Play TV’s Virtues and Vices
Play TV is on a killing spree, but it's not quite Godlike yet. Related stories (more)Play TV Hits 1.02
Clarification on PlayTV
PlayTV: £69.99, Next Month
Article written by Gamoc in Blog, on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 13:00.
Thanks to the wonderful mynameisblair (who, ironically, is actually called Frank), I suddenly started considering Play TV’s pros and cons. I then decided that ‘pros and cons’ was a bit of a dull term and words that begin with ‘v’ are totally underrated, so I called the article Vices and Virtues instead.
I’ve had Play TV since somewhere around last Christmas, by which I mean I got it on Christmas day, and I’ve been using it almost every day since. It is a brilliant service – recording freeview via my PS3 removes roughly one box and its accompanying wires from my bedroom, which is good considering that there are so many wires under my desk a spider would have a hard time getting through them. I sometimes go down there and I find the remains of a spider next to a note that says ‘tell my family I love them’.
…Anyway. Play TV is, if you didn’t know already, an upscaling freeview tuner with recording functionality, which also allows you to pause and rewind live TV. You can record a single program at a time, during which you can watch another, or play a game, or anything else like that. Whilst you’re playing a game, the game will play just as smoothly as it would normally (or it has in my 11 months of experience, anyway), so you’ve got nothing to worry about. You can do whatever you like whilst Play TV is recording.
Unless, of course, what you want to do is download something from PSN. When Play TV is open in any way, which means both if you’re actually using it yourself or if it’s loaded up in the background recording something, anything that you are downloading in the background will pause until Play TV is closed completely. This is one of the relatively small amount of problems I have with Play TV. I want to be able to download whatever the hell I like whilst I’m watching TV. In the past I have started a download and gone downstairs to watch TV on Sky, simply because I wanted to download and watch TV at the same time, because I’m such a crazy extremist, always breaking boundaries with my radical ideas.
This isn’t that much of a problem if you either don’t download many things on your PS3 or don’t record a lot of stuff, but if you’re anything like me and own a massive chunk of PSN’s games and just can’t help but download everything you possibly can from PSN, not being able to finish said downloads for a while because you have the sheer audacity to watch television is a bit of an annoyance.
Also, I can watch live TV whilst Play TV records something else, so why can’t I record two things at a time if I’m not watching something else? It only makes sense, especially since Play TV is essentially recording what I’m watching on live TV anyway, as proven by the fact that I can pause and rewind it whenever I feel like.
It’s a bit of a pain to watch TV at night with Play TV, because the guide seems to just stop getting proper listings, with entire channels not having it’s programmes listed late at night, resulting in random channel guessing, hoping you don’t accidentally stumble across an episode of Hollyoaks. Predictably, all of these channels are the channels I might want to actually watch.
I’d like to set reminders for things, too. Do you have any clue how many times I’ve missed the Gadget Show because I’ve been shooting people in the left eye (I’m a brilliant shot, apparently) in Uncharted 2 and been unable to record it because I was recording something else? No? It’s 132 times. It’s not really, I made that figure up. It’s about 3 times, but that’s 6 times too many.
You might think I’d be complained-out by now, but you clearly don’t know me if you do – I also want series linking. Programmes aren’t always on at exactly the same time every week, and if I miss the last 5 minutes of One Tree Hill I get all cranky and stuff, so series link would be a very good idea. Oh, and when a pop-up appears for a timed recording whilst you’re playing a game, you don’t actually know what it’s recording, because it just says ‘timed recording’, which is a bit of a grievance.
However, the biggest problem I have with Play TV is this; when I open Play TV, do whatever, quit Play TV and then go back into it, I can’t get back in – the PS3 crashes at the Play TV splash screen. This means that I have no choice other than to turn the PS3 off via the dreaded double beep (which it does when you turn it off when it’s froze). If I was recording anything I immediately have to restart the PS3 and Play TV to get it recording again, and I’ve still missed 4 minutes of whatever I was recording. With my luck, that’ll be the best 4 minutes – someone in One Tree Hill may well have sprouted wings, flew up into a tree to save a cat, brought it back down and then the wings would’ve disappeared, never to appear again. And I’ve missed that. Damn.
All this, plus the stupidly long loading time when you first start it and the occassional video-jumping whilst playing back a recording (which is fixed by exporting to and playing from the XMB), make Play TV sound much worse than it is. The truth is that Play TV is excellent, but as with all excellent things (and killing sprees), there’s just a little more needed to make it Godlike. I get picture through Play TV that outshines the Sky box downstairs due to Play TV’s HD upscaling, not to mention that the UI is a lot nicer than anything else I’ve ever used to watch television. Exporting recordings to my XMB is a great feature too, and a convenient way of getting around delaying your downloads if you’re only watching something you’ve already recorded.
So yeah, Sony, get to work fixing these bugs and I will give you a cybercookie. Maybe even two!
