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LocationFree Television In Tokyo
Jonny Marx writes "A hands-on review from Tokyo suggests that LoctionFree Television works at long last. There are also photos of it in action, streaming pre-recorded TV over the net to a mobile PSP." From the article: "Sony's previous LocationFree TV products required the use of a dedicated portable terminal -- essentially a portable LCD TV with Wi-Fi connection -- that not only added to the cost of the system but could also be a hassle to carry around, especially for people who already travel with a laptop PC. Recognizing this, or perhaps responding to competition from two U.S. start-ups offering similar products, the latest iteration of the technology, the LF-PK1, isn't so fussy and will stream to laptop PCs running Sony's LocationFree Player or to a PlayStation Portable (PSP) running firmware version 2.5 (a free upgrade to this version is available via the PSP's network update function)."
I bet this software doesn't do anything evil to the PCs it touches.
Do or do not. There is no try. --Yoda
So why not reverse it and and use our broadband connections at home for location free network access? Now I'd buy that...
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The ability to use the PSP as a portable window to my living room certainly sounds like an interesting proposition so I test drove the system for a couple of weeks to see how it works in real life and the verdict is: pretty well.
;-)
It's a portable window into TV. I'm not quite sure that I understand the point and it seems like an awful waste of money and bandwidth. Why not just prerecord the content and then move it to the device and watch it? Is live TV that big of a deal?
BTW -- you have to upgrade the firmware on the PSP to use this... I wonder why that is
PSP hasn't been out on the market long, and firmware updates are coming out as fast as hacks can be made for them.
To me, that is funny. The endless waltz of people releasing useful software for them(emulators), and then Sony does an upate soon after, with an incentive like a browser, wireless tv, etc.
Maybe I'll get a PSP when the dust settles.
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...do you really need that much your regular dose of TV when you are in travel?. Seems a little extreme to me
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Someone has finally done it and made the major breakthrough of broadcasting television signals instead of passing them over cable or narrow WiFi connections. This is amazing and a great step forward.
I wonder what would be next? Someone might consider something that would enable music to be broadcast to special receivers wirelessly, using the new research-and-development IO (RadIO) technology. This could be the true innovation of the 21st century.
You're right. When I read the summary, I thought this was referring to IP TV, like television content being beamed to your PSP or laptop.
It is, but only sort of. The idea is that you have a base station set up at your house, and your PSP or laptop is a receiver for television from your base station. In other words, you're getting the IP "signal" from your base station, not from the content providers directly. The content providers are still using traditional means of getting tv to your base station (i.e. cable, broadcast, or satellite).
You have to use Sony's software (or hardware, if using a PSP) to access your base station. Frankly, I'm not so sure I trust Sony's software on my machine. Their record recently in this regard isn't too encouraging. Aren't there already open source alternatives that will let you have this kind of functionality already? I mean, maybe not on the PSP, but at least on a laptop set up as a MythTV front end or something?
And personally, Location Free televsision doesn't get me too excited, because I'm never away from my house for that long a period at a time. What I'd really like to see is Network Executive Free television.
It's basically msft media center being used on a wireless network? I could have sworn this is already being done by http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/ont hego/default.mspx microsoft with the media center extenders (including the xbox 360) only you don't have to pay 300 bucks for a glorified external tv tuner card.
*yawn*
I've had my PSP for about a couple months now. I like like the interface and the fact that there is a large library of movies avaiable that I can watch on my PSP. I wish I could go down to Hollywood Video and rent some of the movies in PSP format. I also like the web browser feature despite the fact that everything is in one font.
However, I have no need for LocationFree Television. Not when there are other things that PSP users want such as a PDF reader for reading PDF files or a Flash file plug-in for playing games and watching animations on Newgrounds.com. Or perhaps the one thing ex-Clie users want: Time management software.
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...I don't see watching TV on it. I'm sure people would like to, but it seems a little over the top. I think everyone needs to step away from the TV at some point, and being able to carry it around with you on a PSP or other device just seems excessive to me. I bought a PSP to play GAMES, not watch TV. I wish the lines between the differences in certain products would stop being blurred into one another. From MY experiences, even in name brand products, a device made for ONE thing usually does that ONE thing really well, and a multifunction device usually has shoddy features and could be better. Eh... whoops, I think I started venting a little.
