UK telecom company BT Group first to use Xbox 360 as set-top box

31 Comments by Ross Miller Jan 6th 2008 10:34PM
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, CES

Having previously announced its intentions to have the Xbox 360 as a set-top box (STB) at last year's Consumer Electronics Show, Bill Gates told the audience at this year's keynote that British telecommunications company BT Group will be the first company to use the console as a set-top box, whose interface was most recently seen by accident in a repaired console.

Said Gates, "The final announcement, last year we talked about the 360 being an STB -- this year we're excited to announce that BT will be the first to provide that capability. Buy a 360 and use it as an STB for your TV." No other details are given (what about DVR?), but we're hoping to hear some more soon. Check out our hands-on with the service from last year's show.

Tags: bill-gates, breakingnews, british-telecommunications, bt, bt-group, ces, ces-08, ces-2008, consumer-electronics-show, dvr, gates, iptv, microsoft

(Page 1) Reader Comments

Smoke_Dawg_187: Jan 6th 2008; 10:40PM

I hope they bring this to Verizon FiOS

Hashbrown_Hunter: Jan 7th 2008; 12:12AM

No....just no.

Smoke_Dawg_187: Jan 8th 2008; 12:08AM

HashBrown Hunter, why do you bother commenting without explaining your point? Seems like you're just a troll.

Brandon N. Hatfield: Jan 6th 2008; 10:45PM

That was probably one of the weakest CES keynotes I have ever watched. Honestly, there wasn't a single new announcement except for new content coming to Xbox Live. There wasn't a single significant Xbox 360 announcement the entire evening... instead they went on and on about Windows Live.. a service other companies have mastered, including Apple long before Microsoft decided to get in on the fun. Weak. Hardly worthy of Bill's swan song.

Smoke_Dawg_187: Jan 6th 2008; 10:53PM

I'm sure there will be a big announcements @ GDC.

Grumpyzrp: Jan 6th 2008; 10:48PM

wow...that keynote sucked...no BIG announcements...

copa: Jan 6th 2008; 10:50PM

"Buy a 360 and use it as an STB for your TV."

But if you get an RROD, you're SOL.

Zoesch: Jan 6th 2008; 11:41PM

Well, on one side, congrats to MS on the BT deal (Considering the IPTV solution from BT uses MS middleware it is a no-brainer, although the STB is middleware independent) but please, since STB's tend to be on longer than games consoles have a look at redesigning the box so it's more reliable.

Brian Fantana: Jan 7th 2008; 1:00AM

Actually if you get it through BT they should replace a faulty box. But they need to make the 360 quieter. It's still too loud.

Night Elve: Jan 6th 2008; 10:50PM

Heh this remembers me when I used to use BT DNS Servers because the ones provided by my ISP sucks then I found OpenDNS and now everything is magical xD.

Yeah I know this does not have anything to do with the Topic.

Cheers! Happy New Year!

James: Jan 7th 2008; 7:59AM

What? On topic?

Raikage (Wii FC 5508 0487 4434 0992): Jan 6th 2008; 10:51PM

Yeah kind of a let down, although the stuff with the car is cool, too bad it's wasted on the Zune and not (more practically) used with the iPod...

CharleyTony: Jan 6th 2008; 10:51PM

Yeah a little underwelming... Sorry I made time to see it live instead of reading about it the next day...
No real Xbox news except sale numbers (shipping numbers actually) :(
The real stars of this keynote seem to be smartphone being the next PCs... almost being able to replace them...

By the way Bill said that you would get an xbox 360 through BT Group to make it a set-top box... Does that mean that it will be modified in some way or is the IPTV thing really only software, thus making older Xbox360s upgradable ??? (Hope so !!!)

Cal: Jan 6th 2008; 11:01PM

Since IPTV was accidentally installed on a repaired xbox they should be upgradeable, but you'd still need a big HDD =(

CharleyTony: Jan 6th 2008; 10:54PM

it'll work with an Ipod too (not the Ipod touch LOL)
I guess you could essentially use a usb stick or a external HDD...

