GC: Sony conference

[liolio]

I don't know for Europe but in France it's becoming standart.
All the internet access providers use IPTV, most of them offer PVR for free.
My provider include a 80GB HDD in every box for PVR purpose.
In france ADSL rules, but you can use cable services in some city, optic fiber is on its way!!!
Yes!!! 50mb up / 50mb down.

Between only one operator uses MS technology.
So I've no interest in what MS or Sony offer for that matter.

 

[rabidrabbit]

I tried the F@H remotely with PSP, the text in the app was practically unreadable because the font that's perfectly readable on PS3, is just to small and fuzzy on PSP screen.
Wonder how the PlayTV EPG will be visible on PSP screen when viewed through Remote Play... If there will be no improvements in Remote Play image quality, I think it'll be to bad.

 

[morlock]

I tried the F@H remotely with PSP, the text in the app was practically unreadable because the font that's perfectly readable on PS3, is just to small and fuzzy on PSP screen.
Wonder how the PlayTV EPG will be visible on PSP screen when viewed through Remote Play... If there will be no improvements in Remote Play image quality, I think it'll be to bad.

They show the EPG on PSP in this video. Looks readable to me.


If anyone's interested, DVB-T in Sweden will have 99,8% coverage in 2008 (target). However, there is a government decision pending about just 1-2 channels in HD for DVB-T. So there won't be much HD content availbale for this PlayTV. Out of about 4 million households there are 1,5 million cable-users and a majority of them are able to receive right now around 5-6 HD channels.

In other words, for me I'll get 6-7 free channels and maybe 1-2 HD channels with this PlayTV-module DVB-T. So a DVB-C alternative would be very welcome. Or a common interface to atleast be able to get more channels.

 

[Ons::lob::]

Did I read that right? GT5 will only have 50 cars?

 

[inefficient]

Did I read that right? GT5 will only have 50 cars?

GT5 Prologue. Not GT5.

GT5 Prologue is a PSN game coming in Oct.
GT5 is a BRD game coming next year sometime.

 

[inefficient]

Just saw the videos for Play TV and the GPS thingy on Kotaku. Just reading the descriptions of the products didnt really excite me. But after watching the demo I'm actually quite excited about this stuff.

I'm quite impressed with the interface for both of these products. I wonder what the plans are for non EU territories. And what they will cost.

 

[Blackraven]

GT5 Prologue. Not GT5.

GT5 Prologue is a PSN game coming in Oct.
GT5 is a BRD game coming next year sometime.

I just hope GT5 (final version) will have more cars and tracks than what GT4 has.

Number of tracks should be easy to implement but it's the number of cars that I'm worried about (since they'll be rendering these in HD and not SD).

In short, I hope that it would have more cars than what GT4 for the PS2 had (around 721 cars or so).

 

[archangelmorph]

I just hope GT5 (final version) will have more cars and tracks than what GT4 has.

Number of tracks should be easy to implement but it's the number of cars that I'm worried about (since they'll be rendering these in HD and not SD).

In short, I hope that it would have more cars than what GT4 for the PS2 had (around 721 cars or so).

More than 721??



Greedy b*****d...

 

[DJ12]

Some preview mentioned it was going to have all the cars from GT4, plus all the new models they have licences for.

Personally, I hope they cut out some of the needless Skyline versions.

Fine if one leaves the factory with 200 more horsepower then it deserves to be included, but one that's only claim to fame over a normal V-Spec is that it has a "Midnight Purple" paint job.

Well, that's just stupid.

 

[patsu]

They show the EPG on PSP in this video. Looks readable to me.


If anyone's interested, DVB-T in Sweden will have 99,8% coverage in 2008 (target). However, there is a government decision pending about just 1-2 channels in HD for DVB-T. So there won't be much HD content availbale for this PlayTV. Out of about 4 million households there are 1,5 million cable-users and a majority of them are able to receive right now around 5-6 HD channels.

In other words, for me I'll get 6-7 free channels and maybe 1-2 HD channels with this PlayTV-module DVB-T. So a DVB-C alternative would be very welcome. Or a common interface to atleast be able to get more channels.

The user probably has to squint a little when viewing the EPG. They should provide a zoom function (if not already present).

In my view, the PSP is the best device for portable movie viewing (smallest form factor with a large enough screen). I have tried Video iPod, GBA Movie Player and iPhone but only PSP is big enough to see the subtitles in foreign movies and anime. This is not counting the larger portable DVD players.

Sony should also follow Apple's model and port a consistent (plus full featured) web browser to their Playstations (e.g., Flash video, Javascript support, ...). Right now, the PSP browser is very different from PS3's.

 

[wco81]

You guys have to understand that there are over 65% of American households subscribing to cable.

Or that could be the percent subscribing to all pay TV services.

Direct TV and Dish between them must have 30 million subscribers.

It seemed in Europe, I saw a lot of deals for bundling of data and video and phone services so I thought OTA wouldn't be so widely used. OTA content wouldn't fill enough of the DVR for my tastes right now.

Even if you paid $300, I think it's a decent deal. Of course the monthly service for programming, DVR service and mirroring charge can be $70 and up, if you have a decent channel package.

