Fall Dashboard Update coming Tomorrow(Oct 31st)

General discussion about other games, links to reviews, demos, etc - let us know about whats up and coming

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Fall Dashboard Update coming Tomorrow(Oct 31st)

Post by Animalor »

http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/default.aspx
Expanded HD Display and Video Playback Options
With 1080p resolution, gamers now have the ability to enjoy both game and video content in the best HD resolution currently available.

Expanded video playback options increase the ways gamers can enjoy video content on Xbox 360. It is now possible to stream WMV video from a Windows PC running Windows Media Player 11 or Windows Media Connect.

Gamers can now play video files from data CDs and DVDs, as well as from storage devices like USB 2.0 flash drives and Xbox 360 Memory Units.

Xbox 360 will support 50hz HDTV display modes, providing viewers greater choice in how they watch DVD and HD DVD content.

Xbox Live Arcade Enhancements


Keeping up to date on Xbox Live Arcade games is now even more convenient with the ability to automatically download newly released Xbox Live Arcade trial games. This eliminates the need to manually search for new downloads on Xbox Live Marketplace each time a new game trial is released.

Fast Enumeration of Games. You’ll see the games in your Xbox Live Arcade collection appear almost instantly. Get in and play right away.
With so many games to choose from, Xbox Live Arcade added new sorting options such as “Recently Played” and “By Category.” These enhancements make managing Xbox Live Arcade collections faster and easier than ever.

A new expanded Friends Leaderboard within Xbox Live Arcade allows gamers to compare themselves directly against their friends and view leaderboard details of their top-10 friends.

A new expanded Achievements View within Xbox Live Arcade lets gamers view their full Achievement details for their Arcade games including descriptions, icons, allotted Gamerscore and more, right from the Xbox Live Arcade dashboard interface.

The “Play Now” launch feature has been streamlined. Selecting “Play Now” after downloading a game in Xbox Live Marketplace now bypasses Arcade and takes you directly to the game.

Xbox Live Arcade now offers a “Tell a Friend” feature. Select this from the game info screen to send any friend on your friends list a message telling them about the Arcade game.

XNA Support
Amateur game designers will be able to test and play the games they create using XNA Game Studio Express on their Xbox 360s systems when it launches later this year (separate download and subscription required).
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/new ... telist.htm
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Post by Midgen »

I was a little disappointed to find out that they caved to pressure from AACS to go back to 1080i on HD-DVD playback over component. I have it on fairly good authority that they had the technical details for 1080p over component worked out, but didn't include it for 'Legal reasons'.

I am apparently one of the few people who actually have a display that can do 1080p over component inputs. I guess I'll have to settle for 1080p over VGA

link to engadget article explaining the various resolutions
engadget wrote:Update: Added list of supported resolutions after the break.
To break it all down what you will get from the Xbox 360 after this fall's software update:

VGA:

* HD DVD - 1080p resolution and all others
* DVD - Upscaled as high as 1080p resolution and all others
* Games - 720p games upscaled to 1080p, also supports native-1080p games in the future

Component:

* HD DVD - 1080i resolution maximum, limited by AACS
* DVD - Upscaled to 480p maximum, limited by CSS
* Games - 720p games upscaled to 1080p, also supports native-1080p games in the future
Here are a few more links:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/31/xbox ... -pictures/
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/new ... telist.htm
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Post by Trias »

i'm having trouble getting video to play over my network from my pc to my xbox360.

music and photos still work fine...i added videos to my media player library and ensured that they are shareable.

the message i am getting on my xbox is "No videos found. You can watch video content from xbox Live marketplace, a DVD, data disc, or a portable device, or by connecting to a Windows-based PC."

weird, guess i'll have to wait and see if others are having problems and what their solutions are, because i am stumped.

*edit* i have WMP11, XPSP2, and the fall update on my 360.
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Post by Animalor »

It'll only play(and display) wmv files jsut in case you didn't know. Anything else won't even show up.
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Post by Trias »

yah i got it playing the TWO wmv files that i have out of 300gigs of video ahaha.

i've been fiddling with streaming avi's directly to WMV to be played by the xbox and i have it noticeing the STREAM.WMV that i created but it isn't playing it for some reason...i'm stumped...going to go play some final fantasy 12 now.
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Post by Trias »

ok i attempted to watch an avi after i fully streamed it to wmv format... i can see the name of the file on my 360 and i can see the icon that shows the first frame of the video...

i go to select the video and it tells me it is an unsupported format

the stream i created is in WMV2 format...i am giving up on this for real now...at least for tonight ahaha
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Post by Winnow »

Here's a nice article (with pictures!2!) reviewing the new Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive for $200.00. It includes a remote and copy of King Kong (yuck). The article shows how easy it is to use the HD-DVD also on your PC. Basically the drivers are already built into Windows to play HD-DVD movies so if you have a video app (like Cyberlink in the article) that has HD-DVD support, you're all set to watch HD movies using your 360 or PC.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=325
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Post by Midgen »

For those wanting to watch alternative video formats on the 360, you might check this out.

http://runtime360.com/projects/

I've never used it, so I have no idea of it's quality or functionality, but I thought I'd throw it out here anyway.
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Post by Trias »

well...the new Live video thingy has gone live.

i'm currently downloading a 6.07GB V for Vendetta HD video rental for a whopping 480 points.

i've seen this movie before, i'm just curious to see how these digital downloads work out...the dl seems VERY slow at the moment.

once downloaded i have 14 days to watch the movie before my rental expires or 24 hours after pressing play it will expire.

i guess i will review this entire process and video quality tomorrow once my dl is complete i can actually watch this movie :P
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Post by Boogahz »

What is the translation of the points into dollars though?

