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House: Vita TV aimed at casual/family users, intended to compete with Apple TV et al.

Yup. This is an awkward and confusing product. The antithesis of the dead simple Apple TV. I think they would be better served marketing this as a PS4 remote play extender.

1. The market for that is small
2. Sony could have made a much cheaper device if all they wanted was ps4 remote play
 
But it doesn't actually support a large percentage of the Vita games that aren't available on other Sony platforms.

But those unsupported games don't matter in Japan though. Sony already nailed down almost all Japanese-centric games for Vita TV: Dynasty Warrior, Gundam Breaker, Soul Sacrifice, FFX HD, P4G, God Eater 2 etc. Even though those games are available on other platforms, Vita TV is the cheapest console to play it and that can be a selling point.

I haven't seen anything about multiplayer except that PS 1 games will support it. What do you mean?

Sony only talked about local multiplayer on PS1 and Adhoc to another Vita and talk nothing about online mp. That kinda implies where's their focus is.
 

KoopaTheCasual

Junior Member
I hope they pack in a little plastic remote with the base model, when this releases in EU and NA. That's the only way I see it surviving among the casual crowd who has no interest in gaming. I honestly think the first company to blitz the market with a huge ad campaign for these "app box" devices will gain a decent strong foothold. I didn't even know about these type of devices until a year ago. I think they'll have great mainstream appeal, especially to the young adult crowd, that doesn't want to buy a cable box, but would like to enjoy movies on the big screen.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I can turn my PS3 on and navigate the UI using my standard TV remote, If they know what they're doing it should work the same as that with any TVs that support HDMI CEC.

ah, good point. The specs do say it is HDMI-CEC compatible so if you have a suitable TV that should work.

Just needs more apps then (but so does PS3/4 so hopefully sony push on that front)
 
I hope they pack in a little plastic remote with the base model, when this releases in EU and NA. That's the only way I see it surviving among the casual crowd who has no interest in gaming. I honestly think the first company to blitz the market with a huge ad campaign for these "app box" devices will gain a decent strong foothold. I didn't even know about these type of devices until a year ago. I think they'll have great mainstream appeal, especially to the young adult crowd, that doesn't want to buy a cable box, but would like to enjoy movies on the big screen.

Yep sony NEEDS to include a small little remote

It just doesn't make sense not too

I think vita tv has a chance if the marketing is done correctly
 

SaSliXCII

Banned
Competing with Apple TV?

Yeah, good luck with that, House.

Why good luck with that?

It's a solid piece of kit that allows users to play PlayStation classics, if anything, it's what users of the Apple TV have wanted, games in addition to streaming services. I think Sony have a solid foundation for competing against the Apple TV and Google Chromecast.

I would purchase personally, if it supported 1080p playback.
 
I own an apple tv and also very much interested in the Vita TV. I love my apple tv, especially after I jailbroke it. But the Vita TV opens up a lot of possibilities.

On name alone my wife may not be interested in a Vita TV but would recognize the apple tv name.

A stealth move by Sony should be to include this into Sony Smart TV's, wife gets her smart hub we get our vita. Win/Win

when pretty much all existing smart tvs do stuff at 1080p, would be a downgrade in some ways
 
I think you kinda rebutted your own point there.

Quality=/=Sales

That's why I don't think that people are going to associate it with something negative. Specially because Sony already was promoting Vita as 'a console in you pocket'. Now is 'a cheap console that can be used to watch Netflix in you TV' .
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I think it compares pretty well to the apple TV

Apple TV
- cheap $99 box sits under your TV
- buy movies and music from Apple's store
- stream movies, music and photos from your home network*
*only supports limited formats, may require you to re-encode your videos to be compatible
- plays netflix etc
- works as a remote display for your $500 tablet

VitaTV
- cheap $99 box sits under your TV
- buy movies and music from Sony's store
- stream movies, music and photos from your home network*
*only supports limited formats, may require you to re-encode your videos to be compatible
- plays netflix etc
- works as a remote display for your $400 games console
- oh, and it plays Vita, PS1 and PSP games
 
you mean a 150 dollar console

Well, don't you need an ipad/iphone to play games on appletv? Kind of the same deal here.

I do hope Sony makes an app for android/ios/w8 as well as allow for universal controller support, so that people can at least control the media functions of the device without any extra cost.

