PlayTV Live Chat Upgrade costs six quid

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 17 November, 2010

Well, £6.29.

The upgrade to the PlayStation 3's PlayTV feature costs £6.29 / €7.99, Sony's announced.

It's available to download today as part of this week's European PlayStation Store update.

PlayTV is an external device for PlayStation 3 that allows you to watch and record free-to-air digital TV on PS3. PlayTV carries an RRP of £70, although most retailers offer significant discounts.

The update adds the ability to text-chat with friends while watching live TV. There's also a new guide so you can plan your recordings seven days in advance; a Series Link feature to earmark all episodes of a series for recording; the ability to send Facebook recommendations; and Community Favourites, which lets you see what your friends are watching.

In September Sony revealed the major update would cost PS3 owners – even those who subscribe to PlayStation Plus.

"The guys at Cambridge put a great deal of effort into this update and, unlike the previous free updates, we will be charging a reasonable amount for the new features," James Thorpe, PSN product manager, wrote on the European PlayStation blog.

"[PlayStation] Plus members are very important to us and we are looking into providing you guys extra value for PlayTV. Will keep you posted on this.

"If you are not keen on the new features then you do not have to buy the update, therefore there is no reason not to recommend this to your friend, we are not charging people to watch TV."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 2 years ago

    Charging for that? Crazy.

  • stevethemeat #2 2 years ago

    what a rip off.

  • Stu #3 2 years ago

    What news of Play TV 2?

  • richarddavies #4 2 years ago

    I've not looked too much into play tv but im I wrong in thinking it is essentially a freeview box but you for some reason run it through your ps3 rather than actually buy a freeview box?

  • kangarootoo #5 2 years ago

    They can take "chat" and fire it out of a cannon, but given the use I get out of PlayTV (daily, for over a year) I don't mind paying a few quid for the other stuff.

    Yes, it should be free. But its not. Sometimes you have to just take it on the chin.

    My only real gripe is that I wish they had not bothered spending time and money putting in the chat feature. Then the price I have to pay for the other stuff might have been lower. Maybe I'll hang tight for a price drop (hopefully after they discover nobody wants to pay for live chat).

  • zombielvis #6 2 years ago

    They previously said that the chat feature could be charged for but series link would be a free update.

    Bit of a shame as series link is the only thing that I've missed since I switched to using this from cable.

  • RodHull #7 2 years ago

    I think I'll just text my mates. Oh hang on, I don't know anyone other than myself stupid enough to have bought PlayTV.

  • jefranklin18 #8 2 years ago

    I would hazard a guess (and note this is just a guess) that there may be a licence fee involved with the EPG? Looking at your tv epg guide, it only goes on for a week whereas a series link would require an extended version?

    Anyway, although I have PlayTV, I won't be bothering with this. Once I figure out how to get my Virgin+ output to my home theatre, I won't even be needing it for the football.

  • mcwildcard #9 2 years ago

    @Chaney: Sony weren't to know that the UK would go with a different HD standard to the rest of Europe. Play Tv works fine in HD all over europe, just not here.

    Your anger at Sony for not being psychic is a mite unfair.

  • dirtysteve #10 2 years ago

    Seems to be some PlayTV supporters doing some early negging on the comments :)

    lol, point proved. Still, in all fairness, paying £6 for a chat add-on seems unnecessary.
    Edited by dirtysteve at 17/11/10 @ 19:11

  • xandoodle #11 2 years ago

    Still no Freeview HD? Bit of a downgrade from current if I bought this...

  • jonbwfc #12 2 years ago

    It's a software update. To do Freeview HD it'd need to be a new box and, let's be honest, they're nto going to be able to do that as an upgrade, it's going to be a new product.

    Anyway, there aren't really any USB Freeview HD products around yet, even for PC. Seems they're having problems getting the decoders low power enough to work off USB bus power. Hauppage have demoed one I think but there's none you can buy in the shops yet. So I suspect PlayTV HD is a way off on the agenda though.

    Having said all that, this update, at this price, is spectacularly bad value for money. Serious attack of the stupids.

