iPS360TV and "The Battle for the Living Room" Part 2 |
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So, how are we today? Still clutching your pitchforks, waiting for the next wave of attacks on your living room, eh? The Battle for the Living Room chronicles is still under full swing. Three set top boxes - Sony's PS3, Microsoft's 360, and Apple's Apple TV (iTV) - are vying for that oh-so comfortable spot in your living room. Digital download services have been around for quite some time now, but with these three new factions on the battle field, how can one survive through the media format wars?
Indeed there are a lot of interesting elements, features, and other factors involved when comparing these three set top boxes (again, we are stressing that we are viewing these as set top boxes with the "gaming console" aspect stripped out). Some might even say that, what with all the tech specs thrown into the equation, choosing your Living Room King can be a task left for the gods.
We here at QJ aren't gods (aaaw, sadness) but we can still enlighten you! When you're in a war, you'd definitely want to be on the winning side. And as of now, there isn't any clear-cut winner just yet. We can just assess the tipping scales as the battle changes every so often. Time to rip open the reports in the case file!
Hardware Proliferation:
Firstly, you'd have to check out the availability of the device. Even before you think about putting that set top box in your living room, you have to make sure that you can actually manage to find one. The 360 is very much "out there" already - now notching sales figures of 10-million units sold. And although Sony's hasn't shipped that much yet, consider their track record with the PS2. In its lifetime, the 2nd-gen Sony console sold over 100-million units. And of course, there's the PSP. Especially with the video downloading service promised for the handheld, number of units sold could sky rocket. They could catch up with the big MS pretty soon.
Where does this put Apple? The fact that it costs around half the price of the other two chaps means that purchasing one would reel in a lot of buyers. You've also got the popularity of the iPod line and its iTunes. Given that almost everybody and their mayor's pet goldfish has an iPod, accessing media from iPod to iTunes from your Apple TV would be a snap.
With the sheer size of the army alone, Microsoft currently has an upper hand. Sony's got some reinforcements coming, though, and that could eventually turn the tide of the battle. As for Apple, their iPod army can potentially smite everyone's forces silly with their click-wheels.
Hardware Itself:
Aside from the hardware availability let's talk about the device itself. As a stand-alone hub without all the frills and sequins of next-gen Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs, then you might as well take a bite from (the) Apple. It won't put you to sleep, but that US$ 300 price tag will definitely let you sleep easier with the peace of having been able to cut down on your expenses. Do note though that, given the price, you'd have to compromise for its limited flexibility and power.
Take a look at the PS3 and 360. The former has a replaceable HDD, and the rumored "Zephyr" for the latter has a 120GB. Apple TV's 40GB storage looks puny compared to the other two, but as we said, if you want to keep things clean and simple - as all things Apple are tend to be - then this could be your lucky ticket to boob-tube freedom.
There's also been quite a hubbub about IPTV. Microsoft has already confirmed this for their 360, and once again, they're ahead of the game. But who's to say that Sony and Apple aren't going down the same path?
Studio Backing:
One of the other biggest factors to change the tide is how much support a set top box actually has from some studios. Currently, Sony's got the edge here. They've got full support from studios, and the best thing is that the call will be "coming from inside the house." Well, technically. But under the same Sony umbrella, you've got MGM, Sony Pictures, and Sony Pictures Classics, with smashing exclusives like "Casino Royale" and "Spider-Man".
But then, Universal Studios and a couple of other Hollywood biggies are giving Microsoft some loving with HD DVD support. Steve Jobs has his own Apple-Pixar rainbow connection of exclusive movie titles as well. This is how Broken_Hero from our comments puts it: "It will be Interesting... Sony already Has a Large Standing in the Movie Industry, Microsoft has Good Connection."
And the battle wages on:
All factors in, this could be another Hundred Year War, never-ending and always shifting... All we can do now is wait. Apple, Sony, Microsoft. Who will invade your living room? In the end, you will be the one to decide. In the meantime, keep your pitchforks on the ready. You never know when Sony will pull a Microsoft, or Microsoft pull an Apple, or Apple pull a... well, you get the point.
And with this, the next page turns in the Battle for the Living Room chronicles.
36 Jumps PSP homebrew - MHUSPEED v3
25 Jumps Sony helping fix Bayonetta for PS3?
22 Jumps PSP homebrew - MacroFire v3.0.12
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Comments [refresh]
If Sony and a major TV provider team up to provide a cost effective Internet TV, then it would crush Microsofts IPTV.
I foresee Sony having the upper hand in Digital Distribution of Movies. Microsoft isn't a movie company and therefore they have to reach out to others to get content while Sony has more then enough content in house to compete with anything Microsoft can come out with. Apple has support of all major studios except that jobs sets the price on movies, not the studios.
In terms of Music, you cant beat apple, but since people already download music from iTunes, they have no reason to do the same on the apple box. Since listening to the iPod is more of a standard these days then buying a box to listen to them at home.
The Xbox360 is just a gaming console. So far they haven't provided anything for the Xbox360 that makes it something thats a must have for the home. This is what they need to fix.
