This is awesome. As a part of all the Sony announcements overnight, there was a little nugget about VOD content from the ABC for Australians. Turns out Sony and the ABC are going to be trialling a special version of iView on the PS3 that will let you watch all that great ABC VOD content on your TV for free through the Playstation Network.
The trial will begin later this year, and is part of a greater push from the ABC to try and expand iView’s reach. The deal is non exclusive, so you could well see it appear on your Xbox or Apple TV in the near future, although there’s no word on that just yet.
This means you’ll be able to watch any of the 300 plus ABC programs on demand through your PS3 when the trial goes live. At this stage, it’s not clear whether this version of iView will remain unmetered with ISPs like iiNet, Primus and Internode, but if it is, this is a huge push forward for VOD in this country.
Water bear
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 12:14 PMAwesome, currently viewing iview through the ps3 is a grind. The framerate is aweful despite a good connection. Great news for iinet customers/ ps3 owners in oz, unmeteted goodness through the ps3. Hooray!
Andrew
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 12:34 PMWith the new pricing and the slim release, I was inching toward adding a PS3 to my cabinet alongside my Elite. This iView news has just confirmed a PS3 purchase for me before Christmas… I love my iView.
Jonathan Brown
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 12:36 PMYou call it “free” and then refer to uncertainty about unmetering – If you’re paying for the MB’s, it’s not really “free”…
Dave Saul
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 12:48 PMWell on that logic… its not free because you have to pay for the electricity to run the ps3 & tv to view it! The comment obviously relates to free from Sony and ABC, whether or not it is unmetered is outside their control and something for you to take up with your isp.
GGP
Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 11:12 AMAgree with you Dave, the point is that the service is free. Sony have nothing to do with how you get the data, just like Vidzone is free.
Aaron De Vries
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 2:41 PMnice, hopefully microsoft do the same
Flame
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 3:24 PMWow great news! Fingers crossed they come up with a decent interface.
Rhys Kingston
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 4:35 PMThe current interface works fine on the PS3. It’s just the actual playback that fails.
Luzzy
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 4:15 PMiView is unmeterred through iiNet as iiNet’s facilities detect that it streams from certain (akamai?) servers. I imagine this would still be unmeterred for iiNet customers because I doubt there would be a separate PS3 version of the iView content itself sitting on different servers even if the interface itself is different. Correct me if I’m wrong?
Stephen Gore
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 4:18 PMThat is good news. Go the ABC.
Jimbo
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 6:45 PMI love iView, but will the PS3 version be able to stream standard definition over an ADSL 2+ connection? I dont want some crappy compression when viewing on my 50 plasma.
Sam
Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 9:29 AMAbsolutely brilliant!
I browsed over to iView on my PS3 some months ago and almost cried when I saw the frame rate.
I’m with the rest of you on this one: GO ABC!!
Matt K
Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 6:17 PMIt’s appeared on the PS3 this morning, if you have had your PS3 on all night, reboot it, icon was set on a date and time lock, to only appear this morning…. (3.10 firmware needed)
Nathan
Monday, November 23, 2009 at 1:39 PMWell 2 months ago giz said it was going to be unmetered (at least on internode). Anything changed??
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/08/confirmed-ps3-iview-will-be-unmetered-on-internode/
David Anderton
Monday, November 23, 2009 at 7:38 PMhow about wii customers :(