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AT&T To Allow Xbox 360 As U-verse Set-Top Box
suraj.sun sends this quote from Engadget about U-verse subscribers soon gaining the ability to use an Xbox 360 as a set-top box:
"A so-called Wired Release will roll out to AT&T U-verse customers next Sunday, and it'll bring the long awaited feature with it (though you'll have to wait until November 7th for that particular aspect). This means an AT&T U-verse customer's Xbox 360 will have a Dashboard app, and when launched, it'll let it function exactly like any other U-verse set-top. The only major catch is that it can't be the only set-top — you'll need at least one DVR at another TV in the house to enjoy one of the four HD streams that could be funneled into your home."
Is that new somewhere? I think I only get four total streams, and only two of them can be HD.
Maybe in the future when they release new systems, Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo can continue to sell their old systems as multipurpose devices, adding features for profit.
A couple of die shrinks and they're all set.
until I read:
"...The only major catch is that it can't be the only set-top — you'll need at least one DVR at another TV in the house to enjoy one of the four HD streams that could be funneled into your home."
This lead me back to the fact that it's still AT&T and they will never get another penny from this guy.
The jet engine sound only comes when you are using a disc. If it's something running off the hard drive, it's not that loud. I know; I own one and use it daily.
Too bad Uverse absolutely sucks. Seriously, how many other DVRs in this day and age can't pause or rewind live TV? If I'm watching a program and press record, it only will record from when I pressed the record button, not what was shown before. Also, I'm pretty sure that they're throttling my internet connection. Speed tests always show the correct speed that I'm paying for, but I can't download any file from any server at more than half of that speed. Uverse sucks, and needs some major work.
Dan, not all models run as you describe unfortunately. I went through 3 originals that MS replaced and they all were loud and as hot as hell disc or no disc. When the third one died and MS wouldn't replace I gave up. Maybe I'll try one of the new models some day but I'll probably just wait until the next-generation. Hopefully MS can do a lot better with the first round of hardware this time.
TELUS has had this feature with their IPTV offering for quite some time. However, don't start thinking that you can just plug it into your home router and start watching - you will need to register your Xbox with your service provider in order to receive the content decryption key, and they can happily charge you for it. In our case, TELUS charges $5/mo for your own Xbox (1/2 the price of a non-DVR box rental), so it's almost a good deal.
Now where it gets really interesting is that your Windows 7 based computer already has the capability to act as a DVR via Media Center. From a technical standpoint, all it needs to do is subscribe to multicast streams and decrypt the Mediaroom flavour of DRM-ed MPEG4/AAC. It isn't Microsoft handing out the limitations - it's your service provider picking and choosing which devices/which functions/how much.
I'm only a light TV watcher, but the nuisance of switching from 360 to my secondary Uverse set-top box actually kept me from watching classic TV in the bedroom. (in other words, "at all") Why bother when I watch most content online? Now I may be motivated to do so casually. (i.e. random History channel programming)
Never thought I'd fit the niche of one of these "[whatever] added to your console" stories.
Charisma is the measure of someone's ability to lie with a straight face.
This is U-verse. You know.. fiber to the last mile, DSL to the home? There is no cable or satellite involved, here.
Directv can do more and beter PQ then U-verse.
I bought an original at launch and the when it died they sent me a new one for free. When that died they sent another one for free and when that died they wouldn't help any further and I said good riddance.
Did I state I would again be a 1st generation adopter of anything they make? Where did you read that? I'm saying if they make a really nice piece of hardware that proves itself and is a market leader I may purchase it. As for now we are happy with our PC and original PS3 which has never given us any issues.
You sure make a lot of assumptions but I guess I shouldn't expect any less from an Anonymous Coward Clown.
Nah. Eventually it becomes cheaper to sell the new system that can do the same thing plus more. The price dump that the old systems typically take late in life is a result of inventory being liquidated.
Example: even if Dell really wanted to, do you think they could make a 486DX 25Mhz based system (brand new) for less than one of their cheapo current Celeron systems? Nope. The specialty chip, specialty RAM, etc would catch up with them.
It's much the same reason why Intel intentionally cripples some higher quality chips to make those Celerons and such. Making a special budget version that was completely different would cost more.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I used to work for U-verse as a Tier 2 Specialist, and the XBox 360 as a set-top box was in development as of 2 years ago, the back-end MAC recognition and Xbox 360 Dashboard upgrades were already in place a year ago. In short, there was no real reason for this upgrade to have been released now instead of a year ago (all real testing is done in field anyway, because AT&T friendly Alpha communities do not give a diverse enough sample for real world testing). I do like the fact that the XBox 360 has better HDMI (Motorola and Cisco STBs have known HDMI picture and sound issues, but that may be due to HDMI version incompatibility issues from the TVs and PC monitors).
What AT&T really needs is an increase in the robustness of the Windows CE STB firmware (yes, I can confirm that they do run a modified version of Windows CE; in fact, they use Microsoft MPEG2 and 4 compressions for the video, both SD and HD, upgraded regularly via firmware pushes) to allow support agents to troubleshoot problems with a picture preview (if the STB is even booted to the point of receiving programming). In the support center in which I worked, 95% of the employees hadn't ever actually seen the hardware or content that U-verse provides (aside from pictures).
In my opinion (call me an insider or uneducated, I don't really care), the U-verse customer experience suffers from the fact that U-verse support agents rarely, if ever, get hands-on experience with the hardware and content that they are supposed to be supporting (no matter what neato upgrades AT&T decides to offer, usually at an additional charge).
Add to that the fact that the vast majority of support agents for AT&T are contract employees instead of perm, the turnover rate was horrendous at my support center, support centers are now being forced to upsell with a quota attached (remember, U-verse only exists to make money for the wireless side of AT&T), and loss mitigation (the amount of people who would have canceled had their problem not been solved by tech support) isn't even factored in, and you can color me surprised that U-verse even made it to 1 million customers.
Unless I'm misreading this, AT&T has been subleasing (ie. beta testing) this service through mom and pop telcos for a long time now.
The real news is how ATT has beaten them on both ends by being one of the few games in town who will be able to negotiate content prices while small shops will have to go with whatever price they are given (ass rape, seriously ass rape).
Hmmm AT&T already allows you to stream shows to your iOS devices if you have a U-verse account. I wonder if they'll add the Apple TV to their line-up of approved set-top boxes for streaming content similar to the Xbox option.
U-verse costs more must buy U-300 that comes with the moives pack to get fox business network and others. also needs sports pack to get NBA TV / NHL network as well. ALSO NO MLB TV.