Xbox One Will No Longer Let You Stream to Your Phone Using a USB TV Tuner

When Microsoft originally launched the new Xbox One, TV was a huge focus for the company. Over the last few years, though, that has changed rapidly, with the company removing features like Snap for multitasking while watching TV, and slowly phasing out Kinect.

And now, the company is removing another TV-related feature. As spotted by Ars Technica on Reddit, Microsoft has started sending out a notification to Xbox One users who have used a USB TV Tuner in the past.

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The company is now killing support for the ability to stream TV content from your Xbox to the Xbox app on iOS and Android. “You may have streamed TV content using a USB TV tuner from your Xbox console to the Xbox app. In 30 days, the Xbox app on iOS and Android will no longer support this functionality. You will still be able to watch TV content on your Xbox One console and via streaming to the Xbox app on Windows 10,” the company said in the notification.

USB TV Tuners allowed the Xbox One to receive over-the-air antenna TV signals, which users could stream to their phone via the Xbox app. The feature obviously isn’t used widely, and that’s likely the reason behind Microsoft taking the feature away.

Microsoft probably doesn’t want to deal with maintaining code for such features. Plus, not a lot of people are likely going to be annoyed with the feature’s removal, but those who are still using the feature will likely be quite displeased

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Conversation 21 comments

  • RonV42

    Premium Member
    05 November, 2018 - 12:27 pm

    <p>I really think this is due to copyrighted content being casted from Xbox to the mobile device.&nbsp;Microsoft doesn't want to be in&nbsp;for a lawsuit.</p>

    • evox81

      Premium Member
      05 November, 2018 - 2:09 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#360957">In reply to RonV42:</a></em></blockquote><p>If that were the case, I suspect they would do away with the ability entirely. They're leaving it in the Windows 10 app, so that doesn't seem to be the case. </p>

  • C0rk

    Premium Member
    05 November, 2018 - 2:33 pm

    <p>So… For clarity….</p><p> </p><p>The USB TV Tuner I use with my XBox one console will still work to watch TV via the Console itself… correct? </p><p><br></p><p>If I'm reading carefully, it would seem they're ONLY removing the ability to stream the TV content to the Xbox App in order to consume that TV signal on other devices. Can someone confirm my understsnfing? I want to ensure the USB Tuner I'm currently using for console based TV consumption will continue to work.</p><p><br></p>

    • SvenJ

      05 November, 2018 - 8:18 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#361032"><em>In reply to C0rk:</em></a><em> </em>Yea, that's what it sounds like to me. Guess we can stop holding our breath for the long missing DVR feature. </blockquote><p><br></p>

      • C0rk

        Premium Member
        06 November, 2018 - 11:21 am

        <blockquote><a href="#361127"><em>In reply to SvenJ:</em></a><em> yeah… Not holding my breath for DVR at this point. Probably going to have the electrician coming out to install and run cable for an outdoor TV Antenna split and run lines to XBOX &amp; TV… So if they drop TV tuning from XBOX altogether, I can at least use the tuner built-in to my display.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

    • maethorechannen

      Premium Member
      06 November, 2018 - 4:22 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#361032">In reply to C0rk:</a></em></blockquote><p>Correct, for now. I have my doubts as to how long it will last though.</p><p><br></p><p>Saying that, I'm still kinda surprised that the One X has HDMI in so maybe I'm not the best judge.</p>

      • C0rk

        Premium Member
        06 November, 2018 - 11:23 am

        <blockquote><a href="#361194"><em>In reply to maethorechannen:</em></a><em> One could be led to question whether HDMI-In will remain part of future consoles.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • ponsaelius

    05 November, 2018 - 5:18 pm

    <p>Seems perfectly logical as Microsoft moves 180 degrees away from it's original vision as a family entertainment box. Now it's really just for gamers.</p>

  • kjb434

    Premium Member
    05 November, 2018 - 9:46 pm

    <p>Makes sense for phones. As long as the Win10 functionality remains. Over the air TV signals are the best high quality picture you can get for TV. It's nice feature to have for live events on broadcast channels. In Houston I get 80 channels over broadcast…about 5 are watchable though.</p>

  • JCerna

    Premium Member
    05 November, 2018 - 11:23 pm

    <p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The feature obviously isn’t used widely, and that’s likely the reason behind Microsoft taking the feature away." </span></p><p><br></p><p>Maybe: The majority of people don't really call 911 so maybe we should remove that feature from all phones. </p><p><br></p><p>I don't really get why more and more it's OK to sell us something with promised functionality and then just remove it or not even finish it. It's sad the Xbox had a lot of promise for being the one item I needed for entertainment. There are days that I can't even watch Netflix without the app crashing. If it was not for Plex my Xbox would be collecting dust by now. </p><p><br></p><p>Yes I am a gamer and I do play games, but I bought into the Xbox ecosystem to make my life easier. There was a time where I would search for a show or movie title, Xbox would list all channels I could watch it on and I could click one button to buy it, watch it on Netflix, Hulu, or live TV. </p><p><br></p><p>Please Microsoft get your act together. </p>

  • maethorechannen

    Premium Member
    06 November, 2018 - 4:27 am

    <p><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">The feature obviously isn’t used widely, and that’s likely the reason behind Microsoft taking the feature away.</em></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">If that logic was applied to all of Microsoft's products there wouldn't be much left.</span></p>

  • VTScott

    06 November, 2018 - 7:51 am

    <p>Disappointing. I used this feature to avoid battling the kids for the TV.</p>

  • secretlyclever

    06 November, 2018 - 8:55 am

    <p>Although this only impacts a small audience, those users will be understandably frustrated by the removal of this feature. </p><p><br></p><p>I am glad to have my HD Home Run. Works great to stream OTA channels to my phone or PC. </p>

  • Rob_Wade

    06 November, 2018 - 9:29 am

    <p>LOL. We don't have any OTA stations. We're 155 miles from any OTA stations.</p>

  • dab2kab

    09 November, 2018 - 6:38 am

    <p>Removing features is no good, but the tv tuner became basically pointless once microsoft decided to never release their dvr features on the xbox one, despite announcing it was coming.</p>

  • thesmartestonearth

    17 November, 2018 - 2:59 am

    <p>Always loved your work…. Keep it up</p><p>While searching for a best TV for myself i found this you should <a href="https://bestgadgetbestbudget.com/top-7-best-led-tvs-under-25000-in-2018/&quot; target="_blank">check it once</a>. Don't miss it for your better. </p>

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