Sony announces PLAYSTATION®Eye Camera

[Gradthrawn]

Does the MS camera manage that? When I checked these things a while back, all the HD cameras only managed 30 fps at 640x480. Higher resolutions dropped the framerate. The blurb on your link says 'up to 30 fps' but doesn't say if there's a framerate limit on higher resolutions, as there is on other cameras.

You are correct, the MS camera cannot manage the specs I mentioned (1280x720 @ 30fps). Which is why I feel a PS HD Cam with those specs would be a nice improvement over the HD cams out there now.

I'd also question the worth of hires webcams. Transmission of HD footage is pretty pointless, and the accuracy in motion detection probably isn't needed.

I could see that happening but than people may wonder what is the point? If there's a pack-in camera it's definitely going to be the SD one.

You guys both have good points. And in all honesty, I'm not entirely sure about the intended market or usage! But there is one! I just know there is...
Also, I don't think transmitting HD footage is worthless, per-see. If you think about the PS3 market, there was never a market more likely to have HDTVs, broadband connections, expendable income, and a hunger for new technology. That sounds like the perfect group to market this to. Those who want higher performance accessories that have a higher price (even if there aren't many tangible benefits in the beginning ).

As for price, PS3's peripherals have generally been on the cheaper side. I can't see a reason why this thing should be priced beyond the original EyeToy ($40 including game).

I agree with you and nintenho, I think the PS Eye will be on the cheaper side. But, I don't think it will be $40. Not initially, at least. I would guess much closer to $60, including a game. Don't forget, 1st party games back then were $40, instead of the standard $50. The standard is now $60, and SCE hasn't announced any special pricing for 1st party games (it took them a couple of years before they did that on the PS2, IIRC).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The standard is now $60, and SCE hasn't announced any special pricing for 1st party games (it took them a couple of years before they did that on the PS2, IIRC).

Increased pricing is true, but in this latter point, scertainly in the EU 1st party titles are cheaper. Sony titles are £45 versus the standard £50 of 3rd party titles and XB360 games. I think EyeToy was priced a little lower in the US too because of delayed release. It launched here for the price of a game - picked up for £30 (though I think RRP was £40). $50 was the US launch price, and PlayStation Eye is probably gonna be the same, maybe a bit more as the tech is obviously more advanced than EyeToy was for it's time. But I'm sure Sony are wanting to keep the price as low as possible.

 

[Rainbow Man]

You are correct, the MS camera cannot manage the specs I mentioned (1280x720 @ 30fps).

I have that camera. It does around 10-12 fps at 1280 res (1024 vertical I think; it's not widescreen).

It's pretty jerky. An dthe microphone sucks. Constant buzzing noise in the backgrounbd. Very disappointing.

The image is also very grainy. it gets worse as res goes up.

Sony's cam reminds me of some prop from a 50s sci-fi movie. Looks alright to me. The array mic was a surprise.

I guess they dropped the HD aspect because cheap sensors simply aren't good enough yet. Noisy pic and slow update speed.

Perhaps it's easie rto do motion tracking with a lower res and faster framerate?

Laser mice works at thousands of frames per seconsd..

Paece.

 

[Gradthrawn]

Perhaps it's easier to do motion tracking with a lower res and faster framerate?

ShootMyMonkey mentioned that very thing in the other PS Eye thread.

For a webcam and online chat purposes, that is indeed useless. For motion tracking and gestural recognition, particularly with fast motions, higher framerate is a bigger deal than higher resolution because it means less noise and less blur in the image and maintaining of features.

 

[infinity4]

PLAYSTATION Eye... "Eye Beyond" sounds better name to me :smile:. "e" on beyond can be replaced with 3

 

[infinity4]

the name doesn't look as creative as ps3 font

 

[Shifty Geezer]

From the threespeech QnA, the games mentioned for PSE include :

Eye of Judgement
Ember
Skyblue
Aqua Vita

That's three unknowns. Hopefully there's a lot of diversity. Is Aqua Vita going to be based on the interactive water of E3? It'd be a nice and original idea if so! From the sounds of it, they're not all wretched party games either!

 

[Titanio]

A good interview with Richard Marks here re. Playstation Eye:

http://ncroal.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=585885

The most important thing this means is that we can get clean voice data into the PS3.It allows the device to effectively "listen" in a certain direction. In our case, we would listen in the direction of the person playing the game. Previously, the only way to get clean voice data was using a headset worn by the player; now, without wearing a headset, players will be able to talk freely. The device is especially good at removing ambient sounds like traffic and wind noises from outside, the whirring of fans, etc. Also, there is special processing to remove the game sounds generated by the PS3 itself.

The clean voice data provided to the PS3 could be used for chat or for speech recognition, or any other use that a game might have. And it easy for the player, since it doesn't involve wearing anything or configuring anything.

He talks about the key design considerations, and also assures that the cost model they were following was the same as the original eyetoy..so you can probably expect it to retail for similar kinds of prices, and see it bundled with all kinds of software.

It's interesting that he says the two fields of view fell out of "the many game ideas put forth by the designers". Also hadn't thought too much about uncompressed video, but that should indeed help them out on the processing side. It definitely does seem like a very bespoke piece of kit rather than an off-the-shelf solution like the original appeared to be.

 

[Arwin]

Good interview ... though I would probably have asked what SDKs developers receive with the device. And if they plan support for Yahoo or other messenger services.

Look forward to this!

 

[one]

Also, there is special processing to remove the game sounds generated by the PS3 itself.

Cool, feedback was one of my questions for this device, now it's gone.

 

[Sindre]

Sorry about that.

 

[StefanS]

In the other news...

"Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that a new camera accessory for the PlayStation Portable will launch across Europe on May 16, priced at GBP 34.99 / EUR 49.99.

Go!Cam will allow users to capture film footage and still images, and features a built-in microphone for recording audio."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=24666

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=41004

 

[Gradthrawn]

The Lidless Eye