First impressions: Xbox 360 dashboard update

by James Ransom-Wiley on Jun 6th 2006 1:25PM

We installed the new Xbox 360 dashboard update the moment we awoke this morning, literally, before stepping out of bed. We fired up our 360 using the remote, only to have the system lockup while attempting to sign into Xbox Live. Maybe releasing the first major dashboard update on such an ominous date (6-6-6) was not such a great move after all ... But, a simple reboot successfully set the gears in motion, and the update was installed in no time (roughly 10 seconds).

The update is deceptively subtle, and to the uninitiated, unnoticeable. We decided to test the limits of the new features. First, we fired up a DVD, selected a random chapter, let it play for a few seconds, pressed stop, and ejected the disc.

From the dashboard, we cycled through the much improved marketplace menu system, targeted the Hitman demo, and launched the download. Next, we cycled over to the music player, plugged in our iPod, fired up a playlist, and then scrolled over to the Xbox Live Arcade. From there, we dove into a quick game of Uno, pleased to find that our custom soundtrack continued to pump without a hitch. We pulled open the Xbox guide to check on our Hitman download, and sure enough, it was chugging away.

Xbox 360

Next, we popped in Burnout and immediately signed into Xbox Live. Our soundtrack continued to play, but an alert prompted that the Hitman download was now paused. We backed out of Xbox Live and launched the single player mode. Unfortunately, the download remained pending and we couldn't reinitiate it from the guide. Slightly frustrated, we quit to the dashboard, but upon doing so, the download automatically started back up.

We re-launched Burnout, raced a few tracks until the download had completed, and then quit back to the dashboard. Our custom soundtrack was still playing, uninterrupted. We cycled over to our stored demos and launched Hitman. We waddled around the demo's mostly abandoned theme park for a few minutes and decided to call it quits. Before shutting down, we popped our DVD back in, and, to our satisfaction, the movie started playing right where we left off. Yes folks, the update works -- for the most part. And more importantly, the Xbox 360 is much improved because of it.

See also: Engadget's hands on with the big Xbox dashboard update (lots of pics)

Tags: blade, dashboard, download, DVD, Hitman, iPod, marketplace, soundtrack, Uno, update, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox-360, XboxLive, XboxLiveArcade

Reader Comments (60)

I get an error when I try to retrieve the list of files in some marketplace categories. Status code is 8015000a. Looks like it's the new ones. Perhaps they're not "ready" yet? Does anyone get the same error?

I'm a little dissapointed that they did include some of the other much needed updates like multiple chat when you play on ea crappy a$$ servers.

Glad of that, got yet another reason to buy an X-Box 360...

Now Perhaps if I could somehow get hold of some money in order to purchase one, what with the overpriced EVERYTHING within the UK...

haha i fired mine up with the remote also and it kinda locked up, though differently. it couldnt sign online and my pc lost internet somehow... i had to unplug my modem for 10 sec and plug it back in then it worked

Yeah, having a private channel that you could have more then one other person in would be great.

Microsoft make it happen!

Mine works just fine so far...I had over 2GBs of demos queued up when I went to bed. The only problem now is that until new stuff comes out I have nothing to download. LOL

i think microsoft have done a great job with the dashboard. on xbox 1 it was a chore going into the dashboard. i really hated it. but no i find i spend a lot of my time in the dashboard, downloading demos, watching vids etc.

each update they get better and better

Sweeet, you have to be impressed with how little time it takes to get it.

A question I haven't been able to get answered: how crippled would an XBox 360 be without high speed internet?

It happens that I live just about 1/2 a mile too far from the switching station for DSL, and the cable company that services my area doesn't yet offer internet service. Both phone company and cable company have promised high speed service for years, but never get around to delivering.

In the meantime, I'm paying out for an old-fashioned ISDN line so I can at least get 128K service and don't have to deal with disconnects and dialing up.

I'd really like to buy a 360, but I'm concerned I'd be cut off from many of the best features. For example, would I be able to download patches? Would I be able to get updates like this one?

Not bragging or boasting...just confirming I had no problems here. Update installed like a charm. I'm in Western Canada...just FYI.

any word on if it can play more than a 100 songs off of an ipod playlist?

i have a shuffle that i threw about 200 songs on to keep next to my 360.
if i select play all songs it pops a notice that it can only play the first 100 songs.

i don't really mind that if it would randomly pick 100 from the total tracks, but it doesn't, it only uses the first 100.

i'd check myself, but i'm out of town for another week.

Worked great for me...a very tiny download indeed...it took like 20 seconds. I love being able to choose a track and it continues to play when you start an Arcade game and maneuver around.

Also I noticed that when I pop in a CD, the album info is found on CDDB very quickly and everytime now. A huge improvement. It also takes less time to view my music over the network off of my XP Laptop.

Great updates finally!!, yea i have the same problem now i have the majority of the demos i wanted,so yea it's just sitting there. now i really should buy some games, i'll wait till halo3, maybe Gears of war. but i had a question, why don't they have a key board and mouse update?!!!!! I like FPS XBOX IS A FPS MACHINE GIVE ME KEY BOARD AND MOUSE MS!!!!. Updates are great though. no probs here.

