Sony Crows About Blu-ray, Upcoming PS3 DVR Functionality

Eurogamer/GamesIndustry.biz reports on Sony's pleased statements about the PlayStation 3. The company has made a point to note that Blu-ray was totally worth it after recent comments by some developers who had problems fitting their titles onto a DVD. The interview with the site promises 'big things' for the format in the future. The future of the PS3 itself seems to have changes coming too: a television tuner and DVR functionality looks to be in the offing for the console. Microsoft announced similar plans earlier this year, but there are no firm dates for either company's use of the console.

Comments

Questions Sony needs to answer

[_xeno_]

PS3 as a DVR, huh? Well, that raises the following questions:

• Does it support CableCard?
• If not, how does it change channels?
• Does it support HD? (I'd assume it does.)
• Is it an additional add-on? (I'd assume it is, with a remote.) If so, how much does it cost?
• How does it compare to other DVRs? Specifically, does it require a subscription? Offer TV listings? Offer suggestions?
• Can it record while a game is playing? While a movie (DVD/Blu-Ray) is playing?
• Does it use the same hard drive that games use? Will they be competing for available space?

I think that's my list of questions. I could see it working, but it'd have to be able to beat TiVo on ease of use. I'd rather have a separate DVR, but I can definitely understand that some people would want a combination console/DVD/Blu-Ray/DVR unit.

Re:Questions Sony needs to answer

[LWATCDR]

Gee I have been predicting this from the start.
What I wonder in addition to all of your questions is.
1. Will it let you save the shows to a memory stick to watch on your PSP?
2 Will it let you use your PSP to watch shows over wifi served from your PS3?

Re:Questions Sony needs to answer

[amuro98]

This isn't the first time Sony has talked about something like this. I remember them talking about a DVR for the PS2 as well. In fact, wasn't that what the short-lived "PSX" was? (yes, there was a real product called "PSX" - and it didn't refer to the PS1 prototype.)

However, with set-top boxes required to decrypt non-OTA HD channels, or even use a satellite dish, and the providers now also offer a built-in DVR for only a little more than their non-HD, non-DVR box, is there really a market for this?

As much as I love my old Tivo, I saw its usefulness coming to an end as more and more stations started moving to HD, which in turn would force us to get a set-top-box from whoever our provider would be at that time.

There's also the problem of cost. Even if the PS3 drops to $400 by next year, I can't see this tuner+DVR package costing less than $100. So you're talking $500 for a 80GB DVR/blu-ray player/game console. This also assumes there no additional service fees for the guide data.

I just don't see the justification here. I can't see the DVR functionality being totally independent here - especially if the DVR uses the PS3's existing HDD. So, while you might be able to watch a blu-ray movie while the DVR does its thing, you probably won't be able to play a game - and if that's the case, why bother with this at all? The original reason I bought my Tivo back in 2001 was so that I could play games and NOT have to worry about missing TV shows. It worked out pretty well. I could game whenever I wanted, then I'd watch The Daily Show while I ate dinner.

The other concern I have is that the PS3 isn't exactly a lightweight when it comes to power consumption. DVRs are active 24/7. (although in its defense, I really don't know how much power my HD satellite receiver/DVR eats up either...)

Re:Questions Sony needs to answer

[LWATCDR]

"Blah blah, poor developers.

Every new platform is difficult if it's not what you've been doing. I don't feel sorry for these people; "

If a system is hard to develop for then the developers will be spending more time just making the game work instead of making the game great. Systems that are hard to develop for tend to fail. the Intel i860 cpu, the apx432, the Connection Machine...
The Itantium is a classic example of how hard to develop for has in impact on success. It floundered early one because the compilers available at launch couldn't generate good code.
"Exclusives are over-rated; that's why you see a lot less of them these days. " So then buy the cheapest system that will play them. That isn't the PS3. To pay a premium for a console there must be software that makes the premium worth while.

While I think the adding of PVR functionality to the PS3 is a good idea it does raise some issues.
1. Can you save the video on other mass storage devices? A home server? an external USB hard drive?
2. Can you use it as a DVR while your playing games? If not then you will miss a show or not get to play a game when you want to.
3. How much DRM will you have put up with? Can I take the show and put it on my PSP? Will I have the option of watching TV with my PSP? Could I forward a port on my fire wall and stream my shows to my PSP anywhere I have wifi? Can I put my shows on my video iPod without a bunch of hacks I get off the internet? Sony's track record makes me think that I will have to give my credit card number each time I watch any show or fast forward a commercial.
4. Will it be a good DVR?
Yes it is nice that a game console can do something besides play games but it needs to play games first. It has to have good games. It has to be fun. It is nice if your car has a good stereo but if it doesn't drive well it is a bad car.

