PS3’s PlayTV: you can record TV content while playing games

Good news for PlayStation 3 gamers out there – in the UK and the rest of Europe at least, since the service likely won’t be released in the US – the PlayTV service has been confirmed to be able to record TV content while playing games. Details in the full article.

Good news for PlayStation 3 gamers in the UK when PlayTV launches next month. According to Sony, the service will allow you to record TV content while playing video games.

Makes sense, right? An extremely useful feature If you feel like playing video games instead of watching shows, but your favorite show happens to be on.

The Guardian‘s Greg Howson explains in his review of the service:

There will be a message in the final build of the code that will ask you to reboot your PS3 to enable the background recording functionality. […] Unfortunately you can’t record two programmes at once – you can record one channel and watch Live TV on another though – which feels a little restrictive.

Also of note in Howson’s review is that PSP transfer from the PlayStation 3 requires a conversion process of videos, which is “fiddly” enough to make most users feel that it’s not worth it. Although he does note that remote play worked well.

PlayTV will launch September 19 in the UK, with the rest of the Europe, and Australia and New Zealand to follow.

• SCEE president David Reeves announces PlayTV UK release date
• SCEE announces release dates for PlayTV and Go!View digital services
• Sony: Australia and Europe to get PlayTV by fourth quarter of 2008

Via Guardian.co.uk