Product Description

PLAYSTATION 3 already offers cutting-edge gaming and a High Definition Blu-ray Disc movie player, and soon you'll be able to watch, pause and record free-to-air digital television, thanks to PlayTV. It couldn't be easier to set up; simply plug a TV aerial into the back of the PlayTV Tuner, connect the PlayTV Tuner to your PS3 using a USB cable and then follow the on-screen instructions. And once you're up and running, you can record one channel while watching another or playing a PS3 game; see what's on now and next, with the easy to use Programme Guide; and watch TV when you're out and about, using Remote Play for PSP. In fact, you can enjoy all of PlayTV's great features on your PSP, whether you want to watch your recorded programmes or schedule new recordings. All you have to do is find a Wireless hotspot and activate the Remote Play feature. PlayTV is another reason to have PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP at the centre of your living room, and it's coming soon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #906 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2008-09-19
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Dimensions: .82 pounds

Features

• With Sony's PlayTV,you'll have total control over your TV! In fact, thanks to the PlayTV's twin digital tuner, you can recordone of 19 free HD TV channels using your PS3 games console while you're watchinganother. You can take a break from viewing using the pause mode, while featuressuch as WiFi connectivity make it possible to hook thePlayTV up to your PSP and access the entire service fromanywhere in the world. What's more, you can even schedule recordings. Features: - USB DVB digital TV t
• uner for PS3 - Digital recording feature - Direct control - Compatible with SD & HD TV - Electronic programme guide - Remote play with PSP connectivity
• SONY COMPUTER PlayTV

Amazon.co.uk
PS3 already gives your family next-generation gaming, Blu-ray movies, music, video, web browsing and PLAYSTATION Network support – all in one unit. Now, with PlayTV, it has the functionality of a state-of-the-art TV tuner and PVR – it’s great value and it’s one more reason to make PS3 the centre of your family entertainment.

Two TV tuners: watch one programme while recording another.

Electronic Programme Guide: a seven-day navigation interface that makes it easy to programme and watch PlayTV. It’s lightning fast and simple to use with either PS3’s SIXAXIS controller or the Blu-ray Remote Control.

Watch, pause and rewind live TV: TV programmes now operate at the viewers’ convenience. Just hit the pause button to take a break without missing a thing – and rewind any bits to watch over and over again.

Portable viewing with PSP: Seamless PSP connectivity allows you to set recordings remotely and to watch live TV streamed on your PSP wherever you are via a WiFi connection (using Remote Play feature).

Record TV:

while you're playing games on your PS3

Customer Reviews

Excellent PS3/Freeview add-on
Well my PlayTV arrived this morning.. and setup took about 5 mins.. Not sure I want to set through that video it plays whilst it installs again but i guess once is fine. ;).

I've a Sixaxis and a bd-handset. was surprised that the kit came with an overlay for the handset. Handy..

Unit itself is small and once I'd confirmed it was working just tucked it away behind the tv.. I notice its wall mountable but I figure its not worth the hassle. Can gather dust along with the other cables.

Firstly the picture quality.. I am running my PS3 through a KDL-40V4000 at 1080p, so I was not expecting much more from the Freeview quality. I was very surprised at the increase and smoothness of the image.. Of course they are still only at 720x576 but all the same they upscale very well to 1080p. So this is the BEST quality Freeview image I've yet seen.

Secondly everything is very responsive and fast.. Once the PlayTV application is loaded and running the guide, changing channels etc. is very smooth.. Excellent.

Next try out the pause live TV and rewind functionality.. very slick..l worked very well with the Tennis today.

Lastly recording from a schedule.. Very easy.. go tot he guide/or search by name and then setup the recording options.. If there is a conflict it prompts you to decide which to record and which to discard. Excellent. Next I recorded a program and then exported it to the regular PS3 video folder.. From there I can copy it to a memory card etc. So confirmed no DRM.

Did a few test recordings whilst playing games.. No noticeable problems. with either the game or the recordings. The unit will also bring itself online from standby which it pretty neat.. then it goes back to standby.. very neat..

Remote play works very well and whilst am looking forwards to watching live TV from around the country/world. Along with the rest of my videos, games and music.

Hassles & Niggles
Had a little difficulty getting the PS3 to detect the playTV unit when i plugged it into my external USB hub but its not the first device to do that!!..

So overall I recommend this product as an excellent upgrade to a regular setup box.. the ability to pause and rewind are excellent and the recording/pvr functionality is very easy to use and the playback quality is fantastic.

