More on the new Movies & TV service via Xbox Live, as announced yesterday. Joystiq has a brief discussion with Scott Henson, director of platform strategy for the Xbox 360, for more info on the service, due to launch on November 22nd.
And more pictures and a run through of the service is up on engadget.
The Seattle Times reported the new agreements with several networks (including CBS, TBS and MTV), Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers “to bring an initial lineup of more than 1,000 hours of hit television shows and movies to Xbox 360 consoles” starting November 22nd, with to bring standard and HD TV content via the Internet.
“It announced plans to offer movie rentals and full purchases of television shows, joining Apple Computer, Amazon.com and other rivals in vying for the “what do you want to watch tonight?” entertainment dollar.
“By year-end, the service is to have at least 1,000 hours of television programs and movies from partners that include the CBS and MTV networks, Turner Broadcasting System, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.”
It’s the HD CBS content and remastered Star Trek episodes that put this as a top reason to add an Xbox 360 beyond the family room, in addition to Avatar: The Last Airbender, SpongeBob SquarePants. For the kids, of course. When you consider that the Hollywood Reporter notes that there are “4 million Xbox Live members worldwide that have downloaded more than 70 million pieces of gaming and such shortform entertainment content as music videos and movie trailers during the 11 months Marketplace has been available,” that’s an incredible installed base, a comparison that is hard to match in other traditional DVR and entertainment distribution services.
For others, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races from Race Rewind, “50 of its most intense fights” from the Ultimate Fighting Championship and more.
As ABC News reports, Xbox will add the Video Marketplace to the Xbox Live experience, using Microsoft Points as used in Xbox Live Arcade, Marketplace and Zune all use. As noted in Variety, “Microsoft hasn’t revealed its pricing plans, but Xbox Live is expected to be competitive with other VOD sites, ranging from 99¢ for some TV shows up to $4.99 for the newest pics. High-def pics may cost $1 or $2 more to rent.”
My main concern: the current 20GB hard drive on the Xbox 360 is too small in traditional terms of digital video recorders compared with the current crop of DVRs available today. For the casual viewer, maybe, but not if you’re looking to download a couple of HD TV shows and a movie or two. In our home, 30 to 40GB of space is the minimum.
Troy Wolverton of the Mercury News said that “given that the Xbox 360’s hard drive holds just 20 gigabytes of data, customers will be able to store only about five hours of high-definition or 15 to 17 hours of standard-definition video, far less than a typical digital video recorder.”
So some analysts predict that there will be a new larger HDD come January:
“Richard Doherty, an industry pundit with the Seaford, N.Y., firm Envisioneering, … predicted Microsoft will soon announce larger hard drives for the console, perhaps at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.”
More details are available on the Xbox.com site.
WRT the reading summaries in the “articles I’ve read” posts (here, too), I was asked…
“how do you compile these? Are you using a special tool? I’m looking for something that lets me just push a button every time I read an interesting article and save it to a log file where I can automatically create summaries like yours.”
Yes, I currently use del.icio.us to tag articles and stories. I find it to be an easy way to quickly archive pages and stories of interest for later reference. I installed the del.icio.us buttons for Internet Explorer that allows me to “Tag This Page” I want to save. Along with sving the page, I add notes to the link by selecting text in the article prior to saving the page.
And since the items are listed in HTML on my del.icio.us webpage display, it’s easy to cut and paste entries from del.icio.us directly into my blog posts and emails, and access from my mobile browser.
My goal is to use Windows Live Favorites, which allows you to “access, organize and discover favorites anywhere.” But it doesn’t yet (at least as I was unable to find) provide a simple HTML view of the content links and descriptions I’ve tagged, as available in del.icio.us.
Of interest: CNET’s review of Windows Live Favorites
I was asked this week: “What is IPv6 and what do I have to do to my PC now to support it?”
So first, what is it?
