Dashboard Update News

[xfrancox]

Check it out: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/major-xbox-360-live-update-coming-next-friday-176503.php

If any of you are at work or school and cant go to this site:



Major Xbox 360 Live Update Coming Next Friday

Kotaku has uncovered some juicy news about the Xbox Live update we all knew was coming.

The new features? Background downloading, fast forwarding and rewinding Marketplace videos, DVD playback improvements, booting up to dashboard (yay!), auto-away when idle, and integration with the Xbox camera addon.

Plenty more details over at Kotaku (http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/xbox-live/xbox-live-update-brings-major-enhancements-176442.php), so go take a look! – Jason Chen



Sounds awesome, cant wait

[KilluhKam]

i cant wait either :) im glad theyre makin it better 2 d/l n all that

[DisturbedDan]

hopefully that one thing is fixed. Whenever I download something, leave the room for like 15 mins. System is idle, controller is off, and my download has paused. I find that annoying as hell.

[KilluhKam]

if its a wireless controller they cant fix that when the controller goes idle it turns off its not the system its what all wireless controllers do mine does it 2 it dosnt bother me tho try getting wired controllers and your download shouldnt pause the only thing that should happen is the screen goes black or grey...when it does that its not paused

[k_dog]

Damn, I want muti-chat...

[DisturbedDan]

ah.... wouldn't have thought that. I have a wired controller, so it's all good. Thanks.

[HellzManik]

hopefully that one thing is fixed. Whenever I download something, leave the room for like 15 mins. System is idle, controller is off, and my download has paused. I find that annoying as hell.

Yeah I have had the same issues DisturbedDan..
I suggest buying the Battery Charger for a Wireless controller. As long as you have charger hooked to your system the controller wont disconnect... Also make sure you Xbox settings are set so that it doesnt go into AUTO standby after a certain amount of time...

===========

I personally think these are pretty good features they are adding.
I cant wait. (Just hope the update doesnt have major bugs in it...LoL)

PeAcE

[Helacool360]

Damn, I want muti-chat...

Yea me 2:mad:

[KilluhKam]

Yea me 2:mad:

same here that one at a time shit sux ass like crazy

[DisturbedDan]

Also make sure you Xbox settings are set so that it doesnt go into AUTO standby after a certain amount of time...



where do you change that at?

[xfrancox]

I just came across some more news and a solid date:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/05/new-xbox-360-dashboard-rocks-125-new-features/

Wooooo!

[xfrancox]

NEW FEATURES

“Download manager” - Marketplace items now download in the background, queue up to six pieces of content
DVD bookmark support will remember the film’s timing and location when resuming viewing
Fast-forward and rewind now offered at 2x -16x for any videos saved to hard drive
“Boot to Dashboard” setting will bypass the loading of any disc in the drive and open directly to Dashboard during power-on
Begin slideshows from any photo
Music player saves “shuffle” setting
Much player save “repeat” setting
Music player now displays which file is currently playing in the playlist
Music volume level persists between game / reboots
8 new locales added (Chile, Brazil, India, South Africa, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia)
Separate settings now offered for Game and User volume controls
Themes can now be set from the “System” blade on the Dashboard
User-selected music continues play when switching from Dashboard to game or game to Dashboard
“All Arcade Games” added as a selection in the Xbox Live Arcade area
Personal gamer pictures allowed as Gamertiles – displayed only to those on your Friends List
Added support to disable sound effects when navigating Dashboard
Instantaneous “Change Theme” option added upon downloading new Dashboard themes
Preserve folder structure of source when viewing photos
A / B labels now provided to identify memory units in Dashboard
Online status set to “Away” when screensaver becomes active


SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS.

DVD Player

Improved audio/video sync after extended pauses
Improved visual quality
DVD player outputs at native resolution over VGA connection
Improved playback smoothness
Improved fast-forward and rewind smoothness
DVD play continues to attempt to read a disc after “disc read” error
DVD play à Pause à Play jitter / out of synch issues improved
DVD play à Slow Play à Play jitter / out of synch issues improved
Repaired issues with missing menu selection icon from DVD disc menu for certain films
Improved Xbox 360 Guide efficiency during certain films
Repaired playback stutter during certain films

Music Player

Player now populates music data (Title, Artist, etc.) when no track information is available
User music is now pauses, instead of stopping, when games override user-selected background music
Selecting an artist’s <UNTITLED> album no longer displays <UNTITLED> albums for all artists
Improved performance when retrieving playlists from a Windows Media connection
List music tracks in track-order when viewing albums by specific artist
Unified music controls for music player in Dashboard and pop-up Guide
Improved playback for Mono AAC-encoded files
Improved connection timing between console and CD database over Internet
Player no longer allows hard-drive selection when no hard-drive is connected
Removed handling of MTP/USB devices when playing music from them more robust
Improved error codes / messaging associated with unplayable content

Localization Improvements

Fixed partially truncated strings in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian
Korean clock / date format corrected after initial set-up
Fixed system hang when changing the language of the console immediately after signing out
Korean virtual keyboard “down” navigation now works for lower-right button
Korean virtual keyboard caps disabled for input mode
Fixed overlapping characters for pre-paid Gold membership card (Japanese localization)
Removed extra spaces in several translated words (French localization)
PC name displayed properly when containing Japanese characters
Support single apostrophe character for Japanese virtual keyboard

Memory Area Improvements

Streamlined selection – no profile selection required
Improved overall performance, allowing quicker access to content
Improved content views including name, file type, size, profile owner and location
Faster identification of file types and fewer steps for actions such as copy, move, delete, etc.
Capacity (or percentage-full) of storage device now consistent between select-a-device and storage scenes
Device selection now shown on each screen to improve usability

Miscellaneous System Improvements

Time elapsed now displayed when playing music files
Enhanced categorization of media library
Accelerated scrolling of large music lists
New “shuffle” icon
Repeat / Shuffle icon now operates as toggle button
Default button for manual IP address is now “A” instead of “Done”
Hidden and system folders are no longer displayed from MTP / mass storage devices
Difficulty levels for gamer profiles ordered correctly
Added additional line and word-wrap to “Publisher” in video area
Shuffle / Random no longer skips last image in list when viewing photos
Improved handling of Friend Requests between Gamertags that have changed names
No longer asked “Exist to Dash?” when switching between areas in the Dashboard
New error messages for when Windows Live ID requires password change
Unlocked Achievements now displayed first in Game Summary page
Selecting an Achievement now shows the specific Achievement details
Full date now displayed for “Member Since” and “Next Bill Date” tabs on Membership scene
Updated messaging for deleting arcade games purchased by different profiles
No longer launch music CD in disc-tray when moving from Live sign-up to Dashboard or Network Troubleshooter
Improved voice quality when connected through wired gamepad
Show “Last Played Game” selection in Xbox Live Arcade first before enumerating all games (when Arcade game was last game played)
Improved performance of picture enumeration from iPods formatted for Mac
Adopt latest updates to Cero-based ratings for Family Settings
Show videos downloaded from Marketplace in the Video area of the Media blade
Improved usability around “Play Now” when downloading demos, trailers and videos
Added support for South Africa-specific Family Settings
Updated support for Japanese game ratings
Video area changed to include game trailers and entertainment videos
Improved robustness of Gamerscore when doing account recoveries
Improved messaging around handling corrupt or non-fully recovered profiles
Improved download performance for popular content being downloaded through Marketplace
Total USB keyboard support
Testing Live connection while streaming music from PC works correctly
Next item / Focus sound not played when scrolling past the bottom of the video list
Handle profiles on memory units inserted into system while enumerating profiles from other storage locations
Warning / Alert icons now show as part of deleting items in Memory area
Repeat rate for remote control matches game controller repeat rate
“A” button disabled when in a list with no items available
Wireless battery level added to mini-pop-up guide over backward-compatible games
Pop-up guide / Dashboard now supports USB keyboard
Console no longer enters “charge” mode when shutdown and the battery has been removed from wireless controller
System no longer waits indefinitely when attempting to contact Windows Media Connect service on XP PC
Improved Marketplace storage device selector
Correctly set focus on selected item when back button pressed on “select a game” scene
Notify users when multiple wireless SSIDS with identical names are within reach
Provide Gold membership information when trying to join a session or accepting game invites with Silver accounts
New text to highlight the ability to clear the passcode for Live account signing
Photo slideshow no longer resumes when pressing “previous” or “next” from paused state
Improved handling of corrupt profiles when deleting them
No longer turn off wireless gamepads after system update reboot
More robust handling of initial setup experience for memory unit users
Improved handling of backward-compatible update experience, reboot back into Xbox v1 environment instead of Dashboard
Improved handling for "block communications" from other players
Improved keypress sounds when using USB keyboard
Improved usability and performance of content enumeration for storage devices
Show visual location for where Xbox Live Arcade games reside
Improved user messaging when overwriting content while copying
Improved consistency of messaging between "sign out" and "switch profile"
Updated troubleshooter text for connection to Windows PC's joined to domain
Better support for Xbox 360 game disc recognition
Improved initial setup text messaging
Improved overall error message terminology
Game updates downloaded to memory unit no longer show "please reinsert" notification when memory unit removed
More robust support for handling game deletes from memory unit and simultaneously removing memory unit
Improved system performance between console and affiliated Windows Media Connect PC

[k_dog]

That's a massive list. Glad it's happening tommorow.

[Maka]

A time-frame for tomorrorw?

I want Multi-Chat too..... that would be awesome

[k_dog]

A time-frame for tomorrorw?


Read the article and it says...

[xfrancox]

That's a massive list. Glad it's happening tommorow.

Hell yea it is, I read some of it and its pretty exciting. Especially the part about music not stopping when going to and from a game. I hate that.

[k_dog]

Hell yea it is, I read some of it and its pretty exciting. Especially the part about music not stopping when going to and from a game. I hate that.


Yeah, that was a pretty big complaint of mine, and the problems with reading the Windows Media is fixed as well.

[scoobydiesel]

If we really do get all of the stuff they listed i think lots of people will be very happy.
That list has alot of what people wanted fixed or added, i know i'll be happy once it hits.

[HellzManik]

KooL

I cant WAIT...

Ps~
where do you change that at?

You press the guide button.
Then you select Personal Settings I believe..
Its somewhere in there...LoL

Hope that helps..[

PeAcE

[KilluhKam]

NEW FEATURES

“Download manager” - Marketplace items now download in the background, queue up to six pieces of content
DVD bookmark support will remember the film’s timing and location when resuming viewing
Fast-forward and rewind now offered at 2x -16x for any videos saved to hard drive
“Boot to Dashboard” setting will bypass the loading of any disc in the drive and open directly to Dashboard during power-on
Begin slideshows from any photo
Music player saves “shuffle” setting
Much player save “repeat” setting
Music player now displays which file is currently playing in the playlist
Music volume level persists between game / reboots
8 new locales added (Chile, Brazil, India, South Africa, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia)
Separate settings now offered for Game and User volume controls
Themes can now be set from the “System” blade on the Dashboard
User-selected music continues play when switching from Dashboard to game or game to Dashboard
“All Arcade Games” added as a selection in the Xbox Live Arcade area
Personal gamer pictures allowed as Gamertiles – displayed only to those on your Friends List
Added support to disable sound effects when navigating Dashboard
Instantaneous “Change Theme” option added upon downloading new Dashboard themes
Preserve folder structure of source when viewing photos
A / B labels now provided to identify memory units in Dashboard
Online status set to “Away” when screensaver becomes active


SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS.

DVD Player

Improved audio/video sync after extended pauses
Improved visual quality
DVD player outputs at native resolution over VGA connection
Improved playback smoothness
Improved fast-forward and rewind smoothness
DVD play continues to attempt to read a disc after “disc read” error
DVD play à Pause à Play jitter / out of synch issues improved
DVD play à Slow Play à Play jitter / out of synch issues improved
Repaired issues with missing menu selection icon from DVD disc menu for certain films
Improved Xbox 360 Guide efficiency during certain films
Repaired playback stutter during certain films

