PlayStation Eye
From PS3Wiki
The PlayStation Eye marketed as the "PLAYSTATION Eye" is a digital camera device for the PlayStation 3 video game console, and the successor to the EyeToy for the PlayStation 2.
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Release
The peripheral was launched in a bundle with The Eye of Judgment in the United States on October 23, 2007, in Japan and Australia on October 25, 2007 and in Europe on October 26, 2007.
The PlayStation Eye was also released as a stand-alone product in United States, Europe, and Australia. EyeToy designer Dr. Richard Marks stated that the EyeToy was used as a model for the rough cost design.
Features
Camera
The PlayStation Eye is capable of capturing standard video with frame rates of 60 hertz at a 640x480 pixel resolution, and 120 hertz at 320x240 pixels, which is "four times the resolution" and "two times the frame-rate" of the EyeToy, according to Sony.
The PlayStation Eye also has "two times the sensitivity" of the EyeToy, with Sony collaborating with sensor chip partner OmniVision Technologies on a sensor chip design using larger sensor pixels, allowing for more effective low-light operation. Sony states that the PlayStation Eye can produce "reasonable quality video" under the illumination provided by a television set.
The camera features a two-setting adjustable fixed focus zoom lens. Selected manually by rotating the lens barrel, the PlayStation Eye can be set to a 56 degree field of view similar to that of the EyeToy, for close-up framing in chat applications, or a 75-degree field of view for long shot framing in interactive physical gaming applications.
The PlayStation Eye is capable of outputting video to the console uncompressed, with "no compression artifacts"; or with optional JPEG compression.
Microphone
The PlayStation Eye features a built-in four-capsule microphone array, with which the PlayStation 3 can employ technologies for multi-directional voice location tracking, echo cancellation, and background noise suppression. This allows the peripheral to be used for speech recognition and audio chat in noisy environments without the use of a headset. The PlayStation Eye microphone array operates with each channel processing 16-bit samples at a sampling rate of 48 kilohertz, and a signal-to-noise ratio of 90 decibels.
Software
In addition to gaming-oriented uses, Sony has stated that the PlayStation Eye will also feature applications for tasks such as interactive communication and content creation (e.g. movie-making and video blogging). An AV Chat feature has been revealed which allows for audio-visual chat with anyone on a user's PlayStation Network friends list (up to six at once. Additional free content and activities are planned for release via the PlayStation Network.
EyeCreate
The PlayStation Eye features free EyeCreate video editing software, which enables users to capture pictures, video, and audio clips directly to the memory unit of the PS3 console. EyeCreate features a variety of different capturing modes, including stop motion. Through the software, users can edit, save, and share their own custom images, movies, and audio content.
Video and audio files produced on the PlayStation 3 with the PlayStation Eye are written in a proprietary format which is currently user-accessible only through EyeCreate. When questioned about support for other formats, Marks stated in April 2007 that "future formats are still being discussed." In the release version of EyeCreate, videos created using the program can be exported as MPEG-4 files for use outside PlayStation 3 consoles.
A PlayStation Network release list currently has EyeCreate 2 down for July.
Compatible games
The following are some PlayStation 3 games with camera functionality, some of which may not be specifically developed for the PlayStation Eye. The Playstation Eye does not support EyeToy compatible Playstation 2 games.
