'll have a bit of learning to do once we get ours. If only the interface is MCE, what is the rest of the OS?

Phro

Jeremy Charette
11-22-2005, 01:25 PM
When connected to a Windows Media Center Edition PC, the Xbox 360 can launch a MCE interface which accesses and plays back just about any content on the MCE PC, including recorded TV shows. It looks and feels exactly like a MCE PC (though the content isn't on the Xbox 360, but rather the networked PC.) It is the penultimate Media Center Extender.

The Xbox 360 uses it's own proprietary operating system and interface for non-MCE functions.

Felix Torres
11-22-2005, 06:27 PM
The 360 has MCE-like features built-in that don't require a remote PC so depending on what you want to use it for it may be a substitute for an Media Center.

Available now:

1- Photo and audio playback from onboard HD, optical media, or USB Mass Storage device
2- CD-ripping and archiving
3- CD & DVD playback
4- Audio chat outside of games

Planned but not yet available:

1- Video chat
2- IM
3- e-mail

Rumored but unconfirmed:

1- Movie D/ls
2- TV Tuner attachment
3- Internet radio
4- Music subscriptions, d/ls

Plus, as already mentioned:
1- Windows Media connect remote media playback
2- Full HD MCE Extender functions

Oh, and yes, it plays games, too. :twisted:

Jason Dunn
11-22-2005, 06:32 PM
Please, consider the fact our house has three Macs, and no PC's, so from a security standpoint I'll have a bit of learning to do once we get ours.

You won't be able to to anything at all with the Macs and the Xbox 360. You need a Media Center Edition 2005 PC to use the Xbox 360 with it.

And I've never heard of Xbox security issues, so I think you're worrying about nothing there.

encece
11-22-2005, 07:01 PM
Pissed off my reservation was not honored!
Reserved it at Gamestop months ago and they said they only got 20 in!
They're not even sure if they'll have them by Christmas! :evil:

Jonathon Watkins
11-23-2005, 12:59 AM
The 360 has MCE-like features built-in that don't require a remote PC so depending on what you want to use it for it may be a substitute for an Media Center.

Available now:

1- Photo and audio playback from onboard HD, optical media, or USB Mass Storage device

I was thinking of getting a Roku or a Slim MP3 streamer (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9181) to connect to my stereo system in the living room. Would an Xbox be a better alternative? I.e. would it be a better streamer than the Roku or Slim, which are optimised for the job?

Jason Dunn
11-23-2005, 02:27 AM
I was thinking of getting a Roku or a Slim MP3 streamer (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9181) to connect to my stereo system in the living room. Would an Xbox be a better alternative? I.e. would it be a better streamer than the Roku or Slim, which are optimised for the job?

Getting an Xbox for your living room just to stream audio would be like driving a nail into a wooden board using a shotgun. Overkill. ;-) A Roku of Slim would do a much better job and are much smaller and less expensive.

encece
11-23-2005, 04:24 AM
I'm a bit calamer now, so I'll tell the rest of my story of my Xbox 360 day.

I reserved the 360 for my son's birthday on Thanksgiving day. Expecting that if 100 people reserved it at the store, they would receive 100+ consoles to honor the reservations plus sell some more. At the time I reserved it, the clerks told me production would be based on reservations and if I didnt reserve it...I wouldnt get it until after Christmas. So I plunked my $50 down and didn't give it a second thought.

The GameStop I reserved it at received 20. TWENTY!

Now I can't say I'm a marketing genius...but if I were Microsoft an I wanted to beat out the PS3 by selling as many consoles as possible before Sony's release....I would have actually had some consoles to sell at launch. I would have had as many as possible, so I could get an xbox in the hands of someone who may be waiting for the PS3.

I watched a Three hour+ lauch party in the desert on G4 last night. Laughed as I watched the lines of people waiting in front of Wal*Mart for the console on the news. "THEY SHOULD HAVE RESERVED ONE!!! HA! HA! HA!"

Then I awoke to find that I wasn't getting mine...AND WORSE, I may not even have it for Christmas.

