Xbox Live Fall 2010 Dashboard Update preview: ESPN, Netflix search, Kinect, and more! (Update)

By Ross Miller posted Sep 29th 2010 10:04PM

Shortly before Kinect hits store shelves on November 4th, Microsoft plans on rolling out the Fall Update to Xbox Live -- even sooner for those who signed up for the preview program. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise, really: even without the numerous leaks, the fall update is a longstanding tradition for the almost five-year-old console, and the company devoted a large chunk of its E3 2010 presentation to talk about the biggest additions. That includes Netflix search (finally!), Zune music, and an entertainment hub for a certain worldwide sports broadcaster... ESPN. We've had a chance to spend some time at home with the Fall Update, follow us after the break for our full impressions!




Update: As both Joystiq and a number of tipsters have alerted us, Microsoft has pulled the large, wooden lever in its dark underground lair that allows for the Fall Update to trickle out and assimilate itself into the consoles of those smart enough to sign up for the preview program. If you receive a prompt upon signing in, rejoice! If not, well, have patience!



P.S. - Looking for more? Our BFFs at Joystiq have compiled a series of exhaustive videos chronicling the Fall Update. Check it out!

Xbox Live Fall 2010 Dashboard Update preview

Dashboard

The biggest change with the Xbox Dashboard, and arguably the biggest since the New Xbox Experience debuted in 2008, is with panel presentation -- which is a mixed bag if you ask us. No long do they cascade, providing what was an admittedly obstructed view of six selections; instead, we're shown three panels in their entirety, with just the subtlest of hints that there's more to the right or left. It's much cleaner and panels themselves more aesthetically-pleasing, sure, but to be honest, we thought it was functionally easier to have a hint of what's further down the menu. Again, though, we can't say we're disappointed -- after all, navigation feels much snappier. As we saw briefly on the Featured tab (with an advertisement, naturally), Microsoft allows for full-motion video presented even on non-highlighted panels.

Also getting a welcome UI overhaul is the Customize Avatar screen. Your virtual doppelganger now stands front and center as you go through the selection of wares and facial adjustments. There aren't any surprise features, but navigation does feel much less cumbersome.

ESPN3

As far as new features go, ESPN3 is top of that list. For the cost of Xbox Live Gold and having an affiliated ISP (here's a list, and not to worry NYCers, Microsoft assures us Time Warner Cable will soon be partnering up), you can watch live sporting events and replays of anything ESPN has the rights to stream -- and trust us, that's a lot. (Don't have an affiliated ISP? You'll miss out on the live events and full replays, but all other clips and highlights should still be available.) The initial screen features a crowd of avatars wandering on the bottom, while giant displays serve as the screens for the featured videos. Hovering over one selection for more than a few seconds and the video will autoplay; pressing X will make the video full screen, which you can do immediately at the cost of a brief bout of low-resolution footage as it buffers the HD stream.



More highlights can be found in a menu accessible via the leftmost panel. It's a setup familiar to Netflix owners: a textual list of categories and a horizontal smorgasbord of related videos. Here's where we come into some hiccups, however: when we last checked live event replays, there were 241 games in all -- not easy to navigate. Microsoft alleviates some of this by adding the My Sports tab, allowing you to select and quickly peruse your favorite ball game, but even then, expect some sifting. We've been promised more more integration with ESPN's online suite -- including being able to select specific "My Teams" to follow -- some time in the not-too-distant future.



All the video streams in HD using the same variable bitrate technology as Zune video. You're also given the same controls (pause, fast forward, rewind, etc.) and the portal will remember where you left off in a certain video if you want to jump in and out of a handful at a time. The best part is with live events, being able to rewind to parts you missed even if you tuned in late. Unfortunately there's no jumping to key moments à la the web browser stream, but like we were told with My Teams, it's on the proverbial roadmap. At any point during any video, you can press Y to bring up the scores for all current, recent, and upcoming games, sortable by sport, and if it's on at the moment, you can quickly jump to the game with a press of a button. Again, the repeated mantra here is that there's potential for more and it's in the works. That's not to downplay anything that's being offered out the gate; what we have hear is pretty impressive for sports fans, if for nothing else as a great way to stream matches from your living room set without having to invest in a cable TV.

Netflix

Netflix has been an enduring staple to the Xbox 360's entertainment side, and for a long time one of the biggest non-gaming reasons to pick up the console. The only problem was that you still needed another device altogether to explore the library, as the software limited you to a pre-selected array of films (organized by category) and what was already added to your Instant Watch queue. Thankfully that's all been changed with this update. In addition to eschewing cascading navigation in favor of something on the same plane of depth (notice a trend here?), search has now has been added. It works well, opting for a line of letters instead the classic Xbox 360 virtual keyboard, and the results update with each letter added. If a selection isn't available to watch instantly, it'll still show up on the list as "DVD Only" and offer suggestions to similar titles. Needless to say, this still remains one of the best Netflix experiences out there.

Zune music

Zune video got a handful of UI tweaks -- its selection menu for video is thankfully much more streamlined -- but newcomer here is music and Zune Pass. Unsurprisingly, it works similar to Zune video and most other entertainment panels, as far as navigation is concerned. Search presents you with multiple separate panels for results that updating with each additional letter: artist, song, album, playlist. The artist page sorts songs by album and individual popularity, and even provides bios with hotlinks to other artists, a nice little touch. All the Zune functionality you'd expect is here, including Smart DJ. Pick an artist as a jumping off point and adjust the playlist according to your likes. The program itself works great; whether or not you want to devote your TV to streaming music is entirely your call, but at least the option's there.

