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Newest Blu-ray recorders include transfer to PSP

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

April 8, 2008, 11:45 AM

Sony will release Blu-ray recorders April 30 in Japan that allow for one-touch transfer to the PSP, Walkman, and select mobile phones.

The BDZ-A70 will carry a hefty price tag, coming in at ¥170,000 ($1,658). At the same time, it shows a willingness by Sony to embrace the growing consumer desire for media portability.

The A70 will include a 320GB internal drive, and a similarly featured model, the A90, will have a 500GB drive. In either case, transfer to PSPs, newer Walkmans, and NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 905i mobile phone will be supported.

Resolution of the transferred videos will be 320x240, and in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format. The consumer will have the choice of either encoding for the mobile device in 384 or 768Kbps bitrates.

A two-hour show transfers in about 60 minutes, Japanese electronics news site AV Watch said.. The user interface apparently also allows the consumer to select a date range of the programs to be transferred, or by genre, or actor.

Most of the device's remaining features are similar to recorders and players that have come before it, the site reported.

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By Hollywood__

posted Apr 11, 2008 - 6:47 PM

Do any of you realize that the picture on a PSP with a converted BD movie versus a standard DVD would look exactly the same? DVD Fab converts to PSP, iPod, and just about everything except the Nintendo DS which needs DPG format.

Just use your standard DVD's and a Memory stick for your PSP if you want to watch movies on it. Jesus. What if you only own the movie on BD? It's called Netflix people.

You know all the PS3 die hards will be crying if they don't add this feature soon.

One more thing, just to show I'm a better man than our redisent PS3 loving jackass (who has been conspicuously absent these days), I will admit the PS3 does the best job of upscaling DVD to 720p of any player I have ever seen.

As my projector is 720p, I have been using my HD-A2 to upscale movies. I finally set the PS3 to output a max of 720p and hooked it up, it's absolutely amazing with better blacks than any player I have seen so far. I also did my first update to the PS3 since I bought it in Nov 2006 which was 2.2

2.3 is supposed to give the PS3 DTS-MA and HD, we will see how bad Sony clusters the PS3 this time.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 11:05 AM

I wonder if the PSP version will be complete with a root kit for your added viewing pleasure.

Score: 0

By uberfly

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 2:48 AM

Every time there is a Blu-ray story here at Betanews I click on it just to be entertained by the eye-scratching cat fights that break out. Fun, fun, fun...

Score: 0

By bsf

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 1:01 AM

I bet it's going to be really popular if they include an option to be able to transfer to "someone" as in like online for like limited 2 transfers or something.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 5:04 PM

Understandable to add more features to attract customers to its less appealingly priced format.

Since I own no sony products they will have to do better.

Score: 0

By Bladeforce

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 4:00 PM

Blue Ray isnt a dead format but there will never be anymore physical formats like the VHS, CD and DVD. Technology is moving faster these days than when the VHS, CD or DVD came out. Blue Ray will be popular but nowhere near as much as it's predecessors. The way to go is to store all your movies in one place and access them when you want at the touch of a button, now thats technology not a physical medium.

Score: 0

By Zebets

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 5:03 PM

Blu-Ray is just a niche product like Laserdisc. It isn't going to replace DVD though, just like LD never replaced VHS.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 10:50 PM

I had a laser disk player but I bet that bluray has already surpassed the laser disk installed base already. Not sure if blu will replace DVD or not but the format is growing quickly.

Score: 0

By Program86

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 3:52 PM

AND LET THE PROPRIETARY BULLSH*IT BEGIN!

Score: 0

By SGD

edited Apr 8, 2008 - 2:44 PM

Transfer to the PSP who gives a crap. Make it transferable to a standard DVD player. Most people don't have a PSP and have intention on getting one so what is the point? I guess Sony wants to force you to buy a PSP to watch blu ray transfers on the road. Picture quality on PSP movies is crap.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Apr 11, 2008 - 6:52 PM

Tranfer BD to 480i/p? You are insane.

If you already bought the movie on BD, rent it from Neflix and make a backup for your kids to destroy in the grocery getter.

Score: 0

By Adrian79

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 9:41 AM

are u kidding me?

psp picture quality is GREAT!

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 3:14 PM

Ok what ever you say.

