If they could put out a PVR here that costs the same thing as it does over there, it would do pretty well. A HD PVR over here is 250 euro's...

Poor PLAY TV

It tried to muscle in on the UK market that is dominated by SKY...ie the FOX Network !

Play TV might be useful if you can use your Sony phone to connect to the PS3 to enable you to watch Freeview TV anywhere you go but at the minute it's largely redundant. As others have pointed out, anyone with Sky or Virgin can already record TV and Freeview has been built into most new TVs for the last few years. I don't have a Sky+ or Virgin box so can't record TV myself but don't see the need for a freeview recorder as anything I like to watch is available on catch up on BBC iPlayer and 4oD (I wish Sony could add 4oD onto the PS3 like iPlayer though!).

LOL @ torne having trophies.

I guess it could appeal to those (like myself) without Sky as an alternative option but to be honest I don't really see myself ever using it. As everything is available on catch up I don't really see the need to watch TV as it airs on a small phone screen when I can just watch it later on my decent TV at home. I know Sony are trying to incorporate their gadgets into every aspect of home technology but this is definately one too far (in the UK at least, it seems it will have more success in Japan).

Since Japan also uses NTSC and ATSC and the PS3 is region free for games and some peripherals, is there a chance this device could work on my American PS3?

well the device might (I.E. your PS3 might interface with it), but perhaps the broadcasts won't.

there were issues where the PlayTV device was taken to other PAL countries and just became useless iirc...

I have Play TV here in Australia.

It gives my PS3 more use than any game or Blu-Ray.

The cable/satellite companies control access to most of the content. In some countries, there are laws that mandate open access. In the US, those laws don't exist. Cable card was supposed to allow access, but the cable companies fought it tooth and nail and it was a failure.

Apparently the 250 gig bundle is one of the new 200 gram lighter models. So are their production lines finally running properly?