Kodi 17.6 Home Screen XBMC Foundation Initial release 2002 (as ), 2003 (as Xbox Media Center) Android 17.6 'Krypton' / November 14, 2017; 30 days ago ( 2017-11-14) Windows 17.6 / November 14, 2017; 30 days ago ( 2017-11-14) iOS 17.6 'Krypton' / November 14, 2017; 30 days ago ( 2017-11-14), Development status Active Written in core, with C++ (binary) or as from [ ] and later,,,, (),,, and,,,,, and Available in 12 (75 including incomplete translations) languages,,, () Website Kodi (formerly XBMC) is a software application developed by the XBMC Foundation, a technology. Kodi is available for multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, with a software for use with televisions and. It allows users to play and view most streaming media, such as videos, music,, and videos from the internet, as well as all common files from local and network. It is a (HTPC) application. Kodi is highly customizable: a variety of can change its appearance, and various allow users to access content via online services such as,,,,, and. The later versions also have a personal video-recorder (PVR) graphical for receiving live television with (EPG) and high-definition (DVR) support.

The software was created as an independently developed media player application named Xbox Media Center (abbreviated as XBMC) for the first-generation game console, and was later made available under the name XBMC as a native application for,,,,, /, and -based operating systems. Because of its open source and nature, with its core code written in, modified versions of Kodi-XBMC together with a have been used as a suite or in a variety of devices including,, digital signage, hotel television systems, and embedded systems based on platform like. Derivative applications such as and have been spun off from XBMC or Kodi, as well as like and. Kodi has attracted negative attention due to the availability of third-party plug-ins for the software that facilitate to copyrighted media content, as well as 'fully loaded' that are pre-loaded with such add-ons; the XBMC Foundation has not endorsed any of these uses, and has taken steps to disassociate the Kodi project from these illegal products, including threatening legal action against those using its to promote them. Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Overview [ ] Kodi supports most common audio, video, and image formats, playlists, audio visualizations, slideshows, weather forecasts reporting, and third-party plugins. It is network-capable (internet and shares). Main article: XBMC 9.04 (codename: Babylon) point-release version of XBMC for Xbox, now obsolete, was released on 6 May 2009 as the last official version of XBMC for Xbox.

The original developers of XBMC have since issued a statement stating they will no longer develop or support XBMC for Xbox as part of the XBMC project as of 27 May 2010. The development of XBMC for Xbox ended because the focus for all Team XBMC developers has completely shifted to the Linux, Mac, and Windows versions of XBMC instead. Even though the original XBMC project no longer develops or supports XBMC for the Xbox, an XBMC version for the Xbox is still available via the third-party developer spin-off project ', who have completely taken over the development and support of XBMC for the original Xbox. XBMC for Xbox was never an authorized/signed Microsoft product, therefore a is required in order to run XBMC on an Xbox game-console. XBMC for Xbox can be run as an application (like any Xbox game), or as a that appears directly when the Xbox is turned on. Since XBMC for Xbox was part of an open source software program, its development was stored on a publicly accessible.

Accordingly, unofficial builds from the subversion repository are often released by third parties on sites unaffiliated with the official XBMC project. Commercial systems [ ]. This section contains entries that. Please help by re-writing from a, and removing inappropriate entries that are not or do not fit this list's inclusion criteria. (April 2017) The developers of Kodi (formerly XBMC) state that as long as the GPL licensing of the Kodi software is respected they would love Kodi to run on as many third-party hardware platforms and as possible, as ' Powered by Kodi' (or ' Powered by XBMC') branded devices and systems. They envision Kodi being pre-installed as a that commercial and non-commercial and and companies can use on their own hardware, hardware such as from, and,, or and built into for web-enabled TVs, and other entertainment devices for the living room entertainment system,, or similar uses. Below is a list of third-party companies that sell hardware bundled with Kodi or XBMC software pre-installed, or sell uninstalled systems that specifically claim to be Kodi- or XBMC-compatible.

Many of these third-party companies help submit bug fixes and new features back upstream to the original Kodi-XBMC project. Computer hardware [ ] is a company based in Switzerland best known for their worked in with the team. Restless Nights Karla Bonoff Rar more. On 5 February 2013, together they released a fully passively cooled: the MC001 media centre (US and EU version), equipped with the latest XBMC 12 (OpenELEC 3.0). OpenELEC and ARCTIC are planning on their next release, aim to provide a more dedicated builds for the ARCTIC MC001 media centre systems. AIRIS Telebision, sold by Telebision in Spain and designed specifically for the Spanish market, is a based on chipset, pre-installed Ubuntu base with XBMC for Linux and a customized AEON skin and Spanish plugins.

