My family's experience with Xbox One and TV integration

Some humble feedback/requests (some already posted here by others). Sorry for long post.

We love our Xbox One. We use it for Skype calls to e.g. grand parents from our couch, for especially Kinect enabled family games, and for watching Blu-ray and DVD content. For hbo streaming we still have our Xbox 360 around but we expect this to
be a temporary situation once an app becomes available on the Xbox One.

Kinect's IR blaster capability is great for having "one" key remote (turn on/off everything at once) and the Xbox One is clearly capable of detailed control of our set-top box (Cisco) as well. If Kinect had IR receive port also that would be amazing
as any remote has line-of-sight to Kinect. However, as this is hardware change I assume this will not easily happen. I read in a message from program manager Studbucket33 that direct on/off commands instead of power toggle commands from Xbox One to TV/set-top
box is scheduled to become available in June update which will be great as we sometimes need to connect other devices to our TV (e.g. Xbox 360 as mentioned above).

However, some 80% of the time, when the TV is on, it is because we watch television. Our family would very much appreciate a setting on the Xbox One that says "boot directly to full-screen TV". Would be convenient especially for the smallest
family members and for me to convince the family that the Xbox One is a relief, not an extra step towards their TV experience.
Currently, integration with our TV provider is not available. Living in Denmark, the landscape for such integration will be quite challenging and the view we provide here is that of "TV/set-top integration but no content provider integration". However,
I have "cheated" and enabled a UK provider in order to check what is added functionality via OneGuide. Still, for several years to come and for "niche" markets like Denmark I suspect that our family will be a typical customer looking for value-add of the hdmi-in/out
connection that the Xbox One provides without oneGuide.
We went all in and besides from the Xbox One controller we have the Xbox One media remote and we have both Windows Phone and Surface tablets with the SmartGlass app. I prepared a table below for functionalities we commonly use and to which extent
these are supported (also as I can see it when OneGuide becomes available). I am talking about direct support, e.g. not going via on-screen menus to get to the action. Maybe I have overlooked some possibilities, in which case I am happy to stand corrected
(and learn).

[table][tr][td]Command[/td][td]Xbox One controller[/td][td]Kinect voice/gesture[/td][td]Xbox One media remote[/td][td]Xbox One Smartglass[/td][/tr][tr][td]Turn TV, set-top box, and audio receiver on/off in one go[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Off only[/td][/tr][tr][td]Jump directly to TV channel with number XX[/td][td]No[/td][td]No[/td][td]No[/td][td]Yes, via numpad[/td][/tr][tr][td]Jump directly to TV channel with name YY[/td][td]No[/td][td]Yes, via oneGuide[/td][td]No[/td][td]No[/td][/tr][tr][td]Jump to channel via scrolling OneGuide[/td][td]Yes, via oneGuide[/td][td]Yes, via oneGuide[/td][td]Yes, via oneGuide[/td][td]Yes, via oneGuide[/td][/tr][tr][td]Pause TV, fast forward/rewind[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][/tr][tr][td](Un)mute audio[/td][td]No[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][/tr][tr][td]Volume up/down[/td][td]No[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][td]Yes[/td][/tr][tr][td]Record TV (set-top box)[/td][td]No[/td][td]No[/td][td]No[/td][td]Yes[/td][/tr][tr][td]Access set-top box guide/info features[/td][td]No[/td][td]No[/td][td]No[/td][td]Yes[/td][/tr][/table]

As can be seen above it would be critical feature for us to be able to jump directly to a TV channel with a specific number, either via Kinect voice, on-display keypad brought up by controller/remote, or preferably via a more powerful future Xbox
One remote with numpad. Even if OneGuide eventually becomes available everywhere, going to a channel of a certain number would be attractive to us. I am also curious to know what happens if a family chooses to re-order the channels on the local set-top
box. E.g. is this information made available to the Xbox One as well via the content provider? Any experience from US on this already?
As can be also seen, the SmartGlass app is very powerful enabling also 95% of the features of our set-top box (in our case only film rental button is missing and that we don't need as there are better options via Xbox).
It is clear from our experiments, that the Xbox One is fully capable to integrate with nearly all functions of our set-top box (like record TV and access to info/guide features) and it is also clear that Xbox team is determined to make those features
available (e.g. seen with the SmartGlass app). However, using a tablet or phone to control your TV experience just isn't very attractive for my family. With that in mind, our family would very much appreciate to see the full Smartglass "remote" functionality
being made available directly via Kinect/voice, the Xbox One controller, and preferably a future Xbox One media remote. E.g. so that not having a tablet/phone around is not a serious feature reduction of the Xbox One functionality to be a "single remote".

Overall, Xbox One's TV integration is nearly there and with powerful offerings also possible without local oneGuide support. Using our content providers remote in addition to the Xbox One Media Remote is OK solution (minor problems, like muting sound
on the Cisco remote makes the Xbox One think there is no TV signals) but seems to be unnecessary given the potential of the Xbox One/Kinect combined with smartGlass.

Finally, it would be nice to be able to directly mirror the full display of the surface (win8) tablet/phone to the TV via the Xbox One (without using third party solutions that conflict with the hdmi integration of Xbox
One and the TV).
Thanks for your consideration!
Troels and family

:)

 

Xbox One IR Blaster commands

I am having exactly the same problem. This issue is killing my family's interest and desire to use the Xbox one as a hub for watching TV. They find it very confusing.

 

My Kinect Died...

Still on my family's 1st Xbox One with Kinect.

 

Hey K0LDING,

Thanks for the message, I appreciate all of your feedback and input. I'd like to respond to some of your points.

-Boot to TV is something that's on our radar. We'll let the public know when/if we have something to announce here. We totally get where you are coming from

-We are working on global expansion. I cannot comment on exactly when or if Denmark will come in, but we're lighting up OneGuide for more and more countries.

-We're aware of the desire to change channels via numpad, and it's on our radar.

-US providers don't allow users to re-order channel numbers, at least not in the same way it's common in Europe. We don't get the information from the TV provider or STB, we get it from a web service. If the user re-orders channels, there's not much we can
do. I would recommend using the Xbox One Favorites functionality in OneGuide to replace this.

-A SmartGlass-like remote without the friction of a phone or tablet is definitely a great idea.

-Mirroring content is also a great idea.

 

Hi Studbucket33,

Thanks a lot for taking feedback and pushing the boundaries for us! Great news.

Best

Troels