Xbox Live's New Dashboard

avelanchefan

So I got to play around with it today, and I find it to be very cool so far. There was nothing overtly fancy about it, plus once installed you are not able to get onto Xbox live until the 19th of November. Which sucks because that is how you are going to make your avatar.

What is crazy about the new dashboard, the size! Seriously it was 7.5mb. Not gb, mg. Also FYI, once installed all CPU recognition stays the same, so if you stream music, its as if you never did anything. All computers linked up perfectly.

Again it was fun to see 3 weeks early, and thank god the box I installed it on never really gets on Live any ways. If you guys want some pics let me know and I will upload them.

Also if you want a copy I will be happy to email it to you. Very easy install.

Shizelbs

I can't wait for the release.

millerman 3732

avelanchefan wrote: »

Also if you want a copy I will be happy to email it to you. Very easy install.

I'll take one. PM sent.

avelanchefan

millerman,

I sent you a PM, but basically I need your email addy.

kuntasensei

A caveat for anyone who installs this: Microsoft's not only blocking these systems from Live based on console ID, if you try to use an unauthorized system on Live before the 19th, there's the very real possibility that they will permanently ban your account from Xbox Live. That's why the media who received the installation early were advised not to put a NXE hard drive or storage unit on a non-approved console. The same warning was given to members of the NXE Preview Program... so you've been warned.

They can tell on their end which console ID and Live account with NXE tried to ping the system, much in the same way they detect modded systems. If they really want to be dicks, you could either get your 360 permabanned from Live (the way they do when they detect mods) or your Live account.

The 19th isn't that far away. Whether sneaking a peek is worth the risk of losing your Gold account is up to you. If you're just itching to see all the new features, just go here.

avelanchefan

You wont lose your gold account, all they do is ban the console. No one has ever lost their Gold account. And as for the Pings and so forth, that is just wild rumors.

From what I am seeing from most everyone closely involved says pretty much this....

On the subject of possibly being banned for installing this early, that will definitely not happen. The emails I received from MS about the preview program pretty much say it's fine to install the update on consoles not in the program. They just say that if you choose to do this be aware you won't have access to Live until the 19th. So that's basically a green light to install the NXE on any console you want.

And this:

only those selected by Microsoft through a survey they did which I filled out too and didn't receive an email by last wednesday are allowed to get online with the new update cuz their console id is registered with them via that survey invitation in other words like a beta.

All I have to say is....why would M$ ban well over a million consoles for installing this? That would be cutting their throat. There are a lot of people with non-modded 360's now running this dashboard (including me). If they ban them they run the risk losing a lot of faithful customers.

If M$ wanted to run a Beta, then they should have left it in house. The safest place it can be. Releasing a Beta to the public is not very smart if the only plan is to ban people.

Not knocking what you are saying kuntasensei, I just think people get freaked out and love to start internet rumors.

As for modded systems, you would be stupid to put this on it.

kuntasensei

They didn't run a beta. The NXE firmware update is complete. What's not complete is all the work done on the server side. Hence the reason the preview program (not Beta test) and the NXE installs given to news media are conditioned on each system's console ID to gain access to Live. Beta testing of NXE is complete and the software is finalized. Now they have to prepare the servers to feed vastly more content than before to the over 4 million users of Live.

It isn't wild rumor to say that Live receives packets from your system. It's fact. That's how it identifies whether your console ID is in the database of systems allowed to access Live during this preview. The cloud infrastructure being used by NXE relies heavily on server side technology, which is why we'll no longer receive twice-a-year updates to our systems. Updates will now be done on the Live servers themselves and seeded to the consoles on the fly.

Microsoft's terms of service are very clear on piracy. Running a modified console without authorization can get you banned from Live. Running NXE before the release date is considered a breach of the terms of service if you are not authorized to do so, and if you don't think you're at risk by doing so, you're kidding yourself. A ban of your account may or may not happen... but don't foist this off on the possibility of them losing "faithful customers" if they rightfully ban you for breaking the terms of service you agreed to when you signed up for Live. Faithful customers will receive the NXE update LEGALLY on November 19th.

