PlayTV dated, will record TV while gaming

By Tom Bramwell Published 17 July, 2008

The code was in the 2.41 firmware.

SCEE president David Reeves has told Eurogamer that PlayTV will launch roll out in Europe "from September to December" starting with a UK date of 10th September.

Reeves also confirmed that the device - a digital video recorder add-on for PS3 - will allow users to record TV at the same time as playing games.

"Yep, it's going to be 10th September that PlayTV comes out," he told us in an interview set to be published whenever my fingers start working again.

Asked if Sony had overcome technical hurdles and definitely planned to let you record TV at the same time as playing games, he said: "We do, yep."

"It was very difficult for some of the tech guys but we had to include it in the firmware upgrade, 2.41, but it's done now," he said, so in theory if your PS3 is up to date you're all set for the 10th September launch.

Reeves announced at PlayStation Day in May that PlayTV would cost EUR 99 when it launched in September, but was unable to nail down a date.

He also had some good news for gamers elsewhere in the PAL markets. "We've got Australia and New Zealand also lined up for it in January or February, because on their digital terrestrial they haven't actually set the standards yet.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (79) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bad09 #1 4 years ago

    Shame freeview is pants :)

    (smug Sky owner)

  • Law07 #2 4 years ago

    Sounds good.

    Wonder what the Xbots will say? "OMG NO GAMES LOLOLOLOLOLOL"

  • kangarootoo #3 4 years ago

    Yay, sounds ace.

  • bad09 #4 4 years ago

    @ Turnip_of_Doom

    The cool thing is transferring to PSP, but yeah the rest you already have if you have Sky+.

  • Widge #5 4 years ago

    No way paying for SKY, what next, paying for ONLINE GAMING?!

  • kangarootoo #6 4 years ago

    And being able to configure it remotely using your PSP. That for me is the clincher. I can set my TV to record stuff from anywhere I can get a wifi connection.

  • MuppetThumper #7 4 years ago

    That's excellent news. Will sway me to buying a PS3 perhaps as soon as the end of the year.

  • Ornithophobe #8 4 years ago

    No setting it to record a series is a major downer though, thats 90% of my recording via wmce.

  • tonynibbles #9 4 years ago

    GIVE.
    NOW.

    Finally! A date!

    Really pleased that this is all sorted. I've got my TV installed and I'm ready to throw my Virgin Media box out of my window, rock band stylee.

  • bad09 #10 4 years ago

    @ tonynibbles

    Hold up your gonna blow out cable for freeview????

    It's a cool gadget sure but freeview over cable/sat no way!

  • makeamazing #11 4 years ago

    Why the hell didnt they announce this in the Sony show... it would have made it much more interesting.

    99 Euroes.. doesnt sound bad, I mean i was seriously considering replacing my sky box for Sky+ but sky are still charging way too much for it. Im sure i could pick up a cheaper "dvd/HD" combo but i have two much tv cabinet equipment already and didnt want to do that, so using the PS3 is a much better solution :D

  • BraveArse #12 4 years ago

    I blew out SKY for freeview - overpriced piece of crap service imo.

    /got fucked off with losing SKY when it was windy or rainy... a fairly common problem with SKY and possibly not the best problem to have in a windy, rainy country.

  • Carlo #13 4 years ago

    I've got Virgin+ and I'm STILL getting this.

    The reason? It also supports DLNA (Look it up yourself)
    Edited by 1 at 17/07/08 @ 20:50

  • Rash' #14 4 years ago

    Excellent! Finally, some good news. Really looking forward to this. At last I'll be able record those films from Film4.

  • Rash' #15 4 years ago

    Widge, that actually made me laugh.

  • Rash' #16 4 years ago

    No comment on record while gaming confirmation, then. Where are the tossers that were bitching and moaning about the feature?
    Edited by 2 at 17/07/08 @ 21:00

  • agparrot #17 4 years ago

    nnnnggg

    My Birthday!?

    Damn you, now I know what I'm going to have to try and get as a present.

  • Scimarad #18 4 years ago

    @ Rash'

    Did you really expect them to turn up and say "Well done, Sony! I'm glad my fears weren't realised."

    I expect they will be in presently to pour scorn over some detail or other...

  • SeesThroughAll #19 4 years ago

    They should have confirmed this during the presentation instead of being obsessed with proving everybody that they care about games.

  • mkreku #20 4 years ago

    Well, it IS a bit costly.. :p

  • Spazzfish #21 4 years ago

    I wonder if you would work on an external hard drive. I would like to keep the TV side of things separate to the games.

