Firmware Update V2.20 has been announced and will now add Blu-ray Disc Profile which offers the ability to take advantage of interactive features, such as downloadable video content, ringtones, games, and more. As the press release says, ‘BD-LIVE promises to offer PS3 users the ultimate interactive film experience.’
The system software update also enables photo and music playlists on a PS3 to be copied to a PSP.
For the official press release click through.
Interactive Movies Come to Life on PLAYSTATION®3 with System Software Update Version 2.20
Downloadable Movie Content and Interactive Games, available with BD-LIVE
PS3™’s Interoperability with PSP™(PlayStation®Portable) Enhanced
London, 20th March 2008
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) today announced that system software update v.2.20, for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™), planned for release in late March, will add Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) Profile 2.0 (known as BD-LIVE). With the ability to take full advantage of interactive features, such as downloadable video content, ringtones, games, and more, BD-LIVE promises to offer PS3 users the ultimate interactive film experience. In addition to BD-LIVE, the system software update will enable photo and music playlists on a PS3 to be copied to a PSP™(PlayStation®Portable), as well as other new features.
To access Blu-ray Profile 2.0, users require an Internet connection and at least 1GB of local storage. Movies with BD-LIVE are scheduled for release next month.
The following features have been demonstrated to be possible with BD-LIVE and will vary depending on the title:
A variety of downloadable content, including bonus scenes, shorts, trailers, subtitles, ringtones that can be sent to mobile phones, images, and more.
Interactive movie-based games can pit players who are sitting in the same room, or are across the world and online, against each other.
In addition to BD-LIVE, system software update v.2.20 enhances PS3’s relationship with PSP, enabling users to copy their favourite music and photo playlists to their PSP and experience them on-the-go. This new functionality makes it easer than ever to share media content between the two systems.
The following new features will also be included in the system software update:
“Resume play” will enable PS3 to start playing a BD and DVD video at the point it was stopped, even if the disc had been removed.*1
“Audio Output Device” will be a new Remote Play setting, enabling PSP to serve as a remote control for music played through PS3.
PS3’s Internet browser will be enhanced: Video files directly linked from a Web page will be able to be streamed, and the browser’s view speed will be improved.
DivX and WMV format videos that are larger than 2GB will be playable.
“Mosquito Noise Reduction” will be added as an AV setting in the control panel of the DVD/BD player for improved movie playback.*2
*1 BD-J format disc is not supported.
*2 BD discs recorded with BDMV format are not supported.
Cool, it’s nice to see the media capabilties improving. I am waiting for MKV support as well as ISO support to be announced as this will mean the media that is usable with the PS3 will be on a par with other media centres.
Still, nice to see we are moving forward
Comment by The Sheriff — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Cool, good stuff.
I wonder what the point of 2.17 was then?
(first person to mention in game XMB gets a *spang* )
Comment by lxd — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:07 am
Resuming playback of a DVD or BD is great and doing so even after the disks been removed and replaced is even better. I often watch TV series DVDs one episode a day but play games in between times. It will save a lot of time not having to go through the menus and crap everytime.
Comment by TheShirts — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:08 am
@2
2.17 was more of a security patch. There are ISO loaders emerging which work on 2.10 but not 2.17
I suspect they were working up to 2.20 but quickly pushed out 2.17 to plug the hole in the meantime.
Comment by TheShirts — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:10 am
Quality stuff. To be honest I’m not as interested as the unmentionable request as it sees most of the internerds are. If it added MKV video support and the support of H.264/AVC Level 5.1 I would be very very happy.
Oh and confirmation that PlayTV doesn’t JUST use MPEG2 but can use MPEG4. Would really reduce the file sizes.
roll, roll….
Comment by katamari-ball — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:11 am
What about DivX subtitles? When can we be expecting that?
Comment by NHaGa — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:12 am
Sony must have kicked some ones backside as its on the US blog as well.
Finally some interaction between regions.
Picks jaw of floor.
Comment by GulfWarVet — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:15 am
I still feel guilty that the only blu-ray movies I own are xmen3 (free with console) and Casino Royale (free with registration)…really need to get a 1080p monitor before I even think of bothering to splurge on movies.
