Play TV for PS3 - news

rp2000 · 15 Feb 2008 at 00:00

wwwebber said:
Ok, a few more thoughts / questions in regards to this :-

Will the PS3 wake up from standby to record programs ?

Can it do series links ?

Where does the 7 day EPG come from ? - OTA or via broadband ?

Can the Play TV interface be used to watch & play video / music from the HD ? and what about the proposed Video On Demand ?

I guess we'll find out soon enough. I use BT Vision right now and if PlayTV comes anywhere close then it's gonna be a marvel !!.

http://www.threespeech.com said:
PlayTV In Action
14 Feb

Darern Waters from the BBC news technology blog got some hands-on time with PlayTV and also got to film it in action (perhaps for the first time). Soon we won’t have to sit up for half the night to get our Family Guy fix.

Edit: Some of you have been asking about whether or not the PS3 will boot up if you set it to record. We asked the chaps at Sony and the answer is yes! If you set something to record and turn off your PS3 it will turn on to record the programme and then switch itself off afterwards.

Edit2: Yes it does support subtitles. As long as the programme has them, PlayTV will support it and record it. Sony come through again.

That answers your question about it recording from standby.

I would imagine it will get it's TV guide OTA like all Freeview boxes. Don't know about the rest of your questions till Sony release more info.

It does not compare to your BT Vision though tbh.

As far as I can see there will be 4 competing services:

1) BT Vision - Video On demand + Freeview&PVR
2) PlayTV - Freeview&PVR
3) BT Vision through XBOX360 - Video on Demand (same content as BT Vision).

Obviously option 1 & 3 is only available to you if you have BT Broadband as your ISP.

So if you are a console owner it's a question of whether you want Freeview&PVR or Selected VOD content. You can't have both from one console. I am fairly sure the Microsoft 360 BT Vision service will be available around the same time (this summer) as Play TV (They would be mad not to).

rp2000

msmalls74 · 15 Feb 2008 at 00:21

I thought Sonys IPTV was going to be released worldwide this year, its currently being trialled in Korea, thought they made the announcement at E3 or TGS last year?
If, as it has been mentioned a few times, it has twin HD tuners then i think its a bargain, i was looking for a PVR and the only ones worth having are at least £150 and there SD. Love the idea of streaming to PSP anywhere with a wifi connection (come on UK we want wimax!).

Tobes · 15 Feb 2008 at 00:33

rp2000 said:
3) BT Vision through XBOX360 - Video on Demand (same content as BT Vision).

This is a pile of **** imo. I was sooo looking forward to this thinking it would be "true IPTV". Live TV channels. But it's not. Was tempted to stick with BT if it was but now I'm thinking of going with Sky and getting a Sky+ box in my room.

MS IPTV will fail badly because of Play TV. Because the BT deal is just a extra add on for the marketplace tbh.

I don't think I can find fault with Play TV at the moment. Only that it's Freeview... so yeh I cant find fault.

rp2000 · 15 Feb 2008 at 00:38

msmalls74 said:
I thought Sonys IPTV was going to be released worldwide this year, its currently being trialled in Korea, thought they made the announcement at E3 or TGS last year?
If, as it has been mentioned a few times, it has twin HD tuners then i think its a bargain, i was looking for a PVR and the only ones worth having are at least £150 and there SD. Love the idea of streaming to PSP anywhere with a wifi connection (come on UK we want wimax!).

Mythical product, certainly would not work in the UK (different TV standards).
You got any more info on it?

Tobes said:
This is a pile of **** imo. I was sooo looking forward to this thinking it would be "true IPTV". Live TV channels. But it's not. Was tempted to stick with BT if it was but now I'm thinking of going with Sky and getting a Sky+ box in my room.

MS IPTV will fail badly because of Play TV. Because the BT deal is just a extra add on for the marketplace tbh.

I don't think I can find fault with Play TV at the moment. Only that it's Freeview... so yeh I cant find fault.

This is just going on the info they have released so far, but my understanding is that the BT Vision/Broadband service actually does not give you normal TV over IP, you get some sort of set-top box that does the TV part and the VOD works over your broadband line. The 360 can only do the VOD part as it has no Freeview tune in it nor does it have an aerial socket.

IPTV in the sense you describe is this mythical thing that we read about, and we see some crappy free web feeds/channels, but we have yet to see a decent commercial example of, with premium content on.

rp2000

Tobes · 15 Feb 2008 at 00:43

rp2000 said:
IPTV in the sense you describe is this mythical thing that we read about, and we see some crappy free web feeds/channels, but we have yet to see a decent commercial example of, with premium content on.

MS demoed IPTV with quality channels. Couple of videos out there. Because I saw that, I was expecting that. Not VoD. I was going to ask why isn't the marketplace called IPTV but I assume the difference is IPTV doesn't need to download a show, it just buffers it and plays.

I haven't got BTs vision service but yeah I guess it will be that box but it will probably be able to connect to the 360. Or BT flags the content on their servers and the 360 connects to their server. Really it sounds too confusing for what it's worth. I assume they have only done it so MS have access to loads of On Demand programs without needing to make deals with other companies.