Stand alone Tivos, until recently cost $800 for their HD version.

I've paid more than $300 for VCRs back in the day, which are way more limited than DVRs (although it would be nice to have a portable, removeable storage format for digital recordings).

I do my share of traveling and I've taken DVDs but rarely watch them. If I did a lot of traveling for business, I'm sure it would be different. Sling sounds good too and there were rumors of PS3 being a Location Free server for PSP.

But streaming to some hotel Internet connection isn't always viable. Some of these connections, for which they charge a hefty fee, are pretty slow. So I'm curious about downloading recordings to a PSP via USB and how fast that might be.

 

[patsu]

You guys have to understand that there are over 65% of American households subscribing to cable.

Or that could be the percent subscribing to all pay TV services.

Direct TV and Dish between them must have 30 million subscribers.

PlayTV is a PAL product. Sony's Australian arm highlighted that they are keen to explore further.

If launched in US, Jack Tretton will have to negotiate with the operators to come up with a localized PS3 PVR bundle too. The cost would likely be subsidized like TiVo. However for people like me who go without a subscription, a standalone TV tuner without any bundle is the best solution.

Even if you paid $300, I think it's a decent deal. Of course the monthly service for programming, DVR service and mirroring charge can be $70 and up, if you have a decent channel package.

I got sick of re-runs. Storage is cheap these days. The tangible value I see is EPG integration (time management, season pass and what not), but I don't want to worry about my recorded sessions going away when I change provider. I continue to evaluate the scene and at this moment, if PS3 has a cheap enough tuner, I will probably jump at the chance.

I do my share of traveling and I've taken DVDs but rarely watch them. If I did a lot of traveling for business, I'm sure it would be different. Sling sounds good too and there were rumors of PS3 being a Location Free server for PSP.

PlayTV and the existing RemotePlay functions essentially supercede LocationFree.

The allure of watching video on a PSP while travelling is because I want to track what's going on back in my home town (local news, personal/family media, ...). Bringing DVD along solves a different problem. You can watch VoD in hotels anyway.

But streaming to some hotel Internet connection isn't always viable. Some of these connections, for which they charge a hefty fee, are pretty slow. So I'm curious about downloading recordings to a PSP via USB and how fast that might be.

Most hotels already offer free Internet. If you're on a business trip, you should be able to find a high speed Internet connection at remote work site. You can (well... I can) also copy remote media locally during office hour. I have a 4Gb memory stick.

In fact, I wrote a Windows program to copy my Desktop to the PSP. When I connect my PSP to another PC... my program will start a virtual desktop on that machine, complete with my preferred settings, internet bookmarks, etc. My PSP is also being used as a data backup for my working documents. In fact, my Top X iTunes songs are also DeDRM'ed (if it's installed on my PC) and kept on the PSP for playback anytime.

If a remote PVR is available, it's one more up-to-date source for me.

I lost 1 PSP (with GTA, Socom and AC!D) on a plane. This is my second one.
It's a great travel companion. In fact, the PSP Go! package is just what I need... if they sell it worldwide.



EDIT: The only problem for PSP is Sony's lack of support. I think they invested all their time exploring the big US$1 billion opportunities but forgot the little things to weave their offerings together. With PlayTV and PSP Go!, they finally changed it somewhat, but I had to write my own little PSP Desktop utility to bring out its usefulness

 

[wco81]

Bigger hotels charge for Internet because they see it as another profit center. Not surprising when you see that they charge for phone calls. With people using cell phones, they need to recover some revenues. Now maybe for bookings using a corporate account, they include it in the price. But for leisure travelers not so.

There are boutique hotels which include it as one of teh room amentities to attract business.

I don't think a US product will get far with cable or satellite. Cable is not really supporting CableCard and there is very limited DirectTV support (although there used to be Sony DirectTV boxes at one time). We'll see though.

You must be on a generous expense account to pay for VoD. Does work pay for Spectravision too?

So RemotePlay and PlayTV let you stream video to the PSP or even download video recordings to your PSP over the Internet? I've spent long flights playing a lot of Bejeweled and some variant of Tic Tac Toe. I thought a DS or PSP would be good but I didn't know about the battery life though. So I just listen to my iPod Nano which will outlast just about any flight for battery life. Oh and Internet access is suppose to be coming to some airlines in the next year. So maybe PSP is shaping up to be better.

 

[patsu]

Bigger hotels charge for Internet because they see it as another profit center. Not surprising when you see that they charge for phone calls. With people using cell phones, they need to recover some revenues. Now maybe for bookings using a corporate account, they include it in the price. But for leisure travelers not so.

There are boutique hotels which include it as one of teh room amentities to attract business.

It is quite simple. I only stay in hotel with free Internets because I need it for work and leisure. If it is important enough, it becomes a priority in hotel searches. Company subsidy helps too.

You must be on a generous expense account to pay for VoD. Does work pay for Spectravision too?

It's not that expensive, or is it ? Depending on where you go, you can get even cheaper VoD entertainment such as in Chinese cities.