Zonk Vents Bile at Sony

[19thNervousBreakdown]

There's a headline for you. What, they're not supposed to be proud of their invention? A game wasn't unable to fit on a single DVD? If you're going to Sony bash, do it for something valid, like their rootkits, horrible customer service, or the way they managed to destroy Star Wars. Blu-Ray actually isn't bad, so when you gripe about it, it just makes your legitimate gripes look like more bellyaching.

Re:Zonk Vents Bile at Sony

[Winckle]

Star Wars?

Elaborate.

Re:PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs

[ironwill96]

I do so hate responding to AC's, but just wanted to point out a fatal flaw in your argument. The 360 has a 20 GB base hard drive, some of which is taken up by system storage etc, but I know on my hard drive right now I have 14 GB free, odd if I only have a 7GB drive. Get your facts straight.

Sony making a PVR

[chazard]

With their history of unfriendly DRM (think atrac3 and rootkit history) from Sony, I think I will steer far, far away from any DVR functionality that would likely cost me a few hundred dollars to use the existing harddrive in a P3S.
Mind you the idea of running Myth on it could be pretty cool.
C

Re:PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs

[Anonymous Coward]

The PS2 had a standard dual layer DVD drive that supported 4GB for single layer discs and 8GB for dual layer discs.

The Xbox had the same storage space as the PS2.

The PS3 has a BluRay drive that supports 25GB for single layer discs and 50GB for dual layer discs.

The Xbox 360 has a standard dual layer DVD drive that supports 3.5GB for single layers discs and 7GB for dual layer discs.

There is some sort of DRM/security reason that around a gigabyte of storage is used on 360 discs. The exact details have never been revealed as far as I know.

Re:You'd Be Pissed Off Too...

[eln]

From your link, the PS3 is number one in Amazon sales (not total sales, just those made on Amazon) and the Wii is number two. Also, the PS3 is selling from Amazon direct at retail price while the Wii is only available through third parties at (at least) $75 above retail price. I would imagine these facts are all related in some way.

Re:PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs

[flewp]

Well, there's just not any games YOU like for the PS3.

I know a few people who are plenty happy with a few games for their PS3s.

For what it's worth, I'm not buying a PS3 until there's a few more must have games that interest me. I'm also hoping this will coincide with a price a drop, because while I think the PS3 is fairly priced, it's still too much for budget, given I'd probably only use it to play games. (I have no desire to run Linux, etc) If they add in DVR+TV Tuning, and keep the price the same, I might be more interested though.

I also don't really remember any games for the XBox360 coming out in it's first year that made me want to get one. In fact, there's still no games out for it that make me want to get one. Isn't it kind of the natural way of things for really great games to take a year or more to come out after a system's launch? I know there's exceptions, but on the whole, the majority of good games for the past few generations of systems seem to have, for the most part, come out well after the system has launched. (hooray for excessively long sentences)

Microsoft's one not a DVR...

[spectecjr]

The future of the PS3 itself seems to have changes coming too: a television tuner and DVR functionality looks to be in the offing for the console. Microsoft announced similar plans earlier this year, but there are no firm dates for either company's use of the console

Microsoft's one doesn't look like a DVR - but is instead IPTV - it remains to be seen what recording features it will have, but presumably it can work in the background over the network the way that Live downloads work now; as it's multicast, there's probably enough bandwidth for it to come in over your regular network connection without really affecting your transfer rates for other data. Sony's looks like it plans to use an over the air tuner, and even weirder, looks like it's set to be used for Freeview (there's also a NZ equivalent).

Re:You'd Be Pissed Off Too...

[Mr2001]

Also interesting: there are no PS3 games in that list. There are three Wii games (4 if you count Wii Play), some DS/PS2/360/PC games, but nothing for the PS3 except the controller and remote.

Re:Can't Wait

[kosanovich]

This is such a stupid troll. "let me know when some decent games come out"?? Yeah let me tell you when a game that you like comes out. If you don't like any of the games on a system then that's fine, don't go out and buy one! I personally look at the releases coming for the Wii between now and the end of the year and the games that i want to play on it are Metroid (because of the hype, not that i think i'll love it all that much), Mario galaxies, and bully (have the PS2 version but want to see what they add).

At the same time when i look at the PS3 releases during the same time i want to play: Lair, warhawk, heavenly sword, stranglehold, skate, ratchet and clank, folklore, GTA IV, Army of Two, Assassins Creed, Haze, Mercenaries 2, Rock Band, and Uncharted.

