PlayTV to be DRM free

Though it may only be the techno-savvy who will be excited by the news, the fact that Sony’s upcoming PS3 PVR

PlayTV

will not implement any kind of DRM (digital rights management) is potentially quite important.

Content recorded from the Freeview tuner is converted into MPEG-2 format and can then be moved from the PlayTV interface to the PS3’s menu, Eurogamer reports.

From there it can be easily transferred to another device via memory stick or an external hard drive. No copy protection or time limits will be enforced, meaning users will be able to transfer content to devices such as PSP, mobile phone or even iPods.

Speaking about the legality of distributing copyrighted content, Sony Cambridge Studio producer Mark Bunting said: "We’ve talked to our legal department about it. All we’re doing is moving it out of PlayTV and to the cross-media bar as if it was any other recording. So hopefully users won’t do stuff they shouldn’t do with it.

"If I’m prohibited from getting the recording off and storing it somewhere else because some other dude is making money out of selling it, then I’d rather they brought the law in to catch those people.”