HMV blames rival for PS3 PlayTV pre-order puzzle

ninety nine quid?

That's more than I payed for my DVD recorder. What's the point of this, again?

135 euro?

Just get a real HDD recorder for 50 euro more.

So what if you want to.....

record something really long??

Is the PS3 finally going to get rid of that 2GB file limit?

@ninety nine quid?

The point is convergence. Why have 3 or more boxes doing the same work as one box? I have been looking for a decent PVR for the home for quite sometime. Also one that can feed off a uPnP server (or DNLA in the case of the PS3). Add to that it can play games and watch DVD and Blu-Ray (the latter being non-essential, nice to have at the moment). In one swoop you have removed the need to have; a dvd player, media center, pvr, games console, digibox (DVB-T).

If you have most of those boxes already then getting a PS3 then paying 100 quid for a dual dvb-t tuner is expensive. But for those, like me, who are missing parts of above it makes a lot more sense.

@ Andy Wirth

Not really. The games market is so pre-order driven that everyone watches everyone else's release schedule. Sometimes a UK site will stick a particular product on pre-order because there's a chance of a losing pre-orders to Grey versions, even if its not on the publisher release schedule yet. I remember a certain Jersey-based retailer used to stick stuff that wasn't confirmed on its release schedule all the time, and others were forced to respond.

re ninety nine quid?

I agree about the price, if it's correct; this is basically a USB Freeview adaptor, which can be had for about 20 pounds in the UK. Even if it's a dual-tuner device it's still a bit overpriced.

I like it, but I won't be getting one

I really like the idea behind this attachment. Love them or hate them, Sony have thought about the PS3 as more than a gaming machine. It freely gives you the option to install other operating systems, it integrates with the PSP nicely, it'll play media from lots of different sources, and now it'll record TV too. The capability benefits over the 360 are really mounting up.

However, I won't be getting this attachment. I do want a HTPC, and adding that capability to the PS3 rather than building a box of my own is a cracking idea...right up to the RAID considerations. If I'm going to have huge hard drives packed full of media that I can't easily back up, I want them to be RAIDed, and the PS3 can't do that.

Or can it....

http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/sony_playstation_3_with_750_gb_of_storage_in_raid.php

Hmmmm, interesting. I already have the system core for my HTPC, but I'm in need of another server, so I could just as easily convert it for that. So, which is better/cheaper? A PS3 with an external drive and a DVR attachment, or my own box?

Probably my own box, to be honest. ;-) It's a nice idea, though.

I appear to be waffling. I'll stop.

Too little, too late

With the paltry storage available on most models, this simply can't compete with the stand-alone PVRs, with 160GB or more. Besides, this functionality was originally trumpeted as going to be built in to the PS3, so it really is a case of too little, too late.

Dont see the point of it

As others have said, it's expensive for what it is.

I doubt very much that you will be able to use the PS3 for gaming or to play DVD's while it's recording, that being the case, it's even more useless.

Nice try

If you have a PS3, and no DVR solution already, it's a solution to a semi-problem at a reasonable price.

However if you already have a DVR, or don't have a PS3 it's not going to make me want one.

I happen to have a Windows Vista PC at home already, as well as an Xbox 360. I paid £40 for a dual freeview tuner PCI card and I have the functionality as well. Personally I prefer this method, as if my 360 dies on me or if I want to play a game I don't need to worry about the content. Plus the capacity is however big my HD's are on my PC rather than a closed console system.

But it's useful for some people in some circumstances - just a shame it's a bit over priced.

@ Greg - Um, the 360 has the biggest HD at the moment in terms of games consoles. No doubt Sony with release one with 160Gb, then MS a 200Gb, then Sony a 300Gb etc.... But at the moment the 360 has a 120Gb HD which trumps the PS3 - but again it's probably only short term.

@price again.

My DVD recorder is perfectly fine, thanks. Made by Sony, coincidentally enough, and multi-region unlike the PS3, so I'll need to keep it around anyway.

The main point really is that I fail to see what a makes a Freeview decoder cost 99 smackers when all the expensive bits are in the PS3 hardware itself, like the hard drive, upscaling CPU, video output and so on. It has its uses (though not in my house, as I can't get a freeview signal and this one won't record analogue apparently) but it looks like a hell of a ripoff.

@Tim ("Watt about the watts?")

"The PS3 can consume up to around 380W or so when at full blast, so let's assume half that when it's just doing housekeeping/recording. Are you seriously gonna leave it powered up *all* the time, constantly eating up 190W, in case it needs to record something? In comparison, my Humax 9200T DVR uses at most 20W when recording/playing/whatever."

Actually, the PS3 will come out of standby to record shows you've scheduled, then power down again when done.

I'm quite interested as I don't have a PVR, but I'm still waiting to see how this Freesat business works out, since getting a non-subscription high-def source sounds great and it's going to be some time yet before Freeview pulls their collective fingers out to sort out who's doing what with the bandwidth...

PS3 hard drive space

Some people commenting here seem unaware that the PS3 can take any SATA laptop hard drive. Its a two minute job to install a new drive and it doesnt invalidate your warranty.

Re: Nice try

The PS3 has standard laptop HDs user upgradeable, and accepts USB HDs, who cares what comes as standard?

@Steven Hewittt

Umm, it's really really easy to upgrade the PS3's hard drive to something much bigger?

@David Gosnell

A fair point, but Sony did design the PS3 to use a standard laptop drive. You can slide the caddy out and replace it with, say a 250gb HDD drive.

Extra cost aside, sounds like a good PVR to me

DVD recorders are total shite

DVD recorders have shit resolution, shit sound and shit capacity. The quality of recording is no better than a decent VCR. Even if you're lucky enough to find one that will record via component cables, none of them offers a resolution higher than standard definition - 480i. Don't even get me started on their inflexibility and the compatibility issues of the disks you make.

DVR technology is superior to DVD recorders in just about every way conceivable. Resolutions and capacity are upgradeable and they're incredibly easy to use. Features such as being able to pause live TV or record two or three channels at the same time, at HD resolutions, go so far beyond what a DVD recorder is capable of they just aren't in the same league.

Not only that, but the recordings are more easily edited and can often be transferred to any media you choose - including DVD, only this time at resolutions that make sense.

99 quid is an incredible price for a DVR, and just makes the PS3 even more desirable.

Plays HD games, plays HD movies in a format that isn't dead, internet connectivity, HD optical sound and soon a DVR tuner. Downloadable HD movies would be the next logical step, and using HDs as storage, finally offers a capacity that makes sense.

@Andy

Standard def may well be "shite", but that's all that Freeview currently broadcasts in. So that's all you're going to record using this box, either.

The only legal ways to get broadcast HD in the UK at the moment are via Sky's SkyHD and Virgin's V+. Both of which come with their own PVR decoder boxes as part of the price - there is precisely ZERO market in the UK for a standalone HD PVR, and this will remain the case until OFCOM stop being idiots about HD Freeview.

The other way is to let it fall off the Internet from the US, but if you're doing that it'll come down onto your PC, and the PS3 and X360 can already stream straight off that box's share without any additional hardware purchases.