I think it compares pretty well to the apple TV

Apple TV
- cheap $99 box sits under your TV
- buy movies and music from Apple's store
- stream movies, music and photos from your home network*
*only supports limited formats, may require you to re-encode your videos to be compatible
- plays netflix etc
- works as a remote display for your $500 tablet

VitaTV
- cheap $99 box sits under your TV
- buy movies and music from Sony's store
- stream movies, music and photos from your home network*
*only supports limited formats, may require you to re-encode your videos to be compatible
- plays netflix etc
- works as a remote display for your $400 games console
- oh, and it plays Vita, PS1 and PSP games

Sony does not have a music store. Only music unlimited radio streaming, which is not the same thing at all. Furthermore, appletv has a plethora of apps not available on sen's ecosystem.
 

Robbler

Banned
Competing with Apple TV?

Yeah, good luck with that, House.

Apple TV doesn't play games (yet) this does.

I had the 2nd Gen Apple TV, which maxxed out at 720p.

When I upgraded to a 55" LED, I was going to go out and buy the 3rd Gen Apple TV (which does 1080p) and now I'm not. I'll just get a Vita TV instead.
 

RaikuHebi

Banned
Yup. This is an awkward and confusing product. The antithesis of the dead simple Apple TV. I think they would be better served marketing this as a PS4 remote play extender.
The marketing is going to have to be phenomenal and when it comes to Sony and products called Vita, I'm not optimistic. It's a good price and a good product but are parents and casual gamers interested in what it offers?
PS Plus.

I'll let it go when there's some solution that lets me play Jeanne D'Arc, Birth By Sleep or Crisis Core on my Vita.
Hacking.
 
well they've got to make up the money for that somewhere right?

They make the money back by getting people invested in their ecosystem, Apple has a fantastic ecosystem because everything is unified. If I buy something from iTunes, it'll most likely work on my ipod touch, iphone and ipad. The better your ecosystem is, the more people buy from you. You don't create a ecosystem by charging people for the same shit they already bought digitally. The aren't loosing money, they are making it.
 

drgambit

Banned
Wow... It's on...

1049.gif
 

dubq

Member
Yup. This is an awkward and confusing product. The antithesis of the dead simple Apple TV. I think they would be better served marketing this as a PS4 remote play extender.

This guy gets what I was trying to say.

So what are you confused by? The idea of a streaming device that also plays games? Brain using is hard work!

----

Sony does not have a music store. Only music unlimited radio streaming, which is not the same thing at all. Furthermore, appletv has a plethora of apps not available on sen's ecosystem.
Do people care about any apps for Apple TV outside of the obvious video ones like Neflix?
 
They make the money back by getting people invested in their ecosystem, Apple has a fantastic ecosystem because everything is unified. If I buy something from iTunes, it'll most likely work on my ipod touch, iphone and ipad. The better your ecosystem is, the more people buy from you. You don't create a ecosystem by charging people for the same shit they already bought digitally. The aren't loosing money, they are making it.

I guess this is the first time you've dealt with sarcasm
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Sony does not have a music store. Only music unlimited radio streaming, which is not the same thing at all. Furthermore, appletv has a plethora of apps not available on sen's ecosystem.

fair enough. So Sony 'only' has unlimited streaming. Still, it has a music service. And you can still buy your music on your computer and stream it over your network.

And what is this 'plethora' of apps that apple TV has? Last I looked it was pretty poor and barely any better than PS3. Granted, Vita lags behind that but Apple TV wants you to buy apple stuff and the range of apps shows that.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/whats-on/
 

wapplew

Member
They need to step up on media app support and fully optimize Dual shock control Vita OS.
How do we tear up pages with DS3?

On the other hand, Vita OS could be the fastest OS compare to any TV box or Smart tv, so snappy.
 

coolasj19

Why are you reading my tag instead of the title of my post?
Sony kind of messed up there. If they included a small remote, it'd have to be Bluetooth which would suck batteries and be expensive. IMO I think they should have included a simple IR receiver somehow and then a cheap IR remote for basic navigation

They also need massively more media apps to even pretend they are competing with roku or Apple TV
Absolutely not. If you don't have a Dualshock in some capacity, you don't have a games console. Sony doesn't make money if you're not also buying games. At least in it's current form without it's more extensive media apps. Yes, it needs more apps though, Sony's support for the Playstation on that front is weaker than Apples. But, I'm fairly sure even if Sony's own plans for IPTV aren't big enough they'll start hunting for more media apps for it. I mean comeon, Crunchyroll has been in development for a year now.

