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My PlayTV impressions
- Thread starter TTP
- Start date
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Umm, aren't you just asking for a DVR?BrainZEROX said:
Youtube someone?TTP said:Check it out for yourself. Short video straight from PlayTV.
http://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlDU2VzNDJwTVVLSkE9PQ
DrXym: will definetly test that as soon as I got the cable back from wife.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Works fine in VLC.TTP said:Check it out for yourself. Short video straight from PlayTV.
http://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlDU2VzNDJwTVVLSkE9PQ
DrXym: will definetly test that as soon as I got the cable back from wife.
worldstiniestpenis
Member
i wonder whether it'd be worthwhile importing this into australia
we have great dvb-t channels but our epg system is fucked
we have great dvb-t channels but our epg system is fucked
Goldrusher
Member
Sounds like a great product.
Too bad there are only two DVB-T channels in my country.
Too bad there are only two DVB-T channels in my country.
Just noticed, does it have no thru/output for the antenna?
How am I supposed to use the integrated Freeview on my TV? I only want to use PlayTV as a PVR, I don't want to have to turn on my PS3 every friggin time I want to watch TV.
I suppose I'd have to buy a booster/splitter too then.
How am I supposed to use the integrated Freeview on my TV? I only want to use PlayTV as a PVR, I don't want to have to turn on my PS3 every friggin time I want to watch TV.
I suppose I'd have to buy a booster/splitter too then.
McBacon said:
Yes when u shut it off from within PlayTV (two beeps with blinking led - perhaps a bug).
No when u shut it off after exiting PlayTV.
No when wakes up.
No when shuts off after recording is done.
McBacon said:Oh and another question, sorry
Could you unplug the HDMI cable before you go to bed, or unplug your TV's power or something - that would avoid the noise/light, and it would still record, right?
Right. You can simply switch off the TV.
pswii60 said:
Yeah, I guess so. Digital TV signal is very strong and clean tho, so you shouldn't lose video quality.
Something like this should suffice.
TTP said:[...]
Yeah, I guess so. Digital TV signal is very strong and clean tho, so you shouldn't lose video quality.
Something like this should suffice.
Hell NO. I have a samsung TV with build-in DVB-T tuner. I wanted to switch between DVB-T and analog TV on fly and bought this gadget and after i pluged it in i realized you lose so much signal on both sides, that watching TV is not possible anymore. I will buy Play TV for watching DVB-T without being forced to plug one cable out and the other one in everytime i wanna watch DVB-T.
MilesWebber
Member
Well maybe after Feb of 2009 when the entire US Television Megasystem goes digital Sony will bring it over here. I have a hard time believing that Comcast and Cox would want sony cutting into their profits before then :lol
BrainZEROX
Member
cjelly said:
That was what I expected from PlayTV: my TV, my PS3 as a multimedia gaming center and nothing else around.navanman said:
The whole point in a PVR (or device like this to turn your PS3 into an energy inefficient one) is that you basically never watch Live TV.pswii60 said:
You watch the content that interests you when it is convenient, and don't have to put up with adverts.
The irony is that, even though you are no longer tied into the TV schedule, you never miss a program, and with it being much easier to find new programmes of interest without having to worry about what time they are on, you'll almost certainly end up watching more television overall than you did before.
I have a 160gb PVR. I've got about 50gb of films archived on it, and am now at the point where I'm constantly having to watch television so that it doesn't fill up and run out of space.
For people asking about MPEG2, and the 4.8mb rate. You're misunderstanding what this box does. DVB-T basically sends out an MPEG2 stream over the air. Depending on the channel, this bitrate will vary, I believe between roughly 26mb, though most channels are closer to 2mbps and the BBC ones tend to be closer to 4mbps.
All that the Play TV box does is capture this video stream straight to the hard drive. It's not doing any encoding/decoding, it's just putting it straight onto the drive. That is why it will only work with DVB-T and it has no video inputs and won't work with analogue TV etc. as the PS3 doesn't have enough power to play a game and encode video at the same time.
If the box is capable with DVB-T2, when HDTV broadcasts start in the UK, it will be exactly the same. No encoding/decoding, just recording the MP4 stream straight onto the hard drive.
