Sony to Add TV Tuner, DVR to PS3

pjhenley writes "Sony has announced that they will add digital TV and DVR capabilities to the PS3 in Europe. TV can also be watched on a PSP using 'remote play' over WiFi or via downloaded recordings. 'The new box will feature two 1080p tuners, which utilize the European Digital Video Broadcasting system (DVB-T) -- which should dash any US hopes for the time being. The system will allow you to store recorded broadcasts on your PS3 drive, and also transcode and transfer the saved files to your PSP.'"

Comments

Before anyone starts to complain

[MemoryDragon]

We europeans pay around 700-900 USD for the PS3

Re:Before anyone starts to complain

[Anonymous Coward]

i dont know about the US, but in europe the VAT isnt 50% (comparing the $599 and up to $900 prices). the $700 would be closer, since VAT here (holland) is 19%, which would be close to the 17% the $700 price represents

but as for US VATs, what are normal VAT rates? wikipedia suggest between 0-9.75%, typically 8.5%

which still ends up being less then half the VAT of what we pay here, so we still get screwed

Re:Before anyone starts to complain

[Rosyna]

but as for US VATs, what are normal VAT rates? wikipedia suggest between 0-9.75%, typically 8.5% We do not have VAT in the US. We have a sales tax, which is different. Merchants selling to other merchants items (or components like hard drives for inclusion in a computer box the second merchant sells) for resale are not subjected to sales tax. Sales tax isn't applied until it gets to the consumer. VAT is applied at each exchange.

which still ends up being less then half the VAT of what we pay here, so we still get screwed Don't blame Sony or anyone else on that, blame it on the policies of the silly countries you live in. This is why the VAT needs to be removed before you do any such compare. It removes some of the silliness of the countries. (But doesn't remove duty fees, shipping fees, custom fees, or other fees a company might have to pay to get the product into the country first...)

Re:Before anyone starts to complain

[brendan0powers]

That and the fact that sales tax varies wildly from one place to the next. For example where i live in New Hampshire, there is no sales tax. People know the tax in their aria and buy accordingly.

Re:Before anyone starts to complain

[hansg]

And that's just weird to me as a European (if there is such a thing, I'm Swedish, never really think of myself as European).

Including the VAT in the list price makes more sense to me, at least for consumer goods.
Then I know what I have to pay. /Hans

Re:Before anyone starts to complain

[gravis777]

Fair point, but I think you are forgetting something - you are comparing the prices based on if you are an American trying to buy a product in the UK, in which case the exchange rate would be against you. You are a UK citizen making a UK salary paying UK prices. I am willing to bet that when you figure in your income in GBP versus the same person with the same job in the US making USD, and then what you are paying for the PS3, it comes out to be about the same. You are not being screwed, the reason the exchange is like that is that the British pound is stronger than the US Dollar.

Re:Before anyone starts to complain

[meringuoid]

Fair point, but I think you are forgetting something - you are comparing the prices based on if you are an American trying to buy a product in the UK, in which case the exchange rate would be against you.

The exchange rate that ought to be of interest here is that against the yen, Sony being a Japanese firm. If the dollar is unusually strong against the yen at a time while the pound is weak, then we should expect Americans to get a good deal and Britons to get a poor one. But the contrary is true: at present the dollar is weak and the pound is very strong. If anything, the PS3 should be substantially cheaper in Britain.

The truth is that Sony will charge whatever the market will pay, and the market in Britain is well-known for its tolerance for blatant rip-offs.

Re:Before anyone starts to complain

[KDR_11k]

Actually it's not the same product, the PAL version comes with two games and an extra controller which were added instead of a price drop.

I gotta say

[Pojut]

I love the PS3 for all of it's capabilities (especially since I also have a PSP) I think it's a very well built, very well designed machine that has a lot of potential. It's non-gaming feature list is extensive and USEFUL.

So why do I still very much prefer my 360 over my PS3?

Games. The fucking games.

Come on Sony. We all know that it's a powerful beast of a machine, we know it can do a lot of cool shit...but how about investing in some more quality GAMES? My 360 gets FAR more playtime than my PS3...why?

BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING TO PLAY, SONY.

Re:I gotta say

[Pojut]

See, that's just the thing though....look at what is coming to 360 or 360/PC in the next year (I'm including BioShock in that which, by the way, is one of the best games ever made)

Now look at what is coming to the PS3 in the next year.

I gotta say, just looking at what is on the schedule to be released in the next year, unless something unannounced comes out, it appears my 360 will continue to be putting in overtime while my PS3 takes vacations for months at a time...

Re:I gotta say

[*weasel]

Saying things might change in the future just doesn't matter. If it -does- turn around, it can be re-evaluated whenever that -actually- happens.

