PSN Outage extends, hurts my TV watching

Now entering in the 5th consecutive day of Playstation Network outage, we are starting to feel a little worried. Worried because Sony is rather mum on the subject, save some half baked blog posts mentioning a breach and promising to fix it soon. But more worried because the PSN shutdown affected my family’s TV watching habits. We belong to the category of users that cut the cable cord a while ago and rely on streaming for our TV watching, including VUDU, Hulu Plus and Netflix.

While most of the standalone media streamer boxes are not dependent of the manufacture’s online service to access Netflix and Hulu Plus, PS3 for some reason requires you to be logged-in to PSN (Playstation Network), displaying now the super annoying “you must first sign into the PlayStation network to sign into Netflix”. If you persist, you’ll eventually be able to use Netflix but not Hulu (error message “PlayStation Network is currently undergoing maintenance” or even MLB.TV.

This is not specifically described anywhere and adds a layer of unnecessary issues to your TV watching experience – you won’t only be affected by Netflix / Hulu outages but by Sony’s outages as well, including this particularly bad one. Not sure if this reliance on PSN to watch Netflix / Hulu Plus is a crappy design architecture issue or Sony’s way to gather data on our TV watching habits, but either way is equally annoying.

Now, it could be much worse, at least for me. I am reviewing a large number of media streamer boxes and my house is full of them. I can get streaming service via several different boxes including WD TV Live and Roku. However, PS3 is connected to the living room TV , it is one of the few devices to support VUDU / Netflix / Hulu Plus / Blu-ray and gaming, all in one box. Now, because of the PSN outage, most of these features are not available anymore. I was eventually able to use Netflix service after about 6-7 tries but Hulu Plus is a no go. If you are using Qriocity, it doesn’t work either.

A 5 days (and counting) outage to your TV service is annoying and it should never happen. Sony should remove this dependency on their own network to watch Netflix / Hulu or anything else. It is unnecessary and evil. I could actually foresee some class action suits around this matter. And also, Sony should find a way to compensate everybody. It is not just a gaming issue, it runs much deeper. Sony should also leave aside the Japanese corporate culture and start talking to us, keep us updated. No communication  will just fuel more rumors and usually the rumors are worse than the truth.

Update: There are various reports around the web that even Netflix doesn’t work anymore, with the following message after starting buffering: ”There was a problem communicating with the PlayStation Network. Please try again later.”. In my case, Netflix still works OK after several attempts to log-in into PSN. Does it work for you?

Update 2 (April 25th): Sony just posted an update on their PSN blog saying practically that they have no update (this while a couple of days ago the message was: in a day or two it’ll be fixed) and they don’t know how long the outage will last. That should tell us that whatever happened is MUCH more than a trivial matter… Cute :(

  • Israel

    I’m glad to see this article! Most places I read and all they mention is gaming, and that the PSN is free anyways so people are not losing anything. Well, my family also cut the cable cord a while back and we rely on Hulu, Vudu, Qriosity, and Netflix streamed through our PS3 for our TV fix. So, while the Playstation Network itself is free, it is required for us to access our paid subscription services. In my opinion, Sony owes us BIG.

    I also don’t understand why I’m required to log into PSN to use Hulu and other services. I guess it’s because Sony thinks they own you once you purchase a PS3, I’m sure it’s in the EULA somewhere!

    Really wishing Sony would allow Hulu to bypass the required PSN login, if not permanently, at least through the remainder of this outage.

    My Netflix is still working today, but it seems to be a bit more tricky to get into it now.

  • Jan

    Netflix seems to let me get past the PSN log-in every once in a while. I’ve had no luck today, but it worked fine yesterday. Looks like somebody owes me a couple bucks for a week of non-streaming video.

  • Brent

    I am also now a long time cable cutter. While I have a couple of wii’s in other rooms and a 360 along side the ps3 in the living room and have access to my netflix via other devices, I find it so completely frustrating with no hulu because my entire family has become more and more reliant on that service. I can’t imagine how upset ps3 only owners are. I sure hope someone from sony is taking note: If you want to track my viewing habits fine, but do so when your network is available and don’t bind me to it!