I just can't see using a 20gig drive to store these things. I didn't notice anything about moving them to networked computers though. Is it possible once they have been purchased and downloaded?
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Post by Winnow »

Trias wrote:
i guess i will review this entire process and video quality tomorrow once my dl is complete i can actually watch this movie :P

I'm betting the service is just swamped from curiosity about the new feature the first day. Peeps may be downloading entire TV series etc. Xbox live is usually very fast for me when downloading demos and movie previews.

I'm not sure why Microsoft is waiting so long to release a 100GB or larger hard drive for the 360. Perhaps they don't want to rock the boat during the HD-DVD sales and holiday season. Hopefully they have something in mind for 20GB HD owners so they can xfer their game saves to the new HD.

Microsoft should have released a new Xbox with an HD-DVD player and 100GB hard drive, call it the "Xbox 365 One Year Anniversary Edition" and then sell if for 50.00 less than the high end PS3 just to fuck with Sony during their launch.
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Post by Trias »

a few days later and my video is nearly done downloading ahah 92%

i guess they are experiencing a lot of trouble on this initial release week :P

hopefully later tonight or tomorrow i'll finally see this movie.
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Post by Zaelath »

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2006/11/24
The download wasn't sustained, but that's not my fault - I left it to cook overnight, and it stopped just as it had before. I had to shepherd the process manually four or five times before I received an entire file. Plus, like BitTorrent, as soon as you start to download a file it creates one that is the size of the full download. You can cancel a transfer and still have this gigantic incomplete file sitting there like a hippo on your platter. And I'm only downloading single episodes of television - trying to get movies sounds like trying to fuck a porcupine. I guess they're having trouble over there, but that's some information which required no official announcement. SD content just sails down. When you see it work, you understand what they're trying to do. But I don't recommend you try to grab something in HD unless you're leaving town on a long trip.

The technical stuff, the service stuff, I can live with it - this is precisely the sort of problem Microsoft excels at solving. The real issue is that watching television programs this way makes no sense.

It costs far more than buying the DVD set online, which itself costs far more than renting them. I'm on the two-disc plan at Netflix, fifteen dollars a month, and I can consume as much programming as I'm able to at that rate. This isn't really a Microsoft thing, anymore than it's an Apple thing as far as downloading television goes - though the Season Pass option that iTunes offers is a decent approach I'd like to see emulated. This stuff needs to move to flat rates, period. Microsoft Points might make it difficult to do recurring billing, but the system clearly accepts our human cards. It's not insurmountable. At least, that part isn't: the pocked Goddamn ancient Hollywood edifice that trudges in unlife may be.
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Post by Midgen »

M$ totally fsck'd up the launch of the new Video Marketplace.

I did find out that they actually suffered some untimely hardware failures just about time this launched at the Live ops center.

I ended up losing a few hundred points to botched downloads playing around with it.

When I called support (I actually got a well spoken knowledgable person, go figure), they had my points credited back within a few minutes.

I think they have their hardware issues resolved, as I was able to download the HD version of V for Vendetta last night (all 6 gigs worth) in an hour or so.

Things seem to be smoothing out.
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Post by Trias »

i watched V for Vendetta last night and I do have to say it was turbo awesome in HD...when the screen was VERY dark in some scenes i saw what appeared to be a wave of very faint light go across the screen...though this may be due to some outside interference effecting my set(i will have to run some tests with all of my other electronics turned off in the room).

anyways, if they can find a way to let me use my bandwith i'd be able to download a 6 gig movie in very short order; after the days of downloading i still have to say that i am satisfied with the quality of image and sound(sound output was VERY good).
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Post by Winnow »

Trias wrote:i watched V for Vendetta last night and I do have to say it was turbo awesome in HD...when the screen was VERY dark in some scenes i saw what appeared to be a wave of very faint light go across the screen...though this may be due to some outside interference effecting my set(i will have to run some tests with all of my other electronics turned off in the room).

anyways, if they can find a way to let me use my bandwith i'd be able to download a 6 gig movie in very short order; after the days of downloading i still have to say that i am satisfied with the quality of image and sound(sound output was VERY good).
The "wave of light" is probably the result of a ground loop issue:

http://www.elect-spec.com/faqgrdl.htm

Do you use a UPS with your electronic equipment?

