The PSX, who wins?

[Baroque]

Someone in the house sets the PSX to record their favourite TV show, before & coming up to the set recording time you're playing a blinder on FF XI. You and your online party of adventurers are ripping up the place like there's no tomorrow and the sky's the limit on this one for as long as you all can keep it up.

It's now time to record the show, but who gets the throughput? Does the system boot you and your online game so it can compress and store the TV stream, or do you and FF XI win out the show only to be seen in rerun heaven?

If you ship something as a Digital Video Recorder and a gaming station, you should expect it to be used as both a DVR and a games machine at the same time. I don't think the PS2 has the grunt required to run a standard game and compress and store a show at the same time, not without something seriously suffering. So I'll be very interested to see how Sony get around that one.

[Peet]

That's why you will want two of them!

[Baroque]

That's why you will want two of them!

That defeats the point of merging those two devices in the first place.

[scottcr]

... and that's exactly why I don't see this whole games console/DVR combo being effective... at least not for gamers. Perhaps for Joe Soap who doesn't really bother about gaming that much wouldn't mind switching off...

where I see this being a real problem is, when I want to play games, and the missus wants to watch something previously recorded... that's not going to work now is it?

So.. for me... Sky+ in the living room, and games consoles in the living room or study depending on the missus.

Perhaps this is when nintendo's gaming only mantra may actually work...

[tankplanker]

Depends on how the spec'd the box.

Assuming they did the sensible thing there would be a hardware encoder that handled the program recording resulting in zero CPU utilisation and would result in a perfect recording.

The only possible bottle neck I can see is the HD, but when recording on my SKY+ box when I'm watching a recorded show the HD is hardly utilised so the HD would need a real thrashing in order to drop out the recording.

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

That defeats the point of merging those two devices in the first place.

I think he was being satirical.

[Che Musashi]

I want to know who decided that consoles need to all in one encompassing entertainment devices. Gamecube has it right and is the cheapest because of it. Do we really need 3/4 DVD players in our homes?

The PSX while pretty and sounds good on paper, is over engineered to accomplish everything.

[tankplanker]

I want to know who decided that consoles need to all in one encompassing entertainment devices. Gamecube has it right and is the cheapest because of it. Do we really need 3/4 DVD players in our homes?

The PSX while pretty and sounds good on paper, is over engineered to accomplish everything.

With the PSX is it aimed at a very different kind of person from what the Playstation consoles are normally aimed at.

The kind of person that will buy this is happy with something like a high end all in one DVD/amp combo like the Sony Dav (and they do sell relativley well). This "person" doesn't want the superior performance that seperates will offer, they want simplicity and this isn't possible with seperates, believe me I have tried with mine.

I think that a cheaper "console" only version of the PS (not sure about the Xbox) will always be available, if not at launch some time after launch. It would be sucidal to increase the unit cost so much while completing against 2 others.

[womblingfree]

The TV show/movie records to hard drive you can make a hard copy later if you want to. Gameplay is unaffected.

If the PSX can't do this then future products obviously will.

I'm convinced that the future of home computing lies far from the PC, kind of an internet/TV/PC/DVD thingy, the PSX is a step in the right direction.

People keep saying "Yeah but I what if someone wants to use the internet, another wants to play a game and another wants to download a movie?"

..........Well these PC/TV thingies will become outragousely affordable so you can have several of them, just like you have several TV's of differing shapes and sizes.

[iloveannie]

I want to know who decided that consoles need to all in one encompassing entertainment devices. Gamecube has it right and is the cheapest because of it. Do we really need 3/4 DVD players in our homes?

The PSX while pretty and sounds good on paper, is over engineered to accomplish everything.

Take a look round my kitchen. Go on. Hmm, spot something odd about the fridge? The cooker? Toaster, kettle, microwave? Funny that they're all seperates. Almost like stereo equipment. We all know that if you want the best you don't go for a combined system. They cut corners. Look at tv/video/dvd combos. What do you do when the video screws up ('cause they always do you know)? Looks like the whole lots going to the shop.

My PC plays DVDs. My PS2 plays DVDs. My XBox plays DVDs. My Q plays DVDs. And funnily enough so does my ... wait for it ... DVD PLAYER!! Which plays them best? Answers on a stamp please.

[Ady]

I want to know who decided that consoles need to all in one encompassing entertainment devices. Gamecube has it right and is the cheapest because of it. Do we really need 3/4 DVD players in our homes?

The PSX while pretty and sounds good on paper, is over engineered to accomplish everything.

It's just a strategy by Sony to get more people to buy it's products. What's being said about the PSX reflects my scepticism about what's proposed for the PSP.

Why on earth would I want to watch DVD movies on a tiny sccreen with headphones, Sony?

[tankplanker]

Because you have two hours of boring train journeys each day? And being able to download something you recorded off the tely last night (onto your PSX, natch) would be really handy.

Same would apply if you worked regualry away from home.