This week Microsoft launched a new digital TV tuner for the Xbox One, available in Europe the tuner is DVB-T2, DVB-T and DVB-C compatible so here in the UK that means Freeview HD. Freeview HD gives you free to air UK TV channels many of which are in HD, so that includes BBC One HD, ITV HD, Channel 4 HD.
The adapter connects to the Xbox One via USB and you plug your aerial cable in to the tuner. Once you connect up the tuner the Xbox detects the tuner and walks you through the setup. The setup asks you if you have an aerial or cable connection and then ask for your postcode, this reminded me of the Windows Media Center TV setup. It asks you your channel line-up (in my case Freeview HD) and then it scans for TV channels.
After the scan was complete it found just over 100 channels including the HD channels, it then asks if you want to enable a live TV buffer so you can pause live TV. If you do enable buffering it takes up 4GB on your Xbox One drive.
So once you are up and running what can you do with it?
The first thing you can do is view the OneGuide with a channel line-up including HD channels and then you can start watching live TV. You can pause playback and select channels via OneGuide or the updated TV mini guide that overlays over the bottom of the screen. You can also snap live TV to the right hand side and use the Xbox One to play a game or another app while continuing to watch live TV. You can also control it via voice say “Xbox, what’s on BBC One” and it show you the EPG data for that channel, you can also change channel via voice. I prefer to use the Xbox One Remote control but its good to have the option. In OneGuide you can favorite channels and then view your collection of favorites, you can also view trending TV shows on Twitter and then switch to atrending show if you want.
I also found it can be used in conjunction with the HDMI input and a set top box. I have my Sky+ box connected to the Xbox One via the HDMI input, the Xbox can control the Sky+ box and you can watch Sky though the Xbox One. Now with the live TV tuner I have two channel line ups available in the OneGuide, I have the Freeview EPG and my Sky EPG and selecting a TV show from the Sky EPG switches to HDMI input and selects the channel. If you then select a show from the Freeview lineup it switches back to using the TV tuner. I think most people are going to use one or another system and not a combination of both but it can be done and it does work well.
SmartGlass
The Xbox One Smartglass apps enable you to view the OneGuide on your device and now with the tuner you can stream live TV from the Xbox One to the iOS or Windows 8.1 versions of the apps. When you tap on a currently playing TV show there is a stream button and tapping that starts playback of the channel in the app. As it’s a single tuner one can only watch one thing at once, if you change the channel from the app and you are currently watching live TV on the Xbox it will change the channel on the TV but you can stream to a device without having live TV active on the Xbox One, the Xbox can be in standby and not active. So you could be playing a game on the Xbox One and still stream TV to your mobile device.
Missing TV Recording
There is one major feature that is missing, you can’t record TV its only for live TV. This stops you using it as a replacement for a Freeview recorder or Windows Media Center. The addition of recording and then streaming recorded TV to a SmartGlass apps would give you Windows Media Center functionality with Softsled, long time Media Center fans will remember the word Softsled the code name for a PC based Windows Media Center Extender app that Microsoft never released but was much requested. With live and recorded TV and streaming to apps you would have a very powerful TV solution. You have to think that Microsoft would look at adding recording in the future.
Conclusion
Even without recording at £24.99 from the Microsoft Store it is a nice to have addition to the Xbox One if and it gives you another reason to leave the Xbox One on HDMI port one.
For a live TV experience the TV tuner works very well, it’s pretty simple to setup and live TV to app streaming is very cool. So the combination of live TV from the tuner and an apps like Plex and the new media player almost get to the Windows Media Center experience on the Xbox One and if recording is added it will really be the system we want.
