Sony releasing PlayTV in Australia in '08

PS3 News | Still some minor issues to work through.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sony has announced that their PlayTV device for the Playstation 3 will be launched in Australia next year. The attachment features twin high-definition digital television tuners and enables users to watch one channel while recording another. PSP users can transfer saved shows onto the system's memory stick, and will also be able to watch pre-recorded or live programmes from any WiFi hotspot. Apparently, one of the difficulties in launching the service is the current "squabbling over access to the electronic program guides that form the heart of Personal Video Recorder (PVR) functionality."

With digital TV still a burgeoning technology in Australia, it'll be interesting to see whether the release of PlayTV offers Aussies a consumer-friendly introduction to the future of television, or further muddies up the waters.

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20 Comments

genxevo

4 years ago

F* yeah!!

but i wonder how much it'll cost... would sony take into account how much we;ve already paid for the console...??

troublemaker

4 years ago

Meh, you can live without EPGs ... how many stations run to schedule anyways? Iw onder how much it will cost?

Skiller

4 years ago

Will it support all the fancy features that other PVRs support like pause then skip the ads? Can it be hooked up to a PC? Does it support an external USB HDD?
I was thinking about getting a media PC but if this gives me the functionallity I wanted then I'll definatally get this instead

arbok

4 years ago

This has the potential to really move a lot of PS3 units...

Sounds good that you can record TV and put it on your PSP!

"Minor" issues? so its almost done then? Maybe early 08? I wouldnt bet on it, but there's no reason why not if its only minor issues.

Play TV is not something they would annouce a year or two in advance so that Microsoft would beat them to the punch.

?oe?oe

4 years ago

Oh, I thought this was for that stupid ad for that website.

Jim Dash

4 years ago

I was sold as soon as I heard the announcement of PlayTV.

Bring it on, asap I say.

Dracusis

4 years ago

Pity they couldn't push for an Xmas release. Still, it'll make a very handy addition.

PS3 owners looking to make the jump to HDTV also need not worry about displays without inbuilt tuners now such as digital projectors.

ittekimasu

4 years ago

Awesome! I wonder if it can record programs while playing games though... or maybe it would bring up reminders while in game if you were to have something booked, very awesome and can't wait to see this in action.

LeonJ

4 years ago

This is great! I like to see things like this!

donovan515

4 years ago

Awesome, this will be handy as. Reckon you can record gameplay then that will rock.

DEJA VU

4 years ago

omg thats what im talking about, i wonder could dis convert your standard tv into a hd 1

A13x

4 years ago

Nope.

Its a tuner, you'll need a HD TV if you wish to view the output in HD.

ittekimasu

4 years ago

^^hmmm it does make me think if the receiver which is connected to the ps3 which gather's HD Channels and record them, if it would improve picture quality on a normal SD TV

A13x

4 years ago

Well being a digital tuner, the picture quality will be of a better quality than an analogue tuner built in to a regular SD TV.

Nev

4 years ago

It'll definitely give you a better picture than an analog tuner, in the same sense that a Blu-ray would look better than analog TV broadcasts on a standard def TV. Not even close to the difference between SD and HD, but better... More like the difference between VHS and DVD.

Greek2nv

4 years ago

ittekimasu wrote

Both of those would be really handy, can't wait until this is released, should make the PS3 even more useful...now bring on the games

SMASHED

4 years ago

If this were true the PS3 will definitely become a threat to the opposition.

Nova Prime

4 years ago

Huh? Why are people so excited about this when standalone boxes that do all the same things (minus the PSP transfer) have been around for years? Unless this is really (really) cheap, I can't see what's so awesome about it.

thebigm

4 years ago

Greek2nv wrote

ittekimasu wrote

Both of those would be really handy, can't wait until this is released, should make the PS3 even more useful...now bring on the games

Recording TV whilst playing games would be a no go, there's no way there'd be games programmed with leaving reserves for what will be needed to record TV (bar PSN titles of course..)

SMASHED wrote

If this were true the PS3 will definitely become a threat to the opposition.

Did you even read the article or what it is about? And care to explain why a TV recording feature is a threat to the competition, for a games console? Or are you comparing it to dedicated PVRs or a HTPC?

killer1500

4 years ago

Meh they cant do this without EPG's.

Its so dodgy whats happening with EPG's at the moment in Australia, and thats why things like Tivo and EPGS on the Windows Media Centre dont work.

Sony will either have to license the guides from a third party eg HWW (owned by Microsoft) or give the option to use Ice TV or create there own EPG.

I use Ice tv on Windows Media Centre and its awesome. I love being able to put things on record from my mobile phone at work. The guide is pretty spot on too.

Ice tv was recently sued by Nine, and Ice won. So the future looks slightly brighter for proper third party EPGs in Australia.

Once you experience a PVR with EPG....you wont view tv the same way.

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