last100 » PS3

BBC iPlayer on PS3 gets a makeover, higher quality video and 1080p UI

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:21:04 +0000

The version of iPlayer optimized for the PlayStation 3 has been given a major update that delivers improved video quality and a User Interface designed for High Definition televisions that operate up to 1080p.

That explains why Sony’s recent advertising blitz for the games console is pushing the Beeb’s UK-only TV catch-up service pretty hard, along with the company’s own video download service that only recently launched this side of the pond.

Writing on the broadcaster’s official ‘Internet’ blog, the BBC’s Anthony Rose explains that the latest PS3 firmware update offers improved Flash player support, which not only enables H.264 playback but also takes advantage of hardware acceleration when in full screen mode. The result, says Rose, is that the BBC is now able to provide “an iPlayer on PS3 with brilliant video quality – almost as good as broadcast television!”.

The newest PS3 firmware also sees iPlayer appear an an option directly within the game console’s cross-media bar (see screenshot above), “giving easy one-click access”.

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

Steve O'Hear — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:57:26 +0000

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.

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VidZone, Sony PS3’s on-demand music video service, is a hit with… record labels

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:30:58 +0000

I was so underwhelmed with VidZone, the PlayStation 3’s on-demand music video service, that I couldn’t bring myself to review it. The UI is clunky and videos stream in a 4:3 aspect ratio, even for recent releases, so that they don’t fill up the whole screen on my High Def telly.

However, it seems that I’m in the minority, if the company behind VidZone is to be believed. The service is a hit with the major record labels, meaning that it’s presumably resonating with consumers too, its co-founders tell GamesIndustry.biz.

After starting off by having to persuade the major labels to license their music videos to the service, VidZone says that the music industry is now knocking at their door.

“In terms of the music we’re receiving for the service we’re getting offered a number of world premiers of music videos ahead of MTV, MSN or Yahoo,” says Louisa Jackson, director of marketing for VidZone.

“We had to approach the major record labels to begin with but now it’s a case of labels coming back to us and saying ‘okay, how can you lead the music video strategy for the new music release of our artists?’. Which is really exciting because we’ve gone from watching a music video on TV to watching online, to a console where you’re watching both online and in a broadcast environment simultaneously.”

VidZone’s catalog has reached 13,000 music videos, according to the company, and that future upgrades planned include better search and proper support for wide screen TVs. On that note, perhaps I’ll give VidZone a second chance.

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Hulu explains its lack of love for PlayStation 3

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:28:44 +0000

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.

(It’s worth pointing out, however, that Hulu is the property of many of those same content owners – so they kinda are to blame, albeit indirectly.)

Moreover, in the short term at least, it’s a price worth paying, says Hulu, as they help wean the studios off of the release windowing system – “a movie starts in theaters, then moves to pay-per-view and DVD, then to pay-cable channels, later to broadcast, and so on down the lin” – that has proved so lucrative to-date.

… in the near-term, the windowing strategy is still dominant in the business. Billions of dollars flow in across these different windows, and entire companies are organized around them. Nothing productive comes from flouting that reality…

That business model, however, isn’t sustainable in the long term, says Hulu, due to “the rise of the web, increased broadband availability, the ease of digitizing video, and the increase in the computing power of devices like gaming consoles, set-top boxes, and mobile phones.”

We do, however, expect these windows to converge over time. There’s no way around that, and we’re working hard with all of our partners to guide and participate in this important transition in the business.

Everything we do is with an eye toward achieving our long-term goal of maximizing the content you can access as conveniently as possible in a way that “works” for the content owner.

In the short-term that may require us to make some tough decisions, but we only do so when we believe it improves our long term prospects to build a more enduring, legal solution to that same problem.

(via Gizmodo)

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Hulu really hates the TV, PlayStation 3 blocked

Steve O'Hear — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:17:26 +0000

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.”

For those of you who aren’t up to speed on this story, Hulu, which provides a way to watch content that mostly originates from the TV, online, doesn’t want you piping that same content back to the TV. (I know that sounds counter intuitive but bear with me.)

The reason is because that would upset the television and cable networks who fear that being able to do so might be the final push viewers need to dump their TV subscriptions altogether.

While it can’t – yet – stop you hooking up your laptop or any PC to your otherwise dormant wide screen TV, any software or device that makes it more convenient to push online content to the TV is a no no as far as Hulu is concerned.

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

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:31:06 +0000

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.

More interesting, however, is the release of an accompanying Android application:

YouTube has created an application called Gmote for Android phones. You can scroll around menus, and also input text if you’d like to search. It’s only on Android so far, but because it’s open source you can potentially develop for other devices as well. The input is sent over your Wi-Fi network.

This is very similar to existing ‘remote control’ apps on Apple’s iPhone to operate the AppleTV and Vudu set-top boxes, Sonos’ multi-room audio system, and the VLC desktop media player, to name a few.

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Sony considering PSP game rental and music download services

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:34:36 +0000

It’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.

The computer games blog Joystiq reports on a survey being carried out by Sony soliciting consumer apatite for an on-demand gaming service whereby PSP owners would pay a monthly fee to access a set number of titles on a rental basis.

You are now going to see a series of different possible rental download services which could be developed by PlayStation. Each service described will provide access to an extensive existing catalogue of PSP games that can be downloaded.