Just an FYI, as of May Apple TV has sold over Why didn't Sony charge me again for my classic games? Why is Sony pushing cross buy so hard?


The only reason I bought a Vita a year ago instead of eventually, was because by the time it was released, I already had about 10-15 games on it.

Let me put it to you this way. Vita TV will have Minecraft.

Minecraft bundle for $100. Limited edition. 5 Million units sold right there. " Mommy !! Can you buy me this Wipeout game too ?? ". Snowball.
 

Zoe

Member
Yup. This is an awkward and confusing product. The antithesis of the dead simple Apple TV. I think they would be better served marketing this as a PS4 remote play extender.

This is coming before the PS4 releases in Asia.

Sony kind of messed up there. If they included a small remote, it'd have to be Bluetooth which would suck batteries and be expensive. IMO I think they should have included a simple IR receiver somehow and then a cheap IR remote for basic navigation

It supports HDMI-CEC as well as the PS3's remotes.
 
fair enough. So Sony 'only' has unlimited streaming. Still, it has a music service. And you can still buy your music on your computer and stream it over your network.

And what is this 'plethora' of apps that apple TV has? Last I looked it was pretty poor and barely any better than PS3. Granted, Vita lags behind that but Apple TV wants you to buy apple stuff and the range of apps shows that.

http://www.apple.com/appletv/whats-on/

I thought apple tv had lots of the multimedia apps on the app store. That's a rather limited list on that link there, but, as you said, still greater than what's on vita right now.
 

BigDug13

Member
I thought apple tv had lots of the multimedia apps on the app store. That's a rather limited list on that link there, but, as you said, still greater than what's on vita right now.

What App Store? My Apple TV has no App Store. And I have the latest firmware. Am I missing something or are these assumptions?
 
That means there are only almost 20 Million of them in some capacity. That's not actually a lot for how cheap it is. If even a fifth of all lifetime PS4 owners had a VTV they'd have nearly a market majority. Everyone is coming out with these things but they all lack either the ecosystem ( Roku ) or the undying support ( Apple TV ). Not only does this thing have guaranteed gamers buying it, but people will buy a fully featured device if they see it.

It's more likly that this number is closer to 16 million right now then 20.

Keep in mind that ONLY 16 million is a lot more (by a factor of 2 or 3) then the Wii U and PS Vita combined. Plus this number is probably growing.

Most of those are the newest model which is a year and a half old. Apple has a tendency to upgrade it's hardware after one to two years, and it's time (or nearly time) for an upgrade on the Apple TV. If Apple decides to crank it up to say the new A7 (or the as of now theoretical A7X), open up the Apple TV SDK, and with it's new iOS controller standards and API support (as of iOS 7 which will be available soon), it could be a significant product.

Don't underestimate the Apple TV too easily, especially if Apple decides to move it away from a "hobby" and into a full member of it's product line.
 
They need to step up on media app support and fully optimize Dual shock control Vita OS.
How do we tear up pages with DS3?

On the other hand, Vita OS could be the fastest OS compare to any TV box or Smart tv, so snappy.

Circle. The same way you do on a vita.
 

BigDug13

Member
It's more likly that this number is closer to 16 million right now then 20.

Keep in mind that ONLY 16 million is a lot more (by a factor of 2 or 3) then the Wii U and PS Vita combined. Plus this number is probably growing.

Most of those are the newest model which is a year and a half old. Apple has a tendency to upgrade it's hardware after one to two years, and it's time (or nearly time) for an upgrade on the Apple TV. If Apple decides to crank it up to say the new A7 (or the as of now theoretical A7X), open up the Apple TV SDK, and with it's new iOS controller standards and API support (as of iOS 7 which will be available soon), it could be a significant product.

Don't underestimate the Apple TV too easily, especially if Apple decides to move it away from a "hobby" and into a full member of it's product line.

In the meantime, Apple TV has no App Store. Vita TV does. Apple TV doesn't have popular casual games like minecraft. Vita TV soon will. Apple TV will never have Gaikai streaming of games from every Playstation era. By 2014, Vita TV will. Apple TV will never get upgradable memory. Vita TV does. Apple TV will never stream your PS4 into a secondary room. Vita TV will.

