A comparison of PS3 and 360 as media players
- Thread starter TrungGap
- Start date
Holy crap !The visual effects apply to 3D media. I can blur and apply other filters to my 3D photos and videos on-the-fly. That's actually pretty neat when you see it in-person.
Yeah, Sony's engineers can and will do some neat stuff, it's Sony's marketing that's at issue here. :smile:
Movie and music businesses finally represented in Kaz's round table...
Michael Lynton becomes CEO of Sony America, Nicole Seligman picked for SCA president
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/29/michael-lynton-ceo-sony-america-nicole-seligman-sca-president/
(((interference)))
Veteran
Does anyone know if the 360's DVD playback has improved by recent title updates? Or is it still as atrocious as it was back in 2007?
http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/50494-xbox-360s-seriously-flawed-dvd-playback/
http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/50494-xbox-360s-seriously-flawed-dvd-playback/
Plex Media Server beta adds DLNA support, streams to PS3, Xbox 360, WP7 and more
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/plex-media-server-beta-dlna-wp7/
Scanning through the comments, I see some feedback about the beta not working for them. Your mileage may vary.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/plex-media-server-beta-dlna-wp7/
Scanning through the comments, I see some feedback about the beta not working for them. Your mileage may vary.
Seemed to work well with my PS3. Haven't tested it with the Panasonic tv yet. They also launched an official Roku channel which is as close to dlna I can get on that right now.
I can't believe its taken Amazon so long to roll out to the console space. Their Prime streaming service is never going to be a serious competitor to netflix until they have comparable device support.
Incidentally, the Amazon app looks really nice and pulled up my purchase history once I linked my account no problem. It's a bit slow loading up new sections, though. You basically get a loading screens when you go to movies. Another when you drill down to a genre, etc.
Incidentally, the Amazon app looks really nice and pulled up my purchase history once I linked my account no problem. It's a bit slow loading up new sections, though. You basically get a loading screens when you go to movies. Another when you drill down to a genre, etc.
Gradthrawn
Veteran
Agreed, the interface looks really good but like you said can be a tad bit on the slow side.
They really need to proper way to queue videos as well for us Prime subscribers. The current system should work fine for those purchasing/renting movies. But for those of us treating it like Netflix (a video buffet) it's quite cumbersome, IMO.
Then again, I won't personally be complaining too much since the reason I got and continue to pay for my Prime membership is for the flat rate shipping. However, with the current system I don't think many people would sign-up for Prime specifically and primarily for the streaming video content. Not sure if that's even a concern or goal currently for Amazon, though.
I'm just glad they said it's the "first console" and not the "only console". Gives me hope that my trusty 360 will at some point also get the app.
The walkthrough made the app look suspiciously like the new style XBox media apps with the large 2 high grid of tiles and the pivot at the top. Ours are designed that way to make better targets for kinect control, why would the PS3 need that?
Well other interfaces are similar. I think it's jsut the CE approach - big icons viewable from miles away. I don't see why a service wouldn't come to XB, other than MS being a little awkward like the BBC. But they've shown they can be flexible.
My only thoughts are, another service? Exploring Android, there are dozens of different app and content stores and services, mostly deserted and pointless. I guess Amazon's a big name, but wanting to watch a film shouldn't involve opening up 6 different streaming services to see who has it available at the lowest price (and best quality, if service quality differs).
My only thoughts are, another service? Exploring Android, there are dozens of different app and content stores and services, mostly deserted and pointless. I guess Amazon's a big name, but wanting to watch a film shouldn't involve opening up 6 different streaming services to see who has it available at the lowest price (and best quality, if service quality differs).
Yeah, that's why we should have only one TV channel as well. I mean, why on earth would you want more channels? Note that before you think that this is something different - no it isn't. Channels come from different networks, and networks are content creators that sell their content through various ... channels (not just their own, or sometimes even never through their own).
These apps are also channels, but they are competing outlets with competing features, and competing for your dollars, and these dollars are not only item based, but subscriptions, bundles, and discounts. So this is actually the way it should be. Inconvenient in some cases perhaps, but still competely natural.
