PS3 News, Views & Reviews

This third party add on accessory for the Sony PS3 to be released on March 28th priced at 99.99GDP.

You will be able to record and view your favourite programs at the same time in both standard and high definition.

Personal Video Recorder functionality allows you to watch live TV, pause, fast forward and rewind. An Electronic Program Guide (EPG) give up to 7 days program listings in advance in certain countries.

• Record and view your favourite program at the same time - Play TV enables you to record both Standard Definition as well as High Definition
• Personal Video Recorder functionality - watch live TV, pause, fast forward and rewind
• Electronic Program Guide (EPG) to show what’s on, now and next - up to 7 days in advance in certain countries
• Mobile TV functionality - export content easily from PS3 HDD to PSP - watch TV on the go! Thanks to live streaming, you can watch your favourite show whilst abroad
• Channel surf with either your BD remote or your Sixaxis

Nikko Citigroup analyst Kota Ezawa claims that Sony’s PS3 costs just $400 to make, about half of what the console cost to manufacture when it was launched in November 2006.

Ezawa puts the cost reduction down to increased volumes, cheaper components but most particularly much-reduced Cell processor and GPU fabrication costs thanks to improved yields.

In November 2006 Market watcher iSuppli stripped appart a PS3 and calculated that the cost of the components in the 60GB PS3 console was $840. This was $241 more than Sony was asking for the PS3.

Back in 2006 there was a shortage of blue laser diodes, a key component of both Blu-ray and HD DVD drives witch caused the cost of hardware such as the PS3 containing blue laser diodes to remain high. The shortage eased mid-way through 2007, with Blu-ray hardware prices falling rapidly as a result.

PS3 can take advantage of a feature that allows you to install Linux on to their PS3 game console.

Gamers can now play PC games on their PS3s by using an application offered by StreamMyGame.

The StreamMyGame application only works if the game is actually running on your PC. The service converts a game running on the PC into an audio and video file, and then streams that file to a PS3 running Linux.

This means is that the PS3 is not actually running the game, it is just having the PC stream the game to it to be displayed on a TV.

You still need to use the computer’s mouse and keyboard to play the game, since the game is actually still running on the PC making the whole thing pretty pointless.