The next Xbox console may also be a digital video recorder, according to a recently granted Microsoft patent.
Originally filed in 2007, and approved by the US Patent & Trademark Office on December 27 last year, patent # 8,083,593 describes:
A digital video recorder (DVR) application running alongside a television client component allows users to record media content on the gaming console. The DVR application also integrates itself with the console menu.
Once integrated, users can record media content while playing games. Alternatively, users can record content when the gaming console is turned off. The recorded content can include television programming, gaming experience (whether local or online), music, DVDs, and so on. When in the recording state, users can also switch between various other media modes, whether gaming, television, and so on.
Microsoft promised to usher in "a new era in television" with the addition of content on Xbox 360 from almost 40 TV and entertainment suppliers following the introduction of the console's new dashboard last month.
It's also reportedly seeking a television executive to head up the creation of original Xbox Live TV content.
Comments
47 comments so far...
StonecoldMC on 4 Jan '12 said:
Anyone who has been using the new Xbox dashboard can see that this is the End Game for MS. They really want to control what you watch and how you watch it in your living room.
Being able to record TV would be a positive, but to be able to record Game time and such like would be a welcome bonus!
MS is watching you (us!)
pRM8 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Sounds like a great addition if true but they will need to ship the console with far more than 320gb storage. Or get rid of the stupid overpriced propriety HDD then people can slap in their own HDD with the size (and cost) they desire.
360_Fan on 4 Jan '12 said:
Sounds like we will be needing a big hard drive.
StonecoldMC on 4 Jan '12 said:
Come on guys, no need for a hard drive when we will have the . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
http://vietboattravel.com/images/news/20091214_4qip02uqbeq.jpg
JD_Method on 4 Jan '12 said:
The Rock?
adison on 4 Jan '12 said:
To be expected really, 10 year old technology in the next gen of super consoles.
One question, will they allow people to remove the saved data or will it have to stay on the console?
thelazyone on 4 Jan '12 said:
For me this is whats really gonna make me choose between this or the next ps4.
ps3 had nailed it with the bluray player and the hard drive. (at release)
I do think the xbox have the presentation on lockdown, which for me is leading the race. - If it has bluray support and 3D, then im in.
Otherwise is a sony and nintendo affair.
StonecoldMC on 4 Jan '12 said:
Any more of that JD and The Rock will take you down Know Your Role Boulevard which is on the corner of Jabroni Drive and check you directly into the Smackdown Hotel
!
Windowlicker79 on 4 Jan '12 said:
I'm starting to get bored of all this "integration". I've already got a PVR (Virgin Media TiVo HD), already have iPlayer, 4od etc on my laptop and TiVo, already have a means to play movies (blu-ray player). All I want my Xbox to do is play games. I really wish they'd quit it with the media hub rubbish and concentrate on making an awesome GAMES CONSOLE!
JD_Method on 4 Jan '12 said:
thelazyone on 4 Jan '12 said:
You got Virgina Media Tivo?
Where where you thinking?
damoxuk on 4 Jan '12 said:
I'm guessing a 1TB HDD if they want it to be a DVR also. And is that triple core or 6 core processor?
As for Blu-Ray I can't see Microsoft wanting to licence tech from a consortium which there chief rivals are one of the key players
More like a new format like Wii-U so they don;t have to pay licensing fee's or they buy the rights to Toshiba's defunct HD-DVD format.
corkscru74 on 4 Jan '12 said:
But why have 4 boxes cluttering the place up if a single one could do it all...could being the operative word!
ricflair on 4 Jan '12 said:
It's really not a surprise is it? With the way they've been going over the last couple of years... as long as none of this takes away from the 'proper' games, which unfortunately in terms of exclusives, it has for me on the 360 lately. MS have copied the Wii's style so blatantly with elements of the NXE and avatars, and now they're trying the all in one media solution that Sony pushed about five years ago.
I can't see Sony being part of the BR consortium being a problem for MS. They were also part of the DVD consortium and MS didn't have a problem with using that tech, plus Windows on VAIO laptops etc etc. They'll go with whichever they think will enable them to make the most money.
Toasted_PSP on 4 Jan '12 said:
I expect Sonys new machine will also feature pretty much the same sort of thing. After all both Sony and MS have been talking up media connected boxes (The one box to rule them all) since the announcements of the 360 and PS3.
gmcb007 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Am I the only one who is a bit concerned about consoles becoming too heavy in the multimedia 'living room' market?
E3 for Microsoft was concerning to watch. It felt like the actual games were being treated like an additional feature. You look at E3 in 2007 and it was all about the games and now you go on to your Xbox and all the orignal dashboard features like my games list and marketplace are so badly placed and the navigation is quite annoying. Give me the old simple blue dashboard any day.