Selling the same content. If every TV channel showed the same content, we'd only need one of those as well. If there's was a significant difference (like MUBI) than I can understand it. If there were stores for each of the movie companies (Disney store, WB store), I could understand it, although that'd still be less than ideal. But presently on PS3 when we tried, we looked through 3 different stores trying to find something to watch, which was a complete waste of time. All this competition is just like a format war. I don't want to have to own an HDDVD player to get WB movies, and a BRD player to get Disney movies. I want them all available on the same format. I don't want to have to have a Netflix account to watch some films and an Amazon account to watch others. I want a service with every single film and TV series ever made on at a fair price.
All they need to do for that though is allow your PSN to be the single sign-on to which these services are linked. This is possible, and I'd expect something like that to happen in the future.
Note that many different TV channels do in fact offer the same content (though fortunately not too often at the same time ).
And yes, it is a bit like a format war. But if it weren't, then say that iTunes was the de-facto channel and they decide to only allow you to watch that on TV through Apple devices. That's not good either, is it?
I think amazon is, all things considered, a pretty good addition and one of the more likely channels in a position to be the first place to go look, at least.
Also, I only have MUBI at the moment. So my choices are that, or buy a new cable decoder that can do interactive TV and buy some stuff from there (and then I think I can also access HBO on demand now, if I pay that fixed fee), or go rent something (which fortunately for us is still a really good option ).
So yeah, my reaction to your final question is a bit like 'it's nice to want things'. If, say, Amazon Prime has most stuff at a reasonable all you can eat subscription rate, then this could well become a situation where either you have your content on there, or it might as well not exist type of affair. But we're some ways away from that, and yes, this is a bit like a format war. But I don't think it will be one that is won in the near future, and I'm not convinced it should ever be won, because that will also kill competition, and I just don't think that's healthy.
Instead, I think you'll see some unified searches appear on the web that just show you what service has what content available at what price.
Note that many different TV channels do in fact offer the same content (though fortunately not too often at the same time
). And yes, it is a bit like a format war. But if it weren't, then say that iTunes was the de-facto channel and they decide to only allow you to watch that on TV through Apple devices. That's not good either, is it?
I think amazon is, all things considered, a pretty good addition and one of the more likely channels in a position to be the first place to go look, at least.
Also, I only have MUBI at the moment. So my choices are that, or buy a new cable decoder that can do interactive TV and buy some stuff from there (and then I think I can also access HBO on demand now, if I pay that fixed fee), or go rent something (which fortunately for us is still a really good option
).So yeah, my reaction to your final question is a bit like 'it's nice to want things'. If, say, Amazon Prime has most stuff at a reasonable all you can eat subscription rate, then this could well become a situation where either you have your content on there, or it might as well not exist type of affair. But we're some ways away from that, and yes, this is a bit like a format war. But I don't think it will be one that is won in the near future, and I'm not convinced it should ever be won, because that will also kill competition, and I just don't think that's healthy.
Instead, I think you'll see some unified searches appear on the web that just show you what service has what content available at what price.
That's really a poltics and ethics discussion. It's only not good because they'd fleece people because they're greedy, because everyone's greedy. There's nothing fundamentally limiting a single service being the best possible, if the motivations were for the company to do the best by their consumers out of a sense of pride rather than for greedy ends. *If* iTunes were the only content portal, but Apple kept improving it not because competition with others forced them to but because pride in their service had them wanting to improve it, and they kept prices as low as was fair and workable (let's say...£3 a rental for a movie, dropping by 50p each year or two after launch until old movies were really cheap. Whatever the economics they went with, if they were felt fair by all invovled it'd be acceptable), then there'd be no problem with them having a monopoly.
Of course, that's all hypothetical, wishful thinking. People never operate that way, hence the reliance and belief in competition to force people to do the 'right thing'. But that doesn't make the competition approach right. I just want a single content platform. I dial up the content I want, no worries, and it should be accesible from all devices. All this mess and complication is just getting in my way. It's also a bit odd that Sony have their own content portal, which is what the consoles were all about, and yet are open to other content portals. They've kinda shot themselves in the foot their.