  • dom6918 #22 4 years ago

    Hahaha Sky HD or PlayTV...hmmm

  • SeesThroughAll #23 4 years ago

    I wonder if you would work on an external hard drive. I would like to keep the TV side of things separate to the games.

    They showed how it works already, and the recorded shows are exported directly to the XMB. From there, you can easily copy them to any external HDD.

  • Mark0605 #24 4 years ago

    how much is this in £? I see 99 Euros but is that around 80 quid?

  • monkie_king #25 4 years ago

    How much are decent twin-tuner Freeview PVRs these days, anyway>

  • Carlo #26 4 years ago

    Monkey. That's High Def tuners btw. They support the HD signal. Not like those £10 boxes you get in tesco.

  • MuppetThumper #27 4 years ago

    Hahaha Sky HD or PlayTV...hmmm

    yes dom6918?

    Freeview is FREE unlike the rip-off that is Sky. Personally, I believe there is more than enough to watch via Freeview, I already spend enough time watching tv and I really don't want an extra 300 channels of advert filled crap from Sky. Advert filled crap that is a rip-off too!

    And if there doesn't happen to be anything on Freeview you want to watch, well, you could, you know, PLAY A GAME? ;)

  • Jmog #28 4 years ago

    how much is this in £? I see 99 Euros but is that around 80 quid?

    Close. 100€ is roughly 75£.

  • 3william56 #29 4 years ago

    What's all this about Oz and NZ not having agreed a TV standard? It's the same digital tv standard as the UK.
    (Unless it's some sort of net based scheduler, which would be good as the terrestrial TV networks here customarily either black out the transmitted schedule data, or put the wrong finish times to bork recorded shows).

    Or maybe it just doesn't work upside down. :/

  • Tiel #30 4 years ago

    Great step forward that it works while playing.

    If/when they introduce a series link type function then I am sold for sure.

    I don't have sky (and with a decent pvr there really is no need to waste your money on thousands of channels of repeats), so this is a good alternative. To beat WMCE it needs to repeat record shows rather than times and channels, though.

  • mischief #31 4 years ago

    If it is going to be used just as a freeview tuner (i.e. for simply just watching the telly), does the PS3 need to be switched on as well? Anyone know?
    This is a deal or no deal issue for me.

  • Killdare #32 4 years ago

    Hmm ... any news on whether it will now be compatible with Freeview's upcoming HD channels? If so it's a definite purchase - and a lot cheaper than getting a new PVR.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #33 4 years ago

    I mean i was seriously considering replacing my sky box for Sky+ but sky are still charging way too much for it.

    Phone up their cancellations department and say you're cancelling. When they ask why (and they will), say it's because upgrading to Sky+ is too expensive. They WILL offer you a cheap upgrade (mine cost 60 quid), but you HAVE to phone the cancellations department not the customer service department. You will never, ever look back once you've got Sky+, it's seriously the best thing to happen in consumer electronics since the invention of the iPod.

    I'll probably be getting a PlayTV too, though, because the idea of turning my PSP into a top-quality portable telly is just too good.

  • zuljin #34 4 years ago

    @Rev. Stuart Campbell
    "Phone up their cancellations department and say you're cancelling. When they ask why (and they will), say it's because upgrading to Sky+ is too expensive. They WILL offer you a cheap upgrade (mine cost 60 quid), but you HAVE to phone the cancellations department not the customer service department."

    This works for Virgin Media as well btw. Their 3 for £30 pounds deal is only 12 months, but if you phone up after a year and say you're thinking of quiting they'll give you another year.

  • Killerbee #35 4 years ago

    Nice. Not something I'll be getting since I have a 160GB Freeview PVR already, but if I didn't, this would probably be a feature I'd take advantage of.

    As for Sky... unless you're really into Sky Sports, I can't see the point in paying any more than the licence fee for television.

  • X201 #36 4 years ago

    @Killdare: Freeview HD is still only at planning/proposal stage with an estimated start date of 2009/2010. It will use a different standard DVB-T2 (as opposed to the current DVB-T) hence current set top boxes and TVs won't be able to receive it.
    Edited by 2 at 18/07/08 @ 09:24

  • moggsy #37 4 years ago

    Good news that you can record while playing - it would have been a bit useless without this feature.

    As for series links, the info is already broadcast on Freeview (my Humax 9200 happily does series link recording) so you'd think that if this isn't in the first release there's nothing stopping them adding it later. It is a killer feature.

    By the way, the reason they haven't mentioned any of this in their E3 conference is because it was aimed at the US audience and Play TV is Europe only.

  • johnnybrn #38 4 years ago

    Can I ask a silly question?

