tl;dr on PS5 specs: CPU: Customized 8-core Ryzen 3000 GPU: Customized Navi with ray tracing & 8K support Storage: SSD, allegedly faster than m.2 NVMe SSDs currently on the market VR: will support...
tl;dr on PS5 specs:
CPU: Customized 8-core Ryzen 3000
GPU: Customized Navi with ray tracing & 8K support
Storage: SSD, allegedly faster than m.2 NVMe SSDs currently on the market
VR: will support current PSVR hardware
Launch: 2020ish
The other two big insights here are that they intend to apply ray tracing tech to audio, and that including this super-fast SSD standard is going to free devs from movement limitations (think webslinging in Spider-Man) and assumptions about loading times & loading screens.
Oh, and full PS4 backwards compatibility, but that's not too surprising given that it's on the same architecture as the PS4.
I call BS on 8K. We don't have any GPUs that handle 8K on the level that consoles would reasonably need. There is almost no 8K displays. And I doubt that AMD can do it. I like AMD but unless Navi...
I call BS on 8K.
We don't have any GPUs that handle 8K on the level that consoles would reasonably need. There is almost no 8K displays. And I doubt that AMD can do it.
I like AMD but unless Navi blows Nvidia square out of the water, that's not happening.
I also call BS on the SSD, though considering how bad the PS3/4 implementation for SATA was, if it can utilize m.2 it should be able to crack 20x on the current performance.
I suspect that it will output 8K but won't render anything in 3D at that resolution. So, the system UI will display in 8K and it will be able to play 8K video content, but games will be rendered...
I call BS on 8K.
I suspect that it will output 8K but won't render anything in 3D at that resolution. So, the system UI will display in 8K and it will be able to play 8K video content, but games will be rendered in 4K.
I also call BS on the SSD
There's nothing particularly outlandish about this claim. Cerny is essentially saying it's gonna be a PCIe 4 NVMe SSD, which is corroborated by his claim that it's powered by a Ryzen 3000. I have zero trouble believing the end result is 20x faster than the 5400 RPM HDD in a PS4 when it comes to loading times.
I hope they dump the touch pad on the dual-shock. I can't think of a game that uses it without it feeling like a gimmick and it drives the price of the controllers way up.
I hope they dump the touch pad on the dual-shock. I can't think of a game that uses it without it feeling like a gimmick and it drives the price of the controllers way up.
If it could better-track finger-gestures/if devs took more advantage of the finger-gestures, I'd have been down to use it way more often. The only game I can recall off-hand using it in any...
If it could better-track finger-gestures/if devs took more advantage of the finger-gestures, I'd have been down to use it way more often.
The only game I can recall off-hand using it in any meaningful way was Witcher 3, where if you swiped in a given direction, a specific menu would be pulled up (iirc up was map, down was inventory, right was quests?).
I remember before I bought it thinking the trackpad was going to be a mini-touchscreen. I hope they don't go with that, considering Apple's got the touchbar on their laptops, and barely anyone actually winds up using it.
I think the Wii U demonstrated that even a high-quality touchscreen in your controller is usually just an expensive distraction from what you really care about looking at, the game unfolding on...
I think the Wii U demonstrated that even a high-quality touchscreen in your controller is usually just an expensive distraction from what you really care about looking at, the game unfolding on the primary screen. The Nintendo Switch was a good iteration that included a great portable touchscreen while always keeping the active display count at one.
The only good use I can think of for individual screens on controllers is for local multiplayer games where you want to keep certain information secret and off the main screen where other players can see it. I don't play sports games but I still think NFL2K made brilliant use of the Dreamcast's VMU by allowing players to choose their plays privately. No idea if that concept still exists in some form today, but I think local multiplayer is largely disappearing in general.
I think most people today who are 20+ years old play on PC and have a console as an extra to play games that are exclusive. They keep using specs to market their new console, but what matter in...
I think most people today who are 20+ years old play on PC and have a console as an extra to play games that are exclusive. They keep using specs to market their new console, but what matter in the end are the games.
I'm 31 and haven't PC gamed since I was a teenager. It is just so much easier on a console - no worrying about hardware, drivers, etc. Just pop the game in or download it, and it works. My gaming...
