The PS3 Hub

As the PS3 uses Bluetooth, rather than IR, traditional all-in-one remotes haven’t been able to control it. Instead, a range of third-party remotes have sprung up, all requiring the use of one of the PS3’s precious USB ports.

Until this little device came out, I used 2 remotes in the house. The official PS3 ‘Blu-Ray’ remote, and a Logitech Harmony One that controlled my TV, Stereo, Satellite Box and Apple TV. While I was dubious about buying another device just to make the remote work, I picked one of these up from Amazon last week.

The box itself is fairly small, roughly the size of a playing card. Once plugged in, you simply add it as a Bluetooth remote on the PS3 via Accessory Settings. Then you need update your Harmony remote with the new PS3 settings. I’d previously added the PS3 as a device, so this had to be deleted before the new device could be added. That’s it though, and the process was fairly painless. Although all commands are pre-programmed, you can of course modify the button setup as you prefer it.

There’s no time lag and it works really, really well. It doesn’t take up another USB port, and can be used to power up AND down the PS3. I have mine hidden behind a curtain on a windowsill and it works just fine.

The only real con is the cost - the cheapest I’ve seen it so far is £37 in the UK. It’s obviously a bit spendy if you don’t already have a Harmony remote, but if you do (and use the PS3 for more than gaming) it’s wonderful!

• Support for Australian Digital TV
• Watch, pause and record high definition TV (This requires a new tuner, which will be available in Australia first - no news of a Europe release)
• Multichannel audio playback
• Improved remote play usability
• Better Standard Definition upscaling
• Support for mobile phone remote play (namely the Sony Ericsson Aino)

If you live in the UK, today is when you need to retune your freeview channels in order to keep getting the full set. This is apparently to make way for Freeview HD channels.

To retune your PlayTV, simply go to Settings > Setup >Channel Scan. I found the process took just a couple of minutes. Note that any scheduled recordings will probably need to redone.