270°

Home invasion: Microsoft's Xbox TV is finally on the air

At the DigitalLife conference in New York City today, Joe Belfiore, corporate vice-president of entertainment and devices for Microsoft's eHome division, is to announce its new high-quality television broadcasts over the Internet using its Windows and Xbox 360.

Americans with Windows Vista Premium or Ultimate will be able to turn their computer into a TV broadcast center. The center will then send signals over a home network to Xbox 360s, which will display the TV contents in high-definition. Contents will include free ad-supported TV shows, MSNBC newsfeeds, live programs, and Xbox's personal videos.

For customers without an Xbox 360, Microsoft announced a line of "home media extenders" -- little black boxes that sit atop of a TV and decode the home network signals. Microsoft will directly compete with Apple in fledging Internet TV broadcasts.

The pieces of Microsoft's grand strategy are starting to fall into place, and Xbox 360 is a key element in Microsoft's Internet TV.

Microsoft has already plotted its next move: the garage. Ford Motor Co. recently announced that its Sync entertainment system, which was co-developed with Microsoft, will be available in almost all Ford vehicles later this year. Sync is to able to work to Windows Vista and transfers media files, Internet TV and other contents from a home computer into a Ford vehicle.

Night4ll6055d ago

I think that's brilliant. I'm trying to decide between a 360 and a PS3. I've notice that I keep getting one step closer to buying a 360. I like innovation, and though I think nintendo is the master of innovation, Microsoft has been impressing me lately... Well let's see what happens this Xmas.

BloodySinner6055d ago

Too bad Nintendo doesn't innovation in the hardware department. :-/

kr90916055d ago

What would you call the Wiimote then? Just curious. To me that's hardware.

BloodySinner6055d ago

Yes, it is hardware. Sorry, I should of been more specific for some of you. I was referring to the Wii's internal hardware (GameCube).

Night4ll6054d ago

I love my Wii, and I play with it whenever I can... {snicker}. I'm just trying to decide between the PS3 and the 360 as a secondary console.

All the games I wanna play are on Wii, but there are some other titles I wanna play on the other system. I don't have the time or money to get all systems.

There are still PS2 games I haven't finished yet, so I will only get one more console for some of the cross platform titles.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 6054d ago
xc7x6055d ago

people been doing this already,M$ is late to the game

dork07836055d ago

I watch tv thru my media center on my 360 does that count?

fjtorres6055d ago

This is, in effect, a Microsoft Cable channel (except it runs on the internet instead of a cable system) that streams news, sports, and entertainment on-demand to Media Center PCs and thrugh Media Center PCs, to XBOX and Media Center Extenders in the *living room*. Not on PCs, not on laptops. Not on cellphones; on HDTVS!!!
Nobody else anywhere does this.
Nobody is even close to doing this.
(Closest is Apple and they have a long way to go on the client hardware, to say nothing of the content and the back end servers.)
Period.

ArmrdChaos6055d ago (Edited 6055d ago )

Veoh TV is nothing more than an hunter/gather program. It gives you a frontend interface and listing of video files that exist on the web at various sites. Think of it like Trillian for video websites. Microsoft will actually be streaming content just like Direct TV or any other cable provider.

Not to mention...it appears that Veoh is a one to one connection...meaning one computer to one TV. The MS solution is one PC that will stream to MULTIPLE TVs.

Keyser6055d ago

If you already have cable then you have 900 channels. If you have an HDTV you probably have and HD cable box or HD satellite feed. Why would you want or need to look at MS's content?

This doesn't make sense to me. Is it going to show football games that are being covered? Will it showcase programs that aren't on regular tv? I don't uderstand why this is useful.

Someone please explain.

Show all comments (15)
40°

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MIDGETonSTILTS171h ago

Thank you Xbox for saving this game from development Hell.

This is what contributing to gaming looks like.

Keep doing this. THIS is good for competition. *This* is good for all gamers, regardless of platform.

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