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Sony console to learn Tivo next year

Looking at the technical specifications of the PlayStation 3, it is easy to see that Sony’s console will do much more than just games. According to comments made by Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand head of marketing Warwick Light to The Press, the console will be getting DVR functions in 2008.

"We're also hoping next year – about the same time that Freeview launches its terrestrial broadcasting service – to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder," said Light.

Although Sony may release different functions according to region, it’s no secret that the PlayStation 3 is an extremely versatile media hub. As of firmware version 1.80, the PlayStation 3 is a Digital Living Networked Alliance (DLNA)-compatible device, allowing it to stream media.

Light describes this new feature as “sort of a sharing format between compatible networked devices. It means I can have my laptop, and my PS3 can wirelessly detect movies, or music, or pictures stored on it and stream it to my TV. That content will appear on the PS3's X-media bar.”

Sony is also planning video-on-demand capabilities for the PS3, at least in Korea. As revealed prior to the console’s launch in South Korea, Sony confirmed that it was in talks with telecoms operators about providing VOD services for the upcoming new console. “We are contacting some Korean firms in order to incorporate VOD applications into PlayStation 3 service line-up,'' Sony spokeswoman Park Seo-yun said in an earlier story.

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A life against the PS3
By Chaser on 8/2/2007 10:06:48 AM , Rating: 3
Once again the usual PS3 Hate boy chorus living on Anandtech to knock anything having to do with a PS3 or Blue Ray gets their dibbs in. Here's a thought: don't buy one. Move on with life. Start sleeping at night.

Its quite impressive how aggressive Sony has been towards adding features to the PS3. This only adds to their ambition for the PS3. DVR capability? Very nice!




RE: A life against the PS3
By encryptkeeper on 8/2/07, Rating: -1
RE: A life against the PS3
By Chaser on 8/2/2007 10:46:50 AM , Rating: 5
Or we could actually wait to see the PS3 DVR product first before the "chorus" rolls out their typical naysay eulogies.

So while we are on the topic of thinking try that idea Chief.


RE: A life against the PS3
By encryptkeeper on 8/2/07, Rating: -1
RE: A life against the PS3
By Mach Omega on 8/2/2007 9:04:09 PM , Rating: 5
Free speech, encryptkeeper. And this is an OPEN forum.

Last time I checked, criticism came in both positive and negative form. Running someone away because s/he doesn't agree with you is cowardly.

As for the 360 fanboys, I happen to agree that many of them are hypocritical. Sony got (rightfully) slammed when the PS3 came out half done... but those same guys are giving MS a free pass when the consoles are completely crappin out. It's OK to like the 360 but let's call a spade a spade.


RE: A life against the PS3
By elmikethemike on 8/2/2007 12:11:32 PM , Rating: 3
You just have to sort through the PS3-Bashing nonsense. The 360 babies are just upset that their precious, RRoD-laden console is neither as good or even reliable as the PS3. Things like a possible DVR only make them jealous...The simple fact alone that the PS3 has a million times more potential and a million more things coming upsets them, so they have to knit-pick and find something to bash.

Then they keep saying no good games are out for the PS3, but if you ask them what games they have, all they can come up with is GoW and Halo.

Face it guys, the PS3 is good. Get over it. I have a 360 by the way...it sits right next to my PS3 and collects dust. At least it's good for something.


RE: A life against the PS3
By omnicronx on 8/2/2007 12:45:26 PM , Rating: 2
can you say jealous hypocrite anyone? sounds like you are making up a lot of excuses for a product that has yet to be released and without knowing if its going to be any good at all.

quote:
he simple fact alone that the PS3 has a million times more potential and a million more things coming upsets them, so they have to knit-pick and find something to bash.


Million times more potential eh? ever actually look at the stats for either console and you will notice the ps3 is only marginally (maybe 20%) more powerful than the 360 in real life scenarios. They are also adding features that the 360 can somewhat already do via media center. My setup already has a pvr for my digital cable and HD via OTA card. Infact i think its safe to say even though you need a PC with media center, sony will never touch the pvr capabilities possible with MCE and an xbox360 extender

I wont lie the ps3 is an impressive machine and i will probably buy one myself when the price goes down, but your whole comment is very hypocritical in itself, and your baseless comments make you sound like an idiot.


