New Xbox 360 Update Coming, Digital Media Abilities Boosted

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/30/xbox-360-fall-update-details-revealed-1080p-auto-download-wmv/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/30/xbox-360-fall-update-details-revealed-1080p-auto-download-wmv/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Microsoft has finally seen fit to release the details of its Xbox 360 dashboard update. Scheduled for release the morning of October 31st -- yes, that's tomorrow -- the update will add the much-talked about 1080p / HD DVD support, as well as the ability to play WMV files from a connected PC, disc, or USB storage device. Currently, users can only stream video from connected Windows Media Center PCs, but any XP machine running Windows Media Connect or Windows Media Player 11 should be able to do it post-update, as demonstrated during a press conference in Japan with several 720p-encoded videos. This compares to the PlayStation 3's recently-revealed compatibility with MPEG-4 and other video files, but so far neither has announced support for DivX / Xvid and Media Transcode 360 still requires Media Center."</i><br /><br />Awesome news, I'm excited to see that things continue to evolve on the Xbox 360 - I still want to see more codec support though...

[Felix Torres]

Quietly buried in the features list: 30 second forward skip.
Should come in handy at one time or another, right? :wink:
Gotta love when *somebody* underpromises and overdelivers, unlike the competition.:twisted:
_____________
From xbox.com:

Complete Dashboard Update Feature List

New Features

HD 1080p video mode support over VGA and component cables.
Xbox 360™ HD DVD Player support.
Stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11, Zune software, or Windows Media Connect.
Play video from storage devices such as USB flash drives, Xbox 360 Memory Units, etc.
Play video from CD or DVD data discs.
Xbox 360 Wireless Headset support, including battery level indicator in the Xbox Guide.
Video support for 50 Hz HDTV modes (DVD and HD DVD only).
Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel support.
Set up automatic downloads of newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games.
Support for upcoming release of XNA Game Studio Express (separate download and subscription required.)
Stream music, pictures and video from a Zune device.
Xbox Live Arcade

Lightning-fast enumeration and listing of all Xbox Live® Arcade games on the console.
Find games quickly with two new sort options: Recently Played and By Category.
Have all new Xbox Live Arcade games at the ready with auto downloads. Auto downloads optionally adds newly released trial versions of games to active downloads when you enter Xbox Live Arcade.
View full achievement info in Xbox Live Arcade, including icons, achievement point details, and descriptions.
Friends leaderboard: Compare yourself with friends and view leaderboard details right from the Xbox dashboard.
Tell a friend: Send a message to a friend about your newest favorite Xbox Live Arcade game.
DVD Player

Optionally disable notifications from Xbox Live while watching DVD movies.
Improved support for audio streams on incorrectly authored DVDs.
Better handling of unreadable discs.
Updated count-down timer.
HD DVD player support.
Added zoom support for non-anamorphic content.
Added support to Family Settings to block Unrated Content
Video Player

Improved support for extended all black scenes in WMV content.
Added support for Windows Media Video 9 Advanced profile video.
Screen saver now becomes active when videos are paused.
Now shares UI and player controls with DVD player.
Improved video playback while downloading from Xbox Live.
Added skip controls (forward approx. 30 seconds, back approx. 7 seconds).
Improved messaging around unplayable video content.
Added time elapsed and time remaining displays.
Improved playback of high bit-rate HD content on fragmented hard drives.
Improved visual quality of video playback.
Added selectable display modes: default and letterbox zoom.
Localization

New locale setting for China
Improved German translations in console settings.
Improved German translations in memory area.
Improved Japanese translations in Family Settings.
Added localized text for all supported languages in pictures area
Improved Spanish translations in camera effects.
Improved locale-specific decimal denominators.
Added localization support for title menu and main menu in the DVD player.
Added localization support for “Attempting to Read Media” system message.
Memory Area

Added support for Xbox 360 HD DVD Player content..
Added new page for viewing content size by category.
Other System Improvements