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 3:52 PM

"I guess Sony wants to FORCE you to buy a PSP to watch blu ray transfers on the road."
You mean Sony wants to add more features to the PSP/walkman as a way of attracting more customers... HOW DARE THEY! THIS IS THE LAST STRAW! THEY ARE "EVIL"!!!!

In what crazy sony-hate world do you live in? Is this seriously how you think?

Nobody is forcing anything. You want to watch BR movies on the road, get a psp... You don't want to, well then don't.

Score: 0

By Niro

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 6:38 PM

"Nobody is forcing anything. You want to watch BR movies on the road, get a psp... You don't want to, well then don't."

Wrong...they are FORCING you to buy a PSP if you want to WATCH BR MOVIES ON THE ROAD! The only person this is not clear to is the Sony/BR fanboys ($ony, in pit's case). You want to watch movies on the road, then you need a PSP...that's forcing a game system down the consumers throats. If they allowed any device to get these movies, then that would be different (and good for the consumer!)...why can't I transfer it to my ipod? Why not the Zune? Why not some other MP3/video player? Oh that's right...Sony only makes money on the PSP, and now that there is no competition from HDDVD, why not use BR to force all Sony products down our throats.

Hey...you guys wants HDDVD to die...well guess what, it did, and here comes the ever consumer minded Sony with it's all it's propitiatory glory, just waiting to come up with ways to lock you into using their products.

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 8:59 PM

"Wrong...they are FORCING you to buy a PSP if you want to WATCH BR MOVIES ON THE ROAD!..."

"You want to watch movies on the road, then you need a PSP..."

I think you are looking at this all wrong. There are TONS of options to watch movies on the road. Portable media players are becoming more and more popular and there are tons of big name companies that manufacturer them: PSP, IPOD, ZUNE, Sansa, etc.

As for the argument of "Blu-Ray movies can ONLY be copied to the PSP"… Though that is true right now (sort of); how many DVD’s out there allow you to watch a free copy of the movie on the road in ANY player? NONE! (Family Guy Star Wars allowed you to download a copy for your iTunes/iPod, but you couldn’t play the movie on a Zune). It can be done for DVD’s, but you would have to (illegally) crack the DVD then convert the file to whatever format your player reads. The same is true for BR. AnyDVD HD cracks it, then just convert it for your Zune.

It’s an added feature is all mate. If this doesn’t fancy you, then don’t buy it.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 10:55 PM

DVD players are every where and dirt cheap. Can not say that for blu. How many portable blu ray players are there, oh yeah none. What if you want to watch a blu ray in the family mini van oh yeah can't do that either. I guess I can buy a PSP that I don' want buy the video cable and watch the poor quality movie on the mini van TV. By the way the dvd player blows the crap PSP output out of the water. That is my point. Who cares about a POSPSP that I do not want. Guess I am stuck in the living room. Nice try.

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 1:41 PM

What are you blabbing about? Did you even read our comments?

We are talking about transferring BR or DVD to a portable media player. Not minivans and portable BR players. There will be plenty of time for those products in the future. So if you have nothing relevant to add to the discussion, then move along.

Score: 0

By Adrian79

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 9:55 AM

you people crack me up! dvds are crap! stop protecting them.. they suck, I could NEVER watch a oldfashioned DVD.. I am not rich, but I know when something is oldschool and NEEDs to be replaced.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

edited Apr 11, 2008 - 6:59 PM

You are absolutely retarded, the difference between upscaled standard DVD and HD movies barely noticeable by most people unless it's on a 65" or bigger, which almost no one owns.

The most popular size TV is a 42" and on something that small, there's basically no difference. I think your TV just sucks or you are legally blind.

BD will never catch on unless it can be easily and cheaply copied like standard DVD and CD's.

The difference between DirecTV HD and standard is staggering however.

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

edited Apr 8, 2008 - 3:39 PM

"Picture quality on PSP movies is crap."

So you have seen a Blu-ray movie played on a PSP? Oh that's right, they come out on April 30th.

Score: 0

By siryak

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 7:12 PM

I have a PSP and that is the biggest waste of money I have had in a LONG time. Movies look like crap. Games all look like crap, play like crap, and the PSP feels like crap. Whoever designed the joystick and also whoever decided having only 1 was a good idea needs to be reassigned! I must say it is good for one thing. Nothing attracts those airborne dust particles better than the PSP!

