"The PS3 can consume up to around 380W or so when at full blast, so let's assume half that when it's just doing housekeeping/recording. Are you seriously gonna leave it powered up *all* the time, constantly eating up 190W, in case it needs to record something? In comparison, my Humax 9200T DVR uses at most 20W when recording/playing/whatever."

Actually, the PS3 will come out of standby to record shows you've scheduled, then power down again when done.

I'm quite interested as I don't have a PVR, but I'm still waiting to see how this Freesat business works out, since getting a non-subscription high-def source sounds great and it's going to be some time yet before Freeview pulls their collective fingers out to sort out who's doing what with the bandwidth...