Xbox 360 getting Mediaroom IPTV 'later this year' via AT&T U-verse ... just three years late

Its weird because Apple has phone service with AT&T and Apple hates MS.....kinda weird but then again Apple doesn't own anything besides itself so......

JACK

Apple has a vicious ad campaign, and a lot of Apple users usually hate MS, but the companies themselves don't hate each other. They've had lots of partnerships. At one point if it wasn't for Microsoft stepping in Apple probably wouldn't exist anymore. Right now MS has a fairly decent sized division just to make sure their software is working well on macs and to bring things like MS Office to OSX. And Apple has brought iTunes and Safari to windows.

CaramelZappa

As for MS stepping in to save Apple, I think I remember reading somewhere that Apple were a few months away from total bankruptcy, and then they brought out the iPod as a last ditch attempt at survival... And look where that got them.

Separate incidents. MS bought a large portion of Apples stock in 1997 to help save the company. The ipod wasn't released until 2001, so while yes, the ipod was a runaway success and changed the face of portable media, it might not have existed in it's original form if microsoft hadn't stepped in to help apple a few years before. Anyways I'm not trying to start a stupid Apple/Microsoft flamewar, just stating that the companies have worked together in the past and present and that the companies do not "hate" each other.

You can't mention that Microsoft stepped in to save Apple without mentioning why they did it. If they didn't have a legit competitor MS would then be slapped with all kinds of anti-trust cases so even though they owned 90% of the market at that time, they were not a monopoly because they had a valid competitor in the home user market. Pretty funny that they stepped in for selfish reasons and then got trounced by the company they saved in the Smartphone and Mediaplayer segments of the market. Heck, even the Mac OS / hardware has surged back up over the years.

I don't think it wouldn't have mattered, someone would have come along eventually and started moving the technology bar. Microsoft only seems to do that when they have competition (We would all still be using IE6 if it weren't for Firefox and hotmail would still be utterly useless if it weren't for google mail)

Microsoft is at its best when they are backed into a corner...

Steve Jobs / Apple also funded Pixar when they were about to go bankrupt so that's a nice chunk of change everytime a Pixar films rakes in $300mil in a week.

ToTheMoon , I think that was largely your opinion about events and though it sounds well thought out, it still doesn't make for fact or MS and Apple hating each other. The companies are competitors with a long history, and MS did in fact step in to save them and has various agreements with them.

People on this site always act like MS and Sony or MS and Apple are kids bickering on a playground full of hate and yet don't wake up to reality. They are companies who cross sectors and in many ways need the others. An OS is needed on a computer, and a word processor that is universal is desired between computer OS'. Heck, even MS commercials are full of Sony computers and tvs. Funny thing is that the companies people so fervently defend and push are not half the fanboys of themselves that the bloggers are.

Ask your bat-computer or Alfred

I was going to ask the same question, but was afraid I'd appear stupid. The fact that Batman doesn't know though, makes me feel a lot better.

Ever hear of Jabberwocky? It's like that.

I tried googling that, but all I got was Alice In Wonderland. Jeez, I'm behind the times, I don't know what's going on on the streets anymore.

I was referencing Better Off Ted. Jabberwocky is the name for a total bullshit project made up to cover Ted's actions. Everybody pretends like they know what it is so they don't look 'out'.

Mediaroom is the software that IPTV providers (like at&t with u-verse) use in their set-top boxes. It's basically a version of Media Center designed strictly to handle TV.

The world needs more Better off Ted.

My gamer tag is Wellsley, and I approve of more Better Off Ted.

You DO know about jabberwocky...?

@West
Jay Harrington is from Wellesley! I'm from Wellesley! You spelled it wrong.....

@Keeg so what, i can watch tv on my xbox or something now?

This will also work with Window Media Center 7 as well which is really cool.

I am looking forward to Centons Cable Card reader for Windows 7. It will allow you to record four to six HD Channels at the same time.

Xbox 360 is becoming more of a media beast in the living room.

