Better late than never? Finally bought a 360

[Lupine]

Been looking at the 360 for awhile, for its media extender functionality. Dell is pushing a deal on the arcade ($159 + tax shipped), plus I used bing for another 3%, so went ahead and bit. Figured I can get a hdd later, if I feel the need.

[oasked]

I got mine last November, only really played Forza 3 and GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City on it though, not interested in any of the other games so far...

Good deal on the box, shame you'll need to buy a HD, get Xbox Live Gold, etc etc. Its a money-making scam.

[Lupine]

I got mine last November, only really played Forza 3 and GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City on it though, not interested in any of the other games so far...

Good deal on the box, shame you'll need to buy a HD, get Xbox Live Gold, etc etc. Its a money-making scam.

I don't see any reason to buy Live Gold, at least not at this point. I can stream netflix via playon.tv for that. HDD, we'll see. Supposedly the current configs w/ built in 512mb gives you most of the necessary functionality, and you can buy cheap little 20gb drives for next to nothing, or venture into finding a compatible drive on the cheap too.

But yeah, know what you mean. We picked up a Wii for the kids at Christmas, and its turned into a huge money pit.

edit: will probably buy tversity sub to aid the media functionality as well.

[curio]

Xbox money pit lol

Says the guy with i7's and dual 23" monitors

[jimmt]

I don't see any reason to buy Live Gold, at least not at this point. I can stream netflix via playon.tv for that. HDD, we'll see. Supposedly the current configs w/ built in 512mb gives you most of the necessary functionality, and you can buy cheap little 20gb drives for next to nothing, or venture into finding a compatible drive on the cheap too.

But yeah, know what you mean. We picked up a Wii for the kids at Christmas, and its turned into a huge money pit.

edit: will probably buy tversity sub to aid the media functionality as well.

I just use the media center functionality in Windows vista/7 and my xbox to service all my media needs. Even stream live tv and it allowed me to move my Tv to a location in my living room where we dont' have an outlet.

[Elysian]

I don't see any reason to buy Live Gold, at least not at this point. I can stream netflix via playon.tv for that. HDD, we'll see. Supposedly the current configs w/ built in 512mb gives you most of the necessary functionality, and you can buy cheap little 20gb drives for next to nothing, or venture into finding a compatible drive on the cheap too.

But yeah, know what you mean. We picked up a Wii for the kids at Christmas, and its turned into a huge money pit.

edit: will probably buy tversity sub to aid the media functionality as well.

The free version of Tversity works perfectly.

[Lupine]

Xbox money pit lol

Says the guy with i7's and dual 23" monitors

Some of my better deal hauls this year actually. i7-920 plus mobo was $329AR, and the pair of screens came to $300. Not shabby for the performance gained. But this is about the 360, not my loony addiction to PC hardware upgrades / wheels & deals!

@ jimmt: that's the plan. Was looking at media extender specific hardware, but the xbox360 seems very competitive here, and I expect it'll see some actual gaming periodically as well lol.

@ Elysian: I'll take a look at the free version. If it can stream everything I have on the PC w/o issue (codecs etc), sounds like a wennar to me!

[Elysian]

Some of my better deal hauls this year actually. i7-920 plus mobo was $329AR, and the pair of screens came to $300. Not shabby for the performance gained. But this is about the 360, not my loony addiction to PC hardware upgrades / wheels & deals!

@ jimmt: that's the plan. Was looking at media extender specific hardware, but the xbox360 seems very competitive here, and I expect it'll see some actual gaming periodically as well lol.

@ Elysian: I'll take a look at the free version. If it can stream everything I have on the PC w/o issue (codecs etc), sounds like a wennar to me!

The only format I have issues with with Tversity and the Xbox in general is Matroska, but that's it. Everything else works perfectly, it's just the damned Matroska thing I can't ever get to work right.

[Sound_Card]

xbox 360 is a fantastic media box. I use it to stream media center. My zune is connected to it as well.

[guest]

Why did you buy a crappy Xbox 360 for? I bet it blows up in a year.

[plan-9]

Not the greatest deal. BB/FS/Walmart have sales a few times a year here for an arcade for $150CDN.

[Lupine]

Why did you buy a crappy Xbox 360 for? I bet it blows up in a year.

I was waiting for something like that lol. Good old reliable console forum!

Not the greatest deal. BB/FS/Walmart have sales a few times a year here for an arcade for $150CDN.

Yeah, wish I'd picked one up on black friday last year. This was a good enough deal to hit my bang/buck ratio though, and I needed to put something in play pretty soon here, to replace the functionality lost when I parted out my HTPC last month.

[Encyclopedia_b]

is it possible to use that arcade without a HDD to stream?

if so i like the idea of being able to move my tv and just put an xbox near it.

[Rifle_shot]

According to the pix/info on dell there is no HDMI on this one. OP, can you confirm/deny this for me- this could be an old batch w/o HDMI that Dell is trying to sell.

