Retro tech is cool: The YouTube channel Denki loves to collect and delve into old tech. Its most recent score is a Sony Bravia television with a PlayStation 2 built into its base that you probably only heard of if you lived in the UK in or around 2010. Although YouTubers have highlighted this TV before, it’s been several years, and revisiting historic systems like this is fun.
The PS2 Bravia TV – model KDL22PX300 – was a spinoff of Sony’s KDL22BX300 LCD set. It featured a 22-inch 720p display with tons of input options, including VGA, composite, four HDMI, and one USB port. Of course, the PlayStation 2 variant had all that plus two memory card slots, two PS2 controller ports, two additional USB ports, an ethernet jack, and an optical digital audio out.
Denki host Ken Bolido notes that the device launched in 2010 exclusively in the UK as a collaboration between Sony and electronic retailer Richer Sounds. It’s unclear how many sets Sony produced, but its regional exclusivity and age make it a rare and valuable collector’s item. Bolido picked one up on eBay for $700, but other listings are asking between $1,400 and $2,600 pre-owned. One seller lists an opened-box – but otherwise unused – unit for an eyewatering $6,000.
On release, the set sold for £200 ($300 US), which wasn’t too bad considering the regular entry-level TV was $250 US. Fifty dollars for a PS2 integrated into your TV was a deal even though the PlayStation 3 had already been out for four years. After all, Sony didn’t discontinue the PS2 until 2013. You will also recall that the PlayStation 2 was back-compatible with the PS1, so you were really getting two consoles and a TV in one package.
Beyond the PlayStation 2 functionality, including playing DVD movies via the PS2 optical drive, the Bravia KDL22PX300 was internet-ready. Connecting through the ethernet port allowed users to access Bravia IPTV channels and YouTube. So, it was on par with smart TVs during a time when smart TVs weren’t really a thing.
If you’d like to see more about this rare Sony mashup, check out Denki Producer Austin Evans’s unboxing on his Mystery Tech show.
