PSX (digital video recorder)

The PSX is a digital video recorder based on the mh:awesomegames:PlayStation 2 developed by Sony Computer Entertainment and released in 2003 only in Japan. Since it was designed to be a general-purpose consumer video device, it was manufactured by the main Sony Corporation instead of SCE and does not carry the PlayStation brand, despite the name of the device starting with PS.

It is an upgraded version of the PlayStation 2 which added all the features below.

Additions/Modifications compared to the PlayStation 2

 * 1) It is bundled with a remote. As for the PS2, you had to buy a remote separately.
 * 2) It gets a built-in hard drive, which can go up to 160GB for the DESR-5xxx series and 250GB for the DESR-7xxx series. That means all the PS2 games that utilize the Expansion Bay are supported on the PSX.
 * 3) The PSX DualShock controllers are longer than the regular DualShock 2 controllers (four meters long), and were sold separately. Of course, one could just use wireless controllers.
 * 4) It features software for non-linear video editing, image editing and audio editing.
 * 5) It uses a different graphical user interface, named the XrossMediaBar, which later on is used in the PSP and PS3.
 * 6) DVD-R support is added in the future models.

Why It Flopped

 * 1) Mainly, the downright insane prices of ¥79,800 for the 160GB HDD models, and ¥99,800 for the 250GB models, which are about US$732 and US$916 respectively. This was the main reason for the cancellation of the release of the device outside of Japan, resulting the PSX into a commercial failure in turn and being discontinued in less than two years.
 * 2) Terrible reliability. The PSX's DVD laser and hard drive are known to fail easily due to poor build quality. Making matters worse is that neither of them can be replaced as the PSX's software is encrypted to work only with the laser and hard drive that came inside the system (much like how Apple pairs components to their devices, although only making repairs more difficult). Due to this, a broken laser means discs can no longer be played, while a broken hard drive effectively bricks the system since it will refuse to boot. The encryption has yet to be cracked as of 2022 thanks to a lack of interest, and will likely be a long time before it is.
 * 3) Despite being compatible with PlayStation 1 or 2 games, the PSX was not bundled with a DualShock controller, which actually isn't strange because the PSX does not carry the PlayStation brand. That means you cannot play PS1 or PS2 games on it until you buy one (if you don't have a standard PS2 controller).
 * 4) Like the PS2, it still has only two controller ports. Adding insult to injury, it is also incompatible with all versions of the multi-tap; that means no games that can support up to four players are compatible with the device. There are more incompatible accessories with the PSX, like the PocketStation. This is because the controller ports are located on the back side, and the memory card slots are still on the front, even though those accessories need to be plugged into the memory card and controller slots together at the same time.
 * 5) As mentioned above, the controller ports are situated on the back of the device instead of the front like usual, which makes it frustrating to connect and disconnect controllers.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) It was the first device to use Sony's famous XrossMediaBar GUI, which would later be used on the mh:awesomegames:PlayStation Portable and mh:awesomegames:PlayStation 3.
 * 2) It features software for non-linear video editing, image editing and audio editing, something that was ahead of its time.
 * 3) The 160 GB and 250 GB hard drive options are quite big for its time.
 * 4) The startup is absolutely beautiful.

Videos
3kDOX3ggdDE c1Ze0kOx6Po

Trivia

 * The "PSX" name has created confusion as it was also used as the codename for the original mh:awesomegames:PlayStation, which can be a reason of why fans nowadays call the PlayStation PS1 as initials.

Comments
