European launch of Sony LocationFree™ TV makes remote TV viewing on PSP

May 10th, 2006, 00:08 Posted By: wraggster

The latest upgrade to the PSP system software, launched on 2nd May, prepares PSP to act as a receiver for LocationFree™ TV, the exciting innovation in remote TV viewing launched by Sony in Europe in May.

The heart of LocationFree TV is the LocationFree Base Station. This compact unit has two connections for AV equipment such as a DVD/HDD recorder. The Base Station can be plugged directly into an existing home network or it can establish a wireless link to a PSP™ system (software version 2.70), typically over a 100-foot range.

The initial Base Station setup is extremely straightforward and requires minimal intervention. Then, once the LocationFree Player software is installed on the PSP by downloading thelatest system software update (version 2.70), users can be free from the constraints of a lifetime within minutes.

Releasing TV from the living room is only the start. With LocationFree and a broadband internet connection, it’s a simple matter to watch TV and control a STB or HDD recorder from your PSP, anywhere on earth with network or wireless access. The process of using the Base Station over the Internet – termed NetAV – is as simple as connecting up within the house. Whether holidaymaker, business traveller or ex-pat, LocationFree with NetAV provides a direct connection to home. And with the World Cup only months away, there’s potentially more at stake than missing an episode of a favourite soap.

Not that there’s any need to miss anything with LocationFree. At home, you can indulge in late-night viewing on a PSP from the comfort of your own bed. It’s almost as easy to access the Base Station from a hotel while abroad, pick a channel, and watch some live TV. When you know you’ll be busy, you can switch from the STB input to the DVD/HDD recorder and program it to record anything you don’t want to miss. Next time you visit the Base Station, the recorded content will be waiting for you. If a DVD player is connected, so long as the right disc is in the drive, you can even watch your own movie rather than live or recorded TV. In fact watching the big match on a notebook from the wireless hotspot in an airport departure lounge is only the start of it.

In the home, the Base Station uses proprietary Sony technology including an optimised antenna and custom software to ensure the best possible wireless performance. Moreover, you can also hook your home video camera up to the Base Station for a great way to see friends and relatives abroad or even to monitor home security while you’re away.

When the Base Station is accessed remotely over the Internet, further key technologies come into play. First, a free Dynamic DNS (Domain Name Server) service ensures that periodic changes to a user’s global IP never prevent connection to the Base Station. This facility is effectively invisible to the user, but plays an important behind-the-scenes role in the overall ease of setup of NetAV. Once the connection is established, user privacy is ensured by a combination of security measures. Industry-standard Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption is bolstered by WiFi Protected Access (WPA), which improves on the authentication and encryption offered by WEP.

One of the revolutionary technologies of the Base Station is the Automatic Bit Rate Control technology. The Base Station monitors the band width of the broadband connection and automatically optimises the Bitrate of the AV stream.

LocationFree TV will be available in UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands from this month, with other European countries joining later this year.

Together with a wide range of free content to enhance the entertainment value of your PSP, the latest firmware upgrade can be downloaded directly to the PSP browser via WiFi, or from www.yourpsp.com, and is available now.

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