I'm assuming you'll be able to plug in any Freeview HD box in the UK and the equivalent to that elsewhere. So no extra subscription to use the snappy UI if you don't have cable/satellite. It should work with the various on-demand free TV apps and perhaps even freeview streaming. The UI just seems incredibly nifty if it all works well enough.
Business Approach Comparison Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox
- Thread starter BRiT
- Start date
I rarely am, but please tell me. Tell me what's on your mind.
Found a HDTV converter box I'm considering:
iView 3500STB
http://www.amazon.com/iView-3500STB-DTV-Converter-Box/dp/B00BFIJQ10/
There's a few reviews where people bought it for their Logitech Revue/Google TV devices. Seems like a good pairing for the XB1 as well.
Tommy McClain
iView 3500STB
http://www.amazon.com/iView-3500STB-DTV-Converter-Box/dp/B00BFIJQ10/
There's a few reviews where people bought it for their Logitech Revue/Google TV devices. Seems like a good pairing for the XB1 as well.
Tommy McClain
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I don't agree. You're only talking about live TV from premium services. If you don't pay for those your TV apps still work & you can use it for those. I get TV shows from Netflix & Hulu. They still work without a cable or satellite service. Also, if you want you could probably buy a cheap HTDV tuner with HDMI Out & get Over The Air channels directly on your XB1. I'm thinking of doing that myself. Screw paying for Cable/Satellite TV.
Tommy McClain
I didnt mention those because I considered them as a given features in both consoles. I dont relate them with TV viewing in the same manner as streaming actual TV channels which is supposed to be the competitive advantage of the XBone over the PS4. I dont see a reason why the PS4 wont be able to handle multiple features simultaneously
So whats left?
haha well I honestly wasn't sure if you were claiming this add-on was comparable in vision or functionality to what we've seen from MS so far or you were just being sarcastic. I personally don't see this being any more comparable to XB1's integrated TV than smart TVs being able to play angry birds being able to be a game console, but now that i know your intentions, i shall read up more on it.
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
Uhhh, no. I've made numerous statements in numerous threads that it's obvious that MS is focused on entertainment and Sony is focused on gaming. That MS is focused on the living room while Sony is focused on the gamer. The only thing that I'm interested in discussing is the interface and the validity of the business decisions of the two companies. The only time I used the words "in real time" was in reference to MS demoing the One.
The reason behind this is because game reveals are always crap, they never live up to the demo when they come to press, and that goes for every company in every reveal ever. So I'm completely uninterested in what anybody has to say about any game displayed until atleast they are playable on the E3 floor by normal (IE: not press) participants.
If there's any confusion here, it's on the part of you Sony fanboys jumping into a thread and latching on to something I've said without understanding the full context of the conversation.
Thanks for your participation.
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
So, just to follow up, I did actually go back read through the 38(?) pages of the Sony PS4 reveal thread. It was great reading it after just watching the YouTube video.
In essence, the Sony fanboys are not being hypocritical. They aren't. They were all excited about the reveal, they were thrilled at the 8 GB of RAM, DJ12 said he wet his pants when they said it was going to be GDDR5, and they spent the next 30 minutes talking about that while Sony was talking about their network, entertainment and user interface. The conversation didn't go back to what was actually being revealed until Sony started showing off games.
So yes, Sony is right in not focusing on network capabilities and media options and entertainment because their core market doesn't care. Wouldn't even comment on it in a thread while it was happening. Just not significant or even important to their core audience.
Which I happen to believe is great. Two different consoles for two different markets, despite their similar architecture. It's no surprise that the Sony fanboys don't like what MS showed and that the MS fanboys don't like the fact that Sony didn't actually show anything.
The press has been equally biased. The gaming press thought the PS4 reveal was amazing and the MS reveal was lame, and the main stream media thinks the MS reveal was world changing and has nothing at all to say about the PS4 reveal.
Seems to me that both companies are achieving what they set out to do. Which is why it boggles my mind that there's so much animosity on these forums.
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
That appears to be the truth. After watching the One demo the first thing that went through my mind was "F... now I have to go subscribe to cable TV to get all this cool shit".
Right now, I only pay for a minimum basic tv package and internet through my cable company. I watch all my TV off the internet. If I want to take advantage of all these cool features that the One offers, I'll have to up my subscription regarding my TV package. And that also probably includes paying for the monthly rental fee for a cable box.
