Play TV

I don't know when its out but it looks bloody good. The link up with the PSP is a really good idea.

Are the channels the standard Freeview ones or are we talking Sky Sports etc...?

On a side note i heard the other day that Sony are looking to amalgamate the Sony Ericsson phone with a new variation of the PSP to create a Sony Gaming Phone. With the popularity of the IPhone right now and the popularity of gaming in general i could see this being a very lucrative opportunty for Sony.

If Play TV is reasonably priced i'll definately be looking into it.
 
Garethw said:
I don't know when its out but it looks bloody good. The link up with the PSP is a really good idea.

Are the channels the standard Freeview ones or are we talking Sky Sports etc...?

On a side note i heard the other day that Sony are looking to amalgamate the Sony Ericsson phone with a new variation of the PSP to create a Sony Gaming Phone. With the popularity of the IPhone right now and the popularity of gaming in general i could see this being a very lucrative opportunty for Sony.

If Play TV is reasonably priced i'll definately be looking into it.
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Sony have agreed a deal with Sky, but I don't think any details about the channels you'll be able to get have been released. I think it is scheduled for March 28 and will be priced at £99, not too excessive.
 
esmufc07 said:
Sony have agreed a deal with Sky, but I don't think any details about the channels you'll be able to get have been released. I think it is scheduled for March 28 and will be priced at £99, not too excessive.
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Sweet! Cheers for the info dude.
 
This preview is from March, but I thought I would post it as it is being released next month. It gives those who haven't read it a chance to see what it can do and where it can go.

Will you want to buy a PlayTV? We can't answer that just yet. Although we recently had a first-hand demonstration of Sony's digital TV tuner add-on for PlayStation 3 - and came away impressed - there are still two enormous and probably yellowy-orange question marks hanging over the device's future. How much will it cost? And - crucially - will you be able to play games while it's using the PS3's hard drive to record TV?

The first question is important because you can now go down the shops (well, navigate to your favourite online retailer) and pick up a Freeview tuner/recorder that will do almost everything the PlayTV allows you to do for as little as GBP 100. It probably won't be very good - and Sony's own 80GB recorder costs GBP 180 - but still, an extremely competitive price point is vital for a device that only works in conjunction with a GBP 300 games console. We were pleased to learn that HMV's GBP 99.99 price tag wasn't necessarily accurate, and we think 100 Euros (GBP 70 or thereabouts) is much more likely. But Sony needs to sell PlayTV as cheaply as it can possibly afford if it's to do its job - which is to help make the PS3 a viable multimedia hub, to compete with Media Centre PCs, AppleTV and the like. Sony won't even confirm a ballpark price for the unit at present; we await that announcement with interest.

Another argument for a low price is that - physically at least - PlayTV does not invite aspirational gadget lust. It's a small and unassuming thing, about six inches by two inches in footprint, very light, made of dark grey plastic with a matte finish and a curved top like the PS3's. It's inoffensive to look at and the compact size is definitely welcome, but it looks and feels cheap, and the unsightly USB cable that connects it to the front of the PS3 doesn't help. On the plus side, it draws all the power it needs from that cable, freeing up some no doubt much-needed space on the plug board behind the telly. Its only other features are a power LED and a standard RF connector for your TV aerial.

An answer to the second question - can you record TV while playing games? - is vital because, for all its multimedia affectations, the PS3 is still a games machine, and there's every chance PS3 owners will be looking to record TV because they're playing a game. This is also unconfirmed, but the good news is that Sony understands the importance of this very well, has implemented the feature, and is testing it thoroughly.

"It's no secret that we want to do it, but we can't jeopardise gameplay," says Mark Bunting, a producer at Sony's Cambridge Studio, which is working on the software for the PlayTV device. "Every game known to man is under test. At the moment, out of all the testing we've done, we haven't found anything go wrong." It's no exaggeration to say the fate of PlayTV hangs on the outcome of these tests, but as it stands the signs seem very positive.

If PlayTV can clear these hurdles, though, there's nothing to stop it being a roaring success. Based on our demonstration we would recommend all Freeview-using PS3 owners snap one up. PlayTV is fast, HD-ready, with a slick, attractive and highly usable interface and some powerful features. About the only thing it doesn't offer that a Sky Plus box does is the ability to record two channels simultaneously; although it has two receivers, one is dedicated to recording, and the other to live TV.

However, that does mean that you will always be able to watch one channel while you record another, and even pause the live channel or watch previously recorded programmes while a recording is taking place. Setting recordings is simplicity itself - or you can use Select as a one-touch record button - and there's no need to leave your PS3 on for timed recordings. PlayTV will wake it up from standby just before the appropriate time.

Naturally, PlayTV also offers a couple of features that no standard video recorders do: support for PSP remote play, allowing you to control the device and watch TV anywhere, and the ability to do anything you like with your recordings.