[Lupine]

According to the pix/info on dell there is no HDMI on this one. OP, can you confirm/deny this for me- this could be an old batch w/o HDMI that Dell is trying to sell.

Probably stock photo & info. Recent deals from Dell have all been the latest version, w/ HDMI. I'll see if I can verify though, because I don't want it if its sans HDMI.

[guest]

Probably stock photo & info. Recent deals from Dell have all been the latest version, w/ HDMI. I'll see if I can verify though, because I don't want it if its sans HDMI.

I got my Arcade from Dell just over a year ago and it was a Jasper with HDMI port. The tech specs says 256MB memory unit, which is built in. I've never seen an Xbox ship with an external 256MB memory unit.

[mabran]

I don't see any reason to buy Live Gold, at least not at this point. I can stream netflix via playon.tv for that. HDD, we'll see. Supposedly the current configs w/ built in 512mb gives you most of the necessary functionality, and you can buy cheap little 20gb drives for next to nothing, or venture into finding a compatible drive on the cheap too.

But yeah, know what you mean. We picked up a Wii for the kids at Christmas, and its turned into a huge money pit.

edit: will probably buy tversity sub to aid the media functionality as well.

I use Playon and it has some issues with netflix (main problem is not it's fault) The PC netflix client which is what Playon uses to stream to the 360 does not do HD streams even if the video is available in HD(very odd) where the 360 and other devices do support HD streams and the video is a good bit darker in my experience and a big enough difference to make me not use playon for netflix. The lack of HD streams was a huge disappointment in my opinion.

I love Playon but the netflix support is just not there and it's really not their fault (playon). I love Playon for Hulu and CBS though.

[KAC]

Arcade is fine now since it has HDMI and a wireless controller. Xbox doesn't get much playtime. Last two games played on the box were Bayonetta and Forza 3. Have started Mass Effect but already sold it. Will purchase again today to continue.

Mass Effect is a great game to have on the sexbox. Also try Gears of War 2 which is an amazing shooter. Don't try the Halo games, they just disappoint. I have Halo 3, Halo ODST and Halo Wars all collecting dust. Only reason I don't sell them is... actually I don't have a reason not to sell them.

I also got some Fable 2 collecting dust and a few other games that I never touch but might one day

Looking forward to Alan Wake and Mass Effect and 2 on the box. Nothing else on it that interests me.

PS3 on the other hand. Tons of games still to finish and all interested in

[Lupine]

I use Playon and it has some issues with netflix (main problem is not it's fault) The PC netflix client which is what Playon uses to stream to the 360 does not do HD streams even if the video is available in HD(very odd) where the 360 and other devices do support HD streams and the video is a good bit darker in my experience and a big enough difference to make me not use playon for netflix. The lack of HD streams was a huge disappointment in my opinion.

I love Playon but the netflix support is just not there and it's really not their fault (playon). I love Playon for Hulu and CBS though.

That's not good news. I mean, I got in on a deal for $15, but was hoping this would be our solution for streaming netflix. Hopefully the situation will improve?

[painkiller]

Better never than late.

[Ristogod]

That's not good news. I mean, I got in on a deal for $15, but was hoping this would be our solution for streaming netflix. Hopefully the situation will improve?

It's not bad if you can just watch all the way through. But God forbid you have to rewind to re-watch a part.

It is a far cry from the Netflix client software native to xBox, or from disc on PS3, or that is integrated into Netflix streaming devices such as some Blu-Ray players.

I have PlayOn and used it for awhile on my PS3. But as soon as they released the client software on the disc that runs directly on the PS3, I've used that since, an it's a much better experience.

[ukHazard]

According to the pix/info on dell there is no HDMI on this one. OP, can you confirm/deny this for me- this could be an old batch w/o HDMI that Dell is trying to sell.

Who cares, VGA is just as good.

Well, I don't care for one as VGA is just as good

[mabran]

That's not good news. I mean, I got in on a deal for $15, but was hoping this would be our solution for streaming netflix. Hopefully the situation will improve?

Just so you know it's not Playon's fault it's Netflix and why Netflix won't do HD on the PC is beyond my comprehension but it's how it is. HULU and CBS do HD if available through playon though so it is still very worth it. I've been using Playon since it was in it's first beta and generally love it even with it's quirks.

[Lupine]

Who cares, VGA is just as good.

Well, I don't care for one as VGA is just as good

All things equal, I'll take HDMI. If nothing else, less cable clutter. And if Dell is selling out of production hardware, that's a problem .... so I doubt I'll get a unit sans HDMI.

Just so you know it's not Playon's fault it's Netflix and why Netflix won't do HD on the PC is beyond my comprehension but it's how it is. HULU and CBS do HD if available through playon though so it is still very worth it. I've been using Playon since it was in it's first beta and generally love it even with it's quirks.

Had been streaming Netflix to our Samsung Blu-ray player, and quality was less than perfect because of the wireless link we were using at the time ... probably why I didn't notice the lower quality when I tried it on the PC. Will be interesting to see how it measures up.

