Over the next few articles we are going to give new arrivals to the Xbox family a quick guide so that you can get the most out of your new console. We’ll be covering Xbox Live, peripherals & accessories, and must-have games for your blossoming collection. First up we’re going to start with absolute basics, the console itself.
Connections
The first thing you’re going to need to do when you get your new console is plug it in. The power connections are pretty obvious, as are USB sockets and the Ethernet port. The main problem that people have is with connecting the console to their television. There are two HDMI ports on the rear of the box; you need to run a HDMI cable from your TV to the ‘HDMI out’ port of your console. If you want to connect your satellite/cable box, that should be connected to the ‘HDMI in’ port of the Xbox. When you’ve connected it all up turn on the console with the power button on the front right of the console that looks like the Xbox logo.
Controller
Once you have the console communicating correctly with the TV you need to hook the controller up. The battery compartment is underneath the controller, at the front, so pop the supplied batteries in. To turn the controller on you press the Xbox logo button in the centre. This button should flash and then stay on, if it doesn’t then you will need to sync the controller to the console. You do this by pressing the sync button on each unit. The controller’s sync button is located between the two bumper (shoulder) buttons. The sync button on the Xbox One S can be found on the bottom right-hand side at the front of the console (it’s on the section that isn’t as deep as the rest of the console). On the original console it’s the silver button on the right side of the console that kind of blends into the disc drive. If you are still having difficulty syncing the controller up you can always use a USB-to-micro-USB to connect the controller to console (which will automatically sync the controller). To do this with the original console use the socket under the sync button, and on the Xbox One S it can be found underneath the disc drive at the front but again on the section that isn’t as deep as the rest of the console (all the way at the bottom).
Games
Unlike the last generation of consoles, to play games this generation you are required to install the games onto the hard drive of your console. You can do this by either downloading the game (if you have bought it digitally or been given a code for the title) or inserting the game disk. This does mean that you will have to wait a little while before you can start playing the game, but lots of games will enable you to play before the installation has finished. Press the button that says ‘Games & Apps’ which is the second tile down on the home screen or you can access it by pressing the guide button (with the lit up Xbox logo) on your controller and pressing down once (it’s the left-hand option of the three). From this screen you can also start any game that is on your hard drive as well as seeing games available for download that are already on your Xbox Live account.
Movies
To watch a Blu ray or DVD on your console just insert the disc into the console. The console will automatically download the Blu ray player app if you haven’t already installed it. You can also download movies from Xbox Live, either by purchasing them or renting a title. When the movie starts playing you can either control it with the Xbox One Media Remote (available separately) or by using your controller. If you are using the controller there are a few shortcuts that you might find useful. The ‘X’ button will pause and unpause the video. To skip chapters you use the bumper/shoulder buttons, the left bumper will go back a chapter and the right bumper will skip forward to the next chapter. The left trigger will rewind the video, while the right trigger will fast forward the video. Pressing the menu button (the button on the right-hand side of the Xbox logo that is in the same position as the start button on the Xbox 360 controller) will bring up the pop-up menu for the disk. Alternatively if you press ‘B’ or ‘Y’ you will bring up the on-screen playback controls. Don’t forget that if you have an Xbox One S or Xbox One X your console will also play 4K Blu rays.
Well, that covers the absolute basics of the console, why not check out the next lesson in our Xbox 101 series which is all about peripherals and accessories.