If you're one of the millions that would buy Apple TV or Roku just for Netflix streaming, Sony has a compelling product on its way.

If you need Apple TV for AirPlay, then obviously the Apple TV is still the product for you.

And my Apple TV is quite slow. It's obvious that it doesn't have a lot of raw computing power. Vita TV does. It also has more internal RAM than PS3 and 360.
 
Let me put it to you this way. Vita TV will have Minecraft.

Not even kidding, just a half hour ago I was driving home thinking about the Vita TV and it hit me. I literally said out loud in my car, "Vita TV will have Minecraft. VITA TV WILL HAVE MINECRAFT!"

Now, I am just excited to have full Minecraft on the go with my actual Vita, but the Vita TV launching with Minecraft, Jetpack Joyride, PvZ, etc...it will be a-ok for the casuals.

Imagine (being a casual and) having Minecraft on your Vita TV with your huge world that you spent months working on, and you want to show your friends, so you pop the VTV in your pocket and hook it up to your friend's TV.
 
In the meantime, Apple TV has no App Store. Vita TV does. Apple TV doesn't have popular casual games like minecraft. Vita TV soon will. Apple TV will never have Gaikai streaming of games from every Playstation era. By 2014, Vita TV will. Apple TV will never get upgradable memory. Vita TV does. Apple TV will never stream your PS4 into a secondary room. Vita TV will.

If you're one of the millions that would buy Apple TV or Roku just for Netflix streaming, Sony has a compelling product on its way.

If you need Apple TV for AirPlay, then obviously the Apple TV is still the product for you.

And my Apple TV is quite slow. It's obvious that it doesn't have a lot of raw computing power. Vita TV does. It also has more internal RAM than PS3 and 360.

Mostly true right now. All of this is speculative currently, execpt that Apple will upgrade it's product soon (to what we won't know until they do).

As for the PS Vita TV, you will have to wait to get one unless your in Asia since it's not coming to the west anytime soon. Which is a shame since I would like to pick one up (and I do have an Apple TV which I'm happy with).
 
I think Sony's aggressive Idies push is largely for Vita TV. By the time it launches in US, Vita TV will have selections of cheap games just like iOS and Android. Even though the numbers will be significantly less than the iOS and Android, it will probably have less garbage than the other two as well. All of these are speculation but I really believe Vita TV has potential to turn Sony around just like an iPod did to Apple.
 
The indie push Sony made for the Vita makes even more sense knowing as of a year ago they started to seriously reconsider their market. All those excellent indie games are perfect on the vita but make even more sense on Vita TV to bolster the variety and quantity of cheap, accessible titles available as quick downloads from the store. Exactly what a device like VTV needs while the larger Vita titles and PS1/PSP games are something that sets it apart.

Now Sony just needs to cultivate the Vita's app market in a big way. It is severely lacking in what might be its most essential category.

Pandora, Spotify, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime Streaming (that's not on there is it?), HBOGo (maybe that's a pipe dream), etc.
 
Oh, never try button control on my vita. Is X for me, Asia machine.
I think it will work, Vita TV maybe better than Vita in some way
It don't have to worry about battery life, so the wifi is alway on

That's a good point. One of the most frustrating things about the vita is how it cuts out of Wi-Fi even if you sleep it just for a second.

And it has to give you, like, TWENTY notifications about it.
 

TechnicPuppet

Nothing! I said nothing!
It may have been a streaming concession. Lossless 1080p needs somewhat more bandwidth than 720p/1080i. They probably erred on the side of caution regarding lag.

Maybe for wireless but it has an Ethernet port. Would have been nice to give us the choice but its hardly a deal breaker.
 
Maybe for wireless but it has an Ethernet port. Would have been nice to give us the choice but its hardly a deal breaker.

I'm kinda surprised the Ethernet port is there to be honest. I'm quite happy it is, but unfortunately it seems like most people deal with WiFi these days so it would be an easy place to cut cost if needed. Offering the choice might be confusing or may even hurt the reaction on the capability so I can understand them being cautious. Remote play was often laggy on the PSP and was a reason I stopped using it.
 
I think many people assume the Apple TV runs the same OS as the other iOS devices. Which I also used to assume.

I assumed the apple tv ran the same OS as other iOS devices and had access to the same app store, albeit with a more limited selection than the iphone store. Seems like that's not the case.
 
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