A comparison of PS3 and 360 as media players

[patsu]

Depends on how you do it !

It should be easier to use. e.g., Detect that the Move controller has been lifted and show a contextual menu with large transparent buttons automatically.

For DS3 control, you can press a button quickly, but you need to know which button to press under different contexts.

 

[NathansFortune]

Im sorry for the bag of squirmy worms nature of what im saying, but what is a realistic reason why they cannot offer these same services day and date with America in other countries? It is wrong to pirate but when you get releases months or years afterwards in your country you get a culture of piracy.

Rights/licence issues. The US is easy as you can get 400m consumers and only need to licence content from 7 studios. In PAL each country needs a separate content licence agreement, so the bigger markets always get new services quickest. SCEE have got separate tiers, T1 countries are Britain, Germany and France, T2 extends to Spain, Netherlands/Benelux, Italy etc... but you get the picture.

Then you get to super complex content negotiations, in which case the UK will get it well before everyone else while SCE or the provider hammer out deals for other territories. The smaller the country the less consumers it has and therefore it will get lower priority. English speaking markets tend to be quicker than others, but that isn't a hard and fast rule.

 

[Squilliam]

Rights/licence issues. The US is easy as you can get 400m consumers and only need to licence content from 7 studios. In PAL each country needs a separate content licence agreement, so the bigger markets always get new services quickest. SCEE have got separate tiers, T1 countries are Britain, Germany and France, T2 extends to Spain, Netherlands/Benelux, Italy etc... but you get the picture.

Then you get to super complex content negotiations, in which case the UK will get it well before everyone else while SCE or the provider hammer out deals for other territories. The smaller the country the less consumers it has and therefore it will get lower priority. English speaking markets tend to be quicker than others, but that isn't a hard and fast rule.

It seems strange that the studios etc would not seek to prioritise content for overseas markets to arrive at the same time given the ability for people to simply download the titles. Waiting a long time for a highly anticipated show is incentive enough and like what we saw with console games, Europe became a nation of media pirates in part because of that wait.

 

[patsu]

Another update for Tourne:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/11/18/torne_twitter_update/

Version 2.10 adds a new "Live Function" to the device. This feature links the device up to Twitter. Viewers can post Tweets directly from the PS3 as they watch. Torne will also stream in Tweets related to the current program in real time.

Tweets can also be posted from the program guide and search screen, allowing you to easily notify followers about programs.

The free Version 2.10 update will not be available until some time this Winter. Sony is presumably alerting people to it today because the device's 320 gigabyte PlayStation 3 bundle became available for purchase today at ¥39,980.

...

No idea why people want to tweet in a DVR.

 

[Carl B]

They took in $100 million for the ads on Hulu. They should be able to improve Hulu Plus without degrading Hulu because competition is fierce !

If "they" were just Hulu, I would agree outright, but because Hulu is part-owned by these very same competitors, and is dependent on these competitors for the very content they offer, I have to imagine that there's always pressure coming from somewhere. Honestly I'm shocked that Hulu has come as far as it has. For myself, PlayOn+PS3 is probably my primary means of watching shows.

 

[patsu]

Yes, according to that article I read, they do face pressure from their parents to make more money. That's why they introduced the subscription scheme.

Now if their research shows that subscription can fetch more gold, then they may indeed "pawn" the advertising model away. It'd be hard for them to differentiate against other subscription services or pay-per-view services though. Their advertising approach may help to lower their cost in both models.

Would be interesting to see how they play their cards.

 

[Carl B]

Doesn't Hulu Plus still have the advertising though? I'm not saying they get rid of the advertising at all, but that I wouldn't be surprised if they begin to pull some of the content presently available for free now and make it exclusive to Hulu Plus, as an increased differentiator and incentive for consumers to move over to the paid subscription. The draw of Hulu Plus is supposed to be its increased content; if Hulu feels they are not getting the subscription rates they are after given the content they have been able to add, I just reason that the carrot might become the stick with some existing content on Hulu Basic being taken away to create a larger content spread between the two.

 

[patsu]

Yes, I understood that. I am curious how advertising will help them though. If they pull those content away, they will earn less advertising fee (e.g., they cannot use it to lower subscription cost to attract more user). It seems to be something they can play with. So you're right, it could impact the free Hulu. But it could impact both ways and both directions.

 

[dobwal]

Hulu's in a strange place as a service/business.

They should call it Hulu+/- because from everyone I know thats familar with vanilla Hulu on PC and Hulu+ says that Hulu+ does not have all the content available on vanilla Hulu. Its seems to me Hulu+ is a different arrangement and Hulu is having a hard getting all the current content providers on board.

