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PlayTV
Consider it TIVO for the PlayStation.
That’s right, with a PlayTV unit, your PlayStation 3 becomes a fully
fledged DVR that supports Freeview (Australia Digital TV) and boasts two
high definition digital tuners, an electronic program guide and is
compatible with your PS3 remote control, thanks to a high quality
overlay that can be placed on the remote. But wait, there’s more! You
can even use remote play via a PSP and certain Sony Ericsson phones
which is a nifty little feature indeed.
The
installation of PlayTV is simplicity at its best and all you need to do
is plug the unit into your PS3 via a USB cable and connect an aerial
connection (coaxial) into the RF input. Unfortunately a coaxial cable
does not come with the device which is a shame, considering the cost of
these cables.
Last but not least, the
unit comes with a disc which basically installs the software for PlayTV
on your PS3. The software will even automatically alert you with
updates, ensuring that the whole experience is quite flawless. As we run
TIVO as well, we purchased a RF splitter in order to use both devices
which did allow us to record up to three TV channels and watch another
one.
Once
installed on your PS3 and connected to your aerial, there is a new menu
in the PS3 interface with a PlayTV icon. By selecting the PlayTV icon,
the user is greeted to a very user-friendly interface that is on par
with most DVR players, even though probably a little more streamlined.
Although not as good as TIVO in terms of options and navigating, we were
still quite impressed with the features of this tiny unit. In the menu, you can watch live TV, schedule
recording, watch recordings and adjust your settings. Nothing flash but
it gets the job done.
The
EPG of PlayTV is similar to TIVO and you can check out the latest TV
programming for up to 7 days. To record a program, simply select it and
presto, it’s done. The unit even has the ability to add additional time
to the start and end of the recording. However when it comes to prime
time on free to air networks, most are notorious for running over time,
especially Channel 9 and 7.
Another feature of the unit is that if you are watching a free to air broadcast
and
like TIVO you can rewind the broadcast by up to 30 minutes in HD or 60
minutes in SD and of course pause free to air TV. A cool feature if you
get interrupted or missed something.
One cool thing that TIVO does not have is the ability to use
your PSP to watch TV and recordings from your PS3. This can be done in
the home through a direct connection or even via the internet, so if
you’re waiting for your next plane, all you need to do is logon to the PSN and start watching. It can even be used to record TV Shows if you’re
out and about as well, provided you have an internet connection. Very
cool indeed and it would be nice if there was an iPhone app for this
functionality.
At the
end of the day, PlayTV is quite a good little device, provided you have
the hard drive space on your PS3 and although some of the new updates
cut certain features from the unit such as the ability to choose where
your recordings go, there are some ways around this. If you’re a PS3
owner with a larger hard drive and you’re looking at a DVR, than this is
quite affordably priced at a recommended retail price of $169. The only
issue we found was that the unit looks a little cheap when compared to
the attractive PS3 console… even so, a very impressive device! |
