I’ve had a bit of a run on Sony gadgetry recently. This latest toy, the PlayTV, is just a bog standard Freeview tuner at heart. It plugs in to your Playstation 3 and that’s when the fun begins. The PlayTV software has a really slick interface that other manufacturers should take note of. The program guide is nice and smooth, with a nice clear line down the screen at the current time, fading old programs out, and current programs boldy in view. Channel changing includes a nice fancy flying in fade and program information is easy to read too. Basic PVR functionality is also included, letting you record your TV programs, pause / rewind live TV, schedule recordings from the program guide and more.
Sadly missing from the feature list is the ability to series-link recordings, or record two programs at the same time (you can record one and watch another though) – the latter presumably being a compromise allowing games to be played at the same time as recording takes place, the former being almost unforgivable. My main reason for buying this gadget though is it’s compatability with the PSP and the Remote Play service. If I connect my PSP to a Wi-Fi hotspot somewhere in the world, in theory I can connect back home over the Internet to my Playstation 3, it will auto-power on and all I need to do is load up the PlayTV software and start viewing streamed Freeview, or catch up on one of my recordings. This does work, sometimes. The problem as I’ve discovered is down to the locked nature of Sony’s Remote Play service. When you turn your PS3 on, it registers your current IP address (your unique ‘number’ on the Internet is the best way I can describe that!) with Sony’s servers as belonging to you. Then, when you are out and about and your PSP attempts to connect home, it starts by asking Sony’s servers what the last address they have that your Playstation back at home used… Then your PSP establishes a connection with that IP address and all should be great. Are you seeing the problem here? Yup, what happens if in the time between your Playstation last being used, and the time you want to connect remotely, your internet connection at home has been reset and you now have a new IP address? Sony’s servers only know about the old IP address which is now useless. The solutions to this are either to get a static IP address from your ISP (which isn’t possible with most providers especially on budget packages), or for Sony to open up a little bit and let you tell them a host name or IP address you would like to connect to in order to connect back home. Then you can use a Dynamics DNS hostname or similar and everything would work.

All things considered though, despite the PlayTV being a really great bit of kit with a lot of potential… potential is all that it has. It just isn’t ready to be used as a main living room PVR with the initial loading time and lack of series link being my biggest critisisms against its use for that purpose. And as for Remote Play, come on Sony, what’s wrong with a ‘custom options’ page? It’s a real shame, the interface is superb and the whole concept of a single device for gaming, media streaming, Blu-Rays, IPTV (BBC iPlayer), DVDs and Freeview+ is very appealing and the utopia of home entertainment…. please Sony, keep trying – you are so close!