Other than the modified skin, what is unique with the AIRIS Telebision's XBMC build is that it comes with a service platform that they call their 'App Store' which lets users download new Spanish plugins and updates for existing plugins. Telebision also lets users download a Live CD version of their software as, which lets users install their Telebision distribution on any Nvidia Ion based computer. Lucida TV II, made by LUCIDQ inc, is a nettop based on Nvidia Ion chipset which can be ordered with and XBMC software installed. Sells both custom and off-the-shelf hardware primarily designed for Kodi-XBMC, such as remote controls, HTPC systems and accessories, including a custom HTPC PVR set-top-box pre-installed with XBMC that they call 'PulseBox' Pulse-Eight also offers free performance tuned embedded versions of XBMC that they call 'Pulse' which is based on and a custom PVR-build of XBMC that is meant to run on a dedicated HTPC system. Ultra and Xtreamer Ultra 2, manufactured by the South Korean company Unicorn Information Systems, are nettops based on Nvidia graphics and processors which come with OpenELEC and Kodi-XBMC software pre-installed. The first-generation Xtreamer Ultra uses Nvidia Ion chipset with a 1.80 GHz dual-core Intel Atom D525 CPU, while the Xtreamer Ultra 2 uses discrete graphics with a 2.13 GHz dual-core Intel Atom D2700 CPU. Since 10 September 2010, ZOTAC has been shipping a software bundle that they call ZOTAC Boost XL with all their new and, such as Zotac's ZBOX and MAG series of Nettops which Zotac also does demos of with XBMC.

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This ZOTAC Boost XL software bundle consist of the software applications;,,, and XBMC Media Center. Zotac's ZBOX and MAG series of small mini-PCs are nettops based on Intel, AMD, or Nvidia graphics, and they are all sold in both as complete ready-to-use computer and as (without memory and hard drive).

Zotac Zbox ID33, ID34, ID81, ID80 and AD04 are all specifically marketed towards the HTPC market, with some coming with Blu-ray Disc optical disc drive, and some with a remote control. The mintBox by the team is an OEM version of the Israeli company CompuLab's, which comes pre-installed with Linux Mint open source operating-system and software, desktop, and XBMC.

Available in two fanless models, both with, HDMI output port, eight USB slots, two eSATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, built-in Bluetooth, and an infrared media center remote control. Dedicated devices [ ] PrismCube Ruby by Marusys is a DVB-S2 twin-tuner high-definition DVR-PVR set-top-box running XBMC as its main interface on-top of embedded Linux. The Little Black Box is a Linux kernel-based ARM media player with XBMC as its main interface. Marusys MS630S and MS850S are high-definition PVR-ready set-top-boxes with the ability to run Linux kernel-based media players like XBMC, and Marusys is advertising these two devices as compatible with XBMC. Myka ION is a fanless Nvidia Ion-based set-top device designed to bring Internet television and media stored on the home network to the living room; it comes pre-installed with XBMC Media Center, Boxee, and Hulu Desktop as applications that can be started from the main menu. The MK-X1 by Modified Konstructs is an Nvidia Ion-based set-top device based on that comes pre-loaded with XBMC, and the device has a recommended retail price of $300 (US).

Made by Neuros Technology is an open Ubuntu-based set-top device and media extender designed to bring internet television and other video to the television, it comes pre-installed with XBMC Media Center. BryteWerks Model One Projector is a 1080p HD designed for home cinema use; it has an integrated home theater PC running a custom version of XBMC.

In addition it features a remote control, as well as a 720p 8.9-inch on the back of the projector for controlling the system. It also has a built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet adapters, as well as a slot-loaded Blu-ray Disc player, and includes a 500 GB and an additional internal 2 TB hard disk drive can be added. The Primus by Mediaimpact Technologies is a Linux Mint-based media center and set-top-box that integrates MythTV, Netflix Desktop, Hulu Desktop, and Steam Gaming through Kodi for a seamless home entertainment system ready for the living room. It comes complete with SMK-Link remote control.