And odds are by the PS3 makes sense, it'll be cheaper to have bought a 360 or wii today and a PS3 then, rather than buy a PS3 today and twiddle your thumbs in the interim. Gamers like games. They don't gain anything by denying themselves games in some odd form of platform loyalty.

That whole 'fan' thing is just silly.
It used to be XBox fans defending claims that their console has a worse selection of games with lines like:
'but it's more powerful!'
'b-b-but A/V quality'
'its doing better than the PS2 did at the same point in its release!'
and
'just wait until A and B killer titles release'

And now it's almost perfectly reversed.
Proving once again that people who talk about platforms and potential rather than games are only useful as comic relief.

Re:I gotta say

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

"Unfortunately, with the exception of so few games I could count them on one hand, the 360 (for me anyway) is "winning" this generation hands down..."

The 360 has been out over a year longer than the Wii and yet the Wii has passed it in console sales. The first party games Nintendo is offering for the Wii (and the ones about to come out this holiday season) are their BIG games. Mario Kart, Metroid, Mario Galaxy.. Nintendo's going to start pulling away and it's not just because of their lower price or the games they're offering. It's because Sony dropped the ball and had that "They'll buy it even if has no games" attitude. And because both Sony and Microsoft had the "People want a media center first and a gaming console second" attitude. Nintendo had the "People want to play fun games and don't want to have to take out a loan to do so" attitude and they're winning.

The only big exclusive title the 360 can offer is Halo, which isn't even a very good shooter. The PS3 has a few exclusives but from what I've heard from even the big Sony fanboys is that they're only "OK"

Re:I gotta say

[DrXym]

I got my PS3 at the EU launch and I really haven't had problems finding things to do with it. PS3 retail games might have been slow coming but there are some decent titles to play and the drought is basically over. Aside from that it can play PS2 titles, PSN titles (Super Stardust HD is awesome), DVDs, Blu Ray, ripped movies etc. so I've used it for that as well as Linux. Most mornings my 2 year old kid wants to see a DVD so I've ripped a pile for him to pick from. I can see that if someone only used it for PS3 titles they're going to get bored but there is plenty of stuff to be doing otherwise to justify its existence.

Re:I gotta say

[flitty]

If history repeats itself, the most powerful, and expensive system that was later out of the gate with only one or two strong exclusives will stay second on the charts throughout it's generation, even if the price does come down to match it's competition (remember the $200, then $150 price cuts of the ps2 and xbox?). Even if it gets more exclusives that are considered "better" games, they have to come early in the life of the console, or else they don't really matter.

The reason why the ps2 did so well was the wealth of titles, good or bad, that you could choose from, now, the wii is starting to take the casual gamer away from the ps2 (which most people who bought one were casual), and the 360 is picking up the slack with more games. the 360 has better exclusives at this point (mmm, wish i was home playing Bioshock right now), and the "holiday titles" of the ps3 are coming out with mediocre reviews at best. Sony is in trouble, and they know it, just go to sonydefenseforce.com if you want a laugh about how bad it is for them.

Re:I gotta say

[MBraynard]

There are two flaws with your evaluation. I can't believe you got modded 5.

First, you don't buy games based on the percentage of all games that are over 80, you buy games that are over 80 (assuming that means good). So 360 has the most games over 80 - 3 times as many as PS3.

As a more complicated evaluation, you should not necessarily include cross platform in evaluating 360/PS3 unless there is a substantial difference in the games. This is what is bringing the 360 down - the cross platforms average higher than 80 - so if you remove them, PS3 will have even less games over 80 and possibly a lower percentage over 80.

The crux of this is the number matters, not the percentage. There was a massive amount of shovelware for the PS1/PS2 - remember? But that didn't detract from GTA, etc.

It will be crippled

[La Gris]

Be sure it will be crippled so channels not willing to let your record or transmit via network will be blocked for that.

I just ordered a DreamBox DM7025 (waiting for it in 2 to 3 weeks) with two DVB-S (satellite) tuners. This one run with VDR and Linux. It can't do HD video but, well there are so few or interrestings ones in here...
And the DreamBox is will not block anything. If I can view a channel, I can record and broadcast it to my LAN via standard protocols and codecs to use with VideoLan.

Blame it on comcast...

[cybrthng]

They dash any hopes of this happening :(

CableCard addons could have worked but comcast would have to certify the whole PS3 video recording "chain" and that would take so long the product would never reach the consumer in time for it to make a difference.

PS3 or not, i wish more devices could have DVR functionality. I want consumer cablecard in my MediaCenter/360 combination as well but that won't happen unless i re-buy my media center and bullocks to that! I also don't want Comcast flagging my content either.

