See PS3's PlayTV doing its thing; still Europe only

by Christopher Grant on Feb 15th 2008 1:30PM

Remember PlayTV? Sony's been real mum on their PlayStation 3 TV-tuner slash PVR peripheral since first announcing the thing back in August. Like then, it still appears PlayTV will be Euro-only, thanks in no small part to the device's reliance on the European Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial (DVB-T) format. The BBC has a nice shakycam video (found after the break) of what you can expect from PlayTV, showing off live TV playback, the episode guide, pause and record functionality, and even (most impressively) playback from a PSP turning the PlayTV into a console-centric Slingbox of sorts.

They say it's coming out "later this year" (they previously has targeted "early in 2008") so it's anyone's guess when you'll be able to get one for yourself. As long as we're all guessing, you might want to take a couple stabs at price (still unknown) and potential availability of a North America-compatible version (also still unknown).

Source

Tags: PlayTV, PS3, SCEE, Sony-Computer-Entertainment-Europe

Reader Comments (39)

I really really want this. NOW!

I think I recall reading that because America is so F'ed up with regards to media content and rights, this thing hasn't got a snowball's chance of ever making it to the US.

@samfish
Just to expand on your comment.

I think this thing is made for over-the-air broadcasts. Most people in the US that would care about this are using cable and satelite, each with different interfaces. On top of that, if this were for cable it would have to use cablecards to get HD/digital content, which are the most consumer unfriendly devices on the market.

Thus, is Sony wanted to do this in the US, they would need to release a technically painful cablecard solution, only support SD programming, or lock itself into a specific provider (IPTV on the 360 says Hi).

$50 says that if this takes off, we'll see yet another PS3 SKU with something like this included.

And THAT'S how you justify European pricing! =D

Wow that is cool.

Wow... another application which I don't need a PS3 for AT ALL.

When is Sony actually going to bring us some GAMES?

If they continue like this, they should really rename the console to "MovieStation".

Fuck off mate, the "OMG U HAV NO GMES 2 PLAY!1!!" arguement was over as soon as Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, COD4, GH3, The Orange Box, and DMC4 etc came out.

There is only one word for someone who criticizes additional functionality.

Actually, that's wrong. You touched on so much stupidity we could be here all night listing words.

PS1 played games and music.

PSX played games, videos, music, and photos.

PS2 plays games, movies, and music.

PS3 and PSP play everything.

hence the name PLAYSTATION.

"Fuck off mate, the "OMG U HAV NO GMES 2 PLAY!1!!" arguement was over as soon as Uncharted, Ratchet & Clank, COD4, GH3, The Orange Box, and DMC4 etc came out."

haha, I like your arguement. First you swear at them, say something stupid, then list games, only 2 of which are actually exclusive sony games. Good job. Next time list exclusives only.

Why the hell would he have to list exclusives only? Games are games. You don't exclude 360 games released for PC do you? Why would you?

@ Kaemon

So what you're saying is if a game isn't an exclusive it's not a good game?

If someone says a system has no games, you can list whatever the hell you want. Most people in Europe haven't bought one of the two systems yet, and they are more likely to buy Playstation so this extremely nifty feature + most of the best games out lately minus the hottest FPS (big surprise they are on ecksbawks) = one pretty appealing package.

Arse you in a timewarp? PS3 has plenty of great games.

Actually, in it's first year, PS3 had better games than the 360 had in it's first year...

@ Tranando most of those games was remakes of year old 360 games or multiplatform games that could be found on the 360 also. I'm not saying that the PS3 has no games but when I own a 360 and a PS3 and i buy all multiplat gamnes on the 360 my PS3 library is still limited.

Man that really blows. I'm not going to hold my breath for it to show up here but I really hope it does. It would make my purchase even more meaningful.

This was not meant to start a "no games" discussion.

What I mean is, instead of putting they ressources (lots of money) into the development of these devices, they should invest it in gaming development.

While this feature definitely is a very nice thing, I consider it more "a gimmick", as I can't imagine people to buy the console just to use this feature.
I CAN imagine lots of people, however, who would buy the console if Sony brings more games.

This is NOT a fanboy discussion.

Sony is a big company, they can walk and chew bubblegum at the same time. Most (if not all) of their first party studios are working on games as it is. Throwing some money at the hardware guys isn't going to have a very big effect on the software guys. It's not as though Sony is hard up for cash.

The truth is consumers are looking for a lot more value these days. Not everyone is exclusively a hardcore gamer. MS has also announced a similar service for the 360 which is also a media extender, movie rental device, media player etc. Even the Wii has a picture viewer and browser. The games will be there but you can see that you have to have these features to compete.