I'm 31 and haven't PC gamed since I was a teenager. It is just so much easier on a console - no worrying about hardware, drivers, etc. Just pop the game in or download it, and it works. My gaming time is rare and precious and I like not having to spend one second of it troubleshooting.
I'm excited for the PS5, hopefully the beefed up hardware lets them do real experiences in VR instead of three hour mini-games.
I guess all the people replying to my comment have proved me I shouldn't make statements without actual data to back them up, my bad. My original intent was to say that people who really care...
I guess all the people replying to my comment have proved me I shouldn't make statements without actual data to back them up, my bad.
My original intent was to say that people who really care about specs and graphics will most likely buy a PC if they have the money (they are old enough). There might also be a correlation between the type of game you play and the gaming hardware you buy. FPS players who like online games are maybe most likely to buy a PC and forget consoles completly whereas other players might prefer the advantages of a console ( wide variety of games, no need to upgrade constantly, etc.).
It's actually the exclusives that got me to primarily play on my Playstation; if Naughty Dog didn't exist, I probably wouldn't own one. I own a Switch found at a stupid good discount, but I seem...
It's actually the exclusives that got me to primarily play on my Playstation; if Naughty Dog didn't exist, I probably wouldn't own one.
I own a Switch found at a stupid good discount, but I seem to hate fun don't really care for any of its exclusives (ducks), and nothing on XBone has enticed me enough to even consider that either. The only thing I play on my PC these days is Rust or old titles I've accumulated over the years.
Playstation just really sucked me in with their Naughty Dog titles.
I think most people in your social circle who are 20+ years old primarily play on PC, but there's no way this is true across the board. Not even close. [and I say this as a 20+ year old person who...
I think most people in your social circle who are 20+ years old primarily play on PC, but there's no way this is true across the board. Not even close. [and I say this as a 20+ year old person who primarily plays on PC].
I don't think that's true at all. Consoles are still absolutely huge. Building and maintaining a PC, while not exactly difficult, is still a lot more effort than just buying a magic box at Best...
I don't think that's true at all. Consoles are still absolutely huge. Building and maintaining a PC, while not exactly difficult, is still a lot more effort than just buying a magic box at Best Buy and plugging it in to your TV.
That's not entirely true. You can buy a pre-built PC, but odds are you will still be stuck troubleshooting problems with drivers and other software at some point. You have to deal with a litany of...
That's not entirely true. You can buy a pre-built PC, but odds are you will still be stuck troubleshooting problems with drivers and other software at some point. You have to deal with a litany of different storefronts, and there's not a good way to get a single UI for everything that works with a controller from your couch. All of these little things add up to a lot of friction that is largely nonexistent on consoles.
I am basically the same. However I do tend to play some multiplayer games if my buddies are on. Most of Sony's exclusives are just too good to pass up imo.
I am basically the same. However I do tend to play some multiplayer games if my buddies are on. Most of Sony's exclusives are just too good to pass up imo.
Why this, why now? I don't see why it's necessarily helping Sony to marketing to start teasing "PS5" now, if they're also saying it's not shipping in 2019? I feel like this might Osborne the PS4,...
Why this, why now? I don't see why it's necessarily helping Sony to marketing to start teasing "PS5" now, if they're also saying it's not shipping in 2019? I feel like this might Osborne the PS4, unless they feel that they've reached market saturation (having already released an upper-tier version of the original product a chunk of time ago) and that they don't have enough new tier-one PS4 games in the pipeline. If you tease the next thing without enough reasons for people to keep buying, you'll see your customers turtle up—and that might translate to weak 2019 holiday sales.
Maybe a preemptive strike against the upcoming game streaming services like Google Stadia, and signs of Amazon and Apple circling the waters. Sure they'll cannibalize their PS4 sales a bit, but...
Maybe a preemptive strike against the upcoming game streaming services like Google Stadia, and signs of Amazon and Apple circling the waters. Sure they'll cannibalize their PS4 sales a bit, but staying in control of the conversation helps prevent bigger losses to other platforms that will launch sooner.
From the wiki article you linked: "Pre-announcement is done for several reasons: to reassure current customers that there is improvement or lower cost coming, to increase the interest of the media and investors in the company's future prospects, and to intimidate or confuse competitors." All these reasons ring true for Sony right now.
I regret buying a PS4. My credit cart recently denied payment for a game, and because of that Sony blocked me from my account. I have more than 1000 dollars in games, and they locked me out like a...