One thought on “Review of the new Xbox One Digital TV Tuner, almost Windows Media Center”
1. Add TV recording
2. Make it possible to have multiple Xbox One’s sharing each others tv tuner and recordings
3. I’m swapping my 3 x Xbox 360 + Windows Media Center with 3 x Xbox One
Now THAT would be awesome
{"id":null,"mode":"button","open_style":"in_place","currency_code":"GBP","currency_symbol":"\u00a3","currency_type":"decimal","blank_flag_url":"https:\/\/thedigitallifestyle.com\/w\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/blank.gif","flag_sprite_url":"https:\/\/thedigitallifestyle.com\/w\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/flags.png","default_amount":500,"top_media_type":"none","featured_image_url":false,"featured_embed":"","header_media":null,"file_download_attachment_data":null,"recurring_options_enabled":true,"recurring_options":{"never":{"selected":true,"after_output":"One time only"},"weekly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every week"},"monthly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every month"},"yearly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every year"}},"strings":{"current_user_email":"","current_user_name":"","link_text":"Leave a tip","complete_payment_button_error_text":"Check info and try again","payment_verb":"Pay","payment_request_label":"TheDigitalLifestyle.com","form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","general_server_error":"Something isn't working right at the moment. Please try again.","form_title":"TheDigitalLifestyle.com","form_subtitle":null,"currency_search_text":"Country or Currency here","other_payment_option":"Other payment option","manage_payments_button_text":"Manage your payments","thank_you_message":"Thank you for being a supporter!","payment_confirmation_title":"TheDigitalLifestyle.com","receipt_title":"Your Receipt","print_receipt":"Print Receipt","email_receipt":"Email Receipt","email_receipt_sending":"Sending receipt...","email_receipt_success":"Email receipt successfully sent","email_receipt_failed":"Email receipt failed to send. Please try again.","receipt_payee":"Paid to","receipt_statement_descriptor":"This will show up on your statement as","receipt_date":"Date","receipt_transaction_id":"Transaction ID","receipt_transaction_amount":"Amount","refund_payer":"Refund from","login":"Log in to manage your payments","manage_payments":"Manage Payments","transactions_title":"Your Transactions","transaction_title":"Transaction Receipt","transaction_period":"Plan Period","arrangements_title":"Your Plans","arrangement_title":"Manage Plan","arrangement_details":"Plan Details","arrangement_id_title":"Plan ID","arrangement_payment_method_title":"Payment Method","arrangement_amount_title":"Plan Amount","arrangement_renewal_title":"Next renewal date","arrangement_action_cancel":"Cancel Plan","arrangement_action_cant_cancel":"Cancelling is currently not available.","arrangement_action_cancel_double":"Are you sure you'd like to cancel?","arrangement_cancelling":"Cancelling Plan...","arrangement_cancelled":"Plan Cancelled","arrangement_failed_to_cancel":"Failed to cancel plan","back_to_plans":"\u2190 Back to Plans","update_payment_method_verb":"Update","sca_auth_description":"Your have a pending renewal payment which requires authorization.","sca_auth_verb":"Authorize renewal payment","sca_authing_verb":"Authorizing payment","sca_authed_verb":"Payment successfully authorized!","sca_auth_failed":"Unable to authorize! Please try again.","login_button_text":"Log in","login_form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","uppercase_search":"Search","lowercase_search":"search","uppercase_page":"Page","lowercase_page":"page","uppercase_items":"Items","lowercase_items":"items","uppercase_per":"Per","lowercase_per":"per","uppercase_of":"Of","lowercase_of":"of","back":"Back to plans","zip_code_placeholder":"Zip\/Postal Code","download_file_button_text":"Download File","input_field_instructions":{"tip_amount":{"placeholder_text":"How much would you like to tip?","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How much would you like to tip? Choose any currency."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to tip? Choose any currency."},"invalid_curency":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please choose a valid currency."}},"recurring":{"placeholder_text":"Recurring","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"}},"name":{"placeholder_text":"Name on Credit Card","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please enter the name on your card."}},"privacy_policy":{"terms_title":"Terms and conditions","terms_body":null,"terms_show_text":"View Terms","terms_hide_text":"Hide Terms","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."},"unchecked":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please agree to the terms."},"checked":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."}},"email":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"not_an_email_address":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Make sure you have entered a valid email address"}},"note_with_tip":{"placeholder_text":"Your note here...","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"not_empty_initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"saving":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Saving note..."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Note successfully saved!"},"error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to save note note at this time. Please try again."}},"email_for_login_code":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."}},"login_code":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."}},"stripe_all_in_one":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"success":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"invalid_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is not a valid credit card number."},"invalid_expiry_month":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration month is invalid."},"invalid_expiry_year":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is invalid."},"invalid_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is invalid."},"incorrect_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incorrect."},"incomplete_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incomplete."},"incomplete_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incomplete."},"incomplete_expiry":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration date is incomplete."},"incomplete_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code is incomplete."},"expired_card":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card has expired."},"incorrect_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incorrect."},"incorrect_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code failed validation."},"invalid_expiry_year_past":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is in the past"},"card_declined":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card was declined."},"missing":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"There is no card on a customer that is being charged."},"processing_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"An error occurred while processing the card."},"invalid_request_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to process this payment, please try again or use alternative method."},"invalid_sofort_country":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The billing country is not accepted by SOFORT. Please try another country."}}}},"fetched_oembed_html":false}
1. Add TV recording
2. Make it possible to have multiple Xbox One’s sharing each others tv tuner and recordings
3. I’m swapping my 3 x Xbox 360 + Windows Media Center with 3 x Xbox One
Now THAT would be awesome