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GC: PlayTV unveiled for PS3 News

PlayStation 3 PlayStation 2 PSP News by Robert Purchese

22 August, 2007

Sony has taken the wraps off a new television tuner and personal video recorder for PS3 in its Games Convention 2007 press conference.

Dubbed PlayTV, it will let you watch and record your favourite shows on your console completely independently of each other - so you can view something while saving something else. If you like.

'GC: PlayTV unveiled for PS3' Screenshot 1

There they are, one big happy, telly-watching family.

You'll be able to choose programmes to keep on your hard drive by selecting them from a fancy seven-day guide, and even control it all remotely using your PSP - in case you forgot to tell it to record something before you left for work. Or you could just stream it to your PSP and watch it elsewhere.

It will use the Digital Video Broadcasting standard, and be able to intelligently display the picture in high or standard definition depending on the capabilities of your TV.

"The introduction of PlayTV really will extend the already broad entertainment credentials of PS3, and makes it an exceptionally attractive proposition for the whole family," said David Reeves, big cheese of Sony Europe.

It's so easy your ageing parents could probably use it - or so we're told, and will be available in early 2008 across the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

A price is yet to be mentioned.

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Comments: 1-50 of 98 in total | next 50 »

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lennon
22/08/07 @ 16:17
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Erm. Has their press conference even started yet?
Monkey_Puncher
22/08/07 @ 16:19
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That's great, what about games?
hjarg
22/08/07 @ 16:22
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Oooh, great machine? Does it play games as well?
rhinoxious
22/08/07 @ 16:23
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I've got a media centre already, but I'm really curious to see how this stacks up against it.

Good move by Sony, as MS are unlikely to follow suit as they'll step on their own Media Centre business. Though a 60GB hard disk doesn't give you a lot of storage at 1.5-2GB an hour.
Nova5lag
22/08/07 @ 16:24
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So the heads up was out on this one with an embargo huh? ;-)))
The Bodybuilder
22/08/07 @ 16:24
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Yet MS still haven't said a word on thier whole on-demand tv thingy with BT Vision.
mcmonkeyplc
22/08/07 @ 16:26
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one word:

IPTV

lennon
22/08/07 @ 16:28
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How is that word pronounced? :)
Disco_Stu360
22/08/07 @ 16:28
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erm I've got Sky HD... but thanks anyway!
Mr-Brett
22/08/07 @ 16:29
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Good idea but I'd be interested to know how much it costs.
Arcadiian
22/08/07 @ 16:29
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@ lennon.

"ipp-t-ff".
attep
22/08/07 @ 16:30
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Awesome. Been hoping they'd do this for ages. I don't have Sky HD and with this don't need to buy a PVR recorder either. The ability to stream it to your PSP, great. My missus will never miss eastenders again :)
rashes
22/08/07 @ 16:33
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if you have Sky+ is this redundant?
Does it mean you could cancel your Sky+/Sky HD subscription?
Razzajazz
22/08/07 @ 16:35
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It it uses DVB, would I be right in assuming that you'll only be able to view Freeview channels? If so, pretty pointless, IMO.
Monkey_Puncher
22/08/07 @ 16:35
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"Monkey_Puncher (and other fanboys) : why do you care? Going to post your crap in every Sony related thread? "

I'm a fanboy because I expect a console to play games?

Wow...that's logical
The Bodybuilder
22/08/07 @ 16:36
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>""ipp-t-ff". "

Does it come with free doovd?
el_pollo_diablo
22/08/07 @ 16:37
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This should be free. Surely it's just a(nother) firmware update?
The Bodybuilder
22/08/07 @ 16:38
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>"I'm a fanboy because I expect a console to play games? "

Or maybe moaning about "where's the games" on an announcement that has nothing to with games, in a convention that rarely (if ever) talks about new games).

Oh, and the fact that games are coming.
RazorObsession
22/08/07 @ 16:38
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Can I, for instance, download all the advertisements, of all the games that I could play on the 360?
RazorObsession
22/08/07 @ 16:40
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@Bodybuilder

you do know its the GAMES CONVENTION right?
Artemis_Matsas
22/08/07 @ 16:40
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Well, it would be nice if the tuner was dual: digital and analog.
The switch off date for analog is still far far away, and on some countries (eg. Greece) there is still nothing much to look on Digital Terrestrial.
rhinoxious
22/08/07 @ 16:42
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Yes it'll only recieve freeview channels, unles sony and sky do some kind of mega deal!

Even then it doesn't mention the present of a CAM module to take the neccesary decoder card. If so then no Setanta either I'd think.
deepmenace
22/08/07 @ 16:43
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so it'll basically be a ps3 compatible USB twin tuner?
i'm definately up for this as i'm currently setting up a very old pc as a media centre and its being a pain in the ar5e.

Price guess anyone? £59.99 im going with...
Tomo
22/08/07 @ 16:43
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So, it's going to play Freeview? Is that correct?

