**Official New Xbox Experience Thread** - Poll Added

[blurredvision]

Ya, the friends section with the avatars needs to be better designed somehow, instead of just having the one long row in no particular order. It's pretty much useless other than to see what their avatar looks like and to see if they are in a party.

 

[UpgradeFailure]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
Ya, the friends section with the avatars needs to be better designed somehow, instead of just having the one long row in no particular order. It's pretty much useless other than to see what their avatar looks like and to see if they are in a party.

If the people are online, isn't it alphabetical?

 

[tw1164]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: mugs
If my math is right, @3800kbps a 2 hour movie in HD would only be about 3.4 GB - is that right? That's pretty good. I didn't have any complaints about the video quality when I was watching The Office in HD.

Not really. If you want to have a de facto lossless conversion of an MPEG-2 480p movie from a DVD into, say, H.264, you're looking at 1500-2000kbps. Once you jack up the resolution to 720p, just doubling the bitrate (note: the resolution has more than doubled) isn't exactly going to get you great-looking HD. And that goes doubly so for VC-1, which is not _quite_ as efficient as H.264 (albeit it's not too far off).

Well...
1. I've seen the HD content on the 360+Netflix, and it looks fine to me
2. That is the max stated bitrate in their blog post

So... what are you saying "not really" to?

The "that's pretty good" portion of your comment. It's a low bitrate for 720p material, IMHO.

I use 3000-4000kps for my 720p VC-1 encodes. I use a VBR CQ of 90% and it looks fine. Most of my videos are TV shows, so there tends to be less action scenes. When I do H.264 encodes I normally use CQ 20.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: Sheep

Originally posted by: erwos
I think that _some_ speed might be had from using the guide button - I haven't played much with it, but it brings up a rather abbreviated, bare-bones version of the blade interface. In fact, there's some stuff you can _only_ do from it (like deleting 0 point games).

Thanks for posting this. Deleting 0 point games was the ONLY thing I haven't figured out how to do yet.

The guide button is definitely your friend - I was playing with it last night, and it really does provide a super-quick way to get to some common places.

My number one requested feature right now is "start on My Xbox after start-up", closely followed by "AAC-5.1 support in MPEG-4". The former, at least, should not be terribly hard for them to get into the next update.

 

[purbeast0]

So far I like it a lot more than the previous dash as it's a lot quicker and definitely cleaner. I could still do w/out the whole stupid avatar thing.

I also liked cleaning out my 0 point games from my cluttered list which was cool.

I installed Gears2 to my HDD last night and loaded it up but didn't really play it, and it was pretty cool to play it w/out so much racket .

I don't really care much for the HDD feature but I really only stick to 1 game at a time for a while so I'll just plop that one on my 20Gb HDD till I think I'm going to move onto a new game then get rid of it. I was surprised at the speed it copied the game to the HDD also. It has to be copying over basically an ISO image instead of each file individually like the utility did on a modded xbox.

I will say though I'm slightly disappointed with the speed which the "quick launch" menu (when you press the guide button) comes up and displays your friends list. I thought it would be quicker than the old dash but it appears to be pretty much the same, so it'll still take just as long to mute people while in gears2.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: UpgradeFailure

Originally posted by: blurredvision
Ya, the friends section with the avatars needs to be better designed somehow, instead of just having the one long row in no particular order. It's pretty much useless other than to see what their avatar looks like and to see if they are in a party.

If the people are online, isn't it alphabetical?

the first "thing" listed on my friends list was a party of 3, and the host of the party was someone not even on my friends list. I was like "who the hell is this?" then i clicked on the party and noticed the 3rd person in the party was on my friends list.

it was very strange to see the first person in this row of people, on my friends list, and he wasn't even a friend of mine.

 

[vi edit]

For those looking for an easy to browse "watch it now" directory, check out this site:

http://netflix.softworksdevelopment.com/

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: UpgradeFailure

Originally posted by: blurredvision
Ya, the friends section with the avatars needs to be better designed somehow, instead of just having the one long row in no particular order. It's pretty much useless other than to see what their avatar looks like and to see if they are in a party.

If the people are online, isn't it alphabetical?

the first "thing" listed on my friends list was a party of 3, and the host of the party was someone not even on my friends list. I was like "who the hell is this?" then i clicked on the party and noticed the 3rd person in the party was on my friends list.

it was very strange to see the first person in this row of people, on my friends list, and he wasn't even a friend of mine.

Yes, I noticed that, too - it will list parties first, and it will show people not even on your friends list.

I suppose now we'll be able to see who on our list is the most popular.

I'm very rarely in a party, but from what I've seen some people are constantly.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
I thought it would be quicker than the old dash but it appears to be pretty much the same, so it'll still take just as long to mute people while in gears2.

But with the party feature you'll never have to mute people again.