So I ran out to buy alternate gifts for my son today. One mall to another. One store to another. During my run, I inquired at each store I was at how many xbox's they had, how fast the sold out and when they expected more.

The responses:
Wal*Mart: 30 units; 15 core - 15 premium (15 minutes)
Target: 30 units; 15 core - 15 premium (30 minutes)
CompUSA: 20 units (immediately)
GameStop #1 and #2: 20 units each (based on reservation pickups)

When will they get new ones in?:
Wal*Mart: 2nd or third week in December
Target: Hopefully before Christmas
CompUSA: Before Christmas to early January
GameStop #1: Next week (didnt know how many)
GameStop #2: Early January

Obviously no one knows the answers.

In my travels I needed to buy a copy of Marvel Nemesis for the PSP. So I stopped at GameStop. I walked in and said: "Hi, I'm here to pick up my 360!"
The clerk said: "Did they call you?"
I responded: "Yes!"
He asked for my name and I asked him if he had any in the store. He said YES but only for the reservists, reservers....whatever.

I tried to bribe him into selling me one of theirs but he wouldn't. Nor would he tell me how many were not picked up yet. But he did tell me that TWO were returned because they were defective!

I did play the 360 in CompUSA on an HD Monitor. KingKong.
BEAUTIFUL. BEAUTIFUL. BEAUTIFUL!

Take the movie parts of the original XBOX's games... and that's what you see all the time....but even better! I loved it!

But I'm done my shopping. My son will understand. Hopefully, he'll have it by Christmas.

I still am disgusted with Microsoft...who had SOME sort of agreement with GameStop that wasn't honored. I am disgusted with GameStop for their poor notification of the situation. (ie....I wasnt notified AT ALL!)

For those who did get their consoles....ENJOY! :)

encece
11-23-2005, 05:22 AM
I omitted my quest to find the Anikin StarWars Evolution three action figure set, and the game NickToons United for the Xbox or PSP....that doesnt exist!

Good thing or my post would have been REALLLLLY long!

(didnt know Jason wrote a blow by blow article of his day either....but he got his xbox, albiet not the one he wanted!)

encece
11-23-2005, 05:24 AM
http://www.hdbeat.com/2005/11/22/xbox-360-hell-the-itinerary/

here is some more hell.

Felix Torres
11-23-2005, 02:48 PM
I was thinking of getting a Roku or a Slim MP3 streamer (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9181) to connect to my stereo system in the living room. Would an Xbox be a better alternative? I.e. would it be a better streamer than the Roku or Slim, which are optimised for the job?

Roku supports internet radio (and Rhapsody and Napster streams) and has its own display, no?
So unless the Photo and/or video is important the Roku wins at half the price. As you said, it is optimized for audio.

Felix Torres
11-23-2005, 03:02 PM
http://www.hdbeat.com/2005/11/22/xbox-360-hell-the-itinerary/

here is some more hell.

Oh, my!!!
Those are *some* war stories.

Some people just don't know to quit while they're ahead...

:lol:

Jonathon Watkins
11-23-2005, 08:27 PM
Roku supports internet radio (and Rhapsody and Napster streams) and has its own display, no?
So unless the Photo and/or video is important the Roku wins at half the price. As you said, it is optimized for audio.

True, but as I said in my post here about the topic (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9181), I really am looking to keep the computer off and just have an external hard drive on all the time. Currently in the UK a hard drive that support the Slim server costs around £100 more than an equivalent external HD. That plus the extra functionality of the 360 (showing photo slide shows on the TV, games :wink: etc.) makes me lean towards a 360 later in the year when the HD-DVD version comes out and the price drops.

Am I right in thinking that you can steam MP3 from an external network attached hard drive straight onto the 360, where you can control what you play, then feed it through to the stereo amplifier?

Jason Dunn
11-23-2005, 10:39 PM
Am I right in thinking that you can steam MP3 from an external network attached hard drive straight onto the 360, where you can control what you play, then feed it through to the stereo amplifier?

