Home video is recorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes , but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray . In a different usage, "home video" refers to amateur video recordings, also known as home movies .
97-551: EzyDVD is an Australian specialist home video retailer offering DVD , Blu-ray , and Ultra HD Blu-ray discs for purchase. In the mid-2000s the company had over 70 retail stores around Australia, but is now exclusively an online retailer. EzyDVD was founded in March 1999 by video rental store owner Jim Zavos in Adelaide , South Australia. The business began as a website that cost Zavos $ 3000 to set up, which by its second year in operation
194-489: A VCR , and those who did tended to rent rather than buy videos. The late 1980s saw the emergence of a great many small companies which specialized in producing special-interest home videos, also known as "nontheatrical programming" and "alternative programming". These new video programs differed radically from earlier forms of video content in that they were never intended for theatrical exhibition nor television broadcasting. They were created specifically for niche audiences in
291-424: A cult following, due to their collectability. PlayStation PlayStation ( Japanese : プレイステーション , Hepburn : Pureisutēshon , officially abbreviated as PS ) is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles , two handhelds , a media center , and a smartphone , as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment ,
388-561: A DVD can be played on a computer. Due to all these advantages, by the mid 2000s, DVDs had become the dominant form of prerecorded video movies in both the rental film and new movie markets. In the late 2000s, stores began selling Blu-ray discs, a format that supports high definition . Blu-ray is a digital optical disc data storage format, designed to supersede the DVD format, and is capable of storing several hours of video in high definition (HDTV 720p and 1080p). The main application of Blu-ray
485-496: A Super Famicom with a built-in CD-ROM drive that incorporated Green Book technology or CD-i, called "Play Station" (also known as SNES-CD ). However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology. The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between
582-502: A VCR was $ 811, and the percentage of television-owning households with a VCR was unknown but probably just above zero. By 1992, the respective numbers for each of these categories were 105,502,000, $ 239, and 75.6%. During the 1980s, video rental stores became a popular way to watch home video. Video rental stores are physical retail businesses that rent home videos such as movies and prerecorded TV shows (sometimes also selling other media, such as video game copies on disc). Typically,
679-524: A completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of the DVD ). According to SCE's producer Ryoji Akagawa and chairman Shigeo Maruyama , there was uncertainty over whether the console should primarily focus on 2D sprite graphics or 3D polygon graphics . Eventually, after witnessing
776-564: A division of Sony . The first PlayStation console was released in Japan in December 1994, and worldwide the following year. The original console in the series was the first console of any type to ship over 100 million units, doing so in under a decade. Its successor, the PlayStation 2 , was released in 2000; it is the best-selling home console to date, having reached over 155 million units sold by
873-593: A game. Sony is developing an improved suspended gameplay state for the PlayStation 5 to consume less energy than the PlayStation 4. The system's new controller, the DualSense has adaptive triggers that can change the resistance to the player as necessary, such as changing the resistance during the action of pulling an arrow back in a bow in-game. The controller also has strong haptic feedback through voice coil actuators, which together with an improved controller speaker
970-449: A hard disk or flash storage – became available to purchase and rent. Despite the mainstream dominance of DVD, VHS continued to be used, albeit less frequently, throughout the 2000s; decline in VHS use continued during the 2010s. The switch to DVD initially led to mass-selling of used VHS videocassettes, which were available at used-goods stores, typically for a much lower price than
1067-436: A large library of all genres of DVD , Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray Discs , and boasts reputedly the largest forthcoming release list of any online retailer. The site features new release information, a separate Ultra HD Blu-ray section, individual category pages, advance future release notification functionality, numerous specials, exclusive offers (including the company's exclusive Collector's Tin packaging), and regular "Beat
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#17330929267591164-407: A magnetic soundtrack, but in comparison to modern technologies, film projection was still quite expensive and difficult to use. As a result, home viewing of films remained limited to a small community of dedicated hobbyists willing and able to invest large amounts of money in projectors, screens, and film prints, and it therefore made little revenue for film companies. In 1956, Ampex pioneered
1261-404: A new "Super Slim" PlayStation 3. The new console, with a completely redesigned case that has a sliding door covering the disc drive (which has been moved to the top of the console), is 4.3 pounds, almost three pounds lighter than the previous "slim" model. The console comes with either 12 GB flash memory or a 250 GB, 500 GB hard drive. Several bundles which include a Super Slim PS3 and
