Stuff.tv UK Briefly Reviews PlayTV

Stuff.tv UK recieved their PlayTV module for the PS3, and despite their willingness to create an award for ‘most underwhelming piece of hardware design’, they seem somewhat impressed. It’s hard to tell exactly how they feel about the device, and kudos to their author for creating an unbiased teaser post that leaves the reader wondering if they like it or not. There are a few bombshells revealed in the mini-review which we quote below.

On a personal note, I cannot stop obsessing over this device. Ever since I got the PS3, I have been playing Battlefield: Bad Company a great deal. What is unfortunate however is when the game ends so does my time on the PS3, because I usually have to switch over to the other HDMI source for my cable box. It is so akward, and makes me wish I could just use the PS3 to watch TV. Why can’t Sony bring this device to the United States?

A few other items of interest mentioned in the mini-review (direct quotations):

• “at least it has two tuners for watching one show while recording another”
• after a lengthy firmware update, it searches for channels, then presents you with the intuitive home screen
• you get eight menus: ‘Live TV’, ‘Guide’ (a 7-day EPG), ‘Schedule’ (a list of programes you have queued for recording), ‘Library’ (a list of all your recorded programmes), ‘Find + record’ (a search function) , ‘Manual’ (a help screen) and ‘Settings’
• the menus are pleasantly slick
• in order to allow recording while you’re doing other things on your PS3 (say, playing Haze) you have to allow ‘background recording’, and there’s a warning that this may cause slow-down and effect gameplay
• no 1080i recording at launch and the inclusion of pesky DRM

Read the rest of the PlayTV mini-review at Stuff.tv UK. Here are the rest of the pictures they shared: