Normally you’d expect new consoles to add to your entertainment experience. It’s a bummer to hear today, then, that the PS4 will actually be taking away one of the PS3’s cooler features.
For many people, the PS3 is more than a games console. It’s an entertainment hub, thanks to the machine’s excellent media server capabilities. Those without a dedicated device designed to sling movies and music from a PC to a TV have long sung the PS3’s praises, particularly the way it allowed programs like PS3 Media Server to take the hassle out of what used to be a complicated experience.
So Sony’s decision to cut media server compatibility (i.e. DLNA support) from the PS4 has left a lot of people upset. I can understand why they did it; Sony is instead pushing people to use its own online store and streaming service for music and movies. A service users would pay for. But it’s still a crummy move.
Who wants to pay for Sony’s online library? If you’re into paying for that kind of stuff at all, you’re likely already paying for the same kind of content from Apple, or Google, or Amazon, or even Microsoft. The beauty of the PS3’s server support was that it let me stream all my music and movies, not just the stuff that would be on Sony’s store.
Enough people have complained throughout the day that PlayStation boss Shuehei Yoshida has been alerted, telling fans on Twitter “Thanks for the feedback to the lack of MP3 and DLNA support at the launch of PS4. I’ll share with the PS4 Dev team for future consideration.”
Could be a “Thanks for your feedback, now get lost”, could be a “Oh shit, we’d better put this in an early firmware update”. Let’s hope it’s the latter.
Comments
37 responses to “The PS4 Takes A Step Backwards”
Hopefully they patch it in at some point since I use it so often…if not, well I’ll still have my ps3 so its not a problem
Yeah, anyone complaining obviously already owns a PS3, and PS4 isn’t backwards compatible anyway so I’d imagine their PS3 will still stay connected to the TV
Some people just like to complain I guess
Or trade in their old PS3 for their PS4…
I hate those people…
A lot of people might want to get rid of past gen consoles, if they have one at all, or might have limited space and only want to have one device to do all of the things they need. I don’t know why Sony would risk losing all the good will that they’ve curried with gamers by leaving out some basic features.
What is particularly funny is that DLNA was founded and established by Sony, They aren’t even using their own technology on their shiny new console.
Or their ps3 just recently broke down and we’re hoping the ps4 would be an all purpose replacement.
This is exactly my standpoint right now – Fortunately Sony had a sale on their E2100 Internet Media Centres + 5.1 Ch sound – which is basicly a PS3 console without the gaming function with the addition of a 1000 watt surround sound + NFC functionality.
My Poor 6 year old PS3 is struggling atm though – Shuts itself down randomly while playing games.
Yep! Why get rid of your old PS3??? Still love mine!
agree, plus I still want to go back and play some of the PS3 games again at one point or another, like the Uncharted trilogy, God of War 3, MGS4 etc.
I will definitely be playing through Red Dead: Redemption again! Will be playing a lot of GTA: V and Arkham Origins for a long time too…..
I like it as a feature, but I probably won’t miss it too much – particularly since I discovered my TV supports DLNA when I was mucking around with some settings.
This would be a bit of a killer for me, I have an 8tb server running Serviio full of all my CD’s I’ve ever bought ripped, as well as TV series. All the originals are in storage and we just don’t have the space for them in our apartment, or the time for all the disc swapping. While I’m planning on keeping the old consoles to play games on for the next 12 months before they’ll probably go into storage, I’d expect to use the new console for the majority of my media, not the minority.
Sony probably got sick of support tickets for video dropping audio after 8 minutes :p
it was 20mins…. and if you made sure you ripped your movies right and had the right settings it would never happen anyway lol
I don’t have the issue, but I see a lot of “rabble rabble my movie doesn’t work on PlayStation” vs “rabble rabble you’re a pirate” threads around the net lol.
Yeah this sucks. And to anyone who says the one liner “we’ll you have a ps3 anyway” is supplying a complete cop out. Why make excuses for companies? This is a crappy move by Sony and has me seriously reconsidering my purchase.
I mean DLNA support is pretty much standard on everything Sony releases these days.
Yeah that’s a deal breaker for me… I was looking to replace my PS3 with a PS4, but I use DLNA and MP3 playback a LOT on it… My TV doesn’t do it natively, hell my TV is only 720p it’s that old! My plan was to get a PS4 for the living room, upgrading to the latest shite there, and having my PS3 hooked up to my PC monitor so I can play PS3/Console exclusive games there (looking at you Last of Us and GTA5), it also *should* have given me the option for a quick swap out between the 2 systems if I wanted to play PS4 games.
But alas, it doesn’t seem like that will work at all. Not when one of the main features I use isn’t there.
We bought a small DLNA player to use on our TV so we don’t have to use all 300 watts of power the PS3 uses at night, probably a really good decision to pick one of those up if you don’t have a PS3 or are trading yours in for a few bucks.