1358-441: A release print was still at least $ 1,000 —early projector owners rented films by mail directly from the projector manufacturers. The Edison company's business model was fundamentally flawed because it had started with phonographs and did not differentiate home viewing from home listening. Edison exited the home viewing business in 1914; Pathé remained active a few years longer, but exited at some point during World War I . After
1455-402: A rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms agreed upon in a rental agreement or contract , which may be implied, explicit, or written. Many video rental stores also sell previously viewed movies and/or new unopened movies. In the 1980s, video rental stores rented films in both the VHS and Betamax formats, although most stores stopped using Betamax tapes when VHS won
1552-463: A rocket, Fox bought Magnetic Video in 1978 and turned the company into its home video division . The home video market grew rapidly along with the widespread acquisition of affordable videocassette recorders by the majority of households during the 1980s. For example, in 1978, total number of VCRs purchased to date at wholesale in the United States was only 402,000, the average wholesale price of
1649-529: A rumor that the " Sony PS-X " would be released in Japan "before the end of this year and will retail for less than $ 400". After a demonstration of Sony's distribution plan as well as tech demos of its new console to game publishers and developers in a hotel in Tokyo in 1994, numerous developers began to approach PlayStation. Two of whom later became major partners were Electronic Arts in the West and Namco in Japan. One of
1746-492: A selection of games are available. The PlayStation 4 (PS4) was announced by Sony Computer Entertainment at a press conference on February 20, 2013. In the meeting, Sony revealed some hardware specifications of the new console. It introduced the x86 architecture to the PlayStation series. According to lead system architect, Mark Cerny, development on the PlayStation 4 began as early as 2008. PlayStation Europe CEO Jim Ryan emphasized in 2011 that Sony wanted to avoid launching
1843-555: A single disc, which is spun at high speed, while VHS videocassettes had several moving parts that were far more vulnerable to breaking down under heavy wear and tear. Each time a VHS cassette was played, the magnetic tape inside had to be pulled out and wrapped around the inclined drum head inside the player. While a VHS tape can be erased if it is exposed to a rapidly changing magnetic field of sufficient strength, DVDs and other optical discs are not affected by magnetic fields. The relative mechanical simplicity and durability of DVD compared to
1940-458: A strong line-up of first-party games due to PlayStation Studios , a group of many studios owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment that exclusively developed them for PlayStation consoles. In addition, the series features various budget re-releases of games by Sony with different names for each region; these include the Greatest Hits , Platinum , Essentials , and The Best selection of games. It
2037-561: A time every few months and active shows to be released on DVD after the end of each season. Prior to the television DVDs, most television shows were only viewable in syndication , on limited "best of" VHS releases of selected episodes or released slowly in volumes with only two or three episodes per tape. These copyrighted movies and programs generally have legal restrictions on them preventing them from, among other things, being shown in public venues, shown to other people for money, or copied for other than fair use purposes (although such ability
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#17330929267592134-601: A variation of the GUI previously used only on PAL consoles up to that point. Released in 2000 , 15 months after the Dreamcast and a year before its other competitors, the Xbox and the GameCube , the PlayStation 2 is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles , and is backwards-compatible with most original PlayStation games. Like its predecessor, it has received a slimmer redesign. It
2231-485: Is 40% smaller and carries a rounded body with a matte finish on the top of the console rather than a two-tone finish. The two USB ports on the front have a larger gap between them, and the optical audio port was also removed. It ships with a minor update to the DualShock 4 controller, with the light bar visible through the top of the touchpad and dark matte grey coloured exterior instead of a partially shiny black. The PS4 Slim
2328-554: Is a microconsole and a non-portable variant of the PlayStation Vita handheld game console. Other hardware released as part of the PlayStation series includes the PSX , a digital video recorder which was integrated with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, though it was short-lived due to its high price and was never released outside Japan, as well as a Bravia television set which has an integrated PlayStation 2. The PlayStation Network
2425-462: Is also known for the four iconic PlayStation face buttons ( [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] ). PlayStation was the brainchild of Ken Kutaragi , a Sony executive who managed one of the company's hardware engineering divisions and was later dubbed "The Father of the PlayStation". Until 1991, Sony had little direct involvement with the video game industry. The company supplied components for other consoles, such as
