PS3 video service to 'embrace open standards,' support PSP
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Apr 21st 2008 at 1:30PM }
PS3's long-awaited video service may debut this summer, according to the LA Times. The newspaper has been in touch with a variety of executives, who have been in negotiations over the past few weeks. Due to the "sensitivity" of continuing negotiations, the executives had to remain anonymous.Unlike previous efforts of Sony's, the upcoming service is looking towards using "open standards" and will work on a number of computers and portable devices, PSP included. Primary competitors, such as Apple's iTunes service and Microsoft's Xbox Live Video Marketplace, both adopt fairly restrictive DRM policies.
Sony's video service has been a long time coming, as it was originally planned for PSP many years ago. However, mismanagement at the company had pretty much stalled development until recently. PS3 has been vital to the success of Blu-ray -- if implemented correctly, PS3 can be the starting point of a very successful video downloads service.
[Via Next-Gen]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
WiiSports Machine...Fernandos in disguise PSN: Killjebus @ Apr 21st 2008 1:39PM
I really hope this works for them. If it does, then it will "force" Applesoft to abandon thier restrictive DRM and embrace a more open standard.
Lars @ Apr 21st 2008 2:56PM
You're probably one of those idiots who thinks he's smart.
Str7k3r @ Apr 21st 2008 8:33PM
And you're probably one of the people who agree with the original poster.
DRM is *not* completely mandated by Apple. Steve Jobs has said himself, that he would like to see DRM go the way of the dodo birds, but it just won't happen. Music labels want to make money, and the only way they can do it, is have music that you can't play on every single device.
You want music thats drm free, use bittorrent.
Grown a brain before telling someone else to get one.
BTW: Their are parts of OS X that are open source. Not all, but some. They keep it in house, because it stay secure and they can make more money. Thats the way it is, and probably how it always will be.
Sony, like Microsoft, and Apple, do not care about the end consumer. Their goal is to make money, and the people working under them are trying to make money. Without it, that can't be 'nice'
Tranando @ Apr 21st 2008 1:44PM
PS3 is the logical choice for a movie download service. All the other consoles, have nasty restrictions. The Wii being pretty much everything, and the 360 having a vast split in the userbase, with many consoles not having a HDD, and many not having HDMI.
Look at it another way, you would have to be mad not to choose PS3 as the premium home movie platform of choice. 12m of the consoles all have harddisks, the 360 may have 18m units out there, but 1/3rd of them are HDD-less, meaning no movies for them..
WiiSports Machine...Fernandos in disguise PSN: Killjebus @ Apr 21st 2008 1:52PM
test
James @ Apr 21st 2008 1:56PM
You do realize that 2/3 of 18m is 12m, right? That's the same install base as the PS3 you just cited.
matthew_neitzer @ Apr 21st 2008 3:07PM
Why did everyone vote up James? The original poster said 1/3 not 2/3. Am I missing something here, or is everyone really that dumb?
thinkofmeasmra @ Apr 21st 2008 4:22PM
What I think James is saying is that if theres 18million 360's and 1/3 dont have HDD's, the remaining 2/3 that do, would equal 12 million 360's which is the same number of ps3's.
To go further than that though we established theres about the same amount of 360s with HDD's as there are playstations. If you look into that 12m of 360's, id say probably 3/5ths of those are still on 20Gb HDDs. Which by now are probably closed if not already filled with videos/demos/game saves/etc... so really theres like a tiny margin of systems with enough capacity for it to download full length videos and still play store demos and what not. Not to mention visual quality as someone mentioned with their HDMI discrepancies, and scaler.
Know what I mean? If your willing to go the M$ route, why not just use Windows Media Center or whatever on your PC and buy the required cable. Beats paying for online service, paying for the video and then paying for the proprietary HDD your gunna need when you run out of space.
Dehshizknight @ Apr 21st 2008 5:32PM
PS3 has upgradable hard drives so it is the optimal system. The 360 may have the install base but their hard drives will fill up as well while the PS3 users can get new ones.
Tranando @ Apr 21st 2008 6:12PM
Lets extrapolate those numbers, With every PS3 being sold has at least a 40GB HDD, and only 2/3rds of the 360's having one (and the majority of them only 20GB), PS3 will very quickly pull ahead as the platform of choice for digital distribution (and Blu-ray distribution). PS3 = win/win Best platform for digital downloads, best platform for disc based media too..
matthew_neitzer @ Apr 21st 2008 7:27PM
Ahh, I see now. Thanks for the explanation. :)
Mythagoz @ Apr 21st 2008 7:35PM
The PS3 "had" an upgradeable hard drive. When Fony killed off support for 750Gb and 1Tb drives in 2.20 without a word, thats when they showed they can't be trusted IMO.