The PS4 looked at E3 the best system coming out this year, but 3 of the biggest features i use on my PS3 (more then gaming) are DLNA, external HDD and listing to music (MP3’s)
I was looking forward to these features on the PS4, but its been a HUGE let down this week, the HDD policy could be the biggest problem. I have had PSPlus for over a year now and my PS3 has a 1Tb HDD with install game data and 20 downloaded games I have about 70 gb left, how is the ps4 going to handel that if i cant move game data around?
I really hope they change the policys and release patches for these feature
also does anyone know if the PS4 doesnt support external hdd, how can i back up my ps4 when swaping hhd’s?
Magic…
http://31.media.tumblr.com/7487647f38f75223d660fb581ca10017/tumblr_mu9nb697xN1snlivno1_400.gif
It is kind of unclear but it sounds like the PS4 will still support externals for back ups etc, it is for media that they are no longer supported. The FAQ states you can still use USB to install firmware so I can’t see why backing up would be any different.
I have consoles only for gaming. For anything regarding streaming Video/Audio/Anything else? I have equipment made specifically for those functions.
Yeah, so im canceling my preorder now. least the xbox supports DLNA.
Still getting both.
Thanks kotaku/giz…. ive been trying to get this info for months.
I will be cancelling my preorder. Im a pc gamer who uses my ps3 %70 for play tv and %30 for grand theft auto and granturismo duties and thats pretty much it bar a few little dabbles in other games.
It was nice to have the functionality to do both and i was looking forward to an upgrade of play tv (or something similar) with faster hardware etc so this is a big slap in the face!
If they change their tune i will be back on board.
Meanwhile is there anywhere that there is petitions other than twitter etc
PlayTV was a great concept, but as a daily user of it it’s pretty crap in execution, and has been massively abandoned without improvements.
yep agree…. but with no pvr i made do. Also swapped my drive for a 750 gig version to keep up with the load. I know i can just buy a pvr instead but thats how i justified the extra expense being a predominantly pc gamer.
Was just hoping they would do play tv better and faster.
Do you have a phat or slim? My fat died, and ever since I got a slim it randomly freezes when I pause live TV.
think its the fat…. i got it half way through the cycle, came with a 200 or 250 gig from memory.
Sometimes pauses when i start recorded shows.. hangs for a bit then comes good, other times i works flawlessly. i work shift work and do a lot of activities like surfing and fishing that take me away from tv guide times so i really watch live tv on it and never pause live tv so cant really really help with that one.
Just re reading the article…. it doesnt actually mention play tv ( or that kind of tech only dnla)…. so maybe im jumping the gun. Hopefully that is yet to be announced.
dont worry me none. I can stream everything from my library through apple tv.
No backwards compatibility and no DLNA support means I definately wont be buying a PS4. Theres absolutely no reason for me to buy one now as I do most of my gaming on Xbox and the PS3 is used as a media device.
So does Xbox One support MP3, DLNA and external storage?
This will help people choose which system to buy?
Yep XONE supports everything the PS4 doesn’t! mp3, DLNA and external HDD
WOW. What a colossal fuckup this is. Massive deal breaker.
Yeah how dare people want to actually upgrade! Like I still keep my old Pentium 2 hooked up to my monitor….and everyone should get every previous generation so they can’t complain.
Also all those first time purchasers…stuff them they aren’t cool enough to get on board at the right time!
Can’t wait to go home tonight and choose between my 6 generations of entertainment consoles all hooked up to my tv because they aren’t backwards compatible.
None of those crappy online services compensate for real music being metal that is! So for metal heads online services are out of the question 100%. CD playback is a must and of course what every other device uses this day and age mp3’s and or other media types!
I’m not one of the stupid people who just jump like everyone did from E3 after MS actually came out and said what they’re doing then cause of it changed their entire approach and made it 100% better!
Sony on the other hand just played the our service is the best and never really gave any real detail of what their service was and it was clear with how they played of everything MS did and now that MS have changed so much for the better, Sony have nothing to play on and Sony’s PS4 is coming undone!
My point being it’s clear they’re trying to pull for a 100% online service more so than MS was to begin with! For me at least MS came out and said it and showed what they had in mind for their console! Sony did nothing but mock and fool everyone!
I remember when cross game chat was a thing everyone wanted for the PS3 and they for 7yrs lied it was coming and it never did and they finally came out and said the PS3 doesn’t even support it!
And everyone says Sony has their customers in their best interests as if you matter to them! I’m not picking sides or defending MS just simply saying that some people are so easily fooled! And MS may get shunned for saying silly things but at least it’s a true meaning of what they speak of!
PS4 is just a games machine with a mediocre online service not worth it’s yearly purchase!
XONE is a games machine with a marginally better online service and the fact it’s also a media box too for just about everything you would want to use it for! If only we could get FOXTEL through the machine without having to use an external box like it is on the 360