    If games are installed on the hard-drive like MGS4, wont the fact that shows being recorded on the hard-drive and games being played slow down the processor as it will be doing two things at the same thing. Just because my computer struggles do things like this and slows down tremendously.

  • Stuz359 #39 4 years ago

    I hope this works with Freesat

  • kangarootoo #40 4 years ago

    @johnnybrn

    It is a risk I guess, but neither application is grinding the drive. They are both cacheing or reading intermittently, so I suppose if they weren't trying to both do their thing at the same time everything would be ok. On the flip side, if they were both hitting the disc at the same time I would expect badness to result.

    No doubt someone technical has a clearer view of things (maybe even with a diagram).

  • moggsy #41 4 years ago

    @ johnnybrn

    The PS3 with it's cell chip can handle multi threaded media activities very well - far better than your average PC. Arguably it's better at this sort of activity than it is at rendering games.

    Also multiple threads accessing the hard drive should not be a problem either. For example on my Humax 9200 I can record 2 programmes while watching a third. If my Hummy can manage this then I'm sure the PS3 can handle it in it's sleep ;-)
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/08 @ 09:41

  • moggsy #42 4 years ago

    @ Stuz359

    I don't know if you're just being facetious or not but no, it will not work with Freesat as this is completely different tech to Freeview.

  • jonbwfc #43 4 years ago

    "If games are installed on the hard-drive like MGS4, wont the fact that shows being recorded on the hard-drive and games being played slow down the processor as it will be doing two things at the same thing. Just because my computer struggles do things like this and slows down tremendously. "
    I don't know, but maybe you should get a new computer :)

    Your average freeview channel is roughly 2mb/s of data. That's not even enough to be noticed by most decent modern hard disks. OK, it could slow the loading times down a little but it certainly shouldn't affect gameplay. In fact, they could cheat, and just spool what's coming in through the USB port to the disk and do any processing required later when you actually watch it, so the processor hit of recording would be minimal. Especially given the PS3 is pretty much designed with doing more than one thing at a time in mind.

    I know the parallel isn't exact, but a SkyHD box (which is much much less powerful than a PS3) can handle recording two HD streams (which are roughly 10 times a freeview stream) to the disk at the same time while playing a third stream back from the disk to the screen. Bandwidth to the disk isn't an issue and if they do it right it shouldn't affect gameplay in any way you'd notice. You might hear the fan kick up a bit more but other than that...

    Jon

  • johnnybrn #44 4 years ago

    Thanks :)

    Methinks I'll be getting a PS3 then

    When either the KZ2 or RFOM2 bundle with DS3 comes out later in the year (hopefully there will also be a price drop)

  • Widge #45 4 years ago

    I wonder if this is going to work with freeview HD in the UK... I believe thats to start surfacing in 2009 onwards.

  • septimus #46 4 years ago

    Sounds good. Might be nice as a spare recorder; especially the PSP transfer.

    Prefer SkyHD but you can't copy that to your PSP (and I don't want to pay for the SKY/PSP addon).

  • peterfll #47 4 years ago

    You can sset recordnig via a PC or mobile phone on Sky+. As a Sky subscriber you can also watch Sky content on any PC, so the PSP functionality isn't that radical. And for someone who couldn't give a toss for sport, but likes movies, there is another reason to have Sky+.

    Anyhow, I have the Sky HD service and it's great, but it's still too expensive. Sky have reduced the price of the HD box, but it's the subscription costs they need to seriously trim. Up until now though, where's the competetion? Virgin? But this sort of service will help. And it'll give you BBC, Channel4 and ITV HD I think?

  • moggsy #48 4 years ago

    @ peterfll

    Channel4 HD is only available on Sky at the mo. ITV HD is only watchable on Freesat (it's a bit shit at the mo though as it's only the odd program and you access it by pressing the red button on the normal ITV1 channel). BBC HD is available on Freesat, Virgin and Sky HD.

    Freeview are supposed to launch a HD service next year but I wouldn't hold my breath. Also I'm not 100% convinced that Play TV will be compatible with this as I think the standard is yet to be set.

  • peterfll #49 4 years ago

    Yeah, that's one of the biggest issues with using the PS3 as an HD PVR. HD gobbles up space like no tomorrow. The SKy HD box with it's 160gb doesn't go very far.

  • homerramone #50 4 years ago

    99 euros. So at the current conversion rate that... 150 UKP :-)

  • peterfll #51 4 years ago

    @mogsy

    Well that's a bit crap then isn't it? I has assumed this service will provide the same content as the Freesat HD service.

    Channel4 HD isn't bad actually, and is getting better. They show quite a few films in HD on it. I haven't see the ITV channel as I only have Sky.

