Microsoft has announced its plans to upgrade the Xbox One's inbuilt video capture solution, "Game DVR," as a part of the console's next major update this fall. Among the improvements is a bump in recording resolution to 1080p and support for saving video directly to external hard drives. Furthermore, these improvements are rolling out today ahead of time, for those enrolled in the Alpha Ring of the Xbox Insider Program.
When the Xbox One first launched, the company drove home the social aspects of Xbox Live, while introducing an integrated capture solution for gameplay known as Game DVR. Nearly four years on, the feature remains a core feature of the Xbox One, allowing gamers to capture both upcoming events and moments passed.
However, until now, Game DVR has limited recordings to 720p resolution at 30 frames per second (FPS), despite several games hitting 1080p resolution today. Following the update, Game DVR will now capture at 1080p by default, delivering a significant bump in resolution.
The new update will also change how clips can be recorded, allowing captures to automatically save to an external hard drive. Previously, support for external hard drives was limited to the installation of games and apps, while system-level features remained bound to the console's internal hard drive. This change should be welcomed by many – especially those using the entry-level consoles packing an easily-filled 500GB hard drive.
This follows the confirmation that Microsoft's upcoming flagship console, Xbox One X, will deliver improvements to Game DVR, to take advantage of the device's vastly increased resources. While 4K, 60 FPS, High Dynamic Range (HDR) recordings will be possible with the new console, seeing a somewhat unexpected resolution bump on standard hardware is a welcome surprise.
For those in the Alpha Ring of the Xbox Insider program, 1080p Game DVR will be made available in the latest update, rolling out at 9 p.m. / 6 p.m. PT on September 13. Other Xbox Insiders can expect to get hands-on in the weeks ahead, with a public release on track for later this year. As always, let us know your thoughts on the upgrade in the comments section.