2522-526: Is an online service with about 110 million registered users (as of June 2013) and over 103 million active users monthly. (as of December 2019) It comprises an online virtual market, the PlayStation Store , which allows the purchase and download of games and various forms of multimedia, a subscription-based online service known as PlayStation Plus and a social gaming networking service called PlayStation Home , which had over 41 million users worldwide at
2619-571: Is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for the physical distribution of video games. The plastic disc is the same size as DVDs and compact discs . Blu-ray was officially released on June 20, 2006, beginning the high-definition optical disc format war , in which Blu-ray Disc competed against the HD DVD format. Toshiba , the main company supporting HD DVD, conceded in February 2008. Blu-ray has competition from video on demand (VOD) and
2716-458: Is designed primarily to enable selected games to be playable at 4K resolution , and improved quality for PlayStation VR . All games are backwards and forward compatible between PS4 and PS4 Pro, but games with optimizations will have improved graphics performance on PS4 Pro. Although capable of streaming 4K video from online sources, PS4 Pro does not support Ultra HD Blu-ray . Additionally the PS4 Pro
2813-405: Is intended to give better in-game feedback. USB-C connectivity, together with a higher rated battery are other improvements to the new controller. The PlayStation 5 features a completely revamped user interface . The PlayStation 5 is backwards-compatible with most PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR games, with Cerny stating that the transition to the new console is meant to be a soft one. In
2910-705: Is limited by some jurisdictions and media formats – see below). After the passage of the Video Recordings (Labelling) Act of 1985 in the United Kingdom, videotapes and other video recordings without a certification symbol from the British Board of Film Classification on their covers – or on the tapes themselves – were no longer allowed to be sold or displayed by rental shops. These tapes are called "Pre-Certs" (i.e. Pre-certification tapes). Recently these tapes have generated
3007-448: Is the most successful console in the world, having sold over 155 million units as of December 28, 2012. On November 29, 2005, the PS2 became the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch. This achievement occurred faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation, which took "9 years and 6 months since launch" to reach
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3104-557: Is the only PS4 model which can remote play at 1080p. The other models are limited to 720p. The PlayStation 5 (PS5) was released worldwide on November 12, 2020, and, alongside the Xbox Series X and Series S , released the same month, is part of the ninth generation of video game consoles . The first news of the PS5 came from Mark Cerny in an interview with Wired in April 2019. Sony intended for
3201-601: Is usually required to elapse between theatrical release and availability on home video to encourage movie theater patronage and discourage copyright infringement . Home-video releases originally followed five to six months after theatrical release, but since the late 2000s, most films have begun being distributed on video after three to four months. As of 2019, most major theater chains mandate an exclusivity window of 90 days before home-video release, and 74–76 days before electronic sell-through . Christmas and other holiday-related movies are sometimes not released on home video until
3298-473: The 7 nanometer process node. The graphics processor is a custom variant of AMD's Navi family using the RDNA microarchitecture, which includes support for hardware acceleration of ray-tracing rendering, enabling real-time ray-traced graphics. The new console ships with a custom SSD storage, as Cerny emphasized the need for fast loading times and higher bandwidth to make games more immersive, as well as to support
3395-476: The PlayStation 2 , the PS One (stylized as PS one) was a considerably smaller, redesigned version of the original PlayStation video game console. The PS one went on to outsell all other consoles, including its successor, throughout the remainder of the year. It featured two main changes from its predecessor, the first being a cosmetic change to the console and the second being the home menu's Graphical User Interface ;
3492-564: The VHS ), although it retained some popularity among videophiles and film enthusiasts during its lifespan; the format had greater prevalence in some regions of Southeast Asia such as Japan , Hong Kong , Singapore and Malaysia where it was better supported. Film titles were released in LD format until 2001, production of LD players ceased in 2009. The home video business distributes films , television series , telefilms and other audiovisual media to
3589-511: The format war late in the decade. The shift to home viewing radically changed revenue streams for film companies, because home renting provided an additional window of time in which a film could make money. In some cases, films that performed only modestly in their theater releases went on to sell significantly well in the rental market (e.g., cult films ). During the 1980s, video distributors gradually realized that many consumers did want to build their own video libraries, and not just rent, if
