Er, you know that September 10th, €99 (about £78) PlayTV launch announced by David Reeves? Well, turns out that the Sony Europe president jumped the gun or the product's been dragged through a trough of delay. Whatever the case, Sony Europe told Eurogamer that the PS3 TV tuner / DVR add-on will launch on the 19th of September now and cost a bit less at just 70 Quid. It's also said to be HD ready should local DVB-T broadcasters decide to throw that switch.

[Via PS3 Fanboy, thanks Jimb]

Good luck convincing Grandma to pack a DVR-250 next to the same telly that's been avoiding TV detectors for years, but how about a "match box-sized" addition that gives all the benefits of the digital switchover and without taking up a lot of space? TVonics MFR-300 improves on previous versions with support for Audio Description allowing people with sight problems to hear subtle on screen changes described, plus interactive TV features, EPG and parental controls. The 70mm x 27mm x 54mm box is available for £59.99 and can actually mount behind the TV, so all that's left is teaching your family how to use it -- good luck with that.

Although Gibson's self-tuning Robot Guitar is mighty snazzy, buying an entirely new instrument in order to ease your tuning woes isn't exactly practical. Truth be told, the N-Tune won't do the tuning for you, but it does make adjusting those flats and sharps a lot more interesting. Essentially, the chromatic tuner replaces the volume control on your electric axe and can be retrofitted in most every guitar / bass out there. Once installed, users simply pull the knob up to mute the volume and turn the tuner on simultaneously, and then you can check out the on-knob LEDs to gauge how accurately your strings are tuned. Best of all, this thing is slated to ship within the next month for just $100, but alas, it's recommended that you pay a professional to actually rig it up.

If neither of Elgato's latest from Macworld tickled your fancy, there's a decent shot you may like what equinux has going on instead. The TubeStick hybrid is the firm's newly announced USB TV tuner, which is housed in a diminutive chassis that won't block nearby ports and offers up OTA reception of NTSC, ATSC and digital (QAM) signals. Furthermore, the unit comes wearing the whitest of white outfits and also touts an external antenna and a one-month trial of the TubeToGo software. Yes, this critter will play nice with Windows machines as well, but we hear it tries to avoid such predicaments whenever possible. Ready to snag your own? Catch one next month for $129.

[Via The Mac Observer]

It seems that Elgato was most proud of its totally revamped EyeTV 3 software, but we couldn't help but notice two rather substantial hardware updates that it also chose to announce (albeit quietly) at Macworld 2008. Starting today, the firm's EyeTV Hybrid USB tuner and its EyeTV 250 Plus TV receiver / video converter (shown after the break) are both available with built-in support for unencrypted digital cable (Clear-QAM) channels. 'Course, they'll both still pull in NTSC / ATSC signals, but the addition of Clear-QAM support is a real boon for OTA addicts. Pricing for the extra versatile devices remains unchanged at $149.95 and $199.95, respectively, but unfortunately, existing owners will not be able to receive the newfound functionally with a simple firmware update.

Read - Elgato EyeTV Hybrid
Read - Elgato EveTV 250 Plus

Been on the lookout for a USB TV tuner with NTSC, ATSC and Clear-QAM support? Look no further than Hauppauge, which has proudly introduced the WinTV-HVR-950Q to handle all of the aforementioned needs. Additionally, the stick comes bundled with a credit card-sized remote capable of controlling the action from any given sofa, and it obviously supports the firm's SoftPVR and SoftMCE software MPEG-2 encoders. We know you're eager to cram one in your laptop and hop on a jet to a land far, far away, so you'll be quite pleased to know that it ships this month for $99.

Sony's PR blitz continues with the announcement of two HD Radio products, a tuner and a radio-iPod dock combo. The XDR-F1HD Tuner and the XDR-S10HDiP HD Radio can both tune in the estimated 1,500 digital stations nationwide. The XDR-F1HD is an add-on tuner with LCD display and a wireless remote, set to launch in March for $100. The XDR-S10HDiP docking station sports an iPod interface and iTunes Tagging, the ability to tag songs while listening for later purchase using the iTunes Music Store. It will be available in the summer for $180.

