Blu-ray discs to offer portable movies for PSP

Not to mention the HDD space it would take to store more than a few of those games and movies at 25+ GB.

I can't believe I read your entire comment... so let me summarize it for the next readers so they don't have to suffer through it.

LilCo187 hates Sony and Blu-Ray.

Just one thing for argument sake, you realize only 1% of the whole world was able to download songs when the iPod was released and the majority of the planet had CD's (They still do), so you basically think Sony should fuck 99% of the planet so they can cater to you? That's commercially sound.

I wish I lived in your world. In mine (the real world), a downloadable solution for HD movies is at least a decade off for the general population. And even then, the majority of people will only use it for rentals, preferring a physical medium for ownership.

And wtf does mandatory installation of games on PS3 (which is a good thing, by the way, and something 360 devs wish they could do) have to do with movies?

@Zoech - And we, as consumers, should be concerned about how commercially sound this is... why?

You guys that think digital downloads are going to replace physical media in the near feature are living in fantasy land. I also find it amusing that it's pretty much the same crowd whining about DRM and fair use rights... with digital download/VOD you'll have even more restrictions and instead of 1 dominate format you'll have dozens coming from different sources. Not to mention that you'll likely be sacrificing video/audio quality for the sake of convenience.

"And we, as consumers, should be concerned about how commercially sound this is... why?"

Amazing, a post that answers itself. Though I'm a little confused by the "why" at the end.

To Crono:

A simple 'Amen'.

Thank you Crono. This has been an obvious (to me, at least) goal of Sony for a while now, and a long trail of failed proprietary formats tend to support that.

Even so, the scenario you described is truly the "Holy Grail" of every large company, bank, and government. The only way to keep this from happening in the electronics industry (it has already happened in the banking and government realm), is to support diversity.

Buy AMD processors, support all 3 systems, pay a bit extra for DRM free music, and stay the hell away from Wal-Mart (but that's another story).

Sony and Microsoft want you as a fanboy. If you only buy their stuff, then they are one step closer to controlling every bit of entertainment software that you use.

@Crono

Don't be a friggin idiot. I guess this is somehow different than what MS is doing? And God forbid Sony actually add features for their devices! What a scam!

Explain to me how this violates fair use in any way? Did they announce that this would be the one and only way to ever have portable copies of BR movies and that only the PSP would ever be able to be used for such a feature? Unless that was included somewhere then your statement is utter nonsense.

so because they offer multiple functionalities between their devices they are now seen as evil? so they might as well just stop offering them?

For god's sake, since when are extra functionalities seen as something bad? since the day Nintendo couldn't get both, mp3's and the photo channel, to work?

"Welcome to the new millennium. Do you have your Sony chip implanted yet so you can enjoy all that Sony programming on your Sony PSP and Sony PS3?"

No, I don't, but im sure as hell that you do have your Nintendo chip well implemented on you...

To Vidkron/Noshino,

Crono's not saying that MS or Nintendo's DRM schemes are any better, but he's very right about what Sony is doing...and since this thread is about Sony's products and media, his opinions are both valid and relevant.

The problem comes because not only does sony provide the hardware to view content, sony also owns some of the content offered on its service. All I can say is thank God for Microsoft, because if Sony was able to ride out this generation unchallenged like last time, you better believe that their would be licensing fees other content owners would be paying to get that kind of connectivity for their movies.

Heck there might already be licensing fees involved with this. Fees Sony is exempt from, since they own their own content.

Having these features isn't bad. But having the features, owning the hardware, AND owning the content that hardware consumes creates a conflict of interest for Sony, with regard of giving the consumer what they want and what Sony wants to control.

No theirs nothing good about this, or "buying" movies over live. You can plug your fanboy ears all you want, but this arrangement will ultimately end up being very bad for you and very good for sony.

His view is stupid for the reasons I gave. Unless somewhere its stated that all the studios stated that this would be the only way to ever have portable copies of BR movies then what he said is utter nonsense. I fail to see how Sony adding value to their products is some sort of conspiracy or signs of an evil Sony empire. They're giving their customers additional features... and apparently for free. Evil!

Again, you continue to spout nonsense. Sony DOES NOT own the BR format and they ARE NOT the only movie studio. How does this feature being offered by Sony in any way exclude other movie studios from offering similar features for other devices on their own BR discs? You act like this new feature by Sony has somehow locked everyone else out. Not only is that paranoid nonsense, it's completely impossible without the agreement of everyone involved in the BDA and all the movie studios.