It's disappointing to hear that games accessing the hard drive will interrupt recording. That alone would be enough for me to avoid it.
carlosp said:
you are confusing two inputs and one output with two outputs and one input which TTP was reffering to. If you have only single input, you wont lose any quality.
What you tried was have two inputs, merging signals into one input, and that will never work properly without dedicated box for it...
TTP - thanks for the info man, and let us know if updates change anything with regards to recording functionality!
Crazymoogle
Member
DrPirate said:
Won't work at all. No DVB-T here. There is OTA ATSC, but it's very limited and you'll have to have a good spot to put up an antenna. Satellite and Cable are both monopolies held by providers and as such the only way you can see their content is through digital boxes they sell. (Shaw/Rogers usually wants well more than the price of a PS3 for their PVR...)
Schrade
Member
That reached the download limit on that site rather quickly. Can you make it available from http://www.sendspace.com/ instead please? I want to see the quality.TTP said:Check it out for yourself. Short video straight from PlayTV.
http://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlDU2VzNDJwTVVLSkE9PQ
DrXym: will definetly test that as soon as I got the cable back from wife.
yeah, there is going to be some confusion around this product. I think what I'm saying here is correct:
don't import it!
the software will be set up to understand regional EPGs, the hardware will expect a digital signal (DVB-T) that is generally only transmitted via aerial in certain countries.
Cable users look elsewhere. This product does not accept a video signal. It stores the digitally encoded mpeg-2 stream directly to the HDD and gets the PS3 to decode it upon playback.
don't import it!
the software will be set up to understand regional EPGs, the hardware will expect a digital signal (DVB-T) that is generally only transmitted via aerial in certain countries.
Cable users look elsewhere. This product does not accept a video signal. It stores the digitally encoded mpeg-2 stream directly to the HDD and gets the PS3 to decode it upon playback.
Schrade said:
Here it is.
There doesn't seem to be any downgrade in quality when recording. If there is, it's rather minor. Recorded vids look the same as the "live" ones to me.
Tntnnbltn said:
Here's the full list:
United Kingdom
France
Germany
Spain
Italy
Other
No idea what "other" refers to. It shows a map of the whole Earth when selecting it. Doesn't allow to specify any particular country. After selecting it, it begins scanning for channels.
AranhaHunter
Banned
I wish we could get this in the US, can you use Play TV with an external HDD?
AranhaHunter
Banned
pr0cs said:
What's YMMV?
Cherry_Death
Member
I've just started using this and am very very happy with it. Setting up recording schedules is really easy and the guide works quicker than the one on my standard freeview (And is in HD ) The picture quality looks better than my standard freeview also.
) The picture quality looks better than my standard freeview also.I picked PlayTV to transform my PSP into a TV for my bedroom... and it's working like a charm. I'm extremely impressed by the results. Best example of connectivity I've seen so far.
My only concern is the reception of M6 and W9 in France. Do other get erractic results for these channels?
My only concern is the reception of M6 and W9 in France. Do other get erractic results for these channels?
Well, I got PlayTV in the end...
I got around the lack of RF throughput by using a 97p value splitter from Tesco, works fine and I still get 82% signal strength! Why Sony couldn't have just built this in to the unit itself is beyond me though.
OK, so impressions...
+ Excellent user interface. Extremely fast response, stuff like Text is incredibly fast, and the find/record programme by keyword option is incredible. Looks the dogs bollocks too, thumbs up here.
+ The way it turns the PS3 on and off automatically is great. Also, if you try and turn your PS3 off when recording in the background, it will show a PlayTV screen and then turn off automatically when it has finished recording. I'm completely surprised by how fluid and intuitive it all is - and that it works flawlessly too. Very impressed here.
+ The small box tucks away nicely behind my PS3 on my TV stand. Can't even notice it. Has meant I've been able to get rid of my old Sagem PVR box, getting rid of a mains lead and SCART lead. Nice.
+ The 320GB harddrive I put in my PS3 is now finally being put to good use.