  • rhinoxious #52 4 years ago

    It would be nice to have a Freesat version of PlayTV, but that seems unlikely.

    Now that the do-or-die feature of ingame recording has been laid to rest, I've got a whole bunch of other's I'll want.

    Simultaneous record - schedule two shows at once
    Series record
    record and timeshift at the same time
    logical recording conflict resolution, including finding alterntaive showings for you
    Constant timeshift on/off option
    searchable programme guide

    Pretty much everything the Meduia Center gives you really, but without the pain of having a proper PC in your living room.

  • rhinoxious #53 4 years ago

    @ peterfll

    There's no terrestrial broadcast HD at present, and we can't really blame anyone, except maybe the government, for that.

    PlayTV isn't a service remember, like Freesat or Sky, it's just a Freeview tuiner for your PS3. The reason it's a big deal is that you shouldn't need a games console and a PVR anymore. Also I'm fairly excited to see what Sony's excellent interface team manage in terms of features and controls.
    Edited by 1 at 18/07/08 @ 11:15

  • X201 #54 4 years ago

    Lets get this straight.

    PlayTV has got DVB-T tuners in it.
    Freeview HD when it starts in 2009/2010 will almost certainly be using DVB-T2 as its broadcast standard

    If both of the above stay unchanged this will mean that PlayTV will not be able to receive Freeview HD TV

    Not sure if the tuners can be upgraded via new firmware, but I'd doubt it.

    Edited by 1 at 18/07/08 @ 11:36

  • peterfll #55 4 years ago

    I understand PlayTV is not a service, but assumed it used the Freesat service, which of course, now I think about it, I knew wasn't right and can't be the case because Freesat needs a satellite dish (the clue is in the name). Doh!

    You're right, it's down to the goverment really to get cracking with the switch over to digital TV to free up the space for HD broadcasts. It's all coming back to me now.

  • peterfll #56 4 years ago

    ^^^

    .... and I thought I was quite "up" on HD etc because it interests me.

    No wonder the general public gets confused.

  • moggsy #57 4 years ago

    @ peterfll

    Yep, it really is a confusing mess at the moment. Basically if you want a decent HD TV service then you need Sky HD, which is a real shame as it's so damn expensive.

    Give it a couple of years though and the free services will hopefully catch up.

  • Widge #58 4 years ago

    @ X201

    exactly... I'm hoping the delay on this is in line with the government getting their fingers out and sorting the HD freeview standard. Play TV will be out of date really if it can't do Freeview HD when it hits.

  • Rash' #59 4 years ago

    I'm confused by the HD ready situation with PlayTV. On the one hand Sony have publically stated that the hardware will be HD ready and yet it appears the hardware doesn't have the features (DVB-T2) to make this technically accurate. Has a more recent list of the hardware features been released? It seems crazy to release hardware that potentially could be dated with in a year.

  • Rash' #60 4 years ago

    According to Eurogamer's article:

    " ...one of the most appealing aspects of PlayTV is that its future-proofed for the full HD signals that will eventually come to Freeview and its European equivalents. Bunting says the BBC's test signal looks "incredible", and every one of PlayTV's features works perfectly in high definition."

  • Ryze #61 4 years ago

    Hmmm... I'll wait and see if this sees the light of day by Dec '08, and whether it records while playing any game.

    I don't trust what Sony claims at all these days.

  • moggsy #62 4 years ago

    @ Rash'

    Was the BBC's test signal using a standard which the final version of Freeview HD will use?

    The new terrestrial HD services are expected to be the first time the new DVB-T2 transmission standard, which was only agreed internationally at the end of last month, is employed in a major project.

    From here.

    Edit: The article you are referring to is from March and the standard was only agreed at the end of last month, so I'd be highly surprised if PlayTV will be compatible. It's still possible that it's something they could fix with a firmware update though I suppose.
    Edited by 2 at 18/07/08 @ 13:44

  • Ryze #63 4 years ago

    From what I've read so far - PlayTV WILL support Freeview HD.

    If only they released a Freesat version that supported HD - now THAT would be KILLER.

    Gimme a PS2 BC PS3 with Dual shock, 80Gb HDD and if I can grab a PlayTV Freesat for less than £100 then I'm sold.

    Roll on God Of War 3 and Shadow of the Collossus / ICO sequel to save the PS3.

  • moggsy #64 4 years ago

    @ Ryze

    From what I'm reading PlayTV WILL NOT support HD Freeview. The original BBC HD trial (started in April 2007) apparently used the existing DVB-T standard, not the new DVB-T2 standard. They've just started a new trial using this new standard.

    Unless Sony announce otherwise I think we unfortunately need to assume that PlayTV will not be DVB-T2 compatible.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #65 4 years ago

    @evilfoxhound
    "Mugs pay for sky. They see you coming from a mile away LOL"

    And Sony didn't, when they charged FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE POUNDS for a crippled media player

  • Andy247 #66 4 years ago

    Excellent, i'd love to pay 99 Euros for a glorified freeview box. The hard drive is already built into the console so what exactly justifies the cost? Waste of time, stick to Sky or cable.

  • mossychops001 #67 4 years ago

    @ canIdoyabombsforya

    Money well spent my 60gb launch PS3 is worth more now on ebay than i payed for it!

    http://cg i.ebay.co.uk/SONY-PLAYSTATION-3...

  • KD #68 4 years ago

    So this gets it signal from a aerial then? I just cancelled my sky and using a card with no subcription to get basically freeview through my sky box and seen freesat as what i'm going to buy in a few weeks because of the shody aerial signal here where i live for freeview, i shudder at the thought of a HD signal after seeing family and friends with freeview barely working due to the signal.

  • Carlo #69 4 years ago

    "I wonder if this is going to work with freeview HD in the UK... I believe thats to start surfacing in 2009 onwards. "


    PlayTV have twin HD tuners. The same one's the Sony x-series TVs have.

  • X201 #70 4 years ago

    AAARRGH!!!

  • Rash' #71 4 years ago

    Thought this was worth sharing from the Playstation forums:

    "the UK is not the only country in Europe.
    We Dont have freeview HD and won't till 2012 even then its only going to be 4 channels BBC ITV FIVE Channel 4
    Other European countries allready have freeview HD running they are using DVB-T1 aka mpeg2.
    So due to the UK not having any freeview HD channels there are no conflicts with PlayTV.

    what we do have in the UK is freesat HD and SKY+HD as they use DVB-T2 aka mpeg4 they are completely different to freeview HD

    BBC HD remained a test channel only on freeview london, if it became a full BBC channel on freeview the BBC would need to upgrade every tower on the island as every license fee payer would have the option to receive it buy law.
    That costs to much so to get around that freesat HD was lauched instead as a completely new system."

  • X201 #72 4 years ago

    Neither of them use DVB-T2

    Freesat uses DVB-S
    Sky+HD uses DVB-S2

  • spookyzombie #73 4 years ago

    So where exactly am I supposed to store recorded programmes? My feeble 40GB HD can't take much more. I wonder if it you could use an external HD to record on?

  • X201 #74 4 years ago

    @spookyzombie
    Not sure if you can record directly to an external drive but you will be able to move files to, and play back from one

  • Rash' #75 4 years ago

    X201, If that's the case then how much of the info I posted from PS forums is accurate?

  • X201 #76 4 years ago

    @Rash'

    UK Freeview HD will start in selected regions in 2009 but your date of 2012 is correct in respect that HD needs the extra bandwidth that will be freed up by the switch from analogue to digital and that won't be completed until 2012.

    Its only going to be 4 channels until 2012 and then when the bandwidth is free there will be more.

    "DVB-T1 aka mpeg2" and "DVB-T2 aka mpeg4"- aka is wrong
    DVB-T - can use MPEG-2 but it can also use MPEG4 and the reverse is true DVB-T2 can use either MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. DVB is the transmission standard, MPEG is the picture encoding standard.

    The BBC test transmission is staying as a test transmission because the test transmitters are in London and Oxford. From what I've read, the multiplexes (5 channels that all Digital channels are broadcast along) need to be reorganised to make room for BBC HD which means that when they clear out multiplex B to make room for Freeview HD the TV channels from Multiplex B will have to go onto another multiplex and...

    This is getting too technical. Bringing it back to PlayTV, the ball is in Sony's court and there are only three options.

    1)PlayTV uses DVB-T tuners. Which means it won't pick up Freeview HD

    2)PlayTV uses DVB-T2 tuners. Highly unlikely. The standard was only ratified a month or two ago and silicon manufacturers have told OFCOM that they won't have any hardware ready until the start of 2009.

    3)PlayTV uses a tuner that can be reprogrammed to DVB-T2 via a firmware update. Too costly for a product in this price range.

    Edited by 3 at 19/07/08 @ 14:15

  • Execta #77 4 years ago

    Must-buy.

  • Bitkari #78 4 years ago

    I'll wait for the PlayGAMES addon, so I can play video games while watching BLU-RAY.

    Playstation Three is the best way to experience BLU-RAY.

    BLU-RAY.

  • PanStre #79 4 years ago

    Isn't this supposed to allow you to record gameplay?