Sony launches LocationFree TV into the UK

Sony finally launches its LocationFree TV service into the UK this month, having already made it available in the US and Japan. 

The service allows people to watch their national TV where ever they are in the world, provided they have a computer and broadband Internet access.

Highlighted by PCW in January at the CES show in Las Vegas, LocationFree TV works via a small base station box connected to your TV, which then redirects the signal to where you are.

Owners can watch live TV, pre-recorded programmes and set up future recordings via a PC, laptop or PSP Portable (provided it is loaded with software version 2.70).

It has built-in wireless technology, so that signals can be pumped around a home, or it uses the Internet link - in a process called NetAV – to control TV from any country in the world. It means that people traveling to for instance the US would still have access to the traditional channels available on British TV.

Jonathan White, general manager, TV and Home Video Business Group at Sony UK, said of LocationFree TV: ‘It kicks open the door of the TV room and lets people out, but at the same time it can bring that sense of familiarity and comfort to anyone who is away on the road.’

The base station has two connections for AV equipment such as a DVD/HDD recorder, so can play a DVD movie if it has been left in the unit. If set to record a programme, that can also be played back via the LocationFree TV base station. It then requires software to be loaded on the target computer.

Built in security prevents anyone else using your signal and the software controls the bit rate to ensure smooth playback when watching a programme.