Music Player

Player now populates music data (Title, Artist, etc.) when no track information is available
User music is now pauses, instead of stopping, when games override user-selected background music
Selecting an artist’s <UNTITLED> album no longer displays <UNTITLED> albums for all artists
Improved performance when retrieving playlists from a Windows Media connection
List music tracks in track-order when viewing albums by specific artist
Unified music controls for music player in Dashboard and pop-up Guide
Improved playback for Mono AAC-encoded files
Improved connection timing between console and CD database over Internet
Player no longer allows hard-drive selection when no hard-drive is connected
Removed handling of MTP/USB devices when playing music from them more robust
Improved error codes / messaging associated with unplayable content

Localization Improvements

Fixed partially truncated strings in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian
Korean clock / date format corrected after initial set-up
Fixed system hang when changing the language of the console immediately after signing out
Korean virtual keyboard “down” navigation now works for lower-right button
Korean virtual keyboard caps disabled for input mode
Fixed overlapping characters for pre-paid Gold membership card (Japanese localization)
Removed extra spaces in several translated words (French localization)
PC name displayed properly when containing Japanese characters
Support single apostrophe character for Japanese virtual keyboard

Memory Area Improvements

Streamlined selection – no profile selection required
Improved overall performance, allowing quicker access to content
Improved content views including name, file type, size, profile owner and location
Faster identification of file types and fewer steps for actions such as copy, move, delete, etc.
Capacity (or percentage-full) of storage device now consistent between select-a-device and storage scenes
Device selection now shown on each screen to improve usability

Miscellaneous System Improvements

Time elapsed now displayed when playing music files
Enhanced categorization of media library
Accelerated scrolling of large music lists
New “shuffle” icon
Repeat / Shuffle icon now operates as toggle button
Default button for manual IP address is now “A” instead of “Done”
Hidden and system folders are no longer displayed from MTP / mass storage devices
Difficulty levels for gamer profiles ordered correctly
Added additional line and word-wrap to “Publisher” in video area
Shuffle / Random no longer skips last image in list when viewing photos
Improved handling of Friend Requests between Gamertags that have changed names
No longer asked “Exist to Dash?” when switching between areas in the Dashboard
New error messages for when Windows Live ID requires password change
Unlocked Achievements now displayed first in Game Summary page
Selecting an Achievement now shows the specific Achievement details
Full date now displayed for “Member Since” and “Next Bill Date” tabs on Membership scene
Updated messaging for deleting arcade games purchased by different profiles
No longer launch music CD in disc-tray when moving from Live sign-up to Dashboard or Network Troubleshooter
Improved voice quality when connected through wired gamepad
Show “Last Played Game” selection in Xbox Live Arcade first before enumerating all games (when Arcade game was last game played)
Improved performance of picture enumeration from iPods formatted for Mac
Adopt latest updates to Cero-based ratings for Family Settings
Show videos downloaded from Marketplace in the Video area of the Media blade
Improved usability around “Play Now” when downloading demos, trailers and videos
Added support for South Africa-specific Family Settings
Updated support for Japanese game ratings
Video area changed to include game trailers and entertainment videos
Improved robustness of Gamerscore when doing account recoveries
Improved messaging around handling corrupt or non-fully recovered profiles
Improved download performance for popular content being downloaded through Marketplace
Total USB keyboard support
Testing Live connection while streaming music from PC works correctly
Next item / Focus sound not played when scrolling past the bottom of the video list
Handle profiles on memory units inserted into system while enumerating profiles from other storage locations
Warning / Alert icons now show as part of deleting items in Memory area
Repeat rate for remote control matches game controller repeat rate
“A” button disabled when in a list with no items available
Wireless battery level added to mini-pop-up guide over backward-compatible games
Pop-up guide / Dashboard now supports USB keyboard
Console no longer enters “charge” mode when shutdown and the battery has been removed from wireless controller
System no longer waits indefinitely when attempting to contact Windows Media Connect service on XP PC
Improved Marketplace storage device selector
Correctly set focus on selected item when back button pressed on “select a game” scene
Notify users when multiple wireless SSIDS with identical names are within reach
Provide Gold membership information when trying to join a session or accepting game invites with Silver accounts
New text to highlight the ability to clear the passcode for Live account signing
Photo slideshow no longer resumes when pressing “previous” or “next” from paused state
Improved handling of corrupt profiles when deleting them
No longer turn off wireless gamepads after system update reboot
More robust handling of initial setup experience for memory unit users
Improved handling of backward-compatible update experience, reboot back into Xbox v1 environment instead of Dashboard
Improved handling for "block communications" from other players
Improved keypress sounds when using USB keyboard
Improved usability and performance of content enumeration for storage devices
Show visual location for where Xbox Live Arcade games reside
Improved user messaging when overwriting content while copying
Improved consistency of messaging between "sign out" and "switch profile"
Updated troubleshooter text for connection to Windows PC's joined to domain
Better support for Xbox 360 game disc recognition
Improved initial setup text messaging
Improved overall error message terminology
Game updates downloaded to memory unit no longer show "please reinsert" notification when memory unit removed
More robust support for handling game deletes from memory unit and simultaneously removing memory unit
Improved system performance between console and affiliated Windows Media Connect PC

i saw all the new features its all kick ass since im a gamespot member they got a special interview with them or what ever and they showed some of the new stuff thats goin to be in the update and said theyre gonna do 2 updates a year one in spring and on in fall and the fast forward thing isnt for movies saved to the hard drive i mean you can use it on those to but its also for DVD's in the video i saw they did it with the 40 year old virgin DVD

[thieflordgamer]

i think they should add notificiations when your friends go offline. this might be too much for some of you, but it would be nice for me, as i often find myself wishing it was there. plus, i only put people i personally know on my friends list, so there are only about 25 people on it.

multichat would be sweet, i hate coming on and 2 of my friends from school are online, and one of us has to not be in a chat if we want to chat at all... they really should've put that in the update.

other than that, everything looks pretty cool.

[KilluhKam]

maybe multi chat will be in theyre fall update hopefully

[KilluhKam]

yea i just read that it sounds cool but there is 1 feature that i think needs to be added: the ability to customize notifications. like have it pop up when I get an aceivement and not if a friend comes online

what they should do is make the achievement sound and friend online sounds different because there's been too many times ive been working on an achievement and as soon i think i have it its only a freakin friend comming online.

[k_dog]

Unfortunatly, I've heard on a couple of occasions that multi-chat really isnt possible. Which sucks if it's true.

[KilluhKam]

yeah that would suck...

[thieflordgamer]

that doesn't make too much sense. it's just like a game lobby, but invisible. that would suck.

i like the idea of different sounds for different notifications. they could even hire some sexy female person to do voice for each one that say "congratulations, you got an achievement" or "your friend is online". but she would have to be british, as all computer voices in movies are female and british.

Im kidding of course:)

[clintonpigsaw]

do we get this update?
its supposed to be today but i can work out 2pst in the UK?
anyone?

cheers

[scoobydiesel]

it should be out now or with in 4 hours(im not good at time zones) but whatever time it is as i post this...

[Oryan]

I got it - many of these features really make life easier.

-Oryan

[ScottEvil30]

boot to dash basically makes me wet mates.

[DaKing240]

I tried to make it something it wasn't. I mean, the update is alright, but nothing mind boggling. I guess I have to wait for the camera to come out, (or for me to start listening to music/watching a dvd)

[Helacool360]

I tried to make it something it wasn't. I mean, the update is alright, but nothing mind boggling. I guess I have to wait for the camera to come out, (or for me to start listening to music/watching a dvd)

Yea I also was expecting more but I don't care. It took 20 seconds to update:)

[HellzManik]

I thought they were adding Multiple Backgroud options or something like that???

If they did I cant seem to figure it out...
(Thats the MAIN thing I was looking forward to too..Damn.)

PeAcE

[The Perfect Gun]

Just to let you know, the The Microsoft 360 Live Vision camera will be released 9/19/06 and will cost $39.99

EBgames.com link --> http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=802339

[deathbypig37x]

My condolences for posting information relating to this in the GRAW section. I got the update while I was playing so it confused me. Sorry for the inconvienence.
Also, I do like what the update has done.

[Webb]

It appears that the update doesn't come without bugs, hmmmmmm, oh dear :(

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2006/06/09/spring-dashboard-update-bugs-out/