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P-TV finally comes to an end
In spite of Sony's best efforts, P-TV, Sony's Japanese video download service for PSP, is coming to an end. Since its launch in 2005, the service's poor selection of products and relatively high prices, kept this service from ever truly succeeding. On August 30th, P-TV will come to an end.Hopefully, Sony has learned from their mistakes, and will deliver a truly worthwhile video purchasing service for PSP. If they ever get to it, that is ...[Via PSPHyper]
Download Japanese P-TV videos to PSP
Inspired by a for-pay IGN article, Andrew Yoon at PSP Fanboy explains the process of downloading free videos from the Japanese P-TV service. The walkthough includes pictures to translate important store links into English, so even we greasy Americans can play along. Of course, PSP gamers who don't understand Japanese may hit other language barriers when watching certain shows, but maybe you'll stumble onto culturally untranslatable comedy gold.
PlayStation 3's P-TV video download service in photos
Our crew out in Japan gave us the 411 on the P-TV video download feature; it seems that all of the content currently being offered on P-TV is anime clips and movie trailers -- nothing full length -- and it's all free. Think of the iTV trailer blade we saw at Apple's last big event. One accesses the P-TV store via the PlayStation browser -- there's no in-system interface (lame) -- wherein users can snag H.264 video to their internal drive or a USB drive. Thankfully, the video is un-DRMed and can be played back on a PC, although it doesn't really matter since it's mostly promo stuff anyway. Apparently there's also an account registration and payment method screen in with a shopping cart interface in the PlayStation Store, so it's entirely possible full-length downloads might happen in the future, a la Xbox Live Video. But for now, it's all about quick clips and trailers, with no option to buy the big content.
Sony Japan adds PS3 online content downloads
It's not exactly an Xbox Live Video killing app here from what we can tell, but it looks like Sony's Japanese broadband unit, So-net, has added content download support in conjunction with PlayStation 3 firmware 1.10. That is to say, if you're a proud owner of a new PS3, you'll be able to acquire digital media over their P-TV service, with video in 720p or even 1080p. Details are still sparse as we're waiting for our Tokyo branch to fill us in, but the 8Mbps H.264 downloads appear restriction free (although we doubt you can actually get them off your PS3). We'll let you know more as we do (like exactly what content this pertains to, prices, IPTV, etc.), but since it's So-net something tells us it could be a little while before digital movie downloads make it to US customers.[Thanks, Dj NoPantsCuban]
Sony Japan adds PS3 video downloads
It's not exactly an Xbox Live Video killing app here from what we can tell, but it looks like Sony's Japanese broadband unit, So-net, has added content download support in conjunction with PlayStation 3 firmware 1.10. That is to say, if you're a proud owner of a new PS3, you'll be able to acquire digital media over their P-TV service, with video in 720p or even 1080p. Details are still sparse as we're waiting for our Tokyo branch to fill us in, but the 8Mbps H.264 downloads appear restriction free (although we doubt you can actually get them off your PS3). We'll let you know more as we do (like exactly what content this pertains to, prices, IPTV, etc.), but since it's So-net something tells us it could be a little while before digital movie downloads make it to US customers.[Thanks, Dj NoPantsCuban]
Japanese gamers want TV on their PSP
While us PSP Fanboys want the ability to play PSone games on our PSPs the most, it appears that Japanese gamers (according to ITmedia) want to watch TV on their's. Support for electronic money (ala PayPal) and the upcoming camera attachment ranked pathetically low at 3% apiece, while the GPS functionality garnered 14% of the vote. The rest of the votes (78%) favored the ability to tune into TV using the crazy technology called "1seg" which allows mobile devices to access television signals. The Nintendo DS already has a 1seg peripheral in the works, so shouldn't Sony's multimedia wonder jump on board?If Sony does support 1seg in Japan, it makes you wonder when the rest of the world will get their hands on such cool tech. I mean, Japan already has P-TV (downloadable TV shows), while the rest of us wait for Sony to "figure out" a DRM.[Via Gamespot]
Sony brings TV to PSP, with limits
JapanChronicles.com has the scoop on Sony's Portable TV service (P-TV), which is currently available to PSP users in Japan. Despite offering valuable content (downloadable PSP-formatted videos), the P-TV service is flawed. All of the videos are DRM-protected and only accessible for a limited amount of time (ranging from 5–30 days) — each video must be bought separately (some videos are free).If Sony wants to stay competitive with services like iTunes, the company will have to give downloaders full ownership of downloaded video or move to a fixed low-cost subscription fee. That is, either sell users videos to download and keep, or charge them a monthly fee that will grant access to all (or part) of the video library, giving users a limited time to watch a downloaded video, but also permitting them unlimited monthly downloads. Given the Memory Sticks' limited storage capacity, users should also be given the opportunity to archive content on a PC.
