Scooters and Computers » Xbox

Hulu on Xbox 360?

earache — Sat, 30 May 2009 14:58:41 +0000

There’s a rumor that Hulu will be coming to the Xbox… to be announced at E3. Now that’s a rumor I hope is true. Xbox Live is certainly the best online gaming option out there and with the recent addition of Netflix and upcoming addition of Hulu, it would really become the ultimate media player. I would certainly consider scaling back my DirecTV programming if Hulu was available. Now if my home theater receiver had enough connections, I would probably opt for an Apple mini running Plex. This would give me the most complete media solution. Gotta save up.

Red Ring of Death (RRoD)

earache — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:32:28 +0000

Last year when I turned 40 my wife bought me a new toy, an Xbox360 Elite. For nearly 8 months we enjoyed playing games, watching DVD’s, etc. with it. Then, on one fateful night, it happened… the dreaded RRoD.

Well crap.

After doing some quick research on the internets I found that since my Xbox was still in warranty M$ would fix or replace my unit no charge. So off I went to the Xbox website to request a repair. I filled out a repair form and got a confirmation email saying that further instructions would follow.

The very next day I got an email saying that I would need to ship my Xbox to a repair site and that there were 3 ways this could happen: 1) I would receive an e-shipping label which I could print out and stick on my own shipping box, 2) I would receive a ship back kit, with a box, packing, and shipping label, or 3) I would receive a shipping label via snail mail which I could stick on my own shipping box. 1 of these things would happen in 3-5 days according to the email. Great!

Well not so great… after a week I still hadn’t received anything. So I called and spoke with a very helpful young lady from India. After re-hashing the whole situation with her she tells me she’s canceling my previous service request and issuing me a new one. Oh great, this makes me feel really good. Nothing could go wrong now. She goes on to say that I’ll be getting an e-shipping label via email and that I’ll have to find my own box and pack my Xbox in it to ship. Ugh.

Sure enough, within 2 hours I receive my label so I pack up my Xbox and take it to UPS. I track it’s progress to Mesquite, Texas, which takes a week. Finally it shows as being delivered.

Not long after that I get an email from UPS saying that there’s an incoming delivery. That’s strange. The next day I receive a box from M$. It’s awfully light… no Xbox in here. What is inside is a shipping kit with plastic bag, foam packing to fit the Xbox, tape and a shipping label. Well isn’t that nice. This would have been useful about a week ago.

So now I begin a daily (sometimes hourly) routine of checking my Xbox account to see what my repair status says. Finally, 2 days after being delivered it finally shows as being received by the repair center. Now the wait will be 2-3 weeks.

That was last Friday. On Monday I just happened to check the status again only to find out that my Xbox has been repaired and shipped back to me. I even have a tracking number. Oh Joy! 5 days later my UPS guy Scott comes to the door with a package I have to sign for.

Scott: “Got your Xbox repaired.”

Me: “Huh? How do you know it’s an Xbox?”

Scott: “We see hundreds of these things. First we see the empty shipping boxes go out, then the Xbox’s getting shipped back and finally them coming home from repair.”

Me: “Lot’s of them huh?”

Scott: “Yeah, you’re definitely not alone.”

Not alone indeed. RRoD has really been a thorn in Microsoft’s side. I always had a feeling it was going to happen to me… I hope it doesn’t happen again.

Netflix Streaming Movies III

earache — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:31:23 +0000

Well I’m a little late with this info, but in case you haven’t heard, Netflix streaming movies are coming to your Xbox360 this fall… but wait, before you getting all excited there’s one small thing you should know. After dropping $400 on your Xbox you would think this new Netflix capability would come for free. Well it doesn’t. Of course you have to subscribe to Netflix, but guess what, you’ve got to subscribe to Xbox Live (Gold) too. That’ll be another $50 please. Ok, that’s only 4 bucks and change per month, but still. A lot of people think Live should be free anyway, myself included. For just $50 more you could buy the Roku box which will get you movies with no additional fee.

for just a little more get LG’s just announced BD300 Network Blu-ray player

That’s right, for an estimated $350 not only will you get Netflix streaming movies but you’ll also be the proud owner of a Blu-ray player. Beat that Xbox360! Scheduled for release this September it’ll probably beat the Xbox solution by months.

Netflix Streaming Movies

earache — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:56:17 +0000

Well it’s been rumored for quite some time that Netflix was going to start streaming movies to your home via some set-top appliance. Obvious (and unconfirmed) partners were Apple with their AppleTV box and of course Xbox 360 and PS3. LG has now officially been confirmed as a partner plus 3 others yet to be named. All but one will launch their service in Q4 or shortly after, but a “small” company is expected to launch sooner.

As a Netflix subscriber, Xbox owner and wanna be AppleTV owner, I would love to have the option to stream movies into my living room. Too often my Netflix DVD’s sit for months because I just don’t feel like watching them. Having the option to choose what I want to watch when I want to watch it would be a huge plus.