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Xbox TV Launch Planned Before End of Year
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has confirmed plans to launch its TV service over Xbox Live by this holiday season. Negotiations with content partners are still underway, but options for live TV will include both news and sports. 'Microsoft believes the key differentiator between Xbox as a TV platform and the sea of failed competitors will be its voice and motion search tool. Utilizing the Kinect attachment, users will be able to navigate through content with voice commands. The search function will be powered by Bing.' The company also wants to tie Xbox Live's social experience into viewing video content. Steve Ballmer said, 'You should have any entertainment you want with all the people you care about, really simply and on any screen.'"
The key areas for almost all TV services is content, price and usability. Look at the success of Hulu in years past and the recent stumble of Netflix (somewhat attributable to both increased prices and the loss of the Starz contract which gave them Disney and Sony content). Look at the failure of divx (the single-use DVDs). Big Content two of these three key factors (they've learned since TiVo).
So Ballmer says "Negotiations with content partners are still underway, but options for live TV will include both news and sports"... good luck man. Perhaps big media is so scared of Netflix and Apple that they'll give you some great combo of content... but if the content isn't there, or the price is too high, it's a lose.
So they think Kinnect is somehow going to make their system more usable than say, an AppleTV or Roku? Novelty aside, that's just crazy talk. Poeple have been using remotes for decades now.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Yeah. That'll make for a killer app. After all, voice command has been promised for general computing for what, 20 years now?
And as good as software like Dragon is, it's still never been good enough to include in a "standard" desktop from any vendor.
Some people download TV. Some people PVR/Tivo it. Some settle for a standard cable/satellite feed.
But I have never heard anyone complain that they couldn't use voice commands to control their viewing.
I predict another epic fail...
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Now, when you're too stoned to play video games, you can lie back and watch TV on your console.
Once they figure out how to make it deliver pizza to satisfy the munchies it will be perfect.
Utilizing the Kinect attachment, users will be able to navigate through content with voice commands.
Me: "HalTV, can you hear me?"
HalTV: "Yes, I can hear you, Kid."
Me: "Could you please select something intelligent from the program offerings for me to watch?"
HalTV: "I'm sorry, Kid. I'm afraid I can't do that . . . the program offerings seems to be the result of human error . . . "
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I'm getting the feeling the next Xbox will just be a dumb Kinect terminal that connects to an OnLive-like service, or potentially an outright buyout of OnLive itself.
They can put out a box for $50, they get to do that whole cloud thing they like so much, all running on their own servers, collecting subscription fees, no need to give those pesky users access to the game data files, no need to compete with Sony on who has the most powerful hardware or lose face by licensing their optical media format.
And if the country you're in doesn't have Microsoft infrastructure you're probably all dirty pirates anyway and not worth bothering with, right?
Personally I wouldn't like this to happen one bit, but it seems to make a lot of sense to me from Microsoft's point of view.
http://www.xbmc4xbox.org/
Lets me watch all the TV I want on my XBox...
I'm getting the feeling the next Xbox will just be a dumb Kinect terminal that connects to an OnLive-like service, or potentially an outright buyout of OnLive itself.
Good luck getting ISPs to cooperate. They're having enough trouble with 720p24 Netflix as it is, and that's pre-encoded and buffered. Imagine what it'll take to get 1080p60 video with low latency over home users' last mile, especially in rural areas where the Xbox 360 is the only thing kids have to do after farm chores.
It's called the Windows Media Center extender. Sadly, MS don't seem to be that interested in WMC which is a shame. It's one of their better products.
The fact that TV will soon stream over the internet is too obvious, many companies are vying to be first mover. But the complete ecosystem is still missing, preventing mass adoption.
Interface - We use an old Dell re-purposed to drive our HDTV, but the masses will not want to use a wireless keyboard and mouse to find something to watch. Someone will have to get a simple to use interface going that you can use with a simple remote from your couch. There have been several attempts, like Boxee, but none are really ready for prime time. btw we cancelled our Netflix because they aped the interface, not the price increase.
Interface Push vs. Pull - Many people watch tv to sit and unwind, and do not want to constantly select content. Imagine the dentist office constantly having to select something to watch off the food network. On demand is wonderful when you really do want to watch something specific. I believe the internet interface of the future will have both, some channels you can just "tune" to and they stream, and then an on demand interface to watch content from those same channels. Give the power to choose to the users.
Content Sports - I only follow a couple local teams, but many want to follow more. Our local teams are usually playing on a network channel that my real antenna can pick up. But many people want to follow a college or pro team from a different part of the country, and they are not on local over the air channels. Some people like ESPN, and/or want to watch Monday Night football. For this demographic cable is the only way to follow what they want.
Content Original - HBO makes original content just to push their premium channels, and soon original content will soon start showing up on internet only channels not available to Cable companies. This will help drive adoption. Who will be first?
Content Ala Cart - Price is what is driving us cable cutters today, but could also drive mass adoption. To do so will require the provider to choose what "channels" they subscribe to. Discovery channel is not going to take a price cut simply because it streams over the internet, and they should not have to. I would gladly pay for Discovery, Science, Animal Planet, HGTV, etc., but not $60 a month to include all the stuff I don't watch. In other words the content providers that are getting watched will get paid, and the ones not getting watched will not.
Content Movies - As a casual movie fan that doesn't watch everything that comes out, the older selection on Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu is enough. Many people want more. Apple (and Amazon?) has a lot of this covered through rentals (I hear). Get a nice internet interface to stream HBO, and then a way to rent a huge selection of movies, and everyone wins. This should also include a ton of Indy content.
Kinect as remote?- As someone that owns a Kinect, and loves it, I'm not sure this would make a great remote. You have to be right in front of it for it to track you correctly, so across a big room, to the side of a small room, etc. and it doesn't work. Voice? So now we have to watch what we say or the channel changes?
Complete System - The internet video distribution is a lot like music before iTunes, with people working on different parts of the whole, but nobody has put together a complete system. The company that can make an interface anyone from a 5 yo kid, to a 95 yo grandad can use from their couch, with a great selection of content, with original content, with sports, with ala cart pricing will win! The problem is... simple is hard to do.