Hands on with 360 IPTV

by Richard Mitchell { Jan 11th 2007 at 3:00PM }

Joystiq had a chance to mess around with IPTV on the Xbox 360 and have some nagging questions answered. First of all, the service itself will be served by one of a number of telcos like Verizon or AT&T (it won't necessarily be AT&T as previously speculated). A number of telcos use Microsoft IPTV middleware, so it stands to reason that these companies will offer their services on the Xbox 360. As Joystiq points out, a 20GB HDD just ain't gonna cut it for a DVR, and recorded TV will likely take up at least the same amount of space as videos downloaded from Marketplace. Joystiq speculates that a larger HDD will be available for the 360 in time for the launch of the IPTV service at the end of the year. Finally, IPTV allows for multiple streams to be viewed and recorded at once -- limited only by bandwidth and the HDD -- and is capable of delivering more HD content than standard services. Of course, none of this will matter if IPTV isn't available in your area. That is unless Microsoft has yet another trick up their collective sleeve. Check out a gallery of IPTV images here.

If it performed competitively and was reasonably priced, would you ditch your cable provider for Live enabled IPTV on Xbox 360?

Tags: 360 iptv, 360Iptv, iptv, iptv 360, Iptv360, xbox live, XboxLive

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

iNZoW @ Jan 11th 2007 6:21PM

i should move to usa :(

mike @ Jan 11th 2007 3:39PM

yes i'd ditch comcast.. I hate them. I've been wanting Verizon fios to get lit up in my area, so i can jump ship. The problem is I know fios is in my area, just not on my block yet.. and I can never get any idea when its coming to my block :(.. sad. Maybe IPTV will be the way to go.

beatngu @ Jan 23rd 2007 9:58AM

I don't think you'll necessarily *need* to ditch your provider, if large companies like BT and Comcast are onboard as Microsoft partners. But to answer the question, yes, conditional upon the feature set/functionality I'd receive.

DWAnderson @ Jan 12th 2007 12:49AM

Only if it could be hooked up to Vista Media Center.

murph @ Jan 11th 2007 3:30PM

hells yeah. i'm just waiting for Verizon to roll some FIOS out in my neighborhood. F the cable companies. i'm switching as soon as possible. this announcement just makes it easier and cheaper - don't need to pay for a set-top box or DVR rental.

Neon Jebus @ Jan 11th 2007 3:38PM

At the CES Keynote Mr. Gates was commenting on the HP Home Server and its storage capacity. While listing systems that could access it he did include the XBOX 360.

Could the 360 be updated to allow it to send these IPTV recorded programs to the HP product?

Sure it would be great to not need to purchase a larger (and certainly overpriced) additional hard drive than the one I currently have. Though it would mean further DRM as to not have people sharing those files...

I mean, sure you get to view WMV files saved on your server with your 360, but if I can just record content via IPTV, or buy TV shows or movies on Live Marketplace, why do I even care about a Vista PC or that server?

Maybe I just don't understand these things...

Andrew @ Jan 11th 2007 3:48PM

Are these timescales just for the US - are there any indications of when IPTV will be available for UK XBox owners?

lp @ Jan 11th 2007 4:36PM

When the UK gets a decent infrastructure.

The fastest internet that we can get is between 8-16Mb which is nowhere near fast enough for a decent IPTV setup which will require at least 5mbps per channel (not forgetting internet & IP phone overheads)

Axle Munshine @ Jan 11th 2007 7:08PM

Hell yes!

I'm in Montreal, Canada and I would gladly ditch Videotron's average Illico service for a IPTV service.

My sources at Bell Canada tell me there are good chances they should offer an IPTV service before the end of 2007.

They've been testing IPTV for a while. The first test phase with consumers did not go too well because of problems with the client machines.

I know they have been testing Microsoft IPTV's infrastructure. Rumors are that the platform isn't chosen yet and will be done being closed doors by upper management.

Let's hope they'll choose Microsoft IPTV. Since they already do some XBox 360 co-branding for their Sympatico ASDL service, one can only hope.

Logan T. @ Jan 11th 2007 7:46PM

I wouldn't switch because we have multiple rooms in our house that need cable TV and only one with a 360.

Dave @ Jan 11th 2007 8:04PM

The 360 is a great gaming machine, but I think dedicated devices can do these things better (and much quieter) than the 360.

I want to make sure my 360 can play games and not worry about burning it out prematurely with overuse. Besides, Apples new TV box looks pretty cool!

Dave