MonkeyWrench127 on 4 Jan '12 said:
At first, I misread the title believing it to be a car as well...
Sadly I will NOT be getting a TVR Xbox 720
Terranova1 on 4 Jan '12 said:
DVD was already well established tech by then it would have been really stupid to not use it, Blu-ray was and still is pretty brand new not to mention MS had their rival with HD-DVD which failed It maybe would be to hard for them to swallow their pride and sign up to use blu-ray even if it meant a benefit for the Xbox consumer but who knows maybe they will sign up for it but i have my doubts.
Windowlicker79 on 4 Jan '12 said:
But they don't clutter up anything! I have a decent glass TV stand that is more than big enough for all my boxes!
Also there's the fact that putting everything in one unit means that if anything goes wrong with it I'm left with no TV, no movies and no games console till it gets fixed.
Plus there is always sacrifices made when combining everything into one unit. My TiVo box does Youtube, but not as well as my laptop. My laptop does TV, but not as well as the TiVo box. My phone does games, but not as well as my Xbox. Soon my Xbox will be able to do Facebook and Youtube and Twitter and movies and TV and music and MSN and video-chat.... but not as good as the other products I own which were designed just for those purposes.
Indeed, "could" is the operative word. In the same way that I "could" enter the London marathon. Just because I could do it doesn't mean I'd do a very good job of it.
Windowlicker79 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Thats not really a very good comparison. When Playstation 2 was released, not many people had DVD players in their houses. In fact PS2s were many peoples first DVD players and were one of the major factors in the rise of popularity for the DVD format. In this case blu-ray is already in a lot more homes that DVD was back then. PS3 has already done all the work in making blu-ray popular much in the same way PS2 did for DVD. There is no reason for Microsoft to avoid using blu-ray in the same way they didn't avoid using DVD for the original Xbox.
Asinine on 4 Jan '12 said:
It's not a million miles away from the PS3 PlayTV, that is a fantastic PVR for recording freeview. IF MS do it well and Sony do it again for the PS4, I'll have no complaints.
All-in-one boxes are fine with me, I'd much prefer a good home hub for games, video and music than have 5 boxes under the TV. And if the price is under £400, then that's cool with me.
KMakawa on 4 Jan '12 said:
£400 could really be stretching it this time around, just got that feeling.
TOKEN on 4 Jan '12 said:
looking at that diagram i take it its a 6 core cpu(6 threads/hex core) in 720?
MANYOO4EVA on 4 Jan '12 said:
TBH all i want my console to do is play games, nothing else. If you start using it for other stuff, it will wear out fast, and why I play Blu-rays on my blu-player, dvds on my dvd player, etc, to share the load and extend the lifespan of the item.
Also, if the next gen systems come out in 2013, then I won't be getting it until late 2014 and any problems have been ironed out and the price considerably less. Plus, there are still so many games to play on the current gen systems any will be until the new ones come around.
mapsxb78 on 4 Jan '12 said:
CVG reported...
A digital video recorder (DVR) application running alongside a television client component allows users to record media content on the gaming console. The DVR application also integrates itself with the console menu.
Once integrated, users can record media content while playing games. Alternatively, users can record content when the gaming console is turned off.
.... and this is apparently the future of Xbox?? I CAN ALREADY DO ALL THE ABOVE ON MY PS3!!
I have a 320Gb SATA hard-drive purchased from Amazon for £45 (can't do that for the Xbox 360) and I have a copy of PlayTV which I managed to pick up off ebay for £30, I have all the normal freeview channels and digital radio.
The best thing being that I am able to record at anytime, I am then able to copy the video file to a memory stick and watch it on my friends or family’s PC... in fact the only system I am not able to view the video file on is the Xbox 360, surprise, surprise!
Sounds like the Xbox 720 is trying to be more like a Playstation 3 if you ask me, shame its five years to late.
voodoo341 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Recording TV is defunct, use the catch up service.
gmcb007 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Hardly, there's plently of channels that do not have a catch up service.
voodoo341 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Like what?
gmcb007 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Comedy Central, Nat geo, History channel, RTE (up north) and many more. Yes, they have an on demand feature but not from the last 7 days.
Plus people use the record function for sports events and movies being shown. Hell, knowing how unreliable catch up can be, most people just record their shows to guarantee that they can watch it at a future date.
I don't know where you are pulling the fact that it's a defunct feature because frankly it's a very bold statment to make.
voodoo341 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Yeah good examples. Stations that loop content continually another reason DVR's are no longer needed. Well done.
gmcb007 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Wow..you're like a child. Just admit you have no proof for your silly claim
I mean if DVR was so defunct then why are both Virgin and Sky promoting it so much? Just for the sake of it?
