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Sony Issues Detailed PS4 FAQ Ahead of Launch
Sockatume writes "Sony has released a detailed FAQ for the PS4 system, which launches in coming weeks. Of particular note: although Bluetooth headsets will not be compatible, generic 3.5mm and USB audio devices will work; the console will require activation via the internet or a special disk before it will play Blu-ray or DVDs; media servers, MP3s, and audio CDs are not supported. The console's "suspend/resume" and remote assistance features are listed as unavailable for the North American launch, implying that they will be patched in before the console launches in Europe later in November."
Good one Sony, building an airplane in flight.
R$ 4,000? (aka US$ 1,817)
Miami here I come!
So I was excited to buy a PS4 until they announced no media server support. Same with XBone. I guess I'm just one of those guys who will stay with his PS3 for the forseeable future...
I know why they made that choice, but it doesn't service the customers who put their media library on a server instead of on disc.
> media servers, MP3s, and audio CDs are not supported
Say what? You want us to be forced to do the media upgrade path again, again. Or be forced into your pay services.
*sigh*
The more open Steambox is looking better and better. Of course it is vapourware so it could just as easily become just as crippled.
What ever?
Seems like a backward step to me. If Sony thinks that 1000s and 1000s of its devices are being used solely as media servers, they are right.
If they think that omitting that feature will mean more games sales, they are mistaken.
I use my PS3 as media player for 70% of the time. 30% of the time I play games.
I would hate to give up that functionality, since the PS3 works so well and I like the interface and the digital sound output.
I think I can live with $5 - $10 license for my media needs. Just make that available, or I'll start considering Xbox!
the console will require activation via the internet or a special disk before it will play Blu-ray or DVDs; media servers, MP3s, and audio CDs are not supported
This is why Sony needs to spin off its media division, as Dan Loeb has proposed.
As long as Sony is both a consumer electronics company and a major movie/recording studio, the consumer electronics division will always be compromised by the need to serve the overall corporate goals rather than the customer's needs.
You just know that the "no media server" and "have to activate on the Internet for DVD/Blu-ray" restrictions were added at the insistence of the suits on the studio side. These restrictions do nothing for customers, and a pure consumer electronics company would have no reason to hurt the functionality of their product by inflicting them.
What's the point of that? As someone who has terabytes dedicated to local media storage rather than counting on the cloud to reliably stream (or even carry) a particular album or movie, this trend is really ticking me off. I'm going to take a guess that XBone won't serve as a Media Center Extender as well. Was hoping for a single device to play games, watch TV, and listen to music, but it looks more and more like I need to get a separate NUC (or equivalent) for the media server access (although that was going to be necessary anyway, since XB360 won't play ripped DVDs)
the console will require activation via the internet or a special disk before it will play Blu-ray or DVDs
Try as I might, I can't figure that one out. It's not like Sony doesn't sell off-the-shelf blu-ray players every day that don't require this (including the PS3). So why require it for the PS4??
Maybe they didn't have the software finished on time and it requires a downloaded patch?
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Give me Linux back or fuck off!
- Not sent from an iPhone
Ironically the main reason for Linux on the PS3 (and the PS2) was the fact that Sony paid less tax on it in Europe. It is something I agreed with. Ironically this generation would make a killer desktop machine, or even homework computer for student. If you do care and are not say advocating an alternative console out of some strange fanaticism, contact your local MP or equivalent. Although at last count I see about 8 Linux consoles....I own two.
Give me Linux back or f off!
Now that alternatives have appeared, it's that much easier to tell Sony Computer Entertainment to f off. OUYA runs Android, which uses the Linux kernel. The forthcoming Steam Machine from Valve runs SteamOS, a distribution of GNU/Linux.
As I understand it, the majority of the price of a PlayStation 4 console in Brazil is import duty paid to the government of Brazil. What you need to do to get the price reduced in Brazil is elect a legislature that raises the government's operating budget other than through prohibitive import duties.
haha, I still have the old "fat" Playstation 2 that has trouble with some games like Rouge Galaxy. I should buy a Playstation 3 soon.
As if the movies streamed over DLNA were ever watchable on the PS3, they looked abominal...
Why doesn't this just stream my movies with samba like my current media player? it would sell like hot bread...
I seem to recall people flipping out when Microsoft wanted to allow everything to be digital and, then to do the same. Now that Sony is either blocking content or requiring online activation it's okay?