The market for people who will buy a multimedia center are the upper-class. Microsoft isnt an established name in the home electronics entertainment industry while Sony has pretty much dominated the market for years.
Do a survey and ask people "When you think of Home Entertainment, do you think of Microsoft or Sony?". 90%+ of people will choose Sony because of the fact that Media Center Edition is a term that is a failure in Home Entertainment.
Microsoft needs to release a Xbox360 thats more style friendly if they ever want to make ground in the living room. They need a all black or all silver Xbox360. Currently theres nothing short of voiding your warranty that will make the Xbox360 fit the style of any home electronics.
My TIVO currently controls my living room. I can do anything on it from ordering movie tickets and check the weather to transferring any TV recordings I have on the TIVO straight to my PC OR Mac and vice versa. I can stream music and photos from my computers to my TIVO. My Tivo has a DVD-RW slot, you know what that means.....burning any movies or TV shows straight to DVD and renting DVDs from Blockbuster to play right on my Tivo. Tivo-To-Go transfers shows to and from computers and the software can automatically format the recordings for the iPod, PSP, laptops and palm devices. So that means recordings from basically anywhere in the world on the go. I can't believe you didnt mention Tivo once in this article I mean it's amazing! Theres NOTHING you can't do on it! Even record HD programs now!! Sony, Microsoft and Apple can fight over my living room all they want while I schedule the Tivo to record and burn to a DVD 'Click' from my computer and watch the latest 'The Office' episode to go on my iPod! iPS360TVO part 3 QJ?
I didn't read any of your post after the first line.
MS is a software company and sony is a hardware company. Sony couldn't do IPTV as well as MS. Game over.
You have video games that you play for hours on end... and then you have tv which makes you even more mindless... I have no need for IPTV... it isn't going to bring me more shows than cable or satalite - it isn't going to be breathtakingly new...
I say Meh!
Do some research before posting or at least know what are u talking about... ok.. sony never and will never do a OS but the make a lot of softwares... anyway... I don't have plans of getting a PS3... just after they do something with the network... and I don't need the IPTV eaither... looks cool and everything but just don't need it... if just PS3 make a TV input or someting in usb mode or I don't know... well... it will be a trully Home Entertainment and all I really need... and remember... microsoft can't keep a secret... Sony and Apple yes... because Sony don't anounce something is not that they aren't thinking something to strike back
Watching a sporting event with friends and family with voice chat is a very cool thing. Sharing TV experiences online with friends and family is pretty revolutionary. MS are doing a great job of pulling people together in the entertainment room. I want everyone I know to have a 360 so i can communicate with them easily while playing a game, watching sport, watching a movie, or just watching TV. Try doing that with a TiVo ;)
Name 5 pieces of GREAT software Sony have developed. I can name more than a 100 for Microsoft.
Sony couldn't do an IPTV interface, end of story.
and isn't just TV... with voice and data.. receive email.. sms... just in one place...
cinescore, Acid, Sound Forge, Vegas, DVD Architect, CD Architec, Photo Go, Vaio Zone... I'm not telling that Sony is better than Microsoft in software... thats I I tell that they never and never will be do a OS... but they can do what they want... just find and hire... easy doesn't... but maybe they willl suffer the same fate like the network... can't beat the live... 2 dificult at this stage
Ok now tell me how many of those products are market leaders.
just because Microsoft's software is leading doesn't mean it's great. the ONLY reason I use Microsoft software is because it's leading and it's what most programs are designed for. but if I could, I'd switch to Apple or Linux in a heartbeat...Sorry to break it to you, but in the last 4 or so years Microsoft's software has been going down the drain.
Microsoft is no longer considered a top software company.
They are a company who are losing ground to other options like MAX OSX and Linux.
OpenOffice, which is a free version of the Office Suite, not only have every option that Microsoft offers, but has more options thats people will generally use.
Microsofts problem is that they continue to rebuild from scratch every time they release a major version of their software.
Linux/Unix and the OSs based on them like BSD/OSX have had the advantage of 30 years of upgrades and fixes. This is why they are superior in efficiency and stability.
There isnt anything windows can do that Linux cant do faster on the same machine. This is why alot of servers are running linux and alot of special effects farms are running linux machines.
To say that Microsoft is a great software company is an exaggeration. Windows Vista, which is soon to be released, has already been criticized by Network Security professionals. Microsoft promised a more stable and secure windows and failed to deliver.
They are a software company that tries to keep everything proprietary. Because of this, they are pretty much the most hated software company in the world. Windows was never, and probably never will be worth buying. This is why so many people would rather spend the time to download and crack it then goto a store and spend 100 bucks on XP.
You,re Pretty Evil....Leave Some for Someone Else ;)
It is True,People Only Jump to Windows Becuase they are Unaware of the Alternatives and for the Compatibilty.
Even John Carmack A game Designer of ID Who is Supposed to Support MS Vista for its DX 10...Actually Said that People Will Find themselves Better if they Upgrade to a Mac System than Vista...you can Read the Full Interview at Gameinfromer.Com.
Vista Merely Focused on The Hardware Graphics Side,Without Offering the Promised Security and Stability,I dont see Anyone Paying 1000$ of Upgrades Just so that He can Run DX10 and Some few Games.
MS is Losing the OS market....and that..Mind you,Is a Very Good thing,We Need more Choices,And MS for Decades have Prevented this ;)
Well... Sony, Apple and Microsoft also will offer support outside the US... When will TIVO make a boxes for the rest of the world?
We Need more Choices, And MS for Decades have Prevented this ;)
Yes you are right, for some time Apple did the same thing, they almost went under because of this, funny though that they will take one step back with the iPhone (not allowing 3rd party software)...
Sony is making the same mistake with the PSP not allowing 3rd party software, however thay have learned from this mistake and now offers 3rd party software on the PS3...
But what are Microsoft doing?
All this badmouthing MS is BS. Everyone hates the guy at the top. Like in highshool everyone hated the guy that got all the girls, got all the medals in sports, had the hottest mercedes and still managed to graduate with honors . I should know. I was that guy. But let me tell you all something, you can ***** and moan all U want; that guy at the top isn't going anywhere.
Try streaming content from your XBOX 360 to your Zune, oh that's right you can't because you're already streaming from something else to your 360. You cant put any content on your 360unless you buy it from MS. Except for music that you rip from a disc to the puny hard drive. You can't transfer video files to the HDD or music files for that matter. And I know this because I own an 360 and a PS3. I have Linux running on my PS3 and I transfered all of my music, photos and video files from my laptop to my PS3 and I still have 35 GB's of free space. I love the 360 as a game machine but it has a long way to go before taking over the living room, especially against Sony.
Someone_PR, LOL all the listed is software that was bought out from software company's by Sony.
Here we go again,LOOK at the questions I.E about ACID etc IT WAS NOT DEVELOPED BY SONY BUT BOUGHT BY THEM as most of the others were and LOOK AT THE REPLYS!!! LMAO this is why this site need a EMAIL CONFORMATION ADDRESS as the same poster poses on one side BUT then has double the answers of the other,OH AND LOOK NOW BROKEN_HERO HAS BY AMAZING COINCIDENCE ARRIVED HERE TO..COME ON LETS HAVE EMAIL CONFORMATION ON THIS SITE TO STOP THIS NONSENSE.
EMAIL CONFORMATION NEEDED NOW ON THIS SITE.
LETS HAVE EMAIL CONFORMATION as at the momement ANY IDIOT can be making out he is Two rival sides,Just like the old 1889 medicine swindles,so come on bring in an EMAIL CONFORMATION to stop the idiots...
EMAIL CONFORMATION NEEDED LET's STOP THIS NOW.
Yes please drop this farce, Email needed now, I mean look at- Re: Someone_PR, then look at the so called argument with - Devise,this needs to be STOPPED NOW.
well that is just dumb. the point of streaming to your psp is because it doesnt have a large storage. streaming from xbox to zune? why.the xbox has less space than your zune. the xbox recognizes the ipod while the xmb does not. as far as microsoft dominating your family room. more and more ppl have their tvs connected to their computer. most of these ppl own microsoft as their operating system.connect the computer to the tv directly and you dont need to stream anything. microsoft has the right mindset by introducing a media server. instead of having a ps3 with 100 gigs and another device somewhere else use a server. with videos alone and music i have over 300 gigs. i dont want to have to copy that over and over to devices and streams and bs. all that i need should be on a network. the only thing i back on broken arrow is that the media server should be linux operated :)
microsoft is the least secure because is the most available. its no luck or years of experience. most ppl grow up on MS not on mac or linux. most ppl even believe that there are no viruses on macs or exploits. yes linux is fast and in most cases faster. well if you take to consider that most tasks you perform are in command and lines. "This is why so many people would rather spend the time to download and crack it then goto a store and spend 100 bucks on XP. " the reason why ppl rather dl that spend 100 bucks IS because ppl rather not spend 100 bucks. just like noone likes to spend 100 bucks on pretty much anything. mac more stable c'mon dont buy into the hype with 1/5 the software made for windows OBviously is going to be more stable. linux is the future , why because there are more ppl coding for it and developing it than microsoft or mac could ever hire. to compare mac linux and microsoft is a joke. when mac has as many programs as microsoft and atleast HALF the games they support allong with hardware you can afford. only then you will know how safe and stable it is. linux good luck with that. oh look dude my ps3 linux runs faster than windows firefox. but i cant play games on it install a ***** load of programs that you can.well done man. mac is great i use it at school!!!! but when you come to think of it it only has photoshop installed. darn. wow but its so stable!!!
What makes me laugh is whoever said Sony made the software SOUNDFORGE, ACID, VEGAS ETC, they were NOT made by SONY they were made by SONIC FOUNDRY and guess what -
In late 2003, Sonic Foundry's media software was purchased by Sony Pictures Digital for a price of $18 million.