Sony announces PLAYSTATION®Eye Camera

[Titanio]

Since I can't see this via google news yet, I'll have to credit Endless on neoGAF for pointing this out..

PLAYSTATION®Eye Camera Brings Next-generation Communication to PLAYSTATION®3

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) have announced the arrival of the next-generation PLAYSTATION®Eye camera.

Scheduled for a Summer release in Europe, PLAYSTATION Eye is an essential accessory for voice, video chat and online gaming that will enable gamers to enjoy their PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) experiences like never before.

Designed specifically for PS3 and featuring huge advances in USB camera and microphone technology, PLAYSTATION Eye is set to revolutionise the experience of online communication on the PLAYSTATION®Network. Expanding on the market-leading heritage of the EyeToy® USB Camera for PlayStation®2, the sophistication of the PLAYSTATION Eye naturally complements the advanced features and capabilities of PS3 - all in one slickly designed, unobtrusive unit.

Designed specifically to work with the next generation of social gaming titles and new services being developed for PS3, key features of the PLAYSTATION Eye include:

• A sophisticated microphone with the ability to reduce background noise and focus on the spoken word for smoother, more accurate speech recognition and transfer
• The ability to capture videos and audio clips directly to your PS3's hard disk drive
• Engineered to perform well even in low-light conditions
• A range of different capturing modes, including slow motion and time-lapse
• Faster frame rate for improved tracking, responsiveness and smoothness
• Two position zoom lens for close-up and full body options
• A range of eye-catching visual effects to apply to photos and videos
• Bundled with EyeCreate™ editing software, which allows users to save and edit photos, video and audio clips

David Reeves, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said, "PLAYSTATION Eye is a great example of how we have moved forward so significantly with our technology. PLAYSTATION Eye has four times the resolution, twice the framerate and double the sensitivity of its predecessor EyeToy USB Camera. With the technology that we now have at our disposal we will be able to dramatically improve the communications experience enjoyed on PS3".

EyeCreate software
EyeCreate editing software, bundled free with PLAYSTATION Eye allows you to save photos, video and audio clips to your PS3 hard disk drive and apply eye-catching visual effects to your images. Different capture modes like time-lapse and slow motion open up a world of possibilities to be explored further in EyeCreate's editing suite, where you can turn your media into professional looking movies.

New microphone functions
An all-new four microphone array, incorporating multidirectional voice location tracking, enhanced echo cancelling and background noise suppression allows for clear audio chat in even the most noisy of environments, without the need to hold or wear a headset.

Next-generation camera features
A frame rate of up to 120 frames per second allows for super-smooth video and sophisticated low-light operation means that the room doesn't have to be brightly lit for the camera to deliver crisp, perfectly exposed video. The adjustable zoom lens features a 56º field of view to capture head and shoulders action for close-in audio-visual chat, and a 75º field of view to capture the whole body for a fully physical gaming experience.

Technical Specifications:
• 4 channel audio input:16 bits/channel, 48kHz, SNR 90db
• 56º to 75º Field of View zoom lens
• 2.1 F-stop, 1% distortion, fixed focus (25cm to 8 at 75º FOV)
• 640 x 480 at 60 frames/second
• 320 x 240 at 120 frames/second
• USB2 high-speed data transfer
• Uncompressed video or optional JPEG compression

Looks like new eyetoy game software won't accompany this launch..SCEE is supposed to be working on a couple of titles, so hopefully they won't be too far behind. Eye of Judgement will be bundled with this, releasing in Fall. That new Snakeball game on PSN, coming in July, will also support it.

 

[chris1515]

Since I can't see this via google news yet, I'll have to credit Endless on neoGAF for pointing this out..



Looks like new eyetoy game software won't accompany this launch..SCEE is supposed to be working on a couple of titles, so hopefully they won't be too far behind. Eye of Judgement will be bundled with this, releasing in Fall. That new Snakeball game on PSN, coming in July, will also support it.

Very cool, it is more advanced than 360 camera. Better framerate for tracking and better angle of view. And 4-channel microphone for PS eye for tracking sound in 3d space.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/697/697661p1.html

USB 2.0 bus-powered device
Smooth, near DV quality video: up to VGA 640x480 at 30 FPS
High-def images: still photos up to SVGA 1280x980 (1.3 Mp)
Manually adjustable variable focus: 2 feet to infinity
Field of View: 43 degrees
On board image processor
Digital zoom, cropping
Auto exposure, white balance, gamma correction, sharpness
Long (~9 feet) cable to reach around large TVs
Includes a headset for great audio.

 

[one]

This part is important for its value.

New microphone functions
An all-new four microphone array, incorporating multidirectional voice location tracking, enhanced echo cancelling and background noise suppression allows for clear audio chat in even the most noisy of environments, without the need to hold or wear a headset.

 

[Titanio]

Yeah, I was thinking even for just voice chat that is pretty nice. And it's a fairly direct implementation of some of those Richard Marks patents on sound localisation using microphone arrays etc.

