So much for early 2008 or even July for that matter. Sony's David Reeves now confirms that PlayTV -- the €99 PS3 TV tuner / DVR add-on -- will hit the UK on September 10th. The service will then march onto the continent before completing the European rollout in December -- Australia and New Zealand get theirs in January or February. Notably, the service will in fact record television in the background without interrupting your regularly scheduled gaming regimen thanks to the recent 2.41 firmware PS3 update. Phew, for a moment we felt threatened by a lack of manufactured distractions.

[Via gamesindustry.biz]

Conceptronic's beastly Media Giant HD media server / DVR that made headlines a few months back is officially on sale across the pond, with a number of tipsters chiming to say that it is being offered for €379 ($603) from Metro Group. Better still, those who order are being treating to tracking numbers on the double, meaning that those who take the dive should have it in their hands in no time. Expensive? Sure. But that's the price you pay for built-in PowerLine networking (Pro version), a slew of ports, a 500GB hard drive and lots more features listed in the read link.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

We can't say for certain how long the above pictured splash screen has been around on AT&T's website, but if "2 room DVR service" means "whole-home DVR" service, we're left with just one question: where? One of the U-verse issues that has long since held it back from being viewed as a killer programming service was the inability to serve up various DVR recordings around the home, and while AT&T has been promising that said feature was on the way for nearly a year, there's still nothing to show for it. You only need shuffle through a few pages of the U-talk forums to find a plethora of angered individuals, and while some are optimistic that WHDVR is imminent now that 2 HD / 2 SD is spreading across the land, others are understandably skeptical (and bitter, too). So, AT&T -- when can these loyal users expect WHDVR to really be implemented? And for those on the fence, is this limitation the primary thing holding you back from embracing fiber?

[Thanks, Todd]

Not even six full months after DirecTV rolled out its DVR Scheduler service, users have logged on via their mobile phones or online in order to schedule one million shows. For those unfamiliar, said service enables customers to tell their DVR to record a program without actually being near the DVR; so long as you've got a handset with data access or an outright internet connection, you're golden. Unsurprisingly, the most commonly recorded program via the service was SportsCenter, but we won't spoil the rest of the top 15 for you. So, how many times did you contribute to this number?

[Image courtesy of MyDigitalLife]

'Tis a shame we don't know more about LG's latest bundle of HDTVs, but here are the facts so far. Apparently the outfit has dished out a pair of LCDs and a duo of plasmas to commemorate the upcoming Beijing Olympics, and the whole gang comes packing a 160GB internal hard drive. This "Time Machine" functionality will (predictably) enable viewers to capture content right inside of their set, though details beyond that (you know, port assortment, contrast ratio, etc.) are few and far between. That being said, we do know how much each of these buggers will set you back: anywhere between ₩1,650,000 ($1,607) for the 42-inch 42PG31RD plasma and ₩3,000,000 ($2,916) for the 47-inch 47LG50ED LCD HDTV.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

Foxtel's HD+ services may have launched a few days back in Australia, but that's not stopping OpenTV from pushing out a release trumpeting the arrival of the iQ2. As you could likely guess, the set-top-box is powered by OpenTV's Core2 middleware, but frankly, that's not the part we're interested in. Merely hearing the words "quad-tuner" just gets our juices flowing, and with nearly "double the recordable capacity" of the current Foxtel iQ, we'd say it's a surefire winner for Aussies looking to delve into the beautiful world of high-definition.

Great news, Aussies -- you too can enjoy the same box Americans have been using for eons starting next month. Yep, as of July, the TiVo Series 3 will go on sale via Seven for $700, and while Harvey Norman will sell the device exclusively for three months, it'll filter into "all major electronics chains" shortly after that window of time closes. Of note, Seven claims that it is not attempting to compete with Foxtel and its newly announced iQ2 box, and that it is instead aiming for subscribers who want the functionality of a DVR without the costly Foxtel subscription fees. If whispers prove true, you folks can expect to see this on sale in late July following a July 1st media launch.

So, your cable company stuck you with one of those boring, no-frills Scientific Atlanta DVR boxes. We fill your pain, but you don't have to just take it lying down. Iomega's new DVR Expander offers up 500GB of extra storage over eSATA for compatible Scientific Atlanta boxen. That's about 300 hours of SD TV, or 60 hours of HD. Using those incredibly intuitive SA menus it shouldn't be too hard to stumble through configuration and get this thing added on to your setup, and there's even an eSATA cable included to start things off on the right foot, but it's not like there's anything going on here other than a fairly standard-issue eSATA drive. Right now the drive is compatible with the 8300 DVR and the 8300HD DVR, but future models from Scientific Atlanta will be compatible as well. DVR Expander should be available this month for about $200.