PlayTV installs itself as a new group in the PS3's home menu, and clicking on that instantly brings up a circular menu of the tuner's seven modes: live TV, library (all your recordings), settings, a manual, a TV guide, a schedule of recordings and favourite shows, and the rather nifty find-and-record feature. The latter can search TV titles and descriptions with any keyword - our Kiwi host Bunting demonstrated this by searching for any and all programmes about New Zealand in the coming week. A definite plus over regular tuners, there.

The control scheme with a PS3 pad is sound, if a little fiddly - not the fault of the designers, but an inevitable side effect of using a game controller for something it wasn't designed to do. Sensibly, they've included an on-screen remote keypad that you can bring up at any time and move around with the right stick. Nevertheless, picking up a Blu-ray remote as well would seem like a wise move, and if Sony and/or retailers have any sense, they'll be planning to bundle the two.

True to convention, the Sixaxis' start button acts as a pause button for both recordings and live TV. The default setting of the machine is to only start buffering live TV when you hit pause, although if you think you're likely to want to rewind on a whim, you can set it to keep a buffer at all times - this is only turned off to save strain on the hard drive. (Bunting claims that the vast majority of Sky Plus returns are due to knackered hard drives, and points to the superior reliability of the laptop units used in the PS3.) The buffer holds up to two gigabytes' worth of TV in memory at any time, which is an hour and a half to two hour's viewing, depending on the signal. A progress bar across the top of the information box shows where you are in the show, and how much of it is in memory.

The PS3's processing grunt has been put to good use: the load time for interactive features like news multiscreen is noticeably faster than with a standard tuner, and there's a fancy depth-of-field blur applied when you bring up menus over the picture. In contrast to PlayTV's physical presence, its on-screen interface oozes quality and class, even by Sony's own high standards. Sony's Bravia teams have had a lot of input in PlayTV, and it shows.

Last but by no means least is picture quality. Again, this has been tested against the built-in tuners in Bravia TVs, and is as good as you'd expect, although even a PS3 can't manage to make a compressed standard-definition signal look all that good on a large high-definition screen. That said, one of the most appealing aspects of PlayTV is that its future-proofed for the full HD signals that will eventually come to Freeview and its European equivalents. Bunting says the BBC's test signal looks "incredible", and every one of PlayTV's features works perfectly in high definition. The PS3's power and high-quality HDMI output hand PlayTV a big head-start in this area, and it's comforting to know it won't be outmoded any time soon.

So we're praying as hard as Sony must be that those testers in Liverpool - mucking around in Resistance while their PS3's record hour after endless hour of Fern and Phil - don't find any faults with gameplay during recording. If this last piece falls into place - and if the price is right - PlayTV is looking very tempting indeed.
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http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=93867&page=2

Sony has told Eurogamer that PlayTV will be released on 19th September and cost GBP 69.99.

David Reeves had prepared us for a 10th September launch and a European price of EUR 99 (GBP 78). Which means Sony must, like Tesco, know we're feeling the pinch at the moment.

PlayTV is digital video recorder for PS3 that can record TV while you play games or watch other programs. There is no copy protection on content, which is saved in a standard format and can be transferred freely to your PC or PSP - which can also control the box remotely.

The PS3's power is put to good use, and PlayTV is future-proofed to handle HD signals when they saturate the market at some point in the future.

Head over to our preview of PlayTV to find out more, and beware that our main concern in that piece - that Sony couldn't confirm recording at the same time as playing games - has now been clarified: you can.
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http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=212119

I don't think you can go wrong for £69.99, a bargain if you ask me, I've pre-ordered mine:D
 
Hmmm

At first it sounded like a freeview box and that was it...

Now it sounds like a freeview box which can record and shizzle...

Most TV's come with freeview now anyway. Hmmm :/
 
Sounds just like SKY+ but with Freeview.

Not sure if I will get it, if it were all HD channels then I definately would
 
This will eventually end up on the mobo. There were reports if I remember that it is not just for DTTV but it also works for cable programming - that has not been confirmed however. Sony have said that they will support tru2way, so....
 
Slevin said:
Hmmm

At first it sounded like a freeview box and that was it...

Now it sounds like a freeview box which can record and shizzle...

Most TV's come with freeview now anyway. Hmmm :/
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That doesn't make any sense to me at all.

WeasteDevil said:
The recording of TV while playing games was confirmed at E3, so that's a little late in terms of news.
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:p

And James, have a read through the thread.
 
Your most welcome Weaste, I know how you feel about duplicate threads. Ever since I created that WipEout HD one I have been wary ever since:nervous:
 
You need to get your old job back, the mods we currently have are rather shit. (As being mods, as posters their just a level below me)
 
esmufc07 said:
That doesn't make any sense to me at all.



:p

And James, have a read through the thread.
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cheers have done so now, the wall of text made me go cross eyed

looking forward to this, although I don't fully trust that release date, home was meant to be released early this year was it not?

