PlayTV crashing PS3s

UPDATE: Sony has released a new update for PlayTV that appears to have fixed the crashing problems reported by Eurogamer in April.

Sony alerted us to the patch (v2.04), which was released last week, and claimed it fixed the issues raised in our original story.

A quick glance at Sony's EU PlayStation forum shows PlayTV users are, on the whole, happy with the fix and are now using PlayTV as intended.

ORIGINAL STORY: Remember PlayTV, the external device for PlayStation 3 that allows you to watch and record free-to-air digital TV? It's borked.

That's according to a number of Eurogamer readers who say it hasn't worked properly since the release of a recent update.

Users of PlayTV, which you can pick up for little over a tenner these days, have complained that it hangs after ever recording, forcing a manual reboot of the console.

Some haven found their console crashes after simply searching PlayTV.

There are a number of threads on the PlayStation forum about the issues - and they have been running for some time.

"This morning the PS3 hadn't shut down after a recording last night and was frozen on the 'PlayTV is recording' screen," wrote theflatboy.

"Incredibly annoying, the main reason we got the super slim to replace the YLODed fat console was our frequent use of PlayTV. Complete waste of money as it turns out, we would have been better off getting a standalone PVR and binning the PS3 for good. Not happy."

"How can they expect us to buy a PS4 if they can't STILL get the PS3 working the way it was BUILT TO!" wrote the angry thewolfydragon.

"I paid £40 for the PlayTV box and £6 odd for the upgrade... and STILL I HAVE NO RELIABLE TV TO WATCH OR RECORD!"

A Sony Computer Entertainment Europe spokesperson told Eurogamer this morning: "We are aware of this issue, it is currently under investigation and we are working on it."