Whatever their vid download service is when they finally cough it up, they had better make sure I can copy it off my PS3's original HDD (which is the only one Fony will ever talk to you about) and on to an open device I can trust.
gooftroop @ Apr 23rd 2008 8:16AM
@ Mythagoz - its your own fault... Sony only supports internal hard disk drives and with the maximum capacity currently available at 500GB using greater sized external ones is at your own risk.
FrankTheCrank @ Apr 21st 2008 2:36PM
Yeah, this is long coming. The PS3 is so HD friendly. The ability to store movies on the HDD. The possibilities of expanding via external drive. It's just a matter of time before they start selling 720P movies at a discount. I doubt they're going to sell 1080P movies online, as this would not compliment Bluray disc sales. Unless, they decided to sell a DL version on the cheap, $9.99? 24-hour 720P AC-3 rentals would be nice for say $4.99 and would not delete till watched entirely.
I'm still wondering how or if they're going to implement a DVR function. I would assume it would require the use of an external device which requires a cable card.
Dehshizknight @ Apr 30th 2008 9:50PM
They will eventually but you also gotta look at hard drive space limitations.
Galley @ Apr 21st 2008 1:46PM
The iTunes Store also uses open standards. It's the music and movie industries who insists on locking the files down with DRM.
reson8er @ Apr 21st 2008 2:03PM
lol @ the term "Applesoft". Congratulations my friend you have reached a new height of idiocy.
Gaucho @ Apr 21st 2008 1:52PM
Sounds great if one would be able to download movies in full 1080p. Hope it works out
Michael Torres @ Apr 21st 2008 2:01PM
Full 1080P may not be actually possible. It would almost certainly be compressed, but, it may be close if they handle it right.
Gaucho @ Apr 21st 2008 2:04PM
doesn't apple TV let you download movies at 1080p? or does it max out at 720?
Popfrogs @ Apr 21st 2008 5:12PM
The wimpy AppleTV device can't display 1080p, not enough horsepower. 720p is the best you'll get out of it.
Microswirl @ Apr 21st 2008 7:13PM
"Apple also offers 4Mbps H.264 720p HD movies for rental via iTunes.[59] For comparison, broadcast and cable HD movies are 19Mbps MPEG2 720p[citation needed] and Blu-ray HD movies are up to 40Mbps H.264 or VC-1 1080p" ~ Wikipedia
WiiSports Machine...Fernandos in disguise PSN: Killjebus @ Apr 21st 2008 2:36PM
The summer and fall of 2008 I believe is going to be a watershed moment for Sony. Home, plus an online open standard digital distribution of movies and music along with many Sony's Big franchises due out is going to put Sony in a good spot going into 2009.
Only on the PS3 will you have the best Blu-ray player, can't miss big games, Home, and music and movies. As far as value goes, I think what the other 2 consoles offer will pale in comparison.
HektikLyfe @ Apr 21st 2008 4:04PM
Wishful thinking my friend. I love my PS3 but fear that they weren't kidding when they said we were buying "potential." Sony will continue leading us on with that carrot of what is technically possible with the PS3 but never fully delivering.
When the next Playstation is announced they will badmouth everything they did wrong on the PS3 and promise to get it right this time around.
Wayne @ Apr 22nd 2008 6:32AM
I fear this may be my last PlayStation. We'll see how it all works out.
Devin @ Apr 21st 2008 2:06PM
This service will have to offer HD movies not being offered by cable providers I would think to really make the service worth trying....I wonder how much they will charge for HD movies? The service sounds interesting though...I'll keep my eye on this
Finn123 @ Apr 21st 2008 2:59PM
Not necessarily. I don't subscribe to cable at all so movies that are already out there on cable would appeal to me if the price is right.
k3mtrick @ Apr 21st 2008 2:22PM
Will this awesome service be rolled out in the UK & Europe or will we be behind the times like we are with Apple's similar service?
chris.westermann @ Apr 21st 2008 2:32PM
I'd personally prefer PlayTV here in North America. The PS3 already has an awesome video download service, its called ThePirateBay.
Wayne @ Apr 22nd 2008 6:31AM
LOL!
stargateheaven @ Apr 21st 2008 2:37PM
It's not apple who choose to DRM them...