This sure reminds me of every prior Sony announcement: all of the good and none of the bad, with every moron in the world forgetting history and lapping it up. As it turn's out, Sony's version of what Microsoft is doing doesn't even make sense and it's purely anti-consumer; the content is purely physical and therefore cannot be shared (unless they're considering copying of discs, which they clearly are, and that amusingly backs up doing the same for games).
Oh, sorry, I forgot where I was for a second.
Compact Disc Digital Audio is a lossless audio format introduced in the 1980s. Each disc 120 mm in diameter (the size of the later DVD) stored up to 80 minutes of stereo audio at a sample rate and depth that an adult ear cannot distinguish from any higher sample rate or depth. After the introduction of MP3 format in the late 1990s, people would buy CDs, copy them to computers using a CD-ROM drive, and compress the result to MP3 for later listening in a noisy environment that can get away with lower fidelity. And until the late 2000s when Amazon started selling MP3 downloads, CD was the only way to buy popular music for listening on a computer or pocket device without digital restrictions management.
Two things about this that worry me. Well, 2 and a half.
The whole no MP3/audio CDs/DLNA thing, yeah... that COULD potentially be fixed and Sony have addressed peoples' concerns about it. That's my half thing.
What worries me more is that no current bluetooth headsets nor PS3 controllers will work on the thing. I can see absolutely no reason for that other than Money Grab. Yeah, the PS4 controller has more features, but those things are overpriced half-way to hell and many of us have multiple PS3 controllers. I do not see a reason for the thing not to just go "some features may not be available".
Even more worrying is the default inclusion of a 5400RPM SATA II harddrive. Yeah, it's user-replaceable, but here's my issue.
Sony have been claiming that this thing would "ourperform" PCs. Even high-end ones. Most people were sceptical of this but I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. And I still think it could equal a decent PC in /gaming/ performance.... but it's clear that to Sony that means only when you're ACTUALLY playing the game - not when you're booting up, loading a game, loading data, load/saving games... anything that's not actual gameplay.
And that's one of the most annoying things about the PS3. You can (and I have) replace your HDD with an SSD, and it can throw data at the PS3 extremely fast, but the PS3 just can't process it fast enough, so performance improvements are negligible.
This extremely outdated tech included in the PS4 by default make me think this will still be the case with the PS4.
Now naturally I have not tried a PS4 yet, so I might be very wrong. I really hope I am. But right now I've put the PS4 firmly on the "wait a few months" list, and quite likely on the "lets see how the whole steam box does" list... and even possibly on the "Ok lets reevaluate getting a gaming PC in the living room" list.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
FTA: "Does the PS4 system support analog video or audio output?" "No. the PS4 system's video and audio are transmitted using HDMI"
"What screen resolutions will PS4 support?" "The PS4 system supports 480p"
"In PAL Markets, the Vertical Stands for the PS4 system will retail for â19.99 / £16.99." [Damnit Slashdot, Unicode! Any year now!]
Seriously mixed messages here. First, I feel just fine with digital-only, though I expect that will piss off at least a few people. But why does it support 480p? Do HDMI displays actually exist that don't support at least 720p? Not to mention, pretty much anything less than 5 years old will support 1080p.
But that last line really cinches it... "In PAL markets". WTF? Seriously Sony, what the hell does PAL-vs-NTSC have to do with it, when you only have digital outputs? For that matter, does PAL-vs-NTSC even exist at all anymore? At least in the US, analog OTA has gone dark. Unless you also-vinyl-fans really want to keep using that 30 year old Betamax, that distinction has no more meaning than saying "in former Roman colonies".
It also surprises me to see them going with an 8 core x86 (I'll presume that means x64) - After pushing the awesome power of the Cell architecture soooo hard with the PS3, they have chosen to go back to basically commodity PC hardware? And not even cutting edge, that makes the PS4 slightly less powerful than my now-two-year-old home desktop PC. And though vague, they say 18CU with 1.84TF for graphics... Which puts it basically on par with the Radeon HD 5830. Consider me unimpressed.
On the bright side, I look forward to having a full-speed PS4 emulator for PC available about a week after launch. So hey, not all bad, right?
No one should be buying this proprietary garbage to begin with.
OUYA, a set-top gaming machine positioned as a less-proprietary alternative to the major consoles, sort of fizzled. We'll have to wait to see how Steam Machine, another set-top gaming machine positioned as a less-proprietary alternative to the major consoles, does.
If the PC-like architecture of the new systems is going to be the way of the future, then hopefully this is the last time we have to suffer [lack of back-compat].