[KAC]

So which ****ing games you got ?

[Lupine]

So which ****ing games you got ?

They have ****ing games for the 360?

[Avatar]

Bayonetta

[Lupine]

My 360 arrived Monday, and I started messing around w/ getting it configured for streaming yesterday. I'm not sure how to verify whether or not its a Jasper, unless HDMI + 512mb onboard is all the verification needed. Anyway, pretty slick.

So far streaming is a little iffy, but that's probably because I don't have the wiring installed yet - so am relying on an iffy wireless g connection. 360 sees & connects to Media Center on my Win7 box, but the connection drops out periodically and it won't play a lot of the media types. Theoretically, tversity will take care of that ... once I get it working right. I'm such a 360 noob lol.

[MyTMouse]

My 360 arrived Monday, and I started messing around w/ getting it configured for streaming yesterday. I'm not sure how to verify whether or not its a Jasper, unless HDMI + 512mb onboard is all the verification needed. Anyway, pretty slick.

So far streaming is a little iffy, but that's probably because I don't have the wiring installed yet - so am relying on an iffy wireless g connection. 360 sees & connects to Media Center on my Win7 box, but the connection drops out periodically and it won't play a lot of the media types. Theoretically, tversity will take care of that ... once I get it working right. I'm such a 360 noob lol.

What power supply does it have? The Jasper units (of which I have one) use 150W Power Supplies.

[Lupine]

What power supply does it have? The Jasper units (of which I have one) use 150W Power Supplies.

Jasper type plug.

[mabran]

If it has the 512MB of on board flash it is a Jasper as they started with that model.

Power supplies are a very inconsistent way of determining model as some Japsers still today ship with the larger power supplies as they are not going to throw out stock and personally it still consumes the same power even with the larger supply so it doesn't matter. You can plug an old supply into the new untis but obviously you can't plug a Jasper PS into a Xenon as it won't plug in for one and two it wouldn't provide enough juice even if it was plug compatible.

If it has 512MB flash it is a jasper. My jasper arcade I use for streaming came with a falcon power supply

[KAC]

So which games gonna you play on them 360...

[curio]

Besides the onboard 512 flash like mabran was saying, the best way to tell if its a Jasper see if it says 12.1 amp on the back:

[Lupine]

If it has the 512MB of on board flash it is a Jasper as they started with that model.

Power supplies are a very inconsistent way of determining model as some Japsers still today ship with the larger power supplies as they are not going to throw out stock and personally it still consumes the same power even with the larger supply so it doesn't matter. You can plug an old supply into the new untis but obviously you can't plug a Jasper PS into a Xenon as it won't plug in for one and two it wouldn't provide enough juice even if it was plug compatible.

If it has 512MB flash it is a jasper. My jasper arcade I use for streaming came with a falcon power supply

Ah, I was looking at the plug, per this anandtech article.

Besides the onboard 512 flash like mabran was saying, the best way to tell if its a Jasper see if it says 12.1 amp on the back:

Yeah, it lists 12,1A.

[Lupine]

So which games gonna you play on them 360...

Dunno yet. Right now I'm just focusing on getting it set up to stream media. Spent a few hours up in the attic running new cat6 wires - figured I'd take the opportunity to finally get the house wired up properly.

I suspect our first game will be something out of the guitar hero series, for the boys. But right now we're pretty well equipped on the game front via the wii.

[MyTMouse]

Oh man...you can't come in here and tell people you got a 360 because they'll all tell you it'll break down (as they already have) and you certainly can't say you play a Wii because it sucks and has no games worth playing!



It is funny in here sometimes.

[jima13]

Dunno yet. Right now I'm just focusing on getting it set up to stream media. Spent a few hours up in the attic running new cat6 wires - figured I'd take the opportunity to finally get the house wired up properly.

I suspect our first game will be something out of the guitar hero series, for the boys. But right now we're pretty well equipped on the game front via the wii.

You should have that HDD installed by now too

[Lupine]

You should have that HDD installed by now too

Yep, got it installed last night. Thanks!

[Lupine]

So far really enjoying the 360. Have installed a few game demos, all driving games, and media streaming is coming right along.

The only issue I'm having so far is streaming video_ts files via TVersity. We've ripped virtually all of our DVD collection to our home server, because of ease of use as well as eliminating the media damage incurred when kiddos pull DVDs out of the player, so being able to stream these was a primary goal.

If anyone has figured out video_ts streaming, via TVersity or any other solution, I'd sure appreciate an assist.

[KAC]

So far really enjoying the 360. Have installed a few game demos, all driving games, and media streaming is coming right along.

The only issue I'm having so far is streaming video_ts files via TVersity. We've ripped virtually all of our DVD collection to our home server, because of ease of use as well as eliminating the media damage incurred when kiddos pull DVDs out of the player, so being able to stream these was a primary goal.

If anyone has figured out video_ts streaming, via TVersity or any other solution, I'd sure appreciate an assist.

Have you tried Vuze? Also why didn't you rip it to .avi or similar formats?