RE: A life against the PS3
By cochy on 8/2/2007 1:18:55 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
sony will never touch the pvr capabilities possible with MCE and an xbox360 extender


Why not? All they have to do is open up the graphics engine to the hypervisor. Then they can put Linux on it and some version of Linux Media Center Edition and you're already better than WinMCE + 360


RE: A life against the PS3
By omnicronx on 8/2/07, Rating: 0
RE: A life against the PS3
By Mach Omega on 8/2/2007 3:03:41 PM , Rating: 2
This is a software issue. From a hardware perspective, there is absolutely nothing that prevents the PS3 from matching or exceeding MCE + 360.


RE: A life against the PS3
By omnicronx on 8/2/2007 3:39:45 PM , Rating: 1
your absolutely right, from a hardware perspective.. but on that note, there is nothing stopping me from turning the ps3 into the computer used on a guided missile.. or from using the ps3 to power a golfcart, sure it can be done, but without the software to pull it off it means absolutely zip..

why do you think that sony is developing a dvr other than to directly compete with MCE + 360. usual sony bs pr, do the exact same thing as a competitor, call it better and pray to god that consumers fall for it(lookup the downfall of the dreamcast). Too bad Microsoft is even better at BS PR and nobody is going to fall for it.

I wont lie here i am bias towards MCE, just because i love the interface and the way that it works, and i will be really hard pressed to think sony will come out with a better offering.. but if they do, ill eat my words ;)


RE: A life against the PS3
By encryptkeeper on 8/2/2007 4:37:59 PM , Rating: 2
And while Sony and Microsoft bicker with each other...Nintendo has already caught up and is almost beating the 360 in total sales...

http://www.vgchartz.com/

PS3=3.99 million

Xbox 360 = 10.25 million

Wii = 9.84 million


RE: A life against the PS3
By Mach Omega on 8/2/2007 9:08:50 PM , Rating: 1
Sony only specializes in this type of thing. MS has virtually no cachet in CE while Sony has been a leader in the field for decades. To think that Sony won't develop a competing product to MCE that won't at least be just as good is making a pretty poor bet. Sony has the advantage in this department, MS is the late comer.


RE: A life against the PS3
By JimFear on 8/6/2007 4:09:13 AM , Rating: 2
Sorry man but people struggle to even log on to their PC's (I work in tech support :( It's not fun) so the whole Vista + PVR functionality + 360 + TV = Hooray! equation comes to nothing, collectively people are stupid and the clued up people are few and far between. I'd go as far as saying less than 10% of 360 owners actually know how to use the media streaming properly, all the IT guys I know that have a 360 have media servers for their 360's, all the non IT people I know that have 360's only play games on it so you can see what I'm getting at, as good as MCE may be you can bet your bottom dollar that the majority won't have a clue.


RE: A life against the PS3
By elmikethemike on 8/2/2007 8:20:20 PM , Rating: 3
Jealous hypocrite? What are you talking about? You made the statement

quote:
Infact i think its safe to say even though you need a PC with media center, sony will never touch the pvr capabilities possible with MCE and an xbox360 extender


Specs are unknown on this device yet here you are making bold claims yourself. Youre an idiot.

But like I said, I've got a 360 that's collecting dust. And again, it's the worst investment I've made not only in the last year, but probably the last 5 years. That's my opinion. You dont like it? Tough shit.

About system power. What does that have to do with anything? It's the architecture both consoles are built on. Just look at the PSP and all the things you can do on that. The PS3 is the same in that regard. You are so much more limited with the 360s main operating system its sad.

You can throw out your media center argument, simply because media center on the 360 sucks. On a PC, sure it's alright. On the 360, it's slow and sluggish. Clearly you've never used a PS3 to stream media. It's infinitely better than the 360.


