The Xbox One S is bullshit.

[skywake]

7 hours ago, Stefan Payne said:

Get the UHD BD Player and look at the Games. And get a Console to play games. Forza Horizon 4 plays better on PC. 30fps for a racing game is not that great.

As I said earlier, the whole "get it on PC" bit is a non-point here because the thing is bundled with download codes for the game. Effectively I'd be buying a UHD BluRay player with an unconventional remote that's bundled with some PC games. It just happens to also be able to run the games that are bundled with it. It's just a question of whether or not the extra bits you can do on the XBOne S are worth the slightly higher cost and unconventional controller for controlling media. I think they are especially given the game by itself is more than the cost difference between the UHD BluRay player and the XBOne S. 

Really, there are only that could convince me not to go with the XBOne S over a UHD BluRay player. If there's a really good deal with a UHD BluRay player? I'll go that route. Also the other thing I'm slightly concerned about is the noise of the XBOne S. I expect a standalone player to be quieter because they lacks fans of any sort, the XBOne S will make some noise. If it's loud enough that you can hear it during a movie? That would be disappointing... but from what I've heard but it's pretty quiet.

[ErykYT3]

I just facepalmed a LOT at some of these replies. 

 

To explain, 

I know that the S was not a major upgrade as the X is.

I know that the S is not capable of running games natively in 4K, nor was I expecting it to look anywhere near the quality the game did on the X since I'm not some uninformed 12-year-old kid.

 

15 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

Red Dead Redemption 2 runs at 1536x864 on the Xbox One and the Xbox One S.

I have a feeling that you don't understand why the One S exists: as a replacement for the base model and not the high end console. It's like the PS4 Slim replacing the PS4 and the PS4 Pro being the high-end version of the PS4. The One X does a really good job at holding, from what I remember, 3840x2160 on RDR2.

 

17 hours ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

I don't remember ever hearing MS claim that the S could play games in native 4k. Are you sure you aren't just recalling people on the interwebs talking about how it could "technically" play 4k games?

 

The only thing I ever recall MS claiming the S could do in native 4k was 4k video through either Blu-ray or streaming.

 

 

23 hours ago, Commodus said:

This feels like a misunderstanding of what the Xbox One S was meant to be.

 

Yeah, it's technically more capable than the original Xbox One, but it was always intended as a straightforward replacement aimed at the low end (relatively speaking) rather than a major upgrade.  It's the system you get when Junior wants a console for Minecraft, or when the only 4K you care about is on Netflix.

 

I apologise if that comes across as aggressive, it isn't meant to be.

 

Happy Holidays btw.

[ErykYT3]

Just now, ErykYT3 said:

I just facepalmed a LOT at some of these replies. 

 

To explain, 

I know that the S was not a major upgrade as the X is.

I know that the S is not capable of running games natively in 4K, nor was I expecting it to look anywhere near the quality the game did on the X since I'm not some uninformed 12-year-old kid.

 

 

 

 

I apologise if that comes across as aggressive, it isn't meant to be.

 

Happy Holidays btw.

What I'm getting at is, The Xbox platform seems to be pretty weak compared to PlayStation for which the games appeal more to me.

But I got the One S for other reasons..

From what I've seen, the ps4 runs at 1080p at 30 fps with occasional drops obviously and the XB achieving around 33.

From an upgraded system over the original, however small it may be, this should be better honestly.

I expected more from Microsoft.

But obviously, for like, a £190 console, it does the job pretty nicely.

 

 

[Majinhoju]

The Xbox One was quite underpowered on release.  If you had a semi decent gaming PC at the time you already had a beefier system than the Xbox.  The S was meant to just replace that under-powered  Xbox One with some 4k media capabilities.  I don't believe it has any gaming benefits over the original one.  

 

Though I imagine from a developer perspective it would be a big headache to develop your games for 3 different hardware configs.  They already have to do 2 (X and non X versions).

 

Keep in mind, while the lower tier versions of Xbox tends to lose out to the ps4 on performance, the X tends to win over the PS4 Pro in performance.

I have the very first gen Xbox One, so if I decide to upgrade to a newer one then I'm getting the X.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 hour ago, ErykYT3 said:

From an upgraded system over the original, however small it may be, this should be better honestly.

The Xbox One S wasn't really upgraded per se. The only major change aside from the UHD BD-ROM was the GPU got a 7% increase in clock speed. That's not really going to mean much in the performance department other than maybe being able to handle graphically intense scenes better.

 

If anything, the Xbox One S was really just the "slim" version of the original console like the Xbox 360 S.

[Stefan Payne]

2 hours ago, skywake said:

As I said earlier, the whole "get it on PC" bit is a non-point here because the thing is bundled with download codes for the game.

Yes, but you don't want a console to play games, you want a Media Player first.