James @ Apr 21st 2008 2:37PM
Shame my hard drive is filling up with mandatory installs...........
KingOfGods @ Apr 21st 2008 3:00PM
Tell me about it. I already had to upgrade to a bigger drive and it hasn't even been a year.
Lars @ Apr 21st 2008 3:04PM
When I first got my 60GB I said to myself "that's just ridiculously small" I mean, great if you're ONLY playing games, but I could fill that with music alone, plus I MUST have all Flight of the Conchords vids on there and such. Long story short, $100 bucks later, I popped in a 250 gig. I may get an external drive if the video service works out. If they're DRM-free then I'd rather store them on that so I can just switch it over to the laptop or PC or whatever.
Reymo @ Apr 21st 2008 2:56PM
@ James
Come on James. Mandatory installs..really? If that is the case buy a new HDD that will hold all of your "mandatory installs" and new content. You can get a new 160gb for 65.00. The time of low blowing the PS3 with the "mandatory install" line is gone. If you want to complain about it just think about microsofts solution for a 120gb..170.00.
Not flaming you just tired of hearing about that, it holds no weight.
Bease @ Apr 21st 2008 4:53PM
It would be nice to get some movies in 720p for download. However, i allready get my movies in Divx quality on my PS3 via torrent, soooooooo..... i really wouldn't use a "rental/DRM" service anyway, especially when i could just get it from Netflix and make myself a copy via Clone DVD so i can watch movies when i have the time to watch them. Having a rental period on a download just seems like a bad idea for me.
leiwei @ Apr 21st 2008 4:59PM
People seem to have forgotten the installs on the original Xbox. Of course it didn't matter back then, but hey! There was an hdd back then and developers chose to install games. Why think of it badly now? Space issue? Easy! Just get a really big drive. They're cheap nowadays anyway.
Mythagoz @ Apr 21st 2008 7:39PM
Except Sony killed support for really big cheap drives (750GB and 1TB) connect via eSATA with firmware 2.20.
I bet ya there are a whole lotta people out there thinking that using these size and type of drives is still an option for them, but its just not.
dave @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:02AM
Did the ever offer an official explanation for this?
Mythagoz @ Apr 22nd 2008 4:32AM
Nope. No explanation at all from Sony tech support in Australia. I was stonewalled with, "Third party drive" = not Sony's problem.
Reymo @ Apr 21st 2008 8:11PM
@mythagoz
so anything below 750gb isn't enough space? I guess a 300gb drive would be pointless then..lol Sorry i had to.
Varone @ Apr 21st 2008 9:27PM
I can has european service? Still can't buy movies online through Apple or Microsoft in the UK and the "no word on a european date" from Sony a few weeks ago doesn't look good.
Mythagoz @ Apr 22nd 2008 4:37AM
My point isn't really the size, it is Sony's attitude. If they had told me they were going to cut me off from my 750Gb drive prior to doing so I wouldn't have a problem.
The stonewalling gal from Sony Tech support in Australia did admit that a future firmware release could in theory stop a 160Gb, 250Gb or 320Gb drive from working, and Sony wouldn't bother to tell you a thing about it before or after they made the change.
Mythagoz @ Apr 22nd 2008 4:41AM
A 300Gb drive may not be pointless now, but it very well could be after a future firmware update if Sony decides that they don't want you to be able to use a drive of such size.
What better way to introduce a newer PS3 model with a smaller, cheaper to manufacture CELL chip and a bigger hard drive then to make the older models stop supporting bigger hard drives.
EvilWalksWithMe @ Apr 22nd 2008 4:52PM
sounds ok, although I doubt it will affect me. I imagine this won't be available in New Zealand just like Video Marketplace for Xbox360 isn't available here either.
I don't see how the PS3 having HDD's and all that will guarantee it becomes the standard for downloadable entertainment. Even if users with 20gig hdd's or none at all can still add a 120gig hdd for cheaper than buying an entire ps3 to do it with.
Rocktavius @ Apr 23rd 2008 2:19PM
One of the things I loathe about the 360 (I have an elite) is all of the drm that is built in when playing anything that isnt a video game. I have a 120 gb hard drive that basically does nothing, I cant transfer files to it etc. The PS3 experience as a media machine is so much better. Microsoft honestly should be ashamed of all the restrictions they put on their paying customers. Sony on the other hand even though they are a big company they somehow seem to realize restricting peoples options just piss them off.