Tag Archives: Xbox

Kodi Lands on the Xbox One, Making It the Ultimate Set-Top Box

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It isn’t just the inclusion of Kodi that makes the Xbox One so versatile, but it’s the final piece of the puzzle. Kodi is a Swiss Army Knife-like media player that actually spun out of an open-source project on the original Xbox way back in 2002. Kodi, which was formerly called XBMC, allows you to access media on remote drives, making it useful for people with a huge library of old ripped DVDs and home movies. (It’s also great for torrenting pirates.) Yet Kodi’s real power is now found in its add-ons and enormous add-on repository. – Alex Cranz, Gizmodo http://gizmo.do/rH6IO9p

Xbox One X still has an HDMI-in port for your cable box

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Microsoft may have a new tagline for its latest console, but you can still plug a cable box into the Xbox One X. The company shared some extra images for the system, which is due out November 7 for $500, and these shots reveal the input and output ports on the back of the box. Like with Xbox One and Xbox One S, the X features two HDMI ports. One is an HDMI-in that enables you to feed your cable-box signal into the system. The other is the HDMI output that sends the Xbox’s video and audio to your television. – Jeff Grubb, VentureBeat http://ift.tt/2rkYdY8

SoundCloud beats Spotify to Xbox One music streaming

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With the new app, SoundCloud users will be able to access all of their favorite tracks and new releases, play and skip tracks with Cortana, Microsoft’s voice-assistant and even pin their playlists to the XBox interface for easy access. SoundCloud is fully integrated, too, letting players listen to tunes in the background while playing games or navigating the console’s dashboard. – Rob LeFebvre, Engadget http://ift.tt/2rEx5Yy

Xbox Game Pass launches June 1 with over 100 titles

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The service is similar to PlayStation Now, Sony’s PlayStation 4-based equivalent, and also to Nivida’s GeForce NOW streaming service for its Shield Android TV set-top box. The Xbox version will cost members $11.99 per month, and will be available to Xbox Live Gold members starting today, with access opening to everyone on June 1. The key difference is that Microsoft’s offering allows full downloads of titles available to play, meaning you can access them offline and don’t have to worry about having a high-quality broadband connection to ensure smooth streaming. – Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch http://ift.tt/2qW8GL3

HBO Now Streaming Comes to Xbox

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photo: HBO, PC Magazine

Long tied to agreements with cable providers, HBO has gradually appeased cord cutters with the introduction and expansion of its streaming services. The network’s other streaming option, HBO GO, arrived on Xbox in 2014 for those with a subscription via a pay TV provider. The standalone HBO Now costs $14.99 and is available to anyone with an Internet connection. You can’t subscribe to HBO Now on your Xbox, you have to do it from an iOS, Android, or Amazon device, or add the channel to your Roku player. Once you do, you can access the subscription on Xbox and any other supported device, including phones, tablets, set-top boxes and dongles, smart TVs, and the HBO Now website. – Tom Brant, PCMag

Australian streaming service Stan launches on Xbox One

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photo: Stan, Winbeta

While the Stan app is completely free, users must sign in with a Stan account to access the media library. Like Netflix, which is also available in Australia, Stan charges a monthly membership fee for all members however they do provide a 30 day free trial of the service for interested parties to sample the service before committing to the paid subscription model. – Brad Stephenson, WinBeta

Microsoft might launch a slim Xbox One version to take on the Apple TV

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photo: BGR

The news comes from Petri IT Knowledgebase, which has heard from unnamed sources that the company is considering a lightweight Xbox one that might be released at some point in the second half of 2016. The new console will be smaller than the Xbox One and would compete directly with the Apple TV and other similar set-top boxes. – Chris Smith, BGR

PS4 And Xbox One: Netflix 4K Streaming Movie Videos Require An XBone Or PlayStation 4 Update In 2016

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photo: Netflix, Inquisitr

Both consoles currently support the HDMI 1.4a standard fully, which does, in fact, support the Ultra HD or 4K resolution. The bad news is that the max data rate provided by HDMI 1.4a is limited to 30 Hz, which means that 4K 60 Hz TV owners are left out in the cold. At the same time, North American movies are displayed in 24 Hz, so a 4K 30 Hz limitation is not necessarily a deal killer. In addition, it may be possible that a PS4 and Xbox One update could provide a HDMI 2.0a software update, which offers 4K 60 Hz support (or 2160p60) and deeper color space among other features. – Patrick Frye, The Inquisitr

Streaming the NFL in 2015: Easier but still not simple

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photo: ZDNet

The most affordable option is NFL’s own Game Pass. This new $100 a season Internet service lets you see all NFL games… after they’re over. In the case of Sunday games, no games are available until after the last of the 4 PM games are over. […] Game Pass is available not just on the Web but also on Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile devices. You can also view it via Apple TV and Microsoft Xbox. If you live outside the U.S., Mexico Bermuda, Antigua, or the Bahamas, however, you can watch live games with Game Pass. To the creative mind, this opens an opportunity. You can use a virtual private network (VPN) or web proxy to make it appear that you’re watching from Canada or the European Union where you can legally subscribe to the live service. – Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, ZDNet
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