RE: A life against the PS3
By DingieM on 8/3/2007 7:44:54 AM , Rating: 2
MCE and Xbox360 extender is indeed due for much improvement. I don't like the performance of MCE, and I get the databases corrupt/out-of-sync very easily. Removing extender add-on on the PC and re-installing helps.

There is another way to stream with the Xbox360, via Windows Media Connect 2, TVersity and WMP11. This works much better than MCE and I like it. Its simple, it works and the performance is (very) good.

Making the PS3 DVR capable sounds nice in the first place, but dull if you give it a thought: who wants to record standard definition content with a high definition device??

I've read more objective opinions of people having both HD consoles and most of them had the PS3 collecting dust.


RE: A life against the PS3
By Polynikes on 8/2/2007 7:29:07 PM , Rating: 2
This isn't an anti-Sony news site. It's neutral. Like most news sites.


RE: A life against the PS3
By PAPutzback on 8/2/07, Rating: 0
RE: A life against the PS3
By Spivonious on 8/2/2007 10:43:32 AM , Rating: 2
Actually, the QAM tuner in my TV picks up about 100 unencrypted digital channels. Of course a lot of them are duplicates of analog channels, but it's still a lot more than 15.


RE: A life against the PS3
By EndPCNoise on 8/2/2007 2:40:55 PM , Rating: 1
Hey Spivonious,
I'm glad you mentioned this, as I have been looking into getting a QAM tuner for my PC for a while now.

Can anyone here recommend either a good pci/pci*1 card or usb QAM tuner for me?

Thank you in advance for your help here.


RE: A life against the PS3
By Faust0 on 8/2/2007 10:51:06 AM , Rating: 2
i wouldn't consider adding functionality as tying something down.


RE: A life against the PS3
By jak3676 on 8/2/2007 12:33:53 PM , Rating: 1
I would hope they make the software able to multi-task like every other DVR out there. i.e. play games while recording 24 at the same time. The technology isn't too hard and even with all the stupid mistakes that Sony has made in the past I'd guess they can figure this one out.

If they stick to a simple digital tuner it won't cost them much more than $100. Most of the hardware is already in the PS3. (granted I doubt that Sony would actually sell it anywhere near that price)


RE: A life against the PS3
By omnicronx on 8/2/2007 1:41:38 PM , Rating: 2
aslong as the tuner is physically decoding the video, there should not be a problem here. as an example, i can record OTA HD content on my MCE machine while playing games at the same time. The only loss in performance i have is HD performance and a tiny tiny bit of cpu usage since the decoder on the card does most of the work.


Cool Idea, but worth it?
By mdogs444 on 8/2/2007 9:45:15 AM , Rating: 2
Unless they make it with an HD Tuner, as opposed to Digital Tuner, I see it as a wasted product.

Although there is no word on how expensive the addon will be for the tuner & DVR functionality, I am sure it would be close to $200-$300 at least. But I still don't see it being any better than renting my HDTV tuner & DVR all in one from my local cable provider for $10/month, thus protecting me for a new one if it breaks.




RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By defter on 8/2/2007 9:49:34 AM , Rating: 2
Isn't HD tuner a digital one?

Since PS3 already has already stuff like HDD and processing power. Only thing they need is a tuner, which shouldn't be very expensive.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By mdogs444 on 8/2/2007 9:52:34 AM , Rating: 2
No, a digital tuner and HD tuner are different.

Not all Digital Tuners have HD capabilities.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By kkwst2 on 8/2/2007 10:40:02 AM , Rating: 1
Yeah, and that "huge" 80GB HDD is going to start looking pretty small once you start recording HD content to it.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By FITCamaro on 8/2/2007 10:55:02 AM , Rating: 2
Well if you stuck a 160GB drive in it, it wouldn't be too bad. But yeah. Personally I'd rather record TV with a PC and just stream it.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By SirLucius on 8/2/2007 10:58:49 AM , Rating: 2
Actually you can put in any 2.5" sata drive, and I think they're up to 250GB now. Of course, you can just hook up a hard drive via USB and put downloaded content there.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By Etsp on 8/2/2007 11:24:43 AM , Rating: 2
It also depends on the codec you use to encode it... I am under the impression that the CBE will be a powerhouse in specific applications...such as media encoding/decoding, which is why many TV manufacturers had a hand in it. I wonder if it's capable of encoding in to Hi-Def h264 in real time...highly unlikely I know, but still... should be pretty quick in comparison to say, a x86 processor...


