The PlayStation 3 to get a digital TV tuner next year

by Colin Torretta { Jul 31st 2007 at 10:00PM }

The New Zealand head of marketing for the PlayStation 3 was recently quoted saying that Sony hopes to have a digital TV tuner released for the PS3 by next March, turning it into a full fledged DVR. Warwick Light explains, "We're also hoping next year – about the same time that Freeview launches its terrestrial broadcasting service (expected to be in March) – to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder."

If this is legitimate, the release of a digital TV tuner would be an awesome addition to the PS3's ever increasing list of capabilities. But since the announcement came from a rather obscure source (sorry to any New Zealanders out there), we're taking a wait-and-see approach to this one. Hopefully it will turn out to be true though, DVR functionality would be a great way to use all that HD space.

[Via N4G]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

James @ Jul 31st 2007 10:04PM

New Zealand > America. There's a high probability of this being true what with all the fuss being caused over FreeView at the moment. But then again with a stand alone Freeview reciever being quite affordable why would Sony specifically go to the extent of creating a first party device for it. *shrugs* Believe what you will.

Isewise @ Jul 31st 2007 10:35PM

Please say that with the tuner you can use the PS3 as a LocationFree Hub!?!

Slaytan @ Jul 31st 2007 11:43PM

mmmm....remote play tv with the PSP and PS3...I love it!

humpty @ Jul 31st 2007 11:46PM

I woyld rather have support gor more video formats.

humpty @ Jul 31st 2007 11:52PM

Oh, and 300 on BD looks frikkin amasing.

sam-evans @ Aug 1st 2007 12:50AM

It is rather obscure that news as big as this comes from NZ, not Sony Japan or America where everyone considers to be the major markets

Freeview set top boxes are rather expensive here in NZ too and this is something im definitely getting

DVR is will be one of the biggest selling points here in New Zealand and will help justify the price ($1195 + 3 games)

Thank You SONY NZ, now go market this to death

chris @ Aug 1st 2007 12:56AM

does that mean i can record my porn too? damn thats awesome good thing i hot swapped in a obscenely big 160 gig HDD

Wayne @ Aug 1st 2007 3:51AM

How exactly will this work, will we have a big USB tuner hanging out the front of our PS3's or will this be included in a redesign?

It annoys me the PS3 doesn't have a HD Tuner, I mean, it's so close to a Media Centre PC.

LS @ Aug 1st 2007 4:10AM

FreeView - is this the same digital FreeView we Brits have been paying for and using for a good few years now? If so why would Sony wait for NZ to get this service when the UK already has a strong install base and a rapidly approaching terrestrial signal switch-off?

Jakob @ Aug 1st 2007 5:27AM

#9 Freeview? Isn't it "just" DVB-T? If so has Denmark (and mostly of Europe) that. I think that feature will be very nice; use it as a harddisk recorder, for 800$ (in Denmark) you get:
Blu-ray player - in DK about: 818$
Harddisk recorder: about 118$
Game console: :)
and alot of nice features!

So a very nice thing.

#8 If this is a huge thing, you can just use a USB cable, to hide the tuner :D

gooftroop @ Aug 1st 2007 7:45AM

@ #9/LS

We do not pay for FREEview.. the clue is in the name...

There are premium/subscription/pay per view services available via the DVB-T broadcasts in the UK but consumers are not forced to have these and it is optional if people decided to pay out money to subscribe (top up tv etc).

Freeview is just a name for the provider (DTV Services Ltd) here in the UK (and elsewhere).

borland502 @ Aug 1st 2007 8:25AM

@12: "This is a gaming console or is it?"

Nyet comrade, they are positioning this as a multimedia hub, just like Microsoft. And even if this rumor is true, it sounds like a peripheral. Therefore, the obvious answer is not to buy it.

So pipe down sparky, and the games will come at the same pace they've always arrived in an early console release cycle.

LS @ Aug 1st 2007 8:28AM

@10: i was refering to the wording of the original article but yeah, DVB-T. And I agree it would be a nice thing to have for our PS3s

@11: I meant "paying for" in the sense that the BBC is a publically funded body from the License Fee, and thus "FreeView" is something of a misnomer

Popfrogs @ Aug 1st 2007 8:50AM

@Dug E Fresh:

OH NOES! I hate options! Just give me a machine that _only plays games_!

Seriously dude, get a Wii. The rest of us want a nice media hub. When you dole out this kind of cash, saying it only plays games makes you wonder why it's so expensive. Well, it's expensive because it can do many things and do them well. Anyway, it's just another option, nobody is forcing you to buy it, and it's possible it'll drop in Asian/European markets first.

Galley @ Aug 1st 2007 9:02AM

The grammar police would like to offer this friendly reminder:

HD = High-Defintion
HDD = Hard Disk Drive

Dave @ Aug 1st 2007 10:19AM

I would love something like this. Sony does suprise me from time to time with their ups and downs, but this is defiantely an up.

chris.westermann @ Aug 1st 2007 10:28AM

How exactly would it be implemented? One of the biggest miffs I have about the PS3 is that all the USB ports are up front, meaning 3rd party add-ons (or even Sony created ones) all have to hang off the front of the PS3. Why Sony couldn't put a few USB ports in the back of the unit is beyond me. So, while a PVR option for the PS3 will be cool, I can only see it as like a tumor growing out the front of your PS3 wrapping around the back so you can get some SD quality recording (because it will be a cold day in heck before cable companies allow their HD broadcasts to be recorded on 3rd party devices).

Perhaps, one could only hope, that the PVR will be a network device that would connect wirelessly or through the ethernet port on the the PS3. Sony has already invested heavily in location free wireless TV, so it makes sense they would leverage this investment in a PS3 PVR. If done right, this device could easily spank AppleTV, the power of the PS3 combined with content downloads and recording!

I only hope that this "ability" is not exclusive to some new model of the PS3 that will be released with it built in, or offer USB ports on the back for sleeker implementation. For now, I am skeptical about the whole idea and hope that if its done, its done right and hot a half assed afterthought.

Andy @ Aug 1st 2007 11:35AM

"If done right, this device could easily spank AppleTV"

Isn't AppleTV already a huge failure?

craig @ Aug 1st 2007 1:15PM

Just give me some games and the ability to play .avi files and install codecs.

LS @ Aug 1st 2007 2:14PM

@21 Try using Nero MediaHome - it'll happily stream avi files to your PS3 (no luck with codecs though)

OrganicShadow @ Aug 1st 2007 2:27PM

Hope it's cheap, free(like a standalone DVR unit without any service), and of decent quality.

@17: I'm sorry, but I say HD for HARD DRIVE, not for HARD DISK DRIVE. I have never said "hard disk drive" ever in normal conversation, always "hard drive", so I continue to use an acronym that corresponds to the first letter of each of those two words.

Hard = H
Drive = D

There's a thing called context clues that should help any vocabulary sticklers out there figure out which HD I am talking about. Obviously you can't store files on a high definition.

Jakob @ Aug 1st 2007 2:41PM

@19 You can just use a USB extension? And hide the tuner in the back of the PS3. I do this for my notebook and it works fine :)

I hope they will launch different versions of the tuner; DVB-T (for free and pay channels), DVB-S (for pay channels) and DVB-C (for cable tv). And not just one of them. In Denmark we have all 3 forms, but I mostly use DVB-T, right now have we only 4 Danish channels + 23 deutch in the southern Denmark, and 8 Swedish channels. In 2009 when they turn out the analog signal, there will be around 30 Danish channels, some HD, some not. I think it is great and those who need a recordere, can just use the PS3.

Those who say it's an awfull idea: I don't understand you; Sony gives you an option, you don't need to buy it. You don't need to buy ANY products you don't like or might not use.

Sorry bad English, I'm from Denmark :D

rothgar @ Aug 1st 2007 3:20PM

I wouldn't be surprised if sony partnered with silicon dust (the makers of the HDHomerun) It is a digital tuner that sits on your network and never has to touch the computer it is being used with. I have one for my mythtv and it is great!
I have been thinking for a while that it wouldn't be hard to at least get a small program to open the udp port and view the video that comes through.

never$$hort @ Aug 1st 2007 3:45PM

Sound like a great idea if it is intergrated correctly... Those who don't like it, DONT GET IT!!! Freedom of choice in the new world is an awsome thing you know!

Jakob @ Aug 1st 2007 4:09PM

I hope it is just a normally USB tuner, what's the problem with that?

John @ Aug 1st 2007 9:47PM

I think it's a great idea, as this sort of thing is (sort of) gaining momentum... for those who want it, if you only have a ps3, you won't need to buy iTV or any other tv encoder.

I must confess ignorance, I thought it would be a type of firmware upgrade where we could stream this stuff in from our cables or wireless (increasingly, dsl and cable companies are turning to digital and fiberoptik, where 5MB downloads are the minimum), so we could stream it in quality based on our download rates-- I have 5MB, so I would probably get standard-def (I believe similar to s-vhs, hi-8, or DVD quality (then one has to ask-- if I stream standard-def tv, can the ps3 upscale it, for me? Then one has to ask... if I can do that, do I even NEED a huge download stream? And since 5MB is becoming so common in the hands of mainstream users, it would be a boon for them to get everything through their ps3, where they could record it if they like.

I got lost in parentheses.
))

I'll still be interested if it's a hardware upgrade (be careful, though-- many consumers will see this as another "HDTV Tuner", which some already bought extra, for tv's that didn't have them-- they won't buy another one-- better be sure and call it a "live-TV Recording Show" (the word show is purposefully diffuse) or simply "LTRS"-- as in "Laters," as in,

"What you wanna watch tonight, Darla?"

"I was gonna watch me some of them LATERS (LTRS (C),(T)) we recorded on your box, t'other night."

as in,

"Did you watch that car show I told you about?"

"Haven't yit, but I got it fer LATER (LTRS (C), (T))."

See? You just introduced a new verb into the colloquium.

We're lookin at you,

'G'

PJ @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:55AM

Are there any other details about how this feature will actually work? I mean will i definitely be a USB peripheral or is it possible for them to work it into a firmware upgrade and stream the content over the internet? Just a thought.