PS3 TV tuner/DVR out in Japan in March

by JC Fletcher on Jan 14th 2010 11:15AM

Sony Japan has just announced the goofiest, but most interesting DVR device since the TiVo. torne (yes, lower case, and pronounced "torn-eh") is a USB TV tuner that connects to the PS3 and allows users to watch, search, and record television through that system. DVR'd shows can be saved either to the PS3's hard drive or a USB-connected external drive. The device can record even while the PS3 is engaged in a Blu-Ray or game. Shows can also be watched on a PSP using Remote Play or transferred to a Memory Stick.

torne will be available separately this March for ¥9,980 ($108.78) or bundled with a 250GB PS3 for ¥42,800 ($466.52). No release has been announced in any other region, though Sony has already released the PlayTV, a different TV tuner peripheral, in Europe.

Source

Tags: dvr, japan, torne, tv-tuner

Reader Comments (70)

neat-o, if it came to NA, i'd probably be interested.

Seriously, Sony's got 2 different PS3 dvrs out. One in Europe, and now one in Japan. Why not US? If they released one in US I'd buy it day one.

Sony wants to put one out in the US. It's backroom deals in cable company land that prevents them from having one that would work throughout the country.

I don't mean this as a slight against the 360, but that's why it works on UVerse. MS made a deal with AT&T. That's what MS does: makes deals. That why 360 multis are not allowed to be better on PS3... that's the contract MS made.

Sony is not making deals with every single provider of TV service. There's a reason Tivo is so bloody expensive. Sony could start making a Dish reciever and make a deal with one of the satellite providers. That kind of thing. Seems very unlikely and probably wouldn't make much money. These companies want to sell you things that do what PlayTV does.

Yep, I'd buy this as quickly as I would have bought the gps attachment for the psp that is out in europe before I got my tomtom this christmas.

Finally

If one of these will work on American broadcast networks consider this imported...

I don't think it will. The US uses a different standard (ATSC) than the rest of the world. Japan uses a combination of ISDB and DVB.

The US used NTSC, while Japan used NTSC-J. I don't know if they're intercompatible or not (and off the air anyway).

Release in EU Sony :(

Isn't that what the PlayTV is for?

Having 2 doesnt hurt :D

We in Sweden doesn't even have PlayTV because Nordisk Film (Sony's distributor in Sweden, possibly other nearby countries too) thinks the concept is complete bullshit.

Consider yourself lucky/unlucky (since i don't know what other people thinks on this device).

I wouldn't hold my breath on this ever making it stateside, with that said it would be cool but not at the price they are quoting.

I think $100 is a damn reasonable price for this. It's better than most DVRs, and tivos are freaking expensive in comparison.

PSP TV? Yes please. Sony, I'd happily pay for this in the USA if you can navigate the laws.

but we already have, Tivo, Comcast, Verizon, Direct Tv, itunes, hulu, NBC.com, ABC.com....

also we have Netflix, and the PS store for movies. I don't think anyone here is really missing a DVR on their PS3.

@space

Really ...? Speak for yourself. I'd happily get one.

Yeah, I'd definitely get this if it was available.

well then tell them to bring it the fuck to Canada. We have NONE of those thanks to the FCC and CRTC

@ space

maybe sony could market it to people who dont have a blue-ray player or a pvr (most people don't have one).

So instead of buying 2 expensive pieces of technology that take up a shit ton of space.

get a ps3, i mean, it only does everything.

How come everytime Microsoft makes an announcement of a new feature Sony within a day or a few days later comes out with their version of it. Weird.

This is nothing like UVerse support. The 360 still won't act as a DVR.

And PlayTV has been out in Europe for a while

Though PlayTV only works with DVB-T. What a stupid move....Who watches with DVB-T on a HD Screen. Make this thing available for DVB-S and I'm sold.

This concept has been around a while now, in fact, they already had the same thing for the PSP for what, over 2 years now? Seems like the other way round.

You are out of the loop Leobebes. You might want to catch up on your PlayStation products.

SCEA needs to forget about "3D" gaming and get this out! I would def pick one up.

Sony have been doing DVR/Console hybrids for a long time. We've had PlayTV in the UK since Sep 2008, and back in 2003 Sony had the PS-X which was a combined PS2 and DVR system in Japan... don't constantly troll about Sony copying Microsoft when you simply have no clue.