They haven't shot themselves in the foot. They're simply not in the position. Not quite the same thing. Imagine that 360 continued to add such media services to the 360 while PS3 sticks to only offering its own video service. Won't work. In fact, 360 strategically secured a temporary exclusivity window on Netflix because they thought that would benefit them (and I'm sure it did). That's quite a difference from being in a position to force Netflix to offer content through 360's own service. What 360 however has done really well is set up a search function (among others for use with Kinect, but useful in various ways) powered by Binq that can search across various services. Not 100% sure if that includes Netflix, YouTube etc. but that is a pretty nice way of dealing with it.
Well, if Sony ahd launched a proper service from day one, competition from XB360 wouldn't have mattered. It's got to a point where the battle for the living room seems kinda pointless. No-one's managed to secure the content portal thanks to their hardware adoption, and they've all diversifed into offering a range of content portals. So what's the point for the console now? It's just another CE device in that regard. PS4 and XB3 will be competing on providing the widest range of content providers, rather than spearheading the MS/SEN content portals. They'll be competing with themselves and their own services. What a stupid position to find themselves in!
But then apple have done similar. Netflix is available on iOS, giving people an option other than iTunes. But then I suppose any company that did provide a single portal woud have governments force them to allow other content providers, meaning the original gameplan of controlling the living room was never going to work.
But then apple have done similar. Netflix is available on iOS, giving people an option other than iTunes. But then I suppose any company that did provide a single portal woud have governments force them to allow other content providers, meaning the original gameplan of controlling the living room was never going to work.
Well, I'm sure we'll end up with a limited number of 'winners' in the end anyway, we'll see.
We just finally got Music Unlimited in my country (announced for 12 April, but I just found the Vita version of the App, downloaded and played around with it for a bit. We're currently Spotify subscribers so that's our frame of reference at the moment. I have to say the interface on Vita is really sweet. Maybe one or two more configuration options (auto-play next song on the search results would be nice - that's what Spotify does, but I wouldn't want that always either, just for songs I look for that we play with the 'band').
It makes really good use of the available space / widescreen layout too, for instance search results showing results from everything on the left, and from your playlists/library on the right. And yeah, being able to cache all songs locally that you can then play when off-line (and while playing games) is really neat too.
EDIT: just put on a decent headphone to check, and the sound quality is REALLY good.
We just finally got Music Unlimited in my country (announced for 12 April, but I just found the Vita version of the App, downloaded and played around with it for a bit. We're currently Spotify subscribers so that's our frame of reference at the moment. I have to say the interface on Vita is really sweet. Maybe one or two more configuration options (auto-play next song on the search results would be nice - that's what Spotify does, but I wouldn't want that always either, just for songs I look for that we play with the 'band').
It makes really good use of the available space / widescreen layout too, for instance search results showing results from everything on the left, and from your playlists/library on the right. And yeah, being able to cache all songs locally that you can then play when off-line (and while playing games) is really neat too.
EDIT: just put on a decent headphone to check, and the sound quality is REALLY good.
Well, I'm sure we'll end up with a limited number of 'winners' in the end anyway, we'll see.
We just finally got Music Unlimited in my country (announced for 12 April, but I just found the Vita version of the App, downloaded and played around with it for a bit. We're currently Spotify subscribers so that's our frame of reference at the moment. I have to say the interface on Vita is really sweet. Maybe one or two more configuration options (auto-play next song on the search results would be nice - that's what Spotify does, but I wouldn't want that always either, just for songs I look for that we play with the 'band').
It makes really good use of the available space / widescreen layout too, for instance search results showing results from everything on the left, and from your playlists/library on the right. And yeah, being able to cache all songs locally that you can then play when off-line (and while playing games) is really neat too.
EDIT: just put on a decent headphone to check, and the sound quality is REALLY good.
The iOS version is supposed to land soon (within weeks).
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