Derivatives and forks [ ]. Main article: Kodi/XBMC media center source code have over the years become a popular software to and to use as an for others to base their own media player or media center software on, as if Kodi were a,,. And today at least,,,,,,,,, and are all separate derivative products that are all openly known to at least initially have forked the (GUI) and media player part of their software from XBMC's source code. Many of these third-party forks and derivative work of Kodi-XBMC are said to still assist with submitting bug fixes and sometimes help getting new features to the original Kodi-XBMC project so that others can utilize it as well, shared from one main source. However some which was initially a fork of XBMC have since fully or partially been rewritten to use. For more information see the main ' article. Some examples on building on Kodi-XBMC are, and which are free and open source providing complete media center software suite that comes with a preconfigured version of Kodi/XBMC and plugins.

They are both designed to be extremely small and very fast booting embedded distributions, primarily optimized to be booted from or a, and specifically targeted to a minimum hardware setup based on ARM SoC's or Intel x86 processor and graphics. Similar embedded Linux distributions to OpenELEC/GeeXboX are the professionally made and which are commercial Kodi/XBMC-based software platform for DVR/PVR set-top boxes, with both being designed as a hybrid integration between Kodi media center software and 's Enigma2 PVR software scripts. Another example is, which is a third-party developer spin-off project of XBMC, with still active development and support of the Xbox platform. This project was created as a fork of XBMC as a separate project to continue having a version of XBMC for the Xbox hardware platform. It was not started by official members of the official XBMC project, nor will it be supported by the official Team Kodi in any way. It started when support for the Xbox branch was officially dropped by Team XBMC, which was announced on 27 May 2010. Programming and developing [ ] Kodi is a non-profit and driven project that is developed only by volunteers in their without any gain.

XBMC Foundation and the team of developers leading the development of Kodi/XBMC, ' Team-Kodi'/' Team-XBMC', encourage anyone and everyone to submit their own for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix to the Kodi/XBMC project. The online is -based and community driven, and it also works as a basic developers' guide for getting a good overview of Kodi's architecture. However, as with most non-profit software projects, to delve deeper into programming, looking at the actual source code and the formatted 'code documentation' comments inside that code is needed. Architecture [ ]. XBMC architecture overview schematic Kodi is a cross-platform software application whose core is mainly programmed in. Kodi uses (or ) graphics under Kodi for both Linux and macOS, while Kodi for Windows uses multimedia framework and rendering, as the version of XBMC did.

Some of Kodi's own, as well as many third-party libraries that Kodi depends on, are written in the, instead of C++ as Kodi's core, but they are then mostly used with a C++ wrapper and, through Kodi's core monolithic nature, are loaded via a for on-demand loading and unloading. Kodi also still partially uses the SDL () multimedia for input on Linux, but its developers are working on completely removing that small remaining dependency on SDL. Because of Kodi/XBMC's origin with the resource constraints on the hardware and environment of the first-generation Xbox game-console platform, all software development of Kodi/XBMC has always been focused on reserving the limited resources that existed on embedded system hardware, like the original Xbox (which was only a 733 MHz and 64 MB of RAM in total as ), as well as the still relatively low resources of devices today, of which the main hindrance has always been the amount of available system and graphics memory at any one time. This means that Kodi/XBMC is purposely programmed to be very resource- and power-efficient and can therefore run on very low-end and relatively non-expensive hardware, especially when compared to other media center software design for HTPC use. But because of its origins from the Xbox game-console, Kodi/XBMC's legacy still runs in a more game-loop rendering environment rather than using a fully event-driven and on-demand rendering, meaning that it is almost constantly re-drawing the GUI and refreshing the frames as fast as it can, even when nothing is changing on the screen. This results in very high CPU and high GPU usage, which can be observed on embedded systems and low-end machines, and hence cause high temperatures, high fan activity, and high power consumption unless capped at a maximum frame per second configuration for that specific platform build. Work is however constantly ongoing by the developers to make Kodi/XBMC run using much fewer resources on low-power and embedded systems, which will indirectly benefit all non-embedded systems as well.

Efficiency improvements in this area are however being worked on in order to move away from that old style game-loop environment in order to reduce high CPU/GPU usage by the GUI, especially as XBMC usage on embedded platforms with limited CPU/GPU resources keeps growing in popularity. XBMC 11.0 (Eden) introduced Dirty-Regions rendering option for texture support to the XBMC skinning engine as an option, and XBMC 12.0 (Frodo) enabled Dirty Regions rendering to redraw the whole screen on a single dirty region by default on all platforms.

Work is also in progress for XBMC 14.0 to introduce an abstracted scene-graph deferred rendering for GUI renderer abstraction. Portability [ ] Kodi has a, with its officially available for /,,, and -based platforms.