The original Xbox was PC-like, with a 733 MHz Celeron and a GeForce 3. Microsoft designed its successor to be less PC-like, using a PowerPC CPU instead of x86, as a cost-cutting measure. Another thing that worries me is reliance on vendors' GPU bugs, something that console games have done for decades and that Mantle is likely to bring to the PC gaming world.
buying a spare last-gen console and ignoring the new ones
Until you can't play the game anymore because the last gen console's multiplayer servers have been shut down for good. Even Halo 2 ended.
What's to stop you keeping your PS3 around as a media player?
Not wanting to reach behind the TV to switch the HDMI cable whenever switching from games to noninteractive media or vice versa.
The more open Steambox is looking better and better. Of course it is vapourware so it could just as easily become just as crippled.
OUYA isn't vapor, and at least U.S. residents can buy an OUYA + PS4 for the price of an Xbox One.
Who, exactly, does Sony have to pay?
Sony would have to pay other BDA members, DVD FLLC, DVD CCA, (Mac)Rovi(sion), AACSLA, MPEG-LA, and anyone else who manages licensing patents or DRM trade secrets associated with BD or DVD video.
PS4 runs FreeBSD.....
But why does it support 480p?
It's probably an AACS requirement to support at least one EDTV resolution, given the Image Constraint Token.
But that last line really cinches it... "In PAL markets". WTF? Seriously Sony, what the hell does PAL-vs-NTSC have to do with it, when you only have digital outputs?
"PAL market" refers to markets that use 50 Hz alternating current and historically used PAL video: Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. These tend to have fewer people per country than North America. This increases cost of licensing works for adaptation when distributors own exclusive rights in different countries. It increases the cost of localization as UI and games must be dubbed in more languages. It increases censorship as some PAL market countries have less comprehensive protection of speech than the United States, allowing no-swastikas policies and refusal to accept neighboring countries' classification for violent, sexual, or otherwise objectionable materials. Finally, Europe tends toward stronger warranty requirements for consumer products than North America.
For that matter, does PAL-vs-NTSC even exist at all anymore?
Yes. It would be cost prohibitive for the PAL market to switch to 60 Hz AC and a single media distribution territory, and it would be politically unpopular to adopt English language, free speech, and U.S.-style minimal warranty.
I find that particularly odd that Sony wouldn't have support for DLNA on the PS4 considering they started the consortium.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
For some of us, video games are played alone/with friends in our basement or living room
And others can't coordinate their schedules to play with friends, so they prefer pickup games with strangers.
with no networking involved
Fewer and fewer games for Microsoft and Sony consoles support split screen multiplayer for two reasons. First, time is money, and supporting both split screen and online splits the effort between optimizing for split screen and optimizing for online. Second, publishers want to sell multiple copies to a household.
How much power will this thing be sucking? Is it going to be like the original PS3 mini-heater at 300W?
Not all of us want to hear racist and homophobic slurs being yelled by children
Major video game consoles are made for the profitable majority, not the less profitable edge case. I understand your concern about racial and sexual harassment in online pickup groups of strangers, but another comment claims that most gamers happen not to share this problem.
Who would want to rent the game just for installation?
The same Internet have-not demographic who paid extra for a copy of OS X on USB media. For a lot of these people, Internet access costs $10 per GB.
Reaching behind the TV repeatedly to switch cables is a pain in the behind. So is having to buy a new TV that has more HDMI inputs.
What the heck is Digital Copy?
Digital Copy, as I understand it, is an additional copy of the film stored on the disc in a handheld-device-friendly format that can be copied to a device after online activation.
Why not just rip the blu ray?
Because of the DMCA and foreign counterparts. Not all of us can afford to move to a country where it's legal to rip BD movies.
What's the point of a machine that can't play media? What am I supposed to do with it? Play games?
Goodbye Slashdot. You've changed.
Final Fantasy XIV, optimized for PS4.
Sold!
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
I almost pre-ordered the PS4 but in the end I bought a PS3 instead. They're only $250 right now and there's a vast games collection with lots of great older titles at under $20. Didn't seem worth paying a premium for a PS4 given the tiny game selection at launch and the fact that I'd be forking out $60 for each game. If I want great graphics, I'll go to the study and fire up the PC. However, I find myself preferring GT5 or Little Big Planet in the living room whilst hanging out with my girlfriend and the dog. The only problem is that the dog is unsettled by video games for some weird, dog-only-knows, reason.
soylentnews.org
Some developers of games for OUYA claim that game sales aren't so hot.
