It's no secret that Sony and Microsoft have big plans for their Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. As video game systems, both consoles are already in millions of homes. But they each contain plenty of advanced features that make them good building blocks for complete home entertainment systems.

Sony has already announced plant to launch a TV-tuner add-on for the PS3 that will turn the system into a PVR complete with a hard drive, electronic program guide, and the ability to watch and record live TV. Now it looks like there's talk that Microsoft may issue an updated version of the Xbox 360 with an HDTV tuner as well.

The new unit would reportedly have an HD-DVD drive built in. Right now you need to buy an external device if you want to use your Xbox 360 to watch HD-DVD movies. Sony's PS3 has an internal Blu-Ray drive, which is one of the reasons the video game system launched at a significantly higher price than the Xbox 360 (or any other video game console in history). But with the cost of next generation DVD players coming down, it's getting cheaper to build HD video support directly into a gaming console.

Maybe one day we'll stop calling them game consoles and begin referring to them as entertainment systems. Even though I don't play games very often, for the right price, I'd be willing to buy a single box that can watch and record TV, play music, movies, internet video, and video games.

[via Slashdot]

If you're in the market for an HDTV tuner for your PC, you might want to head on over to Woot. Today the bargain site is offering a Pinnacle PCTV HD tuner for $50, which is about as low a price as I've seen.

The PCTV HD can pick up ATSC/NTSC signals. In other words, you can use it to record high-def digital TV from an over-the-air antenna, or you can use it as a standard definition tuner for analog cable. The PCTV HD also supports FM Radio and ClearQAM, which means you should be able to pick up unencrypted HD signals from your cable provider.

The card comes with a remote controll, FM antenna, and an A/V input adapter.