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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."
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.
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.
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.
True, if people were buying consoles as media boxes then you are right, they won't sell more games this way, but they might sell less consoles are loss making prices so they would still be better off financially as a result.
These comments are my personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other voices in my head.
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.
Which, if you'd read my entire post where I said I don't play games on-line, you wouldn't be suggesting.
For some of us, video games are played alone/with friends in our basement or living room, with no networking involved -- the way it was meant to be done. ;-)
For me (and I realize I'm a relatively smaller minority of gamers), on-line gaming carries absolutely zero appeal. And all of the 'social' aspects (like badges and winning coins and spending real money to get better stuff) is equally meaningless to me.
To me, when I'm in the mood and have time, I'll fire up the video game, play a while, and then turn it off. Driving games, Tiger Woods, Skyrim, the wife's dancing games for the Kinect ... none of these are the kinds of things I want to play against someone on the internet.
My video game console doesn't get connected to the network, and is completely air-gapped. And I can't say I've ever felt I was missing out on anything. In fact, the brief period I had it on-line was enough to convince me that I definitely don't want it.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Yes, traditionally Sony, Apple etc. have actually opened factories to make the devices in Brazil because it's better for their bottom line than expecting customers to spend the import levy.
And this is the primary reason that those tariffs exist. Brazil wants to build up its industrial base, rather than just serve as a cheap source of raw materials. High tariffs are a good way to do this, and that strategy is not at all new or unique. Prior to the 20th century, tariffs provided a majority of the U.S. government's revenue. It was a deliberate choice of industrial policy – Henry Clay's "American System" – to protect the growth of domestic industry by making imported products more expensive in comparison. The South, which primarily exported raw materials, disliked this policy, but they lost, and by the 1880s, the U.S. was the world's dominant industrial power. In Germany, Otto von Bismarck did much the same thing with his "marriage of iron and rye". The result is that a country which was weak and divided until 1871 became powerful enough to take on the rest of Europe and almost win.
Economists don't like to hear it, but history proves that protectionism works.
Depends on how you define "works". If you mean funds the state pretty well and protects some industries at the expense of everyone else, then yes they work great.
not at the expense of "everyone else". That is an over simplification.
For instance, If the price of imported electronics goes up (via an import tariff), this creates an opportunity for local electronics producers to benefit. The local cost of electronics increases, and the profit margins of local electronics producers increase. But the only people who have any increased expense are those who buy electronics.
If you don't buy electronics then your costs are unaffected. And if you buy electronics your costs are affected only in proportion to that specific item.
However the local manufacturing of electronics creates jobs, and creates demand in many sectors, not only electronics (for instance a factory requires construction and machines which are not necessarily made exclusively of microchips). the people with those jobs are now going to spend their money throughout the entire local economy, which in turn benefits everybody locally. In turn this creates more incentive for local investment and even greater local prosperity.
Protectionism has a proven history of working. And every wealthy powerful nation started off as very protectionist. There is not 1 single example of a country becoming wealthy and powerful by starting as a completely open free trade zone.
No one has a right to their *own* opinion. They have a right to the TRUTH.