Updated support for new Daylight Savings changes coming in 2007.
Improved support for games to better handle host migration in multi-player matches.
Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support for changing room lighting while zooming.
Background downloaded videos appear in video area
Improved Xbox Live Vision camera support while using VGA.
Playing photo slideshows from PC now maintains picture folder hierarchy.
Improved user experience when playing and deleting videos from the Games or Media areas.
Improved handling of invalid characters during Xbox Live signup.
Better handling of watermarks in gamer cards.
Improved text for Windows Media Connect..
Improved UI performance in Media Center Extender
Improved connection support for Buffalo WZR-G108 wireless router when using Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter.
Redownload of deleted Arcade Games no longer re-enumerates all games on the Arcade page.
Improved visual display of text in themes.
Improved support for CD playback after signing up for Xbox Live and losing network connectivity.
Improved support for long names of items memory area.
Improved handling of gamer pictures downloaded from Xbox Live.
Improved background download notifications when downloading many small items from Xbox Live.
Improved support for custom backgrounds after returning to the Xbox Dashboard from the Account Management area.
Improved network reliability between Windows Media Center Extender on Windows Vista and Xbox 360 consoles using Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter.
Improved voice chat quality in Xbox Dashboard and in-game chats.
Improved messaging when failing to connect to Windows Media Center Extender.
Improved USB keyboard support when using a USB hub.
Improved consistency of user experience when deleting various types of content.
Improved handling of low storage space for background downloads.
Improved handling of Picture streaming from attached Digital Cameras over MTP protocol
Improved error messaging for optional iPod support download when storage devices are full.
Improved handling of multi-key repeating for USB keyboards.
Expanded Family Settings to include support for blocking unrated DVDs and videos.
Added ability to clear space from storage devices in download areas.
Added support for low-speed and full-speed USB keyboards.
Improved CapsLock behavior for USB keyboards.
Improved look and feel in Xbox Live Marketplace and Xbox Live Arcade areas.
Added redeem code option to Xbox Live signup.
Removed system message at the start of new downloads. Messages will be displayed for completed items.
Added support for CCV credit card validation field in Xbox Live Marketplace purchase areas.
Updated “More Information” instructions in the Xbox Dashboard for connecting an Xbox 360 console to a Windows PC to stream digital media content.
Added auto-scroll to long text descriptions in Xbox Dashboard UI.
Improved support for DVD insertion while playing a video file.

[Felix Torres]

Okay. I got it.
(The advantages of rising early.)
Booted up, went to Live; was offered and accepted the update.
Changes? A few obvious ones.
Yes, 1080p is enabled.
(Tried it via component and failed; no shock my display isn't supposed to do 1080p via component but it doesn't hurt to try. I'll have to get the VGA cable since it does accept 1080p via VGA.)
Video from a thumbdrive? WMV, Yes. I'll have to see what happens if I feed it WMV HD, DiVX, or Mpegs of different flavors. (Didn't have any handy.)
Video from Gigabeat S? Surprisingly (and dissapointingly) no. It won't play video from an MTP-connected PMC. In fact, it no longer identifies the Gigabeat by name. Still plays music and photos fine, though.
Video playback quality? A bit better than before. The occasional hiccups on large high-res videos is gone; playback is smooth as silk and, yes, the fast-forward defaults to a 30-second skip. :D
The Live interface is slightly changed but only slightly. Nothing that requires training; its mostly arthetics and changed categories.
Three *very* promising changes:
1- On the media blade, right below Video is an all-new unannounced entry: Video marketplace. It takes you to Live and the usual media options; new releases, all media and entertainment, Movie trailers and short films, TV, music, sports, shorts and more, etc...
2- On the media blade, video offers up the usual device choices, from console to portable device, but the next level on console is new: you get All videos, Movies and movie trailers,TV shows, Music Videos, Game videos, Viral videos, Other videos. None of the pre-existing videos sort out into the new categories; all show up as game videos, so its obvious the new video categories are a new development not previously planned for.
3- When a video is highlighted, the right hand pane shows the video title above an icon and the video size. Below that, and above the detailed video description blurb, is a new entry. For all the videos I have it reports: does not expire. Which is to say, videos are checked for DRM and expiration dates. By itself, this "just" means that the 360 will remotely play DRM'ed content from PC-based video download services. Good news for sure, but not as good as the promise of directly-downloadable movies and TV shows that comes when you add in the Video Marketplace entry. In other words: standby for more news on this front, probably in January.