Now everything's fine. Seemed to be just some kind of timeout with loads of people browsing stuff.

No DVD upscaling to 720p/1080i? :( *sniff*

Mr. X, this updated added the keyboard support, now all we need is the mouse...and Gears of War

One of the updates was DVD player playing a native resolution with VGA connection...could someone translate what that actually does?

In response to ZildjianKX:

I believe it is against some dvd liscensing agreement to output upscaled comercial DVDS over "unprotected" component outputs.

That's why most upscaling dvd players you see use HDMI and my Linkplayer removed upscaling over component with its newer firmware revisions.

DevilsTower -
Your ISDN connection would be fine for updates and downloads alittle slow, but that jsut means longer DL times - but now they happen int eh background. You should be OK for on-line play as well, but probably not to host in most games. I believe the rules at MS say that games must be able to handle as slow as 64KBaud up and down and still work.

@ MR.X

Major Nelson had the "accessories guy" on his podcast a couple weeks ago and they talked about the keyboard/mouse issue. And one thing that he brought up (which made a lot of sense to me) is that MS wants to ensure that people are building high-quality control schemes for the 360. To ensure this, they need a basic gamepad scheme (for each game) that can be used to guarantee that every player has a consistent experience. And since it would be very difficult to "tune" each game's control schemes for both keyboard/mouse and gamepad they avoid confusing the situation and damaging the unified (and hopefully user-friendly) vision of a console platform (such as the 360).

No problems to report during my update. And it's working as promised. If you have queue'd downloads, they stop whenever you enter Live multiplayer. But they told us that would happen beforehand due to bandwidth concerns. And you can play music non-stop now, without have to re-launch it.

Nice job MS!

The update's great as it accesses your Media Connect PC a lot faster and the fact that your music isn't interrupted. I'm a little surprised that I didn't hear any devs complaining about this because it takes away *their* intention of how you see the opening of their game, i.e. opening movies, etc.

Just a few problems though:

Gamer picture buying from the Guide is kinda clunky as it goes into a seperate menu (different from XBLM) seeming to exit the dashboard.

Active downloading is a little inconsistent... paused when playing Geometry Wars, but didn't for Uno. Geometry Wars isn't even multiplayer...

The USB keyboard support they said they updated still sucks as I tested a message and it still would repeat letters like it did pre-update.

I guess I'll never be satisfied. LOL. Just kidding, this update is great.

As a new 360 owner I have to ask; what's the deal with all the advertising? Paying a monthly fee and still having products shoved down your throat. Ugh.

PS- I get the same error message as you, #1.

They do have an UPDATE FOR THE WIRELESS KEYBOARD. You can use your keyboard on the dashboard now!!!

one thing i'd love to see is browse by folder for music through windows media connect. i have all my music on my networked computer organized by folder, but my ID3 tags are a mess. i guess this would probably be too much to ask.

I found one problem with this update. I was playing a original xbox game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I found that your custom music still works when loading it (which is cool) but, the game guide still doesn't work for older games. This is a problem because the in game music interferes with the custom music and there is no way to turn your music off unless you quit the game.

I was really looking foward to this update. One of the greatest fixes came with the memory management. I broke up with my gf and i deleted her profile before but didnt remove game data. And I couldnt delete it before, kept showing "unknown profile", but with the update, I can remove them without harming MY game saves. THUMBS UP MS. Nicely done.

to qgi: I got the same error when i searched for new arcade games. nothing there yet i guess.

And the temptation level of the Xbox 360 grows. How much longer can I resist? Especially with all this TRU credit I have piling up.

Tick, tick, tick...

KIngra2,

You should still be able to go to the Options menu in your game and turn off the game music. Otherwise, just stop the music playing from the dashboard before going into the original Xbox game. Either way is a fairly easy fix.

que - get with the program, man! All the cool kids use ID3 tags.

Also:
Background downloading does seem a little buggy right now, I start a download and put in Kameo and immediately it pauses my download (without ever going into a multiplayer session). The same with PGR3.

However, still love the update.

I've had a problem while playing DVDs on my 360 ever since I got it. It's connected to a 30" widescreen Samsung 1080i. When the screen displays a dark image (i.e. at night), there are several vertical lines on the right side of the screen, like discolorations. They don't show up when I watch normal TV or when I play 360 games.. just on DVDs. Any ideas?

"I didn't hear any devs complaining about this because it takes away *their* intention of how you see the opening of their game, i.e. opening movies, etc."

Based on what 1up.com showed in their video (it was also posted on Joystiq) custom soundtracks for 360 games are supposed to stop at points in games when a cinematic kicks in. But I haven't actually tried yet so I'm not sure yet.

In regards to upscaling DVD's it does if you have a VGA cable. They really improved upon the VGA connection, it looks pretty nice with the upscaling now. The colors are less washed out etc etc...I had Sin City running on it today and it looked really nice, much better than component. Although, I think component still looked better during gaming.

