The Vacuum Tube : rant

And There Was Much Rejoicing: XBox 360 to Support H.264 and MP4

Viral Tarpara — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:06:00 GMT

This XBox 360 update just gets better and better. Overshadowed by the fact that IM and communications will be unified on the 360 platform, less noise has been generated by what is, in my opinion, a much more significant feature. Yes folks, your prayers have been answered! Xbox 360 finally has more codec support! Why is H.264 support great? Afterall my entire collection of movie "backups" are in Divx or Xvid. Does this mean I will be able to play them? Likely not ~~crossing my fingers~~. But considering the future of content distribution coupled with the power of hardware coming out it will now be possible to use a 360 to be a major alternative for viewing user-generated video, not to mention better bang for buck than AppleTV ~~cmon, give me iTunes support, sorry WMP team~~.

*UPDATE - After some discussion on the internal Microsoft distribution lists, it seems that Divx, Xvid and Nero support should be there! I made the mistake of assuming that all three of those codecs use ASP (advanced simple profile) by default. As it turns out, all ASP means is that the encoder will use B-frames, 1/4 pel motion-compensation, GMC and a few other advanced encoding techniques. None of these tend to be enabled by default. Much of my legacy content on my drives use codecs that are mpeg-4 compliant, so most likey they will all work. It will be interesting to see if the 360 will even attempt to read any ASP-encoded files, I know I have a few that use B-frames. The hardware certainly is capable of decoding ASP considering h.264/AVC requires 2-3 times the processing power to decode. However, the downside of all this is that the codec support will only be available via the 360 Dashboard, NOT through Media Center Extender (MCX) ~~Xbox 360 Fall Update???~~. All in all, this is still great news!

**UPDATE - Sorry, apparently I jumped the gun. Divx and Xvid will not be supported if you are using the AVI container format. You will have to demux the video stream using a program like VirtualDub and repackage the audio and video streams into the mp4 container format. Pretty easy to batch process AND quick too, though it is an inconvenience. Most front-end encoders give the option to create an mp4 output file rather than avi. Of course the information regarding SP and ASP still apply to the video stream. Thanks Ashley!

What's So Big About User-Generated Content?

Right now, if you're like me, you don't have many options to store high quality video, whether they be home videos, clips ~~bittorrent downloads~~, or amateur films ~~Hellboy~~. Some of my Microsoft collegues would say WMV. I'll pass, not because its not a great codec--afterall, VC-1 is part of the HD/Bluray spec--but because WMV is not fully supported by Microsoft on other platforms. I would much rather compress my content using Divx or Quicktime/AVI H.264. The problem that arises is that I can't stream either of these formats to my Xbox without recompressing using a tool like Transcode360. The main culprit here is the cost of licensing. It would be prohibitive and likely passed on to the consumer. With a plethora of platforms like AppleTV,PSP, and now Xbox 360 supporting H.264, it will be much easier to transport and access content in an agnostic manor, just don't go over 5Mbps, AppleTV is a little picky. Here is specifically what 360 owners are getting with this update:

The name of game in tray is now displayed in the dashboard.
When the user is in the dashboard and an Xbox 360 game is in the console then the name of the game is displayed in the tray icon of the dashboard. If the user highlights the tray icon then achievements and gamer score are displayed for that game based on the signed in user. Xbox1 games show the name and image of the game.
Integrated support for the new Xbox 360 text input device. Note that this device includes a new wired headset.
Playback progress bar indicates download completion.
Switchable aspect ratio now available during video playback (Auto to Letterbox, Zoom, Stretch, Native).
Player and friends lists now quickly show session presence information for quick identification of users that are joinable.
H.264 video support: Up to 15 Mbps, Baseline, Main, and High (up to level 4.1) Profiles with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
Added MPEG-4 Part 2 video support: Up to 8 Mbps, Simple Profile with 2 channel AAC LC and Main Profiles.
Show folder hierarchy for video content played from all devices.
Bookmarks are stored for each video that the user plays remembering the users last location in the file as well as the aspect ratio that the user choose for that file.
Video trick modes (fast forward, rewind, chapter skip) can now be used while downloading Video Marketplace content.
Skip forward and backward functionality has been improved to skip to the next or previous chapter. Each video is divided into 10 “chapters” allowing you to quickly skip around video content.
The information bar that is turned on via the On Screen Display (OSD) now shows you exactly where you are in the playback of the video file. In addition it will also show for Video Marketplace content how much of the file has been downloaded and where the “chapters” exist in the file.
Windows Media protected content (WM-DRM) can now be streamed from the PC to the console. If the WM-DRM license is missing or corrupted then a specific error message is displayed to the user. Bookmarking is also stored for protected content.
When a user selects an item for download from Marketplace then the system will determine if there is sufficient disk space for the item and, if not, will ask the user to delete content on the HDD. The system provides a sorted by size list of videos, game trailers, demos and arcade content to aid the user in the deletion process. The same list of items are also available from within memory so that users can quickly see which items are consuming the most disk space.
The console will block the user who attempts to download content onto a storage device that will never have the capacity to store the item without deducting any points associated with the content item.
The screensaver is disabled when playing photos from any source

Kudos to the Xbox team once again for delivering! Now I just need to batch process all my ~~TV shows~~ AVIs *see UPDATE* into H.264.