The Kodi GUI does require 3D hardware accelerated graphics () that support,, or, or with device drivers that support 2.0, or OpenGL 1.3 or later with, or in order to the GUI at an acceptable. Kodi is thus officially not yet available for upstream in mainline source code repository from Team-Kodi, nor does it as yet support or rendering without OpenGL/GLES hardware accelerated graphics support. The combination of MIPS, DirectFB, and DRI is a popular architecture used today by simpler like digital broadcasting (cable/satellite) boxes and low-end, such as those based on chipsets from. Kodi ports to MIPS is, however, currently being actively worked on by several independent development teams. Kodi for Linux supports building systems for embedded development such as, (), and the set of Makefiles and patches for easing the generation of toolchains as well as the creation of a file system on systems across a wide range of hardware, kernel platforms, and CPU architectures (x86, x86-64, ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, etc.). Python scripts as plugins and addons (widgets and gadgets) [ ] Kodi allows developers to create addons using a built-in (version 2.6 or higher depending on system ) and its own WindowXML, which together form an XML-based widget toolkit for which they can extend the capability of Kodi by creating a for.

Python scripts allow non-developers to themselves create new add-ons for Kodi, using Python. Application programming interface (API) [ ] Other than the (APIs) available to third-party Python scripts and addon plugins, Kodi features several other APIs for controlling Kodi remotely or from an external application. These APIs includes a server,,, (with UPnP MediaServer ControlPoint, UPnP MediaRenderer DCP, UPnP RenderingControl DCP, and UPnP Remote User Interface server), and a custom multi-protocol Event Server for remote controls. GUI-engine and skinning (themes) [ ] Kodi/XBMC is noted as having a very flexible and robust for its. With its underlying complex (named libGUI in Kodi/XBMC), it provides a simple between the application code and the interface, while allowing extremely flexible dynamic layouts and animations that are easy to work with and makes it possible to create completely unique for XBMC. The skin files are written in, using a standard base, making - and personal customization very accessible. Software limitations [ ] This is a list of software limitations in the Kodi/XBMC source code: • Kodi's own internal cross-platform video and audio players ( DVDPlayer and PAPlayer) cannot officially play any audio or video files that are with (DRM) technologies for, meaning audio files purchased from such as,,,, and video files protected with or proprietary DRM.

Such files can be played only by using another media player supporting DRM, or by removing the DRM protection from the file. • As of February 2014 Kodi supported plug-ins written in the Python script language and add-ons. Reception [ ] Kodi won a in 2014 for 'Best Media Player' in their entertainment selection. Kodi won two 2006 Community Choice Awards. In the 2007 Community Choice Awards, Kodi was nominated finalist in six categories. Also in the 2008 Community Choice Awards Kodi won an award for Best Project for Gamers. With decision to discontinue Windows Media Center (WMC) starting Windows 10, htpcBeginner.com voted Kodi not only as the best WMC alternative but also in many ways better than WMC.

Acer Aspire 3000 Ethernet Controller Driver. See also: Xbox Media Center (XBMC) was the successor to the Xbox Media Player (XBMP) software. Xbox Media Player development stopped on 13 December 2003, by which time its successor was ready for its debut, renamed as it was growing out of its 'player' name and into a 'center' for media playback.

The first stable release of XBMC was on 29 June 2004, with the official release of XboxMediaCenter 1.0.0. This announcement also encouraged everyone using XBMP or XBMC Beta release to update, as all support for those previous versions would be dropped, and they would only support version 1.0.0. Not featured in XBMP, the addition of embedded was given the ability to draw interface elements in the GUI, and allowed user and community generated scripts to be executed within the XBMC environment.

With the release of 1.0.0 in the middle of 2004, work continued on the XBMC project to add more features, such as support for iTunes features like DAAP and Smart Playlists, as well as lots of improvements and fixes. The second stable release of XBMC, 1.1.0, was released on 18 October 2004.

This release included support for more media types, file types, container formats, as well as video playback of Nullsoft streaming videos and karaoke support (CD-G). After two years of heavy development, XBMC announced a stable point final release of XBMC 2.0.0 on 29 September 2006.

Even more features were packed into the new version with the addition of RAR and zip archive support, a brand new player interface with support for multiple players. Such players include PAPlayer, the new audio/music player with crossfade, gapless playback and ReplayGain support, and the new DVDPlayer with support for menu and navigation support as well as ISO/img image parsing.