And thus you should get the Media Player, that plays media well.

Not a Console that kinda sucks at it and has a rather crappy Media Player.

 

A good media Player supports HDMI CEC, wich allows your TV to control the Media Player. So you only need one Remote Control. And it should come with a remote control as well.

 

The XBox one does not support HDMI CEC for whatever reason and the Original M$ XBox One Media Remote is rediculously expensive.

 

So even when buying it seperately and play on PC; the XBox is more expensive and not really what you really want!

 

2 hours ago, skywake said:

Effectively I'd be buying a UHD BluRay player with an unconventional remote that's bundled with some PC games.

No, you are buying a thing that is not what you want, does neither well.

The one S is not a good game console as there are no games.

And the One is not a good media player either as there are some essential features missing.

And you need to get a seperate remote.

 

So why pay more for something that is absolutely NOT what you want?

And the "Controller Remote" is also kinda crap as well, for obvious reasons.

 

2 hours ago, skywake said:

It just happens to also be able to run the games that are bundled with it. It's just a question of whether or not the extra bits you can do on the XBOne S are worth the slightly higher cost and unconventional controller for controlling media. I think they are especially given the game by itself is more than the cost difference between the UHD BluRay player and the XBOne S. 

Simple answer:
No. its not. 

Because its not what you want.

You might need extra hardware as well, like this:

https://geizhals.de/microsoft-xbox-one-media-remote-xbox-one-6dv-00003-a1074271.html

 

And then there is the issue of the Power Consumption.
A "real Media Player" is like next to nothing. Maybe 20W under load (=while playing Bluray Movies).

While I do not own a single Bluray Movie, so I've not tested it.  But according to the Internet its on the higher side. So we're talking about 40-80W.

 

So the answer is still no. The XBox is not what you want. Not what you need. And not what will make you happy.

While it doesn't look more expensive, its like getting a Sports Car when you you regularly want to transport logs or whatever...

 

2 hours ago, skywake said:

Really, there are only that could convince me not to go with the XBOne S over a UHD BluRay player. If there's a really good deal with a UHD BluRay player? I'll go that route. Also the other thing I'm slightly concerned about is the noise of the XBOne S. I expect a standalone player to be quieter because they lacks fans of any sort, the XBOne S will make some noise. If it's loud enough that you can hear it during a movie? That would be disappointing... but from what I've heard but it's pretty quiet.

There are other things to consider as well.

For example:

One S is NOT stackable!

So you can't put another console or device on top.

High(er) power consumption

Less convenient for that part

The Playstation (3 and 4) support HDMI CEC, have good games but I'd also not recommend them as a Media Player in this day and age for obvious reasons.

The fan is indeed a Problem as those companys still tend to use 2BB fans wich means Bearing Noise...

 

 

Have you taken a look at the SAMSUNG Device I've linked?

 

Here a Review:

Its ~125-150€ in Germany right now. Look for it in your region.

 

 

15 minutes ago, Majinhoju said:

The Xbox One was quite underpowered on release.  If you had a semi decent gaming PC at the time you already had a beefier system than the Xbox.  The S was meant to just replace that under-powered  Xbox One with some 4k media capabilities.  I don't believe it has any gaming benefits over the original one.  

PS4 was much better but also just a bit above mid range from the GPU Power side (somewhere between Radeon HD7850 and 7870 or so), problem with the One:

a) DDR-3 SDRAM, the PS4 had around 2,5 times the bandwith

b) very high price, over 100€ more than PS4 because of Kinect...

but mostly c) all the shit that M$ did when releasing it (like the DRM garbage, always on Kinect and so on)...

 

The One S, wich should have been an upgrade to GDDR5 Memory, was just a simple shrink - as always happens in the lifetime of a console, the Chips get shrinked at least once, usually twice. (XBox 360 and PS3 IIRC started with 90nm and ended with 40/45nm)

 

15 minutes ago, Majinhoju said:

Though I imagine from a developer perspective it would be a big headache to develop your games for 3 different hardware configs.  They already have to do 2 (X and non X versions).

with the exception of the One and S, wich really pains developers, according to one ex-crytek developer in a German Forum, they are not so different, as the biggest difference is the graphics and the PS4 and PRO have similar Bandwith, the one X a bit more. That's not that hard.

 

Dumbing it down, that it still runs well on the One is a bigger problem than the rest.

 

And by the way: Didn't the developers of Forza Horizon 4 optimize it for 3 different settings? 4k, Quality and 60fps Performance??

 

15 minutes ago, Majinhoju said:

Keep in mind, while the lower tier versions of Xbox tends to lose out to the ps4 on performance, the X tends to win over the PS4 Pro in performance.

Who cares?!
Nobody, except YOU talks about the One X in this thread.

