PlayTV

1. Vital Stats

Publisher: SCEE

Platform: PS3

Released: 19/09/08

Genre: Accessory

We give it:

Tim enters the world of Freeview television by watching TV on his PS3. Find out if PlayTV is worth getting or is it just worth buying a standard PVR?...

As I write this review I am enjoying an exciting episode of Quincy ME on ITV3. Why mention this and shouldn't I be concentrating on this review? The reason why I have this amazing TV show in the background is because I am reviewing Sony's latest accessory for the PlayStation 3; PlayTV.

If you're wondering what this is, PlayTV is a digital freeview tuner which you connect to the PS3 via a USB cable. The tuner comes with software which allows you to watch and record free to air digital television how good this is will be stated later on in the review.

In the Box

In the box you get the freeview tuner which is a small black box which is about the same length and width of a DS Lite. You also get a USB cable, a disc containing the software, a sticker to place on your Blu ray remote and a cardboard box. The tuner is quite a neat piece of kit but don't get too excited as its pretty basic and just contains an aerial port and a USB port. It was a shame that there was no way that Sony could have developed a slot which you can then attach the tuner to your PS3. This means that you always have a wire hanging about and you need to find a place to put the tuner in your entertainment unit. It does mean however you can hide away the tuner and just place it next to the tuner.

Its nice to stare at a box for a while but you'll need to make it work. Fortunately Sony have provided the software with it. You just pop in the disc and it installs the software, it also shows you a video whilst it installs. Why Sony and other third party developers can't do this whilst they install data I have no idea. Once this is done you can get rid of the disc if you feel like it. The software adds a TV icon to the XMB interface meaning you can fire up the software without any disc. The setup then guides you through the process and scans for any available channels, this happened quite quickly and then you are free to watch as much TV as you like.

Watching TV

The quality of the picture is one of the best I have seen from a freeview box, this might have been helped due to my PS3 going through HDMI rather than my previous freeview boxes which use Scart but its still quite impressive. Since the freeview HD specification hasn't been finalised yet there are no HD channels available and it might be possible that this tuner won't be able to receive HD channels in the future which is a shame. Now this next comment maybe due to my signal strength but as of yet I have not seen the picture break up that sometimes occurs when watching digital TV. This is quite impressive but bear in mind this might be because of my aerial connection. With no picture break up and an impressive picture it does feel sometimes that you are watching a DVD. Due to the PS3 having a hard drive you can also cache a programme whilst watching meaning you can pause and rewind TV this is a useful feature that you wouldn't get out of your standard Freeview box. The caching function does need to be turned on in the menu as it is set by default to only do it when you have paused a programme.

PlayTV also comes with an Electronic Programme Guide or also known as an EPG. This is probably PlayTV's greatest feature. The EPG is quite sharp and is also very quick to navigate. Normally with freeview boxes you have to wait a few seconds to navigate through the channels and to see what's on in the future. Navigating PlayTV's EPG is like navigating the PS3's XMB and looks like a standard EPG you find in a freeview box. Another thing that PlayTV does impressively is the interactive features, once you press the button it appears. This feels quite weird when you do this first time as you normally expect a small loading time but its instant. So watching TV on PlayTV is quite impressive. There are two ways you can navigate through the channels and that is your SIXAXIS controller or by using the Blu Ray remote. Navigating with the SIXAXIS feels quite good but if you do own the Blu Ray remote that is the best way to go. Navigating with the remote feels more like using a television remote as you can select channel numbers using the number buttons.

Recording TV

The main selling point of PlayTV is the ability to record TV. This can be done in a number of ways, you can just press select on the programme you're watching and the recording will start. You can also select the programme from the EPG and this will set up the recording in the future. There is also a search and record function where you type in the name of the programme and it will find it for you and you can then select to record it. The EPG seems to go one week in advance so if you want to set up a recording in 2 weeks time then you'll have to wait until nearer the time. You can also set a manual recording which can be set 2 weeks in advance. Its quite easy to set up a recording but there are a few flaws when compared to other PVR's. The major flaw is that there is no series link function meaning you can just select record a whole series. Due to the recordings being based on timings you can set a regular timeslot on a certain channel to recorded daily or weekly. The problem with this though is some programmes like Formula One haven't got a set time which they are on. This means you always have to manually set the time for them to record. This is a pain but its not the worst thing in the world. It will also not let you record two things at once and makes you pick one you would prefer to record. This can be annoying if you're out and there are two things on at the same time you wish to watch but for me personally that rarely happens.

The good thing about PlayTV is that it allows you to record a programme whilst doing something else like watch a film or play a game. When you first start up PlayTV it does ask you if you want to turn on background record and does warn you that gameplay may stutter. Whilst playing The Force Unleashed I did notice a slight pause when the recording started but then the game ran fine which means its not much of a problem. The background recording will not work whilst you are playing a PS2 game however but this should really only concern those who own a 60GB unit.

If you were to finish playing your game before the recording is finished a screen is presented to you when you try to turn of the system. If you leave the system in this screen it means that the console will turn off automatically when it finishes. The console will also turn itself on automatically to start a scheduled recording and then turn itself off again which is useful, you do have to leave the console in standby however.

Remote Play and Summary

The final feature PlayTV boasts is the ability to watch TV on your PSP via remote play. It functions pretty much the same as if you were using your PS3. So if you're on the road and want to watch a recording or set one up its a pretty useful feature.

In summary if you already own a PVR there is no need to buy PlayTV as it pretty much does the same thing. If you have a freeview box but wish to record television it is quite a useful box to have as it means theres not an extra box under the television. For its £69.99 price point it is a bit pricey for what you get but if you don't own a freeview box or a PVR then its a good addition to your Playstation3.