Verizon has also indicated they will transition from the early QAM-over-fiber TV rollout to IP starting towards the end of this year. They've also announced a partnership with Microsoft. And the 360 IPTV stuff is slated for the end of this year.Probably not a coincidence. Also, I believe FIOS has at least a few communities running IPTV, and all of it is MS-based.
Well, now it's a choice - you pay for your cable internet & tv, or you can pay for your cable internet, dump your cable tv, and subscribe to the Xbox 360 IPTV service. All depends on how convenient the service is compared to what Apple can provide, I suppose.
AT&T is who this is for. This is for the phone companies that want to compete with the cable companies. It sounds like the 360 media center is a cool idea, but typical microsoft sucking up to other corporations will encumber it with so many hoops to jump through that it won't take off. It sounded so cool until the minute they said, "content provider." By tying it to a service rather than offering the customer choice they are ensuring that it won't be as sucessful as it could be.
IPTV is just another delivery method for television, there's very little difference to the service you can currently get from cable and satellite. It's not part of the "web" as you say; it just utilises your internet connection to deliver a TV signal which you then need seperate hardware to decode and display. And as you need to use certain Microsoft partners for the IPTV to work on your 360, it's just as proprietary as the others.I honestly don't see what there is to get excited about, most of the features shown in the MS CES footnote can already be done with PVR set top boxes (granted you usually have to pay extra to get these, but I imagine you will have to purchase the 120gb HDD upgrade for your 360 for the PVR functions to be usable anyway), only the price could really set it apart. We'll just have to see.I also wonder, will using the TV use your internet connection bandwidth so you download slower when watching, or will it have its own reserve?
my questions is are you going to be able to specify a server for the IPTV? If so then couldn't you just purchase a slingbox, point your 360 to it and have "free" TV on your 360?I suppose that you could do the same thing via media center however you wouldn't be able to use that nifty little IPTV button they are adding. All questions to be answered later I guess.
Not sure, but I'll be interested to see if this happens in the UK.Our TV is already infected with bits of American programming (the laughing stock of the world) so lets hope there's other international versions.
dotorgJan 8, 2007
Verizon has also indicated they will transition from the early QAM-over-fiber TV rollout to IP starting towards the end of this year. They've also announced a partnership with Microsoft. And the 360 IPTV stuff is slated for the end of this year.Probably not a coincidence. Also, I believe FIOS has at least a few communities running IPTV, and all of it is MS-based.
etruscanJan 9, 2007
Well, now it's a choice - you pay for your cable internet & tv, or you can pay for your cable internet, dump your cable tv, and subscribe to the Xbox 360 IPTV service. All depends on how convenient the service is compared to what Apple can provide, I suppose.
pabsterJan 9, 2007
And your receiver gets a good feed full of HD channels and nearly instant channel switching too, all from an internet connection.Wait...
jccalhounJan 9, 2007
AT&T is who this is for. This is for the phone companies that want to compete with the cable companies. It sounds like the 360 media center is a cool idea, but typical microsoft sucking up to other corporations will encumber it with so many hoops to jump through that it won't take off. It sounded so cool until the minute they said, "content provider." By tying it to a service rather than offering the customer choice they are ensuring that it won't be as sucessful as it could be.
pugfishJan 9, 2007
IPTV is just another delivery method for television, there's very little difference to the service you can currently get from cable and satellite. It's not part of the "web" as you say; it just utilises your internet connection to deliver a TV signal which you then need seperate hardware to decode and display. And as you need to use certain Microsoft partners for the IPTV to work on your 360, it's just as proprietary as the others.I honestly don't see what there is to get excited about, most of the features shown in the MS CES footnote can already be done with PVR set top boxes (granted you usually have to pay extra to get these, but I imagine you will have to purchase the 120gb HDD upgrade for your 360 for the PVR functions to be usable anyway), only the price could really set it apart. We'll just have to see.I also wonder, will using the TV use your internet connection bandwidth so you download slower when watching, or will it have its own reserve?
nosticJan 9, 2007
my questions is are you going to be able to specify a server for the IPTV? If so then couldn't you just purchase a slingbox, point your 360 to it and have "free" TV on your 360?I suppose that you could do the same thing via media center however you wouldn't be able to use that nifty little IPTV button they are adding. All questions to be answered later I guess.
pjbonovoxJan 9, 2007
Not sure, but I'll be interested to see if this happens in the UK.Our TV is already infected with bits of American programming (the laughing stock of the world) so lets hope there's other international versions.