- Picture quality isn't anywhere near as good as my built-in Freeview TV (Toshiba 32WLT66), it seems 'out of focus', a very soft picture and it's a shame it doesn't appear to use the PS3's excellent DVD upscaling engine (perhaps to reduce power consumption / fans, but the option would be nice). Luckily not a problem as I only intend to use this to playback recorded content, and not to watch live TV.
- NO series link. OK, so I know only BBC and ITV have actually got their Freeview act together on this anyway, but still. Yes, you can set it to record 'weekly' for x number of times, which is fine if: 1) you know how many episodes are in the series and 2) if the programme is going to be on at the same time each week. But, many times this isn't the case. The Apprentice shifted to another day for a couple of weeks this year for example, sometime football coverage delays a programme, and programmes like The Restaurant are on at funny times, with two episodes in a week, or if you wanted to record the X Factor, the show varies in length and starting time every week. Therefore, Series Link is ESSENTIAL. And I just hope it is possible for them to add this feature in the future, and it isn't missing due to hardware limitations or something. Just seems strange that it isn't there on day one.
- Boot up time. Having to wait for your PS3 to start, and then click on PlayTV and wait for that to load too, it's zzzzzzzz. Hopefully they'll add an option to boot the PS3 straight in to PlayTV, or at least speed up the loading time.
Overall, I really like it. The +s above are BIG +s. Much better than I expected. But there are some minor niggles (crashes, loading times). Also the lack of series link is worrying me, I just hope they find a way to add it. Soon. It'll be great to see them constantly update this and add in new features in the future, it could end up being phenomenal with a few adjustments and new features. Please Sony, don't let me down.
I got around the lack of RF throughput by using a 97p value splitter from Tesco, works fine and I still get 82% signal strength! Why Sony couldn't have just built this in to the unit itself is beyond me though.
OK, so impressions...
+ Excellent user interface. Extremely fast response, stuff like Text is incredibly fast, and the find/record programme by keyword option is incredible. Looks the dogs bollocks too, thumbs up here.
+ The way it turns the PS3 on and off automatically is great. Also, if you try and turn your PS3 off when recording in the background, it will show a PlayTV screen and then turn off automatically when it has finished recording. I'm completely surprised by how fluid and intuitive it all is - and that it works flawlessly too. Very impressed here.
+ The small box tucks away nicely behind my PS3 on my TV stand. Can't even notice it. Has meant I've been able to get rid of my old Sagem PVR box, getting rid of a mains lead and SCART lead. Nice.
+ The 320GB harddrive I put in my PS3 is now finally being put to good use.
- Picture quality isn't anywhere near as good as my built-in Freeview TV (Toshiba 32WLT66), it seems 'out of focus', a very soft picture and it's a shame it doesn't appear to use the PS3's excellent DVD upscaling engine (perhaps to reduce power consumption / fans, but the option would be nice). Luckily not a problem as I only intend to use this to playback recorded content, and not to watch live TV.
- NO series link. OK, so I know only BBC and ITV have actually got their Freeview act together on this anyway, but still. Yes, you can set it to record 'weekly' for x number of times, which is fine if: 1) you know how many episodes are in the series and 2) if the programme is going to be on at the same time each week. But, many times this isn't the case. The Apprentice shifted to another day for a couple of weeks this year for example, sometime football coverage delays a programme, and programmes like The Restaurant are on at funny times, with two episodes in a week, or if you wanted to record the X Factor, the show varies in length and starting time every week. Therefore, Series Link is ESSENTIAL. And I just hope it is possible for them to add this feature in the future, and it isn't missing due to hardware limitations or something. Just seems strange that it isn't there on day one.
- Boot up time. Having to wait for your PS3 to start, and then click on PlayTV and wait for that to load too, it's zzzzzzzz. Hopefully they'll add an option to boot the PS3 straight in to PlayTV, or at least speed up the loading time.
Overall, I really like it. The +s above are BIG +s. Much better than I expected. But there are some minor niggles (crashes, loading times). Also the lack of series link is worrying me, I just hope they find a way to add it. Soon. It'll be great to see them constantly update this and add in new features in the future, it could end up being phenomenal with a few adjustments and new features. Please Sony, don't let me down.
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