Sony posts great Launch Lineup and then drops the bomb with the worst FAQ answers (1 Viewer)

[Ruz-El]

The Wii and Wii U don't play DVDs or CDs. I don't think its really hurt Nintendo's business. Heck, the latest revision of the Wii doesn't even play GameCube games.

If you use your PS3 for CDs and media streaming right now, why wouldn't you keep using it in the future? The PS4 does not play PS1/2/3 games so anyone who buys a gaming console for the purpose of gaming will still want to keep their PS3 around. If space is at a premium in your home theater then I can understand that, but if space is at a premium then most likely you have another device that can do the job.

The argument that was made back in June/July around E3 was that the big difference between the two next gen consoles was the game lineups and what mattered more to gamers. I don't understand why that argument is hijacked by "it doesn't play CDs." The fact that they're trying to force people to buy a subscription to Music Unlimited is shady and I understand being unhappy about that, but not playing MP3s off external memory is not really a game changer for me.If you were to buy a PS4 at launch, what games would you have gotten? It's a gaming console made for the purpose of playing games, so what games were making it interesting to you? Or were you looking at it for its non-gaming functions?

As I said previously, I bought the PS3 as a media player first, and got into gaming. My situation is a bit different. I have my PS3 away from the main hometheater and use it for everything I watch, listen too and gaming. My plan was to upgrade the old bluray player (with no external media sharing) in the living room with a PS4 instead of going with another bluray player since I planned on going next gen eventually anyway. I would use my PS3 as my main player, and the PS4 in the other hometheater. Once I got caught up on games, I could swap them out. Have the best of both worlds. With the current limitations on the PS4, that no longer works. Dumb move.

So I planned on no games at launch, other than the free ones offered on PS+. The only game I planned to pick up eventually was Pinball Arcade (once rumoured a launch title, now I'm not sure), and only because it would upgrade the tables I already own on the PS3. Eventually a golf game will come out, I'd buy that too since I can get my infirm father to maybe play it, along with Pinball arcade.

Yes, a standard bluray player will meet my needs, and probably will if Sony doesn't make a formal announcement on the media issues before Christmas. the disappointment is that the PS3 really is an all in one machine, doing some things better than others obviously, but still an all in one machine. That the PS4, made by a multimedia company, is taking a step back from that still seems incredibly dumb to me. It could of been a "must own" media device. Now it's simply a game platform.

Now, it's easy to say that Sony want to put out a gaming system first, but that's ignoring the real reason for it's limitations: Greed. they advertised being able to listen to "your own music" (I'm currently listening to Charley Patton, is he on MusicUnlimited?) during game play, but that's false. All the extra media features are via Sony subscription services, or licensed subscription services.

Greed and control is the reason they handcuffed the PS4, not wanting to make the best gaming system. Anyone thinking differently is kidding themselves. They saw and know how people use the PS3, sought and found a way to make more money off it.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I imagine that greed is why the PS4 has limited functionality in certain regards. This could be "give us more money" greed or "let's cut features to lower costs" greed. Heck, it may be "let's cut features that nobody uses and offer our services to fill in the gaps" kind of greed.

But it doesn't matter to me that much because its a gaming console, first and foremost. You can get a good Bluray player for like $60 but you'd rather buy a $400 PS4, which is probably prone to hardware/firmware issues right out of the gate (like most gaming consoles) instead?

 

[schan1269]

I thought Sony never had firmware issues with the PS3...

People act like it was the next best thing to great set of pouty lips.

 

[Carlo_M]

I thought Sony never had firmware issues with the PS3...

People act like it was the next best thing to great set of pouty lips.

You mean like these?

 

[Ruz-El]

I imagine that greed is why the PS4 has limited functionality in certain regards. This could be "give us more money" greed or "let's cut features to lower costs" greed. Heck, it may be "let's cut features that nobody uses and offer our services to fill in the gaps" kind of greed.

But it doesn't matter to me that much because its a gaming console, first and foremost. You can get a good Bluray player for like $60 but you'd rather buy a $400 PS4, which is probably prone to hardware/firmware issues right out of the gate (like most gaming consoles) instead?

If after all my explaining, all you get is " You can get a good Bluray player for like $60 but you'd rather buy a $400 PS4" then you're either being snarky for no reason, or you didn't actually read any of my posts.

You will note that we are discussing this on a forum called "The Home Theater" forum, is it really a big shock that a member on here is disappointed that an upgrade to a pretty decent media and game player is lacking in the "media" department?

If you read other blogs and sites on the net, you would note that I'm not the only one surprised and disappointed at this. As posted earlier, Sony is already back peddling on the MP3 bit.

What's good for YOU might not be good for EVERYONE, A difficult concept to understand, but a sad truth in this world. The reason I didn't buy a $60 player is because I don't like buying products that I'm only going to use for a little bit and then upgrade. Since I was always going to upgrade to next gen, I figured I could wait. And I can wait. And I am going to wait to see what happens with the PS4 and patches post launch before deciding on my next electronics purchase.

As far as the $400 goes, is every member on here who spent $400 on a region free Oppos player a fool because they could of got something for $60? I mean, the oppos doesn't play games or anything. Or is it just me because I'm critical of Sony for what they've taken away from the Playstation line with this new system?

My disappointment with the PS4 has absolutely NOTHING to do with your enjoyment of the PS4. As a game machine, it looks like the one to beat. If I was only interested in games, I'd still buy one. So have fun. And good luck with the hardwarefirmware/patches issues that you seem to think I was foolish to gain in wanting to buy a PS4 to use as a media player before tucking into it as a gaming machine. I'm sure they aren't going away just because I'm not currently buying one.

 

[Edwin-S]

I thought Sony never had firmware issues with the PS3...People act like it was the next best thing to great set of pouty lips.