Various things cause ground loop problems. If you have your Satellite or Cable box running even though you're switched to your Xbox 360 to watch your movie, you still may get ground loop interference from another source for example.

And yeah, a 6GB download would take me about an hour if I could use all my bandwidth. If Microsoft gets that under control it won't be too bad. I know they can. I've downloaded demo's off Xbox Live at high speeds.
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Post by *~*stragi*~* »

Winnow wrote:
Trias wrote:
i guess i will review this entire process and video quality tomorrow once my dl is complete i can actually watch this movie :P

I'm betting the service is just swamped from curiosity about the new feature the first day. Peeps may be downloading entire TV series etc. Xbox live is usually very fast for me when downloading demos and movie previews.

I'm not sure why Microsoft is waiting so long to release a 100GB or larger hard drive for the 360. Perhaps they don't want to rock the boat during the HD-DVD sales and holiday season. Hopefully they have something in mind for 20GB HD owners so they can xfer their game saves to the new HD.

Microsoft should have released a new Xbox with an HD-DVD player and 100GB hard drive, call it the "Xbox 365 One Year Anniversary Edition" and then sell if for 50.00 less than the high end PS3 just to fuck with Sony during their launch.
or they should have done that in the first place.
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Post by Animalor »

*~*stragi*~* wrote:
Winnow wrote:
Trias wrote:
i guess i will review this entire process and video quality tomorrow once my dl is complete i can actually watch this movie :P

I'm betting the service is just swamped from curiosity about the new feature the first day. Peeps may be downloading entire TV series etc. Xbox live is usually very fast for me when downloading demos and movie previews.

I'm not sure why Microsoft is waiting so long to release a 100GB or larger hard drive for the 360. Perhaps they don't want to rock the boat during the HD-DVD sales and holiday season. Hopefully they have something in mind for 20GB HD owners so they can xfer their game saves to the new HD.

Microsoft should have released a new Xbox with an HD-DVD player and 100GB hard drive, call it the "Xbox 365 One Year Anniversary Edition" and then sell if for 50.00 less than the high end PS3 just to fuck with Sony during their launch.
or they should have done that in the first place.
At that price I wouldn't have bought a 360. The premium 360's price was my upper limit.
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Post by Winnow »

Animalor wrote:
At that price I wouldn't have bought a 360. The premium 360's price was my upper limit.
And you wouldn't have to as that wouldn't be the only model available or required for gaming. It would be a nice option for those that could afford it, wanted more HD space and didn't want a separate HD drive. You'd still have the option of upgrading to a larger HD or buying an add-on HD-DVD drive.

Perhaps that will be Microsoft's 2007 holiday competition vs the PS3 as by then the new low heat, cheaper CPU production will be in full swing and Microsoft should be able to offer that package I suggested for a nice chunk of money less than a Premium High End PS3, and you'd get component cables included to boot! So perhaps 249.00 for core, 349.00 for the premium Xbox 360 and 499 for the high end Xbox vs whatever the 599.99 PS3 is selling at a year from now.
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Post by *~*stragi*~* »

Winnow wrote:
Animalor wrote:
At that price I wouldn't have bought a 360. The premium 360's price was my upper limit.
And you wouldn't have to as that wouldn't be the only model available or required for gaming. It would be a nice option for those that could afford it, wanted more HD space and didn't want a separate HD drive. You'd still have the option of upgrading to a larger HD or buying an add-on HD-DVD drive.

Perhaps that will be Microsoft's 2007 holiday competition vs the PS3 as by then the new low heat, cheaper CPU production will be in full swing and Microsoft should be able to offer that package I suggested for a nice chunk of money less than a Premium High End PS3, and you'd get component cables included to boot! So perhaps 249.00 for core, 349.00 for the premium Xbox 360 and 499 for the high end Xbox vs whatever the 599.99 PS3 is selling at a year from now.
if they do that i want a fucking 400 dollar credit for trading in my old 360!
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Post by Funkmasterr »

*~*stragi*~* wrote:
Winnow wrote:
Animalor wrote:
At that price I wouldn't have bought a 360. The premium 360's price was my upper limit.
And you wouldn't have to as that wouldn't be the only model available or required for gaming. It would be a nice option for those that could afford it, wanted more HD space and didn't want a separate HD drive. You'd still have the option of upgrading to a larger HD or buying an add-on HD-DVD drive.

Perhaps that will be Microsoft's 2007 holiday competition vs the PS3 as by then the new low heat, cheaper CPU production will be in full swing and Microsoft should be able to offer that package I suggested for a nice chunk of money less than a Premium High End PS3, and you'd get component cables included to boot! So perhaps 249.00 for core, 349.00 for the premium Xbox 360 and 499 for the high end Xbox vs whatever the 599.99 PS3 is selling at a year from now.
if they do that i want a fucking 400 dollar credit for trading in my old 360!
It won't bother me to just buy the larger hard drive when released (I am actually hoping they just let you use any external hard drive or hard drive on your networked pc like the ps3)

As far as getting one of the new models... It shouldn't be hard for you to get one if you bought the warranty on your 360
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