The Xbox One is making its next step towards becoming a full-feature living room entertainment solution, as Microsoft is reportedly testing the functionality of digital video recording (DVR) with the console, with plans to release it in a future update.
A DVR option has long been one of the most requested features for the Xbox One and Microsoft answered these requests at Gamescom 2015 when it revealed DVR functionality would be arriving in 2016. There hasn't been any word from them since then, but it looks like Microsoft's efforts are still on track.
DVR functionality would pair nicely with Xbox One's already existing ability to watch TV in certain markets. The addition would the Xbox's abilities, allowing users to record Over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts and live TV programming regardless of whether the console is in use or asleep. While it's already possible to record content with the console, it must be done win conjunction with a cable box.
As per a report from tech blogger Paul Thurrott, needing the cable box will be a thing of the past once the testing is complete and the update rolls out.
"A source very close to Microsoft tells me that the software giant is now internally testing TV DVR (digital video recording) functionality for Xbox One, meaning that customers will soon be able to record live TV shows from the console," he says.
"Microsoft is now internally testing an update for Xbox One called 'Xbox One Threshold Beta 1603 System Update,' or th2xboxrel_1603.160308-1900," he adds. "This update allows the console to record freely-available OTA TV, and it even works while you're playing games, watching live TV, or when the console is sleeping."
Watching live TV already costs audiences in the United States and Canada a pretty penny, with them only being to do so through the purchase of a Hauppauge digital TV tuner, which is available at the Microsoft Store for $59.99.
The rumored update would be huge for Xbox One. Not only could it possibly circumvent the aforementioned $59.99 (you're technically only recording TV, not watching it), but it could serve as something that gives consumers stronger impetus to purchase an Xbox One rather than a PS4. Microsoft doesn't offer sales figures on the Xbox One, but its widely believed that PS4 is "curb stomping" the Xbox One in sales.
Thurrott's report doesn't provide a specific date for when we can expect the update to come, but in his own words, it should be coming "soon."
