PS3 Router Functions Dropped

[Titanio]

I think they are still finishing their design -- for E3 the goal was to say whatever it took to appear more powerful than the Xbox 360..

Again..did they say this at E3? I distinctly recall in interviews at E3 - the Chatani interview IIRC - that they said it was a switch, not a router. Sony may have been privately planning a router before, but that's not a cutback if they didn't announce it.

edit - From an E3 interview:

Q. Gigabit Ethernet connectors are listed as In x 1 + Out x 2, what does it mean? Does it have router function and are they for WAN/LAN? Or do you use a special connection to connect multiple PS3s together?

A. It has no router function. It's supposed to be a switching hub internally, but I don't know about the meaning of In/Out frankly so will answer about it at the next opportunity. Of course you can connect PS3s together. After it's on sale, some will make a supercomputer by connecting many PS3s. Apparently Sony Picture Entertainment is considering to use PS3 in a rendering farm for movies.

 

[wireframe]

I just want to explicitly state that I thought an integrated switch (albeit small) was great because it makes a forward thinking statement. Having just a single port (end-point) is like saying "make an excuse for me". Of course, price figures into all of this. It would be really nice if it was possible for all console manufacturers to create deluxe versions for those who want the whole enchilada.

Sometimes custom solutions are so sexy. Imagine if all A/V equipment had a 3-port switch. You'd never need a central hub.

 

[gurgi]

I just want to explicitly state that I thought an integrated switch (albeit small) was great because it makes a forward thinking statement. Having just a single port (end-point) is like saying "make an excuse for me". Of course, price figures into all of this. It would be really nice if it was possible for all console manufacturers to create deluxe versions for those who want the whole enchilada.

Sometimes custom solutions are so sexy. Imagine if all A/V equipment had a 3-port switch. You'd never need a central hub.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more the 3 inputs makes sense tbh. I don't link Xboxes (pl?) a lot, but when I do, running switches around can be a pain.

Even better though, why not just make them talk to each other wirelessly?

 

[jvd]

I think going foward alot more people are going to be using voice over ip and that phone box if u will , will become the portal to the next . We just got one from voice wing (part of verizon ) that is also a wireless router with built in fire wall , 128bit encypton and mac address filtering . Its only a wireless g however (no speed booster )

 

[blakjedi]

Even better though, why not just make them talk to each other wirelessly?

You sir have one the jackpot!

 

[EndR]

There seems to be a severe lack of communication over att SCE. Chatani says it is a switch, Phil Harrison says the following:

The news that the system was intended for use as a router or hub was first revealed at E3, when Sony's Phil Harrison told GamesIndustry.biz that "it can be a hub, rather than just being a terminal at the end of a network."

Who is "in the know" over at Sony regarding the PS3??

 

[Titanio]

There seems to be a severe lack of communication over att SCE. Chatani says it is a switch, Phil Harrison says the following:

The news that the system was intended for use as a router or hub was first revealed at E3, when Sony's Phil Harrison told GamesIndustry.biz that "it can be a hub, rather than just being a terminal at the end of a network."

Who is "in the know" over at Sony regarding the PS3??

A hub is not a router. In fact if it's a switch, calling it a hub is not describing it fully.

 

[PC-Engine]

Even better though, why not just make them talk to each other wirelessly?

You sir have one the jackpot!

Because it doesn't get front page treatment like GIGABIT would. Everyone will have WiFi capability even though Xbox 360 doesn't include it out of the box.

 

[Chandler]

even though it was a switch from the start, it couldve been a router because hell its connected to the ps3, that is what in essence a router is, a computer.

 

[PC-Engine]

even though it was a switch from the start, it couldve been a router because hell its connected to the ps3, that is what in essence a router is, a computer.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Regards Gigabit for EyeToy, how much BW would EyeToy need?

High requirement...
32 bit per pixel (infrared??) x 60 fps x 2 megapixel = 480 MB/s.

Lower requirement...
24 bit per pixel x 60 fps x 1 megapixel = 180 MB/s

Demands on even a Gigabit network will be high without compression, and for accuracy compression is surely to be avoided. Certainly seems to me to be outisde the realm of possibility with wireless.

 

[a688]

Regards Gigabit for EyeToy, how much BW would EyeToy need?

High requirement...
32 bit per pixel (infrared??) x 60 fps x 2 megapixel = 480 MB/s.

Lower requirement...
24 bit per pixel x 60 fps x 1 megapixel = 180 MB/s

Demands on even a Gigabit network will be high without compression, and for accuracy compression is surely to be avoided. Certainly seems to me to be outisde the realm of possibility with wireless.

1Gbps is only 125 MB Max theoretical. Add in overhead and real world conditions and you get even less.

 

[blakjedi]

Regards Gigabit for EyeToy, how much BW would EyeToy need?

High requirement...
32 bit per pixel (infrared??) x 60 fps x 2 megapixel = 480 MB/s.