No, not unless that hard drive runs Windows Media Connect software so the Xbox can see it. It can't browse network file shares directly from what I can see.

Jonathon Watkins
11-24-2005, 12:19 AM
Am I right in thinking that you can steam MP3 from an external network attached hard drive straight onto the 360, where you can control what you play, then feed it through to the stereo amplifier?

No, not unless that hard drive runs Windows Media Connect software so the Xbox can see it. It can't browse network file shares directly from what I can see.

OK. I thought I read that the Xbox could access files from an external hard drive. Does the HD have to be plugged directly into the Xbox then and if so, how is it connected?

Jason Dunn
11-24-2005, 12:22 AM
OK. I thought I read that the Xbox could access files from an external hard drive. Does the HD have to be plugged directly into the Xbox then and if so, how is it connected?

But you said "network attached storage drive" - the Xbox 360 does have a USB port on the back, so technically yes, if you attached a hard drive to the back of it via USB, you should be able to access everything on it. I'll have to give that a try. ;-)

Felix Torres
11-24-2005, 02:06 AM
But you said "network attached storage drive" - the Xbox 360 does have a USB port on the back, so technically yes, if you attached a hard drive to the back of it via USB, you should be able to access everything on it. I'll have to give that a try. ;-)

While you're at it, see if can handle wmv video files that way.
Its not supposed to, but you never know... ;-)

Jason Dunn
11-24-2005, 06:47 AM
While you're at it, see if can handle wmv video files that way. Its not supposed to, but you never know... ;-)

Ok, I'll see what I can do. I have this sneaking suspicion though that it will simply filter out ALL video files from a USB hard drive.

Jonathon Watkins
11-24-2005, 09:33 PM
OK. I thought I read that the Xbox could access files from an external hard drive. Does the HD have to be plugged directly into the Xbox then and if so, how is it connected?

But you said "network attached storage drive" - the Xbox 360 does have a USB port on the back, so technically yes, if you attached a hard drive to the back of it via USB, you should be able to access everything on it. I'll have to give that a try. ;-)

Yes, becuase that would be my first prefered option. My second option would be to plug a USB hard drive into the Xbox and have it shared on the network that way round.

Jason Dunn
11-24-2005, 09:35 PM
My second option would be to plug a USB hard drive into the Xbox and have it shared on the network that way round.

You have a NAS drive that will work in network AND USB mode? The ones I've been are an either/or mode I think...so if you connect it to the Xbox via USB, it won't be seen on your network. I think. :-)

Jonathon Watkins
11-25-2005, 01:47 AM
My second option would be to plug a USB hard drive into the Xbox and have it shared on the network that way round.

You have a NAS drive that will work in network AND USB mode? The ones I've been are an either/or mode I think...so if you connect it to the Xbox via USB, it won't be seen on your network. I think. :-)

Ah - no. I was thinking that if an external hard drive was attached to the Xbox by USB (and not connected to anything else) then it would show up on the network and be browsable by the Media PC etc.

Can you see your external HD o the network after it's been plugged into your Xbox? If not, then maybe I'll have to rethink things a bit. :)

Jason Dunn
11-25-2005, 07:09 PM
Ah - no. I was thinking that if an external hard drive was attached to the Xbox by USB (and not connected to anything else) then it would show up on the network and be browsable by the Media PC etc. Can you see your external HD o the network after it's been plugged into your Xbox? If not, then maybe I'll have to rethink things a bit. :)

I tested this out to confirm what I thought, and was right: you can't even see the Xbox itself across the network, let alone anything attached to it. It's much less like a PC than you are hoping it is. ;-)

Jonathon Watkins
11-25-2005, 08:02 PM
I tested this out to confirm what I thought, and was right: you can't even see the Xbox itself across the network, let alone anything attached to it. It's much less like a PC than you are hoping it is. ;-)

OK. Thanks for trying that Jason. Back to the drawing board then. :)

Maybe I should re-think the media centre PC idea. After all, I do have a free licence kicking around that I have not gotten around to doing anything with.......