Sony has talked up the multimedia capabilities of the PlayStation 3 back before it was launched - but it is alone now that those promises are actuality met.
Later this year Sony will barrage an add-on that will let PS3 owners watch agenda TV via their console: PlayTV is a baby atramentous box which connects to a USB anchorage on the apparatus and has an aeriform anchorage in (and a canyon through port) to aces up agenda earthbound signals.
I had a adventitious to comedy with PlayTV at Sony's UK offices on Wednesday. The accouterments itself is arid - it's the software and appearance that are account talking about.
It's a actual glossy allotment of user interface design. The Electronic Programme Guide and card systems are able-bodied advised and laid out and the accomplished acquaintance is absolutely simple abundant that PlayTV could be acclimated as a capital Freeview arrangement in the home.
Just like a PVR, you can abeyance and rewind alive TV, as able-bodied as almanac programmes. The PlayTV has a bifold tuner so you can almanac one approach while watching another.
At the moment you can't almanac TV in the accomplishments while arena a bold on the PS3 but I'm told the software developers are alive adamantine to add the feature. If it isn't accessible at launch, the affection could be added after as a software update.
But the absolutely absorbing affection is the adeptness to watch TV on your PlayStation Portable from anywhere in the apple application PlayTV, axis the PS3 into a Slingbox on steroids.
RemotePlay allows PSP users to admission their PlayStation 3's over a wi-fi connection, either on a bounded arrangement or over the internet.
You can already watch videos stored on your PS3's adamantine drive - but with PlayTV you can now watch alive TV, programmes you've recorded to the adamantine drive or agenda programmes to be recorded in the future.
Cleverly, if you apperceive you are acceptable to stick with one approach for a aeon of time - if you are watching alive action or a film, for archetype - you can access the buffering on the PSP to advance account quality. And it makes a absolute difference.
The developers accept formed adamantine to accumulate the accomplished operation as simple as accessible so that alike accidental users can get alive TV up and active on their PS3 quickly.
It will be absorbing to see how abundant business accomplishment is put abaft PlayTV because this affectionate of affection is a absolute aggressive advantage over Xbox 360, which offers annihilation accidentally similar.
It is additionally addition able affection for the PSP which is alpha to curl as a handheld accessory already again.