Telus TV (and geeky stuff)

Jim · 08-07-2010, 04:08 PM

This is only relevant to a few members here...

It looks like Telus is now allowing you to use your XBOX 360 as a second set top box to get their IPTV service.

This is sort of a good thing... It could mean you don't need an extra box or extra wires plugged in. You do still have to have one main telus box though, the PVR.

What I'm not happy about with this is, to rent a second digital box, it is $10 a month. You can optionally buy a second box, like I did, for $150 (I think it's going up to $200). I purchased my second box because over the course of the 3 year service agreement, it would save me money over the rental. If I could have used my xbox at the time I would have gone that route. It's only been about 2 months since I got my service installed, but I guess that's what I get for not waiting to see. Anyways back to the point, if you want to use your xbox 360, you would think it would save you renting a box, well it does, sort of, but they charge you $5 a month to use your own hardware. On top of that, if you're an existing customer, you can't set this up yourself, apparently they have to have an installer come out and install it for you. It will cost you another $100. If you become a TTV customer now, you get free installation when they set it up, so you will get to miss that.

The other thing I would think is that it is going to mean more usage hours for the xbox 360, which will make it more likely to fail.

Otherwise though, still happy with my TTV.

mizke · 08-07-2010, 04:12 PM

upgrade to the xbox 360S 250gb console, i did on the 9th of last month and it is wonderful, can barely hear it. the design of the console is amazing in air flow in and out of the system.. plus the gloss black looks sooo good

it is worth the upgrade

Jim · 08-07-2010, 04:16 PM

I've heard they haven't resolved the reliability issues though, so I won't be buying any Xbox anytime soon. Of course it is no longer the red ring of death since they took out the red light, but it seems like they should have made the console more reliable by now. I just got my xbox replaced, if it dies outside of warranty any games I have for it will be on craigslist, and I'll either buy a ps3 (bluray) or just go without.

I guess this is somewhat relevant to at&t uverse customers too, xbox support should be coming for their service pretty soon too I think.

mizke · 08-07-2010, 04:27 PM

oh no they have fixed the over heating issues... the new mother board in the 360S is a all new chipset.. both the gpu and cpu are on the same dye, so it has one source of heat instead of 2.. also one heatsink which has a a huge pc quality fan mounted directly on top of it.. the first night i had mine i had it powered on downloading all my xbl tv episode and playing games off and on for 17hrs.. it got warm and stayed at that heat level..

the ps3 has a 3% - 4% failure rate
the new 360S has a 4% failure rate

it is well worth the money for it, plus they have the new console bundled with kinect for 299 usd.. kinect has the full body motion control..you coudl search netflix for example with out the controller just by moving your hand, it also has voice control.. tell the movie to stop, play, pause, fast forward

mizke · 08-07-2010, 04:31 PM

xbox 360 jasper motherboard newest motherboard before the slim

xbox 360slim motherboard

Jim · 08-07-2010, 04:43 PM

The ps3 has been out much longer then the new 360 though so I think their failure rate is pretty reliable. I think the xbox needs more time to see if the failure rate stays low. The larger HD and wireless N is a nice addition though.

mizke · 08-07-2010, 04:47 PM

yes those are nice, i quoted the failure rates from the jasper consoles.. the new consoles are better and more reliable then the jasper ones..

for the last few months ive been on the xbox.com forums... there has not been one confirmed report on there about a over heating slim.. but i was just letting you know about the new consoles and that they are safer and worth the upgrade..

Jim · 08-07-2010, 06:06 PM

Worth the upgrade is in the eye of the beholder

I wouldn't upgrade while mine still works. If I was in a position where I wanted to buy one, I would buy the new one, but to go out and upgrade mine I don't think so for me. Not unless I could sell mine for a decent amount. I don't use the hard drive much so that is irrelevant. As for the wireless, it is nice, but not necessary for me, as I've got my 360 right next to my Telus PVR. The telus PVR has an ethernet port on the back, which is where my xbox is hooked up.

(The PVR hooks into the coax jack in the wall.)

I don't know if I believe the failure rates, given, I don't know which version everyone had, but every person I know with an xbox 360 has had it fail at least once.

