xbox 360, my first impressions

[S1500]

Credit card in hand, I took the plunge & bought a 360 Pro system, GTA 4, 2 cheap xbox games & a product protection plan.

 

1. I watched the intro video, & the console locked up right after it. Not a good sign.

2. I tried testing again & again to connect to my WMP 11-on Windows system in the bedroom. Failed every time even after config changes. But, I browse around a bit, and it works like a charm. I can stream my mp3s, bittorrent vids, etc on them. Yay!

 

Of course, I bought this just to play GTA 4 just like 8 years ago I bought a PS2 to play GTA3. Some things with me never change.

 

But with the media sharing from the main computer, this makes it more than worth it. I love watching my Torchwood episodes on my HDTV instead of on my computer monitor. Love being able to stream my MP3s while playing GTA 4.

 

GTA4's multiplayer system is a bit akward to browse around & play, not being like anything I did for net playing on the PS2. After opening up a few ports, I saw quite a few more people online. Just wish you could stay in multiplayer mode(ie browse & start/stop games) without switching back to single player each time. There's a wee bit of loading time between the two, but hey, listen to my MP3s during all of this.

 

This system is gonna make me fat, I just know it. Oddly enough, I still subconsciously move my left leg when I get up from the chair to clear the nonexistant cord, something I always did with the PS2 controllers. THis will be a nice departure from the hours I'd plug into Team Fortress 2. The whole Xbox live dashboard is real nice. Like being able to access this environment of free videos & all that other stuff without leaving my couch. Yay for next-gen media delivery.

 

This whole setup cost me $507, well within the dubya stimulus check. Sadly, I am now unemployed from an office closure, but I'll bounce back.

 

Mah gamertag: Teebo1500.

[rockman_x_2002]

1. I watched the intro video, & the console locked up right after it. Not a good sign.

 

Not to worry. This is actually a bug in the program that I stumbled across when I got mine. Apparently if you set your display settings up front, play the video, and then try to change those settings again after the video has played (but before you complete the initial setup), sometimes it can cause the console to freeze.

 

The solution is just to watch the video with whatever settings you chose, move through to the dashboard, and make your new changes there.

 

2. I tried testing again & again to connect to my WMP 11-on Windows system in the bedroom. Failed every time even after config changes. But, I browse around a bit, and it works like a charm. I can stream my mp3s, bittorrent vids, etc on them. Yay!

 

Connecting with WMP isn't very obvious at first, but yes, if you find a good online guide (or even search the Xbox site), there are very detailed "step one-step two" instructions for how to do it. Works great, actually.

 

My main gripe with the 360 is that there's no way to transfer files between the console and a PC. There's no way to ship videos and MP3s from your PC or USB device other than streaming. And, while you can rip CDs to your 360 console and store the tracks on the hard drive, there's no way to send video or MP3s back to your PC for storage there, or any other files.

 

While I can understand limiting the ability to send purchased items from the Marketplace from 360 to PC, there really should be a way to send saved games, game downloads, free videos, and other similar content to a PC if all you want to do is store stuff you don't use on a PC's hard drive for safe keeping. The ability to back up files to a PC would be especially helpful to me, since I have dialup. Redownloading stuff takes way too long. Also, for some items (like the videos that ship with a hard drive or Hexic HD), there's no way to redownload those at all without a lot of jumping through hoops and a friendly telephone call to Tech Support Purgatory.

[Lord Helmet]

I used my 360 as my media center up until this week (just got an Apple TV). It works REALLY well for that. I just connected a 500gb external usb drive full of movies to my pc and shared the folder with the 360. Works great. Also, if your network is slow, you can connect the external drive directly to the 360. Wayyyyy better than having a bunch of DVDs to deal with.

[Crazy Climber]

Funny, I bought one today also with plans of using my Gov check to pay it off (Best Buy zero interest card)

I got the following...

X box 360 pro system

Grand Theft 4

The Bigs (probably THE best baseball game ever, finally one that doesn't put me to sleep)

Elder Scrolls

I also found a Basketball game at Target (Bloomington) that was super clearenced down to $7.00, I really only bought it because it was so cheap, not sure if I even really want it but I'll give it a chance for that price. They also had Project Gotham Racing 4 for $14 but I have already spent way too much.

[S1500]

I enjoy watching downloaded TV shows on the xbox 10000 times better than playing it on the Ipod. SDTV rips look like HDTV. Ipod videos on the composite cables(and fighting to find it) look horrible by comparison. Just add the share folder for the downloads, and you are good to go. I caught up on the 3rd season of Doctor Who last night.

[rorysl]

Not sure if I should've started a new thread or not for this but while we're on the topic of networking your 360 and streaming.... I was wondering if people had a preference -- Installing Windows XP Media Center on your PC or using regular Windows XP w/Media Player 11 for streaming video, etc. Is there a big difference? Is installing Media Center XP necessary? What are the big advantages to each?

[S1500]

Not sure if I should've started a new thread or not for this but while we're on the topic of networking your 360 and streaming.... I was wondering if people had a preference -- Installing Windows XP Media Center on your PC or using regular Windows XP w/Media Player 11 for streaming video, etc. Is there a big difference? Is installing Media Center XP necessary? What are the big advantages to each?

 

From a quick look, looks like homebrew apps can be run somewhat(at least some NES emulator) with Media Center. I'm okay with XP for now, but am tempted to try the Linux version so I don't have to have my main system on to listen to MP3s.

[Lord Helmet]

Not sure if I should've started a new thread or not for this but while we're on the topic of networking your 360 and streaming.... I was wondering if people had a preference -- Installing Windows XP Media Center on your PC or using regular Windows XP w/Media Player 11 for streaming video, etc. Is there a big difference? Is installing Media Center XP necessary? What are the big advantages to each?

 

I use Windows Media Connect because my version of Windows Media Center isn't compatible with WMP11.

 

From my Macs I use Connect360. Works like a charm.

[Prodos8]

Anyone else notice that MS went cheap on the new hard drives? I bought a Premium/Pro system about two years ago and the drive has chrome accents. I bough another Premium/Pro about a week ago (my kids got tired of lugging theirs back & forth from their mom's place) and the new drive is entirely dull plastic. A cost cutting measure I suppose?

 

I still like it, but my kids are the primary users.

[Starscream]

Anyone else notice that MS went cheap on the new hard drives? I bought a Premium/Pro system about two years ago and the drive has chrome accents. I bough another Premium/Pro about a week ago (my kids got tired of lugging theirs back & forth from their mom's place) and the new drive is entirely dull plastic. A cost cutting measure I suppose?

 

I still like it, but my kids are the primary users.

 

Just the initial release systems had the chrome accents on the DVD tray face and HDD.They were a "LE" of sorts.

[Crazy Climber]

Anyone else notice that MS went cheap on the new hard drives? I bought a Premium/Pro system about two years ago and the drive has chrome accents. I bough another Premium/Pro about a week ago (my kids got tired of lugging theirs back & forth from their mom's place) and the new drive is entirely dull plastic. A cost cutting measure I suppose?

 

I still like it, but my kids are the primary users.

 

Just the initial release systems had the chrome accents on the DVD tray face and HDD.They were a "LE" of sorts.

The new ones are $50 cheaper though right?

[moycon]

Just the initial release PRO systems had the chrome accents on the DVD tray face and HDD.They were a "LE" of sorts.

 

Fixed to make clearer the CORE launch units didn't have the chrome accents on the DVD tray (because I'm anal)

 

Speaking of first impressions, you just got a 360 Crazy Climber, what are yours?

Are either of you new guys on Live yet?

Edited May 7, 2008 by moycon