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
deadairspace | 01/12/2009 13:09
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224 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
I also love PlayTV and have had it since it was released just over a year ago – I agree my big gripe is the lack of series record/linking (and I know someone will say but you can just set a record schedule for same time every week – well that’s just not good enough
.
I don’t have your PlayTV freezing problem though – or more to the point I hope mine doesn’t start to do that!
urbankiller14 | 02/12/2009 15:57
* Banned *
-941 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
yh same here i hope it dont start that now!!!!!!!!! the funny thing is i am watching it now.
Jumping Monks | 01/12/2009 13:14
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So I should get Play TV by the sounds of it then?
Those problems you’ve highlighted do sound like they’re a bit of a pain, but they’re not too bad really. Except for the crashing once you’ve already opened it before… that needs fixing by the sound of it. Get to it Sony and you might just find yourself another customer
Eldave0 | 01/12/2009 13:15
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“and been unable to record it because I was recording something else? No? It’s 132 times. It’s not really, I made that figure up. It’s about 3 times, but that’s 6 times too many.”
^^ that made me chuckle. Thanks for this article btw, I have been looking at ditching my Sky subscription and moving to PlayTV for ages so this summary is really handy
yobrenoops | 01/12/2009 13:27
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420 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
I used to have this until some little shites stole my PS3 set up in April. Anyway I’ll rebuy when the release the inevitable UK HD one with a DVB-T2 tuner.
danf_42 | 01/12/2009 13:29
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Mainly I think it’s a great bit of kit. My main gripe is when it only records part of a show. Now this could be my PS3 turning itself off during recording, but I’ve had quite a few shows where it has only recorded the first 10-20 mins of an hour long show
cc_star | 01/12/2009 13:30
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Just after New Year’s day my Sky+HD subscription terminates.
Over the past year I’ve hardly watched any movies and obviously 99% of the other channels are utter crap (I’ve got a SkySports & ESPN subscription on my iPhone for only £6/month and once coupled with some TV-Out cables will give me, SkySports 1, 2, 3, Xtra and ESPN on my TV), So I’m going for some sort of Freeview solution.
I really want PlayTV, but I’m concerned that my PS3 will be switched on and whurring away for far too long each day, I’d be a little concerned about heat building up and the board distorting over time and me ending up with yet another YLOD, So I think I’m going for a separate Freeview+ recorder.
It’s a great shame that that fear exists, but I’m a bit reluctant to put all my eggs in one basket.
jimmy-google | 01/12/2009 13:39
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I picked up a second hand 60gb ps3 in january and sometimes I leave it on for 3 days straight (mainly due to my broadband being limited during daylight hours) and I’ve had no problems so far.
Also just cancelled sky. Play TV (though not perfect) is good enough for Sky not to deserve my £40 a month. Sometimes my Sky box took longer to boot up than Play TV and I often would record something to find a message saying “recording clashed” (though nothing else was recording) or “recording failed”.
The biggest bonus of PlayTV is you can get the files off the hard drive easily. I think John Lewis has them for £40 to £50 at the moment. Bargain
bunimomike | 01/12/2009 13:43
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All good points. You’re on a launch-console (eg. 60GB) yes? Mine’s a newer forty-gigger and is on most of the time or at least 80% of any given week. Folding away merrily.
iiekka | 01/12/2009 13:54
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my 60gig launch ps3 still going strong use it every single night for at least 3-4+ hours, normaly leave it playing a dvd or something set up to turn its self off after i fall asleep, never had aproblem, love play tv is really really good does take abit to long to start up and shut down thats abou the only thing i dont like, i see how series recordign and reminders would be useful tho
Soild_Nat | 01/12/2009 14:13
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Don’t quote me on this but i think when PlayTV comes on out of standby it’s in some sort of half on mode (technical term), similar to when you quit and its downloading, the PS3 is on but not fully powered up.
I had concerns about my PS3 been on all the time but its fine. Using PlayTV doesn’t stress it out as much as say playing a dvd or bluray. It never really needs to kick the fan on at all. I would highly recommend PlayTV over any other freeview player and Sony are updating it with more improvements in the works. You might have all your eggs in one basket but they will be in the best basket in town!
TheShepanator | 01/12/2009 16:45
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I accidentally left a devet piled on my ps3 for almost 8 hours and I didn’t know it was on, it was fine!
Cadabena | 01/12/2009 17:18
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I don’t care so much about my PS3 dying from being left on. What I do care about is the constant use of around 200W when recording, with my old 40gb freeview recorder (single tuner, can’t watch while recording, drives me mad!) using about a tenth of the PS3’s power consumption. Talk about being green…
carlosfilippsen | 01/12/2009 13:45
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I am bidding for PlayTV on ebay right now, hopefully I will win the auction
bunimomike | 01/12/2009 13:48
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Don’t do it. It belongs to Gamoc and is covered in bite marks.