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Apr 11, 2008 - 7:04 PM

Get a Nintendo DS and a R4DS cartridge, you will like it much better.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 4:40 PM

If you play the PSP on a small screen like a vehicle tv the picture is crap. Maybe you can't figure that out. Nothing that I have seen to date looks any good on the video out of the PSP.

Picture quality on the PSP is crap I guess that is to hard for you to understand.

Score: 0

By preinterpost

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 3:41 PM

It's not BR on the PSP. Specs are given in the article:

Resolution of the transferred videos will be 320x240, and in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format. The consumer will have the choice of either encoding for the mobile device in 384 or 768Kbps bitrates.

Score: 0

By siryak

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 2:24 PM

$1,658 I stopped reading right there. There is no way I am dropping that much money on a recorder. For less than that price I could build a media PC and just rip the movies to that!

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 3:58 PM

It's still early in the life cycle of the BR recorder but $1,658 IS way too much.

For that price you can also get a PS3, PSP, and a 2TB hard drive for the PS3 and just stream the media onto the PSP from the PS3 using REMOTE PLAY... Like I do now.

Score: 0

By Niro

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 6:42 PM

"For that price you can also get a PS3, PSP, and a 2TB hard drive for the PS3 and just stream the media onto the PSP from the PS3 using REMOTE PLAY... Like I do now."

Yea...spending $1700 so I can stream media on to a tiny PSP. That sounds like a bargain! Oh wait...I have all these movies I put on my $250 ipod right from my PC...guess it's not that good of a deal. Damn, what will I ever do with that $1450 now?? I guess i could buy a game system and some GAMES maybe...

Score: 0

By Danno

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 1:20 PM

Wow!!! What an idea!! *SARCASM*
Still doesn't impress. *YAWN* bloray

Score: 0

By FutureDomain

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 1:11 PM

At first I thought this said "Newest Blu-ray recorders include transfer to P2P".
If only...

Score: 0

By Zebets

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 12:20 PM

Wow, awesome. So now we can transfer a dead format onto a dead handheld. Way to go Sony, you rock! lmao.

Score: 0

By pitdingo2

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 1:55 PM

How is Blu-ray a dead format?

How is the PSP a dead handheld?

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 3:54 PM

I was wondering the same thing. Last I checked, the PSP is selling very well and BR just won a war.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Apr 11, 2008 - 7:05 PM

BD won a battle, not a war. When standard DVD is dead, the war is over.

Score: 0

By Adrian79

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 9:58 AM

i got a PS3 6months ago, I got a xbox360 (only for gears of war)and PSP last week.. and I built my PC last year

ps3 owns xbox, I can list 15 reasons why..

psp is worth every penny, remote play rocks!

BLU RAY IS NOT DEAD!!! PSP is the BEST handheld out!
(speaking from hands on experience)

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Apr 11, 2008 - 7:10 PM

Adrian,

You must have more disposable income than I do. I am extremely wasteful but a 360 and a PSP in the same week? You are either lying or we are related.

The PS3 does not "own" the 360 in my opinion but is is a great gaming system. Let me tell you why.

If you have a 360 and a PS3, download the Burnout Paradise demos and look at the difference. The 360 is much smoother and plays better. The PS3 version has very bad "jaggies" and is kind of sloppy with it's controls.

I know this is only one example but I would take the 360 any day. I want to try this on a few more game to see the differences as I just started messing around with my PS3 again.

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Apr 9, 2008 - 2:20 PM

I think people who bash Remote Play haven't really tried it.

You mean I can access my home PS3 to play movies, music, and games on my PSP while on vacation/business anywhere in the world???

Anyone who enjoys technology has to appreciate the capability to do that.

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Apr 8, 2008 - 2:43 PM

Because it can't be played on the best format on earth, the Wii, sarcasm off.

That was for you pit$ingo.

Score: 0

By Hollywood__

posted Apr 11, 2008 - 7:13 PM

s***dingo still doesn't have the cash for an adult gaming system? LMAO!

I like our Wii but it feels and plays like a Fisher Price toy compared to the 360 or even the PS3.

Score: 0

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