If only it had Blu-ray...(sorry, I had to)

But Xbox 360 is so easy a caveman can do it...(sorry, I had to)

Will it be able to do any of the 3-D stuff everyones been talking about today (serious question)? Once I heard Sony would do a 3-D Blu-Ray for movies and games and ESPN was doing a new 3-D channel I started looking at getting one of the new TV's unveiled at CES today. Personally, I liked the really thin Samsung one.

Consider that most people watch more TV than movies I'd rather have the Xbox 360. I don't bother purchasing movies because I don't need those little boxes collecting dust and I don't want my house looking like Hollywood video.

Rarely do I ever watch any bonus content, BD-Live hasn't really interested me that much. I ended up putting my DVD collection on a NAS drive I have and I can pull up any movie I own anytime I want without having to physically find the disc. I have a stand alone Blu-Ray player, but I do wish MS would come out with an add-on.

The movies I do own I rarely watch more than twice. Don't see a point in owning them anymore.

Good point Johnny.

3D sounds awesome, but it's a technology I am going to wait for the prices to come way down and be perfected.

If the current DirecTV set-top boxes only need a simple firmware update, hopefully the same will be true for the Xbox 360. I don't mind renting movies from XBLM or Zune marketplace... whatever it's called now. The quality is good enough for something I only plan on watching once.

Since MS did the hd-dvd thing they should do a blu-ray one for people who want it. We own maybe 30 or so Blu-Ray movies (8-9 hd-dvds) and it's usually the movies we really love. Then again we like watching movies and TV shows but still we buy a lot of stuff on Apple TV, PS3, iTunes ... just the stuff that makes sense for blu-ray like land of the lost, fringe, transformers, 300, District-9 etc ... not curb your enthusiasm or anything that doesn't make sense to watch in high definition. My fiance loves period movies (Anne Boelyn, the queen etc) and those movies as well as stuff like slumdog millionaire, wrestler etc aren't enhanced in HD.

After we saw Avatar in 3-D we were pretty much sold on how it enhances a movie experience and I think it could revolutionize console gaming as well. If cable carriers are going to start having 3-D channel support (Direct TV will launch this year) and it will be available at retail in movies and games it's something I'll buy into pretty early on in the game. I'd love that 160 inch Panasonic TV but thats not feasible. I'll probably get one of the super thin OLED's close to 60 inches ... I don't mind the glasses either. If Sony can combine that head tracking technology with 3-D then it'll be some sweet blissful gaming.

The 360 should theoretically be able to do 3D via shutter glasses if someone or MS makes them for it. I have nVidia 3D Vision and I can watch 3D content now (there is very little out there by way of movies though). There are two 3D games on the 360 right now that work with it provided you have the glasses and right TV, so we already know it's possible. I think PS3 will lead the charge in 3D console gaming though. 3D actually got me back into PC gaming. I now hate playing a "flat" game (non-3D) as you lose that extreme level immersion of dimension. I am so happy to read about manufacturers really beginning to push it.

Tell me about it...U-Verse is literally a block away from me, probably not 500 feet as the bird flies. It has been there for maybe a year and a half.

How do I know? Big sign in a guys yard that says "U-Verse enjoyed here". It taunts me daily.

I have a friend who lives a mile or two away, and he's had it for some time. It's ridiculous. I had an AT&T tech over in October, he told me U-Verse should be rolled out by the middle of the year. I'm not holding my breath.

I'd go comcast, since I really just want the faster data, but they charge $69.99 for the next tier up("powerboost" 15mb down/3mb up) if you're a non-cable subscriber. It's ridiculous.

I don't think that tier is available here with Comcast. When I checked, the highest tier of any ISP was 6mbit, which is a third of the 18mbit that U-Verse offers a block from me.


If I could get it, I would in a second.

Oh, and I've been hearing "It's coming any day now!" from AT&T for over a year now. I won't believe it until I see a line of fiber going into a big hole in the ground near my house.

I'm pretty sure you could hook it up through an ethernet cable, if that's what you mean.

Yeah, that's what I meant. The standard u-verse boxes have a coax connection so I'm not sure if it'll need an adapter or anything like that.

Really, because both our box (DVR and non-DVR) each have an ethernet port.

Mine is hooked up via ethernet. Maybe you have an older box?