Prior to this point release, XBMC just used a modified fork of for all of its media needs, so this was a big step forward. Support for iTunes 6.x DAAP, and Upnp Clients for streaming was also added. A reworked Skinning Engine was included in this release to provide a more powerful way to change the appearance of XBMC. The last two features include read-only support for FAT12/16/32 formatted devices, and a 'skinnable' 3D visualizer. The release of XBMC 2.0.1 on 12 November 2006 contained numerous fixes for bugs that made it through the 2.0.0 release.

This also marked the change from CVS to SVN (Subversion) for the development tree. On 29 May 2007, the team behind XBMC put out a call for developers interested in porting XBMC to the Linux operating system.

A few developers on Team-XBMC had already begun porting parts of XBMC over to Linux using SDL and OpenGL as a replacement for DirectX, which XBMC was using heavily on the Xbox version of XBMC. Development on the Git codebase is continuing and the versioning scheme has been changed to reflect the release year and month, e.g., 8.10, 9.04, 9.11, 10.05.

On 27 May 2010, the team behind XBMC announced the splitting of the Xbox branch into a new project; 'XBMC4Xbox' which will continue the development and support of XBMC for the old Xbox hardware platform as a separate project, with the original XBMC project no longer offering any support for the Xbox. On 2 January 2011, XBMC moved the source code repository from to, hosted. On 1 August 2014, an announcement was made of release 14 and name change to Kodi. Releases [ ] This is a release history with condensed change-log lists for the most important added or removed notable new features, functions, and changed in each stable version of Kodi/XBMC. 2 October 2003. Archived from the original on 2 October 2003. Retrieved 18 December 2016.

CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown () •. November 16, 2017.

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By Published One year on from the release of the PlayStation 4 Pro, the fortunes of Sony's 'supercharged' console have varied. While titles like Gran Turismo Sport and Horizon Zero Dawn have demonstrated just how well console titles can scale to 4K HDR displays, too many games are delivering lacklustre results that only offer a smaller, more incremental upgrade over the base PS4 experience. Now it's Microsoft's turn, with the new offering more of a brute force approach to tackling the 4K challenge. The rationale behind the Xbox One X's hardware specification is simple: if ultra HD resolution uses four times as many pixels as standard 1080p, why not make the graphics hardware in the new box four times more powerful than the existing base console? And in a world where the PC versions of multi-platform titles can eat up eight gigs of VRAM owing to their higher resolution artwork aimed at 4K displays, why not bump up the memory provision of the new machine to a massive 12GB of GDDR5? Is it a strategy that hands in more consistent results than we've seen over the last year on PlayStation 4 Pro? The early evidence looks positive but certainly in terms of the scope of this review, the jury is still out.

While we've had a generous amount of time with the Xbox One X hardware, the fact is that high-profile X-enhanced titles available for us to test during the review period have been disappointingly thin on the ground. Gears of War 4 amounts to the only triple-A first party game we had any decent amount of time with, while third party titles have been slow to appear. On top of that, Microsoft's masterstroke in providing free 4K enhanced versions of Xbox 360 titles is another fascinating aspect of the offering we've barely had a chance to look at - Halo 3, Fallout 3 and Oblivion receiving updates just a couple of days away from the review embargo.

The upshot of this is that our hands-on experience of how existing titles scale up on the new hardware hasn't changed that much from the preview period, when we actually had access to more Xbox One X code and a larger range of key games. So, if you're coming to this review looking for a more definitive answer to the question of how PS4 Pro and Xbox One X compare, prepare for disappointment. Microsoft tells us that the paucity of properly X-enabled software will be resolved by the time the system launches on November 7th and to be fair, the volume of updates has certainly ramped up in the last couple of days.

Here's the complete Digital Foundry video review for the Xbox One X hardware. Thermal analysis of the Xbox One X. The skin of the console above the processor hits 45 degrees Celsius - but things get much hotter at the rear vents with a 67 degrees measurement. We recommend giving the back of the unit a decent amount of clearance. Xbox One X Xbox One Xbox One S Power Off 'Rest Mode' 26W-39W 15W-25W 9W-16W Idle Dashboard 50W 48W 25W Watching Blu-ray 55W 60W 33W Watching UHD Blu-ray 61W - 40W Doom 2016 131W 110W 70W Gears of War 4 128W/175W 110W 70W We have a Project Scorpio Edition pre-order arriving on launch day, so if a shop-bought console acts any differently, we'll be sure to let you know - but based on the hardware we have in hand for review purposes, it seems that Microsoft's gambit in matching each console's mainboard with the precise power requirements of each individual Scorpio Engine processor has paid off. But by extension, not every piece of silicon is created equal - and we'll be interested to see if there is the variation found in PS4 Pro (we have two Sony machines, one of which is much, much louder than the other). As an aside, it would be remiss of us not to mention that, as quiet as the console is under load, it's even more discreet when running in its various backwards compatibility modes.

