The PS2 was timed nearly perfectly for DVD, but the PS3 was about a year early technologically speaking. They took a bit of a bath and it was a huge gamble, but they've come out of it doing not too bad. I think Sony Corporate learnt to let SCEI just do what they're good at.

Sony and MS have been pretty pro-active in making their gaming network work. I think it helps that download only games have started appearing that are good enough to win significant awards (Journey comes to mind).

I use a PS3 for DVD and BluRay playing as well as the games, but I have a MythTV for DVB, catch-up TV (iView usually) and Youtube. Sony did make a DVR add-on for the PS3 but it seems to have vanished from the market.

Wade.