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By jak3676 on 8/2/2007 12:27:18 PM , Rating: 2
Odds are the typical standard def DVR you get from your cable company has less than a 80GB hard drive anyway.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By defter on 8/2/2007 2:52:53 PM , Rating: 2
I didn't said that all digital tuners have HD capabilities. I said: isn't a HD tuner digital tuner? (= aren't all HD tuners digital)?


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By SirLucius on 8/2/2007 9:54:30 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah but it's Sony, so something that shouldn't be very expensive will cost you an arm, a leg, and a tiny piece of your soul.

That being said I think this is a cool idea. My PS3 is already doing much more than just playing games. I have it set up to stream music and video from my laptop and I plan on installing Linux this weekend. DVR functions would be a very nice addition.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By afkrotch on 8/5/2007 4:20:23 PM , Rating: 1
Huh? Ummm, the PS3 is hella expensive, but ppl are getting them for $200 cheaper than what Sony is paying to create it.

Why would the tuner be any different? Course, ppl have already setup their PS3s as DVRs.

http://www.hackaday.com/2007/01/19/ps3-dvr-how-to/


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By FITCamaro on 8/2/2007 10:04:45 AM , Rating: 2
This isn't going to be in the US.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By omnicronx on 8/2/2007 2:25:17 PM , Rating: 2
i was about to say heh, freeview is europe only i thought.


RE: Cool Idea, but worth it?
By euclidean on 8/2/07, Rating: 0
All the things the PS3 can do...
By MrDiSante on 8/2/2007 10:42:34 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Looking at the technical specifications of the PlayStation 3, it is easy to see that Sony’s console will do much more than just games.

Play Blu-ray/DVD/other video formats
Play Audio CDs/MP3/other audio formats
Run Linux
Does wifi/ethernet/usb/flash cards/HDMI/bluetooth
And soon it will be able to act as a DVR

Now my theory is that Sony is compensating here, because despite all of that and having been in the market for almost 9 months, it STILL has no decent games.




RE: All the things the PS3 can do...
By Warren21 on 8/2/2007 11:49:21 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Now my theory is that Sony is compensating here, because despite all of that and having been in the market for almost 9 months, it STILL has no decent games.


QFT.


By SavagePotato on 8/3/2007 10:45:12 AM , Rating: 2
Moreso FUD than truth.

I bought a ps3 mainly for the Blu ray playback, and am an avid pc gamer, to the point of being a console hater at times along the way.

Surprisingly on a system I thought I would seldom if not never play a game on, I've found quite a few I've enjoyed. Such as Resistance, Ninja Gaiden, The Darkness, to name the ones Ive played so far.

The only game the 360 has that I would realy like to play but can't is possibly Forza2. Until gears of war people said the same thing about the 360 as well, and looks like I'll be getting to try a beefed up version of that on my PC anyway.


RE: All the things the PS3 can do...
By Alexstarfire on 8/2/2007 1:11:51 PM , Rating: 2
I'm with you on this one. It feels more like they tacked on gaming to a media center system than made it an actual gaming platform.


RE: All the things the PS3 can do...
By Mach Omega on 8/2/2007 3:06:27 PM , Rating: 1
Much like MS tacked on DirectX and turned PCs into gaming machines. If you're gonna slam Sony for it, be sure to hit MS too.


RE: All the things the PS3 can do...
By omnicronx on 8/2/2007 3:51:19 PM , Rating: 2
Are you retarded? I think MS is gay just as much as the next guy, but are you actually slamming directx? why not slam progress while you are at it. Need i remind you that up until this iteration of consoles, pc graphics has always surpassed that of consoles and has been on the forefront graphics wise?