Yeah... I noticed the VGA display seems to be brighter and has better color now. This wasn't mentioned in the update, but I saw a big difference from before the update to after the update. It's unmistakably better looking now, even just the dashboard looks better.

Maybe a slip up: when I open up my Music Player (in both the guide, and dashboard) the new "shuffle" button seems to be reversed for me. When it's turned off, the two little arrows are crossing/looping through each other, and when shuffle is turned on, it shows two parallel arrows side by side.

Is it backwards for anybody else?

In response to Jboy001. Thanks for the reply. After more googling I found this informative post:

I have a Zenith DVB318 that upscales thru the component outputs, It will upscale to 720p or 1080i. If the player (true with all upscale players that have High Bandwith Copyright Protection, HDCP) detects Macrovision it will drop the scaling to 480p. If you use HDMI and the player is HDCP equipped and the T.V. or projector is not HDCP compatible the DVD player will drop the scaling to 480p.
The advantage of upscaling thru the component outputs is that the HDCP requirement is rendered moot if the Macrovision is removed. It is the detection of Macrovision that causes the Dvd player to drop the output scaling. HDMI output gets a signal back from the T.V. or projector that tells if the unit itself is HDCP compatible, irregardless of the content, making HDTV viewing improbable. Also, HDMI signals degenerate over a short distance as opposed to component cables which can easily be run 50 feet.

In summary, component cables, fine for upscaling without Macrovision.

Great update - my only gripe is that now for some reason old xbox games and dvd movies play in this small squared out area of my hdtv, and they won't utilise the full widescreen anymore, I've tried changing resolutions, I'm using vga hd av cable.

ZildjianKX/Jboy001-

Actually, the best thing I found to do was to get an HDTV that has built in up-conversion. I'm not sure what other manufactuer's have it, but most Toshiba HDTV's have built in HD-upconversion. They call the feature "Crystal Scan HDSC" and it upconverts all 480p signals to 720p/1080i depending on the TV set. All my DVD's look pretty damn close to HD quality.

My impressions so far:

Pros:
Nearly everything in the update

Cons:
'Attempting to read disc pop-up' on first chapters of every DVD. New one on me.
Can't do a 'Play All' when selecting by artist, the right blade appears, disappears, and no music plays.

@ funkyflea:

I haven't tried with the new update but when I tried out KOTOR 1 and 2, Fable and I think one other one I had the same problem. I just bought my 360 on Saturday too.

It might be a backwards compatibility issue and not with the firmware update.

@ funkyflea
I've had the same problem with some old Xbox games, and the problem is that those games don't support 480p. Mega Man Anniversary collection is one of them as well as an old Ghost Recon, but I can't remember which one. I'm not sure about the DVD's.
I totally wish there was a way to stretch it out. I don't want to burn in my plasma. *Hint to Microsoft for their next update* I'm really looking forward to getting that update. They fixed the music issues, awesome.

LunarDuality. I see no resone that MS could have a keyboard and mouse support as well for the fps games, they could build it around the controller, yet offer keyboard and mouse support, the resean i say this is because i am left handed and playing fps games, which are great and plentyful on the xbox and 360 is like hell to me and every other left handed person i talk to, i'll give you an example try jumping and moving forward on halo2 with "south paw" and then get back to me on that. i have the keyboard and mouse adapter for the original xbox and it worked great.

Mine froze, so I rebooted, then it froze again before the logo was finished showing, rebooted again, froze after the first screen, then wouldn't turn on. XBOX 360 = BROKEN.

Darkendes

yeah i noticed that too, a little weird but whatever, i can get used to it

"Better support for Xbox 360 game disc recognition"

Thank you, none of my disks were working. The update has saved my Xbox 360!

I'm happy with it so far, with only a few tiny gripes.
Here's what I've found on mine:

- Music player's visualizer (both tiny and fullscreen) is extremely slow now; big drop in framerate, compared to silky-smooth pre-update dash, especially when using the controller to move the patterns.

- No restart of paused music when exiting a video or cutscene, must be done manually and restarts that entire song (sucks for live mixes)

anyone else?

I'm happy with it for the most part.

I noticed the same thing as Darkendes (#33), but I wonder if the intent was for the button to indicate what the next click will do, as opposed to the current status of the shuffle toggle. Personally, I would prefer it to reflect the current status.

Also, I'd like an option to disable an inserted DVD or game disc from booting right away. I might put a disc in now but not want it to play for another few minutes.

"33. Maybe a slip up: when I open up my Music Player (in both the guide, and dashboard) the new "shuffle" button seems to be reversed for me. When it's turned off, the two little arrows are crossing/looping through each other, and when shuffle is turned on, it shows two parallel arrows side by side.

Is it backwards for anybody else?"

I guess its just supposed to be the next action you take. So if you are already on shuffle, the icon is to turn off suffle, etc.

Came home, logged into Live, got the update quickly, and immediately disabled interface sounds, setup boot to dashboard, and checked out a bunch of the new features. No problems to report here. One happy camper.

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First impressions: Xbox 360 dashboard update

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