Posts Tagged ‘PlayStation’

Sony PlayStation video store coming to the UK, France, Germany and Spain this November

While the U.S. version launched all the way back in July 08, it’s been a long wait for users across the pond. Along with announcing a new slimmer version of the PS3 and a bunch of other service enhancements, yesterday Sony revealed that the PlayStation video store will be opening its doors to parts of Europe from November this year.

From gamesindusty.biz:

Film companies Lionsgate, Paramount, MGM, Walt Disney, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros have been signed up by Sony, which will result in the delivery of “hundreds of movies straight to your PS3 and PSP,” Sony’s Andrew House has confirmed at the Gamescom Sony press conference in Cologne. These films will be purchasable using the usual wallet system, and the store will be rolled out in other territories throughout 2010.

While Sony will get there in the end — the company was already playing catchup in the games console delivered online video space even in the U.S. — the hold up is likely to be the usual issue of content licensing. Striking deals in one territory doesn’t guarantee speedy success in another.

In related news, Sony also announced that in the UK, the version of the BBC’s iPlayer TV catchup service for the PlayStation 3 will be promoted through the console’s ‘What’s new’ section being introduced as part of a new firmware update.

Hulu explains its lack of love for PlayStation 3

It’s for your own good

Users who are complaining that they can no longer access the online video site Hulu on through their PlayStation 3’s web browser are being given an official explanation. The short version: it’s not Hulu’s fault per se but the result of keeping content owners, who don’t want the service to compete with revenue generated by traditional television distribution, happy.

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Hulu really hates the TV, PlayStation 3 blocked

Based in the UK, I don’t have access to the US-only video site Hulu. But if I did I’d no longer be able to access the studio-backed Internet TV service on my PlayStation 3.

That’s because, following the Boxee fiasco, the game console has become the latest means by which to conveniently watch Hulu content on a television to be blocked, reports Engadget.

Users who try to visit the site via the PS3’s built-in web browser are being greeted with the message: “Unfortunately, this video is not available on your platform. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

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YouTube relaunches TV-friendly version of the site, Android 'remote control' debuts too

YouTube XL

YouTube XL

It’s not the first time that YouTube has rolled out a version of the video sharing site designed specifically for viewing on a television but the application’s been given a polish and a new name to boot.

Now called ‘YouTube XL‘ the new version of the site features a ‘ten foot’ User Interface designed for viewing on a TV or large screen monitor, which despite running in a web browser, TechCrunch describes as having the look and feel of a ‘native application’. Like the previous version of YouTube optimized for the living room, XL is supported on both the PlayStation 3 and Wii games consoles, though the video quality is compromised on the Wii due to its limited processor and support for an older version of Flash video.

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Sony considering PSP game rental and music download services

pspIt’s looks like Sony may finally be getting serious about its download service for the PlayStation Portable (PSP), with the company considering a subscription-based game rental offering and a la carte music downloads akin to the iTunes Store.

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One more thing: Flip Mino HD playback on the PlayStation 3

Sony PS3 and Flip Mino HD

Sony PS3 and Flip Mino HD

Since publishing my hands-on review of the Flip Mino HD ‘point and shoot’ camcorder, I’ve discovered a really neat feature: the ability to play High Definition video shot on the Mino on a PlayStation 3, directly from the camera itself.

Simply plug the device into one of the PS3’s USB ports via the Mino HD’s flip out USB connector, and any videos stored on the camera show up in the PlayStation’s XMB User Interface under ‘Video’. From there it’s just a case of selecting the video you want to watch and hitting play. No need to worry about cables, networking or transferring files to the PS3 beforehand. Instead, you can pretty much instantly watch your home made movies on your High Def TV via the PS3 (unedited of course, unless you’ve saved your final edit back onto the camera’s internal flash drive).

Hat tip: I discovered this feature after talking to a PR rep from Western Digital who make their own High Def media player. Apparently, the Mino HD and the WD TV HD Media Player (review coming soon) also play nicely together.

Netflix prepping PlayStation 3 and Wii support suggests job ad

netflix-jobWhile Netflix streaming has been an XBox 360 exclusive for quite a while now, we’ve known for a long time that the video rental company harbored greater games console ambitions. CEO Reed Hastings said as much all the way back in October 2007, and Netflix has sinced followed up with a number of customer surveys exploring demand for PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii support.

More proof that Netflix is serious about widening support beyond the XBox 360 emerged today after a recent job advertisement on Monster.com was spotted seeking a lead engineer responsible for the company’s “gaming platforms” – plural.

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Nokia's DLNA goodness – N85 to PS3 streaming

n85-ps3A much overlooked feature of Nokia’s Nseries smartphones is their ability to share media with other DLNA-certified devices. In fact, DLNA certification in general is marketed very poorly considering that it goes someway to reaching the holy grail of home media whereby various devices – computers, cellphones, games consoles, hard drives, media streamers and other hardware – can all play nicely together to share and stream media around the home. That’s the aim anyway, although in practice not only is DLNA’s messaging underwhelming, but issues such as copyprotection and varying support for different file formats have held back the technology, which, as I’ve previously noted, offers so much promise. Anyway, back to Nokia.

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Rivet 2.0, another Mac to PlayStation 3 streaming solution

My PlayStation 3 gets used on an almost daily basis but, surprisingly, not usually for gaming. Instead, the PS3 sits at the center of my home media setup, permanently plugged into my High Definition TV, giving me access to photos, DivX files, video podcasts and music streamed from an iMac in the room next door, along with the ability to play movies on Blu-ray and browser-based video from YouTube and the BBC’s UK-only iPlayer.

To get the Mac to talk to the PlayStation I’ve been using Nullriver’s solution, MediaLink, which, aside from occasionally needing to restart the application, has worked a treat. At the time I purchased MediaLink it was the only viable solution (Elgato’s EyeConnect, by the company’s own admission, wasn’t really up to the job). However, as of this week, Nullriver has some competition. Cynical Peak Software have updated their Mac to XBox 360 offering with support for the PS3.

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BBC iPlayer lands on PlayStation 3 – could Hulu be next?

Now that the PlayStation 3’s web browser supports full screen Flash video, I knew it wouldn’t be long before we’d see the BBC finally roll out a PS3 version of iPlayer. But boy was that quick.

Available in Beta, as of today PS3 owners can now access the Beeb’s seven day TV catchup service (UK-only), joining their Nindendo Wii brethren, along with specific versions for Nokia’s N96 and Apple’s iPhone. In fact, the BBC now lists compatibility with a whole bunch of portable media players, presumably via a generic mobile version, including the Archos 605 WiFi and Creative Zen X-Fi.

See also: BBC iPlayer on Wii gets a UI overhaul

The BBC always said it had a version of iPlayer for the PS3 in the works but that development was being held back due to the limited way in which Sony’s console supported Flash video. Now that’s been addressed, there’s no reason why other Internet TV services, such as Hulu, can’t follow in iPlayer’s footsteps.