DX is one of the things i think MS has done right, all that dx originally did was bypass the bios and allowed the OS to talk directly to the hardware, which was a major advancement and without it, you would not be playing games with the great graphcis we have today.

Sure everyone now has to comply to microsofts standards, but i think it is well worth the tradeoff.

All the guy in the previous thread was trying to say is the cell processor should really not be geared towards games, and one could argue that it greatly misuses the power it actually has.


By ShaneKorte on 8/2/2007 5:30:23 PM , Rating: 2
You should know that PCs STILL have superior graphics to anything available on consoles. It will probably always be that way. Any time they release a console it is outdated from the start. Take a look at crysis. PC ONLY. Nearly photorealistic graphics.


By Alexstarfire on 8/2/2007 11:28:10 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, without DirectX we'd be using OpenGL, which in my opinion is far superior. I just don't think that a graphics API should be in the same hands as the people who make the OS. Something will always cry fowl in my head.

Anyways, the reason Sony and Microsoft get slammed for basically making a gaming console into a media center is simple, WE HAVE PCs. If we didn't have PCs then this is a great idea, but since we do it's kind of a moot point to have 2-3 different machines essentially doing the same thing. I am of course assuming that one already has a PC, regardless of how current it may be. Even the crappiest of computers can become a media center.

The point is that you are basically paying for stuff that you already have and can do. I don't want to be paying twice because of that. If you happen to need another media center, then be my guest and get a PS3. Most people simply don't need or even want a media center.


By SirLucius on 8/2/2007 1:36:26 PM , Rating: 2
While Sony may be compensating, it's also entirely possible that this was planned from the beginning. If I remember correctly, Sony stated that they wanted the PS3 to be more than just a gaming machine from the get go - they wanted it to be an all encompasing media center.

Xbox 360 - Gaming machine with media center capabilities
Playstation 3 - Media center with gaming capabilities

Take your pick.


By luhar49 on 8/2/2007 2:56:03 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Now my theory is that Sony is compensating here, because despite all of that and having been in the market for almost 9 months, it STILL has no decent games.


Actually this depends on your gaming habit.
If you are someone who just finishes the game and moves on to next one every month...certainly there arent enough games.

But there are others like me...
I bought my PS3 3 months and have got 2 games. Resistance Fall of man and Oblivion. I have played resistance about 40 hours and now playing Oblivion for 60+ hours. I can assure you that I have a lot of fun playing these and they take up all the "gaming" time that I can spare. I am planning to buy Rainbow Six next once my Oblivion addiction is over.

So basically there are enough "decent" games on PS3 for gamers like me. All these extra features that Sony is adding are a bonus, but not essential for me.


TV Tuner
By philsworth on 8/2/2007 12:16:00 PM , Rating: 2
Does anyone know what exactly a TV tuner does? Is is it simply dedicated hardware to speed up the decoding of the signal? Is it possible that the TV tuner functionality can be emulated by the Cell and no add-on will be necessary? Digital TV (or at least freeview) is transmitted in MPEG2 anyway and the PS3 can already handle that, so is it not just a case of extracting the PID from the signal and then streaming to the HDD?

Also, for those of you who want to watch DivX, Xvid etc. on the PS3, try Tversity.




RE: TV Tuner
By omnicronx on 8/2/2007 1:38:28 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Is it possible that the TV tuner functionality can be emulated by the Cell and no add-on will be necessary?


i really wish ;) for OTA signals you will require a UHF/VHF antenna, and even if it were to decode UNENCRYPTED QAM signals (digi cable etc..), you would still need a coax line running to your ps3 so a digital tuner would be needed.


RE: TV Tuner
By philsworth on 8/3/2007 8:59:01 AM , Rating: 3
Yeah, but the point I am making is that, the antenna picks up the single > a cheap usb dongle allows you to plug the cable from that into the PS3 > the PS3 decodes the signal which (for freeview in Europe, NZ etc.) is in MPEG2 format already.

To me it's just a matter of getting the signal into the PS3. What about down the HDMI cable from the TV as well?

