Video Downloads Arrive on PS3 Amid Reports of a Limited Launch

Pulkit Chandna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:51:23 -0500

Xbox Live is a major money-spinner for Microsoft's gaming division, one which both Sony and Nintendo envy. Sony is currently trying to replicate Live's success with its very own PSN service and the wide array of new additions to PSN might help Sony in its endeavor. One of the new additions happens to be the Playstation video downloading service, which is now live.

Users can rent or purchase SD or HD content from various leading TV and movie stables including Fox, MGM, Warner and Disney etc. TV videos begin at $1.99, while movie rentals and purchases begin at $2.99 and $9.99 respectively.

Several reports frequenting the internet seem to suggest that service is not available in all regions/countries. But there is no word on this issue from Sony. Limited launch or not, Wedbush Morgan’s videogame analyst Michael Pachter believes that availability of videos on PSN can lure potential Apple TV owners towards the PS3.

Image Credit:Engadget

In the Lab: Will Smith Gets Burned by the Apple TV

Will Smith — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:38:06 -0500

As part of my testing for this month’s cover feature, I spent a few quality days watching movies from the iTunes Store on my PC and in my living room. By necessity, I had to integrate a newly updated Apple TV into my entertainment center, which is a fairly common closed cabinet with a few air vents in the back. All of my other electronics devices—my receiver, my TiVo, my Xbox 360—live happily in this environment (although I do open the cabinet door when I fire up the 360).

After leaving the Apple TV connected overnight, I detected the faint smell of burning plastic in my living room. After investigating, I found that the Apple TV was actually too hot to touch—around 140 F. I don’t know about you, but none of the other consumer electronics devices I own (save a towel-wrapped Xbox 360) gets this hot.

After digging into the documentation and Apple’s support site, I was assured that the passively cooled Apple TV “may feel warm when touched.” But that it was “designed to operate quietly in an environment warmer than room temperature, including within media cabinets.” Eventually, I discovered a standby mode, which leaves the Apple TV running but disables the graphics hardware to minimize heating. You can access standby by holding down the Play/Pause button for a few seconds. That’s great, but if I forget to manually put the Apple TV into standby, it won’t automatically do it for me. That’s just irresponsible and dumb. There’s absolutely no reason for a modern CE device that gets this hot not to automatically shut down when it’s not being used.

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Video Downloads Arrive on PS3 Amid Reports of a Limited Launch

In the Lab: Will Smith Gets Burned by the Apple TV