Sneak Peek: Sony PSP TV (Hint: Apple Shouldn’t Worry Yet)
By Andrew McLaughlin |
April 18th, 2006
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Sony has big plans for its PlayStation Portable and it looks like we may all be watching downloaded TV content on our PSP’s in the not-too-distant future. There is a very solid review of what we might expect from Sony here in the US over at JapanChronicles (via Joystiq). The good news is that Sony has launched a pretty robust TV download service in Japan. The bad news is that there are lots of DRM issues and the content apparently expires soon after you make the purchase.
The P-TV service, as it is called, is only available to registered users in Japan and requires version 2.60 of the PSP firmware. Users download the content directly from their wi-fi connections or over a USB cable. The content is saved locally to a Memory Stick, but unfortunately cannot be offloaded to a PC for storage. Downloaded content can be viewed on the PSP’s screen and is available in both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios depending on the source material being watched. Payment for the content is accepted via credit card and users must have a valid Japanese mailing address in order to subscribe.
There is a wide range of content available in several categories geared mostly towards the Japanese market:
- Movies Trailers
- Sports (soccer, golf, baseball, martial arts)
- Music (pop, rock, R&B, dance, jazz, world, soundtrack, karaoke, news, interviews)
- Drama (Japanese, Korean, overseas)
- Anime
- Entertainment (variety etc)
- Information (interior, pet, fashion)
- Talent (i.e., Adult)
- Comedy
- TV (Asahi TV)
There is also a monthly pack that lets you watch unlimited episodes of a series. All of the content is encoded with DRM and expires anywhere from 5 to 30 days after you make the purchase.
Final Thoughts
This Japanese launch is a pretty good window (no pun intended) into what Sony might be planning for a US launch in the near future. That is, if they can get their act together. It’s also possible that Sony is preparing a more powerful platform to integrate both the PSP and the PS3 for a full fledged assault on Apple and Microsoft. If history is any indicator, Sony is likely to cripple their product offering with unnecessary DRM and limitations in a closed model that will kill any and all chances of success.
Filed in: Portable Media Players