Firstly, This is a very good gaming console there is no doubt about it. It is much quieter than previous generation of XBOX. There is no need for separate Power brick as the power supply is built-in and the overall size is lot smaller which is perfect. This particular version comes with a stand to keep XBOX upright and provides good ventilation. This XBOX one S comes with a full version of Battlefield 1 game which requires you redeem it. No physical game media is provided. The console takes few hours to download updates & install the game. If you have fast internet connection you may be up and running playing the included Battlefield 1 game in less than 2-3 hours. The game-play graphics is rather nice, smooth and immersive. Overall there is definitely noticeable improvements over the previous generation of XBOX One.
In my humble opinion, The green color is actually pretty close to grey/black and matches rather nicely to my entertainment center. The controller is okay but I wish there was some way to turn off the bright white LED which can be blinding when playing games in the dark room. Currently, I am using a black electrical tape to cover up the bright LED just like 100's of people who finds it extremely annoying. I am sure someday Microsoft will allow users to turn off the bright white LED's using user menu rather than using Black Electrical tape.
4K UHD resolution Mumbo Jumbo:
Secondly, I purchased this also to see what is all the Mumbo Jumbo about '4K' 'UHD', 'HDR-10' and the abilities to play ULTRA HD blu-ray etc. Since I do have a 4K UHD Samsung TV and this XBOX one S does come with a ULTRA HD Blu-ray Player, I did some investigation on my part and I found that XBOX one S does work in 4K 3840 x 2160 or 2160p resolution to my Samsung TV. But as with any early adopters of this latest technology your mileage may vary depending on they type of TV you have. Not all TV conforms to true 4K and HDR-10 media profile, so please be aware of the current limitations and requirements.
This XBOX one S detects whether your TV can display the 4K UHD resolution at 60 Hz Automatically after the initial system update. This mode is activated if XBOX determines if all is OKAY by handshaking with TV's HDMI port. 4K UHD resolution at 60 Hz is not a must to use XBOX one S. Regular 1080p @60Hz is enough for most content, But 4K UHD resolution at 60 Hz is required to upscale the system, games, and some apps to 4K. In other words, this lets your console run at 4K all the time, regardless of content. 4K UHD as a resolution setting isn't required to play 4K content, however. Games and apps that use 4K features like the 4K resolution (for watching movies) and HDR (for movies and games) can switch those features on without needing the overall 4K UHD resolution.
The most important thing to investigate before you hope to get full 4K resolution out of this XBOX one S are the following:
In my humble opinion, The green color is actually pretty close to grey/black and matches rather nicely to my entertainment center. The controller is okay but I wish there was some way to turn off the bright white LED which can be blinding when playing games in the dark room. Currently, I am using a black electrical tape to cover up the bright LED just like 100's of people who finds it extremely annoying. I am sure someday Microsoft will allow users to turn off the bright white LED's using user menu rather than using Black Electrical tape.
4K UHD resolution Mumbo Jumbo:
Secondly, I purchased this also to see what is all the Mumbo Jumbo about '4K' 'UHD', 'HDR-10' and the abilities to play ULTRA HD blu-ray etc. Since I do have a 4K UHD Samsung TV and this XBOX one S does come with a ULTRA HD Blu-ray Player, I did some investigation on my part and I found that XBOX one S does work in 4K 3840 x 2160 or 2160p resolution to my Samsung TV. But as with any early adopters of this latest technology your mileage may vary depending on they type of TV you have. Not all TV conforms to true 4K and HDR-10 media profile, so please be aware of the current limitations and requirements.
This XBOX one S detects whether your TV can display the 4K UHD resolution at 60 Hz Automatically after the initial system update. This mode is activated if XBOX determines if all is OKAY by handshaking with TV's HDMI port. 4K UHD resolution at 60 Hz is not a must to use XBOX one S. Regular 1080p @60Hz is enough for most content, But 4K UHD resolution at 60 Hz is required to upscale the system, games, and some apps to 4K. In other words, this lets your console run at 4K all the time, regardless of content. 4K UHD as a resolution setting isn't required to play 4K content, however. Games and apps that use 4K features like the 4K resolution (for watching movies) and HDR (for movies and games) can switch those features on without needing the overall 4K UHD resolution.