Kinect

Screen from E3 2010

We didn't get a chance to bring Kinect home to give it a spin (no beta for us, we're afraid), but Microsoft did invite us to its offices to try it in studio. By and large, though, it's what we saw back at E3 with some refinements -- and yes, it does work while sitting down. If you're calibrated to your profile, walking in front of the Kinect camera will automatically sign you in (if no one else is already). Waving your hand will engage the gestures, swiping from one side to the other will navigating through the special panels (so long as you connect the hand cursor to the proper arrow icon ahead of time), and you still have to hover on a panel for multiple seconds to select certain items. That part seemed quicker than before, but it's still a hassle compared to quickly moving through via a controller. Voice commands are again limited to select options, and it'll prompt you on what does and doesn't work. Using your hand to grab and fine-tune where in a video you are is still a nice touch, but really, this is just an alternate method for navigation. Great for novelty's sake or if you can't find the remote / are out of batteries, but we're still a ways off from Minority Report.

Wrap-up

We hate to use the revolution vs. evolution analogy here, but that's exactly what the new dashboard is: an evolution of the New Xbox Experience. Aesthetic revisions and impending Kinect integration notwithstanding, the big takeaway from this update is a vastly improved Netflix and a strong debut for ESPN, which really is going to make some people rethink their cable TV subscription. Sure, it's mandatory, but don't worry, it's pretty much an improvement in every way imaginable -- unless, of course, you like cascading panels.

Naruto vs. Pain

Weee can't wait for the next episode of naruto shippuden.. finally the battle between naruto and pain anime style. I have already read the manga and it is quite a very exciting and memorable battle.. I hope the anime will turn out to be so good that I would watch it tons of times.. I was hoping there is a double episode this week but this is too bad.. :(

My views, my goals

Starting this year I'll try to keep myself busy... busy at everything balancing my daily life's priorities and must do. I have realized that it is not easy to live by the rules, however rules are there to keep us in line.

I have made difficult decisions, mistakes and failures but I have just come to accept them as lessons of growing up, part of a path that each one of us needs to take. As for me I'm a bit lucky that I can identify the things that makes me of who I am and what value and reasons I have to live in this world. Each one of us has their own path to take, direction, minute decisions, ones own life, thus it is our duty to find that and no one can help you but yourselves.

So here are the questions I have to answer and the answers are mine to discover

What Am I going to do with my life?
What Worth I have in this world?
How can achieve my visions and dreams?
What are my visions and dreams?
How will I spend time?

These are just a few of the dilemmas I need to encounter.. each of us needs to encounter.. it is just a question of finding.. and these questions will be etched in my mind each day.....

I Won't Ever Give Up

In Life there are times that you will encounter pain, disappointment and failure. And most of us will just give up in an instant. I was once a person who gives up so easily, who does not care, who do not believe in second chances, I always look my self too inferior and useless. But eventually I realize that I was wrong, it is not right to treat yourself lowly, useless and of no value. And most of the time our failures is due to the decisions we made, however it is wrong to accept failure as a mistake but rather we should accept it as a gift and learn from it. Sometimes I was also glad when something fails because by then I realize what I am losing, but I always believe that in the end something good will come out. Pessimism is not a good virtue, we must always think that there are always good in everything that is happening.

Changes do not happen in an instant, they are taken 1 step at a time, if it fails try again, giving up is not an option, once you give up you lose and you'll end up in regret the rest of your life. ( "Though there were times that I really want to give up" ) but yet patience is a virtue as they say. Waiting for the right time and the right moment to make everything perfect is very worth the effort. Sacrifices? Pains? Hardships? so what are these stand for? why do we ever have to have those living? if we are just going to think about it we might as well get crazy and lose everything we hold dear. As for me it is not the bad things that is happening to us but what we do to our life, our decisions, dedication and will to survive everything is what matters most.

A qoute that helps, build trust

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

My Samsung Omnia i900 Review

I finally have my Samsung Omnia i900 last november 2008 however have my downtimes at times, it is a very cool phone and I would say one of the best phones of 2008. It is very innovative however just like any other smart phones it is far from perfect.... It runs on windows Mobile 6.1 and as to say it really fits this new phone and added more mobile and personal computing technology to the handheld.

The Phone Features of the Omnia are just perfect

*Avaialble in both 8gb and 16gb
*A full touch Display
*A Nav Key
*Phone Button
*An accelerometer ( What it does? well if you are fond of using the phone like a htc or other pda phones just flip it sideways and the screen will immediately shift to a landscape view )
*The display are huge enough for our fingers to tap the screen for the numbers and letters we type
* A Phone Organizer
* A Video Player ( what's cool? the video player uses the divx codec which means it can play high res avi movies and that is just perfect )
* MP3 Player
* Radio
*Since it is a windows mobile phone, the package comes with Office mobile Edition, an Acrobat reader for pdf files and of course the Windows media Player ( But I prefer to use the omnia's touch player for my multimedia files)
* The Camera Comes with 5 megapixel image capture
* A GPS system which is easy to use and uses the latest updates from google maps

In sense so far this the samsung omnia is the best phone that I ever had, till this time samsung omnia is still the best phone in the market