Xbox One DVR For Gold Subs Only, PS4 Recording Free For All

[Karloff]

Xbox One DVR For Gold Subs Only, PS4 Recording Free For All

"I can confirm that Game DVR features will be available to Xbox Live Gold members only," says Microsoft representative.

DVR - recording and uploading game footage - is to be restricted to Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers only, while Sony's PS4 will offer the same service without the need for a PSN subscription. DVR is one of the exclusive features of a Gold subscription, according to an Xbox LIVE promotional page, and replies Yoshida [http://onehitpixel.com/2013/08/07/xbox-ones-game-recording-features-restricted-to-xbox-live-gold-members/48066].

The restricted status of Xbox LIVE's DVR was first hinted at when a LIVE promotional page popped up with DVR listed as an exclusive to Gold feature [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/Live#features]. Though it could be argued that anonymous Microsoft man speaking to One Hit might have been talking out of turn, there doesn't seem to be much point in saying it's a Gold subscription feature if it's also available to those who don't have Gold. So if you were hoping to stream your triumphs and tragedies to Twitch, better pony up for that 12 month subscription. Heck, it's only about $60 for the year, right? On the other hand, if anyone ought to know PS4's position on DVR, it's Yoshida, so if you were wanting to stream without paying out anything extra, sounds as though the PS4 is the way to go.

Always assuming you really like that sort of thing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126641-European-PS4-Pre-Orders-Not-Guaranteed-At-Launch].

Source: Xbox One CVG [http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/08/ps4-recording-doesnt-require-ps-plus-subscription-says-yoshida/]


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[Machine Man 1992]

Oh goddamn it Microsoft, you just had to be a dick one more time didn't you?

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Well that was totally not surprising.

Is there anything you can do with the Xbone that doesn't require a Gold subscription besides singleplayer?

 

[Trasch17]

You know, sometimes, I just can't help but think, that MS desperately wants the Xbone to fail...
Or their marketing sucks...
I think it's the latter.

 

[Saulkar]

Ha! In yo face recent anti-Xbone-hate threads. Looks like I am back on the train... actually, I really do not care all that much. Right now they have already shot off their foot and are repeatedly littering the bloody dirt with more bullets.


I really have no intention of ever getting one so it may take a little bit more for me to give a fuck...

<..>

Nope, still do not have any left to give.

 

[Teoes]

We've seen the threads recently.. can we please remember that we shouldn't be hating on the Xbone? There's no good reason to do so!

 

[Roxas1359]

Oh goddamn it Microsoft, you just had to be a dick one more time didn't you?

While I do indeed despise the Xbox One, there is one thing that has been announced that they have over the PS4:
it will support external video capture.
This means those with an HD PVR 2, Elgato, Roxio HD Pro, or AverMedia can still use their expensive cards on the machine. However, Sony has been tight-lipped about their caputre system so it is possible that they can announce the same thing as well, although in my case it doesn't matter because Hauppauge actually has designed an easy way to get around HDCP with their newer model of HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition and getting around HDCP encryption is really easy when it comes down to it. Whole reason why it's implemented in the first place is because it's required by law to have HDCP encryption placed on any device that can play Bluray movies; so apparently MS at some point found a way to have the Xbox One distinguish game from movie, which with how games are nowadays I wonder how they did that. XD

One other things is that the DVR for the Xbox One will only capture for 5 minutes at 720p and 30fps which I find odd.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Welp, count that as another mark against the Xbox One. At this point however, I'm just too apathetic about that console to really care anymore. It has no games of interest to me that I cannot find on another system besides Sunset Overdrive, and there are no other advantages it has over the PS4, Wii U, or PC (which I've shifted over to over the past year and a half. My PS3 is a lonely housewife at this point). Numerous policies have been reversed (though not all) and Mattrick is gone, thus the schadenfreude-esque enjoyment I got out of hearing about the Xbox One has been mostly replaced with the aforementioned apathy. For the most part, I just can't be bothered to care about this trainwreck anymore.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

Oh goddamn it Microsoft, you just had to be a dick one more time didn't you?

While I do indeed despise the Xbox One, there is one thing that has been announced that they have over the PS4:
it will support external video capture.
This means those with an HD PVR 2, Elgato, Roxio HD Pro, or AverMedia can still use their expensive cards on the machine. However, Sony has been tight-lipped about their caputre system so it is possible that they can announce the same thing as well, although in my case it doesn't matter because Hauppauge actually has designed an easy way to get around HDCP with their newer model of HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition and getting around HDCP encryption is really easy when it comes down to it. Whole reason why it's implemented in the first place is because it's required by law to have HDCP encryption placed on any device that can play Bluray movies; so apparently MS at some point found a way to have the Xbox One distinguish game from movie, which with how games are nowadays I wonder how they did that. XD

One other things is that the DVR for the Xbox One will only capture for 5 minutes at 720p and 30fps which I find odd.

Sony won't do it because they've learned that instant praise and adoration comes from not doing what Microsoft's doing.

"DRM? Subscription fees? Fees for multiplayer? No video capture without a subscription to a service? We don't have any of that! And we're $399!"