If so, that's a damn fine addition imo.
Wrestlevania
22/08/07 @ 16:44
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"and even control it all remotely using your PSP"

Any word on whether you can actively switch between your F1 car's rear view mirror and this? We need to know--it's important.
icon-snake
22/08/07 @ 16:44
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IPTV?, do you really need that... unless you have some sort of financial problems to get sky or even regular cable. If not then IPTV is a waste in general. Whatever MS throws remember Home will defeat network integrated things by MS.
Tomo
22/08/07 @ 16:44
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Unless it's a rip-off :/
RazorObsession
22/08/07 @ 16:51
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blooreh, TV, music, wi-fi, intarwebz, connectivity to PSP, adjusting temperature of fridge freezer, opening garage door, running bath, pre-heating oven, changing shit filled nappies, dildonics, massage with happy ending, the list of future capabilities goes on...

Is there anything apart from playing good games that the PS3 cannot do?

/goads fan boys with stick
geepersd
22/08/07 @ 16:56
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@ deepmenace - I thought it was a single tuner. mentions recording while watching something recorded, but I've missed anything saying record one channel, while watching another or record two at once.

still If I love my PVR and I reckon this is a pretty decent addition
lockload
22/08/07 @ 16:59
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I bought a twin tuner freeview bix from argos for £99 and it works well and i dont need to leave my PS3 on all the time to record programs (as it eats power)
The Bodybuilder
22/08/07 @ 17:22
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>"you do know its the GAMES CONVENTION right?"

heh. I was hoping someone wouldn't point this out after I made my post.

Too late to delete my post.
morriss
22/08/07 @ 17:22
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Two words: Original idea?
JaysonG
22/08/07 @ 17:24
#33
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Bollocks to the carbon footprint this looks sweet as...
miiiguel
22/08/07 @ 17:29
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So it's a VCR ?

we can watch all those TBA games' trailers.
tonynibbles
22/08/07 @ 17:35
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They did also today announce *275* games being released BEFORE christmas.

Ahem. wtf.

It's on ThreeSpeech, David Reeves actually said that!
Razz
22/08/07 @ 17:36
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While this is good from a technical standpoint as someone who doesn't watch much TV this doesn't really appeal to me. I would've preferred soem game announcements and a price cut. :/
JYM60
22/08/07 @ 17:48
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@miiguel

"So it's a VCR ?

we can watch all those TBA games' trailers."

Have you got a life man? Thats some sad shit.

It's not the best thing in the world, its not a game. But it's a nice addition at least.


Weezer
22/08/07 @ 17:54
#38
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Press-release-tastic.
polar
22/08/07 @ 18:00
#39
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This sounds really cool. So Sony are finally starting to deliver on their home entertainment centre goal, now all they need are some decent exclusives and a price cut.
Psychotext
22/08/07 @ 18:06
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Sadly without being able to feed Virgin / Sky to it I'm not really won over by this.
Kostabi
22/08/07 @ 18:07
#41
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I was contemplating buying a TVR but now I'll just wait and see how this PlayTV malarky pans out before throwing down some cash.

Game drought or not, Sony have really taken Microsoft's "own the living room" ball and beaten them to death with it. IPTV can go swivel, I'd much rather timeshift stuff myself than take up all my bandwidth downloading shows on a whim through BT Vision.
woodnotes
22/08/07 @ 18:19
#42
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@ kostabi

But you have to leave you ps3 switched on at all times to record content, and you can't play games at the same time. As with MS's IPTV, you might aswell just buy a dedicated set top box instaed. This is shit.
Zanuah
22/08/07 @ 18:25
#43
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So not for the Netherlands then? Or any of the other countries for that matter... It's kinda cool but if it's limited to which country you live in then... Why Sony, why?
miiiguel
22/08/07 @ 18:47
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JYM60: this is getting really unfair, why my fellow EG'ers keep picking on me just because I don't dig these non-gaming news from Sony and Nintendo ?

Wait, this is EuroGAMER, isn't it ? let me check...
Edited 1 times, most recently on 22/08/07 @ 19:47
numptyboymatt
22/08/07 @ 18:57
#45
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I do find this genuinely interesting and all that, but what I actually bought my PLAYstation for was to PLAY games.....
soundtrack
22/08/07 @ 19:03
#46
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Well I bought my PLAYstation to PLAY games and to PLAY video and to PLAY music. And stuff
miiiguel
22/08/07 @ 19:07
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true but we don't really need 7x 3.2 Ghz CPU's to watch TV and play music do we?
NewYork
22/08/07 @ 19:30
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Really this needs some kind of video input (like SCART) so I could have plugged by Sky+ into it, as though it were a VCR. Would that have been so hard to do?
SniperWolf
22/08/07 @ 20:22
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Still don't want one
Suttieb
22/08/07 @ 20:26
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I just got a BT Vision box, delivered installed and demo'd for free just cos I have BT Broadband! Dual recorder/On Demand and I can still watch another channel on my tv..
The interface is better than Sky+ was! Couldn't recommend it more!

Comments: 1-50 of 98 in total | next 50 »

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