But you need to realize the same thing that I realize is that we aren't the majority. Most people already pay for these services. I've tried to show people how to just hook up a simple cheap computer and use it as an HTPC and get rid of cable company charges. It's just too much work for them, and frankly, isn't as convenient. So there's no additional cost to them, they're already paying.
And the features offered by the One far exceed what is offered by TiVo or Cable or Dish companies.
I was not being sarcastic, but not really serious either about it being comparable.
I wanted to shake up a discussion about what each company can do to keep up with the other. TV is a biggie because it's not just a software or an additional service like Netflix, it requires the hardware to support it's integration.If MS strategy works in getting more console sales with Interactive TV features, Sony will want to react. They both always look at each other and try to have everything the other have. Kinect and PSMove have successfully countered Nintendo's novelty, at least enough to stop losing sales to Nintendo. The 360 had an add-on HDDVD drive to mitigated Sony's bluray advantage (for a while). So I'm wondering if Sony could start offering this DVR hardware add-on for PS4 and work hard on a software integration, now that they have a real OS. (This was completely impossible on the PS3, because there wasn't any memory available, hence the DVR adapter being badly integrated). It sure won't be up to par with MS if only because it wasn't part of their focus, but I wonder if it could be enough to mitigate sales loss to the competition.
I think the near parity in sales between PS3, 360 and Wii, is not a coincidence or luck. It's because the companies worked they asses off to compete on every features and every market segment. We had the best competitive market this generation, and to a certain extent all three succeeded. I hope it will happen again next gen (but WiiU is already almost hopeless).
I was not being sarcastic, but not really serious either about it being comparable.
If MS strategy works in getting more console sales with Interactive TV features, Sony will want to react. They both always look at each other and try to have everything the other have. Kinect and PSMove have successfully countered Nintendo's novelty, at least enough to stop losing sales to Nintendo. The 360 had an add-on HDDVD drive to mitigated Sony's bluray advantage (for a while). So I'm wondering if Sony could start offering this DVR hardware add-on for PS4 and work hard on a software integration, now that they have a real OS. (This was completely impossible on the PS3, because there wasn't any memory available, hence the DVR adapter being badly integrated). It sure won't be up to par with MS if only because it wasn't part of their focus, but I wonder if it could be enough to mitigate sales loss to the competition.
I think the near parity in sales between PS3, 360 and Wii, is not a coincidence or luck. It's because the companies worked they asses off to compete on every features and every market segment. We had the best competitive market this generation, and to a certain extent all three succeeded. I hope it will happen again next gen (but WiiU is already almost hopeless).
I have to believe that the TV integration as currently presented isn't what Microsoft would actually want to do but is limited by the realities of the climate we live in where IPTV isn't a real thing. However, in 5-10 years, far more reasonable, no extra box needed.
The new Xbox UI is more about the apps/games dual OS. It runs application, streaming TV, the browser or whatever, without shutting down or even slowing down the game. Flipping from one to the other or displaying both with a button press or voice command. I imagine the game PVR can be accessed from any game like this.
TV pass through and voice control is neat too, if it works for everyone. I know a lot of people will love it for that feature alone.
TV pass through and voice control is neat too, if it works for everyone. I know a lot of people will love it for that feature alone.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cord-cutting-pay-tv-subscriber-426341
It appears that paytv services remain static wrt new subscribers vs losses in the us and uk. In Spain and Italy there have been losses. Good thing xb1 also includes access to Netflix, internet explorer, Hulu, vudu, epix, and other a la carte internet video and television services natively in the OS.
I can't wrap my mind around the hate for giving the user more options has brought about. You don't have/ want live tv? don't connect the cable box. The system will work just the same.
The only thing MS has to fix is the removal of the paywall to access YouTube Netflix and other internet services. Having that as a barrier is a pretty shyte business practice.
It appears that paytv services remain static wrt new subscribers vs losses in the us and uk. In Spain and Italy there have been losses. Good thing xb1 also includes access to Netflix, internet explorer, Hulu, vudu, epix, and other a la carte internet video and television services natively in the OS.
I can't wrap my mind around the hate for giving the user more options has brought about. You don't have/ want live tv? don't connect the cable box. The system will work just the same.
The only thing MS has to fix is the removal of the paywall to access YouTube Netflix and other internet services. Having that as a barrier is a pretty shyte business practice.
Yes & still are. Check out the Wikipedia page. They are up to 3rd generation devices now. They all have HDMI inputs & have a way to pass-thru set-top boxes. You can even connect a 360 or PS3 to them. Big problem has been that some video providers have been blocking their apps on Google TV devices. Microsoft's XB1 is definitely trying to outdo Google TV. Would be interesting to see how they compare once the XB1 ships.