Any thoughts anyone on a good 24″+ lcd monitor with hdcp compatibility and none too wallet breaking - oogling a hyundai wd240+ range atm…
Comment by JohnSketch — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:31 am
Thats a great update.
I use the web browser alot and video playpack has always been a problem.
I also use my ps3 for watching films alot so the resume playback feature is welcomed with open arms.
And BD Live, what can i say… Awesome like a robot’s Awesome.
Comment by I.AM.IRON.MAN — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:43 am
““Audio Output Device†will be a new Remote Play setting, enabling PSP to serve as a remote control for music played through PS3.”
Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!!! You know this could be a killer app, Sony! Especially if the user interface is just tweaked a tiny bit so that I can view all albums from a certain artist, or within a certain genre, etc… (Take a look at how Apple are doing it in iTunes!).
This is a good reason to hold onto my PSP when I was about to sell it (as it’s been gathering dust for a few months).
“Mosquito Noise Reductionâ€. I had no idea what this was so I looked it up. There’s a very good description of it here: http://www.videsignline.com/howto/180207350
Comment by reakt — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:52 am
@Sketchy
Just got myself one of these from Play:
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/3511902/NEC-AccuSync-LCD-24WMCX-24-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor-With-HDMI/Product.html
You’ll need some good speakers if watching Blu Ray though. The ones you get with it are pretty poo!
Awesome picture once you’ve calibrated though.
Comment by mrsatansdojo — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:56 am
“…easer than ever to share media content between the two systems”
“Easer”? Waddat?
Hopefully the issues with the PS3 XMB icons not showing due to the inability to calculate the capacity of hard disc space used for each application will now be fixed too. I had my third instance of this yesterday evening (since upgrading to firmware 2.17), that causes my PS3 to “lock-up”, icons to become static rather than animated, and my console makes a worrying “beep beep” when it finally closes down.
BFN,
fp.
Comment by fanpages — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:58 am
PS. Why is my comment (# 11) showing a posted time of 11:58am? Is the ThreeSpeech server an hour ahead of UK time?
Comment by fanpages — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:59 am
catching up with HD-DVD on the features front then?
still find it annoying that we’re giving publishers yet another reason to release incomplete discs, they do it with games and patch them later with updates, now they can release Blu-Ray discs with extras later on too.
Comment by Arthur the Magnificiant Squirrel — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
Nice update it has some freatures I can actually use. Please update the PS1 BC so Final Fantasy 8 works
Comment by carl — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
@Monsieur Sketch:
Don’t worry, the only Blu-Ray movies I have are Casino Royale (free with registration) and Resident Evil 3 (won from this very blog!).
I maintain that until the price comes down I’m not gonna buy a Blu-Ray movie unless there will be real benefit to having it on HD. I’m tempted by the Spiderman trilogy and Hitman but something like Life Of Brian? I doubt that was even shot in high enough quality to need DVD!
Comment by TheShirts — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
Hmmm, ‘PS3’s Internet browser will be enhanced’. Does this mean the Flashplayer’s been updated too?
I Hope so…
Comment by Divine — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
Sweet update
““Audio Output Device†will be a new Remote Play setting, enabling PSP to serve as a remote control for music played through PS3.â€
So I can play music on my PS3 through the hi-fi without turning on the TV. Nice
Comment by uber1337 — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
@TheShirts
I think you’ll be waiting a while for the price to come down. We’re at two ends of the scale at the moment. On one side DVDs are so cheap and new release depreciates so quickly that we’ve become used to £3 or 3 for £20 DVDs
On the other side is a relatively new format that still carries a price premium due to much higher quality. I don’t see BDs coming down to anything near DVD new release price for quite some time.
As for not seeing the benefit with Life of Brian? Have you seen it? It looks amazing! Film itself is generally scanned at 2K or 4K resolutions so we’re actually still losing detail on BD!
roll, roll…
Comment by katamari-ball — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
27 blu rays and counting
eye watering high def goodness!!
for those of you with Hd tellies get either of Pixars releases Cars/Rat - they are both eyemeltingly good!! in my view blu ray justifies the purchase of a HD telly, stunning!
