Xbox One owners will soon be able to use their game console to record and play back live television from free, over-the-air broadcasts, Microsoft announced this morning.
The DVR features were unveiled at the annual Gamescom gaming and entertainment conference in Cologne, Germany.
Xbox director of program management Mike Ybarra said the service won’t require a subscription and will be available in 2016. He gave a quick demo of the service on-stage on Tuesday, showing how you’ll be able to switch back and forth between your games and live TV, record shows and fast-forward playback — everything you would expect from a DVR service.
Xbox One owners in the U.S. and Canada have been able to watch free over-the-air TV without a cable subscription since April, and other countries before that. You need to purchase an $80 Hauppauge WinTV-955Q tuner and an HDTV antenna, and then it supports live programming of channels like CBS, NBC, FOX, and PBS.
But Ybarra said users have been asking about the ability to record that programming — and now they’re getting it.
He said you’ll be able to stream recorded shows to any Windows 10 device in your home, including tablets and smartphones. Users will also be able to download video so they can watch it offline later.