 

[Qbah]

I like the Install option the best (own an Elite). I was really looking forward to not hear the DVD drive! But... now I can hear the fans I checked my box and it has a FDOU or something on it and after looking around it seems it's the noisier Falcon. Seems there's no pleasing me

Don't get me wrong, it *is* quieter, just not quiet enough for me.

The Dashboard is nice, more responsive than the old one, easy to find stuff. Though I had to get used to it at first, obviously... took me like an hour to locate the Change Theme option...

In general I like it a lot more than the old one (which was fine anyway).

 

[UpgradeFailure]

Originally posted by: purbeast0

Originally posted by: UpgradeFailure

Originally posted by: blurredvision
Ya, the friends section with the avatars needs to be better designed somehow, instead of just having the one long row in no particular order. It's pretty much useless other than to see what their avatar looks like and to see if they are in a party.

If the people are online, isn't it alphabetical?

the first "thing" listed on my friends list was a party of 3, and the host of the party was someone not even on my friends list. I was like "who the hell is this?" then i clicked on the party and noticed the 3rd person in the party was on my friends list.

it was very strange to see the first person in this row of people, on my friends list, and he wasn't even a friend of mine.

Wow that is so stupid. I hope that's one of the first things they fix in an update (and not next spring, but soon)

 

[NeoAaronX]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca
So apparently Sony is now blocking all of their movies from Netflix streaming to the Xbox 360. Not any other Netflix-enabled devices, JUST the Xbox.

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2...om-streaming-to-the-x/

Sometimes I wonder if these people want us to pirate their movies or what. They create so much drama over this stuff and are constantly trying to prevent people from accessing stuff in this way or that way. Given how restrictive a lot of these schemes are, it's no wonder so many people just throw up their hands and download torrents so they don't have to worry about it.

Funny, those titles did work last weekend. I watched some of the Dilbert series (which I also own on DVD) on my 360. Stupid Sony... yeah, Microsoft is their competitors. But technically so is Netflix and so is Roku (both compete with Sony's video rental service), and so is every other computer manufacturer other than Sony. Has LG released that Netflix/Blu-ray hybrid thing they were talking about? LG competes with Sony in the entire consumer electronics market. Any device that you could possibly stream Netflix to (other than a Sony PC) is competing with Sony.

Dumbasses. I might be tempted to stop buying Sony products if I hadn't already stopped buying Sony products years ago (aside from game consoles) because they use their reputation for good quality to charge premium prices for shit quality.

I think Microsoft should threaten Sony to knock it off or they're not gonna let them use their Windows OS on any computer/laptop Sony makes.
Hmm,??

 

[RandomFool]

My only complaint so far is that it won't read my RB2 disc to install even thought the thing doesn't have a scratch on it.

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: RandomFool
My only complaint so far is that it won't read my RB2 disc to install even thought the thing doesn't have a scratch on it.

Some games just won't install - this was covered earlier in the thread. Is it failing to install, or does it not even give you the option?

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: ObscureCaucasian

Originally posted by: amdhunter
I don't know how I like the system yet...

Has anyone noticed delays when viewing other peoples Avatars? My 360 locked up completely when I viewed one particular friends Avatar, and took roughly a minute to recover. I almost expected a RROD to pop out.

Also, I wish they would implement a way to hide every set of blades, not just the Welcome one. I cannot stand the way Microsoft is stuffing adverts everywhere on it.

Also, before I go and move my wall unit, has anyone found out whether it supports 1920x1200 resolutions over VGA yet?

I like the NXE better than the blade system, but if the current NXE will stay how it is now, I really hope to switch back to the blade system.

EDIT: I think I am going to default my 360 to boot to DVD rather than the dash. The adverts are waaay too much IMO.

I wish you could change the default channel when you sign on. Right now I believe it's spotlight or something, I'd much rather have it be "My Xbox"

You know, that would make me very happy.

I've found that if you password protect your Live account, it will default to My XBOX. It's not hard to type the button combo's to get into Live when you want to.

 

[blurredvision]

This dash is starting to grow on me a bit more as I learn my way around. I love being able to see the available DLC for a game right where I would launch it.

One thing we haven't really talked about is the "premium" themes. I'm guessing these are themes that were designed with the NXE in mind...has anybody purchased one yet and can comment on them?

 

[mc866]

Personally I really like it overall, it may have more advertising and such but I guess I'm not too bothered by it. I was very impressed how slim it was, the download didn't take very long and it installed fairly quickly. The avatars are well just a "mii too" feature, pun intended, and are pretty meh. The rest though seems very polished and well done. FYI I know there has been some discussion if there were any supported resolutions added and it appears they did add the 1680x1050 display mode so my 22" doesn't have to try and scale anymore, picture looks much better now.

