Anyone got a xbox 360?

[elwaylite]

I was planning on buying a AppleTv after christmas, but Im starting to lean toward an elite.

Unit is mainly for tv shows because the movies come from Vudu . Figured it'd make a good dvd player if I needed one and a way for me to put personal pics and vids and such on the big screen.


Im leaning away from the ATV because I usually dont go for Apple products, and the Xbox does add a few things.

Another direction could be HD Tivo and using Amazon Unbox. I can already do Unbox on my laptop, so its not as big a bonus.

Guess im just trying to figure out a unit, with good movie and tv support, to supplement by Vudu movie box.

[NA9D]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

The AppleTV is a good product and it's nice to be able to get the TV shows, view your Flickr images or photos from home, etc. That said, if you don't have a TivoHD, I would get that in an instant over the AppleTV primarily because you can record TV in HD and have all the DVR functions.

I've been using a TivoHD for about 6 months now and I really like it. The UI still lacks some of the features as my obsolete ReplayTVs but it has a lot of extras.

Amazon Unbox is now Amazon OnDemand. It works fairly well but not anywhere near as fast as Vudu or AppleTV for getting content and being able to watch right away. But it works. Also, if you have a Netflix account, the Tivo will be able to stream the Netflix on demand stuff as well (coming soon at some point).

[elwaylite]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

Thanks, sounds like TivoHD might be a good way to go. Ive considered dropping Directv down to the Family plan with HD and dropping the HDDVR. Could use the tivo to record OTA.

[NA9D]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

Thanks, sounds like TivoHD might be a good way to go. Ive considered dropping Directv down to the Family plan with HD and dropping the HDDVR. Could use the tivo to record OTA.

Yeah, the Tivo won't work with Satellite but it will work fine with OTA. I have it on cable and love it.

[RonV]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

Guess im just trying to figure out a unit, with good movie and tv support, to supplement by Vudu movie box.

I got a xbox 360 and the games are great so is xbox live. I don't download any movies from their service since I have the VUDU and I do have a HD-DVD drive since it was cheap and the format wars was edging to HD-DVD before sony started to bribe the studios.

Anyway games look great on it and that all I realy use it for.

[HeadHodge]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

Yeah, the Tivo won't work with Satellite but it will work fine with OTA. I have it on cable and love it.

But digital cable format isn't the same as digital OTA. So does the Tivo work with both??

I think one is Qsam and the other Atsc ???

[Rusdude]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

TiVo works with OTA just fine and is really cost-effective if you only watch shows on local channels instead of cable networks. You could get them using Amazon, but it doesn't offer HD shows yet. We also still don't know whether TiVo will be able to stream HD content from Netflix (I'd sure hope so).

[JohnA]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

I have an Xbox 360 and I'm waiting to check out the Netflix streaming which should be available in a week or two with the new dashboard update. The huge downside to Netflix is that you don't get any of the new releases the same day like VUDU does.

There's also the PS3 as an option since you can stream Hulu, Youtube, and Netflix with PlayOn. I don't know how hard that would be to get this set up properly. I haven't messed around with it yet. I usually just use my PS3 to play Fallout 3 lately. I don't own a single Blu Ray disk yet.

http://www.themediamall.com/playon

[mebby]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

I've got an Xbox 360 but I use it just for games. It's much too loud of a box (even in a cabinet) for really enjoying movies and TV.

If you're looking for TV shows plus a cool gadget to play with then I'd either go Apple TV or TivoHD. I've got TivoHD and it's pretty sweet.

I don't have AppleTV yet but I'll probably get one soon now that they've got all sorts of other software you can run on it - especially XBMC.

[RonV]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

Why lock yourself into a AppleTV when you can run MythTV?

http://www.mythtv.org/modules.php?name=MythFeatures

If you do OTA DVR and want to stream YouTube, your media server's video, your media server's audio, etc. It can do much more that AppleTV.

[aaronwt]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

But digital cable format isn't the same as digital OTA. So does the Tivo work with both??

I think one is Qsam and the other Atsc ???

I currently have seven TiVos. They all have two NTSC, two ATSC, and two QAM tuners each making up two virtual tuners so you can record two programs at a time.
I've used my TiVos from OTA, FIOS and Comcast. Although for most of the digital programming on cable around here you need cable cards.

And like my three VUDUs I also have three Xbox 360s. They are excellent for games, and work well for VOD. Although VUDU is my first choice, but if VUDU doesn't have it in HD I then check Xbox Live, followed by PSN and my last choice is FIOS HD VOD.
And the Xbox360 will aslo have NEtflix streaming starting on the 19th.
Although TiVo will have that feature too in December. Everyone seems to be improving their VOD offerings including VUDU. But VUDU is still the best from my four sources.
(TiVo also has VOD with Amazon Unbox, but it's only SD so I've only used it a handful of times)

[HeadHodge]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

I currently have seven TiVos. They all have two NTSC, two ATSC, and two QAM tuners each making up two virtual tuners so you can record two programs at a time.
I've used my TiVos from OTA, FIOS and Comcast. Although for most of the digital programming on cable around here you need cable cards.

My Sharp LCD tuner down in San Diego supports NTSC and ATSC (maybe QAM).

When I hook my Time Warner cable to the tv and run the setup for standard and digital channels, it finds digital channels for all the major network and PBS, as well as the standard ones. I don't have a cable box or cable card, just straight off the telephone pole outside. I wonder if that's unique to Time Warner or part of the conversion to the digital deadline mandate?

So I don't need OTA, cable card, or cable box to get digital network tv. So I assume based on what you said, that I should be able to Tivo those channels as well.

[elwaylite]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

90% of my weekly viewing is OTAHD. I think the Tivo may be the way I want to go, because it gives me amazon too which I use know.

By adding the tv, it also allows me to give Directv their HDDVR backm because any shows I miss on a Directv channel can be had on Amazon VOD thru the tivo

[NA9D]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

My Sharp LCD tuner down in San Diego supports NTSC and ATSC (maybe QAM).

When I hook my Time Warner cable to the tv and run the setup for standard and digital channels, it finds digital channels for all the major network and PBS, as well as the standard ones. I don't have a cable box or cable card, just straight off the telephone pole outside. I wonder if that's unique to Time Warner or part of the conversion to the digital deadline mandate?

So I don't need OTA, cable card, or cable box to get digital network tv. So I assume based on what you said, that I should be able to Tivo those channels as well.

Cable companies are required to provide all of the OTA digital channels at no additional charge and with no additional equipment. What I don't know is if they use clear QAM or ATSC for those channels. Our 27" Sharp LCD in our living room has an ATSC tuner but it was not advertised as having a clear QAM tuner. It picks up the broadcast digital channels from Comcast just fine. My LG plasma downstairs has a full QAM tuner (with cable card) so it just gets everything.

But yeah, the TivoHD will work great with OTA. It's a nice box for sure.

[JohnA]

Re: Anyone got a xbox 360?

Your TV needs a QAM tuner in order to get those local HD channels from your cable provider If not, then you should be able to pull those same channels over the air through the ATSC tuner if you got a strong enough antenna. Unfortunately, in Santa Clara, we can't pull jack for ATSC since all the stations are in San Francisco and Oakland but my TV can get them over the QAM tuner.