Announced in August of last year the PlayTV add on for PS3 is becoming that little bit more real with a new video courtesy of the BBC. The clip shows things we’ve seen before: EPG, live TV (with pause), remote access via PSP and so on. What makes this exciting (assuming you’re based in Europe of course) is it being turned over to the BBC in Sony’s UK head quarters.

Ignore if you will the shaky cam they seem to be using to film the tech demo. Let’s focus more on the fact that its appearence and subsequent appraisal by an organisation as well know as the Beeb indicates the arrival of the add on cannot be miles away. The actual box is smaller than I imagined, plugging into one of the front USB ports. Of course, if your PS3 is one of the two-port  variety that might be a slight annoyance. But who says you have to have it plugged in all the time?

 There are still no confirmed launch dates or prices as yet, we’ve only got a time frame of the first half of ‘08. You could argue that the market place for this gizmo might be small when competing with established products like Sky + and cable providers. However, if you’re someone like me who doesn’t necessarily want to pay for 687 channels of utter guff, then this could be a nice alternative.

Filed under: Console news, Main, Peripherals