Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

So we got Samantha a new laptop because her old would make a lot of you cry. (we did already, lol)

Anywho, it came with a free xbox 360 4GB (i didn't know they make one that small). It's black and came with one controller.
She really wants to get a kinect, but basically I don't play video games anymore and all I can do use basic features with these things.

I just heard that I can just plug in my external HD and watch movies from it. (Something you can't do with PS3 :jackoff:)

Anywho, advice appreciated as always. :cheer:

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

thats about it. its not a media monster like the ps3 is.

basically you got an over glorified dvd player that can play movies from a hard drive assuming they are in a format that microsoft supports.

you can do netflix and a few services like that assuming your signed up for them.


and with not being able to plug an external HD into the ps3 and watch movies from it. no you cant do that with a ps3. the ps3 just does it wirelessly and supports a lot more formats.


if your not going to use it for gaming, good luck with your new shinny paperweight.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

You guys can always come over and try our Kinect before you throw money at it.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

^Sweet we will have to sort something out.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Why can't you plug in an external hard drive and play movies from it?

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

1. Yes, it's just as much a media monster as a PS3, only without the BR player.

2. It supports many formats. You can also stream movies, music, pictures, etc from your pc or mac using "windows media connect". It gives you a great interface to use on the xbox itself as well. You can also put movies on the flash drive and view them that way. You can also download optional media format expansions for your console right from xbox live for free.

3. You can use Netflix, Play-On, and Hulu plus. JUST like the PS3. Except that the 360 has ESPN as well, unlike the PS3.

4. We have had way more formatting issues and playback issues with the PS3 then the 360. Whenever we try to fast forward or rewind a video the entire playback gets completely messed up. The audio is off, the video speeds up and slows down sporadically. Etc. The 360 is easily a user friendly machine that is at least as capable of it's Sony counterpart.

5. It is better for gaming in my OPINION. There's no way to prove this, persay. But Xbox live has many more positive features then PSN. PSN has a free version, but so does xbox. Both of them lack nicer features.

I like both consoles, but I figured one extremely biased post should deserve a fair defense.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

well I have both so i don't care adn teh PS3 is so old i will lose my ass on it and my wife wants teh Xbox for the kinect deal and I heard there a lot of good games.

Oh yeah and it was free so might as well roll with it.

thanks for the help. Any game recommendations?

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

yeah i got the same one as you Aaron. It sits right under my PS3 until i get a new tv for the garage. then it will go out there for the summers to basically do media streaming from my central media server.
I still like my PS3 better. The xbox just seems to be lacking for some reason. to be honest, all i have done with it was the first day i turned it on, went through all of the setup crap, then watched a streaming movie. then turned it off and haven't turned it on again since. Main reason for this is due to the fact i haven't set up my Harmony ONE remote to interface with it. But thats just me being lazy.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Depends what you like. Forza 4 is coming out very soon and should likely be the best racing game to date, given that GT5 was a slight let down from it's hype and 300 year devealopment.

Mw3 is coming out. Gears of war is fairly fun, also a new one coming out in a couple days.

There's a ton of fun games in the arcade too. All of them have free demos so just download a shit ton to see what you like. Multiple demos of real games as well.

Forza 3 is solid, and should be like $20 or $30 I would imagine.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Any recommendation for kinect games?

Im looking to pick the kinect up this week for Sam's Bday just need to find some good games to go with it.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I have the 4gb 360, the HDD is almost full from the update that Battlefield 3 put out 2 weeks ago. I know somewhere they have pre-formatted USB drives for the 360. I'm assuming they cost 5 times more than their non-microsoft branded counterpart, I also don't know if you can plug in a standard flash drive or external HD.

My Vote is for the 360 :)

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Sell it, buy PS3 since it's a 3D Bluray player and it can pull movies off your laptop over the network and play them on your TV (uses your laptop as a media server).

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

The xbox does this as well.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

It doesn't play Blurays though. They'll both do Netflix streaming too.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Hook computer to tv, have wireless keyboard and mouse.

/thread

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Who cares? The days of physical media is dead. I own both systems and i've never bought a single bluray. HD Downloads and streams for the YEY

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I put in a new hard drive. I actually had a laptop hard drive from an old laptop i had, it was actually really easy to do. Just flash the firmware of the hard drive and pop it in the 4gb 360. Just google "Upgrade hard drive on xbox 360." I now have a 250 gb hard drive on my 4gb free xbox.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

The kinect sports with bowling is pretty fun... not to get on topic or anything.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I buy blu rays. I got the Band of brothers/Pacific box set on blu ray. HD Downloads and streams aren't true 1080p.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

btw i like fruit ninja on kinect. but thats because i am a ninja.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Those of us who use it care. I watch Blurays weekly, as do many other people.
This; compression for the NAY.

P.S. Didn't you just post a picture of a XBox game, aka physical media, on Facebook yesterday?

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I just watched the video on how to swap hard drives, all of 15 seconds to do..

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Winning.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

This is true! I still think its a dead concept though!

PCs have used online services like Steam for years to download games free of any physical media. I really hope the next generation of consoles use a similar service.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I see plenty of ripped blurays on the torrents that look great when i play them. To each his own i guess, spend your money on what you like.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

lol, that is funny its tom.

Also thanks mike. I'm keeping both fellas.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I don't buy all movies on blu ray, but there are select few that i do where i feel that the blu ray format will look awesome on. Avatar is one of them.
Yes there are plenty of ripped "Blu Rays", and i put blu ray in quotes because a 4gb file for a movie is compressed to a quarter of its size. See the list below, this is a list of uncompressed blu ray movies and their true size.
I don't see any 4gb files do you?

2 Fast 2 Furious........................................... .......18.2GB
A History of Violence.......................................... .18.5GB
Appaloosa......................................... ................16.2GB
Arlington Road.............................................. ......21.7GB
AVP............................................... ...................22.8GB
AVP2.............................................. ..................19.9GB
Batman Begins............................................ ........16.0GB
Black Snake Moan.............................................. ..22.3GB
Body Of Lies.............................................. .........21.0GB
Bridge To Terabithia........................................ .....16.2GB
Bulletproof Monk.............................................. ....15.5GB
Cars.............................................. ....................20.3GB
Chain Reaction.......................................... ..........16.2GB
Constantine....................................... .................13.2GB
Crash............................................. ...................18GB
Crimson Ties.............................................. .........20.8GB
Daddy’s Little Girls............................................. ..21.0GB
Dark City-Director’s Cut........................................15.9GB
Daylight.......................................... ...................20.5GB
Deja 'vu............................................... ..............22.0GB
Die Another Day............................................... ...22.8GB
Enemy Of The State............................................. 16.9GB
Fantastic 4 2-Rise Of The Silver Surfer....................20.6GB
First Sunday............................................ ...........18.8GB
Four Brothers.......................................... ............16.1GB
Gattaca........................................... ..................20.6GB
G. I. Jane.............................................. .............16.8GB
Gone In 60 Seconds........................................... ..14.0GB
Gothika........................................... ...................15.2GB
Gridiron Gang.............................................. .........20.7GB
Hancock........................................... ..................18.7GB
Hellboy II-The Golden Army....................................19.7GB
Hitman............................................ ...................12.1GB
Hostel II................................................ .............17.0GB
I Know What You Did Last Summer..........................19.6GB
I Robot............................................. ..................22.5GB
Journey To The Center Of The Earth........................16.4GB
Jumper............................................ ...................21.8GB
Land Of The Dead.............................................. ..14.6GB
Lethal Weapon............................................ ........19.4GB
Lethal Weapon 2................................................. .19.5GB
Matrix Revolutions....................................... .........15.1GB
Max Payne............................................. .............17.8GB
Men Of Honor............................................. .........17.5GB
Mercury Rising............................................ .........21.1GB
Mr & Mrs Smith............................................. .......22.6GB
Night At The Museum............................................ 16.6GB
Outbreak.......................................... ..................14.7GB
Payback Straight Up-Director’s Cut..........................15.6GB
Perfect Stranger.......................................... ........19.7GB
Phone Booth............................................. ...........15.3GB
Pirates Of The Caribbean-Curse Of The Black Pearl.....21.7GB
Purple Rain.............................................. ............14.5GB
Rambo............................................. ...................19.0GB
Reign Of Fire.............................................. ..........14.3GB
Resident Evil-Apocalypse........................................ 12.8GB
Revolver.......................................... ....................21.7GB
Righteous Kill.............................................. ..........20.9GB
Rock N' Rolla'............................................ ............14.1GB
Rocky Balboa............................................ ............22GB
Scary Movie............................................. ............11.9GB
Serenity.......................................... ....................16.7GB
Shoot 'EM Up................................................ .......17GB
Stargate Continium......................................... .......15.1GB
Starship Troopers.......................................... ........22.4GB
Step Up To The Streets.........................................18 .2GB
Stir Of Echoes............................................ ..........18.3GB
Stuck............................................. .....................12.2GB
Superman Returns........................................... ......21.2GB
S.W.A.T........................................... ...................14.5GB
The Bank Job............................................... .........16.3GB
The Bourne Supremacy......................................... ..16.6GB
The Chronicles of Narnia 2-Prince Caspian..................22.6GB
The Chronicles Of Riddick........................................19. 1GB
The Condemned......................................... ...........16.7GB
The Day After Tomorrow.........................................1 5.0GB
The Departed.......................................... ..............17.2GB
The Game Plan.............................................. ........17.4GB
The Haunted Mansion........................................... ..12.0GB
The Incredible Hulk.............................................. ...16.5GB
The Lost Boys.............................................. .........12.3GB
The Matrix Reloaded.......................................... .....16.0GB
The Omen 666............................................... ........15.7GB
The Replacement Killers........................................... 18.7GB
The Rock.............................................. .................20.1GB
The Shining........................................... ................16.1GB
The Sixth Sense............................................. ........18.4GB
The Skeleton Key............................................... ....16.4GB
This Christmas......................................... ..............22.3GB
Total Recall............................................ ...............20.2GB
Tyler Perry’s Meet The Browns..................................14.5GB
Ultraviolet....................................... ......................12.9GB
Untraceable....................................... ....................19.0GB
Van Helsing........................................... .................19.0GB
Wanted............................................ .....................17.3GB
War............................................... .......................19.2GB
Wild Hogs.............................................. .................17.3GB
Wyatt Earp-Special Edition........................................14. 3GB
xXx-Special edition........................................... ........16.0GB

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Post more examples, Tom. That wasn't quite enough for anyone to get the point. ;)

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Blueray pron is where its at. You can see every vein, pore and follicle! WOO

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I dont see why you make such a big deal about uncompressed file sizes. I think the avg BR rip i download is about 7 gigs and most look great in 1080. I'd say the quality of the rip depends on who ripped it and such. Such as back in the day when the Axxo 700meg movie rips looked better than most of the 1.5 gig rips.

Do you hate mp3s and only listen to FLAC files too?

I never thought someone who once upon a time stuck woodscrews into his car would be such a stickler about things like this ;o

ANYWAY, you guys have fun dropping dollars on blurays and i'll just keep downloading them for free.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

TPAL! That might be gross

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Lossy Audio Vs Lossy Video (all audio and video compression methods are lossy meaning you will see a loss in quality of the video or audio) are two entirely different things. Audio you will hear a loss in quality, but the problem is that most people have gotten used to the poor compression of an MP3, but ask an audiophile and they will slap you across the face if you mention those three letters.
I enjoy big screens, I have a 60" plasma, and will be doing a 200" projector screen for my home theater. Yes you can notice a big difference between a ripped/downloaded blu ray and an actual blu ray. On bigger screens you can especially see the artifacts generated during the compression phase. In the blacks it looks washed out and i guess you could say Chunky. Im not saying that i don't watch and dl blu rays and such, but when its a movie like The Dark Knight, or Avatar, or other big budget movies where there is lots of fast movement and explosions ill pay the 30 bucks and get the blu ray and enjoy the quality.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

i can add more if you want. that was just the list that was below the 25gb limit for single layer blu rays.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Hey what is your review about your new Xbox? I am thinking of purchasing it should I?

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

I haven't really used it that much, we really don't play video games so I'm happy it was free.
Kinect is really fun, even though we don't have any of the dance games.

I don't like that you have to pay for online access, so I use my PS3 for netflix.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

X-Box 101: When you die or lose a game, then proceed to shout obscenities, call people derogatory racial slurs, and threaten people's lives.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

Proper.

Re: Just got an Xbox 360, educmacate me please.
 

:Like:

And the whole streaming/downloaded bluray's vs disc media.

it's not even a contest. I buy a lot of blurays but still stream all sorts of 1080p stuff. Hell even normal comcast rentals or tv or even direct TV that is 1080p looks like shit compared to a blu ray.

I spent a shit ton of money on my nice TV and to use it in a worthwhile fashion you need a good starting point. Shit in shit out otherwise. If you want to watch steaming or downloaded movies, buy walmart tv's and be happy as you won't see the advantage.

This reminds me of people who used to and still do say they don't see a difference between HD and SD tv. It's not that they don't some people just don't want to pay for the difference.

Reminds me of good HDMI cables vs shitty ones too, I have done back to back and its easily noticeable when using a proper constructed cable. If you watch enough movies/play enough games its worth it to get the good stuff, if not I would probably cheap out too.