PlayStation Eye, A Little More Info…

297w ago - Sony has blogged up mountains of information on the Playstation Eye but perhaps the most important is the date of release and the price. The respective have been set at October 23rd and $39.99 respectively and be available for purchase as a stand-alone product. To quote from the article linked above:

One question I've seen asked a lot is: "What makes PlayStation Eye different from its predecessor, the EyeToy camera?" Lots. For a start, PlayStation Eye was engineered from the onset to perform well in low-light conditions. It also has a 2-setting zoom lens (normal and wide angle) with fixed focus. What does that mean? Well, a lot less fussing around than previous cameras. PlayStation Eye gets a sharp, clear picture at 640 x 480 resolution at 60 frames per second (at 320 x 240 it looks even better at 120 fps)! It picks up image and motion in varying light conditions and doesn't need your help to focus.

It also has a built-in 4-microphone array that allows you to enjoy online AV chat and in-game voice chat, in what we're calling a "natural environment," meaning, not awkwardly leaning toward your camera or speaking abnormally loud just so the mic picks up your voice. IMHO, this microphone really does do away with the Need for a headset.

The PlayStation Eye does an excellent job of filtering out background noise for a clearer voice connection, but it also has twice the frame rate than most standard cameras (this is part of what sets it apart from any other webcam or camera for this generation of consoles), allowing for faster and more natural tracking, responsiveness and smoothness. I think if you take all of this into consideration, PlayStation Eye is an ideal camera for AV Chat on your PS3.