3686-448: The Bomb" time-limited specials. In 2007 EzyDVD launched its online store, EzyGames. The site specialised in video games for PlayStation , PSP , PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , Wii , Nintendo DS , and Microsoft Windows . It also sold PlayStation, Xbox , and Nintendo consoles and accessories. EzyDVD customers could use the same user account for both sites. The EzyGames site
3783-409: The PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles also featured support for Linux-based operating systems ; Linux for PlayStation 2 and OtherOS respectively, though this has since been discontinued. The series has also been known for its numerous marketing campaigns, the latest of which being the "Greatness Awaits" and eventually, "Play Has No Limits" commercials in the United States. The series also has
3880-553: The PlayStation 3 was re-released in 2009 as a "slim" model. The redesigned model is 33% smaller, 36% lighter, and consumes 34% to 45% less power than previous models. In addition, it features a redesigned cooling system and a smaller Cell processor which was moved to a 45nm manufacturing process. It sold in excess of a million units within its first 3 weeks on sale. The redesign also features support for CEC (more commonly referred to by its manufacturer brandings of BraviaSync, VIERA Link, EasyLink and others) which allows control of
3977-502: The PlayStation 5 to be its next-generation console and planned to ship it worldwide by the end of 2020. In early 2019, Sony's financial report for the quarter ending March 31, 2019, affirmed that new next-generation hardware was in development but would ship no earlier than April 2020. The current specifications were released in October 2019. The console uses an 8-core, 16-thread CPU based on AMD's Zen 2 microarchitecture, manufactured on
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4074-576: The Slimline which had an overhauled internal design incorporating the power supply into the console itself like the original PlayStation 2 resulting in a further reduced total weight of the console. Released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, the PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a seventh generation game console from Sony. It competes with the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii . The PS3 is the first console in
4171-716: The United States, and over 154 million subscriptions total, including free trials. It is available worldwide except in mainland China (due to local restrictions), Syria, North Korea, and Crimea (due to U.S. sanctions). The company also has offices in India , the Netherlands , Brazil , Japan , and South Korea . Netflix is a member of the Motion Picture Association . Netflix began producing media itself in 2012 and since then took more of an active role as producer and distributor for both films and television series. Following
4268-703: The acquisition to expand their retail presence into major malls and shopping centres; soon after however, EzyDVD's head office, warehouse and distribution facility in Torrensville closed. In October 2010, Élan Media Partners , a company related to FEG, acquired the rights to operate EzyDVD's website and online business from the Franchise Entertainment Group, while FEG continued to oversee the brick and mortar stores. By October 2013 only 3 branded stores had remained in Launceston , Browns Plains and Elizabeth ;
4365-399: The audiences, with most media consumers in urban areas globally having domestic Internet access. As early as 1906, various film entrepreneurs began to consider the business potential of home viewing of films, and in 1912, both Edison and Pathé started selling film projectors for home use. Because making release prints was (and still is) very expensive—as of 2005, the cost of making
4462-412: The board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music ,
4559-461: The company in a business development capacity. In July 2008, it was announced that Taylor had resigned and that a new CEO, Stefan Moro, had been appointed, who began closing a number of unprofitable outlets. That month the company also announced a movie download service called EzyDownload with an intended launch date of September 2008, building the platform with ReelTime's assets. However, by December 2008, EzyDVD entered into voluntary receivership due to
4656-549: The console over HDMI by using the remote control as the controller. The PS3 slim also runs quieter and is cooler than previous models due to its 45 nm Cell. The PS3 Slim no longer has the "main power" switch (similar to PlayStation 2 slim ), like the previous PS3 models, which was located at the back of the console. It was officially released on September 1, 2009, in North America and Europe and on September 3, 2009, in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In 2012, Sony revealed
4753-498: The console spread after its release worldwide in North America and Europe. The original PlayStation, released in Japan on December 3, 1994 , was the first of the ubiquitous PlayStation series of console and hand-held game devices. It has included successor consoles and upgrades including the Net Yaroze (a special black PlayStation with tools and instructions to program PlayStation games and applications), "PS one" (a smaller version of
4850-437: The continued sale of DVDs. As of January 2016, 44% of U.S. broadband households had a Blu-ray player. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, though, people continued to use VCRs to record over-the-air TV shows, because they could not make home recordings onto DVDs. This problem with DVD was resolved in the late 2000s, when inexpensive DVD recorders and other digital video recorders (DVRs) – which record shows onto