I regret buying a PS4. My credit cart recently denied payment for a game, and because of that Sony blocked me from my account. I have more than 1000 dollars in games, and they locked me out like a criminal because of a 50 dollars purchase. After a few days, I wasn't even able to play my offline games anymore. They could have just called me or taken the game from my account, but treated me like a criminal instead. I had to buy a PSN card on a physical store for a value greater than my debt, enter it on a special page and wait for it to be processed. And even then, there were no guarantees!
There's also the whole compatibility issue. Most 360 games are playable on Xbox One, while on PS4 you have to buy the same game multiple times. With the same architecture, it would be very hard to justify a new console without retro-compatibility. But let's see. Either way, I'm not buying anything from Sony ever again.
This is a serious problem relating to digital purchases. Our ownership rights have been completely eroded by these modern game stores and you don't have to wear a tin foil hat to understand the...
This is a serious problem relating to digital purchases. Our ownership rights have been completely eroded by these modern game stores and you don't have to wear a tin foil hat to understand the impact of something like your case or if hackers get in to your account. For this reason whenever I buy games digitally I make sure that its from a store that allows me to save the game drm free so that if my account is lost or locked the games will continue running. This could prove problematic for updates however but if I was ever prevented from getting updates fro something I paid for I would have no issues torrenting it.
looks like it wasn't even just digital purchases. If I'm understanding correctly, it even locked out the discs. (may be completely off-base here, though)
I wasn't even able to play my offline games anymore
looks like it wasn't even just digital purchases. If I'm understanding correctly, it even locked out the discs. (may be completely off-base here, though)
I did call customer support, but before that there was no indication on the reason for the ban or how to proceed from there. I thought someone had hacked my account and shouted racial slurs in the...
I did call customer support, but before that there was no indication on the reason for the ban or how to proceed from there. I thought someone had hacked my account and shouted racial slurs in the voice chat. Either way, the response extremely exaggerated, and the solution was cumbersome and made me spend more money than the original purchase.
My sympathy level just tanked. [see edit below] It honestly sounds to me like your response was extremely exaggerated. You do realize that they have to deal with people trying to rip them off...
shouted racial slurs in the voice chat
My sympathy level just tanked.[see edit below] It honestly sounds to me like your response was extremely exaggerated. You do realize that they have to deal with people trying to rip them off thousands of times a day, right? I get an email that someone's trying to reset my account password every couple of months, and my username there is nothing desirable or even recognizable to most people. I can only imagine how many dirtballs are trying to get free games, day after day. An inconvenient misunderstanding, yes, but "I'm never buying anything from Sony again" after one mild inconvenience that was apparently solved same-day seems a bit extreme.
Edit: mrbig didn't mean what I thought he meant. He meant what @nothis said, and I've apologized. The rest of the comment remains my thoughts.
Are you sure you've read this correctly? I assumed he meant someone hacked his account and the hacker then shouted racial slurs while logged in with his username, thus provoking a ban.
I thought someone had hacked my account and shouted racial slurs in the voice chat.
Are you sure you've read this correctly? I assumed he meant someone hacked his account and the hacker then shouted racial slurs while logged in with his username, thus provoking a ban.
Oh shit, upon re-reading his comment, I think you may be correct. He didn’t correct me in his reply to my comment, though, so I’m still not sure. @mrbig, care to clarify? I’ll happily apologize...
Oh shit, upon re-reading his comment, I think you may be correct. He didn’t correct me in his reply to my comment, though, so I’m still not sure. @mrbig, care to clarify? I’ll happily apologize for my error if that’s what you meant.
Nah, man, I really do apologize. I read it when I was busy and should have been more careful before responding the way I did. That wasn't a very charitable interpretation of your comment—it would...
Nah, man, I really do apologize. I read it when I was busy and should have been more careful before responding the way I did. That wasn't a very charitable interpretation of your comment—it would have been better to have assumed the opposite meaning. I very much apologize, and I've edited my original comment.
i mean getting locked out of something you've sunk over 1,000 dollars into (console price + games) with no guarantee of getting back in is probably something i would categorize as a bit more than...
