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Xbox One owners report compatibility problems with UK TV providers
Nothing tests a stiff upper lip like a next-gen console launch. Having already been spooked by inaccurate pricing on the PlayStation Network, some Brits are now discovering that the Xbox One's heavily promoted TV functions aren't readily compatible with their set-top boxes. Whether on Freeview, Virgin or Sky, users' efforts to route TV output through the Xbox One's HDMI passthrough port are apparently resulting in "juddery" and unwatchable video -- perhaps because the Xbox One defaults to 60 frames per second while most UK hardware sticks to the PAL standard of 50Hz. In turn, if they're forced to give on using passthrough, they also have to miss out on the use of Kinect voice control to start watching TV, change the volume or "snap" TV side-by-side with an app. Ironically, one UK service that has made a particular point of never supporting the Xbox One -- namely, YouView -- may now offer the smoothest experience of the lot (albeit without any EPG integration), as its box seems to be more comfortable outputting a compatible signal. That won't be much help to others, however, so we've asked Microsoft's PR if there's any progress towards a fix, and in the meantime you might want to try a possible workaround from a reader at HDTVTest. [Thanks, Barry]
You can plug a PS4 into the Xbox One, but Microsoft says you probably shouldn't
Microsoft's Albert Penello confirmed to Gamespot at the Tokyo Game Show that the Xbox One's HDMI input would work with any device, including its rival the PlayStation 4, but that's not the whole story. In a forum post on NeoGAF, Penello expands on the quote by mentioning it "won't be a great experience," citing HDMI latency affecting interactive content, and adds that he indicated as much in his original response to the question. He's still traveling and promised more details later, but it's easy to fill in the blanks on how the console is intended to be used. While it can work as an HDMI passthrough for any device, the process introduces some additional lag. That's fine for audio/video because it will still be in sync, but not so great if you're playing games . The Xbox One is designed for placement between the cable / satellite TV box (assuming owners want to use the overlay features or control with Kinect, and have pay-TV service) and wherever it's going, whether into a receiver or directly into the TV. You can plug anything else into it, like a PS4 or even an Xbox 360, but just because you can doesn't always mean you should.
Xbox OneGuide brings HDMI in/out, overlays for live TV
Today Microsoft revealed the Xbox One, and confirmed rumors that its new game console is ready to take over as the heart of your home theater. The new box features HDMI in and out for passthrough with your cable or satellite box. It's even able to control connected devices with Kinect 2.0-detected voice and gesture commands thanks to IR blasters and HDMI-CEC. On stage, executives showed off the Xbox OneGuide, demonstrating a way to pull up information including trending programming or fantasy sports stats while watching live TV. There's also a live TV show for Halo in the works, and Microsoft brought NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on stage to talk about integration with the number one pro sports league. There's no word on exactly which cable, telco or satellite TV systems this will integrate with, but Microsoft's PR states it "is committed to bringing live TV through various solutions to all the markets where Xbox One will be available" and mentions HDMI is required for the feature to work. It's supposed to be available at launch in the US, with "global scale" anticipated over time. Check after the break for a few pics of the guide and the back of the Xbox One showing its IR output.
