Zune, Xbox and HD Videos

I couldn't cover anything regarding the Zune Video Marketplace in the last post due to it not being free. Microsoft asked to stress test their servers last weekend and that involved renting out a movie. I decided to use this opportunity to test out the feature. What do I think?

There is this uncertainty about the future of Xbox 360 as a media centre due to the lack of Blu-ray drive. After watching "State of Play" last night I am convinced that Xbox does not need a Blu-ray drive. It can survive and thrive without it. In fact I prefer the console without a noisy and expensive Blu-ray drive.

Now, how it went? I paid 340 Microsoft Points (about 3 pounds) to rent out the movie. It gave me two options: Download or Stream. The option to stream video will provide you the best experience (up to 1080p) depending on your connection speed. I opted for the download option to experience the best quality. It started downloading (9.3GB) of content and I switched to TV to watch X Factor. I checked the console during breaks and I reckon by the time it downloaded 18% of the movie it gave me the option to play. So you don’t have to wait for the whole film to download before you can start watching it. I assume the software is smart enough to work out how much it needs to download before letting you play to avoid buffering.

After I finished watching X Factor I switched to the console. More than half of the content was downloaded and I started watching it. The rest of the movie was downloaded as I watched it. I didn't experience any buffering or any other issue. The content was in Full HD quality (1920x1080) with Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio. The only downside to this experience was the lack of uncompressed HD audio (Dolby TrueHD). I guess we will have to live with this since Xbox 360 is not capable of sending HD audio over HDMI yet. I don't think that as a major issue as there is very little market for HD audio and very few people have the compatible hardware.

Watching a movie on 1080p was a totally different experience. This is the first time I have used my equipment to watch a Full HD movie as I don't have a Blu-ray drive. After last night I am totally sold on the idea of downloading and watching movies and to sum up,

I like:

1. Full HD videos, ready to be downloaded whenever you like.
2. Xbox remain quiet since there is no DVD spinning inside your console.
3. Ability to rent once and play on Xbox, PC and Zune. (US only)

I don’t like:

1. Limited video library.
2. Expensive. I want to see a subscription based unlimited rental.
3. Lack of HD audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD.

Xbox 360 Update Preview - October 09

I have been playing around with the latest update preview for about a week now and I am in a position to provide my impressions. For those who are disconnected to the world; this update includes:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Zune Marketplace
• Last.fm

Each feature (except Twitter) is a standalone application within Xbox 360 dashboard which means you have to leave dashboard and enter a separate application. The applications are based on the same NXE like interface except Twitter. Twitter has a flat 2D scrolling list type interface, as shown in the capture below.

This interface works very well for Twitter and to be honest there was nothing that could be achieved using the NXE like interface anyway. So thumbs-up to the team for keeping it simple.

Overall, a well integrated nice little addition to the console and I am sure it will make a lot of people, myself included, very happy.

Things are not so great on the Facebook side. Where Twitter feels lite, simple and well integrated Facebook feels heavy and busy. This is not an issue for me as long as you get full functionaltiy. If I have to stop playing a game, go back to the dashboard and load a full fledge Facebook application I expect a lot. I expect the functionality that I get from the Facebook iPhone app or at least Facebook Windows Mobile app.

Before I mention things you can do I would like to point out that Facebook on Xbox will let you navigate your friends' profile, albums, etc only if they have allowed full access to third party applications on Facebook. Like many of us, I have this disabled and so have my friends. I couldn't see my friends' profile, albums or anything. I posted this to Microsoft and they confirmed that my friends will need to allow access to third party applications in their Facebook privacy settings. A real bummer?

Another major let down is not being able to view friends' walls. In fact there is very limited that you can do, you can view their status, albums and profile information. That's it! Seriously! This is like having a jam donut with no jam in it. Other than that, you can't view videos which is a shame because the best part of Facebook on Xbox is Albums and the slide show. Overall, this release of Facebook on Xbox is somewhat undercooked. I assume next version will achieve much more. As this is a "nice to have" feature, most of the users will not be complaining about it.

Zune Marketplace is exactly as I expected. The interface is clean and perfectly logical. Other than Featured list, you can also browse and search. However, content in the marketplace is not that great, I would love to see Microsoft partnering with Lovefilm or Blockbuster to provide access to a huge library as well as a fixed price subscription based service (similar to Netflix in the US). This is a great move on Microsoft side and it makes perfect sense to have something like that on a gaming console. A valuable addition to the console.

Lastly, I want to talk about Last.fm. Like Zune Marketplace, this is a great feature but unlike Zune Marketplace it has great content too. Well, that was the whole point of having Last.fm. I have already spent hours listening and discovering music on Last.fm even though I don't use it on PC. The same NXE like interface works brilliantly and provide another way of killing time when you are not playing games but still using the dashboard or as I call it, "dashboarding". (And you thought it's only you who did that?). The pan-and-zoom photo slideshow as you listen to music makes it more fun and I love it! Another great feature.

Overall, a nice selection of features that are coming our way. Since it is not breaking any existing features, it will be welcomed by the Xbox community. It will also make Xbox 360 vs PS3 debate more interesting and the decision to choose much easier. Beat that Sony!

I am also pleased to see the importance Xbox 360 is receiving at Microsoft and it gives me a very nice feeling about the upcoming additions to the Xbox 360 console.

Windows 7 RC now available on MSDN!!!

The Release Candidate for Windows 7 is now available for download!

After visiting MSDN download page for nearly a million times since this morning I just saw the RC builds on the page. Downloading now, more updates later!