An inconvenient misunderstanding, yes, but "I'm never buying anything from Sony again" after one mild inconvenience that was apparently solved same-day seems a bit extreme.
i mean getting locked out of something you've sunk over 1,000 dollars into (console price + games) with no guarantee of getting back in is probably something i would categorize as a bit more than a "mild inconvenience" and is absolutely a valid reason in my view to be weary of buying such a large purchase again. (it's also a great case for buying physical games or games which you can install with no caveats and trying to avoid this more recent model of 'you basically only own your game through your whatever account/digitally and if your account [or whatever you have to use to access those games] gets fucked, you're probably fucked too', incidentally)
I'm sorry your sympathy level just thanked, but that's how I felt at the time. There was absolutely no information regarding what was happening, I wasn't able to log into my account or play any of...
I'm sorry your sympathy level just thanked, but that's how I felt at the time. There was absolutely no information regarding what was happening, I wasn't able to log into my account or play any of my previously purchased games - even offline. It was a full blown ban because of a 50 dollars purchase, and every official guide and documentation gave me the impression it was a serious and permanent matter. I was shocked.
I understand it's not easy to manage something like the PSN, but, if errors are bound to happen, they should at least be less severe in their reaction. And also improve documentation in the help channels.
Why are you carrying water for a billion dollar company? Is blocking access to items you already purchased ever a reasonable move? This is exactly why I've moved away from these kinds of services...
Why are you carrying water for a billion dollar company? Is blocking access to items you already purchased ever a reasonable move? This is exactly why I've moved away from these kinds of services (as much as possible).
No, I do agree with that and I'm a big proponent of physical media for games. But he didn't state that he permanently lost anything, and I see too many hyperbolic statements like "I'm never buying...
No, I do agree with that and I'm a big proponent of physical media for games. But he didn't state that he permanently lost anything, and I see too many hyperbolic statements like "I'm never buying any product from that company again" over minor inconveniences that are a matter of customer service.
It’s important to notice that in every step of the way the documentation made it clear that a permanent ban was not only possible but very likely. And I reacted to that.
It’s important to notice that in every step of the way the documentation made it clear that a permanent ban was not only possible but very likely. And I reacted to that.
Got it. It just sounded like a gross overreaction. I get that these things can be frustrating. I had my PlayStation account actually stolen a couple of years ago, and they were very helpful in...
Got it. It just sounded like a gross overreaction. I get that these things can be frustrating. I had my PlayStation account actually stolen a couple of years ago, and they were very helpful in getting it back for me, so maybe I'm a bit biased.
tl;dr on PS5 specs:
The other two big insights here are that they intend to apply ray tracing tech to audio, and that including this super-fast SSD standard is going to free devs from movement limitations (think webslinging in Spider-Man) and assumptions about loading times & loading screens.
Oh, and full PS4 backwards compatibility, but that's not too surprising given that it's on the same architecture as the PS4.
I call BS on 8K.
We don't have any GPUs that handle 8K on the level that consoles would reasonably need. There is almost no 8K displays. And I doubt that AMD can do it.
I like AMD but unless Navi blows Nvidia square out of the water, that's not happening.
I also call BS on the SSD, though considering how bad the PS3/4 implementation for SATA was, if it can utilize m.2 it should be able to crack 20x on the current performance.
I suspect that it will output 8K but won't render anything in 3D at that resolution. So, the system UI will display in 8K and it will be able to play 8K video content, but games will be rendered in 4K.
There's nothing particularly outlandish about this claim. Cerny is essentially saying it's gonna be a PCIe 4 NVMe SSD, which is corroborated by his claim that it's powered by a Ryzen 3000. I have zero trouble believing the end result is 20x faster than the 5400 RPM HDD in a PS4 when it comes to loading times.
I hope they dump the touch pad on the dual-shock. I can't think of a game that uses it without it feeling like a gimmick and it drives the price of the controllers way up.
They are stuck keeping it since apparently backwards compatibility with PS4 games is going to be a feature.
If it could better-track finger-gestures/if devs took more advantage of the finger-gestures, I'd have been down to use it way more often.
The only game I can recall off-hand using it in any meaningful way was Witcher 3, where if you swiped in a given direction, a specific menu would be pulled up (iirc up was map, down was inventory, right was quests?).
I remember before I bought it thinking the trackpad was going to be a mini-touchscreen. I hope they don't go with that, considering Apple's got the touchbar on their laptops, and barely anyone actually winds up using it.
