Unboxing the PlayStation 3 PlayTV

[For those that are interested there are some photos of unboxing the PlayTV here ]

The PlayTV arrived today, and what can I say….. it’s nice, but it’s got quite a big design problem; it has no aerial out socket.

Most TV devices have an aerial in and aerial out for the simple reason that it allows you to continue using your TVs functions because you can chain the new device into your aerial feed (i.e. wall socket —-> device —-> TV). The PlayTV is a dead end device, so your left with the following choices;

  1. Buy an aerial splitter and feed the PlayTV from one output and the TV from another (hoping that the splitter doesn’t degrade the signal too much).

  2. Turn on the PS3 and have it running whenever you want to watch TV (which is a pain in the ass and adds around 150 to 200 Watts to your power consumption).

Neither of which is ideal.

Sony have included a sticky plastic overlay to the PS3 Bluetooth DVD remote which has the PlayTV options in blue (shown here) which is better than nothing, but I would have preferred to be offered a trade in on my old remote.

So now I’m off now to have to buy a decent aerial splitter and some co-ax cable (no, it doesn’t come with an aerial cable either) and see what I can do with the new toy….