Gizmodo
For the first time in a long time, we want to grab Sony and kiss them square on the lips. Because PlayTV, the PlayStation 3's DVR/PVR (that's not coming to the States yet), will record television to MPEG2 files that can be easily copied off the system to any storage medium you'd like. That's right, no DRM.
But can Sony do such things legally? According to their producer Mark Bunting, it's fair game:
We've talked to our legal department about it. All we're doing is moving it out of PlayTV and to the cross-media bar as if it was any other recording. So hopefully users won't do stuff they shouldn't do with it...If I'm prohibited from getting the recording off and storing it somewhere else because some other dude is making money out of selling it, then I'd rather they brought the law in to catch those people.Hallelujah! Someone ring a bell so Sony gets its wings. [eurogamer via kotaku]
Comments
i got a question. can i plug a usb thumb drive with a divx movie on it and watch it with a ps3? what about a 360 or wii?
I wanna see Sony get some props.
ESPECIALLY from the 360 fanboys.
When will the states get playTV? I think that will finally push me to buy one of these suckers.
wow. This is the same Sony we are talking about right?
fostina1, yes you can on the ps3. works great. we usually stream everything to the ps3 over tversity, but i also have an extra external hdd sitting around (formatted in fat32) that I put some of our hd movies on and just plug in to the usb. Streaming can sometimes be jumpy on hd movies. I think our ethernet connection is too long (over the 100ft theoretical limit).
@fostina1: Yes, you can watch DivX movies on a PS3 from a thumbdrive or a USB hard drive that is formatted with FAT32. I am not sure about the Xbox 360. It is not possible with a Wii.
@fostina1: Umm... I don't know about the other systems, but the PS3 can do that. I watch divx all the time.
kick ass SONY!
@izim1: They are planning right this second on how to write something bad about sony.
@izim1: I personally hate Sony and almost everything they sell, but I have to admit. This is a fine move by Sony if they live up to their promises.
I wonder if there would be a way Sony could get those programs on an ipod without PC conversion?..I'd buy a ps3 just for that....
@xtremesniper: I hear ya. 'cept for the PS3 and Pro-video equipment, Sony is still Standard Oil New York to me.
@dhaberer:
thanks, do you know anything that will do it for under $100?
lol im a cheapskate. i own about 15 systems and all i play is runescape on my laptop. i know im lame but ill wait for a ps3 for a few more years, ive never bought anything at full price lol.
This is awesome, but still a very small step over all. Still, I admit it's surprising for Sony.
@fostina1: You can with the PS3, and I think you can with the 360. As far as I know (which isn't much) about the Wii you can't.
I know the PS3 supports a bunch of formats.
The best streaming setup for me is linux running mediatomb on an old p3 box. Will soon be duping it to a VM, but it's changed the way i watch me media for the better. I was really on the fence at first with Sony, but they are delivering blow after blow, and the PS3 is really turning out the be the media hub they promised.
Even if all the games suked, it has so many other capabilities, that's its becoming harder for people to justify NOT getting one lol. I know I may sound like a Sony rep now, but when I can fire up my PSP outside on the patio, and connect to my PS3 and stream divx movies over wireless with NO HASSLE...thats big. Remote play is awesome, and not that bad over the internet from free-wifi due to my 1MB upload from home.
Dear Sony,
We miss when you were evil. Please stop doing nice things for us with the PS3, it's freaking us out.
Sincerely,
Internet
So the video will play anywhere but the PlayTV will only record in PAL and will thusly only work in Europe.
The consensus is that PlayTV won't be coming to North America any time soon - if ever.
It uses over the air guide and HD content unique to Europe.
Hopefully, Sony will smarten up with this product. The guide data should come from the Internet and the HD content (television and movies) should come from the Sony Store (PSN).
The PlayTV device should really be the security measure that ensures paid content cannot be copied or distributed. As a glorified OTA television tuner, it sorta sucks.
Compliments to Sony for extending the PS3 and trying new things. It is stuff like this that will push the platform and leave the competition behind.
Awesome but ironically, this will also ensure that it will never come to the states.
@SigmundTheSeaMonster: and the bravia TVs. and really? you cant beat the cybershot cams when it comes to quality/cheap......
@fostina1: Yes, you can do that with a PS3. Can't do it with a Wii, and I'm pretty sure you can't do it with a 360 but you can watch movies on a 360 streaming from a computer I believe. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Besides which, virtually every single DVB-T / analogue TV tuner lets you record to disk in MPEG-2. Why *should* the PS3's tuner be any different? Obviously Sony can make some stupid and masochistic decisions when they want, so thank goodness for common sense seems to be prevailing.
