Sky beams TV onto PSP

Sony and broadcaster Sky have finally televised details of their joint subscription TV-on-PSP service, which is now available to the portable console's punters. Alan_Partridge_PSP Go!View has all sorts of TV content available, including Alan Partridge Dubbed Go!View, the service enables gamers to access a variety of telly …

[James Reynolds]

So pay for GO!

Ok so why are we payign again for content this being a SKY package. im stunned that it cant be part of your already hefty subscription.

not to mention the fact that most of the series touted here are Hugely out of date. Doctor Who Season 1? what year is that from then. I know he's a time lord but that's silly!

[Anonymous Coward]

so not as much

SkyTV on PSP as "Downloadable TV shows for PSP". And there was me thinking it was sky iplayer or mobileTV (over Wifi as PSP lacks a 3G connection) for the PSP.

[Pete]

very disappointed

Ahhh, it uses P2P (until the govt. decides it's only good for pr0n warez and copyright violations and bans it). I was really looking forward to laughing at the early-adopters wandering around shopping arcades with dishes on their heads - wondering why they couldn't get any reception.

[Geoff Spick]

Crud

Signed up, downloaded some nice looking but sloooow interface/web wrapper, logged in...

DRM error!

Yay, way to go Sony/Sky.

[Mage]

Why?

Why not use the Sky+ & Sky HD disk content via the Skybox's USB port? The PSP is USB2GO so with a suitable cable can be a host or a slave.

Stupid.

If people has Broadband and any sense they won't install any of these Broadcaster P2Ps that eat their cap and clog their upstream.

[Anonymous Coward]

What a friggin rip-off

Yeah i'll stick to alt.binaries, Bittorrent, and just converting stuff myself thanks very much.

Geez, with all our money going on petrol and mortgages these days where do these companies think we're getting all this spare money.

[Andy Barber]

TV?

The right tools for the job? Watching TV on a games console, what next people playing games on the TV?

OK mines got a Sinclair Interface ONE in the pocket!

[Tom]

Uhm

I'm in two minds, as (a) I'm lazy...but (b) I'm a tightarse. If I could be bothered, it really wouldn't be too hard to use Sky+ to record the shows I like from my standard Sky subscription, stream the lot to a DVD-recorder, then use a ripper to grab it all and spurt it into my favourite handheld.

[Anonymous Coward]

play tv

Article about TV on the PSP that doesn't mention Sony's own PlayTV add-on due soon ? Use PS3 as Freeview HD DVR and either watch online over wifi or download to PSP for wireless-less places.

Sounds like a kickstart for a Sky-tarded News of the screws/Sun/Times format story about how the license fee is a rip-off though curiously paying 10x the amount for utter tosh held hostage by the football rights isn't.

[Anonymous Coward]

pay even more money???

wait a minute. my SKY bill is about to go up and extra 4 quid for no new services and i'm still paying a 10 quid HD-tax for the benefit of using my HD box which i paid lots of extra cash for...and a stupid

install charge (a blind, dead chimp could upgrade a standard box to an HD box - its a power lead, 2 satellite cables and an HDMI insteda of a friggin SCART lead!)

and now they also want SKY viewers to pay for this stupid DRM/P2P based system? hmmm.

I see the future they are trying to make. and you KNOW what they will create? a vibrant market for getting current shows off peoples current sky+ skyHD boxes. be it via USB, some motherboard addon component with sony memorystick slot or somesuch. SKY will be their own worst enemies.

[Alex]

Not Impressed

Not impressed by this - why do we have to download the shows? Why not strem them over a WiFi connection?? And what's all this about having to pay extra if you have Sky???? Come on.. We're consumers that have paid for a service already. This smacks of a Gov Tax Plan once again "oh, you've already paid for your service, but you'll have to pay again for this added service that is outdated.." Yup, Just like Good Ol' Labour....

[Adam Foxton]

@Mage

That sounds like a great idea- save your programmes to disk, then have them reformatted to PSP size, probably watermarked with a Sky logo and given a bit of DRM since it's Sky + Sony involved in this, and stuck down the USB cable.

Alternatively they could do what Pete(above) was hoping for and create a small sky-decoding chip + smallish satellite dish.

Alternatively (again) they could create a decent wireless modem for the PSP to let them use Sky Mobile, raking in more money- and bringing in a monthly fee to both companies.

Mine's the one with Sky One and Cartoon Network in the pocket.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems expensive

As a mainly Linux user, no good to me.

Prices seem quite high for films, considering you can buy pre-owned on UMD for <= £5 and watch as much as you like and resell/swap.

As others mentioned, rip PC based movies to PSP format with readily available free software looks best.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Mage

> The PSP is USB2GO so with a suitable cable can be a host or a slave.

No, it's not... It's only a USB device, the addons (camera/keyboard/etc) all act as USB hosts and take power from two metal contact on top of the PSP, not the USB port...

[Craig]

Just get the Location Free box

Stream everything from live Sky to recorded shows to your PSP instantly with no ripping or downloading, oh and it works for cable too!

[DrXym]

So what if I want to use the service with no PC to hand

This service seems doomed to fail. The clue should be in the name "PlayStation Portable", not "PlayStation Tethered to PC". Where is the PSP client for downloads?

By all means offer a PC client but there needs to be a PSP client so someone in a hotel or coffee shop or anywhere else with wifi can download content. Heck, why force them to wait hours for their content - add streaming. Does that sound unreasonable? Does it make any business sense to deny the impulse purchases that a properly written PSP client would allow?

The prices for movie downloads are also pretty steep. Do they seriously think people are going to pay €4.50 for an 12-18 month old movie at sub DVD quality? The sorts of people who might use this service would have no trouble using P2P to get content for free, or buying / renting & ripping a DVD.

With all that in mind, I really wonder what Sony & Sky are thinking with their prices and the complexity of this service.

[Anonymous Coward]

Mac

How about instead of making this pointless and expensive app they work on making the Sky Player work on Macs.

It pisses me off not being able to get their OD service just because i dont use winblows.

[Mike Brown]

fail.....

I was actually excited about this idea when i first heard about it. As a couple of people have said tho why isnt it a streamig service using the built in wifi. Why on earth would i want to pay sky to downlaod stuff to my computer then to transfer it onto the psp. There is other ways and means to do exactly the same for free.....

[PIB]

No thanks

I too spend a small fortune on Sky; having all the packages, HD and phone to boot.

Just sign up for the free month then cancel.

This is a rubbish 'deal'.

[paul]

MS again

I bought a PS3 just so I didn't buy a MS product. Got burned when I bought a pocket pc thinking it didn't need a desktop computer running windows.

Was thinking of getting a PSP - but this has just made it a no no.

I run linux - not windows. It will stay that way.