This makes sense. I wouldn't buy a PS3 to use PlayTV, but I DID buy one to play a bunch of games, then played games... and do play games. Damn you Burnout Paradise and my addiction to Road Rage challenges.

But that said, already having a PS3 and given the option to do this with it, I would be out buying that box and the largest 2.5" harddrive I could find.

Sony really does need to focus on the games and keep everything else as "bonus" ability, but there's nothing wrong with flaunting the bonus when its as cool as this.

Maybe it's not a fanboy discussion but it is a silly discussion. Do you really think that if they invest more money in gaming development that more good games will magically appear? Lots of money and resources does not equal good games.

Nobody will buy the console just for this feature, you are right. There are cheaper things out there. However, it adds another bullet point to the list of what the PS3 can do. So if you have some person trying to decide what current gen system to buy, this could easily be the deciding factor.

Yeah, I remember how well things worked out when Sony had their hardware guys make a game....

It was called Fantavision....

Point? Sony has a ton of developers working on games. Meanwhile, hardware guys work on this kind of stuff. Hardware guys find doing things like this interesting and rewarding. Hardware guys do not make good games. So leave the game developing for the game developers, let the hardware gurus come up with this stuff.

Gimmick?So a Game console that is also a Blu-Ray Player, that has the option of being a DVR,photo viewer,web browser,set top box and a video streamer over the web is a gimmick? If I were to seperately buy those things that is well over US$1000.00. Your gimmick is a bargain.

well said, very well said.

i mean it's like are you mad at me because when i get tired trying to beat a burning route; i point my browser to surfthechannel and watch a family guy episode without looking at my pc?

or even worse because i'm at home pretending to be sick typing this on my ps3? i call that plain old hating...

Lol, reminds me of that webcomic (link missing)

Watch TV, on your TV, through your PS3!
only $59.99

Okay... so you set a program to record @ 6pm. Say you're playing a game then... what happens? Does the PVR software run in the background? I wouldn't think so, given how little memory is available to developers. And having this PVR software hitting up the hard drive while you're playing... let's just say that I need to hear a few more details ironed out.

You can thank your goverment for selecting a DVB format that nobody else uses. Much like your inerior NTSC format...

That is why PlayTV won't be hitting your shores anytime soon.

ahhh cocky arrogant eurotrash, you gotta love em.

i cant see the appeal of this... living in england, you can buy free view boxes, you get a certain amount of channels for the one time fee of the box... practicly all the channels are crap, just go buy sky+, sure you gotta pay every month but at least you get decent channels, and with sky+ you get a box that you can record programs with anyway...

*Yawn* Boring.

Come on Sony! Make us some games! Forget this shit!

Yeah, TiVo is boring. That kind of stuff will never take off...

What is inerior?

If I'm not mistaken, Microsoft similiar offering for the 360 was currently European only, as that was the only announced partner to date. Little is known about the service yet though.

Yeah, the infamous IPTV demo that they showed a year ago looks alot slicker that this offering by Sony(no PSP connectivity though). But the big question is will their bids with the major cable companies ever pan out? And will using a 360 as my cable box give me a RROD during my favorite episode of Heros?

I think this is a cool product. I'd say if you don't have a DVR and already own a PS3, this is a must buy (assuming no recurring fees).

Otherwise (from what has been shown here) slingbox is a much better and robust solution; and it's not tied to anyone device (PSP, PS3), but operates with any number of device types.

Cool video! Leaves me with a few questions though.

If I set it to record, then go play some games when it was supposed to be recording, will it record?

Also, streaming to PSP, can this be done over the net? Or does the Wifi streaming have to local? Seems a bit useless if all I can do is stream the TV away from my big nice telly and into my small crappy PSP screen.

if only this could be release stateside. i was so excited for this (when i thought it was just a regular DVR) but now i realize that i will more than likely never see it here. where i live, there are only like 3 over the air digital HD channels so this would be absolutely pointless for me even if they did adapt it to our American signal.

oh well, i was just gonna built a HTPC anyway so i guess there is nothing holding me back now. just get a PC with a TV Tuner and then i can stream it to my PS3 when we get a damn video playlist. seriously, watching 20 minute TV shows on the PS3 is a pain right now since i have to keep turning the control off and on to switch to the next video. the PSP can do it for crying out loud!

plz linx. so i can try to figure out how to get my lost password.

See PS3's PlayTV doing its thing; still Europe only

Reader Comments (39)

Posted: Feb 15th 2008 1:40PM (Unverified) said

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