 

[patsu]

Yes, they target different segments. Hulu is strictly for PC users. Hulu+ for all other devices. I'm not going to watch a movie on PC (Don't have one hooked up to the TV). That's why I see them "benefiting" each other for Hulu (the company), but as xbd pointed out, there is also an inherent tension between the 2.

Everyone is trying to get HD content on their services, not just Hulu. GoogleTV got rejected by all studios. NetFlix has the smallest HD library but is growing fast. VUDU has the largest but seems to be moving the slowest. I think the latter adopted a bad strategy from the get go. Instead of embracing Blu-ray, they went against it. NetFlix was the only streaming company that recognized that Blu-ray can complement streaming. So they partnered with all the Blu-ray player manufacturers, and lept in front of everyone else. ^_^

One thing that's nice about VUDU, besides the larger HD library, is the day-and-date release with DVD/Blu-ray (and no subscription fee).

EDIT:
From a US consumer's perspective, you can rent a "new" movie on VUDU first (for $2), or you can rent one from RedBox ($1 or DVD, $1.5 for Blu-ray) on the same day. No subscription needed. 28 days later (or longer), the same movie can be made available on NetFlix and Hulu+ (Both subscription based). These 2 are strongest for TV shows and catalog/old movies. PSN video is somewhere in between (offering rental and purchase at higher unit price, no subscription model). Don't know how Qriocity fits into the grand scheme of things.

Yes, Sony should let people know the differences between these services (Why so many video services ?), and simplify their purchase/rental experiences. Kevin Butler shouting Blu-ray exclusively is not going to help them much. May be have a big chart behind him to summarize 1-2 key points ?

Despite all the above, the video service I am most intrigued by is actually MUBI, the indie and foreign collection, but it's not available here. At the end of the day, these video stores are like boutiques. Unfortunately, people lump them together like a random collection of video files, they are getting commoditized.

 

[patsu]

NetFlix up'ed their disc subscription fee but introduced the $7.99/month pure streaming service:
http://netflix.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=376

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=5498 has an analysis of the price increment:

Just a month after announcing skyrocketing revenues and total subscribers, Netflix has announced that it is going to increase subscription rates , for the third time in two years, by as much as 14%: $1 more a month for the one and two discs at a time; $3 more for the three discs at at a time, and so on, all the way up to $8 more for the eight discs at a time. The additional monthly charge for Blu-ray access is unchanged.

New rates for the subscription plans, including the Blu-ray option, are as follows:
* 1 disc at a time: $9.99 + $2 = $11.99 (was $10.99)
* 2 discs at a time: $14.99 + $3 = $17.99 (was $16.99)
* 3 discs at a time: $19.99 + $4 = $23.99 (was $20.99)
* 4 discs at a time: $27.99 + $5 = $32.99 (was $28.99)
* 5 discs at a time: $34.99 + $6 = $40.99 (was $35.99)
* 6 discs at a time: $41.99 + $7 = $48.99 (was $42.99)
* 7 discs at a time: $48.99 + $8 = $56.99 (was $49.99)
* 8 discs at a time: $55.99 + $9 = $64.99 (was $56.99)
Hence, once the Blu-ray option is considered, the plan that increases the least is the 2-at-a-time, with a 6% increase; the one-at-a-time gets a 9% hike; and the plans with three discs out or more all get increases of 14%.

Price changes take effect now for new sign-ups and in January for existing members.

...

While Netflix also announced a streaming-only plan today, it said that it has no intention of launching a disc-only plan, even though the catalog it has available for streaming is only a fifth of what it has on physical media.

 

[patsu]

VUDU launched today:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010...tantly-with-vudu-application-available-today/

Last week, we announced a partnership with VUDU that will bring you the ability to stream thousands of movies straight from the cloud to your PlayStation 3. Today, that announcement becomes reality as the VUDU application launches in the United States on PlayStation Network. VUDU delivers a cinema-quality movie experience in the comfort of your home theater, complete with full 1080p HD with 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus sound, and video on-demand without downloading. No subscription is necessary to browse their library of more than 4,000 HD movies, including many new releases the same day they are released to DVD and Blu-ray. The movies are available on-demand and you only pay for the movies that you watch. Also, when you sign up for a VUDU account, you will receive a $5.99 credit on your account for one free HD rental.

I think it's $2 if you rent for 2 nights only, but I could be wrong. Can't verify since I'm out of town. ^_^

 

[Scott_Arm]

I'm trying to find a way to stream music to my Xbox from my Macbook. I used PS3mediaserver, but whenever I browse music from my xbox it doesn't see my music. I have the music shared. If I browse from my video library I can see the music folders in there, but nothing will play.

