If you should want to that is. Sony’s PlayStation Vue has come up with a brand new feature that will allow users to stream as many as three channels all at once. Predictably, the feature is known as multi-view and has been launched today.
Streaming is the new field of battle for video service providers. And providers are coming up with new, inventive ways to differentiate their services from the rest. For instance, YouTube launched a TV subscription service with access to live content only last week.
Along the same, Sony’s PlayStation Vu is also coming up with a brand new feature of its own. While I am not sure exactly how useful the feature will prove to be, you can now watch up to three live TV channels together on one screen should you care to. Announcing the feature, Sony said:
Today, we’re launching a new multi-view feature for PlayStation Vue that allows you to watch up to three live channels — all on one screen. With March Madness starting next week, this will be a great way to catch several live games at once from TNT, TBS, TruTV and CBS.* You can also use this feature for any live TV channel available on Vue, such as watching a mix of live news programs or live events at once.
Actually, there is a main video that occupies the largest amount of real estate. The extra couple of videos aren’t overlaid on the main video window, but instead are positioned to the side in the form of smaller thumbnails. You can click upon any of the thumbnails to bring them up as the main.
The feature has been made available only for the PS4 and is not supported on any of the other platforms that offer access to Vue services. The feature appears to have been aimed at sports fans who can use it to keep track of several live games.
To use the feature, simply press and hold X while on any live TV program. This will give you the option of choosing to watch two or even three programs side-by-side on your home screen. Simply press X to start the program and then hold down the same for multi-view. The main window, that is the largest one, will have the audio turned on at any instant. Which is probably a good thing, since I am quite sure that our brains won’t be able to handle three different sound streams.