OTA FTW

I swear

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony: if you add PVR capabilities to your US models, I will buy the PS3. I bet others who have been wavering will as well. A lot of others.

I love the PS3. It is an awesome piece of hardware. It pushes the envelope. It is driving progress in parallel software architecture and creation. Some good games are presently available, and I feel certain that the next generation of coolness will be created for the PS3--something truly wicked this way comes.

However, a game machine is not enough to warrant the price. I have been waiting for all the other promised applications: music, PVR, etc. Just the PVR alone would warrant my purchase, with the games being frosting on the cake.

Re:I swear

[Rosyna]

Sony: if you add PVR capabilities to your US models, I will buy the PS3. That's a flat-out lie and you know it.

Even if Sony did add this to the US models, you'd have some other silly reason for not purchasing the PS3. You have no intention of buying a PS3, no matter what Sony does.

The PS3 what's that?

[ironwill96]

Oh, right, that new Blu-Ray player / DVR / DVD Player that Sony came out with. I heard that they are thinking of even adding some functionality to it to play games eventually!

All jesting aside (yes the 360 does many functions too), does anyone else wonder if the console makers have strayed to far from the core purposes of the consoles themselves - to provide gaming entertainment? One of the big draws that I always saw for consoles was the idea that it was a cheaper device that you knew would work with every game you purchased, compared to the computer that, while more powerful, needed to be upgraded to keep it top of the line and often has compatibility issues with games due to the massive amount of variety in the hardware present in computers. This draw seems to have lessened in recent years though since the new consoles are coming out on faster and faster release cycles (with the new advent of releasing 'better' versions of the same console during the console's release cycle - see the 360 elite as an example of this), and also are costing more and more money so saying you can't get a decent computer to play the games on for the same price is becoming less of a reality.

For me, I want my console to play lots of games and i'm also ok with basic DVD player functionality if the console is sharing that ability due to utilizing similar media for the games. But adding all of these other extras while nice, forces me to pay for something that I may not want. I want to play games, not have an inferior (in almost every case) HD/Blu-Ray player or DVR. The stand-alone products are almost always going to include more features, be more up to date to the current, evolving industry standards, and also let you purchase it only if you want it!

The bundling of un-asked for features needs to be stopped - at least if you do this make it an optional add-on attached to an expansion port of some sort so those of us who don't want it don't pay for it (like the HD-DVD add-on for the 360).

Re:The PS3 what's that?

[TheRaven64]

Inferior Bluray player? Just about every review of the PS3 movie playback has said it's the best BluRay player on the market When the PS2 came out, every review I read said that DVD playback was inferior to even cheap stand-alone players (cheap being a relative term at this point). I suspect that a lot of criticisms of the PS3's BD playback come from taking this single data point and extrapolating to the latest generation.

Re:The PS3 what's that?

[cplusplus]

Don't you get it? This is not so much about games anymore. Whoever wins this round will be the dominant force in media entertainment during the next round. HD-DVD/BluRay are probably the last generation of media for home rental. The world is moving toward on-demand and downloadable content. Microsoft and Sony want to be firmly entrenched in your living room when it really takes off. I, for one, love renting HD movies via Xbox Live.

Just wait...

[DesertBlade]

Until the release the price point. Sure it may be worth it at $700-$00 but is it worth it at $1500? And I wouldn't be surrised if there was a monthly fee to use the feature. That is where the money is at, reaccuring fees.

Re:almost worth the price

[Kjella]

Umm... you didn't think the dual-1080p tuners would magically grow out of your PS3 do you? It will be an add-on, knowing Sony an expensive one at that. Very impressive all the same though, but you gotta wonder how much 1080p programming you'll fit on the PS3 HDD. I'd sure want to hook up a 500GB external or so.

Re:What's this about!!!

[LWATCDR]

Simple. Because of CableCard not really being a standard.
Sony doesn't want to have another sales disappointment in the US. People will just get their DVR from there CATV if they want one that will just work however feature limited it may be. For those that want more features and are willing to do the work to get it working then TiVO will be the product of choice.
Too bad really. This combined with a PSP is pretty cool. You could watch TV anywhere in your home even out in your garden/backyard and tanscode it for your PSP.

I keep thinking that Microsoft is working with the cable companies to bring the same functionality to the 360/Zune.

Re:The reasoning

[Highroller]

It's an awesome Blu-ray player and looks amazing on a HD television. Do yourself a favor a check one out at the store before you pass judgement.

Re:US doesn't have real standard yet?

[dan the person]

Why is it that the US, which is one country, apparently has so much more trouble to deploy some decent standards than Europe, which is a pretty loosely held together bunch of countries which couldn't be more different from each other?

Because the EU isn't afraid to regulate when the market fails its citizens?