Xbox One to Offer Subscription-Free DVR

During their Gamescom 2015 press conference, Microsoft announced that the Xbox One will be getting subscription-free DVR. This service will feature free over-to-air broadcast recording, which can be done while using other applications. The quality will not suffer either. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, TV can be recorded at the same quality as the broadcast; which includes 1080p.

This service also allows the user to schedule recordings from their SmartGlass app (available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone). However, scheduled shows can only be recorded if the Xbox One is on instant-on mode. In addition, the user will be able to stream those recordings to their SmartGlass app, or any Windows 10 device.

There are a few caveats with this feature. First, the user will need a digital TV tuner; which Microsoft offers to North America and Europe. And secondly, Microsoft does not want TV and gaming storage paths to interact with each other. So to counter that, TV can only be recorded on an external device; not on the console’s internal hard drive.

Conveniently, Microsoft recently announced a new external hard drive. According to Major Nelson’s blog, the new external hard drive will be 2 terabytes and will retail at $109.99 USD. It can be used on Xbox One and Xbox 360 respectively.

As for Xbox One’s DVR functionality, Microsoft only announced it for over-the-air TV. Whether it will include cable down the road seems unlikely.

The DVR feature is set to launch in 2016, subscription free.

Does the addition of DVR improve the Xbox One or should Microsoft focus more on gaming than television? Let us know in the comments section.