They point isn't that they'd lock people out, but that Sony now has control of this content from its creation, to its distribution, to what you do with it at home.

And you are staw-manning this. I never said that this was the final step in sony's grand scheme. I said it was one of the first. Open your eyes, and don't be a blind fanboy.

Strawmanning? Please. You have thrown out what is basically a paranoid and nearly impossible scenario and I've called you on it. Sony is only one player in the BDA and movie industry. They in no way control the entire movie industry or the BDA format. The bottom line is that this is just an added feature for people with PSPs and PS3s... that's it.

What would you solution be then? This is simply a smaller movie that is preformatted for the PSP that will be placed on some BR discs. Do you understand how many portable media players are out there? Do you understand how many different formats and reolutions they play? Is Sony somehow responsible for for providing preformatted movies to accomodate every player out there? BS.

Now, if you want to argue that the BDA needs to allow BR movies to be legally copied using PCs for use on various media players, that's a whole different arguement... and it's a decisions that IS NOT soley up to Sony. But all Sony has done here is offer a feature for their customers. There's no strawman arguments here, it's just your nonsense.

Except I'm not talking about the BDA format. I'm talking about their infrastructure. Thats why its a straw-man. You're arguing against something I never said.

Wait... that makes even less sense. What are you even talking about? Are you saying that someone other than Sony should have control over SONY's movies, SONY's PS3s, and SONY's PSPs????? What is you want? You're not making any sense.

What he's trying to say is that of the competitors in the Media Electronics game that actually generates media. Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, these companies do not make movies

And Sony's agenda is to push more DRM and take over the living room, and when its put so bluntly it doesn't sound nearly so conspiratorial, right?

OK... still lost here. What do the other hardware manufacturers have to do with this? I mean, it's an added benefit for people who own a Sony PS3 and PSP, but I fail to see how it's pushing DRM or going to take over the living room. I just can't see where Crono's trying to take this argument. I want to hear his solution to this "problem".

If you don't even understand the problem: Sony having full complete control of their media, eventually evolving into sony control of other people's media on sony devices, telling YOU how you can use what you rightfully own; how could you even hope to comprehend the solution?

If you don't even understand the problem: Sony having full complete control of their media, eventually evolving into sony control of other people's media on sony devices, telling YOU how you can use what you rightfully own; how could you even hope to comprehend the solution?

Wow... talking about dodging a question. Again, what is it you want Sony to do? Also, how is this Sony having full control over their media? All they've done here is provide a smaller version of their movies on some BR movies that is preformatted for the PSP and can then be transferred to the PSP for portable use. Almost no one has a BR drive in their PCs yet, so this is actually a very useful feature they are providing for their customers.

Again I ask you, are you expecting a preformatted movie for all players to be included? Is so, why should you even expect them to do that? And how is this going to allow Sony to control your living room? They don't have complete control of the BDA and they don't control other studios movies. How is this in any preventing any other way of distribution. This movie is ADDING an option for distribution, not limiting. Sony isn't responible for other studio's movies or supporting other manufacturers PMPs.

Again, your points are utterly illogical and based in nothing more than your fanboy hate of Sony and plain paranoia. Get back to me when you've got some logical arguments to back up your claims of some evil Sony empire forming.

Once again, you aren't reading what I'm writing, you're reading what you want me to write. This has nothing to do with BDA NOW, and nothing to do PSP connectivity NOW, and EVERYTHING to do with these being the first stages of an infrastructure designed to dick you out of your rights. If sony owns the players (which phone home), and sony owns or has control over the content on those players (going beyond Blue Ray, and into PSN), then they have the power to tell you what you are allowed and are not allowed to do with your hardware, and the content you have legally purchased.

This is the largest reason I've been opposed the the PS3 from the beginning. If sony were the only real game/movie player in town (and lets be honest here, PS3 makes up a large majority of Blue ray players in the market), and the method by which people got content on these players is through sony or through a sony owned company, that spells bad news for the consumer.

FORTUNATELY, Microsoft is kicking their ass, making sure this won't come to pass, at least not now.

And the solution to the problem is to not buy Sony. There's nothing Sony can do to stop themselves from trying to rule your livingroom, as that is their central business pillar. Why do you think they put a server quality chip in the PS3, to give it the power to control other functions besides playing games (such as transcoding and DRMing any media that might get passed through it). Why do you think it has such a huge harddrive, to hold all your DRMed media.

