[Official] New Xbox Experience (or Fall 2008 Update)

[andrew_f]

Here in the UK they have a download service. I'm not sure if it's pay-per-view or a subscription thing though.

http://www.lovefilm.com/downloads

[BajiRav]

Found this on Ars.

Microsoft is remaining a bit coy about this release, promising gamers that it's stuffed with tons of tiny tweaks and unlisted fixes that people will discover over time. Greenberg did let us know that a few (major) unannounced surprises are also in the works and will be revealed in the coming weeks. While we can't say more, yes, they're compelling.

[Kushan]

Yeah lovefilm have only just started their streaming service. It's a shame that all the big streaming services are US only. Would be nice if Amazon brought theirs out in the UK and on the NXE.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Nice news on streaming HD (Y) but damn that's gonna be sub-par quality.

Well it'll probably be similar to Apple TV.

Still for those who want it, it's pretty awesome.

ps. I use Lovefilm for renting Blu Rays!

[Ayepecks]

:blink:

It's almost impossible to tell the difference in the streaming technologies. I don't consider it "sub-par" at all.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

:blink:

It's almost impossible to tell the difference in the streaming technologies. I don't consider it "sub-par" at all.

Subpar as in not really HD quality

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=668286

Just saying I don't expect this to be much better than AppleTV.

Streaming HD is in infant stages but.

[Kushan]

HD is a subjective term, that's why it always made me laugh when Sony was going on about how it's more HD than something else.

It's also funny when people get ****y about a game not running in 1080p, as if that'll immediately make the game look so much better, instead of just making it look less jaggy (But that's what AA is for!).

Anyhoo, the point is it'll still be better quality than normal streaming, so if you have netflix and a 360, it'll be more worthwhile playing it through your 360 than anything else.

And people said HD downloads were a stupid idea.

Also, here's a good thorough review (with videos!) of the NXE: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/29/video-to...rience-exposed/

[Ayepecks]

Subpar as in not really HD quality

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=668286

Just saying I don't expect this to be much better than AppleTV.

Streaming HD is in infant stages but.

You're not getting what I'm saying.

"HD" is subjective in the way you're using it. But they really ARE HD. Like Kushan said, when you get into arguments over what's "more HD" it's just silly. For example, some people say 1080P is "true" HD. I couldn't disagree more. I've seen that topic before, and I stand by my statement that if you're watching a streaming HD movie on AppleTV or Netflix, it's going to be HD.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

HD is a subjective term, that's why it always made me laugh when Sony was going on about how it's more HD than something else.

It's also funny when people get ****y about a game not running in 1080p, as if that'll immediately make the game look so much better, instead of just making it look less jaggy (But that's what AA is for!).

Anyhoo, the point is it'll still be better quality than normal streaming, so if you have netflix and a 360, it'll be more worthwhile playing it through your 360 than anything else.

And people said HD downloads were a stupid idea.

Also, here's a good thorough review (with videos!) of the NXE: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/29/video-to...rience-exposed/

There's a fair difference between HD movies and HD games.

Anything running in 720p/1080p can be called HD, but the subjectivity is the quality sampled from the bitrate and other things.

However I'm not getting bogged down in this, just stating my view on streaming HD. Good addition, but I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole when I can get as many physical copies of movies to watch as I want a month for ?9.99.

Thanks for the review, about to watch&read.

[gigapixels Veteran]

I think he means the bitrate is going to have to be severely reduced if it's truly going to be streaming. Nothing to do with 720p vs 1080p.

EDIT: Your reply wasn't there when I started typing! :p

[Ayepecks]

I think he means the bitrate is going to have to be severely reduced if it's truly going to be streaming. Nothing to do with 720p vs 1080p.

EDIT: Your reply wasn't there when I started typing! :p

I'm aware, I'm just saying the argument is similar. I'm also stating that 720p is HD. This is 720p. The bitrate is less, but it's still going to look HD. Is it as good as a Blu-ray (as I'm sure that's what Audioboxer is getting down to)? No. But to imply it's vastly inferior is silly. Streaming isn't in its infancy... you're not going to get much better compression available.

The argument is over whether or not it's HD. I completely stand behind the statement that it is.

[Kushan]

That's my point though, you might say WipeoutHD is a HD game (I've picked it because it's one of the best examples of HD games out there) but compared to say a Blu-ray film, the actual visual quality is still lacking. So the steam, being called "HD" is fair enough because compared to the regular streaming content, it IS more highly defined. There isn't really "High definition" and "Low Definition", but there is standard definition, so technically anything of higher quality than the standard is high definition. Do you see?

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I'm aware, I'm just saying the argument is similar. I'm also stating that 720p is HD. This is 720p. The bitrate is less, but it's still going to look HD. Is it as good as a Blu-ray (as I'm sure that's what Audioboxer is getting down to)? No. But to imply it's vastly inferior is silly. Streaming isn't in its infancy... you're not going to get much better compression available.

The argument is over whether or not it's HD. I completely stand behind the statement that it is.

Nope.

It is HD, I'm not arguing it isn't.

Maybe I didn't word "Subpar as in not really HD quality" correctly, but I didn't mean it's not HD. I meant it suffers from lower bitrates than the best quality HD on the market.

Just that it won't be like popping in a movie and watching it in 720p, which puts me off streaming personally until we can stream similarly - Which is why I called streaming HD out to be in infancy.

[HawkMan]

Subpar as in not really HD quality

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=668286

Just saying I don't expect this to be much better than AppleTV.

