Report: Is Video Playback Quality Poorer With The New Xbox Dashboard Update?
I’ve had my own reservations about the new Xbox Live Dashboard update, and I’m still feeling it out. One thing I’ve noticed though, is that when watching Netflix through my console, the video quality simply isn’t the same. It constantly has to check itself, and is all-around worse. According to a recent report by Eurogamer, I’m not the only one who has noticed this.
An issue was discovered by testers in the update’s beta stage, and it’s seemed to persist through deployment. This issue is basically that the new dashboard forces videos to display only at limited-range RGB levels and not true HD. This means that most of the color gets scrapped away. It looks like you can adjust the settings on your TV to cover some of the video loss, but if you’re switching inputs for anything it could be more of a hassle than it’s worth.
The report includes several color-level histograms that show how the picture quality has become different than it was previous. Right now Microsoft hasn’t said anything about the issue, and I’m hoping they’ll acknowledge it soon. It’s frustrating having to strain a bit when watching playback. Even some games come out graywashed in the process. Have any of you noticed the change?