Envision understands that the people need choices, and just in case neither of the two LCD HDTVs that the firm unleashed last month tickled your fancy, here comes a trio of new ones to pore over. All three units sport a 1,366 x 768 resolution, eight-millisecond response time, ATSC / Clear QAM tuners, integrated speakers, a headphone jack, S/PDIF port and a glossy black finish. On the high(er)-end, we've got the 42-inch L42W761, which features a 1,200:1 contrast ratio, twin HDMI inputs and a respectable $999 pricetag. The 32-inch L32W761 differs from its big bro by offering up a 1,500:1 contrast ratio, while the 26-inch L26W761 musters an 800:1 CR. These two will ring up at $649 and $479, respectively, and are available as we speak from a number of fine retailers, but if you've got your eye on the 42-incher, you'll be waiting till the 23rd -- yeah, Black Friday -- to take one home.

Those looking for a fresh way to capture OTA signals on their computer need to look AMD's way, as the firm is kicking out three new ATI TV Wonder devices today. Up first is the TV Wonder 650 Combo USB, which includes two TV tuners to pick up OTA HDTV signals / ClearQAM programming, analog TV and FM broadcasts. For those with desktops, the TV Wonder 600 PCI or TV Wonder 600 PCI Express should fit the bill quite nicely, as they offer up the same features as their USB sibling in less portable forms. Notably, all three units come bundled with Catalyst Media Center software, which enables the devices to quickly convert (read: "with two mouse clicks") recorded programming to formats suitable for use on the iPod, Zune, PSP, iPhone, Palm Treo, etc. Price wise, the 650 Combo USB will demand $149, while the other two (pictured after the jump) will run you just $99 apiece.

Hey all you Sportster fans out there, don't think we forgot about you in the midst of all the Stiletto 2 excitement. Sirius let us snap a few shots of this latest iteration in their popular line of dock-and-play radios, but frankly, you'll probably get a better feel for its color screen in the professionally done press photos here than from the handful of shaky pics we managed to fire off. A little more exciting are the live shots we got of the upcoming SCV1 backseat tuner and kid-friendly remote, along with a sample of the video feed -- none of which were in the press material sent out today. Also of interest to Sonos owners out there will be the screenshots of Sirius doing its streaming thing over the multi-zone system -- and while the GUI is certainly tight, we weren't paying enough attention to really attest to the quality of low bitrate audio they're offering. Click below for all the hands-on goodness...

It's not exactly unheard of for DVR, PC, and PPC-6700 owners to have legitimate complaints about "freezing" issues with their gizmos, but we can't say the average television was on our list of devices we look forward to "rebooting" every day hour or so. Apparently, a horde of Aussies are facing such a quandary, as the digital TV tuner in a myriad of LG LCD HDTVs and plasmas (hit the read link for the full list) is going on the fritz whilst tuned in to broadcasts on the Nine Network. Currently, the only answers irate owners are getting revolve around "reception issues with digital transmissions in Sydney and Melbourne," but LG has also stated that it expects to rollout a "way forward" for customers quite soon. Currently, the only way to solve the seizures is to unplug the set from the wall, give it "two to three minutes to reboot," and flip the power back on, which can quickly erode any meaning found in your average half-hour drama. Regardless of how irritating we're sure this is, at least a (promised) fix is supposedly on the way, and trust us, things could be much, much worse.

Update: Oh man, what a disaster this is turning out to be. LG has now admitted that the problem affects 17 different models sold nationwide and stems from certain "digital TV processors and decoders had difficulty dealing with the way that the data signal is packaged." Even worse, the company is going to have to deploy hundreds of technicians to make tens of thousands of house calls, as an in-home repair is the only way to upgrade the components. Sorry, Aussies, until you can make an appointment, it seems like you're gonna be stuck with this annoyance for awhile -- and not only on Nine, as LG claims the bug could affect other OTA channels as well.