Belkin's Thunderbolt dock delivers plug-and-play flexibility
It's dock o'clock, thank goodness, as Belkin's long incubation period of the Thunderbolt Express Dock closed out last month. The US$299 expansion peripheral is now shipping to customers; is it worth your attention? We've had a week to put it through its paces. The most direct product comparison for the Express Dock is Matrox's $249 DS1, which we reviewed a few weeks ago. Like the Matrox unit, the Belkin dock requires but does not include a Thunderbolt cable -- so you should mentally add at least $30 to the price of each unit if you don't already have one. (Kanex sells Thunderbolt cables in lengths ranging from three meters down to one-half meter.) Design The Express Dock's industrial design went through several iterations after its original "stapler-style" preview first appeared in January of 2012. Since then the unit has gained a passthrough Thunderbolt port, lost its HDMI port, and seen an eSATA port added, then dropped, from the configuration. The unit comes with an external power brick that uses a standard three-prong plug, rather than an outlet-hogging adapter. With the Express Dock you get all the ports you need, and more. Dual Thunderbolt ports (one in, one out) line up with three super-speed USB 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, analog audio in and out, and a Firewire 800 port. Compared to the Matrox DS1, Belkin has delivered quite a bit more flexibility and speed, particularly for Firewire users; being able to chain several FW800 drives off the dock means one less adapter to manage, and one less Thunderbolt port on the computer tied up. I'd tag maxing out the USB 3 ports versus the Matrox unit "nice but not a blockbuster," as there's always the option of attaching a USB 3 hub to the DS1's single superspeed port if you need that expandability; I would expect that users with a lot of USB 3 devices have probably already invested in a hub to cover that need. The passthrough Thunderbolt port, on the other hand, is a big deal, and good on Belkin for sticking with this design choice through the process. Yes, you're most likely going to terminate the chain with a Mini DisplayPort adapter or connecting to a Thunderbolt monitor; still, if you have other Thunderbolt devices that can sit mid-chain (like LaCie's eSATA hub) you are going to get more mileage out of Belkin's dock than you will from the DS1. The final shipping instance of the Express Dock is low and lean, with a convenient cable passthrough that lets you run your Thunderbolt cable through the front of the device to the ports in the back. This may reduce wire clutter compared to the DS1, where the only TB connection is in the front. The rounded, unobtrusive case design on the Express Dock would be at home on most desks. It's noticeably lower-profile than the Matrox, and quite a bit less boxy and industrial-looking. I do miss Matrox's front-facing USB port a bit, as it's convenient for plugging in flash drives and other quick-use devices. Performance The best thing that can be said about a Thunderbolt dock is that you don't really have to think about it once you plug it in; that's certainly true of the Express Dock. It's completely plug-and-play, with no device issues that I could see. File transfer performance on Firewire, USB 3 and Thunderbolt was pretty much indistinguishable from directly-connected devices; I tested with a Buffalo TB/USB3 drive, an Elgato SSD and a LaCie Firewire 800 drive and didn't see any substantive differences between docked and directly-connected performance. Macworld's lab testing showed similar performance parity on file transfers. Display performance was also remarkably unremarkable, with the dock immediately syncing up to my external display via my mDP to DVI adapter. Although the Matrox DS1 dock has shown some rare loss-of-sync issues where external displays needed to be reset or reconnected to show up, I haven't seen that at all in a week of testing the "pure Thunderbolt" path on the Belkin. The Ethernet port on the dock requires no additional software or driver install to be recognized; it just shows up, as you'd expect. Since it's recognized as a new network adapter, if you want your Mac to use it as the primary connection rather than WiFi or USB Ethernet you should make sure to move it to the top of the network connection priority list. The dock does require OS X 10.8.3, so if you don't get every port behaving properly at first you might check your system version. Wrap-up Thunderbolt docks may not be the sexiest peripheral sector, but Belkin's done a solid job delivering the Express Dock to the market with enough standout features to make it worth a look. With Firewire, plenty of USB 3 ports and the flexibility of passthrough Thunderbolt, it's packing plenty of value to cover that $50 premium versus the competition. Pros Plug and play performance Thunderbolt passthrough port for flexibility Firewire 800, 3x USB 3 Cons Not inexpensive No front-facing convenience USB port Who is it for? Thunderbolt Mac owners starved for expansion ports, especially those with investments in Firewire or USB 3 devices. Here's a quick promo video from the Belkin team:
Google Fiber GFHD100 'IP set-top box' breezes through the FCC, doesn't say where it's headed
The future of Google as a hardware manufacturer (beyond its purchase of Motorola) continues to be shrouded in rumor and mystery, but the GFHD100 box that just popped up in the FCC's database is very much a fact. As seen in the pictures, it's sporting a Google Fiber label which suggests it's a part of rolling out video services to the Kansas Cities, and also reveals it's being built for Google by Humax. The MAC address shown in the picture is registered to Google directly, while the test report calls it an IP-set top box, equipped with WiFi, IR, USB, Ethernet, HDMI input and output and an Ethernet / coax (we assume MoCA?) bridge, which sounds similar to the boxes favored by Verizon's FiOS. Unfortunately our only view of the device itself is from underneath so there's not much else to glean about its abilities or possible relation to the hardware Google has reportedly been testing around the country, but you can hit the source link below to dig through the documents yourself or check a close up of the label (we tried the QR code, it appears to be for registration but it didn't work) after the break.
