PS3 firmware update - Blu-ray Profile 1.1!

[ic14]

Firmware 2.10 is out now! Along with the big update (Profile 1.1) it also adds DivX support and some kind of voice modulator (so if you want to annoy people when talking online you can).

edit - oh and it seems there some more games on the BC list.....

[Chris Beveridge]

I haven't snagged mine yet, but I'm happy it finally hit, especially since there are some "1.1" flicks coming the first week of January that I'm getting...

[slerch666]

Yay.

Yet ANOTHER PS3 update to download. I'm glad I don't turn mine on frequently enough to get all the updates. I think the last update I got was 3 updates ago.

At least this one adds something I may find useful.

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

Downloaded/Installed it last night. I haven't had a chance to play with the new features, but I hear the DivX playback is nice.

EDIT: Forgot to add that it doesn't play WMV-HD files according to some online. ::shrugs:: I never use WMV so this doesn't really affect me.

[Mazinkaizer]

A very nice update :)

Just 1 question, how are you supposed to play Divix files on the PS3 :confused:

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

Transfer them to the PS3 via USB storage, memory card, or Media Server.

[slerch666]

EDIT: Forgot to add that it doesn't play WMV-HD files according to some online. ::shrugs:: I never use WMV so this doesn't really affect me.
I believe Sony would have to pay to license the WMV decode bit, which wouldn't make a ton of sense to pay for a license from the competitor.

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

I agree, but it does play WMV files according to the update information provided when the file finishes downloading. ::shrugs:: I'm just repeating what the screen told me.

[ic14]

I think you can also play them off a burnt CD/DVD.

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

Can you play them in a box? Can you play them with a fox?

[Skywise]

EDIT: Forgot to add that it doesn't play WMV-HD files according to some online. ::shrugs:: I never use WMV so this doesn't really affect me.
I believe Sony would have to pay to license the WMV decode bit, which wouldn't make a ton of sense to pay for a license from the competitor.

No no. It doesn't support the DRM bit for WMV-HD files. Hidef WMV itself should be no problem (mind you I haven't tested it yet).

[JeffDM]

I love the pictures of the "earth" visualizer that I've seen on AVS.

It would be nice to see some titles exploit these features to see what the fuss is all about. I'm not that convinced of the value of the extra 1.1 features, I'm mostly just a movie watching guy, not trying to get into any part of the film business, and not trying to do goofy games. I usually don't find commentaries to be that interesting, and watching footage the filmakers & cast kind of makes it worse. I'd much rather have more bonus feature video to be in HD, not that they're necessarily exclusive.

[Wagg]

Downloaded/Installed it last night. I haven't had a chance to play with the new features, but I hear the DivX playback is nice.

EDIT: Forgot to add that it doesn't play WMV-HD files according to some online. ::shrugs:: I never use WMV so this doesn't really affect me.
Actually it plays back VC1 files (HD and otherwise) over a DNLA network. So it does work to some extent.

[stfram]

I think you can also play them off a burnt CD/DVD.

You can, and I've tested it with my own burned discs.

However, xvid files seem to be hit or miss. I think it has to do with the file tag...if it's tagged "xvid" it won't play, but if it's xvid but tagged as "divx", it will.

EDIT: My hypothesis was totally incorrect here. I tried one file that was coded as "xvid" and one that was coded both as "xvid" and "divx" and both played fine.

So..it just appears to be a slightly buggy implementation that I expect Sony will hopefully be able to fix.

And the earth visualizer is sweet! Totally makes up for the xvid glitch

[itsuka]

I tried it yesterday, couldn't play 3 different Xvid files and 1 older Dvix files (version 3, so that was probably too old), but the newer Dvix codec 6 played fine. The amount of macroblocking of that file however was atrocious, don't know if that's going to be a standard problem, or if it was due to recoding through virtualdub (Xvid to Dvix 6).

I personally hope they add some more different codecs so that I don't have to recode.

[Skywise]

It's not a buggy implementation - they're just using a port of the official divx code. If you tried to play those files on your pc using it you'd probably have problems too - instead you're most likely using xvid itself or ffdshow. Some xvid files do play using divx, but not all, and it seems to be very hit or miss which ones don't. I'm actually surprised at how many do work.

[stfram]

I'm actually surprised at how many do work.

Be that as it may, the PS3 isn't able to play as many divx/xvid files as the 360, which is the primary complaint floating around on the forums now.

One poster said, paraphrased, "the 360 plays all but one of the 20 files I threw at it, and the PS3 played seven of the same 20."

That's been pretty much my experience as well.

Official code or not, it needs tweaking so that it'll be more "useful"...until then, there's TVersity. :)

[Skywise]

Okay point. In that case I guess that's because Microsoft is using the same directshow framework that you have on PCs, and even the same code. Divx itself is only a codec, so Sony has to use whatever they have available from MS and Divx to parse AVIs. The question then becomes how good of an implementation it is compared to say, a standalone DVD player that's DivX certified. Standalone DVD players would potentially have the same problems, and I've seen quite many complaints that those don't handle DivX well.

The way AVI is used today is basically a hack, as can be witnessed by the playback problems people have even on PCs. MKV is even worse in some ways as it's not a proper standard and the tools out there don't adhere that strictly to it.

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I'm not going to hold them to the same standard as MS in this regard, and that it's a good start at least. Further firmware updates will hopefully improve upon it.

[stfram]

I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I'm not going to hold them to the same standard as MS in this regard, and that it's a good start at least. Further firmware updates will hopefully improve upon it.


I fully expect firmware updates to fix most of the problems, and I totally agree that for a "first try", they did a pretty good job. :)

[chirpie]

Another vote for how cool the Earth visualizer is. I already made a "mellow" playlist of songs for it. I sat in my theater, and watched a 106 inch earth spin for 40 minutes while drinking wine. I am such a nerd. ^_^;

[christianlf]

Well, I'm excited to try out my first 1.1 title, but I'm very disappointed in the Divx implementation (or the lack of Xvid decoding, as it is) so far. It'd also be nice if they addressed the fact that the PS3 doesn't recognize separate subtitle tracks in media files. Until they improve upon this, it's really not the all-in-one media station it could be, leaving me to still rely on my Oppo for certain things.

All things considered though, it's a step in the right direction.

[Chris Beveridge]

I haven't tried the divx/xvid side myself yet, nothing to really get me to, but from the way they've done incremental tweaks and fixes along the way, I don't doubt it'll be pretty robust in a bit. thankfully there's still Tversity as well.

[isamu]

This is a silly question, but does the fact that it now plays Divx files mean that it supports video files with the following extentions:

.flv
.mov
.gvi(Google video)
.mp4
.mpeg
.mpg
.swf


....????

[stfram]

.flv
.mov
.gvi(Google video)
.mp4
.mpeg
.mpg
.swf


Tried .swf, .mov, and .flv files, copied them to a usb flash drive...they were not recognized (used the magic green triangle button to browse the drive, before anyone asks).

As a test, a wmv file was also on the drive, and it played fine.

Mp4 is supported since that's the file format that the videos are in that you download from the playstation store.

Didn't have any of those other file types immediately on hand to test, I'll leave that up to someone else. :)

[Skywise]

The flash files will most likely work if you view them through the web browser as part of a web page. I know youtube works fine for instance.

[JeffDM]

This is a silly question, but does the fact that it now plays Divx files mean that it supports video files with the following extentions:

.flv
.mov
.gvi(Google video)
.mp4
.mpeg
.mpg
.swf

....????

DiVX uses the .avi extension, in part because it's a Frankenformat. None of those extensions are really DiVX, though some can or do use related technologies.