I forgot about this in my first post, but you can get the same function from Orb.com. My friend got me to purchase a PocketPC 6700 through Sprint (amazing device, same old Micro$oft problems) and their Vision service allows me to log in to the Orb site. With the Orb software running on any of my computers, I am able to have access to all of that content while mobile. Pretty schlick.
Do or do not. There is no try. --Yoda
I've been curious about Slingbox for TV on the go. I was also wondering if you could run DVR software without hardware with one as well. It'd solve some problems at home as well as on the go. I'd be curious to hear from anyone familiar with Slingboxes? Seems like a good solution, just not sure if it works as advertised.
Nokia today announced the demise of the N series, saying they will move to focus on TV on mobiles/handshelds in 2006 (in addition to other things)... br>
Someone knows something.
This all seems interesting, but a bit pricey if you ask me. I can copy shows from my TiVo to my PC on the home network and watch them on the PC without paying another nickel. In the U.S. at least, I think LocationFree TV is going to be up against some stiff competition in the form of TiVo To Go.
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This is similar to Digital Multimedia Broadcasting service which is available in Korea at this moment. What is available in Korea is location free Digital Satelite REAL TIME TV broadcast. Not a recorded VOD download or anything like that. So cell phones in Korea has chip in it so while you are moving you can watch digital channels just like you would watch at home without having carrying giant 3feet long antenna or 1foot wide satelitte dish, it is integrated into small chip with much smaller antenna which is small enough to fit into cellphones, laptops, PDAs. In Korea, you can get laptops, PDAs, GPS, cellphones capable of DMB. The phone from Samsung with DMB costs $700 at the cheapest. It will be available in Europe end of next year and in north America it will take more time, i guess.
Rewritten without sarcasm:
Someone has finally done it and made the major breakthrough of unicasting television signals instead of passing them over cable or narrow WiFi connections or forcing everybody to watch the same program at the same time. This is amazing and a great step forward.
Well, if you are believing Korea's DMB is remarkable, you might be Korean, or you are really foolish enough to believe one of Korean false claims.
DMB IS the Japanese technology. Japanese maker launched the service first (supposedly Korean maker planed to launch first but they got horrible technical problems), and Japan already had a DMB mobile device and service before Korean had implemented it. This PSP thing is about streaming TV through Internet, not receiving TV signal. It's not comparable.
I guess it would only work in Japan or Korea because our broadband is so piss poor in the U.S. Go regional monopolies!
Phillip
Now that it allows you to use the inexpensive PSP as your portable viewer the only expensive part of the setup is the base station. An interesting rumor that I read is the possibility that the PS3 will include the base station capability. So if you are a gamer the system is pretty much available at no added cost.
Also I think some people have been assuming too many limitations. Besides allowing you to view live TV from your home anywhere in the workd where you have broadband access it is also supposed to allow access to your DVR. Depending on how much content you keep on your DVR that could be a lot of content that is of interest to you. If you could add access to your entire DVD library that would make your media collection something that you could bring with you anywhere (assuming broadband availability).
There's a lot about this system that I think people are overlooking, and that's mainly that it will interface with things like your DVD player or DVR. Picture having a DVD player that has a disc changer in it, especially if it's one that can hold a large quantity of discs. If you could load up all of your favorite movies, or DVD TV sets into your DVD player, you can access them all from anywhere, and have them stream to your laptop or PSP, so long as you have a good internet connection. I don't know about a lot of people, but when I go on vacation, I don't like either paying for too expensive movies in hotels, or lugging my DVD collection around with me. Potentially, with location free, whatever is in your DVD player is accessible on your laptop or PSP. All I have to do is tell my DVD player to change discs. I'm assuming something like that is possible, especially if it can interface with a DVR quite easily. Since the base station can send out infra red signals to your home theater equipment, it should be possible. I think it would be pretty nice to be able to access my DVD collection, or even a portion of it, from anywhere, without having to worry about having the DVD present. You even might have the possibility to do this with CDs (although considering Sony's recent activity I have to wonder if it allows for streaming audio). You could also do this with a DVR, if the hotel you were staying in didn't have cable, but had internet access (like that happens), or if you wanted to access formerly recorded programs instead of the crap that's usually on. You could also use it for the TV streaming functionality. I'm wondering if you could even interface it with say... sattelite radio, if it allows for the transfer of audio. If you have your sattelite radio hooked into your base station, it may be possible just to stream the audio to your PSP or laptop. Personally, I spend a lot of time sitting around campus in between classes, and sometimes I have little to do. Sitting on the library computers or reading magazines gets boring. I wouldn't mind something to break up the monotony of it all. It would especially be nice to get streaming audio, if possible, from location free. The campus is entirely wireless, so I'd have access to my music no matter where I was. Another dumb idea I had (probably because I'm paranoid) is perhaps you could hook it up to some sort of video surveillance type thing, or digital camcorder, and make sure no one is poking around your house while your out. Or get some very interesting ... shows... from significant others while away on business. The possibilities are endless! And yes, I realize I'm getting farfetched now, but I can't help but be ridiculous sometimes.
