IPTV is coming to Xbox 360

[Crippler]

During Microsoft's keynote last night at CES, Robbie Bach announced that IPTV will be coming to the Xbox 360 this year.

Xbox 360 and Microsoft TV: Together Expanding the World of Games and Entertainment
In a move that will combine the power of Xbox 360 with Microsoft TV IPTV Edition, Bach provided an early look at a new service, IPTV on Xbox 360. The offering is expected to deliver world-class TV experiences such as digital video recording capabilities, with gaming, movie viewing, and even voice and video communications. Tapping into an expanded set of entertainment experiences, users will be able to watch their favorite sporting event live while chatting with their friends, for example, or participate in a match on Xbox Live® while they record a TV program in the background. IPTV on Xbox 360 is expected to be available to consumers by holiday season 2007 and will be offered by providers that are deploying TV services based on the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform.
"Our goal is to make entertainment more personal, more interactive and more social," Bach said. "IPTV on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live are powerful examples of ways we are bringing together the worlds of gaming, TV viewing and community to make it easy for people to access and discover their favorite content and share their personal experiences with the communities they are part of."
Microsoft TV IPTV Edition continues to strengthen its position in the market with deployments under way with five of the world's largest service providers and trials with 11 additional companies, representing a footprint across 14 countries on four continents.

So, the 360 will have DVR capabilities all while chainsawing in Gears of War. Sweet. I say bring it on. A larger hard disk has to be coming. The remaining 11-12 GB, on the 20 GB drive, is not gonna mean squat with a DVR, movie downloads, game content, saves, etc. Hopefully we'll see the larger drive during CES.

[D_Litch]

I would definitely need(at least) a 120 GB HD for DVR capabilities to mean anything. But, that said, that would be awesome

[Crippler]

on10.net has a demo video up showing IPTV running on the Xbox 360. Check it out here: IPTV demo on 360
Considering this won't be available until Fall of 07. The software is running pretty well right now. Looks fairly solid.

The embedded video seems to only work in IE. There are also several versions for download as well. I got my Zune version.

[CamDawg]

Awesome concept. I agree with the previous comments; we must have a larger HDD for this. I have a Motorola DCT 6412 HD DVR that only has a 120GB drive -- only have 120 GB really limits its use. I would say that 120 GB would be the absolute lower limit for the 360 (and I'd argue that it would need even more capacity once you factor in game saves, downloaded movies, demos, etc).

oh by the way, where's my HDMI???

[dmiller68]

Everyone was complaining that they wanted it for there current 360's so they delayed it to 2010 for the 720.

[AngryMongoose]

Bill Gates said in a news conference last Sun. that it will have a 120gig HD,but the 360 won't be available until the Holiday season 07.I can't wait till then to get a 360.I will buy a 360 now and the new one in 12mon.

[Nolimit4show]

Everyone was complaining that they wanted it for there current 360's so they delayed it to 2010 for the 720.

If the 20gig HD was $100 how much will the 120gig HD cost us?

[Peench]

Well if 120/20 = 6, then $100 x 6 = $600. So the 120GB drive should cost us $600!

[D_Litch]

I can pick up a 120GB HD at BB for $75. MS is a group of retards when it comes to pricing stuff.

[dmiller68]

I bet you can't pick up a 120GB 2.5 inch drive for that price which is what they use. Try $175-$250 and they may have been waiting for the 7200RPM drives to arrive. I'm not saying that 20GB drive for $99 isn't a rip-off but if you Google 20GB 2.5 hard drive you will see that they run $99.

[ZoomZoom71]

Good point, Dmiller!

[CamDawg]

I may not have been paying close enough attention, but to me it sounds like the new IPTV will only be for the Zephyer and not for our current gen 360 (he makes the comment at about 31 minutes in that the new version has the circuity needed for IPTV).

Here's the URL for the page with the MP3: http://www.twit.tv/ww10

The Zephyer part starts about 28 minutes in.

Since I don't have a TV service that offeres IPTV (and it's unlikely comcast will in the near future given their product announcements at CES), I can live with this as long as MS releases an HDMI solution and a reasonably priced larger HDD for the current 360. If not, I may stop investing in Xbox 360 games and HD-DVD movies and make the PS3 my primary gaming/movie platform.