Running original Xbox One software, Xbox One X is as whisper-quiet as the original model - even if it's tackling titles like Battlefield 1 or Doom 2016, which deploy more of the Scorpio Engine's power to produce higher frame-rates while maxing out their dynamic resolution scalers. Just how quietly Xbox One X operates is even more surprising considering its power draw. When idling on the dashboard, the machine is essentially on par with the original Xbox One in terms of the juice it pulls from the wall, a situation that extends to Blu-ray playback too.

However, when powered down in Microsoft's equivalent to 'rest mode', Xbox One X can pull up to 50W - which is not insignificant [ UPDATE: Microsoft has been in touch and says that the extra power draw here may be down to an update downloading in the background - we'll update when we've tested it]. 175W is the maximum we could extract from the machine when running the enhanced Gears of War 4 - however, we noted a far lower 128W in the game's 1080p60 performance mode. Running at full pelt, our Xbox One X only increases power draw by about 20W compared to PlayStation 4 Pro - not bad considering the gulf in power between them that the specs suggest. By virtue of its smaller processor running on the current 16nm FinFET process from chip fabrication giant TSMC, Xbox One S is easily the most power-efficient Microsoft console on the market right now. As expected, the new X model - using the same fabrication node - is profligate in consumption by comparison, but the engineering required in making it as quiet as its companion console is simply extraordinary. Back in April, we said that this was console design taken to a new level - and the final hardware does not disappoint. We tested a big bunch of Xbox One games on Xbox One X - just what kind of improvements are there?

How much faster do games run, how is image quality improved and what about dynamic scaling? The new console also ranks highly in terms of its backward-compatible game support.

Microsoft promised faster loading via the faster CPU, hard drive and RAM disk (Xbox One X's extra memory is used as a vast cache) along with improved performance, enforced v-sync, 16x anisotropic texture filtering and the ability to push games that utilise dynamic resolutions to their maximum pixel counts. In all areas, Microsoft has not disappointed. In terms of loading times, we saw an extended Witcher 3 load drop from one minute 45 seconds to just 45 seconds - remarkably, Xbox One X shaved off an entire minute. A fast travel jump in the same game also saw loading times drop from 45 seconds on a base Xbox One to just 19 on Xbox One X.

The same game also benefitted from an immensely improved visual presentation owing to two factors: that 16x texture filtering boost and fully utilising dynamic resolution scaling. In prior Witcher 3 testing, the title always seemed to resolve to 900p and we could never shift that pixel count - but even without its upcoming X-enhanced patch installed (we're still waiting for that), the new console delivered a locked 1080p. The best example of how increased resolution via dynamic scaling and improved texture filtering can improve the look of a game comes via Halo 5.

Known for its low-res imagery and blurry ground textures, Xbox One X radically transforms the look of the game. The irony here is that by the time you read this, an X-enhanced 4K patch will be available - but the fact is that even without it, it's a huge upgrade. In terms of performance lifts, most games simply lock more closely to their target frame-rates, be it 30fps or 60fps. In some scenarios, the uplift is slight.

A game like Grand Theft Auto 5 already locks to 1080p30 for most of its duration - Xbox One X simply irons out the few drops beneath. In other titles, it is more noticeable: screen-tearing in Batman Arkham Knight is gone, and the lurches and stutters when driving through Gotham at speed in the Batmobile are also completely resolved. Doom's post-process heavy aesthetic doesn't lend itself well to screenshot comparisons, but Xbox One X is resolving higher frame-rates and resolution. Check out Doom Guy's hand and the specular reflection in the bottom left. It's games with unlocked frame-rates that allow us to see just what this machine can do, though. Hitman, predictably, doesn't have its Xbox One X patch out at the time of testing, but in its standard form, you can run it with an unlocked frame-rate, where we saw up to an 80 per cent increase in performance.

