Turn Your PS3 into a Digital Video Recorder
Never miss an episode of Eastenders again.
Your days of missing episodes of Eastenders are over thanks to Sony's new PlayTV, a TV tuner and personal video recorder that turns your PlayStation 3 into your very own digital VCR.
The idea is quite simple, according to Sony. All you need to do is buy yourself a PlayTV, hook it up to your PS3 and to an antenna to receive over-the-air digital TV signals, select your favourite shows through the electronic programme guide, and you're set.
Digital TV signals that use the Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial (DVB-T) format are captured by the PlayTV and encoded in high-definition - all the way up to full 1080p HD TV.
Finding shows to record is made easier by the seven-day programme guide, which you can get at using either the Sixaxis or, more conveniently, through Sony's PS3 remote. And once you pick a show, you can program PlayTV to record it every week.
If you've got a PSP, you'll even be able to get at all your recorded content on the go using the PS3-PSP Remote Play feature. You can also simply transfer video over to the PSP using a USB cable.
One of the most important aspects of PlayTV, its price, is still unknown, but Sony is planning to release it in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain sometime in early 2008.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo