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Sony Patent Adds Weight to PS5 Redesign Rumours


Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a new patent for a detachable optical disk drive, which, while not confirmed by any means, adds extra credence to those PS5 redesign rumours floating around late last year.

The patent, known by its catchy technical moniker, US-20230118186-A1_I, is described as "an optical disc drive that can be mounted in electronic equipment such as a game machine, personal computer, or audio-visual (AV) equipment."

While the PS5 itself is not specifically mentioned, this does seem to line up with Insider Gaming's report on the subject, and SegmentNext posits that diagrams of the device are shaped similarly to the disc drive portion of existing PS5 models. Then again, we'd imagine most disc drives to be disc-shaped, wouldn't you?

Are you starting to believe? Would you be interested in a detachable disc drive for your own PS5? Let us know in the comments section below.

[source scribd.com, via segmentnext.com]

IjfZC0g.jpg
rbPdgqz.jpg
xb1zinD.jpg
 

Tsaki

Member
Nah this seems like a redesign of the internals of the BluRay drive to just make it cheaper. Nothing in there mentions it being an external add-on.
 

kingyala

Banned
[/URL]

Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a new patent for a detachable optical disk drive, which, while not confirmed by any means, adds extra credence to those PS5 redesign rumours floating around late last year.

The patent, known by its catchy technical moniker, US-20230118186-A1_I, is described as "an optical disc drive that can be mounted in electronic equipment such as a game machine, personal computer, or audio-visual (AV) equipment."

While the PS5 itself is not specifically mentioned, this does seem to line up with Insider Gaming's report on the subject, and SegmentNext posits that diagrams of the device are shaped similarly to the disc drive portion of existing PS5 models. Then again, we'd imagine most disc drives to be disc-shaped, wouldn't you?

Are you starting to believe? Would you be interested in a detachable disc drive for your own PS5? Let us know in the comments section below.

[source scribd.com, via segmentnext.com]

IjfZC0g.jpg
rbPdgqz.jpg
xb1zinD.jpg
reminds me of this bad boy
KS67dG8.jpg
 

Kdad

Member

Sony Interactive Entertainment has filed a new patent for a detachable optical disk drive, which, while not confirmed by any means, adds extra credence to those PS5 redesign rumours floating around late last year.

The patent, known by its catchy technical moniker, US-20230118186-A1_I, is described as "an optical disc drive that can be mounted in electronic equipment such as a game machine, personal computer, or audio-visual (AV) equipment."

While the PS5 itself is not specifically mentioned, this does seem to line up with Insider Gaming's report on the subject, and SegmentNext posits that diagrams of the device are shaped similarly to the disc drive portion of existing PS5 models. Then again, we'd imagine most disc drives to be disc-shaped, wouldn't you?

Are you starting to believe? Would you be interested in a detachable disc drive for your own PS5? Let us know in the comments section below.

[source scribd.com, via segmentnext.com]

IjfZC0g.jpg
rbPdgqz.jpg
xb1zinD.jpg
Multiple times in the document it speaks of it being mounted IN electronic equipment … not ON. Are we sure this is an external drive? It sounds more like it might be meant to slot into a bay that exists IN the electronic equipment. Like the 'new model' would have an empty drive bay that this slots INto ... not that it is external to the base unit.
 
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midnightAI

Member
This is a patent to reduce the number of components (it even says as such in the abstract), I see no mention of removable drive in the patent?
 
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Fafalada

Fafracer forever
Like the 'new model' would have an empty drive bay that this slots INto ... not that it is external to the base unit.
Making it force comply to some physical mold is the cheap way to prevent 3rdparty options i guess.

Indeed would have liked to see something that would work with any model(even og disc, makes repairs simpler) but perhaps not.
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
I see no mention of removable drive in the patent?
Not sure anything in that is patent worthy in of itself, external optical drives existed for... 25 years now?

But you're right, this particular patent has at best ancillary relation to the rumored ps5 revision.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
If the disc drive add on is true, Sony is fucking smart by making the disc drive optional.
Not only they can easily market PS5 to both physical/digital consumer, but this may allow us to replace the disk drive easily
 
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Dr.Morris79

Gold Member
If the disc drive add on is true, Sony is fucking smart by making the disc drive optional.
Not only they can easily market PS5 to both physical/digital consumer, but this may allow us to replace the disk drive easily
Yeah, at what cost though?

People seem quick to forget Sonys bullshit overpriced proprietary Vita memory. Whats to say they dont overcharge for a shitty drive?
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Yeah, at what cost though?

People seem quick to forget Sonys bullshit overpriced proprietary Vita memory. Whats to say they dont overcharge for a shitty drive?
its better than repalce the whole ps5 once the warrnty over though

i highly doubt they are going to charge the disc drive at a ridiculous price, but then it could just me alone because im fine with Edge stick modular price. (i bought 2 lol)
 
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Dr.Morris79

Gold Member
its better than repalce the whole ps5 once the warrnty over though
True, i'd prefer it if companies made consoles easily fixable, i'm just hesitant of Sony and their weird ideas.

For now i'd be happier for them to just reform the entire console to fit in one of my units. I've had to stick it on the back part of my LG C1, utterly stupid design.
 

darthkarki

Member
Multiple times in the document it speaks of it being mounted IN electronic equipment … not ON. Are we sure this is an external drive? It sounds more like it might be meant to slot into a bay that exists IN the electronic equipment. Like the 'new model' would have an empty drive bay that this slots INto ... not that it is external to the base unit.

Wasn't that always what was reported for the new console design? I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure the original leak was a console with a removable optical drive, not external.
 
Yeah, at what cost though?

People seem quick to forget Sonys bullshit overpriced proprietary Vita memory. Whats to say they dont overcharge for a shitty drive?
The disc version already costs 100 more, which it certainly doesn't actually cost.
An removable option, if still 100, would make it at least easily upgradeable.
I bought a disc version because digital were still the unicorn rarities, but since I only used my PS4 drive once, I doubt I actually will ever need it. Digital would have been enough, but then having an upgrade option would be even better.
 

Kdad

Member
Wasn't that always what was reported for the new console design? I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure the original leak was a console with a removable optical drive, not external.
From the Tom Henderson article:

Sources have implied that although the new detachable disc drive is portable, it will not ruin the aesthetics of the console and will attach to it without looking external, presumably meaning the new PlayStation 5 will look similar to the existing model.

"attach TO it" and 'detachable" would seem to imply external but...potato / potato
 
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skit_data

Member
It wont. The digital edition motherboard is missing a chip that allows to read from the drive. A youtuber that fix consoles tried to do it and noticed that.
I’m not super-knowledgable on the subject but shouldn’t a USB port be enough to transfer the data from the disc drive, provided there’s a system software update that ”unlocks” it for that use?

Afaik the ”will a Digital Edition PS5 recognize a drive?” in that video mostly conclude it won’t, but I think it’s possible Sony could unlock it with this type of solution since the drive according to the leaks/rumors will be using USB anyway. If it’s connected the same way the Standard Edition disc drive it’s probably correct it won’t work at all.

Edit: It’s supposedly a USB-C port on the back of the new console model, so yeah it’s possible it won’t work unless it’s possible to connect it via the front.
 
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supernova8

Banned
From the Tom Henderson article:

Sources have implied that although the new detachable disc drive is portable, it will not ruin the aesthetics of the console and will attach to it without looking external, presumably meaning the new PlayStation 5 will look similar to the existing model.

"attach TO it" and 'detachable" would seem to imply external but...potato / potato
Regardless of what Tom Henderson says, I reckon it'll have a modular-looking appearance, with one section being a "dummy" drive bay that can be swapped out for a module with a disc drive, such that you can barely tell whether it has a disc drive or not. As for how it connects, I'd imagine they will just come up with some proprietary connector that clicks into place (to make it as idiot-proof as possible).
 
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01011001

Banned
Regardless of what Tom Henderson says, I reckon it'll have a modular-looking appearance, with one section being a "dummy" drive bay that can be swapped out for a module with a disc drive, such that you can barely tell whether it has a disc drive or not. As for how it connects, I'd imagine they will just come up with some proprietary connector that clicks into place (to make it as idiot-proof as possible).

the way they could do it, using the current "FAT" model as an example, would be to have the console look like the Digital version when you buy it.
but then when you buy the Disc Drive attachment, the box of it includes a side plate that changes the shape to look like the Disc model, with the disc drive being attached underneath that sideplate, basically hiding the deive inside the plate once it is attached, and if it's not attached you hide the port with the original sideplate
 
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Aenima

Member
I’m not super-knowledgable on the subject but shouldn’t a USB port be enough to transfer the data from the disc drive, provided there’s a system software update that ”unlocks” it for that use?

Afaik the ”will a Digital Edition PS5 recognize a drive?” in that video mostly conclude it won’t, but I think it’s possible Sony could unlock it with this type of solution since the drive according to the leaks/rumors will be using USB anyway. If it’s connected the same way the Standard Edition disc drive it’s probably correct it won’t work at all.

Edit: It’s supposedly a USB-C port on the back of the new console model, so yeah it’s possible it won’t work unless it’s possible to connect it via the front.
Yeah if they make the drive connect via usb port, I guess its possible.
 

