Remote Play and PS4 (and Sony crazy choices) *spawn

Either I'm just too thick, or this post is missing some crucial bits of information in order for it to make sense.

 

It can?

I thought it was limited to some VAIO's

 

This is also news to me and would like to know more. Not that I'm likely to want play on a 27" display (an iMac) over a 49" display (TV) but I'm curious.

 

That's probably what he is referring to. I imagine hacked PS3s running CFW and hacked versions of the RemotePlay client for Vaio PCs can be used in combination this way.

 

You should only need a hacked PC player. Any restrictions of the RemotePlay system on receiving device would be a handshake protocol thing, easily duped. Quick! To the Bat Google...

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/7225...non-sony-vaio-windows-7-pc-ps3-firmware-3-30/

Sony must have been doing a specific Vaio software/hardware/firmware test, and these hacks dupe the results.

Bloody ridiculous limitation if we're honest...

 

Agreed. Maybe now they've sold their Vaio division they'll widen this up. Although I think it's equally likely they'll abandon streaming to PC altogether. Sony can be infuriating like that.

 

It's no more an artificial limitation than having iDevices or Androbots only handshaking best with the likes of their own species. Not like someone's iDevice is going to magically work with my Chromecast out of the box either.

This is consumer hardware and software, surely we've recognized the proprietors interest in selling their own gizmos... you guys are acting surprised that they are enabling it officially for only their own products, which is surprising to me.

 

This is different. Two devices with the exact same networking software stack and support for standard and propriety protocols are simply going to work better together than two devices with different software. This isn't some cunning plan or an 'artificial limitation', it's just how things are engineered. In an ideal world every device would support every networking protocol but it's not practical in the real world.

My only surprise was that it existed at all. I don't see anybody expressing surprise that the support is for Vaio only, because to me I can see how Sony would see this as a unique selling point of their Vaio laptops

Certainly Sony are doing a fair job of supporting the PlayStation ecosystem on other devices, the SEN website is accessible by anything with a browser, bespoke apps are there for Android and iOS. I'd like to think that streaming to any generic PC is more likely than Sony dropping it, but I wouldn't put money on it

 

iCrap not playing nice with other devices is similarly bloody annoying. Yes, they do it to promote their ecosystem, but all it really achieves is pissing people off by not being able to share files across devices conveniently. Android has no intrinsic device connection limits that I know of, although some devices might be buggy in combination.

As for remote play, it's not like that's going to be reason to ditch one's PC and get a Vaio, or even choose a Vaio over another make, so trying to use it as a USP to push hardware is idiotic*. It's like wielding a 4" cotton bud in a medieval battle. It's not in the slightest bit capable living up to intentions, so shouldn't be tried. Remote Play would have a greater impact for Sony as a freely usable feature than a USP of Sony PCs. Still, even if Sony drop it, homebrew could take it up on PC. You just need a protocol and video decoding. Even if Sony tried to hardware limit to Sony devices, those IDs could be spoofed. Remote Play will live on based on whether people value it or not. If there's enough interest, I expect the hackers to keep it going.

* Edit : Another Sony idiocy in the same vein is PSN Movies only being allowed on one console at a time, even for friggin' rentals! I rented a movie on a PS3 once that then died. I now am unable to rent movies on my replacement PS3. It's a goddam rental! Lock the singular download to one PS3. It doesn't need the hardware locked to the service. Sony's solution is for me to phone them up and unregister the old PS3. My solution is to use BlinkBox or Play movies and stick two fingers up at Sony for being complete idiots and persisting with this stupid, utterly pointless policy.

 

Wait. Not even if you change your primary console? If you try to pay for a movie rental on the second console it wont work because you rented first a movie on the original?

 

Precisely. You are only allowed to own one PS3 that's capable of watching movies on your account. One would have thought that on any PS3 where you sign in and pay using your account, you could watch a rented movie on that PS3. That's what any sane implementation would allow, and all the competition does. But not Sony!

 

Thats beyond stupid. If thats how it still works I wonder why on earth they havent changed it yet after so many years

 

I have a bunch of movies from the Sony store which I got as a welcome gift when I bought my phone. I can watch em on my phone, my PS3 and my PS4 just fine. Haven't tried Vita or PC yet. Those aren't rentals, though.

 

@Sigfried1977 - this must have changed somewhat recently (say OS 1.75 on PS4) or maybe Sony was going through a re-encoding process that was taking a while? "Video Unlimited" has been empty on my PS4 every time I have looked since launch (last time, maybe a month or so ago I think).

I just checked and lo and behold, my Jean Rollin purchase is now showing up on the PS4 as being streamable.

Cheers

 

I just want to say that Remote Play is great and it works perfectly in my home.

 

That's not all it achieves

I very much enjoy the Vita Remote Play and honestly have no desire for any other functionality on the Vita tbh... Remote Play, Vita games, and PS1 games... the Vita is basically my dream mobile machine, and the only thing it doesn't do that I would want is play SNES games...

And... well... too bad guys

*goes to playing Remote Play on Vita*



I am also surprised it existed on VAIO PC, but I think that just goes to show how defunct their PC business became, maybe defunct is too harsh a word, I remember people liking their laptops anyhow. To start supporting a feature that is essentially second fiddle to Sony's games console... well it just seems like nothing in the VIAO business was done with much gusto or whatever I guess. It won't be missed that much I guess.

Feel free to complain about their movie services though, they need an update there for sure. Have not risked buying any digital goods that aren't games from Sony just yet out of pure fear.

Plus I have Netflix anyway, I got Cheers and Futurama so I don't really give a damn about other stuff to watch lately