I think the Wii U demonstrated that even a high-quality touchscreen in your controller is usually just an expensive distraction from what you really care about looking at, the game unfolding on the primary screen. The Nintendo Switch was a good iteration that included a great portable touchscreen while always keeping the active display count at one.
The only good use I can think of for individual screens on controllers is for local multiplayer games where you want to keep certain information secret and off the main screen where other players can see it. I don't play sports games but I still think NFL2K made brilliant use of the Dreamcast's VMU by allowing players to choose their plays privately. No idea if that concept still exists in some form today, but I think local multiplayer is largely disappearing in general.
Shared from the official PlayStation twitter: https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1118124767934959617
I think most people today who are 20+ years old play on PC and have a console as an extra to play games that are exclusive. They keep using specs to market their new console, but what matter in the end are the games.
I'm 31 and haven't PC gamed since I was a teenager. It is just so much easier on a console - no worrying about hardware, drivers, etc. Just pop the game in or download it, and it works. My gaming time is rare and precious and I like not having to spend one second of it troubleshooting.
I'm excited for the PS5, hopefully the beefed up hardware lets them do real experiences in VR instead of three hour mini-games.
I guess all the people replying to my comment have proved me I shouldn't make statements without actual data to back them up, my bad.
My original intent was to say that people who really care about specs and graphics will most likely buy a PC if they have the money (they are old enough). There might also be a correlation between the type of game you play and the gaming hardware you buy. FPS players who like online games are maybe most likely to buy a PC and forget consoles completly whereas other players might prefer the advantages of a console ( wide variety of games, no need to upgrade constantly, etc.).
It's actually the exclusives that got me to primarily play on my Playstation; if Naughty Dog didn't exist, I probably wouldn't own one.
I own a Switch found at a stupid good discount, but I
seem to hate fundon't really care for any of its exclusives (ducks), and nothing on XBone has enticed me enough to even consider that either. The only thing I play on my PC these days is Rust or old titles I've accumulated over the years.Playstation just really sucked me in with their Naughty Dog titles.
I think most people in your social circle who are 20+ years old primarily play on PC, but there's no way this is true across the board. Not even close. [and I say this as a 20+ year old person who primarily plays on PC].
I don't think that's true at all. Consoles are still absolutely huge. Building and maintaining a PC, while not exactly difficult, is still a lot more effort than just buying a magic box at Best Buy and plugging it in to your TV.
You can do the exact same thing with a pc. Its just if you can build it yourself you should for price reasons.
That's not entirely true. You can buy a pre-built PC, but odds are you will still be stuck troubleshooting problems with drivers and other software at some point. You have to deal with a litany of different storefronts, and there's not a good way to get a single UI for everything that works with a controller from your couch. All of these little things add up to a lot of friction that is largely nonexistent on consoles.
I am basically the same. However I do tend to play some multiplayer games if my buddies are on. Most of Sony's exclusives are just too good to pass up imo.
Article from Digital Foundry: Spec Analysis: Sony's surprise PlayStation 5 tech reveal
Why this, why now? I don't see why it's necessarily helping Sony to marketing to start teasing "PS5" now, if they're also saying it's not shipping in 2019? I feel like this might Osborne the PS4, unless they feel that they've reached market saturation (having already released an upper-tier version of the original product a chunk of time ago) and that they don't have enough new tier-one PS4 games in the pipeline. If you tease the next thing without enough reasons for people to keep buying, you'll see your customers turtle up—and that might translate to weak 2019 holiday sales.
Maybe a preemptive strike against the upcoming game streaming services like Google Stadia, and signs of Amazon and Apple circling the waters. Sure they'll cannibalize their PS4 sales a bit, but staying in control of the conversation helps prevent bigger losses to other platforms that will launch sooner.
From the wiki article you linked: "Pre-announcement is done for several reasons: to reassure current customers that there is improvement or lower cost coming, to increase the interest of the media and investors in the company's future prospects, and to intimidate or confuse competitors." All these reasons ring true for Sony right now.
Osborne, now there's a reference I haven't heard in a long time.
I regret buying a PS4. My credit cart recently denied payment for a game, and because of that Sony blocked me from my account. I have more than 1000 dollars in games, and they locked me out like a criminal because of a 50 dollars purchase. After a few days, I wasn't even able to play my offline games anymore. They could have just called me or taken the game from my account, but treated me like a criminal instead. I had to buy a PSN card on a physical store for a value greater than my debt, enter it on a special page and wait for it to be processed. And even then, there were no guarantees!