Ms Sync is just a glorified voice command system, I can do all those things (except voice ccmmands) on my boring 150$ sony cd player in my car with an Ipod...

Easo: Jan 6th 2008; 10:59PM

I still dont see why everyone is so down on the zune. Any of the zunes (4GB,8GB,30GB,and 80GB) are really better than any Ipod in their price range.

maverick_saturn_626: Jan 7th 2008; 4:56AM

Cos Zune sucks, lol

tcc3: Jan 7th 2008; 6:30AM

The Zune is a really nice player, but the software blows.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Jan 7th 2008; 1:32PM

Seriously, I got an 80 gb one for 250 dollars. The only complaint I have is that I can't tell the software to recheck the watch folders on command, and that it won't transcode divx files for you.

Patrick: Jan 6th 2008; 11:01PM

ehhhh.. Ill just stick to torrents thanx..

born2kill: Jan 7th 2008; 1:04AM

Thats a terrible idea. The 360 guzzles more energy than a hummer. Who the hell wants to pay like 9-10 times more, instead of using a standard dvd player or dvr??

cylon: Jan 7th 2008; 4:19AM

LOL @ the worlds most dodgy, unreliable and noisy STB!! watch too much TV and your STB explode!!!! LOL im not risking my 360 to watch shitty TV!!!!!

maverick_saturn_626: Jan 7th 2008; 4:55AM

Great! Is this BT's way of trying to gain it's slowly dwindling customers back? I ditched BT for O2, BT rips you off, I have no intention in going back for anybody or anything.

ronald: Jan 7th 2008; 6:51AM

Great, so even though Live can't handle the current level of use since the december "update" they're going to add more strain on their system?

Ask anyone that's tried to use live over the holidays, it's been absolutely useless.

Perhaps they'll finally wake up and realise that the whole system is terribly in need of an upgrade.

Nicolas Redfern: Jan 7th 2008; 6:59AM

BT already supply a set-top box with DVR for £30 if you sign up to their broadband.

maverick_saturn_626: Jan 7th 2008; 7:14AM

And thier broadband service sucks :P

GunForHire: Jan 7th 2008; 8:44AM

Why are people bitching about there being no big 360 announcements? This is CES, not E3, the focus is entirely different you tits.

rruss79: Jan 7th 2008; 8:55AM

I hope you people know that the 360 does not make any sound that you can hear when you are NOT playing a game. In other words if you are watching a DVD or playing a XBL game you will not here the 360 since the DVD rom which is the device that MAKES all the noise is not Spinning at it's top speed or in the case of using the IPTV not at all. So if you want to be funny thats cool but if you truly did not know, now you can stop being ignorant.

To put things in perspective, the PS3 is actually louder then the 360 if both are turned on and not using their drive unit. The PS3 fans that cool the PS3 down at least in my home is definitely audible and above the sound of the 360.

why not the LS2LS7?: Jan 7th 2008; 11:35AM

You're wrong.

Yes, the 360 is a lot quieter if the optical drive is off. But no, it's FAR from silent, and its much much louder than a PS3 even if the PS3 is accessing its optical drive.

I cannot even comprehend how someone who had tried the two side by side could try to say the 360 is quieter.

The PS3 fan does become audible if you have the console in a semi-enclosed area (it becomes rather loud in a mostly or full enclosed area). But if you just move your PS3 so it can get some air from the front (and not the air it just exhausted from the back), the fan will remain at a just-audible level, far below that of the 360 at it's lowest fan level.

why not the LS2LS7?: Jan 7th 2008; 11:31AM

The idea of using a console that is $350, loud as a mutha and takes 135W every moment it is on to watch TV doesn't seem like something I'd be interested in.

hotnutz: Jan 7th 2008; 11:50PM

Couldn't have said it better. What a horrible idea - use the least reliable piece of hardware to store media you might want to watch. Duh! Sounds like someone is making another "Zune"...

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