The NXE update being spread on bittorrent is being done so illegally. You spreading it here is also illegal and falls under the umbrella of software piracy, as this update was obtained illegally and is being spread without Microsoft's consent. I'm not judging you for it... I'm as excited as everyone else is about NXE. But to anyone who reads this, ask yourself: Is it worth the risk to get this 18 days early? That's all I'm saying.

mantis

avelanchefan wrote: »

So I got to play around with it today, and I find it to be very cool so far. There was nothing overtly fancy about it, plus once installed you are not able to get onto Xbox live until the 19th of November. Which sucks because that is how you are going to make your avatar.

What is crazy about the new dashboard, the size! Seriously it was 7.5mb. Not gb, mg. Also FYI, once installed all CPU recognition stays the same, so if you stream music, its as if you never did anything. All computers linked up perfectly.

Again it was fun to see 3 weeks early, and thank god the box I installed it on never really gets on Live any ways. If you guys want some pics let me know and I will upload them.

Also if you want a copy I will be happy to email it to you. Very easy install.

Post some pic's , I d like to see what it's going to look like. I'm excited about the netfix streaming abilities.

kuntasensei

Mantis, you can see video of all of the new features here.

Systems

I don't suppose theres anyway to opt out of it....from what I've seen of it I don't like it at all.

avelanchefan

Lorthos wrote: »

I don't suppose theres anyway to opt out of it....from what I've seen of it I don't like it at all.

No if you are on Live it is a forced install.

kuntasensei

For the record, NXE is really freakin' good. Faster than I anticipated it would be. My only issue with it right now is that private chat with non-NXE users is completely borked, but in-game chat and party chat with other NXE users works fine. I suppose that will be a non-issue when everyone else has NXE.

I even kinda' like the way my avatar turned out.
http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/thereverendslim/avatar-body.png

avelanchefan

Nice sensei. Really looking forward to the official release next week.

kuntasensei

They did an update to NXE yesterday for preview users. I've been through everything and the only thing I see that I don't remember being there before is an option to turn off auto-playing of discs when you insert them in the drive. I'm glad they added that, because when I went to install some games to the HD, I had to put them in then exit back to the dashboard as they started. With autoplay turned off, you put the disc in and then it pops the button up with the game art for you to hit play if you want to. Good addition.

The only down side right now is that private voice chat with non-NXE users is laggy and unusable. It works great between NXE users, presumably because they're using different servers to handle the party chat. It also still works fine in multiplayer games, so I imagine once everyone's on NXE, this will be a non-issue. Still, it's annoying that I can't private chat with my non-NXE friends for the next 8 days. Not that it matters, 'cause we're all playing Gears 2 together anyway. Heh...

Bassphil

cool

djlogix

Differerent voice codecs between NXE and the Legacy code. All we be fixed come the 19th.

mantis

kuntasensei wrote: »

Mantis, you can see video of all of the new features here.

I'm excited for it, it looks really cool. I really like the Streaming Netflix. That makes a huge difference. I laready have a Netflix account.

Cool stuff

kuntasensei

Yeah, I have no use for Netflix, so I haven't tried it on NXE. I do know people who are using it though, and they're pretty pleased with it. It looks like you get a free month trial when you add the Netflix app though, so I may try it just for the hell of it.

djlogix

The HD streams are what's going to make it for me.

kuntasensei

BTW, Av... You should be able to get your NXE flashed system on Live now. I popped the 120gb HD from my preview system and put it on my Core, it updated and was able to get on Live even though the console ID was different. I also popped my 20gb back on the Core, recovered my gamertag and got on Live with it. Looks like they've already opened up the system and aren't blocking by console ID anymore.

And now my Core goes back into the closet as a spare system. (The sad result of being on number 11 since launch - I keep a spare so I don't have any downtime.)

djlogix

Launch in 37 Minutes.

https://twitter.com/majornelson

Just a bit of a heads up as well. There's going to be a tiered release. As not to crash and have a overload of past (happens to the best of them). So not everyone may get it at the same time.