4947-436: The end of 2012. Sony's next console, the PlayStation 3 , was released in 2006, selling over 87.4 million units by March 2017. Sony's next console, the PlayStation 4 , was released in 2013, selling a million units within a day, becoming the fastest selling console in history. The latest console in the series, the PlayStation 5 , was released in 2020 and sold 10 million units in its first 249 days, unseating its predecessor as
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#17330929267595044-516: The equivalent film on a used DVD. In July 2016, the last known manufacturer of VCRs, Funai , announced that it was ceasing VCR production. One of streaming's largest impacts was on DVD, which has become less popular with the mass popularization of online streaming of media . Media streaming's popularization caused many DVD rental companies, such as Blockbuster , to go out of business. In July 2015, The New York Times published an article about Netflix 's DVD-by-mail services. It stated that Netflix
5141-455: The factors which attracted developers to the platform was the use of a 3D-capable, CD-ROM-based console which was much cheaper and easier to manufacture for in comparison to Nintendo's rival console, which used cartridge systems. The project eventually hit Japanese stores in December 1994 and gained massive sales due to its lower price point than its competitor, the Sega Saturn . The popularity of
5238-736: The fastest-selling PlayStation console to-date. The main series of controllers utilized by the PlayStation series is the DualShock , a line of vibration-feedback gamepads that sold 28 million units by June 2008. The first handheld console in the series, the PlayStation Portable (PSP), sold a total of 80 million units worldwide by November 2013. Its successor, the PlayStation Vita (PSVita), which launched in Japan in December 2011 and in most other major territories in February 2012, sold over four million units by January 2013. PlayStation TV
5335-495: The first commercially practical videotape recording system. The Ampex system, though, used reel-to-reel tape and physically bulky equipment not suitable for home use. In the mid-1970s, videotape became the first truly practical home-video format with the development of videocassettes , which were far easier to use than tape reels. The Betamax and VHS home videocassette formats were introduced, respectively, in 1975 and 1976, but several more years and significant reductions in
5432-792: The following year, when the holiday occurs again. Major studios have made films available for rental during their theatrical window on high-end services that charge upwards of $ 500 per rental and use proprietary hardware. Exceptions to the rule include the Steven Soderbergh film Bubble , which was released in 2006 to theaters, cable television, and DVD only a few days apart. Netflix has released some of its films, such as Roma and The Irishman , in limited theatrical release followed by streaming availability after less than 30 days. Many television programs are now also available in complete seasons on DVD. It has become popular practice for discontinued TV shows to be released to DVD one season at
5529-520: The following years saw those remaining stores close down and the business returning to be a ecommerce/online retailer only. In July 2017, EzyDVD and all associated rights to operate the EzyDVD website were sold to The Kingston Group, located on the Gold Coast . The EzyDVD website claims to be Australia's largest online DVD store, as well as purportedly being recognised as Australia's #1 DVD destination. It has
5626-420: The fragility of VHS made DVDs a far better format from a rental store's perspective. Though DVDs do not have the problems of videocassettes, such as breakage of the tape or the cassette mechanism, they can still be damaged by scratches. Another advantage from the perspective of video rental stores is that DVDs are physically much smaller, so they take less space to store. DVDs also offer a number of advantages for
5723-457: The framework consist of only original PlayStation games currently. Seventh generation PlayStation products also use the XrossMediaBar , which is an Technology & Engineering Emmy Award –winning graphical user interface . A touch screen-based user interface called LiveArea was launched for the PlayStation Vita, which integrates social networking elements into the interface. Additionally,
5820-401: The home video market, and through its home video division, Buena Vista Home Entertainment , the company did just that during the 1980s and 1990s. This spectacular success "catapulted the head of Disney's video division, Bill Mechanic , into executive stardom." In 1994, Mechanic left Disney to become head of Fox Filmed Entertainment . Another executive, Bob Chapek , would later ascend through
5917-808: The launch of various streaming services during the early 2020s, in particular those operated by the major Hollywood studios, home video continued to decline. One of the most prominent examples of this effect was with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment which, following the launch of Disney+ in 2019 and its international expansion in the following years, began to discontinue physical distribution entirely in certain regions such as Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan), Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Hungary, or to outsource its activities to other regional distributors (like Divisa Home Video for Spain, Eagle Pictures for Italy, Leonine Studios for Germany, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for North America. A time period