Streaming HD is in infant stages but.

but the chart in that topic is a joke. it uses the mp3g 2 bitrate of BluRay as a comparison, wich is a bout as useless as saying that this orange taste a lot more orangy when comparing apples.

They also haven't announced anythign about the itrate of netflix, and the 360 allready has the highest bit rate onlien streaming media. I'dchallenge you to see the difference between that and a blu-ray. heck since the chart you linked to uses the mpeg2 BD bit rate, let's see what looks better between the xbox360 online streaming and an mpeg2 BD :p

yeah, some online services do use low bit rates, but as long as they're up there with what's allready on the 360, I'd say ot's more than enough, and you won't actually notice a difference when watchign the movie, sure if you compare still shots in the right enviroments then you might, but in a moving picture.... unlikely, if they're encoded well. and not some single pass quik encode crap, and seeing as this is from a pro source, I'd expect better encoding than even the best of the less than legal downloads.

Also remember that the 6.8 bit rate of the xbox live stream is 720p, and ignoring the BD bit rate in that chart since the HD-DVD bit rate is probably closesr to what the actual BD VC1 bit-rate actually is, that 28 bit rate is for 1080p content. Wich pixel for pixel put them pretty damn close.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

but the chart in that topic is a joke. it uses the mp3g 2 bitrate of BluRay as a comparison, wich is a bout as useless as saying that this orange taste a lot more orangy when comparing apples.

They also haven't announced anythign about the itrate of netflix, and the 360 allready has the highest bit rate onlien streaming media. I'dchallenge you to see the difference between that and a blu-ray. heck since the chart you linked to uses the mpeg2 BD bit rate, let's see what looks better between the xbox360 online streaming and an mpeg2 BD :p

yeah, some online services do use low bit rates, but as long as they're up there with what's allready on the 360, I'd say ot's more than enough, and you won't actually notice a difference when watchign the movie, sure if you compare still shots in the right enviroments then you might, but in a moving picture.... unlikely, if they're encoded well. and not some single pass quik encode crap, and seeing as this is from a pro source, I'd expect better encoding than even the best of the less than legal downloads.

Well I can't watch in 1080p from streaming for a start and I own a 1080p set :rofl:

Guys, I'm not really debating this, I just said I personally won't be using streaming HD till it's on par with standard HD (what is presented by physical copies). It will one day if our networks bandwidth kick it up a notch, maybe at least giving us 720p 1:1 online/offline.

Netflix HD is an awesome addition, but I won't be using it due to the alternatives in place.

For the record, it's rumoured Netflix HD 720p will be at a bitrate of 5mbps. Let's see, that's pretty damn decent for streaming.

[HawkMan]

but how do you know that xbox live's movie service isn't 1:1 with BD movies at 720p ?

afterall movies on BD ar eonly stored at 1080p and then downconverted to 720p, wich is done live, no matter how good the video processor is, even downconvert will have quality loss when done live, compared to a an actually 720 encoded movie encoded with multiple passes and all that.

fact is we don't know the actual bit rate and quality of a 720p displayed BD, wich would also change with the BD player you use. So the 6.8 on live ay on 720p actually be superior to BD on a 720 set.

as for 1080 most peopel still only have 720 of those having HDTV's, I have a 42 inch HDTV at 720 and I'm fairly close to it, and at this size I definately do not need 1080. much of the detail in 1080 over 720 is lost in the natual blur of the film anyway today, unless you're watching CGI SciFi stuff. and I'm well above average, most peopel have 32 sets, a size where even if you could get it in 1080p it's a waste of pixels.

If I could afford a projector, then yeah I'd want 1080 :) But even then for instantly accessible streaming movies, 720 is giid enough. HEck even when I was back in sweden with my 24Mbps fiber connection I woudln't have been able to stream a VC1 HD movie at 1080 :)

[Kushan]

It doesn't matter, he wont be using the service anyway because it's US only and he lives in Scotland.

[Sethos]

Case closed!

[Kushan]

Now getting back to the NXE, I'm interested to see what Microsoft will be revealing in the coming weeks. They say it's dynamic and they can update it simply by updating the servers at their end, which is pretty swish, but I wonder what they have in store. Christmas-theme, perhaps?

[Hupp]

im wondering what other features they hiding in nxe...

[IceBreakerG]

Does anyone know if Microsoft has started sending out the emails to people that got into the NXE program early? I was hoping it would've started by now, but I'm guessing it may not happen until 12PM PST or 2PM PST. Guess I just have to wait and see if I got in or not.

[what]

They say it's dynamic and they can update it simply by updating the servers at their end, which is pretty swish

That doesn't sound good at all. It means you have to download a 'new' dashboard every time you connect to Live. If something goes wrong with connecting to the Live servers, you won't have a dashboard. We saw similar problems when the last update came out.

[DigitalE]

From Major Nelson:

NXE Mail update: We're hoping to get them sent out later today. NONE of gone out yet. I'll make a post when they do!

http://twitter.com/majornelson

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

but how do you know that xbox live's movie service isn't 1:1 with BD movies at 720p ?

Because no streaming HD service is or will be for some time it seems.

Bit rates on disc range from teens to thirties, no HD streaming service is going to do that.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=3338

From Major Nelson:

http://twitter.com/majornelson

Fingers crossed

[HawkMan]

Because no streaming HD service is or will be for some time it seems.

as I sid in the the resy of the post, with BD not being in 720p , we can't really kniw and they may just even be higher quality than live scaled BD 720 p.