DeFrEaTs · 15 Feb 2008 at 08:14

Does anyone know if this will be a worldwide release? I use the tv receiver on　my PSP lots and the recording feature is excelent. I'd love to have something similar on the PS3!

rp2000 · 15 Feb 2008 at 10:28

DeFrEaTs said:
Does anyone know if this will be a worldwide release? I use the tv receiver on　my PSP lots and the recording feature is excelent. I'd love to have something similar on the PS3!

Certainly won't be in your part of the world (JAPAN),initially, as UK uses DVB-T receivers for digital TV over the air (UI think it is DVB-H or something in Japan). It is conceivable they can design other adaptors for other TV standards. Same way we don't have the TV tuner you have for your PSP.

rp2000

Inazuma · 15 Feb 2008 at 10:34

This is pretty cool

At the very least, their TV schedule display is a lot more responsive than the one in my Samsung.

NokkonWud · 15 Feb 2008 at 10:58

SebC said:
This is pretty cool At the very least, their TV schedule display is a lot more responsive than the one in my Samsung.

You wanna try using a Toshiba WLT66 series TV. Apart from having the worst remote ever made the interface is rubbish and it's so unresponsive I'm amazed it was ever released like that.

JaFFa · 15 Feb 2008 at 11:58

its a nice idea but ultimately these sorts of things wont help sell consoles. People don't want all this stuff for more and more money. Just look at the wii, it cant play DVD's, it cant even play CD's and it out sells them all.

MS and Sony need to stop coming up with whacky bolt-ons and concentrate on pure gaming for now. Next gen when net speed is faster, HD thoroughly used and it can be all b uilt in cheaply is when they should strike with that stuff.

At the moment this kind of thing only really appeals to the likes of us, the geeky ones who know how to get all the tv shows we want without waiting for them to be on TV. Streaming it through wifi to psp sounds nice but in reality you need I presume : PS3 on with box attached, something worth watching you recorded off the tv, a wifi connection for your psp (prob not gonna be free) and its then going to be using lots of upload (problem if your on a capped DL limit). When it would be much easier just to put an AVI onto the PSP mem card.

Now I know i wont ever use this feature because I never even bother putting movies on my psp. So I don't think this kind of thing will find any mass appeal, in this country at least.

Inazuma · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:02

It could indirectly help in the long term because it gives an extra revenue stream, which of course can be reinvested. That must be their plan afterall right?

Needles · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:03

I am not sure it is designed to sell consoles jaffa, but to give the option to those who already have one ( possibly directed to those who must have all new gadgets or addons for their console of choice ).

wwwebber · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:05

This add on will be very popular with those who have thier PS3 in the front room. I for one would love the opportunuity to exploit existing technology & hardware that I already own and to reduce the stack of boxes that I currently have under the TV.

JaFFa · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:20

Needles said:
I am not sure it is designed to sell consoles jaffa, but to give the option to those who already have one ( possibly directed to those who must have all new gadgets or addons for their console of choice ).

well thats what I mean.

It wont sell new consoles and it wont appeal to many enthusiasts because it has limited use. You have to be in an odd situation to make it worth spending money on. There isn't enough good stuff I miss on TV that I cant download to watch on any device I like, that Id be prepared to pay 100 quid for a box to remember to record.

its just my opinion I dont see this going far.

JaFFa · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:23

wwwebber said:
This add on will be very popular with those who have thier PS3 in the front room. I for one would love the opportunuity to exploit existing technology & hardware that I already own and to reduce the stack of boxes that I currently have under the TV.

How does it reduce the stack of boxes?

It is an extra box , unless you had at the moment a freeview box going into some kind of hard drive pvr then into the tv ? I dont think many people have such a setup ?

OpenToSuggestions · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:24

may be useful at uni in halls for me as I use my pc screen for my ps3.
Otherwise it seems a little old tech tbh

JaFFa · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:27

mglover070588 said:
may be useful at uni in halls for me as I use my pc screen for my ps3.
Otherwise it seems a little old tech tbh

that's a good use, didn't think of that. So it could be an alternative to PC based freeview cards. Only problem being a lot of halls don't have aerial sockets in the rooms.

OpenToSuggestions · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:28

JaFFa said:
that's a good use, didn't think of that. So it could be an alternative to PC based freeview cards. Only problem being a lot of halls don't have aerial sockets in the rooms.

that is true, but a pc based freeview card is inbuilt and out the way

so pc freeview is cheaper and better

Needles · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:32

Don't see many pc tuning cards with the ability to wake the pc and start recording, or have dual HD tuners or the ability to be controlled anywhere in the world through wifi and a psp and also the ability to control and stream the content to anywhere through a wifi connection and a psp.

NokkonWud · 15 Feb 2008 at 12:34

Sky+/HD does all of those bar the last one (though it uses a mobile phone instead of PSP).