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#17330929267596014-579: The letters in depth of space. Sakamoto also stuck with four bright principal colors, red, yellow, green, and blue, only having to tune the green color for better harmony across the logo. Sakamoto also designed the black and white logo based on the same design, reserved for times where colors could not be used. At Sony Music Entertainment , Kutaragi worked closely with Shigeo Maruyama , the CEO of Sony Music, and with Akira Sato to form Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) on November 16, 1993. A building block of SCEI
6111-617: The next-generation console behind the competition. Among the new applications and services, Sony introduced the PlayStation App, allowing PS4 owners to turn smartphones and tablets into a second screen to enhance gameplay. The company also planned to debut PlayStation Now game streaming service, powered by technology from Gaikai . By incorporating a share button on the new controller and making it possible to view in-game content being streamed live from friends, Sony planned to place more focus on social gameplay as well. The PlayStation 4
6208-430: The number of topics, including "...dog handling videos, back pain videos and cooking videos", which were not previously thought of as marketable. Next, even "golf and skiing tapes* started selling. Contemporary sources noted, "new technology has changed the territory" of the home video market. In the early 2000s, VHS gradually began to be displaced by DVD . The DVD format has several advantages over VHS. A DVD consists of
6305-418: The ongoing downturn in sales, large operating losses and debts of over $ 18 million. In January 2009, EzyDVD was purchased by the Franchise Entertainment Group (FEG), the parent company of Video Ezy and Blockbuster Australia , who took on the brand name, online business, stock, plant and equipment, as well as the 11 remaining company-owned stores and extended franchise network of 25 stores. FEG intended to use
6402-516: The original PlayStation 2, the PlayStation 2 Slimline was the first major redesign of the PlayStation 2. Compared to its predecessor, the Slimline was smaller, thinner, quieter and also included a built-in Ethernet port (in some markets it also has an integrated modem ). In 2007 , Sony began shipping a revision of the Slimline which was lighter than the original Slimline together with a lighter AC adapter . In 2008 , Sony released yet another revision of
6499-580: The original) and the PocketStation (a handheld which enhances PlayStation games and also acts as a memory card). It was part of the fifth generation of video game consoles competing against the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64 . By December 2003, the PlayStation and PS one had shipped a combined total of 102.49 million units, eventually becoming the first video game console to sell 120 million units. Released on July 7, 2000 , concurrently with its successor
6596-453: The price was right . Rather than sell a few thousand units at a wholesale price of $ 70 into the rental channel, video distributors could sell hundreds of thousands of units at a wholesale price of $ 15-20 into the retail " sell-through " channel. The "ultimate accelerant" for the rise of the "sell-through" home video market was the development of children's home video. The pre-1980s conventional wisdom that consumers had no interest in watching
6693-487: The prices of both equipment and videocassettes were needed before both formats started to become widespread in households. The first company to duplicate and distribute feature films from major film studios on home video was Magnetic Video . Magnetic Video was established in 1968 as an audio and video duplication service for professional audio and television corporations in Farmington Hills, Michigan . After Betamax
6790-452: The public could purchase a film projector for one of those film formats and rent or buy home-use prints of some cartoons, short comedies, and brief "highlights" reels edited from feature films. The Super 8 film format, introduced in 1965, was marketed for making home movies, but it also boosted the popularity of show-at-home films. Eventually, longer, edited-down versions of feature films were issued, which increasingly came in color and with
6887-566: The public in the form of videos in various formats, either bought or rented and then watched privately in purchasers' homes. Most theatrically released films are now released on digital media (both optical and download-based), replacing the largely obsolete videotape medium. As of 2006 , the Video CD format remained popular in Asia. DVDs have been gradually losing popularity since the late 2010s and early 2020s, when streaming media became mainstream for
6984-456: The quick failures of these early attempts at home viewing, most feature films were essentially inaccessible to the public after their original theatrical runs. For most of the 20th century, the idea that ordinary consumers could own copies of films and watch them at their convenience in their own homes "was beyond the grasp of reasonable expectations." Some very popular films were given occasional theatrical re-releases in urban revival houses and
