Turns out "later in December" wasn't that long at all for YouTube. The video portal is now available as an Xbox Live app for beta users, rolling out less than one week after the new Dashboard. It should appear in the apps marketplace window. YouTube shares the same Metro UI look as the rest of the platform and features Kinect support as well as access to your Watch Later, Playlists, Favorites, and Subscriptions. You can like / dislike from within the video, show captions and get a glimpse of the description. No sign of comments anywhere, but many will regard this as a Good Thing. HD playback works clearly but not without a few infinite hiccups that required backing in and out, and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get our favorite Phoenix and Daft Punk bootleg concert video to work. Here's hoping public release isn't too far off.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]




There are 52 Comments. Add yours.
Now I have three ways to get YouTube on the telley! Great!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 2:56 PM EST reply Recommend (3) Flag actions
Best thing ever!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 2:56 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Like this if you don’t like comments.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 2:56 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Lik dis if you cry everytim
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:34 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Looks nice and clean!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:08 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
If you do a Bing search via the dashboard, does it search YouTube? Better yet, can you do Voice Search in any of the apps? Using a controller is ANNOYING.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:09 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You can’t use voice search in any of the apps I’ve tried (definitely not YouTube) and Bing doesn’t appear to search them. Not even Netflix. It’s a shame, really.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:11 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Bing searches Netflix.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:43 PM EST reply Recommend (2) Flag actions
Works just fine for me in Netflix. Though not YouTube yet.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:53 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
And… my link didn’t go through. http://db.tt/icRmUqgm
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:53 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Third time’s a charm?
http://youtu.be/-oNxJCQSpNY
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:07 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I forgot, Hulu is integrated with Bing search as well.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 5:06 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Hulu and Netflix are in Bing Search and the beta YouTube channel has a voice search option that doesn’t work yet. I’d assume they’d throw it in and flip the switch on once it’s out of beta or maybe next beta release.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 5:10 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m a fan, if only because it’s the best solution I have for watching it on my TV (using the PS3, Wii, or Roku is pretty terrible). Seems to have a small bug where playlists with over 100 items show up with only 100, but I can’t imagine that affects too many people. My only issue with it is that it seems a bit slow and changes to your playlists don’t always show up right away (I had to log out and log in to make a deleted playlist disappear). Oh, and searching is awful because it uses the horizontal line keyboard instead of the normal 360 on screen one. Might be time to get a keyboard for my controller.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:13 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
YouTube ! hurry up and come out to play on my Xbox!! becuz it is terrible on the Ps3…. I mean reeeally terrible.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:14 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
For the two days I’ve been using the app it’s been nice for the most part, though like the article says there are quite a few hiccups here and there. There also seems to be some content that isn’t available in the app even if it is through their normal web portal, but I’m not sure if that’s just a glitch, or if it’s due to copyright issues as it will occasionally read “not all content available” or some variation of that. Again, nothing truly significant, but frustrating nonetheless.
That being said, the app is truly a welcome addition and definitely better than no youtube access at all.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:17 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Great! Now I can show people Awkward Black Girl and they may take it more seriously on “the big tv”.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:21 PM EST via mobile reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Yay, I love Awkward Black Girl!!!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 6:14 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
The Wii plays Youtube videos via the browser since it’s first year (I think). What’s taking Microsoft so long?
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:27 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
They don’t want to just make a website and instead a cohesive experience?
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:14 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s called HD. I don’t want to watch 320p YouaTube stutter because its Flash running on a Wii.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 9:35 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’ll take 320p over nothing.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 9:46 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I have been waiting for this feature to be added to the xbox 360 forever. Yeah the ps3 and wii play youtube, but the quality really sucks. Looking forward to watching HD videos on good ole big screen.
Anyone want to comment on how HD videos look?
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:36 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
They look good… as long as the buffering doesn’t cycle in and out, which seems to be a problem intermittently.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:58 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
If MS keeps up this good work on making the ecosystem more attractive, it will be a tough decision for me as a PS3 owner when the next-gen consoles arrive…
on second thought though, gaming with no buttons!? Come on MS, are you Nintendo or what?
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:42 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It’s not “gaming without buttons” it’s “gaming without buttons required.” Hugely different.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:59 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
OMG, Trampoline!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:49 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I wonder if they will allow all of the Youtube videos or will Microsoft censor them. I was disappointed with the Xbox Live app because when I tried sending my friend a message with an offensive word in it, the app said that it couldn’t send it because of a “bad WiFi connection” that was until I changed the spelling.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 3:50 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
You have to login with your youtube account to watch material that’s been marked offensive by the youtube community.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:00 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Nice.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 5:48 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
This looks great. But overall I have to admit that the new dashboard is a big disappointment so far. While improved Kinect support is nice, it isn’t really a killer feature for me. But I really miss the old sounds! That “whoosh” effect gets annoying really quick and the usability got worse on many areas: text doesn’t fit on many small tile-like buttons while half the screen is empty and that grey Zune app looks boring if not terrible compared to the bold pink and black one before!
They changed a lot but improved just very few things while making a lot much worse.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:00 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I’m not sure I’ve seen a text issue on the smaller tiles, but I can see that, however, for the rest of your usability issues, how is having more menu items upfront and organized harder to use exactly? Also, how exactly does this dashboard update utilize less screen space then the last one?