I don't know about pouty lips, but the PS3 was the best all round media machine I ever bought. I'm still using the launch day machine that I bought. That is why the crippling of the PS4 is disappointing to say the least.

 

[Bryan^H]

But it doesn't matter to me that much because its a gaming console, first and foremost. You can get a good Bluray player for like $60 but you'd rather buy a $400 PS4, which is probably prone to hardware/firmware issues right out of the gate (like most gaming consoles) instead?

You can't get a "good" Blu-Ray player for $60.

 

[Don Giro]

My PS3 was a Christmas gift from my family five years ago, and it's served me well. It would still be my BD player if it wasn't for the loud fan. It's my device of choice for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Crackle streaming. Perhaps my most frequent use of the system was watching videos and viewing photos on USB drives and burned DVDs. I have yet to find another device that lets one scroll through oceans of JPEGS and MP4s as fast as the PS3 does with the supplied controller.

While I don't care about the inability to play audio CDs, I agree that the limitations of this new system are crippling. I have an Oppo BD player now, and while it plays mp3s and lets me watch mpgs and the like from external storage, it sucks at scrolling through pictures. This all seems like a giant step backward.

But something tells me that there will be firmware patches down the line that will enable these features...

 

[Sam Posten]

You can't get a "good" Blu-Ray player for $60.

Sure you can. The latest gen ones at Costco are both audiovisually perfect and have a ton of streaming capabilities for around that price range, give or take $20. Sony Samsung or Panny. If your only definition of good starts at a $400 Oppo then your elitism is showing =)Anyway, I am reviewing a baller set of KEF 5.1 HTIB speakers and set that up in my bedroom. Moved the PS3 from my family room up there and have been watching blurays in bed the last few days. It's awesome. =) Can't wait to get my PS4 but still pushing the hell out of my PS3s and for a 6 year old box they are still damn fine bluray players too.

 

[Bryan^H]

Sure you can. The latest gen ones at Costco are both audiovisually perfect and have a ton of streaming capabilities for around that price range, give or take $20. Sony Samsung or Panny. If your only definition of good starts at a $400 Oppo then your elitism is showing =)Anyway, I am reviewing a baller set of KEF 5.1 HTIB speakers and set that up in my bedroom. Moved the PS3 from my family room up there and have been watching blurays in bed the last few days. It's awesome. =) Can't wait to get my PS4 but still pushing the hell out of my PS3s and for a 6 year old box they are still damn fine bluray players too.

Just going from my experience. I bought a $100 Samsung last year at Sam's Club. It plays some discs fine others it will have difficulty playing(Pulp Fiction being one of the titles) all titles have extremely slow loading times. My PS3 that I've had since early 2008 plays everything flawlessly, and all my titles without incident. Practically no loading time. Why a machine from 5 years ago can smoke a newer Samsung is a mystery to me.

 

[Ruz-El]

Just going from my experience. I bought a $100 Samsung last year at Sam's Club. It plays some discs fine others it will have difficulty playing(Pulp Fiction being one of the titles) all titles have extremely slow loading times. My PS3 that I've had since early 2008 plays everything flawlessly, and all my titles without incident. Practically no loading time. Why a machine from 5 years ago can smoke a newer Samsung is a mystery to me.

I looked at the cheap players, and anything under $100 is missing things like optical outputs as well. I'm leaning to buying a used PS3 slim depending on what Sony officially announces as far as updates to the PS4.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Shuhei Yoshida mentioned in an interview yesterday that CD/MP3/DLNA support is coming in a future firmware update. He says the lack of support at this point is the result of a focus on the core gaming features working in time for launch and that he was disappointed more things weren't ready at launch, too.

So...anyone un-cancel a preorder?

 

[Ruz-El]

Shuhei Yoshida mentioned in an interview yesterday that CD/MP3/DLNA support is coming in a future firmware update. He says the lack of support at this point is the result of a focus on the core gaming features working in time for launch and that he was disappointed more things weren't ready at launch, too.

So...anyone un-cancel a preorder?

Not me. It's still no use to me until it can play CDs and the DLNA (usb plugged directly into the machine preferred since the server aspect was always a bit dodgy with buffering) to play video files. I haven't seen any quotes saying that CD playback is happening, only MP3 and DLNA. So once the patch comes out, and it actually does all this and plays media like the PS3,, then I will buy.

I can wait, I have lots of games to get through on the PS3.

 

[Carlo_M]

Shuhei Yoshida mentioned in an interview yesterday that CD/MP3/DLNA support is coming in a future firmware update. He says the lack of support at this point is the result of a focus on the core gaming features working in time for launch and that he was disappointed more things weren't ready at launch, too.

So...anyone un-cancel a preorder?

I could understand DLNA and other internet/sharing/multimedia being delayed, but CD implementation? Really? I don't buy that for a second. Clearly the laser to read CDs is in there, the DACs to convert CDs are in there, and I'm sorry but the algorithm to decode CDs has been around for decades. I'm calling BS on that answer (for CD only). Heck if memory serves, didn't Sony and Philips claim to have invented the CD technology?

 

[Ruz-El]

Here's the quote I read by Yoshida, he makes no mention of CD. He also claims that they weren't trying to force subscriptions on people. Yeah right.

http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/12/5097994/sony-looking-at-dlna-and-mp3-support-for-ps4

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The original suspected reason for no CD support was licensing costs. The tech to play CDs is old and cheap, but Sony was aiming to undercut the Xbox One no matter what and needed to do everything in its power to be cheaper, including removing the CD codecs. Well, that's the rumor. As to whether or not that is true, who knows.

I still don't personally find it to be a big issue. And everything I've read seems to imply CD support being added but it doesn't say it directly.