I'm glad I upgraded to 2.0 also. I'm using the web browser right now, and it is fan--OUT OF MEMORY--
-- I have fans? Wow.
. . . will stream to laptop PCs running Sony's LocationFree Player or to a PlayStation Portable (PSP) running firmware version 2.5 (a free upgrade to this version is available via the PSP's network update function)
...aaaaaaaaaand a rootkit.
No, don't you dare to try to shift the blame for the Sony rootkit fiasco on Microsoft. Sony isn't some fly-by-night hacker hoping that we'll run their trojan and make them famous for their hacker skills.
Sony is supposed to be a reputable company, one that doesn't hack its customers' computers or open up security holes to punish the customer for paying good money to the company to listen to the new Van Zant song. (Or the old Neil Diamond one...)
Most people take some basic precautions to protect their computer from software they don't trust. They use antivirus software, anti-spyware software, use broadband routers to prevent direct access to their machine, etc. Most have learned not to give Nigerians their bank account numbers. Most have learned not to click on e-mails with strange-looking URLs asking them for their PayPal passwords. 99.999% of the time, taking these sensible precautions is more than enough for Windows users to work without incident.
Now, thanks to Sony, it not enough any more. Now they have to be wary of the people we are supposed to trust. Now these formerly reputable companies are using the same tactics as petty common criminals with similar goals: to prevent you from using a piece of equipment you own for your own enjoyment and possibly even to spy on what you are doing with that equipment.
No, Microsoft didn't sneak into my house one night and install Windows on my computer without me knowing. When you pop a Windows disc in the CD drive of your Linux system, it doesn't try to sneak itself on your hard drive and then hide itself so that you don't know it's there and keep your Linux applications from working.
Of the things that Microsoft is guilty of, this is most defintely not one. In my mind, there's no comparison. While Microsoft can be ignorant, this was outright malicious. It was a kick in the face and anyone who buys a Sony anything after this is an idiot for helping to support a company that has demonstrated such willful contempt towards its customers.
The parent didn't say he was infected. Hopefully, he has autoplay turned off (another of those sensible measures to take). What he said was that he doesn't trust Sony. I don't blame him, and I don't either.
Yeah, we'll tell you what, I"m the biggest blasphemer of them all. Neither YOUR gOd nor YOUR sAtAn are my masters. I will not have any masters.
I`ve been looking for an open source video server for Linux that can send TV/video/audio to my laptop etc.. does such a beast exist?
Peercast or Videolan would probably be a good start.
I think most people didn't get what it really is.
Imagine you're from Finland, Local TV is mainly a 'coax cable' TV. Impossible to see outside Finland.
With SONY's solution you can move to Brazil, Spain or Elbonia and watch the live TV broadcasts from Finland.
In Major parts of Europe, most people have a coax cable connection with over 50 channels of local TV (even Town-TV), not on satellite or anything else. For these guys it's a really nice solution that enables them to see live TV anywere on the planet.
I've got to be somewhere to receive it!
---
No matter where you go, there you are.
- Couple caveats though: (problems Sony has because it's a content provider as well has hardware manufacturer, and they insist on including DRM which often times kills the product)
- It only allows you to set up 1 psp per LocationFree unit. (Stupid! No reason for this, because you can only watch one unit at a time anyway. Would have been nice for me to be able to check it out once in a while)
- I had to purchase another PSP for him, set it up, and Fedex it to him (real pain in the ass) since it couldn't be set up remotely.
They do allow you to watch on a PC but we are Mac based, so that was not an option for us. Other than that, my buddy has it set up with his TiVo and he records the games and controls the TiVo remotely and he says it works like a charm.someone has issues *wink wink*
Physics is imagination in a straight jacket. ~John Moffat
Might want to correct this: first mention of "LocationFree" in the text is spelled as "LoctionFree"
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