[Via Core77]

Looks like Okoro Media Systems isn't the only HTPC builder on the block cramming Microsoft's latest OS into its systems and upping the specs, as Velocity Micro has taken a break from its NoteMagix series to amp up a few media PCs. Both boxes come with Windows Vista Premium pre-installed, ATI's TV Wonder Digital Cable tuner, and options for HD DVD and Blu-ray playback. The CineMagix Pro Cinema rocks a fairly average black chassis, 500-watt power supply, AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, HDCP-compliant ATI Radeon X1950 Pro, onboard 7.1 audio, 8-in-1 flash card reader, up to 1.5TB of hard drive space, dual gigabit Ethernet adapter, 802.11b/g, a pair of FireWire connectors, six USB 2.0 ports, and a wireless keyboard / mouse combo. The Intel-powered CineMagix Grand Theater swaps in your choice of CPU, including options for both the Core 2 Extreme X6800 or QX6700, up to 4GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS, up to 2.25TB of HDD space, but otherwise mimics its AMD-packin' sibling. Both units are fully customizable if you've got the cash to burn, and while the CineMagix Pro Cinema starts at $1,695, the Grand Theater rings up between $2,195 and near-five digits.

[Via 64-Bit-Computers]

If you're going to have a little Mini-Tuner love going on in your crib, you can't just leave your vehicle hung out to dry, and now XM's dishing out the CommanderMT to bring the tunes with you while you travel. The sleek, black unit is purportedly designed to be integrated into your dash, and the Mini-Tuner design removes the need to actually carry your Commander with you when you exit the vehicle. It's also universal in nature, so it delivers the XM channels to your car stereo via FM, for better or (likely) worse. Possibly designed for folks looking to keep their existing head unit but add XM capabilities, the unit can be flush-mounted permanently if you're down with keeping the same tuner for the life of your vehicle. Regardless, the new CommanderMT should be hitting stores not too long after CES concludes, so be sure to click on through for a few more pics.

[Via Orbitcast]

As we overheard yesterday during JVC's live press conference, the company has unveiled a single-DIN in-dash solution for navigation and DVD / CD playback. The multifaceted KD-NX5000 sports a sleek, black motif with quite a busy faceplate, which is packed with a 3.5-inch LCD screen, volume / track controls, blue backlights, and nearly half a dozen logos. Crammed within the narrow enclosure is a 40GB hard drive with 15GB reserved for maps / navigation functions and 25GB for music / media. On the navigation side, it sports built-in real-time traffic, maps of North America and Virgin Islands, 13 million POIs, and a remote control to (partially) keep your eyes on the road. On the stereo side, it plays back DVDs, CDs, DivX, MPEG 1/2, and even displays JPEG photos, but it can also rip CDs straight the HDD and can receive tunes from Bluetooth-enabled DAPs / iPods with appropriate adapters. So if you're satisfied with keeping your current ride, and don't want to cramp its style by installing one of those unsightly in-car mounting kits, you can shove a navigation system in your dash next month for $1,199.95.

[Via NaviGadget]

Hot on the heels of Microtek unveiling four new plasmas to feast our eyes upon, the firm has taken the wraps off two new 42-inch LCD HDTVs, which marks its first offerings in the LCD TV realm. Both sets tout that oh-so-coveted (or not) 1080p "Full HD" resolution, 500 cd/m2 brightness, 1,200:1 contrast ratio, and a 176-degree viewing angle as well. Additionally, the firm claims that each set is calibrated at the factory to set the "optimum brightness, contrast, sharpness, color saturation, and color balance for a typical home viewing environment," but we're sure you videophiles out there could always find something just a bit off kilter. Nevertheless, both displays also feature ATSC / NTSC tuners, component / S-Video / composite inputs, VGA in, and HDMI for that silkly smooth 1,920 x 1,080 imagery. Likely to make an appearance at next week's CES, the pair of TVs should be available anytime now, and while the silver-clad L42CX2A will run you $1,899, the all-black Cineon CL42HA demands an extra Benjamin just for the "superior" color motif.