Now i look at those two list and the PS3 looks a whole lot more appealing to me than the Wii... what does that mean for you? Absolutely nothing. Once again if you don't like the games then don't buy them, i promise the government isn't _yet_ to the point where they will come to your house and break your knees if you don't buy something.

Re:You'd Be Pissed Off Too...

[NeutronCowboy]

Cute - another AC unwilling to put his name behind this. If these numbers are so accurate, then why is Halo 3 on that list - twice? Someone's really trying to do some spin himself.

Re:Pee-Are, it's all Pee-Are

[cbreaker]

Says.. you?

Microsoft has only sold (to retailers) about 10 million consoles. Considering Sony sold 120+ million PS2's, I'd say there's still quite a market left of people that haven't pulled the trigger on the Xbox or the PS3. Considering that the Xbox isn't exactly cheap, someone could just as easily buy a PS3 over the 360.

Just like you said, a lot of games are released for both platforms, so it's just as easy to assume someone would buy the PS3 over the 360 because it's more feature-rich out of the box.

Re:blu-ray

[cbreaker]

Why did you buy it?

I use mine all the time. It's good enough at all it does to avoid putting a PC under the TV, which I find great. Ohh, and the games I've purchased are great, too.

Re:PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm assuming you're the same person who posted about this last time, so:

Can you PLEASE provide a link that corroborates this, that isn't a two year old Digg article and isn't the Wikipedia?

Otherwise, I think you're full of it. There's no way a DRM scheme would waste that much space. I think you're confusing "dummy files" with DRM.

Re:PS2/Xbox 4/8 Gigs, PS3 25/50 Gigs, 360...7 Gigs

[Eivind]

It's ridicolous though, isn't it ? a *20*GB HD ? And the console is *new* can you even imagine how ridicolous that will look in 3-4 years ? Can you even -get- them that small in retail if you try these days ? Sorta like how a 16MB memory-card today retails for aproximately the same price as a 2GB usb-memory (a factor of 128 bigger !)

Yeah, I know they're laptop-drives, which gives miniscule bang-for-buck compared to 3.5" ones, but still.... 120GB is about standard for a new laptop these days, certainly not "ultra elite premium"

For a PVR, with HD, especially one costing $700 or something I'd want a 500GB-drive or similar. Or failing that, at a minimum, the opportunity of hooking up same by way of NAS or USB and have that utilised.

Re:blu-ray

[Slothy]

I'm not a PS3 hater, I just wanted to see the games that are 8+. I went to IGN and I saw these:
(here's the URL: http://ps3.ign.com/index/reviews.html?constraint.n ot_null.article.overall_rating=is_true&ordering.or der=desc&ordering.attribute=article.review_date&co nstraint.max_rows=40&constraint.locale=us&sort.att ribute=article.overall_rating&sort.order=desc)

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Action 9.3 Jun 29, 2007
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The RPG 9.2 Mar 26, 2007
MotorStorm [AU] Racing 8.9 Mar 22, 2007
Ninja Gaiden Sigma [AU] Action 8.8 Jul 4, 2007
Super Stardust HD Shooter 8.7 Jul 2, 2007
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas Shooter 8.7 Jun 27, 2007
Super Stardust HD [UK] Shooter 8.5 Jun 21, 2007
Super Stardust HD [AU] Shooter 8.5 Jun 20, 2007
Calling All Cars! Action 8.5 Apr 25, 2007
Resistance: Fall of Man [AU] Shooter 8.4 Mar 27, 2007
F.E.A.R. Shooter 8.1 Apr 20, 2007
Bigs, The Sports 8.0 Jun 26, 2007
Resistance: Fall of Man [UK] Shooter 8.0 Mar 22, 2007

There are only 13 lines there, and there are multiple lines for one game. So if you eliminate the multiple listings, you get:

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Action 9.3 Jun 29, 2007
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The RPG 9.2 Mar 26, 2007
MotorStorm [AU] Racing 8.9 Mar 22, 2007
Super Stardust HD Shooter 8.7 Jul 2, 2007
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas Shooter 8.7 Jun 27, 2007
Calling All Cars! Action 8.5 Apr 25, 2007
Resistance: Fall of Man [AU] Shooter 8.4 Mar 27, 2007
F.E.A.R. Shooter 8.1 Apr 20, 2007
Bigs, The Sports 8.0 Jun 26, 2007

So down to 9. Which is actually cool, 9 good games on a platform in the first year is a great thing. I'm just wondering about the 22 thing. Is this URL wrong, or lacking games that you found elsewhere?

Re:You'd Be Pissed Off Too...

[British]

When there's not that many games for the PS3, it stands less of a chance of overheating due to less frequent use. It's not a design flaw, it's a feature!

Consequently I run into less problems with Linux than Windows since I only use it as a file & print server! :)