Stay tuned! I'm sure there will be more news as the May 7th date approaches.

Xbox 360 Update to Expand Features with Windows Live

Viral Tarpara — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 07:24:00 GMT

I can't wait for this update! Now I can chat with Mom while playing Gears of War! Now I just want this IPTV update so I can trash the POS Motorola box that AT&T gives out.

Expanding the Largest Social Network on Television

Xbox 360 owners can connect with more than 260 million Windows Live Messenger users on Xbox 360, Windows-based PCs and Windows Mobile-powered devices beginning the week of May 7.

REDMOND, Wash. — April 8, 2007 — Your Xbox LIVE^® friends list is about to get a whole lot bigger. Microsoft Corp. today announced the launch of Windows Live™ Messenger on Xbox 360™, connecting friends across Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft^® Windows^®-based PCs and Windows Mobile^®-powered devices. With this update to Xbox 360, friends and families can easily connect and chat directly from their television using Windows Live Messenger, a network of more than 20 billion relationships and more than 260 million active accounts.

Beginning the week of May 7, 2007, the Xbox 360 Spring Update will provide Xbox 360 owners worldwide with access to Windows Live Messenger features, broadening the communication options on the Xbox LIVE social network. Members of the 6 million-strong Xbox LIVE community currently send more than 2 million text and voice messages a day and can now use Windows Live Messenger to text chat with up to six people on their contact list at one time, while playing games, listening to music or watching movies. Text chat adds to the variety of options friends and families already have to communicate with on Xbox LIVE, including voice and video chat.

Current relationships on Windows Live Messenger and Xbox LIVE will be unified on Xbox 360 and users will see at a glance if their existing friends on Windows Live Messenger have gamertags, instantly expanding the breadth of connected experiences they can share online.

“Bringing the largest IM community in the world, Windows Live Messenger, to Xbox 360 makes sense, as Xbox LIVE has really become the largest social network on television,” said Jerry Johnson, product unit manager of Xbox LIVE at Microsoft. “For our growing community of 6 million on Xbox LIVE, using Xbox 360 is a very social, connected experience. They are using Xbox 360 to play games, music and movies while simultaneously communicating with one another through video, voice and text chat. With this announcement we are simultaneously expanding the access of Xbox LIVE users to existing friends and family while introducing Windows Live Messenger users to the benefits of Xbox 360.”

Beginning the week of May 7, users of Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360 will text chat using the virtual keyboard accessible on Xbox 360, or by connecting a USB keyboard to the console. This summer Microsoft will launch a QWERTY text-input device, a new accessory that will connect directly into the Xbox 360 controller to support text and instant messaging.

Beyond Windows Live Messenger, the Spring Update for Xbox 360 includes hundreds of new features and enhancements including the following:

·         A richer Achievement notification pop-up will showcase the name of the unlocked Achievement and the gamerscore value without needing to leave the game to check the Achievements list.

·         Enhanced family settings features for Xbox LIVE communications enable different defaults for video chat and voice chat.

·         A new Xbox LIVE Marketplace blade lets Xbox LIVE members access the content they seek — whether it is game content or TV shows and movies (available in the United States) — from one place on Xbox LIVE.

·         Updates to Xbox LIVE Arcade allow owners to quickly see which Xbox LIVE Arcade games their friends are playing and join in the fun. Xbox LIVE members can also compare progress of leaderboard scores and Achievements directly with all friends on their friends list. Expanded Tell a Friend capabilities make it easier than ever to boast about Achievements and high scores.

·         A new option in Auto Downloads provides faster access to the entire collection of free, trial-version Xbox LIVE Arcade games.

·         New progressive download controls provide easy access to optimal viewing options by letting people fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume as their video is downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

·         Extension of the background download functionality will allow owners to set their Xbox 360 console to turn off automatically after downloads are complete.

The Spring Update is free beginning the week of May 7 and is easily accessible to every Xbox 360 owner through Xbox LIVE or on Xbox.com.