The most important thing to investigate before you hope to get full 4K resolution out of this XBOX one S are the following:
- Make sure that your TV supports 4K resolution (Ultra HD (UHD) a display resolution of 3840 x 2160 or 2160p at 60Hz)
- Use the HDMI cable that Microsoft provides as it is important to have the right HDMI cable which conforms to HDMI 2.0a specs
- Most TVs have only one HDMI 2.0a capable input that is able of 'UHD' color mode, you may have to identify the correct HDMI port on your TV -- This is very important!
- Make sure your TV supports HDR10 media profile BT2020 color space or gamut mode to get high dynamic range (HDR) capabilities.
In my tests, I found while most TVs which are 4K capable are able to handshake and display at 4K 3840 x 2160 or 2160p at 60Hz resolution but the current 'holy grail' of HDR-10 media profile BT2020 color space or gamut is hit or miss depending on the type of TV you have. In the end I gave up on HDR even though I know my TV supports it as the apps like Netflix seems to get confused at times how to activate HDR. Also when HDR gets activated the brightness of your TV changes to maximum and depending on what your viewing preferences are and how good your TV is calibrated. In my experience, HDR may give you the best picture or simply make the movie experience worse if not implemented properly. I am going to wait on the industry to settle down on standards for properly implementing HDR-10 before I activate that feature on my XBOX one S.
⇛ How to get 4K 3840 × 2160 or 2160p at 60Hz on regular (NON-UHD Blu-Ray title discs)
If you are like me who has some regular Blu-Ray discs and wondering why your XBOX one S is not up-scaling regular Blu-Ray discs to 4K 3840 x 2160 or 2160p at 60 Hz then you may realize that the included Blu-Ray player APP is working as designed. The App takes into consideration what settings are done on the "4K advance settings" on the XBOX one S.
If you are like me who has some regular Blu-Ray discs and wondering why your XBOX one S is not up-scaling regular Blu-Ray discs to 4K 3840 x 2160 or 2160p at 60 Hz then you may realize that the included Blu-Ray player APP is working as designed. The App takes into consideration what settings are done on the "4K advance settings" on the XBOX one S.
If you want your XBOX one S to upscale everything to 4K 3840 x 2160 or 2160p at 60Hz then you need to *uncheck* the "ALLOW 24 Hz, 50 Hz" check boxes. This essentially fixes the issue of XBOX one S which is not up-scaling regular Blu-Ray discs to 4K resolution.
When 'Allow 24Hz' is checked, it allows you to view your movies in 24Hz refresh rate, which is the natural frame rate for movie viewing but at the same time the TV's resolution is forceibly changed to 1080p/24hz despite having a 4k UHD TV.
In my humble opinion, Letting your TV do the up-scaling might be better if you have high end 4k TV, But if you have inferior TV that upscale poorly then *uncheck* the "ALLOW 24 Hz, 50 Hz" check boxes and let your XBOX one S do the up-scaling for you. Try fiddling with this option to see which delivers better picture quality and stick with your own preference.
Side note: I got bummed when I found that certain old XBOX 360 games I have in collection were not playable in XBOX ONE S. Upon digging around I found this list maintained by Microsoft that tells you about the backward compatibility
Visit this website to see the full list of games that is backward compatible with XBOX one S
Bottom-line: This is by far one of the best XBOX consoles Microsoft has released.
Side note: I got bummed when I found that certain old XBOX 360 games I have in collection were not playable in XBOX ONE S. Upon digging around I found this list maintained by Microsoft that tells you about the backward compatibility
Visit this website to see the full list of games that is backward compatible with XBOX one S
Bottom-line: This is by far one of the best XBOX consoles Microsoft has released.
Happy Gaming! Cheers!
You can get one of these from Amazon by using the link below:
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