There's also the whole compatibility issue. Most 360 games are playable on Xbox One, while on PS4 you have to buy the same game multiple times. With the same architecture, it would be very hard to justify a new console without retro-compatibility. But let's see. Either way, I'm not buying anything from Sony ever again.
This is a serious problem relating to digital purchases. Our ownership rights have been completely eroded by these modern game stores and you don't have to wear a tin foil hat to understand the impact of something like your case or if hackers get in to your account. For this reason whenever I buy games digitally I make sure that its from a store that allows me to save the game drm free so that if my account is lost or locked the games will continue running. This could prove problematic for updates however but if I was ever prevented from getting updates fro something I paid for I would have no issues torrenting it.
looks like it wasn't even just digital purchases. If I'm understanding correctly, it even locked out the discs. (may be completely off-base here, though)
I was guessing that meant digital purchase but the game did not use the internet
Why not try calling customer support?
fwiw, the article mentioned the ps5 being backwards compatible with the ps4.
I did call customer support, but before that there was no indication on the reason for the ban or how to proceed from there. I thought someone had hacked my account and shouted racial slurs in the voice chat. Either way, the response extremely exaggerated, and the solution was cumbersome and made me spend more money than the original purchase.
My sympathy level just tanked.[see edit below] It honestly sounds to me like your response was extremely exaggerated. You do realize that they have to deal with people trying to rip them off thousands of times a day, right? I get an email that someone's trying to reset my account password every couple of months, and my username there is nothing desirable or even recognizable to most people. I can only imagine how many dirtballs are trying to get free games, day after day. An inconvenient misunderstanding, yes, but "I'm never buying anything from Sony again" after one mild inconvenience that was apparently solved same-day seems a bit extreme.Edit: mrbig didn't mean what I thought he meant. He meant what @nothis said, and I've apologized. The rest of the comment remains my thoughts.
Are you sure you've read this correctly? I assumed he meant someone hacked his account and the hacker then shouted racial slurs while logged in with his username, thus provoking a ban.
Oh shit, upon re-reading his comment, I think you may be correct. He didn’t correct me in his reply to my comment, though, so I’m still not sure. @mrbig, care to clarify? I’ll happily apologize for my error if that’s what you meant.
That’s right. But no problem! Honest mistake.
Nah, man, I really do apologize. I read it when I was busy and should have been more careful before responding the way I did. That wasn't a very charitable interpretation of your comment—it would have been better to have assumed the opposite meaning. I very much apologize, and I've edited my original comment.
It’s all good ;)
i mean getting locked out of something you've sunk over 1,000 dollars into (console price + games) with no guarantee of getting back in is probably something i would categorize as a bit more than a "mild inconvenience" and is absolutely a valid reason in my view to be weary of buying such a large purchase again. (it's also a great case for buying physical games or games which you can install with no caveats and trying to avoid this more recent model of 'you basically only own your game through your whatever account/digitally and if your account [or whatever you have to use to access those games] gets fucked, you're probably fucked too', incidentally)
I'm sorry your sympathy level just thanked, but that's how I felt at the time. There was absolutely no information regarding what was happening, I wasn't able to log into my account or play any of my previously purchased games - even offline. It was a full blown ban because of a 50 dollars purchase, and every official guide and documentation gave me the impression it was a serious and permanent matter. I was shocked.
I understand it's not easy to manage something like the PSN, but, if errors are bound to happen, they should at least be less severe in their reaction. And also improve documentation in the help channels.
Why are you carrying water for a billion dollar company? Is blocking access to items you already purchased ever a reasonable move? This is exactly why I've moved away from these kinds of services (as much as possible).
No, I do agree with that and I'm a big proponent of physical media for games. But he didn't state that he permanently lost anything, and I see too many hyperbolic statements like "I'm never buying any product from that company again" over minor inconveniences that are a matter of customer service.
It’s important to notice that in every step of the way the documentation made it clear that a permanent ban was not only possible but very likely. And I reacted to that.
Got it. It just sounded like a gross overreaction. I get that these things can be frustrating. I had my PlayStation account actually stolen a couple of years ago, and they were very helpful in getting it back for me, so maybe I'm a bit biased.