PS3 Fanboy

The PS3 has firmly entrenched itself as not only a games console, but a fully fledged multimedia device. It features blu-ray, media streaming, a web browser and image viewing and printing. Now, with PlayTV, the PS3 adds television to its repertoire. Sony could easily have released a simple TV tuner with only the most essential features, but instead they've developed a product that's incredibly feature rich and integrates itself into the PS3 experience seamlessly.

Setting up your surprisingly light PlayTV box is simple and painless and requires nothing more than plugging an aerial in one end and a USB cable, connected to your PS3, into the other. Once this is done you need only load up the accompanying disc software, which will install the PlayTV client onto your XMB and guide you through the simple setup. After this, you'll have a new "TV" section on the XMB. PlayTV takes advantage of Freeview in the UK, a set of free TV channels and radio stations. Load up the client and you're off.

The emphasis has clearly been placed on being user friendly. The first time you enter any section of the software a splash screen will show you the controls. These can be reviewed again in the help section, along with more in-depth guides. If you'd rather use a remote control than a SIXAXIS controller, your Blu-ray remote will work just fine and PlayTV even comes with an overlay which can be stuck on top to show which buttons do what.

The PS3 is an excellent entertainment hub, and adding the freeview box and recorder known as PlayTV only leverages the PS3's profile. Since the initial sale of PlayTV in the UK over 9,000 Britons have pre-ordered the service, while 85,000 units have been shipped.

Again, that's only numbers for the UK. Continental Europe won't be getting the service until December. Can this interest seen in Britain spread eastward to the rest of the continent? Will it bomb; will the response be better? These are question we're interested in seeing answers to.

This week the Force unleashes worldwide whilst Americans get their hands on off-road racer, Pure. Europeans can enjoy recording TV onto their PS3 hard discs (while playing games, no less) and the Japanese finally get their hands on Eternal Sonata (though they choose to call if Trusty Bell, and why not?) Here's the full release list:

US Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
  [Get a free $20 gift card at Toys R Us stores; Get a free $5 gift card at Circuit City]
  
• Armored Core: For Answer
• Pure

EU Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• PlayTV

Asian Games

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• GI Jockey 4 2008
• Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume
• Unreal Tournament 3

Don't forget, release dates are constantly subject to change, so check with your local retailer if you need any of the above information confirmed. We're now only a month away from one of our most anticipated titles of the year -- Dead Space starts the holiday season off on October 14th and after that it's a terrifyingly expensive avalanche of titles until years end.

Sometimes it's hard to keep track of what's "official" and what's not -- especially because Sony continues to contradict itself. (Case in point: PSP Brite's battery life.) When we first heard the Euro-exclusive PlayTV box would allow users to copy recorded shows onto the PSP, we all said "yay." The convenience of recording TV and taking it with us wherever we go sounded swell. Then, we found out that the files would be restricted.

Well, with PlayTV in the hands of reviewers, it appears Sony has switched back to the original plan. You'll now be able to copy DRM-free versions of your recorded programs to your PSP, or any other compatible MPEG-4 device, at least according to CVG.

Our European readers may want to check out CVG's review. The rest of us will just sit here in the corner, waiting.

[Thanks, benny boy!]

Looking forward to the 160GB PS3? Then we hope you are not in Australia, for you will not be getting the configuration. Though the new 80GB configuration is still headed your way on August 28th for AU $699, which includes a single DualShock 3 controller.

Now onto the good news: the wireless keypad attachment has been confirmed to debut "before the end of the year." PlayTV is also confirmed for Australia in the "first half of 2009." Though with the recent reduction in features, we wonder if you guys Down Under still want the DVB-T tuner peripheral.

Despite Mr. Sony Europe, David Reeves, telling the world that PlayTV would be with us as soon as September 10th, Eurogamer has been told by SCEE that the device will now not be available until the 19th. Reeves also stated a price of €99, which has also been confirmed false. PlayTV will now set you back £69.99. A much better price point than the originally rumored £100.

In case you're not aware, PlayTV is an add-on for the PS3 which will allow you to watch and record SD and HD freeview channels. You will be able to watch and record separate channels at the same time and even play games while recording is taking place. This is a Europe-only device, however, thanks to something that involves a lot of very technical TV jargon.

[Thanks, jimb!]

Amazon.co.uk has caused some confusion today when it listed a release date and price for the Digital TV recording peripheral, PlayTV. With a date of July 31st and a price of £59.99, it was looking like a good deal for UK PS3 owners. Until Sony refused to confirm both details and Amazon pulled all the information on their site, that is. Instead, the release date is now set for October and there's not a price in sight. Weird.

We're sure you're as excited as us about PlayTV, so we'll be sure to keep you up to date with any developments.

[Via Eurogamer]

What's better than recording your favourite telly shows onto your PS3 with PlayTV? Could it have something to do with transferring these recorded videos onto your computer without restriction? That's what Sony are promising will be possible when PlayTV launches this year. There will be no restrictions on what you can do with your vieos which, once recorded, can become just another file on your XMB and can then be copied onto an SD card or USB key for easy transfer where ever.

Not only that, but there will be not DRM or proprietary encoding on the videos, they will simple render out as high-quality MPEG-2s. This means you can watch or edit them on your computer, or even encode them for use on your PSP (slightly pointless considering PlayTV supports PSP playback via Remote Play) or iPod. As long as no-one does anything illegal with the files (like put them on a BitTorrent network) then everything's fine. Expect people to take no notice of this whatsoever and start sticking stuff online as soon as PlayTV finally gets released - which is when, again?

[Thanks Jakob]

In glorious low-res shakycam! Those lucky BBC Tech guys have got their hands on PlayTV and have produced a wee video showing off exactly what it can do. The video takes you through the interface of the software on the PS3, showing you how quick and streamlined the whole system is. They then go on to show off the remote play features. It all looks rather excellent to us and we can't wait to get our hands on the magic box itself.

ThreeSpeech has also been able to put rest to some niggles that some of you may have. They have confirmation from Sony that, should you set a program to record and have your PS3 on standby mode, it will turn itself on, record, then shut down. So those of you who are worried about wasting energy can rest easy in the knowledge that your PS3 will be on only as long as it needs to be.

There's been a lot of talk about PlayTV, but until now that's all been words. ThreeSpeech have released the above video to show you, with actual pictures and everything, how exactly PlayTV will work. It's all very simple and straight forward.

PlayTV's release date is still shrouded in mystery, though Play.com did leak a possible date and price (March 28th for £99) this has now disappeared. No doubt there will be a significant marketing push when the system is nearing its release. We're just hoping to get our hands on it as soon as possible.

UK retailer Play.com has placed a listing for the upcoming PlayTV peripheral on its website. This Europe-exclusive add-on for the PS3 will allow PS3 owners to do a number of cool things, such as:

• Record and view your favourite programmes at the same time - Play TV enables you to record both Standard Definition as well as High Definition
• Personal Video Recorder functionality - watch live TV, pause, fast forward and rewind
• Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) to show what's on, now and next - up to 7 days in advance in certain countries
• Mobile TV functionality - export content easily from PS3 HDD to PSP - watch TV on the go! Thanks to live streaming, you can watch your favourite show whilst abroad
• Channel surf with either your BD remote or your Sixaxis

The site has a March 28th release date and a £99.99 price point.

[Via PSPGadgetZ]

Europe's exclusive PVR service, called PlayTV, looks to be a winner. So much so that Americans (like a majority of the PS3 Fanboy team) are jealous of their friends across the Atlantic. If the features and services provided by PlayTV weren't incredible enough, it utilizes a genuinely sexy interface that (dare we say?) looks better than Sony's XMB. Watch this "leaked" footage from Leipzig to see for yourself.

[Via digg]

In Leipzig today, SCEE announced PlayTV, a TV tuner and personal video recorder (PVR) for the PS3. PlayTV will be available in UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain early in 2008, with other PAL territories to follow in the future. [Update: Kotaku has confirmed that the service is unlikely to come to America. "The problem with the DVR is that the U.S. doesn't have terrestrial digital television yet, so while some cities like San Diego have it not nearly support in the U.S. to make it worth the effort for Sony. When that changes, and it will, Sony will be on the ball, Harrison said."]

PlayTV will allow users to watch, pause and record live TV. PlayTV can also record individual shows, or entire series to the PS3 hard drive. The videos can then be watched from the PS3, or can be transferred to the PSP to watch on the go. PlayTV will provide a 7-day Electronic Programme Guide (EPG2) utilizing the "widely available" DVB-T format.

The peripheral will feature two TV tuners that are 1080p compatible, allowing users to view, record and play full HD television signals. Through the PlayStation Network, the program will be constantly updated, to improve the service and offer new functionality.

See the full press release after the break.