External USB and Video Support Coming to Xbox One! Including MKV!


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I saw this news when Major Nelson tweeted it and was excited but after thinking about it, realised that it may not be that great. Most people who play on consoles usually have some kind of smart TV (or a TV with USB) and they've been playing videos from external devices for years. Does playing it via the Xbox provide any additional benefit?

 

For anyone that has a smart TV it makes more sense to play it directly on the TV, the power consumption is lower. 

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I saw this news when Major Nelson tweeted it and was excited but after thinking about it, realised that it may not be that great. Most people who play on consoles usually have some kind of smart TV (or a TV with USB) and they've been playing videos from external devices for years. Does playing it via the Xbox provide any additional benefit?

 

For anyone that has a smart TV it makes more sense to play it directly on the TV, the power consumption is lower. 

Might be different support for codecs. For example, there are LG TVs that do not support DTS. And I don't think any smart TV can playback DTS-HD MA. Also, some smart TVs have crappy interfaces, making it hard to navigate. There can be many reasons why only would prefer playing the video with a console.

 

What I wonder about is what kind of subtitle support we'll see (I'd love if I could use PGS subtitles from my blu-rays directly without having to OCR them into SRT files), also if all kinds of Dolby and DTS formats are supported in the MKV container.

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Most people != everyone

 

Yep I get that, which is why I said "Most people" and not everyone :P My point is that a lot of people will usually play their Xbox on a large TV, 90% of TVs (even going back a few years) have video support via USB but Lamp Post's post makes sense too. 

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Yep I get that, which is why I said "Most people" and not everyone :p My point is that a lot of people will usually play their Xbox on a large TV, 90% of TVs (even going back a few years) have video support via USB but Lamp Post's post makes sense too. 

 

I understand where you are coming from but not everyone does. I do but then i'd rather this was all seamlessly built in to the XB1, as it will be.

 

don;t deprive a few people just because many do already have the option available on their TV.

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I understand where you are coming from but not everyone does. I do but then i'd rather this was all seamlessly built in to the XB1, as it will be.

 

don;t deprive a few people just because many do already have the option available on their TV.

 

I'm not saying they shouldn't have added it, just wondering is there any added benefit playing through an Xbox? Lamp Post mentioned better support for codecs and interface, you said seamless integration. All of which are valid.

 

Apologies if I wasn't clear in my post :)

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I'm not saying they shouldn't have added it, just wondering is there any added benefit playing through an Xbox? Lamp Post mentioned better support for codecs and interface, you said seamless integration. All of which are valid.

 

Apologies if I wasn't clear in my post :)

 

Ah fair enough. I'd say having everything in one place is an added benefit. Being able to swap to the player with controller in your hand etc. I mean, that's the main reason i'd use it.

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Yep I get that, which is why I said "Most people" and not everyone :p My point is that a lot of people will usually play their Xbox on a large TV, 90% of TVs (even going back a few years) have video support via USB but Lamp Post's post makes sense too. 

 

Smart TV's are trash for this option. In my eyes anyway. The smart features on all my TVs are controlled horribly and never as smooth experiance as a HTPC or console and always miss some containers. 

 

Am I the only one who wishes they would release 55-60" TVs with no smart options? Just HDMI and optical listed as features? We don't need dual core TV's so we can watch youtube.

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Nice, when MS does this, Sony will probably be forced too :)

Competition is good in this case :)

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I have to agree Vandalsquad. Every Smart TV that people have showed me outside of Netflix has been garbage. (Mine is from 2011 and it only has basic smarts) A dedicated player such as Roku or X1 have a much better experience. Performance is the first benefit. DTS and DD support require licensing and the HD versions require horsepower that is just not there in a Smart TV IMHO. 


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So far the media player has only managed to play my xvid files. I await the network option to allow me to use universal media server

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So far the media player has only managed to play my xvid files. I await the network option to allow me to use universal media server

 

It's probably just the start, they'll push out a few updates till September when the rest of the people get it, it's only just the start.   It's also an app from the sounds of it so they can update it without having to update the whole OS like they'd have to do with the 360.

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 Most people who play on consoles usually have some kind of smart TV (or a TV with USB) and they've been playing videos from external devices for years. 

I will come out and say it flat out. You are Wrong on that.

 

Most people don't have Smart TV's, and Most people with Consoles don't play on Smart TV's. I know two people who have a Smart TV, out of probably a hundred.. The rest have normal Flat Screens of various quality.And most of them with Consoles have it set up on a secondary TV for their kids, or for themselves, not in the main family room.

 

I would be Shocked if even half of all console owners had a Smart TV. Much less used that TV for their gaming needs.. People forget a very large portion of people with consoles have it either in a rec room, where they will likely have an older TV, or are students and the like, who will have a small tv in their room or dorm.

 

And this is above and beyond what the others have pointed out, that most smart tv features are garbage.

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Smart TV's are trash for this option. In my eyes anyway. The smart features on all my TVs are controlled horribly and never as smooth experiance as a HTPC or console and always miss some containers. 

 

Am I the only one who wishes they would release 55-60" TVs with no smart options? Just HDMI and optical listed as features? We don't need dual core TV's so we can watch youtube.

 

Really, my Samsung Smart TV and Plex work GREAT! no need to have some dam usb drive or stick installed to play some movies. Nice server sitting away holding 12TB of data and streaming to my TV over wifi. Love having just ONE device to watch all my media, and not needing to have three or four devices installed.

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Really, my Samsung Smart TV and Plex work GREAT! no need to have some dam usb drive or stick installed to play some movies. Nice server sitting away holding 12TB of data and streaming to my TV over wifi. Love having just ONE device to watch all my media, and not needing to have three or four devices installed.

 

Plex is still a third party front end streamer but. It isn't the basic smart tv features we are talking about just loading off a usb. But it does work and make everything look good. These are just good features to add if you already have an xbox connected to your tv. It's already sitting there, better off using it if it works and supports more formats.

 

Have an intel nuc with xbmc grabbing from the server. Everything in the house is hardwired, wireless for me always has issues with HD with big file sizes? I think my router needs an upgrade but..  Not that I don't prefer LAN, but was a few days work wiring the house and climbing around the roof  :pinch:

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With much frustration and annoyance, my backup drive is not recognized by the media player, and every MKV file I threw at it would not play from my USB drive. Yay.

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With much frustration and annoyance, my backup drive is not recognized by the media player, and every MKV file I threw at it would not play from my USB drive. Yay.

It is early days yet and compatibility will improve, but i successfully converted an MKV to MP4 with AAC audio using MKVtoMP4 and it plays fine from a memory stick.

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With much frustration and annoyance, my backup drive is not recognized by the media player, and every MKV file I threw at it would not play from my USB drive. Yay.

 

I haven't had the chance to try this myself but I don't think that MKV support is there just yet. It should be there by the end of the year (if not before)

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I will come out and say it flat out. You are Wrong on that.

 

Most people don't have Smart TV's, and Most people with Consoles don't play on Smart TV's. I know two people who have a Smart TV, out of probably a hundred.. The rest have normal Flat Screens of various quality.And most of them with Consoles have it set up on a secondary TV for their kids, or for themselves, not in the main family room.

 

I would be Shocked if even half of all console owners had a Smart TV. Much less used that TV for their gaming needs.. People forget a very large portion of people with consoles have it either in a rec room, where they will likely have an older TV, or are students and the like, who will have a small tv in their room or dorm.

 

And this is above and beyond what the others have pointed out, that most smart tv features are garbage.

 

I agree with most of what you said in general, but I'm talking exclusively about the Xbox One and what it provides above and beyond simply plugging a USB into a Smart TV. 

 

The Xbox One outputs exclusively using HDMI and most (if not all TVs) with HDMI will have basic USB functionality. Again I'm not talking about anyone that owns a TV, I'm talking specifically about what Xbox One owners. 

 

I'll give you the last point about the Smart TV features ;) but will disagree with everything else :p

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I agree with most of what you said in general, but I'm talking exclusively about the Xbox One and what it provides above and beyond simply plugging a USB into a Smart TV. 

 

The Xbox One outputs exclusively using HDMI and most (if not all TVs) with HDMI will have basic USB functionality. Again I'm not talking about anyone that owns a TV, I'm talking specifically about what Xbox One owners. 

 

I'll give you the last point about the Smart TV features ;) but will disagree with everything else :p

I'd even call fault there, most if not all HDTV's have had HDMI for half a decade, or more..

I mean I got a TV a few months ago, it's my bedroom TV, good brand, 3x HDMI.. no Media function or anything.. USB is just for updating firmware.

 

Most new High End TV's do have their own mediaplayer and such, yes.. But those are still a very small fraction of TV's sold.. most are no-name TV's from walmart and such, followed by the lower end models of the brand names, which also lack those functions.

 

In a Decade or so, you'll be right.. But most current TV's sold have no smart TV features, and the vast majority of TV's sold before lack those features.. Until most all TV's sold have the features built in, and until people need to replace their old ones, I'll still put Smart TV's as a minority.

 

 

Also as for why XBox One over just using your Smart TV (assuming it's player isn't ######).. well, XBox One also will play your DVD's and other stand alone media, it'll let you play games, etc.. all without signing out, changing devices, changing remotes.. It's convenience.. Not to mention the XBox One will get updates, which means in theory it's support of formats should carry on for years, vs a Smart TV that gets only the most basic update, rarely any new features or new support (no, they want you to buy a new TV for that stuff..)

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Really, my Samsung Smart TV and Plex work GREAT! no need to have some dam usb drive or stick installed to play some movies. Nice server sitting away holding 12TB of data and streaming to my TV over wifi. Love having just ONE device to watch all my media, and not needing to have three or four devices installed.

 

I get what what your saying. And I agree, to an extent.

 

Media off of USB is ok...

But the Xbox One will be enabling DLNA soon, which is even better.  To turn on the One, and everything seems, well seemless...

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