80GB PS3 to Usher in Sony's VOD Initiative

Sony's decision to release an 80GB hard drive equipped PlayStation 3 model in Korea next month may have been informed by its plans to offer video on demand (VOD) services throughout the region via PS3s.

[kewlkat007]

Only 80 GIGS Sony? Just as MS came out with a 120GIGER, because of their future plans for HD-content, which should be more than enough. Thye should of gone bigger IMO.

[dodgefate]

don't 4get you can upgrade the PS3 HDD any time.

[gta_cb]

yeh but just remember that some people wont want to upgrade there PS3 manually, especially after just buying it etc. i personally thought that Sony should have released a bigger HDD especially with the news of VOD AND with people installing games onto the HDD for faster loading etc. but thats my personall opinion

[hfaze]

Even though non-technical buyers may be weary of putting a larger drive in their console, it worked without a hitch for me.

I've been running a Hitachi 5400rpm 160GB drive in mine for three months now, and not a single issue with it. Maybe GameStop, BestBuy, Circuit City, etc. should think about offering a PS3 hard drive upgrade service to their customers?

Also, USB hard drives work GREAT with the PS3... So you don't even have to upgrade the internal hard drive if you don't want to.

[kewlkat007]

is this something SONY is saying its OK for any user to do?(are people taking risk, even if its easy as pie) Cause if it is Ok and legal, then why even offer a Smaller Drive?

Of course I only expect a lot of Gamers on this forum to know these things. A lot of kids don't know much about Hardware and HDD swapping. I should be all set though.

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

Unixphreak...that's a GREAT idea. The companies would make a lot of money off of that, I'm sure.

Kewlkat007...Yes, Sony says it's ohkay to do. They even have a step-by-step on how to do it in the PS3's manual. It's a PS3...it doesn't have as many limitations as the other systems...

[SmokeyMcBear]

remember folks, sony is offering a BIGGER hard drive for the SAME price, not raising the price.

[Stinkey]

when you look at the ability to add any SATA HDD in the PS3 80 gigs is ok. I can't wait to download a movie like spiderman 3 or 300 to my HDD in HD. I'm going to buy a 250 gig HDD. Now all Sony needs to do before this is increase download speeds.

[omansteveo]

Adding the new drive erases all of your save games when you put the old one back in it sucks..so if you add a new drive you better make sure you stick with it bc the minute you take it out and put it back it formats.

[novaIS350]

You can transfer all of you saved games and files via memory card port or reader via USB. Also you can attach an external hard drive via USB as well. Sony designed the PS3 quite well, keeping in mind that transferring data would be essential

[jahcure]

Last week i added a 250gb external drive to my ps3 and it sits nicely next to the system in a sleak black color. Having a 310GB ps3 is certainly a plus. And what's even better, was that i got that drive for only 60$ from compusa after rebates etc.

$60 for a 250gb is better than $180 for a 120gb and what's better was there was no loss of data at all.

[big_tim]

can you download demos to the external hard drive? I know you can download media files from PSN to it.

[low_thepunisher]

80 gigs is plenty of space for me.

[gta_cb]

im still woundering if Sony are going to give PSP owners like me VOD when the PSN comes to PSP... *thinks... hope they do*

[timmyp53]

.

[tk]

You will need a tbyte hd for digital distribution. A full BR title will take up anything from 20GB to 50GB. Now with a 60 or 120 GB hd, you can load around 3-5 titles - and then your HD is maxed out. BR is here to stay for quite some time. Digital distribution is in infancy and will not be pervasive for another 5 to 10 years at least.

80GB is OK for game caching, and a couple of audio titles. A media centre will need much more storage.

[eques judicii]

how is sony going to regulate a video download service? What kind of DRM will they stick on it... because if you can easily plug in a USB harddrive and download the movie... why can't you just unplug it and then plug it into a normal computer and use it there? Will the movies be locked to the system? This seems risky at best, if sony didn't own half of hollywood i'd say that they'd never sell the idea to them...

[Kyur4ThePain]

there would be a key file or something downloaded to the internal HDD. So, even though you can DL the movie file to an external HDD, the key file HAS to go to the internal HDD. The movie would not play without the key file being on the internal drive.
That's one way I guess they could do it.

I just copied a trailer file that I DL'd from the PSN, from the external drive to my PC desktop and it played without a problem.
My guess is they'll come up with some way to prevent this from happening with movies.

[BIadestarX]

I think is great that Sony allows that anyone can add their HDD and that anyone can intall linux. The question is how much can Sony guarantee that the PS3 will not be used as the prefered tool to pirate movies? They way I see it as a PS3 owner @#$$% the movie industry or whether they make money or not. But while paying a visit to reality land we all know it's something that studios putting content on any digital distribution service really take seriously. It seems as if the only restriction for preventing illegal distribution of downloable content on the PS3 is software based... The HDD has no special hardware to prevent this. We all know it's only a matter of time before someone crack this open (Same way the PS1, PS2, PSP); once it happens and studios realise that the PS3 VOD service is dangerious; what do you think they are going to do?

[kewlkat007]

Is it a good thing that the PS3 is so "Open-Ended" in the long run? We will see...