 

And, as I said, the Performance is irrelevant when you can't play the games you want to on the Hardware.

 

Or how well does run God of War or Spider-Man on the Xbox One X??
Those two games alone are reason enough against the Xbox...

 

15 minutes ago, Majinhoju said:

I have the very first gen Xbox One, so if I decide to upgrade to a newer one then I'm getting the X.

I have the Xbox One X. So why are YOU the one talking about the "amazing Performance"; when you don't even own the Hardware?

I do. I own all three consoles of this generation and all three of last gen...

While last gen the WiiU was kinda shit, though at the end of its life had some nice games, the difference of XBox and PS3 was minor in terms of games. You can also throw a coin and find decent ones on both plattforms that you enjoy. That Generation I went with the XBox and was happy with it. But I'd probably as happy with the PS3 as well, especially if I bought White Knight Chronicles...

 

This gen its different, the Xbox just has no game that are worth buying...

[Majinhoju]

I don't see what the issue is, if he buys the Xbox One S with Forza, he can play UHD Blurays and play Forza on one system.  He gets exactly what he wants.  Just how bad is the Xbox at playing UHD Bluray movies?

 

I await your essay length reply nitpicking the Xbox to death that will surely result in another thread getting locked.

[Stefan Payne]

2 hours ago, Majinhoju said:

I don't see what the issue is, if he buys the Xbox One S

The issue is that it is not what he wants or need. 
He wants/needs something to play videos. And the consoles suck at that.

They are not good media player, never were and never were designed for that either...

 

He wants a media Player, not a game console!

So he should get a device that does what he wants very well not some shit he will regret later or not really be happy and buy a media player anyway.

 

So why get something where you need to have another Input device when you can get something where you need only one remote and can start the TV with that or control the media device with the TV remote??

 

2 hours ago, Majinhoju said:

he can play UHD Blurays and play Forza on one system.  He gets exactly what he wants.  Just how bad is the Xbox at playing UHD Bluray movies?

He does NOT get what he wants.
Because what he wants is a box that plays videos. XBox does not do that too well.

Because of the power consumption. And the need for a controller or an expensive remote that's sold seperately...

 

 

I really don't get why you are so hellbent on selling people an XBox wherever you can. I don't try to sell a PS4 here either. I'm telling him to get the device that does what he really wants the best, without any compromize.

 

A console is a compromize.

And the media player integrated in my shitty low cost 32" Aldi TV is better than both consoles. And consumes less power as well.

 

So lets be reasonable here:

 

BD Player should have relatively low boot times. XBox One is rather long

BD Player should have a way lower power consumption as they use an ASIC for that. XBox uses more power, doesn't have dedicated Hardware.

BD Player can (eventually?) be controlled by the TV or control the TV -> HDMI CEC Support. The XBox does not have that or do that. It might be possible with external devices, but still -> more money for what he really wants.

 

 

So in the end, the XBox does NOT look better. If you want a console to play games and eventually watch a UHD BD, it might be an option. 

But from what @skywake wrote, that is not the case. He wants a a Media Player, not a console. So why the heck are you trying to talk him to a console, he doesn't even really want?

 

Especially when there are sites like FORBES bashing the UHD Player?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/impactpartners/2018/12/18/the-5-fundamentals-of-retirement-planning-1/#746cf5b17a97

 

Or lets look at CNet:

https://www.cnet.com/news/4k-blu-ray-player-shootout-xbox-one-s-vs-samsung-vs-sony-vs-oppo/

 

Quote

The main reason is if you watch a lotof discs. The interface of the Xbox One S muddles things and makes the process of playing stuff more annoying than a dedicated player.

 

Another one:

https://www.whathifi.com/news/no-xbox-one-s-isnt-very-good-4k-blu-ray-player

 

And if he's audiophile, not Dolby Atmos or DTS-X for you!

https://www.whathifi.com/microsoft/xbox-one-s/review

 

 

Again, if he wants to play games and now and then watches a video, it might be an option.

But if he wants to watch movies and now and then play a game, its the wrong choice. The XBox is just not a good media player (and neither is the PS4, before something mentiones that!)

It was different with the Playstation 3 in the Beginning but later or right now there is no reason to use that to play BD Discs either...

 

Consoles right now are primarily gaming devices. And should be treated as such...

Consoles are not good media players...

[Majinhoju]

I'm really not trying to sell him on anything.  If I was looking for something to play UHD bluerays and Forza I would consider the Xbox myself.  But he's free to buy what he wants, I don't care either way.  Why is this so important to you?

[colonel_mortis]

This is far from a constructive discussion at some point. Topic locked.

Please try to bear in mind that different people have different requirements, interests and key features, so a product that is totally worthless to one person may still make sense for someone else, because of their different priorities.