"Shut up and take my money!"

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Is there anyone who is surprised by this after this generation?

 

[Roxas1359]

Sony won't do it because they've learned that instant praise and adoration comes from not doing what Microsoft's doing.

"DRM? Subscription fees? Fees for multiplayer? No video capture without a subscription to a service? We don't have any of that! And we're $399!"

"Shut up and take my money!"

Oh no I agree with you and I'm definitely not buying an Xbox One in the slightest, although the fact that they do support those expensive cards that some people like me have is nice. But like I said, even if for some reason I suffered a brain hemorrhage and bought one of these boxes HDCP would not stop me from recording gameplay since Hauppauge has made workarounds. Really though the fact that they are charging for a simple service, especially one that really only lets you make highlights of something , is rather weird but then again this is MS.

 

[gigastar]

I guess its one of those times again...

Is there anything you can do with the Xbone that doesn't require a Gold subscription besides singleplayer?

Games with Gold technically fills that criteria of subscribing for single player.

Mind you this was something the PS3 was doing long before Microsoft pulled thier head out of thier arse long enough to realise that giving consumer incentives to subscribe would increase subscriber count.

 

[RJ 17]

You know, sometimes, I just can't help but think, that MS desperately wants the Xbone to fail...
Or their marketing sucks...
I think it's the latter.

Personally I think it's the former...there HAS to be some sort of conspiracy going on. I don't know who at MS stands to gain bazillions of dollars if the XBone fails or how it's going to work out, but it really is almost ridiculous how they designed this thing.

And that's the thing: everyone's pissed off about: the DESIGN of the thing, not the marketing of it. The marketing department was charged with an impossible task: "Make DRM sound good! Make a glorified demo system sound better than trading games in or lending them to friends! Make an audio/visual/biometric spy-cam that will be feeding players ads based on the frickin' conversations they have sound like a wonderful idea!"

Yeah, good luck with that. You could have the top 10 best marketing firms on the planet working for MS to try and sell this thing and STILL no one would want it because of how it's designed.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

If you guys hear something hit the ground, it's only because my facepalm was so loud it could probably be heard from orbit.

... Ow, that hurts.

OK, in all honesty, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but it's really like MS is trying to shoot itself in the foot at every opportunity. Sure, there are a lot of LPs on competitive Multiplayer games, but there's also a healthy LP community for single-player games such as Fallout, Skyrim, etc., and these people might do nothing BUT play those single player games, thus making them not care for a Gold subscription. I know a lot of LPers that don't give two shits about Multiplayer.

But, yeah, MS seems to hate its fanbase. They take one good step and then immediately backpedal so hard they erase any goodwill they've accumulated twice over.

 

[Scorpid]

Maybe one day Microsoft will remember the super privileged aren't going to be the majority of the people that purchase their console. Forget those hucksters and their shitty console they rode in on.

 

[Doclector]

Man, this console war is beginning to be like a fight scene from pacific rim. Devastating hit after devasting hit, shock recovery after shock recovery. It's interesting, I'm starting to enjoy just watching it.

 

[Jamash]

I know it's easy to criticise Microsoft for putting this feature behind a paywall, but perhaps they just have a more realistic idea of the bandwidth involved and costs incurred in uploading HD video on their network.

On the other hand, Sony seem to be waiving a lot of fees and bandwidth charges in a gamble that the goodwill gained will offset their potential losses with reciprocal PSN+ subscriptions, new game purchases and money spent on 1st party peripherals.

As a rough estimation (given that Sony haven't yet released details about their video format), if just 1000 PS4 owners uploaded a 15 minute 720p/30FPS HDV video (@2.75GB) per day , every day, for 10 years of the PS4's lifetime, and if that is costed at the 0.16$ per GB Sony charged developers for downloads on the PSN, then that would be around $1606000 of bandwidth fees that Sony would waive.

That is a low estimate in itself, as if this feature is popular, you'd expect more than 1000 people to upload more than one video per day, so there is potentially going to be a lot of bandwidth eaten up on the PSN with each $0.16/GB coming out of Sony's pocket.

Both companies are taking different approaches to the fact that bandwidth isn't free (all network traffic always eventually ends up costing someone money), with Microsoft charging the user and Sony paying for it themselves, so it will be interesting to see which gamble pays off in the long run... will Microsoft discourage too many potential customers, or will Sony be the victims of their own success?

 

[Clovus]

I know it's easy to criticise Microsoft for putting this feature behind a paywall, but perhaps they just have a more realistic idea of the bandwidth involved and costs incurred in uploading HD video on their network.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with it costing something to upload stuff to MS's service. But I don't see why I have to upload it. If I had a DVR feature, I'd mainly use it to watch the video myself. Why can't it just save the clips to the hard drive. Then just give me a way to copy it to my PC or something like dropbox if I want to upload it somewhere else. That wouldn't use any of their bandwidth. Of course, we're talking about the same company that requires Gold to use Netflix, which also doesn't cost them anything.

It's cool that with Gold you can probably just click a button or two to share the clips with your friends or whatever, I just don't see why that's the only option.