I'll have to have a chat with my freind as he is a developer on home
 
buttocks, just watched a video about play tv and now have 2 issues

1) No TV Aerial (I am on cable)

2) You have to connect it up using USB, and there is no USB port on the back, meaning it is going to have to trail round the front, which is going to look shit. Do the new models have USB on the back?
 
James Parkin said:
buttocks, just watched a video about play tv and now have 2 issues

1) No TV Aerial (I am on cable)

2) You have to connect it up using USB, and there is no USB port on the back, meaning it is going to have to trail round the front, which is going to look shit. Do the new models have USB on the back?
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I'm not too sure about point 1. As I said, I'm sure that it appeared somewhere on an official Sony website that it would also support cable. We'll have to wait and see.

As for point 2, then no, new models do not. The only one that did AFAIK was the original prototype, but that had 6 USB ports. I've also always said that I think that it is retarded that there was never a video in slot on the mobo. Give me a PS3 in a seperates case with 6 USB ports, cable and R/F in and card readers and I'll give you another 500 quid you fecking idiots.
 
Sony has told Eurogamer that PlayTV will not allow saved video files be transferred to PSP, PC or Memory Stick.
Instead, the PS3 TV recorder will only be able to stream live or recorded content to your PSP using Remote Play functionality.

Sony Cambridge, the studio making the software for PlayTV, had told us there was no copy protection or time restrictions on the standard format recordings, which could be moved freely onto all manner of storage devices.

No reason for the change of heart was given.

We were also told that PlayTV will not record HD signals at launch, and that Sony is working on making this feature possible in the future.

PlayTV will launch on 19th September for GBP 69.99.
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FFS Sony!!
 
Don't know if this is bullshit or not, but, if true seems like they have more work to do... If only they really had the SCC with some memory.

Disclaimer: Got a "review copy" of the PlayTV. Version 1.0. Message at start up says software development is in progress and there might be some "performance issues".

- File size is 141MB. It installs on the HDD. No need for the disc after installation. A new "TV" icon appears on the XMB between Video and Game sections. PlayTV is located under this icon.

- There is a contextual option to delete PlayTV. Haven't tested it so I dunno if that also removes the TV category completely as well.

- PlayTV takes about 30 secs to fully start up. From the second you push X on the XMB that is.

- Menu is incredibly slick and fast and after some minutes of set up (channels scanning etc) you are ready to go. Channels selections and going back and forth from TV to menu and viceversa is fast as hell. No pauses, no hiccups. Nothing. Awesome blur effect in the background when something is brought up in the foreground. Cool fade out/fade in effect when switching channels. GUI is a tad bit confusing at first but 5 minutes later you "get it" and it's perfect. Video upscaling is impressive. Doesn't look shit on my 720p display.

- You can change screen size of TV video in real time. Options are: 4:3, 14:9, Zoom, Wide, Auto.

- Video recordings can be moved to the XMB Video section (MPEG2 4.8Mbps). They disappear from the PlayTV library when doing so. Video file has the same name of the video program you recoded and in the Details section of the Information screen it reports all the info you can read on the TV Guide. Cool.

- Software doesn't seem to check for updates at start up (at least it doesn't say). There is an option to manually check for updates tho. The review build calls it "Game Update Check". Clearly not final. I assume updating will work kinda like Folding@Home. Unrelated to PS3 System Software updates that is.

- You can record while watching movies on both Blu-Ray and DVD (haven't tested yet).

- You can stop background recording from the XMB by simply selecting the PlayTV icon and bringing up the contextual menu (Triangle). No need to launch PlayTV to stop recording.

- PS3 does indeed turn on automatically when a scheduled recording starts. You see a black screen with a message telling you the system will turn off automatically once the recording ends. Meanwhile you can press Circle to access the XMB as you normally would when you start the system. The XMB is actually fully loaded in the background. If you have a game disc in the tray, you can actually hear the sound of its splashscreen. Basically, you don't want to have Motorstorm in the tray if u are planning to record something at night time.

- When turning off the system while recording, both physically and remotely via controller, the above mentioned message appears again. System will turn off once it's finished. You can press Circle to go back to the XMB (but in this case the system wont turn off automatically) .

- Now, here come the "not so good" part. As far as "recording while playing" goes, PlayTV does indeed not affect game performance one bit, BUT the recording itself is affected by gaming. Actually, every action that requires HDD access (even bringing up the in-game/PlayTV XMB) does affect recording, causing little pauses and video glitches. It's kinda annoying if you want a perfect recording. It's like those glitches you sometimes see with satellite TV. Got it? Even receiving a message can affect the recording. Basically PlayTV gives highest priority for HDD access to everything else besides itself. To stress it, I recorded some PixelJunk Eden for 10 secs while a PlayTV recording was going on in the background. When checking the TV recording during that 10 seconds time, it was pretty fecked up. But then again, this is not 100% final. So it might have been polished a bit.

So, here it is. Fire some questions if u want. Will try to answer as soon as I can.
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http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=334600
 
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