Friday, November 21, 2008

The Xbox NXE - Netflix, Avatars, and more..

So, having been updated to the latest version of the Xbox dashboard, I played around for a bit.

The Netflix proves to be the most fun...when it works.

Thanks to being a cable user, my Internet takes a big dive during prime time. Thanks to their blocking system, where "blocks" of people group on one cable, you can tell when it gets loaded up with people.
I have complained about this before, but with no luck.
I can still get my regular speeds on downloads, but accessing pages tends to slow down, and streaming constantly chokes.
With nothing else on offer Internet wise, I deal with it.

Anyways, when it DOES work, the quality is excellent. The movies look good at HD (I have the TV set up for 1080p, so I am not sure if it is scaling or not), and there is a decent selection to stream thanks to our favorite genre (Horror).

But, the recent issues with the Sony takedown is a mess.

Basically Sony said "We are taking our toys and not sharing".

Gee, I wonder why?

All Sony studios and movies or shows are not streamable on the Xbox. When you add them to your queue and look at them, basically it says "Not available to stream on Xbox".
The excuse is licensing...uh, yea.
You "licensed" the movies for PC's, but an Xbox is so different, that it just does not work the same.
No, it is blatant childish attitudes. Pure and simple.

Well, will just have to wait and see if this changes.

Other features for the avatars are nice, but the main thing is the interface looks good, is now Hi-Def, and the ability to copy games to hard drive to speed them up is also nice...even though some are broken (Halo 3 runs worse on Hard Drive).

It is growing pains right now, but it really is a unique interface, well done, works like a charm.

Now, back to gaming some Fable 2, and then later I plan to continue my quest in Lost Odyssey (ok, ok...AFTER more Witcher...ARGH...so fun!)

5 comments:

Talyn said...

I don't have a Netflix account but I've been using PlayOn to stream Hulu to the 360. It also does Netflix but I can't test that. Since your PC is technically handling the streaming, Sony's block shouldn't come into play unless they're blocking their movies from being streamed PERIOD not just to the 360?

Tesh said...

It's a business move. Sony has a player in the game in the PS3, and supporting a competitor would be less effective.

Elementalistly said...

@Scott

Oh no...it is a true. It is a Sony powerplay. And to lock off a revenue stream due to being petty...always seems silly to me.

Gotta love business practices.

As to PlayOn...I have tried it twice with ZERO success. Not sure why.
Youtube works, but nothing else has (Hulu for example has been noted on their forums as being cut off....twice)
But, it is a cool option, and hopefully it will improve, as I would pay for that.

Cheers.
(PS: Tesh...cool game in the Keflings...cheers)

Tesh said...

Thanks! I guess that means I'm more or less officially on the xBox side on this one. ;)

Talyn said...

PlayOn works fine for me, and the latest version does "HD" Hulu which I think is 480p? Either way it's better than standard tv and better than the normal Hulu stream. Everything I've tried with PlayOn has worked perfectly other than I don't have a Netflix account to test that.

But Sony's monopolistic and non-standard approach to everything is why I doubt I will ever own a Sony product again, including the POS3. They seem worse than Microsoft...