Microsoft Puts Development Of Xbox One’s TV DVR Function On Hold

Microsoft has confirmed that it is putting development of the planned TV DVR function for Xbox One on hold, with focus shifting to better the gaming experiences for the console. The DVR was to allow people to record TV shows while playing games or while the console was in standby, but it would have required the use of an external hard drive to store recordings. It was also only planned to launch in the USA, Canada, and the UK.

Speaking to The Verge a spokesperson from the company said:

“After careful consideration, we’ve decided to put development of DVR for Over-the-Air TV on hold to focus our attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming experiences across Xbox One and Windows 10. We’re always listening to fan feedback and we look forward to bringing more requested experiences on Xbox One, Windows 10 and Xbox Live this year.”

Of course some of those experiences will be announced at E3 next week.

Source: The Verge

Written by
From the heady days of the Mega Drive up until the modern day gaming has been my main hobby. I'll give almost any game a go.

16 Comments

  1. Microsoft has changed their vision for xbox one so much since they revealed it in 2013 they should just cut their losses and call it the xbox two.

    • They should’ve called it the 180… because they did.

      • They called it the xbox ‘one’ because they one-bombed all their hopes of being dominant this gen right in the reveal presentation

  2. By this stage, it’s almost as if Microsoft and the UK government are having a competition to see who can perform the most U-turns.

  3. This was a thing? Wow, kinda dropped the ball there, MS but erm… well, dropping it kinda means nothing if no-one was aware of it. Does this mean that X1s will have a mandatory dodgy forced install of Windows 10? By that, i mean, it turns into a T-800 and threatens to murder you if you don’t install it. :P

    • My wife’s laptop has suddenly gone all T800! She wants to keep Windows 7 because her work’s remote access rubbish blah blah won’t work they say don’t update… Anyway, the update has downloaded itself and will happen automatically this month! I’m pretty sure if she stops it one day the laptop will grow teeth and eat her hands off.

  4. I’m sure this will disappoint a few, but there are simpler ways to record your tv than rigging it up to your xbox.

  5. The data has probably revealed that the number of people watching television through their X1 was incredibly low – much better to focus on something that’ll appeal to a wide audience.

    • A bit at odds though with their stated aim of being at the centre of the living room experience tho. I mean, as a percentage of all owners of any given car, how many use the cup holders in the back? I bet that is single digit figures but you don’t see the manufacturers not putting them in. Just because a feature isn’t useful for the majority doesn’t mean it’s useless for everybody…

      I for one was looking forward to this feature to replace my crappy DVR, which despite being one of the better ones is still a laggy and hugely frustrating user experience.

      • Yeah I reckon they’ll put it in eventually. I think the decision is simply based on the feedback that’s lapped up a lot of the recent gaming-orientated updates, and the fact that MS have had a lot of work recovering from the fallout that was the old OS.

        The system has had a good seeing to in the last six months, and with the next update I think MS will have eradicated most of the old design features of the original OS, completing a revamp that makes everything more fluid. Perhaps when they’ve finished with the Cortona feature, they’ll look to implement DVR and any other features they might fancy.

    • Good point. Out of my 50+ friends on xbox there’s literally only 1 who I see using it for tv about once a week. Xbox on is game time.

      • I dunno about over the pond but I get the impression that here in the UK most people have BT, Virgin, Sky or something similar. Even if the XBox One became the best DVR going I doubt the uptake would be massive.

      • Yeah. I’ve just got freeview but with a external hdd plugged in I can record anything. Using the xboxone would just add an unnecessary step.

  6. But, but, TV TV TV, do we keep Sports and Call of Dooty???

    At the moment, I’m just hoping that they don’t screw Crackdown up, it and Gears of War are the only reason I caved and bought an X1.

    • For all intensive purposes they were, thankfully, past that phase a year or two ago. TV DVR was just an entertaining feature they announced last year.

Comments are now closed for this post.