It’s may not be perfect, but I’d say from a purely functional and usable perspective, it far surpasses it’s predecessor. The old one “used” more screen space, sure, but it was poorly laid out with several content sections that were vague as to their content, and no real way to figure out where you wanted or needed to go without paging through every single tile. Even as a user that uses it pretty commonly, I often found myself forgetting how to navigate to sections of the xbox dashboard since they were buried 3-4 levels in.
And anyhow, I also think it’s purdy,
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:20 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
Here are some examples:
- The main page for a game in Marketplace has tiles instead of buttons. Why? It doesn’t make sense and the text (German for me) doesn’t fit in there while half the screen is empty.
- switching a list, lets say you are looking at the most top games and you want to change to the best rated games you now have to open a menu and choose the new filter. In the previous dashboard you only had to go “up”.
- navigating on the home screen was easier before. It was only up, down for the main items and left, right for the sub items.
- navigating a list is easier than navigating a grid of tiles. That’s not only the case on the home screen but also in many other areas in the Marketplace for games or Zune
- to be efficient on the home screen you have to use more controls if you don’t want to use the menu on top. I guess many people don’t even know that they can flip through those extra large tiles with multiple content in them.
- the new sounds! Ohh I hate them!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 6:14 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Here is a screenshot to show the problem with long text on tiles:

“Am häufigsten…” is German for “most…” but you don’t see what it is: most top rated? Most downloaded?
And the first large selected tile has text that needs to move as well.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 6:19 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Here is the “old” one for comparison:

Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 6:30 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Okay, I see your point for the zune app, I did like the way (most) functionality was laid out. As for the tiles bit, I haven’t had much of an issue with it in English, but I suppose there could have been (or still will be) an alternative solution to let people see the whole title before clicking through. Although I’d still argue that having the tiles is more effective to navigate than the drawn out lists if for no other reason than immediacy it achieves. I agree that the learning curve is a little more steep than with previous iterations, but I think it allows for more “advanced” functionality.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 9:58 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I agree, I think the whole thing is a little bit of a let down.
The only saving grace for me is that the netflix app actually remembers what I was browsing. I use to hate the netflix app from before when I would be scrolling through to find something to watch, and then accidentally hit another button and it would take me out of the menu I was in. When I went back into the genre I was browsing it would show the listing from the beginning, and I’d have to scroll for forever to find where I was. It’s sad that this is all I am happy about in regards to this update. :P
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 6:42 PM EST reply Recommend (1) Flag actions
What I really want to know is.. How does it integrate with the Companion App ? I don’t really want to have to use my controller to enter text !
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:01 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Finally, a Google app on a Microsoft product that doesn’t simply mimic the website
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:05 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Why is this only available for the beta testers? Didn’t the beta period end when they pushed out the dashboard update?
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:23 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
It didn’t, they’re all still under an NDA for probably the rest of the year. They have early access to YouTube, UFC, iHeart Radio and some other apps.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 5:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
That sucks for me. The one time I don’t sign up for early beta & I miss out on all this stuff. I also heard the beta testers got to watch the UFC fight for free over the weekend too.
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 7:34 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 11:01 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I CAN’T WAIT for this! The PS3 has been the only way I can access YouTube on my tv but it’s just a horrible experience. I’m stoked!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 4:32 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
So when will we get a dedicated YouTube app for Windows Phone? No rush though, MetroTube works great
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 5:07 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
I really couldn’t imagine how the official Google app could be better than Metrotube
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 5:14 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Do you have to enable something to play HD videos as the trailers all seems to look like SD, I can see above the time line three markers and a HD symbol but the picture in noway looks HD?
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 5:29 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
My only problem with the YouTube app is the restrictions of content like the Anime Channel that is sponsored by Sony & Bandai Entertainment. If it’s content that’s freely available on YouTube? Why is it being artificially restricted from being viewed on the Xbox 360? This is absolutely frustrating that we’re not getting 100% functionality thanks to content owners who just don’t get it!
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 7:06 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
Hope to see this go public soon. I really can’t wait for Xfinity and HBO GO, hopefully by ‘early 2012’ they mean January, not March or April. Still kicking my ass for not signing up for the beta program. My Apple TV is quickly losing it’s purpose in my living room, the Xbox keeps getting better and better..
Posted on Dec 12, 2011 | 10:25 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
gee’s, at this rate i’m going to need a second xbox to hook up to my second screen so i can consume my content on an xbox while playing my games on an xbox. they are really being inconsiderate of their core ADD aflicted audience!
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 9:35 AM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
this app was one i was most excited about but its next to useless.here in the UK pretty much everything is blocked and any video i want to watch is blocked,its not called youtube its more like whatwesayyoucanwatchtube. hopefully its just because its in beta testing.
Posted on Dec 13, 2011 | 3:41 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
can someone please tell me how to get youtube its not in the marketplace i cant find it please help email me at roheembrown@rocketmail.com
Posted on Dec 20, 2011 | 12:57 PM EST reply Recommend Flag actions
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