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Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

asia.nikkei.com

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Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#21

Post by chrisseaton »

dcsilver wrote: post #14
blakesterz wrote: post #5

"The 31.4-meter line, completed in 2018, has the ability to churn out a new console every 30 seconds." That seems.... slow? I mean, I have no idea what I expected, but 2 a minute, is that really fast for this type of manufacturing? How does that compare to Xbox or maybe iPhone output? I'm sure 2 a minute is really impressive, but I started reading that thinking something like hundreds or thousands an hour, I guess I…

The line can assemble a unit in 30 seconds and will presumably have more than one on it at a time.

What you're talking about is the latency - start to end for construction for each is 30 seconds.

But what the article is talking about is the throughput - one finished very 30 seconds - doesn't mention how long each takes to make start to finish.

A throughput of one every 30 seconds is only a million per year. They have sold 100 million PS4s.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#22

Post by arprocter »

azuriten wrote: post #19
ThomW wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine how it could be improved upon... When my PS4 Pro is playing stuff like TLOU2, it sounds like it's going to start hovering off my TV cabinet.

> When my PS4 Pro is playing stuff like TLOU2, it sounds like it's going to start hovering off my TV cabinet. I have the CUH-7200 PS4 Pro model which is apparently the quietest model and it's insane how loud that thing gets when I played TLOU2. The copying times for updates/patches is equally bad with downloading taking a few minutes and copying times taking more than 20mins. There's clearly alot of room for improvem…

Seems to depend on the game - NMS will get my 'quiet' Pro to go into jet engine mode, but other things less so

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#23

Post by barrkel »

blakesterz wrote: post #5

"The 31.4-meter line, completed in 2018, has the ability to churn out a new console every 30 seconds." That seems.... slow? I mean, I have no idea what I expected, but 2 a minute, is that really fast for this type of manufacturing? How does that compare to Xbox or maybe iPhone output? I'm sure 2 a minute is really impressive, but I started reading that thinking something like hundreds or thousands an hour, I guess I…

Journalist innumeracy.

It's a pipeline. 30 seconds per build, but not 30 seconds between each console.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#24

Post by sudosysgen »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #17
rusk wrote: post #11

God I love my PS4 - it has to be the peak of this class of machine. I can't imagine how it could be improved upon without going beyond the "box under the telly format". Incredible piece of machinery. I can't imagine the PS5 will be much more than an upgrade. In my opinion the second best console is the PS2. I love Nintendo but they're more like toys than hard core gaming and entertainment machines. PS2 up until PS4 w…

Because of online cheating I doubt Sony will ever open up like they did for PlayStation Linux. My guess is they'll just clamp down harder to differentiate from PCs which can't deliver the same consistency. Of course the PCs openness is what breeds so much innovation.

Didn't Sony sell their PC division to JIP?

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#26

Post by LeonM »

ThomW wrote: post #12
rusk wrote: post #11

God I love my PS4 - it has to be the peak of this class of machine. I can't imagine how it could be improved upon without going beyond the "box under the telly format". Incredible piece of machinery. I can't imagine the PS5 will be much more than an upgrade. In my opinion the second best console is the PS2. I love Nintendo but they're more like toys than hard core gaming and entertainment machines. PS2 up until PS4 w…

I can't imagine how it could be improved upon... When my PS4 Pro is playing stuff like TLOU2, it sounds like it's going to start hovering off my TV cabinet.

Is that a quirk of the 'pro' version?

I have read many complaints online of people calling the PS4 noisy. I have a PS4 slim, and it is very quiet, the optical drive is by far the loudest part of the machine.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#27

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

blakesterz wrote: post #5

"The 31.4-meter line, completed in 2018, has the ability to churn out a new console every 30 seconds." That seems.... slow? I mean, I have no idea what I expected, but 2 a minute, is that really fast for this type of manufacturing? How does that compare to Xbox or maybe iPhone output? I'm sure 2 a minute is really impressive, but I started reading that thinking something like hundreds or thousands an hour, I guess I…

It's not clear if the journalist understood throughput vs latency.

But more fundamentally: factories often have more than one line.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#28

Post by eropple »

chrisseaton wrote: post #21
dcsilver wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The line can assemble a unit in 30 seconds and will presumably have more than one on it at a time.

What you're talking about is the latency - start to end for construction for each is 30 seconds. But what the article is talking about is the throughput - one finished very 30 seconds - doesn't mention how long each takes to make start to finish. A throughput of one every 30 seconds is only a million per year. They have sold 100 million PS4s.

For that single factory line. Consumer electronics factories often have a lot of lines in parallel.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#29

Post by eropple »

LeonM wrote: post #26
ThomW wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine how it could be improved upon... When my PS4 Pro is playing stuff like TLOU2, it sounds like it's going to start hovering off my TV cabinet.

Is that a quirk of the 'pro' version? I have read many complaints online of people calling the PS4 noisy. I have a PS4 slim, and it is very quiet, the optical drive is by far the loudest part of the machine.

The Pro is super loud. Some PS4 non-Pro models can also get pretty loud, but it's more hit-or-miss.

Re: Playstation's secret weapon: a nearly all-automated factory

#30

Post by tetraca »

rusk wrote: post #11

God I love my PS4 - it has to be the peak of this class of machine. I can't imagine how it could be improved upon without going beyond the "box under the telly format". Incredible piece of machinery. I can't imagine the PS5 will be much more than an upgrade. In my opinion the second best console is the PS2. I love Nintendo but they're more like toys than hard core gaming and entertainment machines. PS2 up until PS4 w…

> Hows about selling a more open system that allows end-users to tinker and contribute themselves?

The appeal of a console is that it's an appliance - you can just plug the thing in, not worry about any of the technicals, and go play games with minimal fuss. If you are an enthusiast of such things and inclined to tinker, I think making a Mini-ITX PC to stuff under your TV mostly effectively already covers this niche? You can pick out your parts to your liking, it will be small, it can run Linux, play VR, and be programmed and customized effectively to however much of your system you can grasp.

And Sony, who has spent like 80 years making locked down media formats for their consumer audio/video/gaming appliances that compete against industry standard formats, is unlikely to ever be the company that makes an open gaming platform.

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