PS3 Firmware Update Enhances Blu-ray Capabilities

[wraggster]

Sony announced last week it plans to release new firmware for its PlayStation 3 video game console. The new update will expose new capabilities in the PS3's Blu-ray Disc player.

The free update for PS3 users in North America was to be posted by the weekend.

Blu-ray Disc is the heir apparent to the crown of high-definition optical media formats. The format battled against HD DVD, which manufacturer Toshiba recently discontinued.

The updated firmware enables Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0, or BD-Live, to be supported on the PS3. BD-Live enables Blu-ray Disc makers to incorporate additional interactive features including downloadable video content, ringtones, games and more.

The firmware also exposes "Portable Copy," which enables PS3 users to copy a standard-definition version of the Blu-ray movie to a PlayStation Portable (PSP). You can transfer music and photo playlists from the PS3 to the PSP and use the PSP as a remote control for music playback using "Remote Play." DivX and WMV playback functionality has been improved, along with new Internet browser settings and additional AV settings.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143742-c,dvddrivesmedia/article.html

[havoc_012]

Yea, BD-Plus... er, i mean BD-Live.

[Veskgar]

Sounds like a really good update. I've adopted Blu-Ray as my preferred format over DVD, HD-DVD, etc. And the ability to send a copy to the PSP is really cool. Gonna have to get an 8GB PRO Duo really soon.

[mcdougall57]

video transfer is a wicked new feature but how long does encoding take?

[Nookadum]

With the Cell processor, it'd probably take like a few minutes.

[urherenow]

uhh... with 25GB on a single layer I think they are probably going to simply include a PSP formatted version on the disc already. No encoding needed, just a file transfer.

[Veskgar]

uhh... with 25GB on a single layer I think they are probably going to simply include a PSP formatted version on the disc already. No encoding needed, just a file transfer.

That's an idea. But with Blu-Ray now the inevitable winner of the HD format wars, I am worried that it might be some general file format that can be played in a variety of portable devices and not just a PSP. That is convenient for mass marketing but I would want a video file to use the 480x272 resolution with good quality and efficient file size.

So I'd actually prefer to wait for the PS3 to convert the movie to be heavily optimized for the PSP.

Realistically though, as shown with UMD Video, the majority of PSP owners will not be watching too many movies on it. I prefer to watch TV episodes, anime episodes, etc. The PSP for video is better in short sessions.

[mungrin]

Divx owns UMD/MP4 video.700 megs for a perfect movie with full resoultion compared to the 1.5 gb UMD movie thats only 480x272.If the PSP ever gets Divx,say goodbye to those huge MP4 AVC files for movies.