Just need to wait four years and see what happens on the HD-Freeview front.. although personaly I think PS3-Iplayer and PS-Video store will probably come along with HD content first.

One of the best Freeview services available
Play TV (PS3)

I previously used the Freeview service on my Toshiba TV. We also have Virgin + in the house. PlayTV is miles ahead of both these services.

The home screen has everything you need on it; Live TV, Library, Search, Guide, Settings.

Live TV: The navigation of live tv is the best of any freeview, cable or satellite service I have seen. There is a small bar that makes it easy to see how much of the programme has been shown and how much there is left to be watched. You can also see what programme is up next.

If you press start then live tv will be paused until you press play again. This is great if, for example, you want to skip adverts or go to dinner and want to start watching where you left off.

To record a programme all you need to do is press select and it will start recording to the PS3's hard drive. The other way to record a programme is to go into the EPG whilst in live tv or Guide on the home screen. There is also the same bar that lets you see how much of the programme has been seen. Most of the time the guide will show you the programmes but occasionally you might not get any information which can be annoying.

You can either use the PS3 controller or PS3 remote. In the contents of the box you get a stick on cover for the PS3 remote so you can see what buttons do what. If you use the PS3 controller then there is an on-screen remote you can use that has the red, green, yellow, blue and number buttons.

Library: In here you can view all the programmes you have recorded. You can also see how much space each programme has taken up and how much space you have left on the hard drive. Contrary to what many people have been saying, at the moment, there is NO copy protection software. I was able to copy the F1 race onto the video section in the XMB. From there I could take the file and play it on my laptop. However, you cannot transfer the file from the XMB back into the PlayTV library.

Search: This is pretty self explanatory. You can use this feature to search for a specific programme. Once the search results come up you can record the show.

Settings: This has all the usual settings like parental control etc. The best feature here is background recording. This enables you to record programmes whilst playing a game, exploring the playstation store or anything else.

There is one last feature that I think is brilliant. You can set your PS3 up to record a programme whilst you are away. Providing you leave it on standby the PS3 will switch on, record the programme then switch back off again.

PlayTV also supports remote play. I have the first psp model and it works perfectly. You can watch live tv, all your recordings and all the other features. If you were half way round the world and had forgotten to record something all you need to do is use you psp to set it up.

The negatives: There is no reminder feature, you cannot set PlayTV to record a whole series, your setup may look cluttered having usb cables coming out of the front of your ps3.

So I do have one or two niggles with it but they are insignificant compared to how good PlayTV is. Some of these may be addressed with future software updates.

If you are considering buying this then I would because for the money its brilliant.

PlayTV is due updates!!
I highly recommend PlayTV to anyone who has a PS3 and is looking to replace there freeview adapter. As a freeview DVR its slick and easy to use. The GUI is extremely pleasent to view and screen transitions are smooth and responsive. The picture quality is the highest ive seen on any freeview adapter and sound quality is excellent. It upscales most programs to 720i/p? (not sure whether its interlaced or progressive).

There are some shortfalls though. My last DVR (BTvision) was poor, unresponsive and picture quality was poor but it had features that PlayTV seems to currently lack. most DVR's are able to record series so i can record Eastenders, MOTD or any program whenever it is on. This is a basic feature but is lacking from PlayTV. I assume an update will be able to fix this. Also, my BTVision box could record in standby whereas the PS3 has to be on to record programs. It will switch itself on when a program is scheduled to record but wont switch off if your currently watching a program you want to record. Sounds minor but can take a while to get used to. Also, the EPG seems a little slow to update with programs. BTvision used my BB connection to update its EPG. I dont see why sony can give an option for this seeing how most people will have a BB connection on their PS3.

If your thinking of buying this to replace a DVR, then please take the pro's and cons into consideration as the transition from one DVR to another may be difficult if you rely on features currently lacking on Play TV. Like I said, it does have the best picture quality and screen refresh of any DVR ive seen (apart from Sky HD !).

If your keen on using your PS3 as an all in one home entertainment system then this is a must. PlayTV loads as a seperate program on the PS3, so you treat it like a game in the XMB. The plus side to this is that it makes the PS3 an all rounded entertainment system for watching you Blurays, listening to music, playing games, browsing the internet and finally watching/recording freeview TV. I just feel that it could have been so much better. But the faults are mainly software ones.