01011001

Banned
Yeah if they make the drive connect via usb port, I guess its possible.

they could actually do this now with a firmware update.

the PS5 already detects external Bluray drives, and it even displays movie titles and icons when inserted.
it simply will give an error once you actually try to play anything from it.

so this a completely arbitrary limitation the current digital version has, which could be patched.
 

kingyala

Banned
Its time we all asked ourselves, what is the real point of dvd drives? first of all all games are played thro
I'll never forget MS backing the wrong horse. The Blu-Ray Consortium Memes regarding how big it would continue to grow VS HD-DVD shrinking, were always fun times.
Those mother fuckers on N4G were eating crow when HD-DVD went bust. Fucking tears tasted like Hennessey Privilege
https://www.quora.com/Which-Xbox-360-games-are-on-multiple-discs this is the problem hd dvd should have been the main drive inside the 360 since it can hold up to 30gb of data while a normal dvd drive can hold only 10gb max, if microsoft followed game devs warning's that the dvd drive inside x360 didnt have enough capacity then xbox 360 would have been one of the best designed console ever and microsoft would have really beat sony that gen, but yep they never did and suffered for it...
 

kingyala

Banned
The point is owning the media you're buying as opposed to some nebulous digital rental contract. At least for me. I won't buy the PS5 digital.
i know that, but thats the issue because on one hand the internet is very enticing and on the other hand its actually taking away our freedoms.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
reminds me of this bad boy
KS67dG8.jpg

Let's hope if they ever go this way they try and size it like a typical portable Bluray drive. I don't know how that external drive for 360 got so big, unless it was using a drive that was designed to be internal. It wasn't like slim laptop drives weren't already a thing at that point.

+1 for just putting the focus on making it smaller and less hideous looking. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Although if they did the no disk + add on disk model, watch them raise the price by $100 and then I'll be wishing I had grabbed an ugly DE for $400.
 
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kingyala

Banned
Let's hope if they ever go this way they try and size it like a typical portable Bluray drive. I don't know how that external drive for 360 got so big, unless it was using a drive that was designed to be internal. It wasn't like slim laptop drives weren't already a thing at that point.

+1 for just putting the focus on making it smaller and less hideous looking. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Although if they did the no disk + add on disk model, watch them raise the price by $100 and then I'll be wishing I had grabbed an ugly DE for $400.
nah fam slim dvd drives where already a thing years before the xbox 360 infact windows 95 laptops had slim external cd drives... portable dvd players where a thing in the 2000's i watched the whole lord of the rings saga on my portable dvd player as a kid... so i still dont understand why that hd dvd drive was so big...
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Looks just like a ps5 drive. Ribbons and all.
Nothing external about this
 
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DaGwaphics

Member
nah fam slim dvd drives where already a thing years before the xbox 360 infact windows 95 laptops had slim external cd drives... portable dvd players where a thing in the 2000's i watched the whole lord of the rings saga on my portable dvd player as a kid... so i still dont understand why that hd dvd drive was so big...

Agreed. That's actually what I was saying "that it was not like slim drives were not already a thing". I did use a double negative in that sentence though, might have thrown it off for you.

There was speculation that the 360 was considering the HD-DVD as the default drive, I assume those larger internal drives got repurposed to this addon and that's why it was so gigantic.
 

kingyala

Banned
Agreed. That's actually what I was saying "that it was not like slim drives were not already a thing". I did use a double negative in that sentence though, might have thrown it off for you.

There was speculation that the 360 was considering the HD-DVD as the default drive, I assume those larger internal drives got repurposed to this addon and that's why it was so gigantic.
yeah i think not including the hd dvd drive inside the x360 is one of the worst design decisions in console history... the x360 was better than ps3 in almost all areas except that cheap dvd drive that resulted in games having multiple discs on 360.. it almost feels like microsoft intentionally does bad decisions..
 

DaGwaphics

Member
yeah i think not including the hd dvd drive inside the x360 is one of the worst design decisions in console history... the x360 was better than ps3 in almost all areas except that cheap dvd drive that resulted in games having multiple discs on 360.. it almost feels like microsoft intentionally does bad decisions..

They make some questionable calls, I don't think the DVD drive was one of them though. The handful of games that needed the extra disks weren't worth sacrificing drive speed to get the HD-DVD (the 12x DVD was 16MBs per second, the HD-DVD would have been half that speed as was the Bluray drive in the PS3).
 

FrankWza

Member
I'm all for an even more modular design next gen. They should allow for components to be upgraded that would take the place of a pro console mid gen. Doesn't have to be full on like PC and you keep a closed ecosystem.
 
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