7081-453: The ranks of Disney's home video division to become chief executive officer of the entire company in 2020, and for that reason (before his sudden 2022 departure) was called "the home entertainment industry's single biggest success story." Until the mid-1980s, home video was dominated by feature film theatrical releases such as The Wizard of Oz , Citizen Kane , and Casablanca from major film studios . At that time, not many people owned
7178-534: The required content streaming from disc for 8K resolution . In a second interview with Wired in October 2019, further details of the new hardware were revealed: the console's integrated Blu-ray drive would support 100 GB Blu-ray discs and Ultra HD Blu-ray ; while a game installation from a disc is mandatory as to take advantage of the SSD, the user will have some fine-grain control of how much they want to have installed, such as only installing multiplayer components of
7275-403: The same figure. PlayStation 2 shipments in Japan ended on December 28, 2012. The Guardian reported on January 4, 2013, that PS2 production had ended worldwide, but studies showed that many people all around the world still own one even if it is no longer in use. PlayStation 2 has been ranked as the best selling console of all time as of 2015. Released in 2004 , four years after the launch of
7372-467: The same films again and again at home turned out to be entirely wrong with respect to children. Many harried parents discovered that it was a good investment to pay $ 20 to purchase a videocassette that could reliably keep their children riveted to the television screen for over an hour—and not just one time, but many, many times. The Walt Disney Company recognized that its flagship animation studio's family-friendly films were superbly positioned to conquer
7469-507: The screening rooms of a few archives and museums. Beginning in the 1950s, most could be expected to be broadcast on television, eventually. During this era, television programs normally could only be viewed at the time of broadcast . Viewers were accustomed to the fact that there was no easy way to record television shows at home and watch them whenever desired. In 1924, Kodak invented 16 mm film , which became popular for home use, and then later developed 8 mm film . After that point,
7566-478: The series to introduce the use of motion-sensing technology through its Sixaxis wireless controller. The console also incorporates a Blu-ray Disc player and features high-definition resolution. The PS3 was originally offered with either a 20 GB or 60 GB hard drive, but over the years its capacity increased in increments available up to 500 GB. The PlayStation 3 has sold over 80 million consoles worldwide as of November 2013. Like its predecessors,
7663-486: The small community of film buffs who for decades had willingly paid hundreds of dollars to purchase release prints. Therefore, in 1977, Magnetic Video originally priced its videocassettes at $ 50 to $ 70 each—a princely sum at a time when the average price of an American movie ticket was $ 2.23—and sold them only to wholesalers capable of handling a minimum order of $ 8,000. When the American home video market suddenly took off like
7760-583: The so-called "sell-through" channel, to be purchased at retail or ordered directly by consumers and viewed exclusively as home videos. It was pointed out at the time that [L]imitations within the video marketplace may be gone tomorrow. More people are finding innovative ways to create visually stimulating entertainment and information for the video tape player... Like contemporary book publishing, you can produce and distribute yourself to very narrow markets or seek broad-based distributors for mass-oriented appeal. Special-interest video increased to larger audiences
7857-680: The sound chip for the Super Famicom from Nintendo , and operated a video game studio, Sony Imagesoft . As part of a joint project between Nintendo and Sony that began as early as 1988, the two companies worked to create a CD-ROM version of the Super Famicom, though Nintendo denied the existence of the Sony deal as late as March 1991. At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991, Sony revealed
7954-487: The success of Sega 's Virtua Fighter in Japanese arcades, that Sony realized "the direction of the PlayStation became instantly clear" and 3D polygon graphics became the console's primary focus. The PlayStation logo was designed by Manabu Sakamoto. He wanted the logo to capture the 3D support of the console, but instead of just adding apparent depth to the letters "P" and "S", he created an optical illusion that suggested
8051-463: The time of its closure in March 2015. PlayStation Mobile (formerly PlayStation Suite) is a software framework that provides PlayStation content on mobile devices . Version 1.xx supports both PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV and certain devices that run the Android operating system , whereas version 2.00 released in 2014 only targeted PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV. Content set to be released under
8148-431: The two companies. The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga , who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo. At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who
8245-437: The value of 100% of EzyDVD at that time was in the range of $ 2.8 million to $ 3.6 million. At some point after 2006 Jim Zavos returned to being the sole shareholder of the company. By 2007 the company was turning over $ 150 million a year, with online sales making up 15% of that. In a July 2007 interview, Zavos revealed plans for a very substantial expansion of their brick and mortar outlets to commence that same year. The expansion
