Verdict: Take your TV anywhere.
Back in 1999, MTV quietly launched MTV2, a spin-off channel that was focused on rock and alternative music, with videos entirely chosen by viewers. Viewers enthusiastically seized control, and the channel was soon playing a glorious mix of music, unencumbered by the pressure of a playlist or the agendas of record companies and hip tastemakers.
Needless to say, it didn't last long. MTV limited the selection of videos from which viewers could choose, and finally launched a range of dreadful shows that hawked much of the same tired stuff that passed for 'alternative' on MTV and Radio 1.
Thanks to the Internet, this pattern - the disconnection between how much control TV companies allow viewers to have, and how much control viewers want - is the issue that dominates the future of TV. Big business is trying to come to terms with the freedom offered by YouTube and BitTorrent that viewers find so appealing. It's strange, therefore, to see a product such as the LocationFree TV coming from Sony, a technology company that too often these days seems painfully lost.
It's a media repeater device, much like the Slingbox. It connects to a video source, such as a set-top box, and then functions as a WiFi hotspot that streams video to your laptop or a PlayStation Portable (PSP). Even better, the LocationFree can broadcast the video stream over the Web so that you can pick it up from anywhere in the world.
The LocationFree TV launched in May last year. However, with an exorbitant price of £350, and the PSP's firmware caught unprepared, it didn't look long for this world. Now that it's available for less than £200, and support for the PSP has matured, it's a better proposition.
Setting it up was far from simple though. It can be connected to two video sources, and there are two sets of inputs for this. There's only one IR blaster, though, so you'll only be able to remotely control one of these input devices. If you want to broadcast the signal over the Web, you also need to connect the LocationFree to a router via Ethernet.
As is usually the case with networks, when things work, they work instantly, and when they don't, it tends to be complex and catastrophic. Plugging the LocationFree box into my router at home took down the entire network, Internet access and all. The four LEDs on the front of the box didn't help much either, as they can only blink in a gnomic fashion. I had to connect to it wirelessly, disable uPNP and manually open a port on my router for it.
Once the LocationFree box is successfully connected to the Web, you need to run a quick set-up program. You must then install software on the playback devices: for the PSP, this means updating the firmware, and for the PC, a disk is provided with LocationFree TV Player software. This requires a serial code, and only one of these provided with each LocationFree TV box - extra copies of the app cost £20 each. This is ridiculous if you have multiple PCs and laptops in the house, and totally out of step with consumers' expectations; every major media application, such as YouTube, iTunes, Media Player and WinAMP is free.
Once the software is installed, each device you want to use for playback needs to be registered with the LocationFree box and, since you need to press a button on the back of the box during this process, there's no way to do it remotely. You can use the PC or PSP to control the video device to which the LocationFree is connected, but you need to first tell the LocationFree software which type of box it is so that the IR blaster can work correctly. There's a fairly extensive list of devices from which to choose, and I found my Virgin Media Cable box was okay to use. You're then ready to go - with the final proviso that only one playback device can connect at a time.
The PSP playback software is the better of the two, since it's designed to work with the PSP's navigation system. As TV is usually displayed using a 4:3 ratio, it doesn't naturally fit the PSP's widescreen LCD, and you can choose to either have black bars at the side, or zoomed to fill the screen. You can also manually choose the bit rate of the video stream or opt for automatic mode. TV programmes look pretty good on the PSP, although you'll still see some 'sticklebricking' from compression, especially as the PSP is limited to 802.11b WiFi. LocationFree will also drop frames during periods of network congestion. You can easily call up a 'remote control' overlay, which uses the IR blaster to control the video source. While the PC app has the same functions as the PSP software, it's nowhere near as good-looking. You can set it to run using the full screen, although video playback starts to look ropey if you're streaming TV; again, you can call up a graphical remote to send orders to your video source. While I was able to change channels easily, I couldn't call up the EPG on my Virgin Media cable box.
CONCLUSION
The best aspect of LocationFree is how it works with the PSP: setup on this is easier than on the PC, as the software's free, and it's also easier to use. When it works, it's very cool to whip the PSP out of your pocket and watch TV. For PC users, the cheaper Slingbox is better and has free software. It's great that Sony has produced a device with this much potential but, sadly, it doesn't offer the freedom that consumers want - and can find elsewhere.