Gamoc | 01/12/2009 14:15
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At least wait until he’s bought it to tell him that!
carlosfilippsen | 01/12/2009 16:56
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Damn you. I bought it now
could of told me before. haha
Hank The Slayer | 01/12/2009 13:46
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I have had Play TV from launch day.. I have never had Heating problems or the Freezing problem . I do miss having a reminder with it though. As for downloading two things at once. One from PSN and a TV program, The HDD can not write to disk in two places at once.. I do like it thoughand use it everyday. If anyone is thinking of getting one IMHO do, its worth the money.. If you have a HDD large enough to cope with the recording that is.
iiekka | 01/12/2009 13:57
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yah upgrading the hdd is a must, it doesnt compress the video when it records so they are huuuuuuuuuuge, stuck a 320gb in mine even 500gb hdds are cheap now tho
Soild_Nat | 01/12/2009 14:34
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Get an external HDD, export to the XMB, copy to external HDD and your PS3 HDD is kept nice and empty. I got a 640gb external HDD and have loads of films on there with 450gb still left!
Sympozium Gro Mak | 01/12/2009 13:48
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(lol Frank) I used to have a Freeview box, thought it was a bit okay til Dave came along brilliant but I got rid of it due to a lack of space for ye plugs
i’m interested in playtv but I’m not sure whether or not I would buy it…….
mugsybalone | 01/12/2009 13:57
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I’ve not had the problem with the timed recording message – I take that’s the message that comes up when you’ve set up to record something at a set time each day/week, as a sort of manual series record? Rather than just selecting what you want to record from the schedule every time, I mean. Lack of a series record function is a bit of a pain – wanting to record How I Met Your Mother, shown daily, meant going through the ‘Find’ function and picking up each episode manually.
Having upgraded to a 250gb hard drive earlier this year I’ve also managed to avoid the problems of the surpisingly large file size – around 1gb for an hour-long programme, if I remember correctly. But I can see how that’d be a pain for someone with a launch 60gb or an 80gb unit, with everything else that clutters up the drive, mandatory installs and stuff.
w3r3w0lf | 01/12/2009 14:00
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I think PlayTV is a great piece of kit. A few more improvements would be welcomed (much quicker start-up and series link), but have never had any problems with it. Already have Freeview built into my TV, but mainly bought it to record onto my hard drive.
cheekyMcB | 01/12/2009 14:05
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Gamoc I’m still waiting for something tree related on OTH let alone wing related
seedaripper1973 | 01/12/2009 14:35
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Well i bought playTV on the advice of Mynameisblair (£45 PC world) and it is a wicked bit of kit. I wholeheartedly agree with Gamoc points though (they are minor gripes mind) especially the looong load up times and shut down times…what i would like is the opportunity to say have a 5 min buffer on the beginning and end of the show/film, ie start the recording 5 mins early and finish 5 mins after, this way you wont miss anything (like say if theres a newsflash that takes up recording time)…other than that lads i Über recommend it!!
p.s the upscaling on my 47 inch tv is fantastic!!
p.p.s cheers Frank
Gamoc | 01/12/2009 14:57
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You can do that, edit the recording option in the recording Schedule
seedaripper1973 | 02/12/2009 11:03
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ahhh, cheers gamoc! not just a pretty face after all…
mynameisblair | 01/12/2009 16:01
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I should be TSA’s PlayTV advisor. Seriously.
GChris | 01/12/2009 16:01
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A lot of the issues you mention are due to the need to allow you to use your PS3 whilst using PlayTV.
It seems like Sony have decided that the maximum number of things they can write constantly to the hard drive without causing unacceptable delays is 2.
In theory PlayTV could record two things at once without exceeding this limit, as long as you didn’t do anything else with the PS3. However, it’s not really acceptable to not let you turn your PS3 on because it happens to be recording two programmes, so that’s why it only lets you record one at once.
Similarly, if you’re using your PS3 and recording a TV programme that’s your two recording streams used up – nothing left for downloads.
The one area they could improve it, is that at present using PlayTV locks downloads, even if you aren’t recording anything. This could do with more intelligent logic so that it only freezes the downloads when a recording starts.
I don’t get the crash on second start-up that you report, so either your PS3 or your PlayTV is faulty, I think.
Series link is the feature I would most like to see, followed by faster start-up time.
mynameisblair | 01/12/2009 16:09
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Well, to be frank (ba dum dum tsch) mynameisn’tfrank.
.
I love PlayTV and think its an awesome peripheral to make the PS3 a much better system, but it does have a few flaws especially when the store updates on a Thursday and I can’t watch Scrubs while downloading stuff
Although, it does have MANY pros that outweigh the cons.
A very virtuous verdict for a good value visible thing.
Gamoc | 01/12/2009 23:05
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I know your name isn’t actually Frank