Japanese TV is sort of a puzzle, you know that Japan makes awesome anime, but actually finding anything but B list celebrities eating different food and saying how delicious it is, can be a challenge. That's why I was really excited when I heard about a Japan only DVR add on for the PS3 called Torne. I picked one up, set it up and got a chance to play with it for a bit and here is what I think.
For 10,000 yen (around $110 now a days) you get a very small box, some cables, and an install disc. You insert a BS card into the machine (sort of an ID card that all Japanese TVs use to pull a digital signal over the air), run the coaxial cable from the wall into it and that into the TV. And then a USB into the PS3. That is all there is to physical installation. Since the Torne box sits in between your TV signal you can use your TV like normal.
Installation is a snap, pop the disc in, run all of the updates you need and when you are done you will have a new icon on the XMB, "TV". From there you eject the disc and never use it again. Clicking on the Torne icon under the TV tab launches the program. You do all of the basic set up that you would if this was a new TV, choose a few settings, tell it where you live, and let it scan for channels. I was able to find all of the channels I have on my TV normally without any problem.
Once set up you have a couple different options, you can watch live TV with a nicer TV guide then my new Sharp, you can look at the schedule for the next couple of weeks, you can search for a particular show by genre, title, or keyword, watch recorded video, surf the web (with a split screen so you can still watch TV), and manage your content. Everything that you would possible need a DVR to do it has the function.
Torne also does a lot of things that I am surprised about. You can choose full or compressed recordings. Since this records everything in HD, files can get big. It is about 6 gb an hour on full setting, and 2 gb an hour of compressed. Compressed still looks good and unless you were looking for bits of compression you wouldn't notice the difference. Having this option is very important because it gives people options on storage. You can connect an external hard drive to the PS3 for additional storage or you can use the PS3 hard drive. I am using the PS3 hard drive so I need to keep an eye on it because with a 120 gb I get about 90 gb I can access. Considering I need to share that with games and downloads as well, I can't let my list get too big.
The big thing for me, but I doubt many other people, was the fact that you can turn subtitles on or off on recorded videos. My Japanese is not at the level where I can just tackle any anime without some help and subtitles really helps. Not every show broadcasts with subtitles and of course they are Japanese subtitles, not English.
Torne also connects to the internet to see which shows other Torne users are recording. Kind of a silly idea but it is kind of neat to see what is actually popular that week in Japan.
But the single best thing about Torne is that it can do all of this recording without getting in your way at all. The PS3 does not need to be fully turned on to record, it can do it from its sleep mode. Torne will not interrupt games or movies, you just get a little message saying that Torne will be starting soon.
So I know have a set up where anime basically comes to me in my sleep! This little magic box does it all for me, no more waiting for someone to release it and then tormenting it, blah blah blah. And considering regular DVRs are really expensive in Japan the fact that Sony was able to just add that functionality to the PS3 is amazing. With this the PS3 really does become the end all home entertainment machine. Its just awesome.
As awesome as Torne is, there is one problem. It is Japan only, and the TV signals are different so you can't import it. Sony has yet to make any plan to bring it to the states. I can understand a little. In Japan basically everyone has the same set up. There really isn't a cable box or anything like that. It is all based off of that BS card. In the US they would either have to make a Torne that could only do your broadcast channels (which who would be happy with just that?) or make a special Torne for each cable company. I hope they do, but we'll see.
All in all, if you live in Japan and own a PS3 or are even slightly interested in a PS3, get Torne. It is well worth the money.
2 comments:
Hey man,
Thanks so much for writing about the Torne. This is exactly what I wanted for the PS3 and I'm glad to see that they brought it out here!
When you say you can record with or without subtitles (in Japanese) I wasn't aware that was a option on Japanese TV. I live in Nara-ken and use Kintetsu Cable network. Does the torne auto scan every available channel or do you have to input them individually?
Thanks again for writing your experience. I'll probably go out and buy one next week!
Hey, I'm living here in America and couldn't help but be curious about the Torne. With any luck, if the pattern continues, we'll be getting something like this in 2012 (Europe's PlayTV in 2008, Torne in 2010...). Any way, I spotted something in your article that wasn't quite true about the possibility of a US version. Versions would not need to be made for each cable provider. The device would instead support CableCARD or its upcoming successor, coincidentally scheduled for release in 2012. CableCARD currently supports all cable companies and is used in their set-top boxes as well as current-gen tivo. Its successor will also support satellite. I just wanted to clear that up, sorry i I ended up rambling a bit.
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