Xbox One's DVR function means you'll need a new hard drive

Xbox DVR
Needs an external HDD

Now we know why Xbox and Seagate have just announced an official, green-skinned external hard drive for the chunky console - you need to have a new drive to be able to use the upcoming DVR functionality.

Microsoft announced the new feature this week at its Gamescom event, trailing a subscription-free service that will allow you to record free-to-air content via your Xbox One.

Unfortunately it wont allow you to record that content onto the console's main storage drive.

External HDD

Richard Irving, project lead on the new Dashboard redesign, is reported as saying "you need an external hard-drive specifically for DVR because we want to keep the paths optimised between playing games and watching TV."

No impact

That makes sense as from the initial presentation the DVR functionality was presented as something that would in no way interfere with your gaming.

Mobile DVR

You should theoretically be able to pause you game, quickly set the box to record a show and return to your game without the recording process causing any problems.

"We don't want them to interact with each other," says Irving.

The service is designed to record up to 1080i and will allow you to stream and transfer recorded shows onto Windows 10 devices on the same home network.

That means you can record on your Xbox One, then transfer out to your Windows 10 tablet or phone and take it with you on the go.

At the moment Microsoft is saying that will only be compatible with a device running a version of the Windows 10 OS via the Xbox app, so it will be interesting to see if it changes it's mind (it's happened before…) and brings the functionality to Android or iOS devices in the future.

via Gamespot