torne: Sony Japan’s DVR/TV tuner for PS3 gets priced and dated

Sony Japan has been preparing an ISDB-T tuner peripheral called torne for the PS3 for quite some time now, and today the company announced [JP] both a final price ($110) and a release date (March 18). Unfortunately, the device, which comes with DVR software, is Japan-only at this point. The torne is similar to PlayTV (not available in the US), a twin-channel DVB-T tuner first launched in Europe back in 2008.

After connecting it via USB, the torne allows PS3 owners to record TV programs to the PS3 HDD (or an external one, like these) and play them back. This is possible even while watching a movie or playing a game on the PS3. Users can also record programs in advance.

If you own a PSP, you can transfer all recorded content onto your handheld and watch it on the go. The torne also support Remote Play, meaning you can watch programs stored on the PS3 HDD (or any other hardware attached to the console) on the PSP over Wi-Fi.

Sony Japan also plans to offer the torne bundled with a 250GB PS3 for $480 (pictured above).

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