@fostina1:
There are also Samsung DVD players that have a USB port from which you can watch movies from thumb drives and external hard drives.
@execrationist:
cool thats exaclty what im looking for. i think.
@dhaberer:
over cat5e cable your ethernet connection should be fine to about 350 ft.
Weird; considering how they're "content providers" themselves, it's definitively uncharacteristic of them to make a move that favors the consumer over the provider.
I like the 360 and THIS is what i want to hear....Sony...you keep heading in that direction and telling these hollywood and music babies "tough go deal with it."...I will be very close to buying a PS3.
With this freeview box, I'll have the media centre that will replace the assorted collection of sliver boxes under my TV in one tidy bundle of game playing Blu Ray spinning box of fun.
I may have a reason to repurchase a PS3 if PlayTV ever makes it to the states - I'm of the mindset it may not. I wish I could get Vista's Media Center to record HD in a non-MS proprietary format.
@Lizard_King:
Vista Media Center records all TV (including HD) in MPEG-2 in a dvr-ms container.
Use a program like VideoRedo to save the recordings as "regular" program stream mpeg-2 files (*.mpg) without any transcoding necessary.
i can pop my thumb drive into my 360 and watch .divx or .xvid hot from BT
Bless this and bring it to the US and I will def buy a PS3!!!
@jm9843: Oh, I know I can convert. In Media Center, SD can be recorded in multiple formats, HD can only be recorded in dvr-ms. Vista Movie Maker has problems with files over 1G, so any show more than 10 minutes will not work, I also believe you can only edit/convert (using MS Movie Maker) on the machine you recorded on, which will not work for me.
I want to RECORD in a non-proprietary format - I do not want to convert. Such is the deal with the devil I made when I chose Vista for this setup.
@fostina1: I can confirm you can play Divx, Xvid or WMV on both the PS3 and 360. I have both systems.
Major differences:
360 - greater compatibility than PS3. Files the PS3 says are corrupted play on the 360. The interface for media on the 360 sucks.
PS3 - lesser compatibility of technically accepted files but the media interface is MUCH better.
Either way, it is a beautiful thing to simply drop movies on an 8 gig thumb drive and bring them over to the beautiful 40" (I don't do Wireless or streaming in my apt)
The question I have is where does the PS3 record to? The internal HDD is much to small for media storage. Does it record to Network storage devices?
@DaveTyranham: There is a free guide on cable here that Sony could use.
@Xenocide: You can upgrade the internal HD yourself. Thats the positive end. You can also use external storage.
Poor Sony haters, you can no longer post on Giz how Sony is a big DRM-mongering giant. You'll have to think of something new to post in every Sony thread.
@CruJones: I'll wait until they bring this kind of open minded thinking to MY territory. Until then, Sony is a big DRM-mongering giant. ;)
@CruJones: Hating on hate is still hate.
Stop the hating.
Can't wait till this comes to the US!! I can finally do something else with my larger HDD!!! YEAAAA!!
@xtremesniper: Did some one miss the memo... DRM is DEAD.
@spectator101: I was just mocking him. =P
And not all DRM is dead. Look at Apple. Look at the Zune. Look at the Xbox Live Marketplace movie downloads. DRM is alive and well, with only a few recent set backs.
Been recording Live tv from my 360 since the day I got my first one. WITHOUT having to purchase extra equipment. I don't see what the big deal is?
@robinandtami: How do you go about doing that? If you're talking about using the 360 as an extender, that still doesn't explain how you're recording live tv from it since the 360 has no TV in.
too good to be true...
Wow. I'll buy a PS3 if and when the PlayTV functionality becomes available. Its a no-brainer for me: console, blue ray player AND DRM-free DVR solutions in one shot. Very nice.
Can't wait till this comes to the states. This will just add to the coolness that is the PS3.
@xtremesniper:
It doesn't have to. The 360 is a media center extender right out of the box. You can watch, record, pause live tv. Watch recorded shows. Schedule recordings. Watch any video file type that I can view on my PC. Even browse the web. Essentially, each of my 360's is an 860 gig Tivo. If you have multiple 360's and multiple tuner cards on your pc, you can even watch/ record live tv on each of your 360's at the same time. It's cool to be watching tv on your 360, get a game invite from a friend, hit the record button, jump in the game, and then jump right back into your show right where it left off when you are done gaming.
@robinandtami: but can you hear anything with your 360's on!??!?!?