Lower requirement...
24 bit per pixel x 60 fps x 1 megapixel = 180 MB/s

Demands on even a Gigabit network will be high without compression, and for accuracy compression is surely to be avoided. Certainly seems to me to be outisde the realm of possibility with wireless.

I dunno about that... if Eyetoy were a Fantastic piece of hardware it would capture at 30 f/s bringing your highest bandwidth to 240 at most. Streaming live video for immediate use with compression is desireable. Capture functions would still be MPEG/JPEG so compression is part of the game regardless.

Wireless might not work, but USB2 and Firewire would be the best bets for this device (naturally).

 

[Qroach]

This doesn't suprise me one bit, and I fully expect some other features to change and/or be cut to save cost.

...and to think people were wondering why other said these things aren't needed.

 

[Titanio]

This doesn't suprise me one bit, and I fully expect some other features to change and/or be cut to save cost.

...and to think people were wondering why other said these things aren't needed.

Read the thread. There wasn't any cut. The thread's first post should be edited to reflect that.

 

[mckmas8808]

People here and news publications need to stop lying to millions of people. The interview that Chantani gave months ago revealed that there was no router function of the PS3. And is it true that a 1Gig port only delivers 125MB of data? It so then why does my computer right now tell me that it has 100MB of data ready to go on my network?

 

[Bobbler]

People here and news publications need to stop lying to millions of people. The interview that Chantani gave months ago revealed that there was no router function of the PS3. And is it true that a 1Gig port only delivers 125MB of data? It so then why does my computer right now tell me that it has 100MB of data ready to go on my network?

Network speeds are almost always explained in bits. Which is sort of odd, because inside a computer it is almost exclusively explained in bytes. It's 8 bits to a byte. 1000mbits/8 = 125mbytes. 100mbits/8 = 12.5mbytes. There is overhead so you'll probably only get aroudn 100mbytes/s for a gigabit lan and around 10mbytes/s for 100mbit lan.

 

[Acert93]

Read the thread. There wasn't any cut. The thread's first post should be edited to reflect that.

I was going to edit the first post (surprised this thread got any action... just saw it at Toms and thought it would be a relevant post) but I reread what GI said:

1. The PlayStation 3 will no longer act as a home network router
2. according to SCE boss Ken Kutaragi
3. who has revealed that the functionality has been dropped because it would have been too expensive

The same article, in paragraphs 2 and 3, restate that the *original* plan was for it to be a router but this functionality has been dropped due to cost. It does not say *when* it was dropped of course--that is important. This could have been pre-E3.

So 3 key points according to the article:

A.) The *orignal* plan was router functionality--the article never says when those features were announced (if ever)

B.) When these features were cut was not specified (could have been pre or post E3)

C.) Kutaragi has reported to Nikkei Electronics that SOMETHING has changed in the plan due to expense; none of the speculation in this thread begins to answer the question of, "If not router features, what was cut that was of note?" SOMETHING changed, so clammoring about how router features were never officially announced still does not answer WHAT features were cut due to manufacturing costs.

Not ALL PS3 info/plans were announced at E3. Just because a feature was cut that was not officially announced does not mean that it was not originally on the table at some point.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

This information was taken from a Kutaragi interview in Nikkei Electronics. I do not know if this is true or not. It was just today's news so I posted it (which sure beats the heck out of the rest of the speculation we come up with!) Nikkei Electronics is a reputable source. There can *obviously* be some translation issues between the NE article and GI.biz.

So the "router" bit *may* be wrong. (None of us know... maybe Mr. one will be nice enough to track it down and translate).

But in the end it is pretty clear: Something relating to the network features, according to KK, was cut out from the original design price due to manufacturing costs.

Whether that was router functions as the article indicates or something else I do not know. All I did was post a news story. :?

 

[Guden Oden]

And is it true that a 1Gig port only delivers 125MB of data?

"Only"... It's the fastest consumer network standard available at the moment, and its peak throughput is about 2x that of the peak throughput of the fastest available consumer harddrives currently available...

It so then why does my computer right now tell me that it has 100MB of data ready to go on my network?

You're confusing megabits and megabytes. "100MB" is in reality 100Mbit, which is 100/8=12.5MB/s, or a tenth of what gigabit ethernet delivers. Giga = 1000, in case you aren't aware.

Anyway, it's a little sad to see all the "ha ha, told you so suckas!" poo-pooing from a certain bunch of people in this thread. Having greater and expanded capabilities is an important part of technological progress, and in essence cheering when features get cut off a flagship product (if in fact anything got cut to begin with, and the whole thing wasn't just a misunderstanding) is rather illogical reasoning in my eyes.

 

[Chandler]

even though it was a switch from the start, it couldve been a router because hell its connected to the ps3, that is what in essence a router is, a computer.

hey!

if you want to laugh at me, back it up!