  • loveless #13 2 years ago

    How is £6 for a worthless feature 'extra value'? Just looks like 'extra cost'.

  • chessboxer #14 2 years ago

    @xandoodle

    "Still no Freeview HD?"

    Look at mcwildcard's post above.

  • vizzini #15 2 years ago

    I'm going to buy the feature soon enough; but not because I think it deserves £6.29, but because I think PlayTv (with RemotePlay) has been an excellent value added feature for the Playstation 3.

    I suspect that the PlayTV developer needs customers to come out and support this paid update, to get the option of giving us a DVB-T2 tuner that supports Freeview HD in the coming year.

  • crooky369 #16 2 years ago

    Essentially £6 for series link. A feature that should have been there from the start, what a joke...

  • Lee_Morris #17 2 years ago

    The new guide isn't part of the dlc though. There is a patch being released at the same time and I think it's part of that. Publishers shouldn't release paid and free upgrades to stuff because it just creates confusion
    Edited by Lee_Morris at 17/11/10 @ 14:55

  • kangarootoo #18 2 years ago

    @richarddavies

    "for some reason run it through your ps3"

    The reason is that you can record TV to your PS3 HDD, and from there export it to the XMB and do as you like with it. Another reason is that you can use your PSP to view recorded and live TV across the web, and set your recordings up in the same way.

    If you already have an Freeview box that records TV and you don't care about being able to export the content, then Play TV probably isn't for you. That doesn't make it pointless though.

    I could equally apply your logic to a Freeview box, and ask "why bother" when I have PlayTV. Don't expect a "one size fits all" solution and you won't be disappointed or confused.

  • jonbwfc #19 2 years ago

    @firework UK
    How do I watch Top Gear on that then?

  • Ryze #20 2 years ago

    Fuck off. If it hasn't got series link and a 7 day guide as standard, then it's a SHITE PVR.

    It's also attached to my PS3, so it'll consume WAY too much power.

    It also doesn't support Freeview HD.

    NO SALE. I'll consider if I can find it for under £30.

  • Dolly #21 2 years ago

    Bit annoyed that this hasn't at least been discounted a bit for Playstation+ members :(

    I've had PlayTV since day one and saved a bundle by cancelling Sky though, so muzzn't grumble too much.

  • jefranklin18 #22 2 years ago

    @Dolly: Bit annoyed that this hasn't at least been discounted a bit for Playstation+ members :(

    It has, by 20% according to the latest blog post

  • Petulant_Radish #23 2 years ago

    For the cost of this and Play TV you could get a Freeview HD box with a hard drive to record shows on. Anyone who buys this is rather silly.

  • Dolly #24 2 years ago

    Wonderful! :)

  • kangarootoo #25 2 years ago

    Ok, so having read through the full feature list in the blog, the only one I care about series link. I don't want to chat, recommend, or upload to Facebook. I just want to watch and record TV. Not sure if I'm going to bother with this update after all.

  • TurboBailey #26 2 years ago

    I will take a look at this. I use Play TV every day :-)

  • TurboBailey #27 2 years ago

    I will take a look at this. I use Play TV every day :-)

  • Eraserhead #28 2 years ago

    For the cost of this and Play TV you could get a Freeview HD box with a hard drive to record shows on. Anyone who buys this is rather silly.

    Except it's really rather good - the EPG is ten times better than newer Freeview boxes, and you can export programmes to a PC with one click over the network. (Not that I'm paying for an update to *chat*, mind.)

    My PS3 was a present. My (seriously old) Pace Twin box wouldn't record after the digital switchover. My options were a) to buy one of the generally awful, buggy new Freeview boxes for about £150 or b) get PlayTV for £40. Doesn't sound silly to me.

  • zombielvis #29 2 years ago

    Have to agree with Eraserhead, my PlayTV box cost me £20 not so long ago and after trying out some of the crappy Freeview PVR's (that aren't as cheap as you would imagine) it looks like a pretty decent bargain.

    There are some downsides to it (lack of series link being the obvious one) but the EPG is far above anything you get outside of a Sky/Virgin subscription. Plus I'm not aware of any other Freeview recorders that allow you to copy over USB and watch on a PC if you want.