You do not save money by moving away from a bargain-bin no-cache intel chip to a relatively short run more-exotic server-spin-off chip.
You do when the maker of the more exotic chip offers a design that's cheaper to manufacture because it can be licensed for fabrication at other IC foundries. Late in the life of the original Xbox, Intel wouldn't give Microsoft a good enough deal on CPUs. There's slightly less chance of this happening with the PS4 and Xbox One because AMD has outsourced manufacture to other fabs.
PS4 runs FreeBSD.....
Which is a Unix OS! See?!? You're only proving their point!
I have never bought one. Pay out the ass for the box then 49 59 for the game then have to buy points to play.
No thanks,
You can upgrade some games at $10 each? Pbbt. Way to go sony! I should be able to play older games I've purchased on the new console. If I can't do that I'll keep my old console. These media producers have gotten so ridiculous that I think it's about time to just say screw em all and find something else to do. Maybe taking our country back could become the next number one adventure game. FPS and all. The blue helmets are target practice.
Our politicians/govt should be more concerned about our individual success rather than the collective world. That's their job, to put our interests over and above any other countries' interests.
Such selfishness is a prisoner's dilemma that ultimately results in worse outcomes across the board.
They didn't finish the software in time and can't afford to let a Christmas launch slip do they're selling a half baked product instead.
Good luck trying to sign up for PlayStation Plus (required for online play) or buy from the PlayStation Store with a Brazilian credit card and a U.S. console.
The big advantage of OUYA over the major consoles was supposed to be that hobbyists-turning-professionals can release games designed for a controller, as opposed to being stuck on a PC's mouse and keyboard or a mobile device's touch screen. This would mean that gamers visiting the web sites of these developers would see "Buy Now on OUYA" instead of "We are seeking a publisher".
Keep in mind, this is the same company they put a rootkit on Music CDs, and also the same company that hid a serious data breach for months, where customer payment info was pilfered.
Do not do business with Sony. Don't buy anything they make. They've proven they're completely untrustworthy and irresponsible.
What cretin would waste time using a mega-expensive next-generation console as a 'media centre' when 2013 is filled with ultra low cost media playing hardware. A dedicated solution can cost as little as a few tens of dollars, and play any possible media content. An Android 'stick' might cost a wee bit more, but its general programmability allows a vast choice in media streaming and decode applications.
Sony and MS are offering the 2013 equivalent to cable boxes for their media functions, and expect to directly PROFIT when the user chooses to watch something via the console, rather than game. There is no mystery about this business model, and now that streaming/playing any form of media in the home is such a trivial, flexible and cheap task, why on Earth should either MS or Sony worry about offering these functions? Just because users of the PS3 haven't updated their thinking or knowledge in EIGHT years. Too many nerds are proud of their vastly outdated understanding of technical issues.
How to use the ancient thing called "book" (or "bok" in norwegian): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ
Buy our new console for lots of money, because here's a big list of things it doesn't do compaerd to the previous version.
Can't wait for the "PS4 sales disappointing headlines" in the new year.
I believe he was making a reference to otherOS, a backhanded way of saying "You would believe a Sony FAQ???"
Sony has a long history of FAQing its customers over. I'll not be a customer again.
(mods, I'll agree with the overrated but I don't think the parent was trolling)
Free Martian Whores!
For one thing, CDDA is PCM not PWM. For another, CDDA is lossless precisely because it isn't compressed. (Notwithstanding volume compression that began in the late 1990s once Sony introduced Discman.)
PC and Mac have both supported controllers for as long as I can remember and there have been controllers ranging from $2 to $2000 available for all of that time, as well. What's OUYA bring to the table, again?
A bundled controller, a 10-foot UI enabled from first boot, and a physical form factor that isn't so XBOX HUEG that it sticks out like a proverbial sore thumb next to the big television in the living room. Good luck getting people to buy controllers just to play one controller-oriented PC game, and good luck fitting two to four bodies around a 17-21" desktop monitor.
Why in the heck would I buy an extra box just so I can get a game controller?
Because it's a lot cheaper than buying a second PC to put in the living room.
http://couchjockeyz.com/mp3-support-dlna-and-more-features-to-follow-on-2nd-ps4-update/ DLNA will be returning to the Playstation 4, if they follow through with what they promised.
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Because the family PC is in the same room as the 21" monitor on the desk, and it is inconvenient for someone to have to move the PC from the room with the 21" monitor to the room with the TV before playing a game and move it back after playing the game.