A litle rant, off topic console

[cthellis42]

Next question, please.

I always thought this meant 3D graphics were entirely unimportant to us, as we're looking for what's beyond them.

 

[expletive]

Well, as things move on, technically not a lot. At this point most of what's missing in either platform can be made up for in software, and XB360 isn't dependent on an external machine as seemed more the case at launch. What has struck me is Sony's support of the iTunes format, which is quite a big deal I think. But then PS3 won't support the MS formats. I'd say Sony are in a better position to support alternative formats though, because they don't have a software codec agenda. MS obviously want to promote their own standards. WMV is a given, but are they ever likely to let you watch QuickTime movies?

Does the PS3 support DRMd itunes music or just the AAC format? Big difference imo...

Also PS3's more open support of peripherals is quite the plus-point I think. How do you read a MemoryStick on XB360? Do they have a MemStick reader peripheral? The included card slots in PS3's Supremo model make it a better device in that respect, and on the cheaper side, in theory I guess you can chuck in any USB card reader.

Yeah, theyre probably about $15 online for a multi reader or you can just plug most any device like a camera or mp3 player right in and play it that way.

 

[pakotlar]

Both systems will have upgradeable HDD's, PS3's will be cheaper than the 360 first party HDD, but that's just a cost difference, not functionality.

Like I say, the encoding will have to be done by an external device for it to be an effective DVR. There's no point in having a DVR if it can only record stuff while you're not playing games, the functionality would be completely gimped.

I'm sure both systems could encode video on the fly, but I can't see how they'll be able to do it while running a game.

btw: MS already has the TV front end built into 360 using Vista and MC Extender. Full TV guide, browse, scheduling etc etc, I use it daily.

Ah thats cool, didn't know that. I'm going to have to scheck it out. Time to break out the tv tuner.

 

[blakjedi]

Well, as things move on, technically not a lot. At this point most of what's missing in either platform can be made up for in software, and XB360 isn't dependent on an external machine as seemed more the case at launch. What has struck me is Sony's support of the iTunes format, which is quite a big deal I think. But then PS3 won't support the MS formats. I'd say Sony are in a better position to support alternative formats though, because they don't have a software codec agenda. MS obviously want to promote their own standards. WMV is a given, but are they ever likely to let you watch QuickTime movies?

Only since ATRAC died...

 

[silhouette]

Well, as things move on, technically not a lot. At this point most of what's missing in either platform can be made up for in software, and XB360 isn't dependent on an external machine as seemed more the case at launch. What has struck me is Sony's support of the iTunes format, which is quite a big deal I think. But then PS3 won't support the MS formats. I'd say Sony are in a better position to support alternative formats though, because they don't have a software codec agenda. MS obviously want to promote their own standards. WMV is a given, but are they ever likely to let you watch QuickTime movies?

Also PS3's more open support of peripherals is quite the plus-point I think. How do you read a MemoryStick on XB360? Do they have a MemStick reader peripheral? The included card slots in PS3's Supremo model make it a better device in that respect, and on the cheaper side, in theory I guess you can chuck in any USB card reader.

Isn't that what a reserved SPE is supposed to do? It needn't encode to MPEG2 or VC-1, but could use a proprietary compression that fits neatly into the SPE, and which can be converted for export if wanted. Given DRM, I wouldn't be surprised if that was frowned upon. Recording HD content off TV and being able to rip it and burn it and distribute it, much as we consumers want to do that, is something the content providers want to stop.

On audio side, 360 supports AAC from day one and I do not think even any of Sony products will ever support DRMed Itunes content. Quicktime is a different story though. I guess the more people asked, the better chance we will see it as supported. However, at the end, if MS needs to pay royalty for something, they will surely avoid as much as they can.

About PVR functionality, it is not just the process power requried. You have to spend someof the bandwidth to carry the video data to SPE and then then carry out the encoded data, and then, write the encoded data to hard-disk which all requires some bandwitdh. So, I am pretty sure that this will have some impact on gaming side. Since this is something that the developers have zero control of, I doubt this will ever possible as well (unless Sony also reserve some of the total memory bandwidth the same as they reserve the SPE)