Oddworld New 'n' Tasty is a rare title to offer both a 30fps lock and unlocked frame-rate support. It's not quite locking to 60fps, but the largest delta between base and X performance is a creditable 70 per cent. Another cool test to try - the original on-disc code for Assassin's Creed Unity also has an unlocked frame-rate. On Xbox One X, the early stages of the game hit 50-60fps, temporarily transforming the game. We say 'temporarily', because the weakness in Xbox One X's back-compat support is linked directly to the lowest spec bump offered by the new hardware - the 31 per cent bump to CPU clocks. Microsoft has tweaked AMD's Jaguar design (specifically by adding more cache), but fundamentally, the processor cores are the same, just running at 2.3GHz instead of the base 1.75GHz.

What that means is that performance increases where the console is CPU-limited are less impressive, typically in the 20 to 30 per cent range - something we measured by taking both Hitman and Assassin's Creed Unity through their respective NPC-packed Paris stages. Where Xbox One X works best with library titles is in how it tackles dynamic resolution scaling. This is the process of adjusting the pixel count of any given frame on the fly, reducing GPU load to keep frame-rates smoother. On these titles, Xbox One X showed enormous improvement over the same code running on base hardware.

Id software's excellent Doom 2016 reboot locks to 1080p and runs flawlessly at 60 frames per second, showing clear performance and image quality enhancements. It'll be interesting to see how the actual Xbox One X patch improves matters here. Battlefield 1 gains a similarly revelatory improvement, running flawlessly with an obviously higher pixel count. Call of Duty Infinite Warfare is post-process-heavy and features a horizontal dynamic scaler. The improvement to image quality isn't immediately obvious, but the near constant performance drops and tearing found on original Xbox One hardware are completely gone.

Also well worth checking out is the Final Fantasy 15 Platinum demo - a notoriously poor performer on both PS4 and Xbox One. Base hardware features a low resolution and some sub-20fps action - running the demo on Xbox One X sees the pixel-count hit a 1080p maximum and performance, while not perfect, is radically improved.

All of the enhancements Xbox One titles get extends to Xbox 360 games too. Metal Gear Rising here runs at a locked 60fps and gets enhanced texture filtering and shorter load times. Microsoft's support for Xbox 360 is no less impressive - and you can feel the difference straight away with lightning fast loading speeds. We instantly put the hardware to the test by rolling out two of our favourite games - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Bayonetta. Both aim for 60fps but fall well short on original hardware. There are clear advantages to running these games on the standard Xbox One, but neither lock to 60fps, still dropping frames in the most intense scenes.

Xbox One X achieves a clean result here, offering the smoothest experience we've seen. We also tested several Call of Duty titles, and again, frame-rates were locked, significantly improved over the already creditable Xbox One showings and a big improvement over the original model. The only exception to the rule came from Call of Duty 3, which still wobbles somewhat. Regardless, all titles showed significant improvements, and the hardware really delivers for users who've held onto their existing collections.

Pushing emulation to the limit here isn't easy, but we thought we'd roll out Grand Theft Auto 4 with its unlocked frame-rate to see what happens. Original Xbox 360 hardware varies dramatically from the low 20s to around 40fps. In our tests, Xbox One X handed in performance from 35fps in the busiest city scenes to a full-fat 60fps in many cutscenes and less complex areas. It's not exactly the way we'd want to play the game but the performance bump is noticeable. Again, owing to the fact that code only dropped a couple of days ago, we didn't have much time to test one of Xbox One X's most impressive party tricks - the ability to run old games at 4K resolution.

It's a great feature that's well worth experimenting with, the Microsoft back-compat team essentially hacking into the original game code and making improvements by enforcing higher resolutions and removing texture mip-map transitions, forcing the highest quality art to resolve across the scene. We carried out some initial tests on Oblivion (which initially resolved at 1024x600 on Xbox 360) and found that not only is there a big resolution bump, but performance is improved too. The gallery above demonstrates the enhancements and they are extraordinary. Gears of War 4 was the first X-enhanced title we could play.

Whether you're using the native 4K, 30fps mode or the performance mode that aims for 1080p60, you're in for a great time. And the HDR support demonstrated here really is first class. But Xbox One X is a machine designed for the future, to perfectly complement a potential 4K display upgrade - and outside of the gaming arena, Microsoft has work to do. While the UHD Blu-ray drive is a feature that sets Xbox One X apart from PS4 Pro, elsewhere, the systems's 4K media playback functions do seem lacking. The onboard media player can't cope with the 4K media we produce for our video download site,, and while Netflix does support both 4K and HDR, Amazon only ticks the ultra HD box, meaning that high dynamic range isn't available. Meanwhile, another rich source of 4K and HDR content - YouTube - is also served by a really poor app that provides neither. The bottom line is that both the Panasonic and LG OLED displays we tested with Xbox One X support 4K media better than Microsoft's new console - and that's a shame, not to mention a real opportunity for the platform holder.