Looking forward to utilizing the group chat function while getting some Gears2 MP going, also loaded gears 2 on to my hard drive and noticed some differences for the better while playing co-op campaign, the two biggest ones we're before the install I would get a bit of studder or lag when hitting a check point, this is virtually gone. The next is the textures seem to load faster.

Edit: And for those that don't like it, I think this was discussed above but can't remember make sure you go in and exercise your right to disable the welcome screen, this should reduce some of the advertising.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: kabob983

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein
Yeah I may be going blind, but where do I enter the 2 codes that came w/ my LE: GOW2 under the NEX?

Don't worry, I couldn't find how to change my theme for the life of me .

FINALLY figured this one out! Hit the guide button, go all the way to the left to the Marketplace tab, it's an option there. Couldn't figure out how to do it either.

Thank you kabob983! :beer:

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: blurredvision
One thing we haven't really talked about is the "premium" themes. I'm guessing these are themes that were designed with the NXE in mind...has anybody purchased one yet and can comment on them?

For 250 points each ($3.13), feel free to comment on them, while we point and laugh at your frivolous spending.

Though probably not worse than people who paid for old themes which are basically useless now.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: blurredvision
One thing we haven't really talked about is the "premium" themes. I'm guessing these are themes that were designed with the NXE in mind...has anybody purchased one yet and can comment on them?

For 250 points each ($3.13), feel free to comment on them, while we point and laugh at your frivolous spending.

Haha, no doubt. I definitely will not spend the money for one, that's why I was hoping someone else would be guinea pig and tell us what was so "premium" about them.

 

[R Nilla]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: ducci

Originally posted by: blurredvision
One thing we haven't really talked about is the "premium" themes. I'm guessing these are themes that were designed with the NXE in mind...has anybody purchased one yet and can comment on them?

For 250 points each ($3.13), feel free to comment on them, while we point and laugh at your frivolous spending.

Haha, no doubt. I definitely will not spend the money for one, that's why I was hoping someone else would be guinea pig and tell us what was so "premium" about them.

The NXE came with some themes by default, that should give you an idea of what the premium themes are like. I have a Gears 2 premium theme, and the main extra is that when I'm browsing my friends list it shows a 3D Gears themed background behind each friend. Like the tank, a downed helicopter, and one of those drill pods.

The only other difference I noticed is that the background images are better sized to fit since there aren't blades in the way anymore. Some of the existing (old) ones seemed like they were being stretched out (not all were like this, though).

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Qbah
I like the Install option the best (own an Elite). I was really looking forward to not hear the DVD drive! But... now I can hear the fans I checked my box and it has a FDOU or something on it and after looking around it seems it's the noisier Falcon. Seems there's no pleasing me

Don't get me wrong, it *is* quieter, just not quiet enough for me.

The Dashboard is nice, more responsive than the old one, easy to find stuff. Though I had to get used to it at first, obviously... took me like an hour to locate the Change Theme option...

In general I like it a lot more than the old one (which was fine anyway).

If you can hear a fan, you must have your TV muted. Turn the volume up dude. I don't even notice the DVD drive spinning when I'm playing.

 

[Rage187]

Originally posted by: erwos

Originally posted by: Sheep

Originally posted by: erwos
I think that _some_ speed might be had from using the guide button - I haven't played much with it, but it brings up a rather abbreviated, bare-bones version of the blade interface. In fact, there's some stuff you can _only_ do from it (like deleting 0 point games).

Thanks for posting this. Deleting 0 point games was the ONLY thing I haven't figured out how to do yet.

The guide button is definitely your friend - I was playing with it last night, and it really does provide a super-quick way to get to some common places.

My number one requested feature right now is "start on My Xbox after start-up", closely followed by "AAC-5.1 support in MPEG-4". The former, at least, should not be terribly hard for them to get into the next update.

I ran the preview nxe for a couple weeks and you could do this. I dont remember if it defaulted to that eventually or if I changed it in system settings. All I know is that I don't have the option anymore.


EDIT: I remember why from something someone above posted. If you set your live account not to Auto-Login, when you do select your live account it takes you right to MyXbox.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Qbah
I like the Install option the best (own an Elite). I was really looking forward to not hear the DVD drive! But... now I can hear the fans I checked my box and it has a FDOU or something on it and after looking around it seems it's the noisier Falcon. Seems there's no pleasing me

Don't get me wrong, it *is* quieter, just not quiet enough for me.

The Dashboard is nice, more responsive than the old one, easy to find stuff. Though I had to get used to it at first, obviously... took me like an hour to locate the Change Theme option...

In general I like it a lot more than the old one (which was fine anyway).

If you can hear a fan, you must have your TV muted. Turn the volume up dude. I don't even notice the DVD drive spinning when I'm playing.

Same here mugs!

 

[RagingBITCH]

Anyone have a list of streaming HD vids from Netflix?