Microsoft turns its Xbox One into a digital TV tuner with $40 adapter for Europe

Microsoft turns its Xbox One into a digital TV tuner with $40 adapter for Europe ,

Microsoft is planning to release a digital TV tuner adapter to allow European Xbox One owners to turn their consoles into a TV set-top box. Launching in October in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the UK, the 29.99 EUR ($40) accessory will plug into a USB port to pick up channels using free-to-air DVB-T, DVB-T2, and DVB-C television standards. This will enable the TV functionality on Xbox One alongside TV listings from OneGuide and a pause live TV option without the need for a separate set-top box and IR blasting through Kinect.

Although pausing live TV will undoubtedly use part of the 500GB of hard drive storage on the Xbox One temporarily, Microsoft has not committed to providing DVR functionality with its digital TV tuner to schedule and record programs. It's possible Microsoft may choose to enable DVR functionality in a future update. Microsoft’s Xbox One Digital TV Tuner accessory is similar to Sony’s PlayTV device for the PlayStation 3. PlayTV allowed the PS3 to act as a digital TV tuner and DVR, but Sony has not yet revealed a similar device for the PlayStation 4.