And the plan was: once they had a PS2 level penetration in the market, they'd have control over all this media, and thus control over what you watch.

If you can't understand this, then I really can't help you.

One more thing before I have to leave for a while... it sounds to me like you want to be able to copy BR movies and do whatever you want with those copies. So if thats the case then I yet again must point out that you are barking up the wrong tree. That's an issue to take up with the entire BDA and the entire movie industry as a whole. But at this point virtually no one has BR drives to use for copying anyway, so this move simply provides a way for their customers to get more out of their devices and movies.

The ONLY way your comments hold ANY water would be if this move was announced to be the only way BR movies would EVER be legally allowed to be distributed in a portable format. Until then, Sony has control of nothing because the BDA and/or movie can still introduce other methods of distribution. Sony is dictating NOTHING with this move.

Fvck, dude... you couldn't be more off base. How is including a movie preformatted for the PSP telling you want you can and can't do with your PS3 and PSP??? Both machine can play multiple video formats. Make your own damn rips for Christ's sake. Or use a transcoder andplay whatever the hell you want. Or, fuck that, install Linuxon your PS3 and play whatever the hell you want. MS isn't offering anything more than that.

" If sony were the only real game/movie player in town (and lets be honest here, PS3 makes up a large majority of Blue ray players in the market), and the method by which people got content on these players is through sony or through a sony owned company, that spells bad news for the consumer."

FALSE, FALSE, FALSE!! Again, see what I wrote above... plus what do other BR players on the market allow you to do? Can any play more media formats than the PS3? If not, how is Sony limiting you?! You act like the PS3 can only play Columbia studios movies.

You are so freaking paranoid and delusional.

Paranoid, perhaps. I like to think that I"m thinking a few more moves ahead than you are, since you can't seem to get your mind off of "BR Movies on PSP" to "PSN movies only on PS3 and PSP", when it should be "PSN movies on whatever you want". And no, Microsoft is no better about it, but at least they don't already OWN the content your "buying" from them.

Delusional, I don't think so. As someone else said above: this is the Holy Grail of any media company, of which Sony is. ANY DRM is bad. They're "allowing" you do with a SONY DEVICE ONLY what used to be our right to do with everything we bought, move it to whatever format is convenient for us.

DRM is bad. Period. And its these kind of "features" that shows how bad it is. You've already been conditioned to think that you DON"T have these rights, and that any little tool Sony throws your way to enable them is a blessing. Well, its not a blessing. Its taking what you used to do for free and restricting it so that you can only do it the way THEY say you can do it. Thats the whole point of DRM. To tell you what you can do with the things you own.

Also: do you know how much say Sony has in the BDA? I would bet its a lot.

Paranoid, perhaps. I like to think that I"m thinking a few more moves ahead than you are, since you can't seem to get your mind off of "BR Movies on PSP" to "PSN movies only on PS3 and PSP", when it should be "PSN movies on whatever you want". And no, Microsoft is no better about it, but at least they don't already OWN the content your "buying" from them.

Delusional, I don't think so. As someone else said above: this is the Holy Grail of any media company, of which Sony is. ANY DRM is bad. They're "allowing" you do with a SONY DEVICE ONLY what used to be our right to do with everything we bought, move it to whatever format is convenient for us.

DRM is bad. Period. And its these kind of "features" that shows how bad it is. You've already been conditioned to think that you DON"T have these rights, and that any little tool Sony throws your way to enable them is a blessing. Well, its not a blessing. Its taking what you used to do for free and restricting it so that you can only do it the way THEY say you can do it. Thats the whole point of DRM. To tell you what you can do with the things you own.

Also: do you know how much say Sony has in the BDA? I would bet its a lot.

Don't be. I guarantee you its not as cool as it sounds.

Something else that would get me buying a PSP: 30-80 gb internal HDD.

you mean those that don't have games right? when the ipods are able to offer me nearly as much as what the PSP has to offer, then, and JUST then, I will bitch about the HDD

I'm sorry but with Zuma, Peggle, and Phase, the iPod has about as many decent games as the PSP does. Plus up to 160GB internal memory. Oh, and DRM, just so you feel at home.

Problem is that there is a bazillion places where you won't have access to the Internet.

On a side note, wouldn't it be nice if Sony made an Ethernet adapter for the PSP. Wireless is nice and all, but it would be nice to know that I could just plug my PSP into a non-wireless router.