Anyone know of something I might have configured wrong, but I don't see anything in the settings. Or maybe there is another freeware program that is good. I could boot into windows and do the media center, thing, but don't really want to do that every time I want to stream music.

 

[patsu]

Which PMS version are you using ? I believe there is a new beta.

The author mentioned that Xbox compatibility is a secondary feature (He doesn't have time to fully support both PS3 and Xbox). It seems that MS extended DLNA in their own ways, so Xbox behaves slightly differently. You should try other DLNA server too ! ...including those on NAS servers.

EDIT: Have you tried TVersity (Free or Pro) and PlayOn media server ?

 

[patsu]

BBC America debut on PSN Video Store:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/11/24/popular-shows-from-bbc-america-to-debut-today/

Hi everyone — A lot of us around here are big fans of “Top Gear,” the wildly popular and Emmy award-winning BBC show that features a group of men doing exciting, interesting and potentially dangerous test drives of cars in different environments. Now, we are excited to announce the U.S. version of “Top Gear” is making its debut in the PlayStation Network Video Store today. And, for the next two weeks, you can download and enjoy the first episode for free, offering a great segue to today’s launch of Gran Turismo 5.

This is all part of a new television content offering from the BBC, making classic and current seasons of popular TV shows from BBC AMERICA available on the PlayStation Network. Each week, the “Video” section of the PlayStation Store will add additional BBC AMERICA programming, including “Top Gear,” “Doctor Who,” the channel’s record setting science fiction series featuring the eccentric galactic protector, “Being Human,” the popular supernatural drama featuring a trio of friends who happen to be a vampire, a ghost, and a werewolf, plus many more hits set to debut in both High Definition (HD) for $2.99 and Standard Definition (SD) for $1.99 on the PlayStation Store throughout December.

 

[patsu]

I didn't realize there are 3 UIs in the PS3 NetFlix app:
http://www.quora.com/Neil-Hunt-What-types-of-things-does-Netflix-A-B-test-aside-from-member-sign-up

Sony should learn from them, especially…

If I had to summarize our learnings in three words: "simple trumps complete."

 

[Scott_Arm]

Which PMS version are you using ? I believe there is a new beta.

The author mentioned that Xbox compatibility is a secondary feature (He doesn't have time to fully support both PS3 and Xbox). It seems that MS extended DLNA in their own ways, so Xbox behaves slightly differently. You should try other DLNA server too ! ...including those on NAS servers.

EDIT: Have you tried TVersity (Free or Pro) and PlayOn media server ?

I know what I'll do. I'll run Media Center through Parallels. Not the best solution for my PC, but should work very nicely on the 360.

 

[patsu]

Aye, that would work too. Parallels is a great piece of work, well worth the $50 or so.

EDIT:
Whoops, $80 now. Still very worth it.

 

[patsu]

Blu-ray for Black Friday week:
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/bl...ted-blu-ray-players-during-black-friday-21398

Blu-ray Disc player sales set a record for unit volume during the Black Friday week (ended Nov. 28), up more than 50% from the same period last year, according to The NPD Group.

Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis with NPD, said more than 400,000 Blu-ray players were sold during the week as consumers gravitated toward steeply discounted models featuring Internet connectivity. The median price per unit was $113, down 23% from a median price of $145 last year.

Notably, 3D Blu-ray players accounted for 15% of the units sold.

“It was a boom time for Blu-ray players,” Baker said. “The real difference this was that the stuff promoted was relatively current product with current features.”

He said consumers are not buying connected players necessarily for Blu-ray movies but, rather, for the “whole package,” which includes streaming, downloaded music, YouTube videos and 3D.

“It is a lot more of a utilitarian product than just focused on Blu-ray movies, which I may or may not have a huge amount of interest in,” Baker said.

He said Blu-ray players are mini set-top boxes offering users a different (non-browsing) level of Web access. Players require embedded apps or firmware upgrades to access select content, such as Netflix, Pandora and YouTube.

“People love to buy stuff that gives them a whole lot of options,” Baker said. “And Netflix is pretty hot right now.”

The analyst said the fact that 3D Blu-ray players were relatively strong despite a dearth of 3D Blu-ray movies, suggests growing demand for the format.

 

[AzBat]

My sister bought a $95 networked Blu-ray player on Black Friday. Can't remember which one or where, but she only got it to stream Netflix & Pandora. It was either that or a $60 Roku box. Convinced her that for an extra $35 the Bluray player was probably a better deal. If I had the money I probably would have bought one too.

Tommy McClain