Tommy McClain
Are you sure its because its giving the user more options?
Because we get Hulu, Vudu and a load of other apps on our current gen consoles already. MS didnt demonstrate those and suddenly people got pissed. It was many things that pissed people. People were expecting to see new groundbreaking stuff they havent seen before and most of the show was more of the same with more emphasis on Live TV than necessary. Where people were expecting some awesome spec announcements, they saw incomplete spec announcements, another Kinect and not so much about the power hidden in the console. COD shouldnt have been shown at the announcement. It was a dissapointment. Neither the EA sports. It would have done a lot more difference if they showed teasers and a tech demo or two to create some appetite. They didnt. To top it people also got revealing information about possible imposed measurements on the consumer so that MS has better control of the utilization of the console
It's pretty obvious that Google gives Google TV the short end of the stick in terms of development resources, I mean, it was running a 2 year old version of Android up until Google I/O 2 weeks ago and wasn't even mentioned during the keynote. I don't think anyone thinks that the Xbox isn't a very key part of Microsoft's product portfolio. Google cares about Google TV about as much as Microsoft cares about Windows XP at this point.
Wow, hadn't kept up with all that. Wondering if Apple TV is a more apt competitor? Haven't looked at it either.
Tommy McClain
Current Apple TV box is pretty much useless if you don't have an Apple device. It's an accessory more than a standalone product.
Mythical Apple television ignores the fact that the UI isn't the problem, content deals are. It's the only thing preventing any consumer electronics company from saving us from the shit that is the cable box. No doubt Sony, Microsoft, Apple, Google, etc are far more capable of building better boxes with better UIs in a more consumer friendly fashion than anything made by Scientific Atlantic or Motorola Solutions. The Xbox One guide just shows you how terrible today's cable boxes are.
I was not being sarcastic, but not really serious either about it being comparable.
If MS strategy works in getting more console sales with Interactive TV features, Sony will want to react. They both always look at each other and try to have everything the other have. Kinect and PSMove have successfully countered Nintendo's novelty, at least enough to stop losing sales to Nintendo. The 360 had an add-on HDDVD drive to mitigated Sony's bluray advantage (for a while). So I'm wondering if Sony could start offering this DVR hardware add-on for PS4 and work hard on a software integration, now that they have a real OS. (This was completely impossible on the PS3, because there wasn't any memory available, hence the DVR adapter being badly integrated). It sure won't be up to par with MS if only because it wasn't part of their focus, but I wonder if it could be enough to mitigate sales loss to the competition.
I think the near parity in sales between PS3, 360 and Wii, is not a coincidence or luck. It's because the companies worked they asses off to compete on every features and every market segment. We had the best competitive market this generation, and to a certain extent all three succeeded. I hope it will happen again next gen (but WiiU is already almost hopeless).
Yes agreed they are each trying to approximate each others "killer apps" but the difference from this gen and last is that these consoles were designed form the ground up to be multi-dimensional (the XB1 more so). Last gen both went into the fight being game machines and they both were at an architecture disadvantage when trying to change over the life of the generation.
So the question remains is how well can their competitors approximate the others primary design objectives? If either company used valuable BOM or SOC resources on a killer app, they have to hope that: 1.The public sees value in it 2.The competition can't approximate it to the point where consumers cant tell the difference.
Can HDMI-in be approximated by an add-on? How about Kinect 2 with Sony's mic/camera array? Local compute resources? (18CU vs 12CU) Applications/UX ? etc
I consider them options. *shrug* I have built HTPCs before, I own a jailbroken apple tv running xbmc. The reason why those devices have been niche, both market wise and sales wise is because no one cares enough to try to integrate the experience of using those devices into their media life. Gaming devices however are first class citizens in peoples media setups. The xbox one takes everything those other devices tried to do but couldn't get anyone to care and co-locates it with and through their first class citizen gaming device.
I thought the beginning of the reveal right through Marc Whitten was great. I loved the NFL tie-up and the spec reveal wasn't a geek fest. You have to remember that tech/spec geeks are a minority within the tech enthusiast community.
Everyone person I have encountered that knows about the xbox one reveal, thought it was great because of what it seems to DO. Consolidating inputs is not a minor feat to the average family. They were sure the games they wanted would be there for them at some point.. its xbox after all...
What would be funny is if this turned around on PS and questions became BUT it doesn't do what xbox can do...