So RemotePlay and PlayTV let you stream video to the PSP or even download video recordings to your PSP over the Internet?

PlayTV lets you stream recorded TV. RemotePlay lets you stream other media from the PS3. Now think about PS3's DLNA integration with PCs and Macs. Essentially PSP becomes a gateway to all your home media. I usually sync the PSP with/via my laptop. This is the fastest way to copy files.

You can't play Blu-ray movies remotely though. You can exchange PSN messages if you have friends there.

The last time I copy files directly using PSP is with the web browser. I have a personal one set up in my DMZ. Then again, the best way is still to sync it via a PC since I can play with the PSP in the mean time (or recharge it).

Through DLNA, you can also copy files between the DLNA servers and the PS3 (One less hop for the files when streaming).

I've spent long flights playing a lot of Bejeweled and some variant of Tic Tac Toe. I thought a DS or PSP would be good but I didn't know about the battery life though. So I just listen to my iPod Nano which will outlast just about any flight for battery life. Oh and Internet access is suppose to be coming to some airlines in the next year. So maybe PSP is shaping up to be better.

I don't have the extended battery. Battery life is good when playing from the memory stick. UMD games are shorter but I still get good mileage from it when overseas. The inflight entertainment system is great too as long as I have not watched the movies before.

I find that the PSP is better for watching movies because of screen size (Remember my comment about subtitle size). The space and battery life issues are manageable.... definitely easier with 4Gb sticks.

If you're in the US, I think there is an on-going deal with T-mobile for free 6 month wireless access. If you do get a PSP, don't miss LocoRoco and MGS Portable Ops. I heard Killzone: Liberation is pretty good too.

 

[Crayon]

You guys have to understand that there are over 65% of American households subscribing to cable.

I think that's about the percentage of us that are overweight, too.

Funny.

Fortunatly, we Californians are all skinny and beautiful. Not unlike Lindsay Lohan.

Unfortunatly, we can't smoke anywhere and are likely to make off-topic posts.

 

[wco81]

Those are some nice features for the PSP. I played around with DLNA but didn't get it working as well as I would have liked.

Only issue with PSP now is that I want to upgrade my network to 802.11n.

 

[inpHilltr8r]

Cable is not really supporting CableCard

They may not have much desire to, but they are compelled by law. Friend of mine has the HD TiVo with two CableCards. Took the cable guy four visits to get it working, but now that it does, it's great. I reckon a CableCard version of this box could do pretty well in the US.

 

[patsu]

Only issue with PSP now is that I want to upgrade my network to 802.11n.

All the 802.11n + gigabit home routers I checked out (US$100+) are backward compatible with 802.11b/g.
802.11n is also not crafted for low-power use. So we are unlikely to see them in any small mobile devices today.

Nonetheless once you upgrade, your PS3 will be on the gigabit network. The tough part is actually waiting for Sony to upgade their DLNA (or SMB) implementations, and PSP integration with Windows/Mac.

EDIT:
The other interesting thing about this announcement is PSP VoIP + Video Chat support. I wonder if the CPU is powerful enough to implement good echo cancellation.

 

[wco81]

Right but isn't it the case that a legacy device will force the 802.11n router to downgrade the network to the older standards?

And it's worse for battery life? I thought it was suppose to be better or maybe that was one of the proposed schemes during the long 802.11n development process where you had competing proposals.

Then again, I'm hearing claims that Bluetooth drains the batter faster than Wifi on iPhones, which is suprising because you would think Bluetooth would have been designed more for smaller devices with smaller batteries.

Yeah I wanted gigabit ports for an NAS but I guess the PS3 could benefit too. The DLNA on the NAS though is kind of sketchy, at least in working with the PS3 DLNA implementation.

 

[patsu]

Right but isn't it the case that a legacy device will force the 802.11n router to downgrade the network to the older standards?

Yes, I believe 802.11n has a provision for greenfield mode, which allows it to operate at a higher level without 802.11b backward compatibility. For remote access like RemotePlay, I think the bandwidth problem is going to be on the WAN side, rather than the WLAN/LAN side.

Naturally, the faster the better. At some point, we may see another PSP upgrade. As it stands, 802.11b is not a problem.

And it's worse for battery life? I thought it was suppose to be better or maybe that was one of the proposed schemes during the long 802.11n development process where you had competing proposals.

I stand corrected here. I believe the older 802.11 specs are more efficient with MIMO, but 802.11n has better power saving features for single stream transmission (station goes to sleep when unused).

So indeed a 802.11n PSP in the future should save even more power. I am not sure whether there are any power saving in sustained use (e.g., video streaming). But in VoIP where there are lot's of idling time, it make sense to rest the handset during the silent periods. PSP Go! VoIP should benefit from this.

BTW, PSP has a hardware switch to turn off WiFi to conserve power too.

Yeah I wanted gigabit ports for an NAS but I guess the PS3 could benefit too. The DLNA on the NAS though is kind of sketchy, at least in working with the PS3 DLNA implementation.

As long as Sony and vendors continue to improve their software, it will get there some day. For now, I can get most media working (except WMV and some MP4). Still not good enough I agree.