I bagged a Sony PSX today. This, after months of agonizing over it, researching other possible Personal Video Recorder options, and generally dragging my feet. In the end, presumed ease of use and the cheaper impact on the wallet won out over getting a cheap Windows or Linux box and a TV tuner card. I got the smaller one, the 160GB version, in the new silver color (default was white).
According to the way Sony seems to be positioning it, a PSX is primarily a PS2, plus some other media-related stuff, for about 3 times what a PS2 goes for. A PSX, according to the spec sheet, is a DVD-R and DVD-RW recorder with authoring software featuring rudimentary editing and chapter definition and templates for menu creation, HDD Recorder with scheduling software and keyword-based show-catching, music library (if you want your CD's compressed to ATRAC, which I don't), HDD-recorded shows can be dubbed to DVD, photo library (if you own a Sony camera, which I don't), network-enabled game with multiservice browser, et cetera. Et cetera in this case means a PS2 with BroadBand Adaptor and HDD (40GB devoted to games, though this is optional). And this is generally for the same price as an HDD recorder/DVD-R/RW combination. Right now, I'm using all of this massive power to listen to a CD (though the stereo sits not 3 meters from the TV) and watch a typically algorhythmic "visualizer" play eye tricks with the sound's waveform. I've tried a number of things to see how the unit deals with them, and already have a list of things I like and don't like.
First, Le Bad:
Setting up the intra-Japan region is strange; it's numerical as opposed to syllabic order (equiv. of alphabetical); maybe Japanese people all know that Osaka is "Region 84," but I didn't. This tells it what channels reside at each frequency.
Without first connecting the PSX to an access point, then setting up the Network Settings, it doesn't give any clue as to why the TV programming schedule isn't present. It just says "No Data" -- it's easy to picture this baffling many consumers.
Like the PS2, two positionings are approved for the standard use of the unit: standing or laid flat. Depending on what is chosen, all the cables come out the back or the bottom of the unit, including any attached DualShock2 Controllers. (pause) It just dawned on me that the thing didn't come with a controller. Remote, yes. DualShock, no. Hrm. Anyway, I'm not a guy who leaves controllers attached to the unit, because the cables end up flooping all over. With the Do Not Move instructions, as well as a little bracket that has to be removed to adjust cabling, I'm going to have to deal with a Controller being constantly attached. At least until I get a Logitech BlueTooth PS2 Controller.
VCDs are not listed as a playable media, despite being a common feature of any cheapo DVD player. A backup DVDs did not play past the first two seconds, though it did so without complaint on the US version PS2. I worry about DVDs not authored on the PSX unit.
The channel guide has advertisments on it. The left ¼ of the screen has paid advertisements, the middle one of which for some reason extends into the programming window. Before I realized what it was (an ad for the upcoming Muay Thai movie - Mach), I tried to select it (thinking it to be a "Making Of" feature). Ads in the channel guide; welcome to the future. Or the past, I suppose: cable-provided channel guides have had this for nearly a decade.
A general complaint against the DVD cartel: because DVD's can't be routed through VCRs, due to the copy protection, this is one more peripheral for which I have to use a separate, direct input on the TV. I had the option of going with the AV Multi (the modular cable that is used as the "out" on a PS2, and having that sticking out the front of my TV for-EVAR, or buying a modular-D Component cable. It bugs me that I can't just chain my peripherals one through another more easily. Hell, for that matter it bothers me that I can't dub a DVD to a VHS tape, to prevent the original media from getting scatched, clouded, fingerprinted, or whatever. But that's not a PSX issue, is it?
Fine. A nitpick then: the remote is white, even though the unit is silver. It's a detail, but this is supposedly a prestige product, I thought. Details!
Next, Le Good:
Good grief, for all the stuff in this box, ¥60,000 (what I paid) is a stunning price. So is ¥70,000, which is what it is supposed to sell for, but the hunnerd dollah discount my wife procured makes it all the more palatable.
In the Tokyopia forums a PSX owner said that moving from Game Mode to TV/Media Mode took about 2 minutes of incessant and inexplicable delay. I threw the Japanese verison of Klonoa (PS) in, and messed around to see how well the component video displayed. PS-era games benefit from some blurring, lemme tell you. When I flopped back to Media Mode, it took about five seconds -- less than ten, at least. It surprised me.
Network connection was a cinch. Everything was handled automatically, and was like this! (snaps fingers)
Slot-fed drive bays are stupid cool. Really neat-o.
D Composite cable delivered pictures are too sharp for their own good.