Or is it the simple fact that this is an Xbox thread and so it has to be a crap feature in your eyes?
TheLastDodo on 4 Jan '12 said:
Never had issues with my Sky + box.
Have issues on a weekly basis with Sky Broadband, meaning Anytime+ and Sky Go (Sky's On Demand services) is always a crap shoot.
Friends with Virgin and BT have similar problems, until broadband is significantly improved in the UK, DVR boxes are always going to be the best way to watch TV.
voodoo341 on 4 Jan '12 said:
I've Sky+ as well and haven't used it in months. Everything on Sky is repeated umpteen times so you'll never miss a thing anyway. It was handy for pausing live TV but my TV does that now. This will be handy for recording game play but for recording TV... not needed.
TheLastDodo on 4 Jan '12 said:
So what do you do if you're I dunno if you're out shopping when FA Cup Final starts?
rbt2 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Pull yer trousers down and let your civil law partner slip you one up the dirt box?
Presumably?
gmcb007 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Have you been hanging about in those funny clubs again rbt?
@Dodo
Virgin's catch up and on demand service is terrible here in Northern Ireland. They still stream their digital content through old cabling that was laid by CableTel back in the mid 90's. Mine has a crash at least once a week and sometimes you can't even access the services. That's why DVR is so handy because the footage is stored on the local drive and not streamed via cabling.
rbt2 on 4 Jan '12 said:
To the likes of you they may be addressed as 'funny clubs', gmc but to discerning freaks such as meself then they are known as 'lifestyle choices'.
Yuck!
I f**king sicken even meself sumtimes.
gmcb007 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Just promise me that you won't go to any parties hosted by Michael Barrymore!
rbt2 on 4 Jan '12 said:
Seeing as I'm a smoker, where else could I put me fags out?
Boom tish!
gmcb007 on 4 Jan '12 said:
voodoo341 on 5 Jan '12 said:
Not going to happen. If I missed a live football match then I'm either doing something more important or I'm not interested in the teams playing. If it's a film or program then I'll watch it on the catch up service or wait until it comes round again on the channel.
Barca Azul on 5 Jan '12 said:
For me it sounds very familiar, let me guess, it also plays games?
The PVR sounds good, but my TV does it already.
For me, it will depend on killer new IP's that are not shooters, for me to be interested in a new xbox!
ricflair on 5 Jan '12 said:
I record quite a bit on my Media Centre PC - mainly live footy, Match of the Day, films etc. You get some BBC films on iplayer, but not on other channels and I don't have Sky/Virgin.
A PVR isn't high on my list of needs on a games console, and to some degree iplayer etc has made TV recording less important, but I wouldn't say it's pointless just because I wouldn't use it that much. There are lots of features on my consoles that I don't use, but it's good they're there for the people that do.
vitorfernandes83 on 5 Jan '12 said:
Please just make a powerful console, leave all the crap out to reduce costs. I haven't watched any tv for the past 6 or 7 years, as many people don't watch tv, just a console with blurry player is all I want. Make it with at least 2G ram please. Make it under £300 or it is a no buy to me, as there's plenty of games for the ps3 and wii to keep me entertained for the next few years.
kbekl on 5 Jan '12 said:
everyone seems to be missing a key thing here allow xbox to record tv then you dont need a disk drive also means you will have more bits and bobs in the case to cause heat so possible heating issues
the ps3 is poor at being a media hub my sony tv does a better job the psn is far too slow to do anything
reguards to ondemand side i have been using sky player from day 1 and have never had a problem with it even on the xbox
my windows pc does a better job as a media hub than the tv or the xbox or the ps3
i bought the ps3 for lovefilm but now use the xbox or the pc for it
i cant see ms choosing to use the blueray format also it is far too slow to warrant it and if the new hd format does come earlier than expected then blu-rau may be outed and if the new gen consoles are looking to stay arround for a while you may find that neither have blu-ray/dvd built in and would be sold as an add on
rhyfel on 5 Jan '12 said:
its just pure greed from microsoft thay want to control everything and adding features like a pvr to the next xbox is a mistake in my opinion, by adding features like the pvr it will be to the detriment of the gaming side of the console, there is only so much processor power to go around leave the xbox to what its good at playing games.
panantukan on 6 Jan '12 said:
Yes, I agree that games functionality should be paramount, although multimedia functions are also a pleasant addition. It's also a sad case that nowadays one has to worry not only whether it will actually be a proper games console but also whether the bloody thing will blow up as pretty much all my 360's did!