The service will enable you to download a fixed number of games during your subscription period (the subscription might renew weekly, monthly, or some other period), you will be able to change the games you have chosen for the download once your subscription term renews. At launch there will be an extensive catalogue of games to choose from, with more titles being added to the catalogue each month.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated report from CNET, Sony is said to be in talks with at least some of the major record labels about launching a music download service for the PSP (and possibly, PlayStation 3?). If the company does so, it’s likely that the service will embrace an industry standard format, such as the ubiquitous MP3 or AAC, without the use of DRM. This would be inline with both the music industry trend of abandoning copy-protection technology for a la carte downloads, and recent comments from Sony’s CEO Howard Stringer that moving forward the company plans to take a more open approach:

“If we had gone with open technology from the start, I think we probably would have beaten Apple,” Stringer told Nikkei Electronics Asia recently. “Sony hasn’t taken open technology very seriously in the past. Its Connect music download service was a failure. It was based on OpenMG, a proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology. At the time, we thought we would make more money that way than with open technology, because we could manage the customers and their downloads.

“This approach, however, created a problem,” Stringer said. “Customers couldn’t download music from any Web sites except those that contracted with Sony.”

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

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:52:54 +0000

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.

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Netflix prepping PlayStation 3 and Wii support suggests job ad

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:38:34 +0000

While 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.

The gaming platforms team is responsible for prototyping, testing and building the Netflix experience for gaming consoles. We’re tasked with bringing the latest generation of movie discovery and delivery technology to the gaming console platforms our growing subscribers use every day.

Nokia’s DLNA goodness – N85 to PS3 streaming

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:35:40 +0000

A 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.

This afternoon I decided to put the N85’s DLNA support to the test by attempting to stream music, photos and videos stored on the phone to a PlayStation 3. And, perhaps surprisingly, it was all pretty straight forward.

I simply fired up Nokia’s ‘Home media’ application (located in the tools > connectivity folder) and toggled the phone to “visible” so that any DLNA certified device on the same local area network could now connect to the N85 (over WiFi), including my PlayStation 3. After which a Nokia icon popped up in the PS3’s XrossMediaBar Interface. I then needed to tell the N85 which files to make ‘public’; in this instance that would include all music, photos and videos stored on the phone.

After going through these two steps, I was able to browse to the music, photos and video folders respectively on the PlayStation 3 via the Nokia icon labeled N85 (see above screen shot) and stream any of the phone’s media onto my widescreen TV, with one caveat. Although both photos and videos that I’d shot on the N85 played back fine (the PS3 has good support for MPEG4 video, for example), as did MP3 and AAC audio, copyprotected content – a BBC TV show that I’d downloaded via the N85’s iPlayer application- refused to stream.

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Internet TV news: BlackBerry, Blockbuster and TiVo, Netflix on PS3?

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:22:37 +0000

A few Internet TV-related stories have been doing the rounds over the last few days that I’ve not yet had a chance to comment on. Here’s a quick catch-up.

BlackBerry to launch video download service

Research In Motion is close to launching a a full-episode television service for the company’s line of BlackBerry smartphones. An official announcement could come as early as next week at CTIA, reports NewTeeVee. Interesting tidbits include:

It will be an unlimited monthly subscription service for a fee
Once a user orders a program, the content will be downloaded in the background over Wi-Fi
Multiple broadcast and cable networks have licensed content for the service

As NTV notes, utilizing WiFi rather than 3G to deliver episodes to the phone enables RIM to bypass carriers, while at the same avoiding the inconvenience of side-loading content via a PC (iTunes style). Obviously it would be preferable to offer both options – WiFi and 3G – but that would likely mean sharing revenue, something that RIM, like Apple, is keen to avoid. As it stands, any direct paid-for content offering from RIM won’t sit well with carriers who still insist on owning the customer.

Blockbuster downloads coming to TiVo

Blockbuster’s On Demand movie rental service is coming to TiVo in the second half of this year, the two companies have announced. As part of the deal, TiVo set-top boxes will be sold at Blockbuster stores and via the video rental chain’s own website. This despite the fact that TiVo is fast becoming video download store agnostic, with Blockbuster joining existing services, Netflix, Jaman, Amazon and CinemaNow. The TiVo partnership is the latest evidence of Blockbuster playing catch-up in its move to expand into digital, following the lackluster launch of its own set-top box, and the more promising recent announcement that it is partnering with Sonic Solutions to reach portable media players, Blu-ray Disc players, personal video recorders (PVRs), set-top boxes, mobile phones and Web-connected television sets.

Netflix on PS3?

Despite having a close and successful relationship with Microsoft’s XBox 360, it looks like Netflix is still exploring customer demand to bring its ‘Watch Instantly’ streaming service to Sony’s PS3 games console. A recent customer survey talks up the possibility of purchasing a $9.99 Netflix disc for the PS3 to unlock access to ‘Watch Instantly’, presuming that you’re an existing subscriber of course. Were this to ever come to market it’s unclear if Netflix would need Sony’s approval – although I suspect they would – and it would also mean an end to XBox 360 exclusivity, something that Microsoft wouldn’t be too keen on. A lot of ifs and buts then, so we’ll see.

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Rivet 2.0, another Mac to PlayStation 3 streaming solution

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:22:50 +0000

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.

Called Rivet 2.0, the software enables users to browse and stream media from any folder on their Mac from their PS3, with support for all file types that Sony’s games console supports, including AAC, MP3, WMA, H.264 and DivX (AVI).

Although I haven’t had a chance to test Rivet yet (I’ll try and source a review copy), one feature that the software supports, which MediaLink lacks, is the ability to limit access to specific DNLA-certified devices — the media sharing protocol that the PS3 uses — without which, any supported device that sits on the same local network can access the media that’s being shared. To achieve this, Rivet enables filtering by IP address.

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