Sony PlayTV available before Xmas – turn your PS3 into a PVR

The long delayed Sony PlayTV will go on sale in Australia on November 26. Long delayed? Yes, very much so, it was first shown to media back in 2008.

What’s the PlayTV do? In essence, it’s a personal video recorder attachment to the PlayStation 3, allowing you to watch, pause and record free-to-air TV.

PlayTV extends the PVR concept, also allowing:

  • Portable viewing with PSP: Seamless PSP connectivity allows you to set recordings, watch live TV and recorded TV programs remotely on the PSP, via a WiFi connection (using Remote Play feature).
  • Portable viewing with Sony Ericsson AINO mobile phone: Remote Play via a WiFi or 3G connection.

The PlayTV will have a twin HD tuner on-board, so you can watch one TV show while recording another, or record TV while playing a game or watching a Blu-ray movie. I know that some twin-tuner devices allow you to record two shows while watching another simultaneously, but from what I can see the PlayTV is a ‘true’ twin-tuner, meaning that you are restricted to watching or recording only two shows at the same time.

And just like the PS3, there will on occasion be firmware updates, adding to the performance and functionality of the device. This may extend to improving the EPG, as at launch it looks like the PlayTV will be limited to a proprietary seven-day interface.

The PlayTV will have an RRP of $169.95.

Related reading

Sony PlayStation 3 Slim – our review of the latest version of the PS3… slimmer and more power efficient

Sony PlayStation 3: the Blu-ray player review – the PS3 reviewed purely as a Blu-ray player