All in all, a nice update; more work remains to be done to make the 360 the hub of home entertainment it can be but its about 90% of the way there now. Mostly what is missing is on the Live side; music/video downloads and streams, say via subscription.

One can only hope.
Happy Halloween!
:)

[Darius Wey]

2- On the media blade, video offers up the usual device choices, from console to portable device, but the next level on console is new: you get All videos, Movies and movie trailers,TV shows, Music Videos, Game videos, Viral videos, Other videos. None of the pre-existing videos sort out into the new categories; all show up as game videos, so its obvious the new video categories are a new development not previously planned for.

I do like these new categories, though I wish there were a way for the end-user to move videos between categories. Right now, half of my music videos show up in Trailers, the other half in Other Videos - and it seems set in stone. :(

Otherwise, the update is great. It's fantastic seeing the Xbox 360 reaching new heights as the months go by.

[Felix Torres]

I do like these new categories, though I wish there were a way for the end-user to move videos between categories. Right now, half of my music videos show up in Trailers, the other half in Other Videos - and it seems set in stone. :(


T'would be nice indeed.
The categories are probably using Metadata tags so they'd have to cook up a tag editor to do that, though. Non-trivial.

What I really, really, really want MS to give me is the ability to copy media files in and out via USB. If I can use the HD as a cache for download content and then move the music and video out to an external drive, even if the content won't play anywhere else, then 20GB is ample. As is, I have to delete demos to get some of the bigger videos and vice-versa.

So far they seem to be doing a good job of addressing the soft spot in usability so hopefully the next update will let us better manage content. And if they really are looking to provide us with longer video content they will have to provide better management tools.

[Felix Torres]

Right now, half of my music videos show up in Trailers, the other half in Other Videos - and it seems set in stone. :(


Just had a thought.
Have you tried deleting and re-downloading?
With the new categories in place, maybe *they* have tweaked the metadata for you.

[mghannigan]

Has anyone tried viewing photos either from a thumb/external drive or over WMC to see if the 1080p support allows for pixel-perfect rendering of 1920x1080 digital photos (i.e., no resizing to lower res then upsizing to 1080)?

[Felix Torres]

Has anyone tried viewing photos either from a thumb/external drive or over WMC to see if the 1080p support allows for pixel-perfect rendering of 1920x1080 digital photos (i.e., no resizing to lower res then upsizing to 1080)?

You don't need 1080p for that; the old 1080i mode always did that.

The reason 1080p support comes via a software update is the the 360 has *always* had the ability to render 1080p internally; the update simple enables progressive output instead of interlaced output. The internal processing doesn't care how the signal is transmitted to the display.

[mghannigan]

Has anyone tried viewing photos either from a thumb/external drive or over WMC to see if the 1080p support allows for pixel-perfect rendering of 1920x1080 digital photos (i.e., no resizing to lower res then upsizing to 1080)?

You don't need 1080p for that; the old 1080i mode always did that.

I was concerned because one of the Digital Media Receivers I tried (D-Link DSM-520) did a horrible job of working with hi-res photos via WMC--maybe that was more a D-Link limitation than a WMC limitation. Thanks for the info.

[Felix Torres]

You're welcome.
Just happy to justify my existence for another day. ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

Ohhh.....nice list of updates! [runs upstairs to start the download]

[kiwi]

Nice..

yeah, I hooked the 360 up to the router last night, first time online since the world cup (Played FIFA World Cup soooo much then!! ;-)

Updated..

I ran a couple videos from My XP Media Centre 2005 running on Parallels on my iMac.. sweet!

I was able to watch .wmv files okay, and after I installed Transcode 360 I was able to watch a couple DivX and Mpegs!!
SWEEET!

I love having XP and OS X on my iMac. Its been totally brilliant!


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