Programming what shows should be recorded regularly is a lot of fun with the channels and descriptions right there. I've got London Boots, Hey Hey Hey, and Samurai Champloo all queud up for recording.
Overall, I'm psyched to have it!
According to the way Sony seems to be positioning it, a PSX is primarily a PS2, plus some other media-related stuff, for about 3 times what a PS2 goes for. A PSX, according to the spec sheet, is a DVD-R and DVD-RW recorder with authoring software featuring rudimentary editing and chapter definition and templates for menu creation, HDD Recorder with scheduling software and keyword-based show-catching, music library (if you want your CD's compressed to ATRAC, which I don't), HDD-recorded shows can be dubbed to DVD, photo library (if you own a Sony camera, which I don't), network-enabled game with multiservice browser, et cetera. Et cetera in this case means a PS2 with BroadBand Adaptor and HDD (40GB devoted to games, though this is optional). And this is generally for the same price as an HDD recorder/DVD-R/RW combination. Right now, I'm using all of this massive power to listen to a CD (though the stereo sits not 3 meters from the TV) and watch a typically algorhythmic "visualizer" play eye tricks with the sound's waveform. I've tried a number of things to see how the unit deals with them, and already have a list of things I like and don't like.
First, Le Bad:
Setting up the intra-Japan region is strange; it's numerical as opposed to syllabic order (equiv. of alphabetical); maybe Japanese people all know that Osaka is "Region 84," but I didn't. This tells it what channels reside at each frequency.
Without first connecting the PSX to an access point, then setting up the Network Settings, it doesn't give any clue as to why the TV programming schedule isn't present. It just says "No Data" -- it's easy to picture this baffling many consumers.
Like the PS2, two positionings are approved for the standard use of the unit: standing or laid flat. Depending on what is chosen, all the cables come out the back or the bottom of the unit, including any attached DualShock2 Controllers. (pause) It just dawned on me that the thing didn't come with a controller. Remote, yes. DualShock, no. Hrm. Anyway, I'm not a guy who leaves controllers attached to the unit, because the cables end up flooping all over. With the Do Not Move instructions, as well as a little bracket that has to be removed to adjust cabling, I'm going to have to deal with a Controller being constantly attached. At least until I get a Logitech BlueTooth PS2 Controller.
VCDs are not listed as a playable media, despite being a common feature of any cheapo DVD player. A backup DVDs did not play past the first two seconds, though it did so without complaint on the US version PS2. I worry about DVDs not authored on the PSX unit.
The channel guide has advertisments on it. The left ¼ of the screen has paid advertisements, the middle one of which for some reason extends into the programming window. Before I realized what it was (an ad for the upcoming Muay Thai movie - Mach), I tried to select it (thinking it to be a "Making Of" feature). Ads in the channel guide; welcome to the future. Or the past, I suppose: cable-provided channel guides have had this for nearly a decade.
A general complaint against the DVD cartel: because DVD's can't be routed through VCRs, due to the copy protection, this is one more peripheral for which I have to use a separate, direct input on the TV. I had the option of going with the AV Multi (the modular cable that is used as the "out" on a PS2, and having that sticking out the front of my TV for-EVAR, or buying a modular-D Component cable. It bugs me that I can't just chain my peripherals one through another more easily. Hell, for that matter it bothers me that I can't dub a DVD to a VHS tape, to prevent the original media from getting scatched, clouded, fingerprinted, or whatever. But that's not a PSX issue, is it?
Fine. A nitpick then: the remote is white, even though the unit is silver. It's a detail, but this is supposedly a prestige product, I thought. Details!
Next, Le Good:
Good grief, for all the stuff in this box, ¥60,000 (what I paid) is a stunning price. So is ¥70,000, which is what it is supposed to sell for, but the hunnerd dollah discount my wife procured makes it all the more palatable.
In the Tokyopia forums a PSX owner said that moving from Game Mode to TV/Media Mode took about 2 minutes of incessant and inexplicable delay. I threw the Japanese verison of Klonoa (PS) in, and messed around to see how well the component video displayed. PS-era games benefit from some blurring, lemme tell you. When I flopped back to Media Mode, it took about five seconds -- less than ten, at least. It surprised me.
Network connection was a cinch. Everything was handled automatically, and was like this! (snaps fingers)
Slot-fed drive bays are stupid cool. Really neat-o.
D Composite cable delivered pictures are too sharp for their own good.
Programming what shows should be recorded regularly is a lot of fun with the channels and descriptions right there. I've got London Boots, Hey Hey Hey, and Samurai Champloo all queud up for recording.
Overall, I'm psyched to have it!
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