2.50 has further crippled the PS3's media center abilities

I have sent the following letter to Sony's customer service - I bothered writing it just because I m so pissed off. You should too if you're experiencing similar issues:

 

Well said.

I guess it's business as usual for Sony hmm?

 

Take a look at history:

Microsoft revises a console/updates firmware and it adds features.

Sony revises a console/updates firmware and it removes features.

It's par for the course.

-hl718

 

2.50 needs a bit of debugging I think.

Still pleased as punch with my PS3 though.

 

360 works pretty well as a media center thing I think. I wish the media center built into it was better supported though.

 

what bothers me on the 360 is the sluggish interface - it's nowhere near as practical as the XMB.

 

I dunno, I've never found it sluggish when your not playing a game.

 

360 sluggish? Just when i hit the guide button...

 

You're talking out of your arse. Look at the PSP and PS3 changes from launch to now. No sane person could claim that.

 

.. and this is their reply:

(note how irrelevant it is, considering that it's actually a bug having to do with the size of a folder containing an X amount of GBytes and instead they just ignore the whole thing and suggest a "clean start" - anyone know for a fact that this will work? sounds like a lot of hassle and I wouldn't like to go through it if I m not going to see any results)

 

Yah, standard form letters. I send them out to my customers, keeps them quiet for a while.

Sony have been adding ten features and breaking one for a while now. I got auto shut off for DS3/PS3 and sequence play last time. Dunno how I lived without them. The PS3 is playing the angry video game nerd in sequence while I'm waiting for Mirror's Edge to come down in the background. Yah!

Main thing Sony should do now is codecs, especially audio ones. Other than that I'm happy with the PS3 firmware. Maybe auto podcast download.

 

I've been saying that about sony for years

 

Well, backwards compatibility kind of sucks now. They have added a lot through FW updates though.

 

Let's see:

PS1 -> Started with a full set of outputs. Various releases dropped the S-Video port, the composite port, audio ports and parallel IO port. I think the link port got dropped somewhere along the line as well.

PS2 -> Started with a full set of connections. Various releases dropped firewire and the IO connector required for an IDE connection.

PS3 -> Started with backwards compatibility, lost that. Lost half the USB connections. Lost media card options.

Don't really see how I'm talking out the arse.

-hl718

 

What was the parallel port used for, aside from piracy? The AV-Multi Out offered all the video output options removed, you just needed a different cable.

Dual shock controllers were added as standard, a huge bonus.

When was Firewire ever used? I/O removal was a sore loss indeed, although few games made use of the HDD.

The following were added over the lifespan of the PS2:

I-R port (no more controller port I-R dongle)
Built in Ethernet Port/Modem Port (for some territories)
DVD-RW support
Progressive Scan output for DVD movies
Quieter Fan
Smaller size
Lower Power requirements

Some of the things you mention were not included as standard at launch, due to the 20GB standard SKU (no Wireless, no media card support) and the 60GB premium SKU.

Features added since launch:

Blu-Ray profile upgrades
Div-X support
H264/MPEG4 support
WMV & WMA support
Folding@Home
Larger HDD as standard
Wireless as standard (was only on the 60GB version originally)
Upgraded browser (Flash 9 support, enhanced Java support, etc)
XMB in game
Custom soundtrack support
Upscaling/Improved graphics in PS1 & PS2 games (depending on model)
Trophies
Video output mode enhancements (chroma, mosquito, RGB full range)
Audio output mode enhancements (DTS-HD Master and DTS-HD High Resolution, Audio CD Frequency)
A completely new Store with Video Store (online downloads of movies, tv shows etc)
XMB Themes
Remote Start/Remote Play
PSP support
Voice Chat
Video Chat
DLNA media server support
Dual Shock 3 controllers
BD-RE support

Full list here: http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/SystemUpdates/PS3/history.html

PS2 backwards compatibility is a big loss, but the machine is a lot cheaper and the core additions far out weigh the things that have been removed. BC is the only real loss. The PS3 supports all USB hubs.

PSP changes are huge and all beneficial. You don't mention those at all. It is quite amazing how the PSP has changed since launch to now. Even if you have the very first units out of the factory, you benefit from a huge range of features that did not exist in the beginning.

 

Cheat codes and low cost development/homebrew development. The serial link allowed two consoles to connect for head-to-head play (Wipeout head to head sure beats split screen). Yeah, you could BUY a different Sony cable, but you were paying more than for a standard cable and it was doubly annoying if you already had high quality cables at home you couldn't use.

Among others, a little game you might have heard of called Gran Turismo 3 used firewire nicely. It allows you to setup multiple systems and TVs in order to simulate a full cockpit view. It's pretty damn sweet when you have it running.

Eh, anything in the launch 60GB should be considered standard. That was the primary PS3 SKU. Just because Sony released a crippled 20GB model to compete with Microsoft's crippled 20GB model doesn't make it the standard.

And if you compare to Microsoft, every time it has revised a system it has added features, not taken them away.

Yes, Sony has updated its systems and added features but it's also cut features with most of its revisions as well.

The PSP is an area where Sony has generally done things right. Aside from swapping in a crappier screen for the 3000 revision (ugh) the changes to the PSP have been positive.

-hl718

 

Very nice, but how many people did that impact? Don't you need 3 PS2s and 3 TVs to use this functionality? Was that really a big loss for anyone but a handful of customers, who already owned the game and machines?

The worst thing MS cut was the HDD as standard in the XB360. That has affected devs since the machine was launched.

60GB was the premium version. The lower SKU is considered standard. The more expensive premium versions of any product are ones you get extra features for a higher price tag. Just like in the XB360, where the 20GB one became the standard SKU because it didn't have the hard drive. Anything else is icing on the cake, but the lowest spec hardware decides what can be called the 'standard system', because it is what devs must base their software on.

In terms of hardware revisions, Microsoft has not been anywhere near as aggressive in hardware revisions in either the XBox or XB360. In fact, the only real revisions in XBox were attempts to block piracy and improve weaknesses of early component suppliers. I do not recall any additions that were visible to the end user.

In the XB360, their focus has been on removing the red ring problems. The only addition we have seen has been a HDMI port and the 1080p output for models that have HDMI. But that is far from typical.

Bleh, the new PSP screen is better. All it does is reveal some limitations in the original hardware that were hidden by the old screen.

 

Theres a whole new dashboard coming on the 19th...

Well, there is the Elite and the new chipsets, but I guess those don't really count. If your talking hardware revisions, looks to me like the PS3 has so far lost features but gained bigger hard drives. Both systems have gotten a lot in terms of software.

 

The new dashboard looks great and a vast improvement over the old GUI. You've also got to hand it to MS with that storage space program. A good idea, but too late.

 

I love my 360 But I just wish they had a console with build in wireless So I didnt have to attach that thing to the back. Anybody here seen the New red Controllers? There sexy as hell.