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Sony To Use PS2 Chip In Flat-Screen TVs

Posted by simoniker on from the precursor dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its news story reporting that Sony is intending to use the PlayStation 2's CPU chip in a flat-screen TV that will be released in Japan this fall. According to the story: "Sony plans to take advantage of the PS2 chip's CG capabilities to create a high-quality graphical user interface (GUI) for the flat-screen TV [apparently similar to the PSX's DVR menu in style], which will allow smooth and easy control in navigating the TV's menu." There's no indication of any game-like functions for the TV, but: "The release of the new flat-screen TV can also be considered as the prelude to Sony's next-generation electronic products, some of which are expected to operate using the PS3's Cell chip when they are released in 2006."

3 of 26 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Well done Sony.. by blueZhift · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I concur. Given the money they've invested in chip development, it's good to see that they are getting the most out of it. That can only mean good things for gamers too as economies of scale further push down the cost of manufacture which usually means less cost for the consumer. It'll be interesting to see if once the PS3 makes its debut, if Sony will later release slimmed down, sexed up version of the PS2 maybe a PSTwo...

    --
    To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
  2. Not News by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This kind of thing has been talked about for a LONG time... hell, before the PS2 was even produced, that the "emotion engine" chip would be used for a wide variety of things outside of the PS2 because of its power.

    I know you die hard XBox fans love to beat down the PS2, but the only reason it hasnt become the undisputed king, was the bad decision to limit the Video RAM to 4MB.

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  3. Can we get one of these in my cable box? by Jerf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can we get one of these in my cable box? I can't believe it is two thousand fucking four and it takes upwards of three seconds for my cable box to register even the simplest of keypresses. I could program a damn Commodore 64 to be more responsive than that.

    Comcast wonders why nobody seems to want their video on demand. I'll tell you why: Because even to scan their free stuff, you have to dedicate five minutes of your time, laboriously cursoring here, waiting for the cursor to get there, waiting, waiting, cursoring to the next thing, waiting, waiting, waiting, and hesitantly pushing the "action" button, and waiting, waiting, only to find you had one more cursor action queued up and waiting, waiting for it to take effect, waiting, waiting, waiting for the action to take effect on the wrong screen, pressing "back" too many times in frustration, and finally finding yourself back at the normal TV view, only to start this all again... except, maybe not.

    My first-generation TiVo sometimes annoys me (I think the later ones are a lot more responsive), but I still love it. My cable box is utterly unusable. With one of these chips in there it would improve the user experience... well, almost infinitely since right now the user experience is effectively "zero".