TurboT · 08-08-2010, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim

Worth the upgrade is in the eye of the beholder

I wouldn't upgrade while mine still works. If I was in a position where I wanted to buy one, I would buy the new one, but to go out and upgrade mine I don't think so for me. Not unless I could sell mine for a decent amount. I don't use the hard drive much so that is irrelevant. As for the wireless, it is nice, but not necessary for me, as I've got my 360 right next to my Telus PVR. The telus PVR has an ethernet port on the back, which is where my xbox is hooked up.

(The PVR hooks into the coax jack in the wall.)

I don't know if I believe the failure rates, given, I don't know which version everyone had, but every person I know with an xbox 360 has had it fail at least once.

I had a refurb'd, off ebay first edition special and it puked after a year of me having it. I still have it, never got around to trying to fix it.

I bought an arcade version, of the model that was right before this recent upgrade and it's been running for a year no prob. I use it a lot, playing games and streaming movies. The wireless N adaptor my dad got me for xmas is super fast, no hiccups in streaming.

The PS3 I have will not stream wireless movies worth a shit. I just recently hard wired it and set up a Tversity media server and it streams mp4 @ 1280x720 seamlessly now.

However, my xbox will not play mp4 or mkv files, even with tversity running and those files playing fine with correct codec's installed on the serving PC. It's a bit of a headscratcher.

They each have their hiccups and problems to be honest. The blue ray is nice in the Sony I have to say.

I haven't heard of this set top box capability in the xbox. That's interesting and I wonder how that works, if telus has special software they load into it when installed to make that work? I'll have to look into this capability with Shaw, although I have no need for another HD set top box, although it might help that it's HDMI while my entry level no pvr shaw box in my studio room doesn't have it.

Jim · 08-08-2010, 12:47 AM

It won't work with shaw.

Telus uses Microsoft's MediaRoom software to deliver their iptv, that's what's running on their PVR's. And since Microsoft makes the xbox, they've got it setup to run on there... They've been talking about it for quite a while, but Telus is the first in North America to support it, I hear it is available in Europe I think. AT&T is using the same software for U-Verse, but haven't turned on support for the Xbox yet.

I'm not sure why a Telus tech is required to set it up on an Xbox, I would think they could just mail you a disc to run and it would install itself, or Microsoft could put a media room download on Xbox live... I guess Telus is perfectly happy collecting $100 for the install though.

About Xbox's, I had mine for quite a while, and it was good of Microsoft to extend the support for the RROD to 3 years. Mine was the Halo 3 edition, it will be 3 years this winter I think, but it died a few months back, so now I've got a refurbished one.

08-07-2010, 04:08 PM	#1
Jim Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada Posts: 4,880	Telus TV (and geeky stuff) This is only relevant to a few members here... It looks like Telus is now allowing you to use your XBOX 360 as a second set top box to get their IPTV service. This is sort of a good thing... It could mean you don't need an extra box or extra wires plugged in. You do still have to have one main telus box though, the PVR. What I'm not happy about with this is, to rent a second digital box, it is $10 a month. You can optionally buy a second box, like I did, for $150 (I think it's going up to $200). I purchased my second box because over the course of the 3 year service agreement, it would save me money over the rental. If I could have used my xbox at the time I would have gone that route. It's only been about 2 months since I got my service installed, but I guess that's what I get for not waiting to see. Anyways back to the point, if you want to use your xbox 360, you would think it would save you renting a box, well it does, sort of, but they charge you $5 a month to use your own hardware. On top of that, if you're an existing customer, you can't set this up yourself, apparently they have to have an installer come out and install it for you. It will cost you another $100. If you become a TTV customer now, you get free installation when they set it up, so you will get to miss that. The other thing I would think is that it is going to mean more usage hours for the xbox 360, which will make it more likely to fail. Otherwise though, still happy with my TTV. __________________ "Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!"
	0

