Last year Microsoft released a digital TV tuner for the Xbox One in Europe that brought free TV channels to the Xbox One OneGuide and streaming live TV to the Xbox Smartglass apps (see my review from last year). Today Microsoft have announced support for live over-the-air TV for Xbox One users in the US and Canada. Xbox One users on the preview program can purchase a Hauppauge WinTV-955Q ($79.99) and watch live over-the-air TV on their Xbox One. In the next few months there will be a new lower cost version of this tuner retailing for $59.99 and available to everyone in the US and Canada.

Streaming of live TV to Xbox One SmartGlass apps is supported as is OneGuide integration and pausing of live TV so US users get the same features as the European version of the TV tuner.

Also announced today is support for the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner in 11 more European countries Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland with Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom already supported.

Here are the features supported with the new Hauppauge tuner:

Watch Over-the-Air TV on Xbox One: With the supported TV tuner and antenna, you can watch free, over-the-air television channels available in your area without changing TV inputs. TV interweaves itself seamlessly with your gaming experience on Xbox One, enabling you to watch TV while you wait for a multiplayer match to start or even receive game invitations and notifications while watching your favorite show.

OneGuide for TV Listings across Sources: OneGuide provides a full-screen view of all of your TV listings. In addition, MiniGuide allows you to quickly browse the TV listings and see the latest Tweets about the show you’re watching in the U.S. You can use your Xbox One Controller or the Xbox One Media Remote to navigate the OneGuide and MiniGuide.

TV Viewing in Snap: Snapping TV allows you to watch TV on the right side of your screen and leave the main screen for games, Skype or other applications.

Pause Live TV: Need to take a break? Pause whatever you’re watching and Xbox will cache for up to 30 minutes so you can catch up when you get back.

Favorite Channels: Easily build your own customized OneGuide by marking channels as “favorites,” so that you can easily see what’s on the channels you care about and tune-in.

Changing Channels by Voice with Kinect: The OneGuide allows you to set up and call out your favorite TV channel by name and start watching it instantly. Simply say “Xbox, watch NBC,” to quickly switch between channels.*

Stream Over-the-Air TV to Xbox One SmartGlass: Now you have access to your full OneGuide in the Xbox One SmartGlass app with the ability to tune channels on your TV and stream TV within your home from your Xbox One to one or more of your devices. Xbox One SmartGlass is available on Windows, Windows Phone, iOS and Android.

 

Leave a Reply