    May just end up paying for the update I reckon.

  • varsas #30 2 years ago

    @Petulant_Radish: One can buy a Freeview HD PVR for 40 pounds?

  • elephant_stone #31 2 years ago

    I use my PlayTV every day to watch the crap that's on telly. I record all the stuff I'm gonna miss and even export stuff to my home server to stream back at a later date (e.g. movies I record). I bought a 320GB drive for my PS3 and I love it.

    I might buy this....the only thing I like the sound of is the series link....but then again, programming PlayTV to record at the same time for x amount of weeks aint exactly hard...hmmm

  • varsas #32 2 years ago

    Some info about the premium guide would be nice too. Being able to filter e.g. Films would be very useful indeed!

  • varsas #33 2 years ago

    @ryze: it does have a 7 day epg.

    The fact that the ps3 can stream media over the internet to a psp, vaio or wireless pc with windows 7 makes it a more than a simple pvr substitute.

  • Wyrm #34 2 years ago

    Well I'm confused, I have Play TV and it already has a 7 day programme guide.

    Series Link would be nice though I guess.

  • jefranklin18 #35 2 years ago

    @Parsnip:

    It is the Go Compare ads that really get on my tits (moobs).

  • callum9999 #36 2 years ago

    It would be pointless bundling it with consoles. Most people already have freeview - and if they were interested in recording facilities have a PVR.

    I'm sure PlayTV is better than the average PVR, but PVRs do the job just fine, so there's no reason for most to pay for one.

  • Soton4084 #37 2 years ago

    Play TV 2 with freeview HD please!

  • TurboBailey #38 2 years ago

    To all the haters. Consider this. I use play TV because i dont have Sky +

    Its basically Freeview +

    ((Play TV +??))

    I can record TV. Enuff said

    Edited by TurboBailey at 18/11/10 @ 02:26

  • 3william56 #39 2 years ago

    Eraserhead - how do you export programmes to a PC over a network with one click?

    I've know how to take a programme from the PlayTV library to the XMB OK, and can export that to a USB drive, but only if the file is less than 4GB (so no good for a HD movie). Haven't seen a way to get it across my network to a PC, or any way to get a >4Gb file off of the hard drive.

    Any clues?

    As for the update - like most, I am only interested in series link. 12 bucks is pretty steep.

  • tuffew #40 2 years ago

    PlayTV works fine also here in Finland. But I am missing one feature that really would enable me to get rid off my real freeview box, namely multiple recordings. Why spend effort on some stupid facebook features or chat (who wants facebook or chat popups if you're not watching TV alone anyway??), when this 'watch one - record one' restriction is clearly only a software issue. It is totally annoying to have to choose between which show you can record and which one you have to skip. Please include that in the next update and I will buy it immidiately. This one will have to stay on the shelf.
    Edited by tuffew at 18/11/10 @ 14:31

  • Mo_money #41 2 years ago

    The PlayTV 2 update is a complete rip off. Don’t do it. A line needs to drawn or else these blood sucking corporations will start charging for every update. The only reason people have paid the redonkulous £6.29 fee is to get series link, (which should have been a day one feature in the first place!)

    2 years of waiting for series link .. a feature even a budget PVR bought in Tesco has ..and Sony bundle it with unwanted social features to justify charging us for it. Sony can KMA…

    Still considering paying Sony for this update? Then read some of comments on PSN product manager James Thorpe’s Blog

    <a href="http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/11/19/make-watching-tv-a-social-experience-playtv-live-chat-upgrade-now-available-from-the-playstation-store/comment-page-3/#comment-117941">Blog

    Sony r the new Apple. Charging for updates that should be FREE. Sony hang ur head in shame. What next? Charging for bug fixes and patches?

    links to more reactions

    <a href="http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-Media/Play-TV-Angry-about-being-charged-for-Series-Record-then/m-p/11896392">EU Playstation thread 1

    <a href="http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-3-Media/Play-TV-2/m-p/11895857#M52840">EU Playstation thread 2