Sony has revealed a hybrid home entertainment system that combines the hardware of the PlayStation2 games console with a television receiver and DVD recorder. Some analysts say the machine, called PSX, could bridge the graphical gap between gaming and interactive television reports New Scientist. The PSX will feature the PS2 Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer, a 120-Gbyte hard drive, a DVD rewriting drive and a television receiver. The device will act as a single entertainment hub by combining multiple functions traditionally performed by different devices. "We'll show how digital consumer electronics will make a drastic metamorphosis by using the PS2 engine for PSX," said Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president of Sony, at a press conference on Wednesday. Richard Doherty, director of technology research company Envisioneering, says having such powerful graphical rendering built into such a device could make a big difference to users. For example, he says, it could be used to build slicker, more attractive interfaces through which the user controls the system. "It's going to be very hard to turn down PS2 level graphics that have 3D," Doherty told New Scientist. "The interface is likely to make it much easier to access the media you own, the media that's available on the network and media that is broadcast." Although the PSX will initially have only an analogue TV receiver, Doherty says a powerful graphical interface could in future also provide better interactive television. "Most interactive television devices are like extremely slow PCs, whereas the PlayStation2 is like an extremely fast PC," he says. Full article here