What the fuck, why can't we get cool shit like this?

I mean sure we got Hulu but I don't like sitting in front of my computer...

Oh wait, I have a 500GB HDD in my DishNet DVR, nevermind. :D

722k, right? That thing is a beast. Don't forget you can always just hook up an external drive to it.

Why'd I get downvoted on my comment, did people find my joke in bad taste?

I'm not saying I don't need it like an attack on Sony, I remembered midway through typing that 'Oh right, I don't need one'.

@Bradwart: Yeah, it's pretty nifty the things I can do with it. Luckily, it's plenty and the comcast DVR I used to have pales in comparison functionality wise. I've consumed very little of it and I watch stuff typically within the week after it's aired so I don't see myself running out of space.

As much as I love DishNet though, I miss Comcast's internet speeds and their on demand service...

Probably because you were gloating. No one likes a Boastful Billy Gloat.

FUCK why can't we get cool shit at ALL? (netflix, hulu, network streams)

Signed, millions of Canadians

...Canadians get a special sympathy pass though. If you're canadian, you can downvote me.

But the rest of you united states dwellers, bite me. I wasn't gloating, I was just stating in comparison, I didn't really need such a feature for my PS3. Most people already have DVR's, I'm surprised they need such a function for it in japan as well.

And if that 'gloating' as you call it is that bothersome, I implore you to go read a NeoGAF or GameFAQ's forum and look through the endless list of idiots gloating about how they did something in a video game and see I pale in comparison.

Why do you think I don't read NeoGAF and GameFAQs? Because I like that the idiocy that goes on there, is rare here (well, was rare until recently). So instead of defending your gloating and going on the offensive, why not just apologize for bringing a bit of the GAFAQs to Joystiq and move on?

"I remembered midway through typing that 'Oh right, I don't need one'."

So why didn't you just not post it to begin with and save yourself the trouble?

$100 seems very reasonable to me for a functioning DVR add-on.

I'm a little more concerned about the claim that you can record shows while playing a game. How many developers actually write games under the assumption that an external application is doing, continuous streaming writes to the hard drive while the user is playing a game? Especially a game that is partially installed to the hard drive?

Add another one to it's "It only does everything" tagline!

Zing! It only does everything!!!! God I love that catchphrase!!! Mines been collecting dust for 3 years save for Demon's Souls and UC2...which lasted all about week.

does this mean i can watch TV on my TV?
holy shit

Simple comment is simply amusing.

Noooo it means you can save TV til later and carry on playing games on your TV.

Thats what the TV was made for wasn't it?

LOL

Indeed. I had a DVR for a while with U-Verse. It's amazing how much better TV is when you don't have to find something watchable, right then and there. On the other hand, I watched much more TV before I had to move outside the U-Verse zone.

DVRs improve TV, but they do not improve your life. Still, this truly woulf improve PS3s massively. If they could somehow have included this in the PS3 (as originally intended), it really would be the entertainment hub.

Honestly. People are going apesht over something you could do on a cheap HTPC forever now.

in the words of my good buddy Xander Crews

"god............damnit."

seriously though, i've been holding out on paying Charter or AT&T for a DVR because I figured the PS3 would get one at some point. what's the hold up SCEA? You charged me for those same dynamic themes you gave away for free in Europe and Japan, can we at least some new tech?

Playtv lets you do that too so its not really too much trouble it seems the only problem is sometimes what is recorded is played as if its off a scratched dvd and skips a lil

This would go great with my 1TB Gun Metal PS3.
Why can't we have nice things too?

Interest in PS3: Piqued

Now I'm considering buying a PS3, that is a cool feature.

UK != Europe, I'm so goddamn sick of Joystiq freely substituting the two.

I'm running my PS3 through my tuner-less computer monitor via HDMI. Being able to watch shows on it would be pretty rad.

I imagine it might also allow me to...I dunno...play games from other systems through the PS3 and digitally record the playtime on the PS3? With my Dreamcast? Or my SNES? The bastardization possibilities are endless.

Please don't tell me this won't work. I really want it to work like this. :D

Just get a capture card for your PC to record game footage. Might be cheaper as well.

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PS3 TV tuner/DVR out in Japan in March

Reader Comments (70)

Posted: Jan 14th 2010 11:19AM Omnistatic said

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