Can the TV pick up the signal etc and send that to the PS3 for recording?

I think the firmware engineers at Sony have proven themselves very clever so far and that this will not require the equivalent of an Avermedia type thing to work.

Freeview is an OTA service which broadcasts in MPEG2 (non HD resolutions) and displays appoximately 30 channels in the UK. This is a simple free service which the PS3 can leverage, I don't know but USA probably has lot's of competing companies using different standards and nothing digitial is for free, no?


By irev210 on 8/2/2007 10:32:51 AM , Rating: 2
I am really interested in getting a PS3, but I am not sure about the playback potential of the console.

I currently have dual HDTV over-the-air tuners running with windows vista media center. I have a xbox 360 that I use as an extender to playback my recorded TV.

I also use transcode 360 to watch all of my DIVX videos through my xbox from my NAS.

Can the PS3 match this? I would really like to switch, but I still want to watch my recorded TV and DIVX.




By PAPutzback on 8/2/2007 10:37:49 AM , Rating: 2
I converted all my movies to mpg for watching via the 360 and the MyMovies addin for Windows Media Center.

If the ps3 would function as an Version 2 extender for MCE then I'd think about it. Otherwise I'll stick with MS because everything works together.


By Faust0 on 8/2/2007 10:44:03 AM , Rating: 2
Out of the formats i've tried .DivX, .WMA, .MKv aren't supported yet, only .mpeg so far.


Hmmm
By Polynikes on 8/2/2007 7:28:12 PM , Rating: 2
So when this tuner is released, you'll be able to use the PS3 as a DVR without getting Tivo, or paying your cable or satellite company extra for a DVR box?

Nice.




RE: Hmmm
By FITCamaro on 8/3/2007 7:14:22 AM , Rating: 2
As I said before but got lost in the string of flames, this planned functionality is not meant for the US. Its for a few places in Europe and Asia. The US has no IPTV yet. Verizon eventually will offer it, but it remains to be seen whether or not they'd allow Sony to offer something that would let people record TV.

One thing no one has mentioned is that Microsoft also has planned, long before this announcement, to turn the 360 into a PVR via IPTV. So Sony is playing catch up here.


RE: Hmmm
By Chaser on 8/3/2007 1:37:05 PM , Rating: 2
"Catching up" over what? Announcements?

Good grief. Give it a rest.

Undeniably Sony has been very aggressive over updating the capabilities of the PS3 with noteworthy firmware updates.

Thank you Sony for pushing forward with a very versatile and RELIABLE System that does have great games -with more to come- despite the doom and gloom found here from the pre-biased fringe.

Another thought: here's to the success to ALL the new consoles systems! Imagine that?


meh
By Visual on 8/2/2007 11:55:19 AM , Rating: 2
if it's just some usb addon, then meh.

also it better work with cable companies' encryption schemes, cablecard or whatever... im not into the know on this.

if they launch a version that integrates it, as well as a bd-recorder drive instead of a reader only, i can see it being significant.
and if they'd be launching a new model anyway, how about boosting cpu/gfx too? maybe finally giving us the dual-1080p output for multiplayer on a single console (among other things)?




RE: meh
By tedrodai on 8/3/2007 11:39:24 AM , Rating: 2
Well, I'm never one to complain about more features...unless it's features I don't need. I want the PS3 to be cheaper, not more expensive! So, if it's an add-on I've got no problems. If it's another PS3 model upgrade, wherein the old PS3 is phased out and the new model enters at the old price point, etc., I won't like it one bit.


PS3 DVR
By EntreHoras on 8/2/2007 1:34:07 PM , Rating: 2
I'm still preferring TiVo for DVRing.

TiVo + Wii = More fun and less bucks than a single PS3.




DVR with 60,80 GB
By erikejw on 8/5/2007 7:10:39 PM , Rating: 2
Why would anyone want a DVR with 60 or 80 Gb.
Why do they beleive the price of a 80Gb HD surpasses 100$.
I wont a 500 Gb drive in it then it would be very useful for DVR and such.




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