Here's a picture from ThreeSpeech:

 

[one]

As for the software side, as seen in EyeCreate, non-game applications powered by Cell will be the main focus. It's no more a toy!

 

[Titanio]

As for the software side, as seen in EyeCreate, non-game applications powered by Cell will be the main focus. It's no more a toy!

I guess the 'toy' part of the moniker was thought not a good match for a more universal brand image, so that led to PSEye just like Bravia.

Yeah, the initial pitch of the camera isn't very 'toy-ish' what with video and photo editing software etc. I imagine the eyetoy brand will live on in the game-software they're developing for it, but they're generalising the peripheral's appeal and focus.

It'll be cool to see that software. I wonder if it has any relation to that video software SCE was working on with Cell, but from what it sounded like, it would be WAY too sophisticated and complicated for the casual user. I expect some neat things, though.

 

[one]

Anyway it's a good relief the mic array doesn't look like the Wii sensor bar! Oh and before someone points out, the price point should be carefully set, but Sony is manufacturing all kinds of cameras after all...

 

[pipo]

It's almost an old skool mike.

I don't like the looks, but I do like the functionality! Eye of Judgment looks interesting too...

 

[Npl]

I hoped it would also measure depth, a few articles mentioned Sony is looking at that. Would`ve be interesting to build a "Ghetto-3D-Scanner" with that.

 

[Nick Laslett]

Is this not a very disappointing announcement because they have backed away from the IR beam camera concept that allowed the PS3 to determine your positioning in 3D space.

 

[Titanio]

Is this not a very disappointing announcement because they have backed away from the IR beam camera concept that allowed the PS3 to determine your positioning in 3D space.

I don't think they've backed away from that as such, it's just still something for the future. It's likely too expensive to do it well enough at this stage, unfortunately.

 

[Diamond.G]

I thought that the camera was going to be an HD camera? Maybe I misunderstood all the past banter over it. It looks cool. At least Sony is doing something with their camera...

 

[xmu]

I don't think they've backed away from that as such, it's just still something for the future. It's likely too expensive to do it well enough at this stage, unfortunately.

Yeah, a SCEE guy said it'll be a few years still before that will see the light of day.

 

[Titanio]

I thought that the camera was going to be an HD camera? Maybe I misunderstood all the past banter over it. It looks cool. At least Sony is doing something with their camera...

Sony did previously announce that they'd have an HD IP camera. The specs above don't seem to illuminate what still capture resolution might be (and if that is HD), but it's definitely not an IP camera anyway, so I think it's safe to assume we can't use that as a reference point any more (asides from the fact that its characteristics as a microphone array are different from anything previously discussed also). IP cameras are pretty expensive, so in that regard at least, I can see why they've shied away from that, at least for now.

 

[LunchBox]

whoa!

the mic is huge!

i wasn't expecting a microphone being strapped on top of the camera...

but at least it looks quite stylish

and if the features stated holds true, I'll be quite pleased with it!

anyone know the MSRP for it?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I thought that the camera was going to be an HD camera?

there are no proper HD webcams in existence AFAIK. The best highres cameras tend to be about 800x600 at 15 fps and such. Proper 720p 30 fps isn't an option. I guess the CCDs able to run that fast are expensive to produce, and limited to HD camcorders.

It's not as high-tech as I'd hoped for, but I think the more important thing is price and support. It needs to be cheap, and have a massive amount of support to encourage adoption. Download titles will be great in that respect. Sony can also add the infamous motion controlled UI to the PS3 interface too. They need to get the device being properly supported by third parties, rather than marginalized to obscure features of a few titles.

 

[Titanio]

Some more info on EyeCreate - it's being developed by a studio belonging to Kuju, and will incorporate a YouTube style online sharing community:

http://www.developmag.com/news/26776/Zoe-Mode-Eyes-up-PS3-potential

The software lets users save and edit photos, video and audio clips to the PlayStation 3 HD.

Also: "It plugs into a YouTube-esque back end and will include a number of upload and community features as well," studio head Ed Daly explained to Develop.

In Sony's so-called Game 3.0 era, the software seems to be a perfect fit for PS3, added Daly: "There's a whole raft of functionality we can give players with this software when it comes to user-generated content. You can use the camera and microphone to make home movies, or even make stop motion films."

 

[Kryton]

Some more info on EyeCreate - it's being developed by a studio belonging to Kuju, and will incorporate a YouTube style online sharing community:

http://www.developmag.com/news/26776/Zoe-Mode-Eyes-up-PS3-potential

Will SingStar be using this thing? They had videos as part of their concept, so I guess it will be released with that?

 

[Titanio]

Singstar will use it, for sure. Whether you'll see Singstar/Eye bundles or not is another question.

Also, along the lines of some of the debate we've been having here, Dean Takahashi reports:

I know there was considerable internal debate about whether to go with an expensive camera with the best technology or a cheaper one.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/04/sony_launches_playstation_eye_call_it_eyetoy_2_.html

 

[Bad_Boy]

I assume this will be released in June next to Singstar in europe. Hopefully it gets released worldwide. Either that or I'm importing one.