PlayStation Now DEMO (VIDEO)

[vivster]

sonicfan1373 said:

vivster said:

Somini said:

vivster said:
too bad it is slowed down so you can't see what the actual lag is. Lag can be ahuge dealbreaker in fast games. Pro FPS players would rather kill themselves than have a delay of more than 30ms.

Also I strongly assume that the streaming server for this demo was on site so there will be considirable higher lag on a realistic setting.
Don't get me wrong, I want it to work and be the greatest thing ever but I will have my doubts until I tried it first hand.

Talking about lag at this stage is premature, since like every other service Sony launches, it will get better with time. I'm sure it will not be perfect when it first launches. We are a good year away from this technology functioning at great levels.

The problem is that I'm a network professional and I know where lag comes from and how to mitigate it. If the stream goes over the internet there is not much Sony can do to speed it up. It's not the bandwidth but the delay that's the problem. While Sony has the power to cut delay at their site by using faster hardware for video conversion they don't have power over the internet routes. Sony would need a deal with the local ISPs to guarantee priority for their packets but I don't see this happening. And even then there will be hiccups that are out of control of Sony and the ISP. Also there will be lots of players using wifi as a connection to their router, which will make it even worse.

I am not a network professional like you; in fact, as a computer enthusiast this is one area that usually leaves me confused. However, as an individual living in Canada and knowing how internet speeds are here and having some (very brief) experience with US Internet speeds I wonder why Sony chose North America to start the role out of this service; our internet speeds and bandwidth in US and and especially Canada are very bad compared to a place like Japan even UK. As I understand Gaikai is the fastest network out there, but I feel Sony will get the same mixed reception that OnLive did simply because of bad ISPs.

I agree with what you say about the service improving over time (like many Sony products and services, their strategy and methods make more practical sense as time goes by), but I do not see launching this service in North America with such a large poplation and such horrible ISP restrictions would not get them the best first impressions.

As I said the bandwidth is not really the problem. I dare to say that someone with 50/10 Mbits up/down will have the same lag as someone with 10/2. If theyer both the same distance away from the server they will have similar lag. As a home user if you want lessdelay you would need to purchase a kind of priorization from your ISP. I don't know how fast the US network is regarding lag.

What Sony can do here is streamlining their streaming process and build as many server locations as possible. If they can do that they can guarantee the same streaming experience for all users and not just the ones closest to the one datacenter in the country. They will probably not do this though because something like that is expensive as hell.

Users who rely on  internet via LTE or satelite and wifi are pretty much fucked to begin with wth no chance of having a decent ping ever.