In the simplest terms, Internet Protocol version 4 an 6 (IPv4 and IPv6) are the Internet network standards that are and will be used (resp) by any device connected to the Internet. IPv4 is the Internet Protocol that is currently used, and IPv6 is the next generation. You might’ve seen articles proclaiming that we’re running out of available addresses — this from Forbes, “Is The Internet Out Of Room”? (4/11/2006):
“The Internet is supposed to be limitless–a boundary-free exchange of digital information and profit. So how can it be running out of real estate?
“The answer, according to information technology experts, lies in cyberspace’s ever-growing popularity. In theory, each new user who wants to log on needs a new address, as does each new Internet-enabled gadget, like smartphones that can access the Web. Routers, which allow multiple users and devices to use a single address, are helping stave off the problem for now, but it’s only a stopgap measure.”
Moving to IPv6 will increase the available addresses, just as adding digits to phone numbers increases the possible number of phones you can support. In the case of Internet-connected devices, this means that we will move from a system with a limited number of addresses today to an almost unlimited number. BusinessWeek has an article in print and online this week that looks at this worldwide network upgrade that provides “an almost limitless number of addresses.”
“The problem — all the possible Net addresses will be used up in five years — can be solved by upgrading the decades-old standards that govern how different devices communicate with each other. The upgrade, called Internet Protocol version 6, was developed a decade ago and mostly has been sitting on the shelf — until now, that is. Anxious about how China and Asia are starting to upgrade their computer systems to take advantage of IPv6 capabilities, the Defense Dept. and the White House are trying to jump-start IPv6 use in the U.S. through billions of dollars in technology improvements… Says Charles Rossotti, a senior adviser to private-equity firm The Carlyle Group… “Some significant sectors of the economy, notably the Defense Dept., are starting to move quickly.”
“Or at least as quickly as a bureaucratic behemoth can move. Even simple shifts in organizations as complex as the Defense Dept. are difficult. Although the government plans to spend tens of billions over the next 10 years to upgrade its computer and phone systems, it faces competition for that funding from the Iraq war.”
Chris Harding, an IPv6 Forum Fellow, says that “it is not a matter of whether, but of when, IPv4 addresses will run out. Commercial users will increasingly demand guaranteed levels of service, (and) without improved and selectable quality, some services will not be feasible.”
Adding more IP addresses will allow every device to have their own, unique IP address on the network: according to the wiki, IPv4 supports 4.3 billion addresses, which won’t cover everyone and their mobile phone, TV, PC and Internet toaster. In contrast, IPv6 virtually supports an unlimited number of addresses, with about 50 octillion for everyone on the Earth today. That’s enough for everyone in our home, where we are barely into using two digits worth of IP addresses… including business use.
So what do you have to do?
Realistically, no new changes for consumers. Today, current schemes to re-use IP addresses dynamically works fine for e-mail and surfing the Internet, so you may not need to worry about setting up anything new on your PC our router at home. In most cases, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will handle the heavy litfing. Many major businesses, ISPs, CE companies, network equipment manufacturers and governments are making changes already, or should be mapping out their plans.
Microsoft supports IPv6 in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP SP1 and SP2, and Windows CE .NET 4.1. Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” include the Next Generation TCP/IP which supports IPv4 and IPv6 . If you want to make the move today with current products, TechNet has more details in the IPv6 FAQ, available online, including details on installing the IPv6 protocol for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
More information
Yesterday I recommended the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor in my post “How can I find out if my PC is compatible with Windows Vista?”
A reader commented that he having difficulty using the application, getting an error msg that he “didn’t have an internet connection and it can’t contact the web service.”
So I tried it out on my remaining PC at home that is not running Windows Vista (waiting for an updated driver) and the Upgrade Advisor (aka VUA) ran fine. Then I tried it on the kid’s PC, which runs Windows XP due to the number of old games running under Windows 9x… guess what? Upgrade Advisor failed to connect to the Internet.
Well, I spoke with the Upgrade Advisor team (thanks, guys) and they gave me the following advice: if you have problems connecting to the web service during the scan, please carry out the following steps: