See PlayTV in action

by Jem Alexander { Feb 14th 2008 at 2:00PM }

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.

Tags: BBC, playtv, threespeech

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Phoenix8387 @ Feb 14th 2008 2:08PM

This is completely awesome... I just wish we would get it in the US. Everything seems to be extremely simple to use and the system seems to be pretty well designed.

mike @ Feb 15th 2008 12:27AM

We do have it in the US.
It's called the location free player...look it up

Sora57 @ Feb 15th 2008 4:45PM

Mike, I use locationfree and this is not the same. Locations free simply takes whatever components you have hooked up to it and streams control and playback over the internet or locally. This appears to have a built in DVR, menu system, etc. Now if your locationfree base station is connected to a DVR, then Play TV does not seem necessary. It also takes in a coax, while locationfree only handles RCA or component (on the newer models).

Lars @ Feb 14th 2008 2:08PM

This makes me wish I lived in GB. Our (USA) proprietary TV systems really piss me off. That's why I'm still using rabbit ears.

Andy @ Feb 15th 2008 3:34AM

i sent this in! YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

moo083 @ Feb 14th 2008 2:15PM

Great. I just wish that Sony would release a cablecard reader and similar software in the US. That would make my day.

russell @ Feb 14th 2008 2:18PM

this is hot sex.

Organic_Shadow @ Feb 14th 2008 2:20PM

Here's hoping for an americanized solution to our DVR woes stateside. I like was I see so far.

If we get something similar over here though, I will accept nothing less than this feature set. It has the EPG and everything.

Chubbs @ Feb 21st 2008 12:01AM

Please come to US, please come to US, ...

Ty @ Feb 14th 2008 2:42PM

If you already have a dvr what does this do differently or better?

ClarkyCat @ Feb 14th 2008 2:53PM

If you have one already, really all it offers is PSP streaming. Even if you don't have a DVR already it would probably be a better idea. For the same price as PlayTV you'll get a larger hard drive (considering most people now have 40GB model, the majority already taken up with games, demos, media, a sizeable chunk will be gone) around the 120-160GB mark.
Plus they still haven't announced whether you can play games whilst recording a programme, which means you can't. But if you're out of the house and constantly in a wifi hotspot, maybe PlayTV would be better suited.

PSPDog @ Feb 14th 2008 3:32PM

I'd really like to see this in the US for the PSP streaming. Is there a charge for the playtv service over there? We get screwed having to rent DVRs over here.

w0mbat @ Feb 14th 2008 4:11PM

It was *supposed* to be out in March 2008 but that seems to have changed. Anyone know a firm date?

tjmwiles @ Feb 14th 2008 3:04PM

"Plus they still haven't announced whether you can play games whilst recording a programme, which means you can't."

From the BBC
"At the moment you can't record TV in the background while playing a game on the PS3 but I'm told the software developers are working hard to add the feature. If it isn't available at launch, the feature could be added later as a software update."

Imbro @ Feb 14th 2008 3:42PM

Recording TV means Decrypt + sometimes encode + store to HDD. Atleast while doing analogue input. I for one hope this will not be the case. This would be a tremendous overhead which could've been spent on more fps/effects for a ps3 game.

Kodros @ Feb 15th 2008 2:55PM

You wouldn't lose FPS over this. The OS already has claim to a single SPU (which can easily encode/decode video). The only issue would be if a game is running off the HD.

Dan Davis @ Feb 14th 2008 3:30PM

Wow! How exciting... I'm honestly envious of you wankers and your "aerials" :P Well at least we still have Britney... oh, wait...

Pete @ Feb 14th 2008 3:51PM

It can't record while you are playing a game. Completely useless as a DVR. Or, if you use it as a DVR, completely useless as a gaming console.

yomama07024 @ Feb 14th 2008 4:24PM

@ PSPDog
No there is no service charge. You just play for the product one time. And to everyone else, it will be released in the US. Think about it. What country has the highest percentage of fat assed lazy people? America! Of course, they want to make money and for that reason, they will bring it to the US eventually. I am American by the way.

JayD-1K @ Feb 14th 2008 10:00PM

in the States we have locationfree! if you have it hooked up to your dvr...you already have these features.

mike @ Feb 15th 2008 12:34AM

thank you JAyD. I thought I was the only person here that knows of the Location Free PLayer.
I have one and it's better than play TV because you can also watch your cable subscription on a PC, Notebook, PSP, and certain cell phones.

PlayTV cant do that.

Oh yeah, with the LFP you can watch any movie that you leave in you DVD player.

eco @ Feb 14th 2008 5:50PM

can this thing receive an HD signal if it only show standard definition like Sky+ I for one am not buying. But if it's the same as SkyHD where do I sign up. It should be called PlayTVHD.

JaffaBoy @ Feb 18th 2008 3:03PM

It's freeview... which is not HD. If it upscales to HD then that will be cool but seeing the freeview built into my 42" lcd doesnt upscale I'm not holding out much hope!

Great news about powering on the ps3 to record a program and just hope that they 'solve' the issue of recording and playing a game at the same time.

Kspraydad @ Feb 14th 2008 6:59PM

For US/CAN Sony will be adding DVR functions through a Tivo addon.

crazypenguin @ Feb 14th 2008 8:19PM

if its good enough to record...it should be good enough to watch live, and since you can play video games at any time...that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. point is i think play tv was made for those who want a dvr a part of there ps3. and i'm asuming most people who use dvr's use it because they arn't there when they record it, or they watch it as its being recorded so they can watch it on the go later too.