I will say however, if you're in California, Washington, Nevada... you're good to go right now.

Face

Just installed it.

It appears less cluttered and should only take a short amount of time to get used to.

mantis

downloaded it 2, gonna go check it out.

mantis

It's pretty cool , I'm mainly excited about streaming my Netflx movies. Thats the coolest thing. I love it.

It has a nice flow to it as well. Nice upgrade.

Now if only Microsoft can figure out how to build a better xbox......

Systems

djlogix wrote: »

Launch in 37 Minutes.

https://twitter.com/majornelson

Just a bit of a heads up as well. There's going to be a tiered release. As not to crash and have a overload of past (happens to the best of them). So not everyone may get it at the same time.

I will say however, if you're in California, Washington, Nevada... you're good to go right now.

Got it here in Montana, its alright I guess.....

avelanchefan

Yeah the streaming of movies has me confused. I discontinued my netflix account a long time ago. I went ahead and got a new one after the dashboard update. Went back to netflix and did everything, and I was able to steam movies with no problems.

What my question is (Mantis or Sensei maybe can help?) is there a one time fee of 99 dollars to stream movies? Thats what it looked like to me on the website, but I could be wrong. Can anyone confirm that?

kuntasensei

$99? The only thing remotely like that is that it's $99 a year to join the XNA Creators program so you can make games for the Community Games section. That gives you access to all their developer forums and info.

For Netflix, you're basically just signing up for a Netflix account online then using a code to enable the streaming to your 360. Go here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/netflix/default.htm

mantis

I watched my first movie tonight with my son,we watched Superman /Doomsday. It was a cartoon. It was in 4:3 and pro logic. But it worked well with only 1 buffer. So ti has hope. I'm gonna try a full on movie and see if I get DD 5.1 and at least 480p. DVD quality would be very except able right now. HD would be better but I'm sure I would have to wait around while it set up a stream.

My Avatar almost looks like me. He dresses like me. I'm gonna try one of those games where he (me) is in it. thats kinda cool.

Dan

Systems

Okay, after messing around with it a little more I'm liking it better now. Yes my Avatar looks like me too:)

Theres another new feature I found also, I've got Fable II in the drive and when I went too the Game Library section and selected Fable II theres an option to install it to the hard drive. I have that original small drive so I don't have a whole lot of space, its showing 12.5 gb, dont' really know how much that game would take up....

That is a pretty cool feature though since that drive is so noisy.....I know they've gotten quite a few complaints about that.

mantis

Lorthos wrote: »

Okay, after messing around with it a little more I'm liking it better now. Yes my Avatar looks like me too:)

Theres another new feature I found also, I've got Fable II in the drive and when I went too the Game Library section and selected Fable II theres an option to install it to the hard drive. I have that original small drive so I don't have a whole lot of space, its showing 12.5 gb, dont' really know how much that game would take up....

That is a pretty cool feature though since that drive is so noisy.....I know they've gotten quite a few complaints about that.

I heard about this option. I like it. I hope they allow for a extrnal hard drive to store all your games, this way you don't have to load disc's, it would also be cool to download full games , new games. Screw disc's.

Dan

avelanchefan

kuntasensei wrote: »

$99? The only thing remotely like that is that it's $99 a year to join the XNA Creators program so you can make games for the Community Games section. That gives you access to all their developer forums and info.

For Netflix, you're basically just signing up for a Netflix account online then using a code to enable the streaming to your 360. Go here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/netflix/default.htm

No I read on the netflix that if you stream there is a 99 dollar charge. A One time charge. But maybe that is if you do not order their service.

Well never mind, If you buy one of the netflix Roku players then it is 100 dollars. Thats what I was reading. Whew!?!

I personally like it. For 8.99 a month netflix charge I feel it is well worth the money because you know more movies and TV shows will be added.