5 Things About Me You All Probably Don't Know

Viral Tarpara — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:12:00 GMT

So apparently my best friend since joining Microsoft, Anand Iyer, feels the need to involve me in his childish online ice breakers. Apparently he is currently involved in an inescapable game of blog tag. To better understand this phenomenon to the masses, I decided to research this odd online social dynamic with the world's definitive source for accurate, updated, and editable information--Wikipedia.org. According to Wikipedia:

Blog Tag, or better known as memetag, and I quote, "is a blog tag that is included in all posts that reference a meme. When a meme is started on a blog — for example, 'your top five favourite movies' — the meme tag is included at the foot of the text of each post that responds to the meme invitation. By including a memetag, bloggers are recognising the initial creator of the meme and allowing them to track how their meme has spread across the blogosphere through the use of social media tools such as Technorati. While inclusion of a memetag is not mandatory, it is done in the spirit of information sharing across the web and is a system based on trust."

In all honesty, if there wasn't a wiki about it, I was going to create one and attribute it to Stephen Colbert ~~hey it's true he created it~~. But I suppose it would be interesting how far my online presence could propagate ~~you can't start a sentence with 'but'~~. So...

#5 - I wrote production design code in Intel's XScale Monahans chip. ~~Did you ever wonder why your battery meter didn't work?~~ I converted old VHDL legacy code into fresh Verilog code. It was pretty cool work and it taught me that I could never work in a cubicle again. After my experience at that company, I was ecstatic to come to Microsoft.

#4 - I use Gmail for my personal email and my personal computer is an iBook G4. I know what all of you are thinking. That being said, if I didn't have my work laptop with Outlook 2007 on it, my productivity would go down 80%. Please forgive me if I seem less than convinced when Eric Schmidt and Douglass Merrill say they completely "eat their dogfood" and use Google Apps within their company. It wouldn't surprise me that they actually have a super-duper version of it running internally, but lets be honest, Google Apps, in its present form, is a half baked attempt at an enterprise suite. Enterprises would be better off with deploying Office Live even if Microsoft is currently only targetting small and medium businesses with that offering. The funniest part of the Google Apps video is when Merrill makes the argument that Google Apps meets your compliance standards because it meets Google's compliance standards. WOW...I'm pissed, I should write an article about this.

#3 - My first computer was my Dad's AT&T 8088 machine with two double-density floppy drives and a green monochrome monitor. I was age 4. I learned how to turn on and load "Zaxxon" and "Wheel of Fortune" from disks. Oddly I got glasses by age 5. I wonder if it is a coincidence?

#2 - I've seen a lot of the world and done some amazing things in my life so far. I've gone skiing in the Himalayas, went white-water rafting in Nepal, seen half of Europe, seen some of Hinduism's and Jainism's most holiest shrines, and faced certain death in a Los Angeles drive-by but survived ~~don't ever flip the bird at LAX~~. If my life ended today, I would leave satisfied.

#1 - And finally the number one thing you probably don't know about me, when I was 3, I rode a red tricycle down the stairs in my uncle's house because I saw a guy do it on a motorcycle on TV. Let's just say to this day, every person in my family never fails to remind me of my...err..daring ~~retarded~~ nature.

*Tags TBA*

Thank you. That is all. Here it is! Your moment of zen! ~~milk does her body good~~ *cards flying* *laughing like Letterman*

Video: Milk does body good! It did for Carmen.

I'm Famous Now...in Ontario...

Viral Tarpara — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:06:00 GMT

So even though my first solo event didn't run flawless ~~2 demos crashed~~, I met some amazing people and interacted with the local tech community. I even got some press attention! Unconfirmed, I was on the front page of the business section of the Inland Express Daily Bulliten. Hopefully I won't have to buy $300 torn jeans and fake ripped t-shirts like Brad Pitt so that I can continue to stroll amongst the common folk. Being the modest type, I haven't let my new found fame go to my head, for example, I'm not mad that I have yet to hear from Maserati about the car they want me to drive around when I go to all my events. They probably just haven't read the papers yet.

Next Week is Gonna Be Fun!

Viral Tarpara — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:45:00 GMT

I am finally going to be presenting solo at a Microsoft Across America event! Next week, I'll be presenting in front 400 people in Riverside and 500 people at the San Diego Convention Center! If that wasn't enough, the following week, 1000 people in Anaheim. The thought of it just makes me want to vomit. I can see it now, during my 4 hour presentation, some open-source junkie interrupts me to complain about why Vista needs 1GB of RAM to run well while his Suse Linux box running kernal 2.1 chugs along happily with 128MB. Not to be outdone, I'll no doubt have some church members from Apple asking me why Vista copied everything from OS X. But worst of all, I'm dreading the fact that I'm gonna flip out and lose my cool. District managers, General managers, VPs, and Directors are all gonna be there cheering me on ~~no pressure.~~ It's basically my moment of truth for the last 6 months of preparation.

Questions I have to ask myself: What if the projector goes down? What if my laptop battery blows up? By the ghost of Paul Allen! What if they all scream at me wanting a shrubbery but the only place to find one is in a cave hosted by rabbits with sharp pointy teeth? K...gotta go, pizza's here! *publish*