Microsoft developing smaller Xbox set-top box

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox,

Microsoft is developing a set-top box as an alterntative to a fully-fledged next generation gaming device. The set-top will run on core components of Windows 8, offering casual gaming titles (most likely through Xbox Live) instead of the big productions you'll find on the next-generation of Xbox consoles.

Furthering the casual theme of the set-top box, Microsoft is planning on incorporating a chipset enabling the device to boot up practically instantaenously for quick and simple access to TV, games and other entertainment services.

The set-top box is but one step in Microsoft's plan to bring the core architecture of the next-generation across several devices, such as a phone capable of handling a complete Xbox Live experience.

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Xbox 360 Smart Glass iOS, Android, Windows Phone streaming app to be announced at E3

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: E3, Microsoft, Rumors, Xbox 360,

E3 is right around the corner (a.k.a. next week) and word has slipped that Microsoft is planning to introduce a product called Smart Glass at the event. Xbox Smart Glass will be a companion application that you use with the console that will allow you to send video to the Xbox 360 from a smartphone or tablet, similar to what you can do with an iOS device and Apple TV using AirPlay. The cool part? Aside from naturally running on Windows 8 tablets and Windows Phone devices, Smart Glass will also run on iOS and Android in a multiplatform play for supremacy. About time, Microsoft.

Read More | Examiner

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Xbox Team Details Xbox 360 WMV Support

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Xbox 360,

One of the new features added to the Xbox 360 in the recent Fall Update is the ability to playback WMV video from a variety of sources, including PCs running Windows Media Connect, Windows Media Player 11, the Zune client, optical disc, and USB storage. Now, the Xbox development team has detailed exactly which codecs and video formats are supported.

Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker can be used to create movie files, and the Xbox Team recommends that any videos created be at least 360 pixels high so scaling is minimized. Anamorphic content is unsupported, so videos should be re-encoded in a square-pixel format. According to the Xbox team, the following codecs are supported:

The Xbox team also listed a number of common WMV formats that are currently unsupported, including the Windows Media Screen and Windows Media 9 Image (Photostory) formats.

Read More | Xbox Team

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