While LG's WebOS front-end is a joy to use, we can't say the same for the Panasonic or Samsung front-ends, which the Xbox One X could replace with a far superior interface. To give Microsoft credit, the new dashboard is a massive improvement over prior efforts - fast, slick and responsive, it's logically designed and works beautifully. The one fly in the ointment here is that if you run Xbox One X on a 4K screen, you're still getting a 1080p dashboard, upscaled - just as it is on the S model. When we visited Microsoft at the end of March, the original plan was to reserve 1GB of RAM for the upgraded ultra HD dashboard, leaving 8GB total for developers.

Microsoft tells us that game-makers said that they could use the extra memory, so plans for the 4K front-end were dropped. GameDVR has been upgraded to support 4K media and this does still operate in ultra HD, but otherwise, all elements of the dash are a little bit blurry owing to the upscale. The bottom line? Xbox One X features nine gigs for games, with 3GB reserved for the system.

Of course, users of standard full HD displays won't be too upset by the 1080p dashboard - and we can confirm that of the limited X-enhanced 4K titles we played, they did indeed super-sample down to 1080p, offering exceptional anti-aliasing. It's a boon for sure, but running the X-enhanced Gears of War 4 on a 4K HDR display, the improvement to the experience is simply phenomenal.

That's what the machine was built for, and that's where it shines. Clearly, there are benefits running Xbox One X on a full HD screen, but to be frank, it's nothing like the full-fat experience. While Xbox One X has a significantly higher hardware spec than PS4 Pro, it's going to be down to developer support to make those extra teraflops count.

Some games show big improvements, but there will be games like FIFA 18 here which only show the most marginal of boosts. Microsoft Xbox One X: the Digital Foundry verdict The workmanship that's gone into Microsoft's latest console is exceptional. To quadruple graphics power over the original model but to retain essentially the same form factor and the same acoustics points to a level of engineering that really does take console design to the next level. Xbox One X is a beautifully designed little box that does the job assigned to it without taking up much space or making much noise - the latter being our biggest bugbear with PlayStation 4. Beyond that, what we can definitely say is that the machine is a love letter to the core gamer, with many forward-looking features. The implementation of FreeSync support - something we didn't have time to fully test - is the kind of feature we didn't expect to see until at least the next console generation. Meanwhile, the backwards compatibility features really are superb - if you've stayed with Xbox across the generations, you're in for a real treat here.

There's a sense that Microsoft is paying homage to its roots, honouring its past successes and making genuine efforts in curating a great library - all at no cost to the user. But we end this review with key questions unanswered.

To what extent is a better games console than PS4 Pro if you're considering a 4K display purchase? Well, the specs suggest that we should get significantly higher resolutions and/or smoother frame-rates, along with a potentially big increase in texture quality. And in the preview phase, titles like Shadow of War and Rise of the Tomb Raider clearly exhibited big upgrades over their Pro counterparts. But in terms of quantifying the difference based on final software, we have little to go on right now. We'll be reporting in more depth on key titles over the coming days and weeks. The question of whether Xbox One owners should invest in the new console is certainly easier to answer compared to the same choice facing potential PS4 Pro owners upgrading from the base Sony hardware.

Your existing library of games runs better - sometimes a lot better, and with a 4.6x boost to GPU power, you're far more likely to notice the difference compared to the 2.3x upgrade offered by Pro. Many of the games we have seen in the preview period do look better than Pro equivalents too - but for now, the jury is still out there. But really, it all comes down to whether you own a 4K screen or are considering investing in one. The right ultra HD display with decent HDR support really does offer a huge improvement in many cases over standard 1080p.

Forza 7's precision lines and often beautiful lighting are a world apart from the base Xbox One experience, while the richness of detail in Gears of War 4 (or the doubling in frame-rate, if you prefer) are transformative experiences. Work needs to be done on beefing up the lacklustre 4K media support, but as a top-tier games machine, Xbox One X is an excellent piece of kit. You can support Digital Foundry's work and gain access to our by for just $5 a month.