The timeshifting DVR patent that's been at the core of TiVo's closed-but-not-quite-closed lawsuit with DISH / EchoStar is being contested yet again by the very same company. Not content just appealing to the Supreme Court regarding the Federal Circuit's ruling against a rehearing for the last case, DISH / EchoStar has started up a whole new lawsuit against TiVo, requesting a Delaware court find the new version of their DVR software does not infringe TiVo's patents -- presumably as an embittered and pre-emptive measure before TiVo could kick off its inevitable next suit. Don't worry if you're confused as all hell, so are we -- the point is, despite the fact that decisions have been made and rulings handed down, these two companies are still managing to sue, re-sue, and counter-re-sue one another.

During his sit-down at D6, TiVo's head honcho Tom Rogers was grilled with a flurry of questions. Aside from a lengthy back-and-forth over the DVR's ability to skip through ads, we finally got to some real meat. First off, Mr. Rogers noted that he was "hopeful" that TiVo would be launched in the UK "soon." Secondly -- and probably most interestingly -- was the notion that TiVo was working up a "whole home model" in order to solve the problem of needing multiple boxes to service an entire house. Sadly, that snippet is all Tom uttered, so we're left to ponder what's really going on behind the tightly sealed doors at TiVo. Here's to hoping we know more by the time CEDIA rolls around -- you listening, Mr. Rogers?

[Via Electronista]

Verizon's hoping to give prospective FiOS TV subscribers yet another reason to come on board with its new FiOS TV Central website. Currently, the newly launched portal "allows customers to use any desktop or laptop computer to review their local TV schedules and information about video-on-demand (VOD) and pay-per-view offerings." All that's well, fine and good, but the real meat is in the future. "Soon," customers will be able to program their DVR from the web, ensuring that you'll never miss a recording should you remember ahead of time and be anywhere near an internet connection. C'mon Verizon, stop teasing!

With the looming Tuning Adapter practically stealing the limelight at The Cable Show 2008, we can't help but wonder: how many of you are actually waiting in tense anticipation to snag one of these rascals? Is your CableCARD-equipped TiVo not pulling in all of the HD channels that are being delivered via switched digital video? Are you holding off on buying a set-top-box until tru2way DVRs hit the market? Let us know just how important this stuff is to you.

There's little doubt that interactive advertising has arrived, and while we just heard that Macrovision would be taking a look at DVR usage in order to better position its marketing attack, NBC Universal has now partnered up with DISH Network in order to do something similar. The agreement will provide "interactive trigger capabilities to NBC Universal's 14 television networks and 10 NBC owned-and-operated TV stations," and DISH subscribers who own a DVR will "able to use their remote controls to request more information from advertisers about their products or to receive coupons for various product discounts." As predicted, clicking on such an ad will take a viewer to a page to learn more about a given product, and once he / she is all done soaking it in, they can continue watching right where they left off. Of course, we're still curious as to the amount of people who will actually take a moment to distract themselves in this manner, but hey, it sounds goods in theory.

[Image courtesy of DBSTalk]

With Disney creating a dedicated lair for biometric testing of advertisements and Backchannelmedia pushing its own TV-to-internet ad platform, we aren't too surprised to see Macrovision teaming up with Sunflower Broadband to gauge the effectiveness of yet another advertising alternative. As part of the collaborative effort, EPG usage patterns of an "anonymous sample of Sunflower customers" will be collected and scrutinized in order to "gain insight into how consumers use i-Guide and interact with their DVR, on-demand services and in-guide advertising." In essence, the data will be used to "develop more effective consumer marketing tactics" and understand how subscribers "engage with interactive guide advertising." In-guide advertising? We hate to even think it, but really, what's next?

Great, just great. Soon after Western Digital made a fool of itself by introducing an external hard drive "certified" for use with DISH Network HD DVRs, along comes Seagate to further fuel the hype machine. Announced at this year's Cable Show (after being mentioned at CES), the Showcase storage solution is "designed" to extend storage capacity of DVRs and media centers. In a similar vein, the outfit's newest drives are "compatible with Motorola's s-SATA-capable HD DVRs," and they also come with USB 2.0 ports and up to 1TB of space. No word on a price or any of that jazz, but those who can't figure out that an external hard drive is an external hard drive can look for 'em to land in Q3.