8342-473: The viewer: DVDs can support both standard 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 screen-aspect ratios, and can provide twice the video resolution of VHS. Skipping ahead to the end is much easier and faster with a DVD than with a VHS tape (which has to be rewound). DVDs can have interactive menus, multiple language tracks, audio commentaries, closed captioning, and subtitling (with the option of turning the subtitles on or off, or selecting subtitles in several languages). Moreover,
8439-521: Was born, initially, as a rental business. Film studios and video distributors assumed that the overwhelming majority of consumers would not want to buy prerecorded videocassettes, but would merely rent them. They felt that virtually all sales of videocassettes would be to video rental stores and set prices accordingly. According to Douglas Gomery , studio executives thought that the handful of consumers actually interested in purchasing videocassettes in order to watch them again and again would be similar to
8536-451: Was closed in 2009 and video games became available to purchase from the EzyDVD site itself. As of February 2021 video games are no longer available for customers to buy on the EzyDVD website. Home video Released in 1978, LaserDisc (LD) is another home video format, which never managed to gain widespread use on North American and European retail markets due to high cost of the players and their inability to record TV programs (unlike
8633-484: Was continuing their DVD services with 5.3 million subscribers, which was a significant decrease from the previous year, but their streaming services had 65 million members. Netflix's primary business is its subscription-based streaming service , which offers online streaming of a library of films and television programs, including those produced in-house. As of April 2019, Netflix had over 148 million paid subscriptions worldwide, including 60 million in
8730-543: Was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May 1992 and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June 1992, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to
8827-401: Was first released in North America on November 15, 2013. As part of the eighth generation of video game consoles , it competes with Microsoft's Xbox One and Nintendo's Wii U and Switch . PlayStation 4 Slim (officially marketed simply as PlayStation 4 or PS4 ) was unveiled on September 7, 2016. It is a revision of the original PS4 hardware with a streamlined form factor. The new casing
8924-494: Was its initial partnership with Sony Music which helped SCEI attract creative talent to the company as well as assist SCEI in manufacturing, marketing and producing discs, something that Sony Music had been doing with Music Discs. The final two key members of SCEI were Terry Tokunaka, the President of SCEI from Sony's headquarters, and Olaf Olafsson . Olafsson was CEO and president of New York-based Sony Interactive Entertainment which
9021-558: Was launched in the United States in 1976, Magnetic Video chief executive Andre Blay wrote letters to all the major film studios offering to license the rights to their films. Near the end of 1977, Magnetic Video entered into a first-of-its-kind deal with 20th Century Fox . Magnetic Video agreed to pay Fox a royalty of $ 7.50 per unit sold and a guaranteed annual minimum payment of $ 500,000 in exchange for nonexclusive rights to 50 films, which had to be at least two years old and had already been broadcast on network television . Home video
9118-782: Was making $ 3.5 million in sales. In 2000 EzyDVD opened its first brick and mortar store in Rundle Mall , and its first franchised store in Sydney in 2001. In the following years the company quickly grew to encompass over 70 company owned and franchised retail stores around Australia with the main headquarters and online distribution warehouse located in Adelaide. In 2003 Brazin Limited, owner of Sanity music stores, acquired 50% of EzyDVD. A December 2006 Deloitte report valued Brazin's 50% share of EzyDVD at between $ 1.4 million and $ 1.9 million, indicating that
9215-464: Was released on September 15, 2016, with a 500 GB model at the same price point as the original PS4 model. Its model number is CUH-2000. PlayStation 4 Pro or PS4 Pro for short (originally announced under the codename Neo ) was unveiled on September 7, 2016. Its model number is CUH-7000. It is an updated version of the PlayStation 4 with improved hardware, including an upgraded GPU with 4.2 teraflops of processing power, and higher CPU clock. It
9312-495: Was the parent company for the 1994-founded Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA). The PlayStation project, SCEI's first official project, was finally given the green light by Sony executives in 1993 after a few years of development. Also in 1993, Phil Harrison , who later became President of SCE Worldwide Studios , was recruited into SCEI to attract developers and publishers to produce games for their new PlayStation platform. Computer Gaming World in March 1994 reported
9409-514: Was to be delivered by converting existing independent video rental stores into franchised EzyDVD stores; these stores would have combined both rental and DVD sales sections and be decked out in EzyDVD livery. In late September 2007, EzyDVD acquired a stake in ASX listed video on demand company ReelTime Media Ltd . Following a slump in sales, in March 2008 EzyDVD announced it had appointed Barry Taylor as its new CEO , with Jim Zavos remaining involved with
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