Ok What the heck is IPTV and will it be low quality picture? Is it the same as Apple TV announced?

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/01/bill_gates_inte.html

iptv is the future of tv imo.... its vastly different from itunes.

with itunes you pay per show to download and when its downloaded you watch it.... iptv is more like real tv in that you get live programming and can record it (and pay a monthly fee for all the channels). Quality looked excellent (handled hd just fine) from the demos I saw at ces but you have to live in an area that will get iptv.

AppleTV is streaming of low-quality SD content from iTunes from your PC to a TV.
Mainstream media calls it brilliant and revolutionary; never mind that twenty different products have been doing it better and cheaper for 5 years. Its from Appe!
Feh!

IPTV, on the other hand, is high-quality, low-compression HD video streamed across the Internet to your TV from special servers run by your Telco (ATT, Verizon, and any of 15 or so worldwide) via the 360 or a special WinCE driven STB. For a single monthly fee, you get a package of TV channels equivalent to what the cablecos deliver, but smoother and with significantly better image quality and more features. (At least in theory.)

For XBOX360 users in the right regions, it could mean way better cable TV service at a lower price and one less box connected to the TV. Depending on how the deals get implemented, it could mean millions of 360s delivered to all-new customers "for free". (More accurately, leased at very low prices.)

For MS its an extra distribution channel for 360s and a way to move closer to their tagret of 100 million installed base by 2010 that Sony andNintendo can't match.

If this is true then we are all in store for some good quality programming for a change. Great job MS!

This is the reason that Microsoft has developed the 360 with HDMI. Content providers would never allow all of that content to be pushed through unprotected analogue pathways. This means that all of the Xboxes that we now own will not work with IPTV. It likely means that the only Xbox that will work with any provider's IPTV system is the one that they lease to you. This is much like how today you cannot just buy a cable box and use it, you have to use the one provided by the cable company.

iptv is nothing like the product from apple.

AppleTV is streaming of low-quality SD content from iTunes from your PC to a TV.
It can stream hi res content, there just isn't any available yet from itunes.
twenty different products have been doing it better and cheaper for 5 years.
There are a couple of similar products out there, you can even use the Xbox for this purpose. But the apple tv device has some differences, and the price point is decent.

This is the reason that Microsoft has developed the 360 with HDMI. Content providers would never allow all of that content to be pushed through unprotected analogue pathways. This means that all of the Xboxes that we now own will not work with IPTV.

Link to show this as fact??

This is the reason that Microsoft has developed the 360 with HDMI. Content providers would never allow all of that content to be pushed through unprotected analogue pathways. This means that all of the Xboxes that we now own will not work with IPTV. It likely means that the only Xbox that will work with any provider's IPTV system is the one that they lease to you. This is much like how today you cannot just buy a cable box and use it, you have to use the one provided by the cable company.

not so sure about this. All cable companies distribute HD cable boxes that can send the HD signal to the tv over component cable. I have an sa8300hd with Cablevision that is connected to my HDTV with component cables. I believe DirecTV and Dish also send their signal over component as well as HDMI

It likely means that the only Xbox that will work with any provider's IPTV system is the one that they lease to you. This is much like how today you cannot just buy a cable box and use it, you have to use the one provided by the cable company.


That is incorrect. The FCC recently issued a regulation which will let consumers purchase any set top box to work with any cable/satellite service. This is set to take place July 1st of this year. Even now however you can purchase a box from Tivo lets say, and using CableCard, replace your "provided" cable box with it.

Link to show this as fact??


Dr. K...

You are correct, that has nothing to do with the inclusion of HDMI. The current set top boxes that AT&T is using for IPTV have component connections for HD, DVR, etc...

That is incorrect. The FCC recently issued a regulation which will let consumers purchase any set top box to work with any cable/satellite service. This is set to take place July 1st of this year. Even now however you can purchase a box from Tivo lets say, and using CableCard, replace your "provided" cable box with it.

Are you sure about the satty part of that comment I frequent both major DBS forums, & it would be HUGE news if D* & E* had compatible boxes. Let alone going to BB or CC & just buying the box of my choice.

Now if you are referring to cable card, yes the FCC recently issued a ruling that is basically going to force the cable industry to make them available for a reasonable pirce. However, all of the DBS providers are prevented from using Cable Cards (not only transmission format, i.e. QAM vs. the schemes that D* & E* use), but if I remember correcty, the DBS providers are specifically excluded from Cable Card use (not that either of them would WANT to anyway)

Here go two videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4cD5gUMRSc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KT7...related&search=

I just read in my newspaper over here in San Jose CA. Bill Gates was being interview at CES 07 and he said that its a special 360 for viewing IPTV.

Dr. K...

You are correct, that has nothing to do with the inclusion of HDMI. The current set top boxes that AT&T is using for IPTV have component connections for HD, DVR, etc...
Once again, things posted as fact by someone who doesn't have a clue.

This thread is pretty old, but up here in Western Canada, Telus is the first company to utilize the 360 in this manner.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Telus+debuts+Xbox+digital+service/3362155/story.html

Also, if you're willing to sign a 2 year contract, you get a free 'slim' 250GB 360.

http://www.telus.com/content/internet/promotions/xbox.jsp

This thread is pretty old, but up here in Western Canada, Telus is the first company to utilize the 360 in this manner.

Utilize. Three syllables. The simple, monosyllabic word "use" would work better in almost every circumstance. I just really hate to see folks say "utilize" when "use" would suffice quite nicely.;)

Utilize. Three syllables. The simple, monosyllabic word "use" would work better in almost every circumstance. I just really hate to see folks say "utilize" when "use" would suffice quite nicely.;)

actually, the word "utilize" was the correct word in this case. "Utilize" is to employ some object for an unintended or secondary use. so a 360 can be utilized as a media center. the 360's main purpose is gaming.

when you employ an object for its intended use, you use "use". you use a 360 for gaming.

a chalkboard. you utilize it for diagramming a technical layout of a circuit board. you utilize a chalkboard for a school lecture. you use a chalkboard for drawing or writing.

you use a screwdriver to tighten or loosen a screw. you utilize a screwdriver to assemble a cabinet.

for the topic at hand, it'd be cool to dump the local cable channels and get a free 360 to boot. :D

Well put. Utilize definitely made more sense as the word by definition is 'used' in that very manner. Use works, but is broad in it's meaning, whereas utilize serves a specific function.

My english isn't perfect (2nd language), but even I gathered that.

As for the topic at hand, I lol'd. This seems to have fallen through Microsoft's expectation.

In the US, with a competent cable company and a PC, the 360 has served as a cable box for years.

I can watch all of my cable channels on my Xbox 360 today, live or recorded.

LMAO at the nerd getting school'd in this thread.