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The Future of TV (Xbox 360 firmware update)

17K views 67 replies 33 participants last post by  Harryhoo 
#1 ·
Microsoft this week will roll out a firmware update for the Xbox 360 Video game console which the company is calling the "Future of TV."

According the software giant, the updated firmware will usher in a "new era in entertainment" giving consumers "A single box that ties together all the content you want, made easily accessible through a universal, natural, voice-directed search."

Yawn! Netflix and Rogers on Demand in Canada.

Nice update for Microsoft Xbox 360 owners but the "Future of TV"? C'mon.
 
#58 ·
Gold Requirement?

I'm unclear as to which of these new contents requires Xbox Gold. Is it needed for Rogers? Netflix?

$5 a month to access things I'm already paying for seems... I've had a Boxee for a week and am expecting by backordered 360 soon. Boxee has no charge to access Netflix, but won't do Rogers.
 
#62 ·
audacity said:
The other (bad) argument is around technical limitations, but I think those have been addressed (at least they have where I live) and will soon be addressed for everyone. My ISP is Shaw, and my internet connection supports 100 megabit download speeds, enough for plenty of HD streams. My cap is 500GB/month, and even though we watch lots of streamed HD content in my house we don't get anywhere near that cap. Sure, not all ISPs offer internet connections as good as Shaw does today, but it's only a matter of time before they catch up.
A 500-gig cap? Geez. I'm paying as much as I'm willing to pay for cable and internet ($115 a month) and I only have a 40-gig cap. You must be paying a good $200 a month just to download things. I'd much rather just DVR things and watch them at my leisure.
 
#64 ·
The non-discounted (and non-bundled) rate for my 100mbps/500GB cap service is $84.90/month. I agree that Shaw is the best ISP in Canada, but I also think that the other ISPs will progress to Shaw's level of service. I don't think Shaw's bandwidth caps will regress - mainly because networking technology is getting better and delivering data is getting cheaper.

@Wayne,

Your bandwidth argument is referring to bandwidth limits and capabilities of the past or present. I'm talking about the future. I'd also say the same thing about your video quality argument. High bitrate Netflix movies look better than many HD channels on Shaw cable. If you think streaming quality sucks, I challenge you to rent a 1080p movie off of the Xbox 360 Zune service. To my eye that is better than any video I've seen from a cable HD service (VOD, movie channel, etc).

Finally, the rate of improvement of internet video streaming services is higher than the rate of improvement that we're getting from cable companies, and for many technical reasons (which I won't go into here) I believe this trend will continue.

You may be correct in the sports department - today - but I believe that it won't be long before the leagues will start delivering the content directly to their customers over the internet. Like HBO, sports leagues are just content companies, and the economic argument for them to "cut out the middle man" is sound. Oh, and for every sports team that is owned by a video distributor (Bell, Rogers, etc) there are many more than aren't. If it is in the best interests of the sports leagues to "go direct", then I believe they will do that. Like any good business they're probably eyeing the profits made by the "middle men" and planning on how to take a chunk of that back as we speak.

The economic incentive is undeniable.

You can interpret that story as being positive or negative for cable subs but this is not a business that will disappear within the next five years.
Almost nobody was planning on buying a tablet computer 3 years ago. You may have noticed a lot of iPads about these days. The thing that the people who responded to those surveys haven't (and can't) take into account is the effect that new products and services will have on the market. I believe that we'll have many great products come out over the next few years that will change a lot of consumers minds on where they source their content. Companies like Apple will produce new versions of Apple TV (and maybe even their own TVs) that bypass the cable companies. Google will eventually get Google TV right. Microsoft is working hard to make their Xbox video content more compelling (which is the original starting point of this thread).

My bet is that as the "TV computer" products from companies like Apple/Google/Microsoft get better (and pull further ahead of the user interfaces provided by the cable company STBs) that will drive people to use services like Netflix/Hulu/Amazon/Vudu/Zune/etc more. That will allow said services increase their content pool and make their services more compelling, and even get their own exclusive content. Those two trends will feed off each other and the people who previously never thought they would dump their cable company will seriously consider it.
 
#65 ·
You may be right but I am very skeptical that there will be a very significant change in tne near future. In many ways I hope you are right, but I think that there is too much inertia and too much money at stake for things to change quickly due to the pushback from the cable and media companies.

I didn't mean to imply that all streaming video is of poor quality, but the bulk of it has been much poorer than HD cable. This is less true for Netflix than it is for streaming from TV network sites.
 
#66 ·
Wayne,

As long as people remain skeptical the BDU's win ;)

At the end of August I removed the dish from the side of my house never to return. TV in my house is supplied via OTA antenna and Netflix on my PS3's.

I could easily do what I do with a Xbox360 or HTPC so this isn't a PS3 vs Xbox360 argument so not off topic.

If OTA wasn't an option s it isn't in most non-border regions of Canada; Hulu Plus worked fine on my PS3 as well. Only issue with needing Hulu Plus is the bandwidth argument. Netflix alone my kids eat through my 175 GB cap. 250 GB cap would raise my monthly internet rate from $60 to $100.

DM
 
#67 ·
In order for Canada or the U.S. consumers to see real change in the business models (and real competition) then regulators need to force the utility companies providing the pipes to focus on delivery and nothing else. Bell, Rogers and Telus should not be able to be in the wireless business (a legitimate competitor otherwise), own any channels, or control any content. Controlling content (Leafs, Raptors) is the ultimate control.

Until the regulators and governments wake up, we will hear a lot of noise, but very little real consumer benefit will follow. The cable business of force feeding 500 useless channels is outdated, and there are ways of doing business differently. We will never see the benefit of competition.
 
#68 ·
MLB.TV on Xbox

Several questions for people who subscribed to MLB.TV last year on other devices:

I know Blue Jay games are black out across Canada but are the games available the next day as archieve games?

Because of data caps, I was wondering approximately how many gigs are sent per hour for HD TV?

Thanks.
 
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