Xbox 360 E Build Quality

[Fuzzball]

Long time lurker here. Picked up a 360 E to exclusively be an extender. The optical drive next to the eject button sticks out a bit and isn't flush like the left side, but functions fine. The D-pad on the included controller seems a bit off as well; Up is a very short throw where the Left, Right, and Down seem appropriate, but it doesn't always seem to register a press and can be sometimes too sensitive. Is this kind of lack of QC to be expected? If it's a common occurrence, I' may just put up with it as I don't want to have to go through an exchange multiple times. Frankly I don't know how much use the controller is going to get since I've got a remote on the way.

I can post pics if desired.

[gary94080]

I just got one to use as an extender. so far I haven't noticed any quality issues, but I have noticed that the unit seems to respond slowly to the remotes. the game controller seems to be fine, but that doesn't work too well as a MC remote.

I have tried both the white and the newer black remotes and they both seem to be slow.

I have a 360 slim and an older white version so that is where my baseline is.

[slowbiscuit]

If you mean slow when doing trick play (ff/rew/skip), that's a network limitation common to any extender. If you mean slow in the menus or bringing up the guide, that's your PC - the Xbox is essentially running an RDP session to it.

The slims I have are not slow at all for remote response, and are miles better than my Linksys DMA2100.

[gary94080]

If you mean slow when doing trick play (ff/rew/skip), that's a network limitation common to any extender. If you mean slow in the menus or bringing up the guide, that's your PC - the Xbox is essentially running an RDP session to it.

The slims I have are not slow at all for remote response, and are miles better than my Linksys DMA2100.

I know about network limitations and pc issues, this was different.

it was slow from the start. I used a remote during initial setup, before running MC. it was like the remote battery was low, but the battery was ok.

[slowbiscuit]

Might be beam angle then, the Xbox IR receiver is very directional. It can't handle IR from different angles as good as my Tivo. Either that or you're just really impatient - one thing to try is turning off transitions in the settings menu on the Xbox, made my Linksys usable. I don't have them disabled on mine but it could help you.

Running an SSD on the PC makes a huge difference btw, both in boot into WMC time and with the guide.

[gary94080]

Might be beam angle then, the Xbox IR receiver is very directional. It can't handle IR from different angles as good as my Tivo. Either that or you're just really impatient - one thing to try is turning off transitions in the settings menu on the Xbox, made my Linksys usable. I don't have them disabled on mine but it could help you.

Running an SSD on the PC makes a huge difference btw, both in boot into WMC time and with the guide.

it was slow before it was attached as an extender.

the remote was pointed at the Xbox straight on.

[slowbiscuit]

Well, all I can say is that everyone is different. There's no way I would call an Xbox Slim slow using the remote in my house, everything is very snappy using either the white Xbox remote or a cheap generic WMC remote. Xboxes are the way to go if you want extenders IMO.

[michael1vas]

I also have this issue with the new xbox E. It refuses to respond to remote upon startup. But after a while (10-15 minutes) it starts responding. Very strange....

Regards,
Michael

[barnabas1969]

OK, so if the "E" has some problems, why not just buy an "S"? From what I've read, the E loses some of the outputs (TOSlink for one), and doesn't really do anything in the way of energy conservation or reduced noise. The S and E are currently the same price, so what's the compelling reason to buy an E?

[LuckyDay]

There's no way I would call an Xbox Slim slow using the remote in my house, everything is very snappy using either the white Xbox remote or a cheap generic WMC remote. Xboxes are the way to go if you want extenders IMO.

This thread is about the E, not the Slim.

[slowbiscuit]

My bad, but I'm not following how the E would be any different than any other Xbox model remote-wise.

[Embiggens]

I have no problems like this with my E

[gary94080]

I think I may have figured out what my problem was.

like I said I just got the E and was setting it up and noticed it was slow in responding to the remotes. I have gone through a couple of on/off cycles now and it seems to be fine now.

it could be that when I was experiencing the slow response, the unit was still downloading and installing updates. much like the slowdown in older pc's when you are getting updates.

slowbiscuit, I'm not sure if you were asking me, but I mentioned that I have a slim and an old white 360 to say that was my basis of comparison.

[LuckyDay]

My bad, but I'm not following how the E would be any different than any other Xbox model remote-wise.

Yeah no idea either, although it's not out of the question that the IR receiver on either model is different or positioned differently since the designs aren't the same.

[RogerX]

My bad, but I'm not following how the E would be any different than any other Xbox model remote-wise.

Yeah no idea either, although it's not out of the question that the IR receiver on either model is different or positioned differently since the designs aren't the same.

From the iFixit teardowns, it looks like the IR receiver is in the same place on the S and the E... next to the front USB ports. It's just better hidden on the E.

[Sergio526]

I also have this issue with the new xbox E. It refuses to respond to remote upon startup. But after a while (10-15 minutes) it starts responding. Very strange....

I'm noticing this EXACT same phenomenon with my 360 E. When it first starts up it completely ignores 9 out of 10 commands I send with the remote. After some warm up time, I can point it behind me and it responds immediately to every button press! Did you, ore anyone else find a fix? GameStop gives me 30 days to exchange, but I don't want an S since it's louder (it's in the bedroom), but I don't want an E if it's just going to keep doing the same thing.

[Sergio526]

I also have this issue with the new xbox E. It refuses to respond to remote upon startup. But after a while (10-15 minutes) it starts responding. Very strange....

OK, definitely a software issue. My wife gets frustrated with the remote so she's been using the software remote on our Android Ceton My Media Center app. Well, after some testing, all it takes is issuing ONE media center command from the app and then the physical remote works flawlessly. I think I'm going to send these findings off to MS, maybe there'll be an update to the Es for this issue!

[barnabas1969]

I bought what was listed as a new, un-opened "S" on e-bay, but it was actually an "E" (new, un-opened). It works just fine, exactly like the S that I already have.