08-07-2010, 04:16 PM	#3
Jim Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada Posts: 4,880	I've heard they haven't resolved the reliability issues though, so I won't be buying any Xbox anytime soon. Of course it is no longer the red ring of death since they took out the red light, but it seems like they should have made the console more reliable by now. I just got my xbox replaced, if it dies outside of warranty any games I have for it will be on craigslist, and I'll either buy a ps3 (bluray) or just go without. I guess this is somewhat relevant to at&t uverse customers too, xbox support should be coming for their service pretty soon too I think. __________________ "Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!"
	0

08-07-2010, 04:43 PM	#6
Jim Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada Posts: 4,880	The ps3 has been out much longer then the new 360 though so I think their failure rate is pretty reliable. I think the xbox needs more time to see if the failure rate stays low. The larger HD and wireless N is a nice addition though. __________________ "Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!"
	0

08-07-2010, 06:06 PM	#8
Jim Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada Posts: 4,880	Worth the upgrade is in the eye of the beholder I wouldn't upgrade while mine still works. If I was in a position where I wanted to buy one, I would buy the new one, but to go out and upgrade mine I don't think so for me. Not unless I could sell mine for a decent amount. I don't use the hard drive much so that is irrelevant. As for the wireless, it is nice, but not necessary for me, as I've got my 360 right next to my Telus PVR. The telus PVR has an ethernet port on the back, which is where my xbox is hooked up. (The PVR hooks into the coax jack in the wall.) I don't know if I believe the failure rates, given, I don't know which version everyone had, but every person I know with an xbox 360 has had it fail at least once. __________________ "Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!"
	0

08-08-2010, 12:47 AM	#10
Jim Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada Posts: 4,880	It won't work with shaw. Telus uses Microsoft's MediaRoom software to deliver their iptv, that's what's running on their PVR's. And since Microsoft makes the xbox, they've got it setup to run on there... They've been talking about it for quite a while, but Telus is the first in North America to support it, I hear it is available in Europe I think. AT&T is using the same software for U-Verse, but haven't turned on support for the Xbox yet. I'm not sure why a Telus tech is required to set it up on an Xbox, I would think they could just mail you a disc to run and it would install itself, or Microsoft could put a media room download on Xbox live... I guess Telus is perfectly happy collecting $100 for the install though. About Xbox's, I had mine for quite a while, and it was good of Microsoft to extend the support for the RROD to 3 years. Mine was the Halo 3 edition, it will be 3 years this winter I think, but it died a few months back, so now I've got a refurbished one. __________________ "Be excellent to each other" "We are all human. Let's start to prove it!"
	0

08-07-2010, 04:12 PM	#2
mizke Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: austin, tx Posts: 1,452	upgrade to the xbox 360S 250gb console, i did on the 9th of last month and it is wonderful, can barely hear it. the design of the console is amazing in air flow in and out of the system.. plus the gloss black looks sooo good it is worth the upgrade
	0

08-07-2010, 04:27 PM	#4
mizke Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: austin, tx Posts: 1,452	oh no they have fixed the over heating issues... the new mother board in the 360S is a all new chipset.. both the gpu and cpu are on the same dye, so it has one source of heat instead of 2.. also one heatsink which has a a huge pc quality fan mounted directly on top of it.. the first night i had mine i had it powered on downloading all my xbl tv episode and playing games off and on for 17hrs.. it got warm and stayed at that heat level.. the ps3 has a 3% - 4% failure rate the new 360S has a 4% failure rate it is well worth the money for it, plus they have the new console bundled with kinect for 299 usd.. kinect has the full body motion control..you coudl search netflix for example with out the controller just by moving your hand, it also has voice control.. tell the movie to stop, play, pause, fast forward
	0

08-07-2010, 04:31 PM	#5
mizke Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: austin, tx Posts: 1,452	xbox 360 jasper motherboard newest motherboard before the slim xbox 360slim motherboard
	0

08-07-2010, 04:47 PM	#7
mizke Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: austin, tx Posts: 1,452	yes those are nice, i quoted the failure rates from the jasper consoles.. the new consoles are better and more reliable then the jasper ones.. for the last few months ive been on the xbox.com forums... there has not been one confirmed report on there about a over heating slim.. but i was just letting you know about the new consoles and that they are safer and worth the upgrade..
	0