anyone using play tv?

slinxy

slinxy

slinxy

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looking at the write ups and reviews, play tv seems to be awesome, but does anyone here use it?

Whats it like on accessing the hdd? As its always recording will it likely kill the hdd like sky+ boxes, can this be disable?

Does it get its EPG from the net or via the ariel and finally is it possible to watch hdd located videos and record a tv program in the background without lag.

Thanks
 
slinxy said:
looking at the write ups and reviews, play tv seems to be awesome, but does anyone here use it?

Whats it like on accessing the hdd? As its always recording will it likely kill the hdd like sky+ boxes, can this be disable?

Does it get its EPG from the net or via the ariel and finally is it possible to watch hdd located videos and record a tv program in the background without lag.

Thanks
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Like my main PVR, you can set PlayTV to always background record, or not.

The EPG comes from the aerial, like a normal freeview box, and populates within seconds.

You can quite easily playback a recorded file whilst recording another... or be watching a DVD/Bluray whilst recording, etc.
I don't tend to record and play games, even though it's supported, as I've always assumed that HDD thrashing would cause dropouts on the recording... it may work fine though.

You can also export recorded shows to the XMB, and copy them to a USB stick to play on another PS3 or copy to PC to burn to DVD/compress to XviD, or whatever.

I think it's great. The Upscaling to 1080p is pretty good, definitely sharper than without it.

I wouldn't recommend it as a primary Freeview box or PVR, I still use my Topfield PVR more, but as a second one, it's great. I use it to record if my PVR is already recording two things at once. But that's just because my main PVR is so good, I find the PlayTV one limiting. For example, on my topfield box, if I see Top Gear on the EPG, I can just press two buttons, and it searches for all other occurrences of Top Gear on the EPG. With PlayTV, you have to come out of the EPG page, and go to another "search" menu, and then manually enter "Top Gear" for it to search.

But, it's improving with each software update!

HTH.

Vin.
 
I use it as my main PVR with no problems. :) I think it's great, it's one less box to worry about under the TV, and it's so easy to use.

Regarding always recordings (i.e. Streaming watched TV to allow you to rewind), it's off by default but you can use it.

The (reasonably) regular software updates are pretty good, and it's improving each time. :)
 
orderoftheflame said:
I use it as my main PVR with no problems. :) I think it's great, it's one less box to worry about under the TV, and it's so easy to use.

Regarding always recordings (i.e. Streaming watched TV to allow you to rewind), it's off by default but you can use it.

The (reasonably) regular software updates are pretty good, and it's improving each time. :)
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I didn't mean to come across as harsh.
It does do the job, but it's just not as good as my Topfield, so I'd miss the functionality of it if I moved over to just using that. Plus you can only record one channel at a time. For some reason, the few TV shows that I do like to watch, are always on two different channels, at the same time! ;)

For the cost though, assuming the buyer already has a PS3, you can't go wrong really. It's just that a few of the things that are easily accessable on my main PVR, are a bit less so on the PS3. Other functions like, I have a list of favourite shows saved on my PS3. Again, it's easy, you just see it on the EPG "Top Gear" for example, press a few buttons, and every time I turn on my PVR, it scans the EPG for my list of shows, and shows me when they're on, and auto records them if I set it to.

But as I said, it's getting better with time, it's just not as good as a higher end PVR, but it's also half the price, or more.

Vin.

EDIT: I guess it just depends what you're used to. If you've never used a PVR like mine, then you're not going to miss any of the functions. As a first time PVR it would be great, or if you just want to use it to record the odd show. But I do use mine, and I do like it, I don't want to come across as harsh... it's excellent for the money, especially as I got mine in a woolies closing down sale ;)
 
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V1N said:
Snipple
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I think you're probably right. :)

I came from the old Sky EPG, and it's a huge improvement over that.

I'm not a huge TV watcher (as much as I'll watch a few shows religiously, but otherwise it's just on and off every now and again) and when I do record, I've yet to run into an instance where there are two things to tape at the same thing.

I do use the PS3 for streaming movies, as well as DVD and Bluray, so it's a added nice extra that I can control all of that from one remote in one package.

Added bonus is being able to watch on the PSP, which I do quite often. :)


As I said, it does the job for me, but it might be a bit lacking in features for a heavy user. :)
 
orderoftheflame said:
I think you're probably right. :)

I came from the old Sky EPG, and it's a huge improvement over that.

I'm not a huge TV watcher (as much as I'll watch a few shows religiously, but otherwise it's just on and off every now and again) and when I do record, I've yet to run into an instance where there are two things to tape at the same thing.

I do use the PS3 for streaming movies, as well as DVD and Bluray, so it's a added nice extra that I can control all of that from one remote in one package.

Added bonus is being able to watch on the PSP, which I do quite often. :)


As I said, it does the job for me, but it might be a bit lacking in features for a heavy user. :)
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Oh yes, I'd forgotten to mention that. The viewing through the PSP is great, I've used that in the Kitchen, and indeed, the bathroom :p and even our local pub in the afternoon, that has free Wifi.

It is good, the pic quality is as good as you'll ever get from a Freeview box, especially since the last update added the upscaling stuff.

But it is a bit light on features of those higher end PVRs. I like that on my PVR I have set all my favourite shows, which has grown over the years, and I never have to check back. If they change days/time, when the show comes back after a season break or whatever, the first I know about it is when it appears on the list of shows to auto-record, as the other thing about having a PVR, is I rarely see any adverts, including promos for upcoming shows, as I skip the carp and just watch the shows.

Anyway, venturing OT here again... Hopefully my initial post has answered the OPs questions. Sky+ doesn't do a lot of what my PVR does either, so the OP may well not miss them... anyway, the fact is you can manually search for shows if you want to find something, and it wouldn't surprise me if in the future they integrate this with the EPG anyway, so you just click on a show in the EPG and can search for more occurrences from there. That's the beauty of a system connected to the internet, updates!

Vin.
 
I've got it, has a few annoying features, and it wouldnt be as good as a stand alone PVR box that costs £100+, but if you have a PS3 I would get it. It's got continous updates, and hopefully if these continue being released it will become a high end product.
 
Whappers said:
Such as?
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yes I too want to know about the few annoying features... but it looks like a winner. I don't watch much tv, I mainly watch downloads, but as I work shifts I often miss the football, house MD and the few things I do want to watch, for 60 pounds I can't see what I have to loose.
 
just seen and ordered one for 39.99 from a high street catalogue shop, does it mean that a newer version is coming out?
 
I could do with updating mine actually, one feature I think it needs is a sleep timer, last thing I want is to my ps3 staying on for hours when I fall asleep :(

I like it though, I cant compare it to others as I havent used any other recording set up like it, but ive had no problems with it, recording setting is good, transferring files over is good (save space on the HD by moving to an external or PC) and the channel set up is easy
 
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I'm sure they'll have to do a new version for HDTV over Freeview but even though its started now with Cornwall & Devon, it will be 2013 when the digital transition completes so probably not a new PlayTV until then.
 
are the updates apart of the ps3 firmware updates, if not could i download the updates from my pc then install them on the ps3?
 
i've picked it up and set it up today, and it does seem to manage weaker signals better than my set top box, which I thought it was quite good at doing. One major downside is that theres on signal loop built in to the box, so I need to mess around tomorrow and get a splitter for a cable to the tv.

But in whole quite impressive.
 
Mine has started playing silly buggers of late. When I go from a game to PlayTV, it gets stuck and crashes the PS3 on the loading screen. I always have to restart before it works.
 
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