Comment by Paul — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
I also am waiting to buy the HD screen before buying more media. Problem is, I’ll not splash out on DVD’s either. Why buy DVD? So I’ve been living on torrents for nearly six months. Damn it, I’m two months off buying my HD screen, and then the real spending begins. Unless ThreeSpeech can have another competition that spins a few BD’s my way!
Hey, that wee comment in the announcement that said we needed a gig to use the cool online features of the BD’s! Wow, that’s a lot.
Better web browser. At last. However, we’ll just have to wait and see just how much of an improvement it is.
Hey reakt, that was an interesting digital noise reduction article you found. Thanks.
Comment by LordOfRuin — Mar 20, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
@20 same for me. I won’t buy DVDs anymore because I already have a VHS collection gathering dust at home, I don’t need another in 5 years time. But on the otherhand BLU-RAY is still quite pricey, so I will only buy very good films (even though I have an HDTV).
Comment by John — Mar 20, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Wow, i can’t wait for the release of in-game XMB in 2012!!!!
Comment by russ — Mar 20, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
Whatever happened to the days of no console internet connections, that could make in-game XMB so important? I always found it fun actually getting people over to play games. I wonder what percentage of PS3 owners:
Have it connected to a suitable connection?
Actually care about in-game XMB?
roll, roll, stick?
Comment by katamari-ball — Mar 20, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
@Sketchy
I’d reccomend the following that I just picked up from Play: http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/657/864/-/3595152/BenQ-G2400W-24-Widescreen-LCD-Flat-Panel-Monitor-With-HDMI/Product.html?searchtype=genre For such a cheap monitor it has a brilliant colour reproduction, plus the DVI and HDMI means I have my macbook and PS3 hooked up to it and can switch between the two. You will however need an external speaker source (I run the audios from the bundled composite av into my amp and the ps3 via HDMI)
Comment by Andy — Mar 20, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
lxd, russ is after your spang
Comment by TheShirts — Mar 20, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
Cool! I like the “Audio Output Device” thing too. I hope one day there will be “Video Output Device” so you can use your PSP as a controller, even if it doesn’t have all the buttons.
Comment by whoelse — Mar 20, 2008 @ 2:55 pm
I like updates! Resume play hurrah!
Can we get even better psp compatibility? It would be good to be able to tranfer music etc wirelessly to the PSP. They both have built in wireless and my knees are too old to be messing with a USB cable on the floor.
Comment by Jeebers — Mar 20, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
And of course, where is high def audio over HDMI and or optical? I can’t play my SACD’s without using my standalone player, which I thought I could chuck seeing as the PS3 is SACD compatible. Come on Sony, help a guy out would you?
Comment by LordOfRuin — Mar 20, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
One thing I’d like to see added in the future is upscaling of the 480p bonus material on BD to match the upscale settings of DVD playback.
It is just silly that my DVDs play at 720p but accessing some content on a Blu-ray has my monitor falling back to its poor internal scaler to display the 480p video.
Comment by NSI — Mar 20, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
@28
SACD is not possible on the 40GB model. Only on the 40GB & 60GB.
Comment by PeterPan — Mar 20, 2008 @ 3:46 pm
…and oh.
People asking for MKV support have a look at tsMuxeR. It will quickly become your favorite program.
As for AVC Level 5.1. There really shouldn’t be any video streams out there tagged as that. It is just because people using x264 don’t set the level properly.
Level 4.1 handles steams up to 200Mbps and resolutions of 2048×1024@30.0fps. All consumer video that exists today can be handled by 4.1.
Level 5.1 goes up to 1000Mbps and 4096×2048@30.0fps. This is for that 4K cinema stuff that is just now showing up. The PS3 couldn’t possibly handle playback of anything requiring level 5.1, so it is right to refuse to try. It is the encoder’s who should follow the standards better. — That said the tsMuxeR I mentioned above will rewrite the level tag in an AVC steam as it remuxes it from MKV to M2TS.
Comment by NSI — Mar 20, 2008 @ 3:49 pm
Wow and no-ones mentioned DTS HD-MA decoding yet…..
Maybe PS3 owners aren’t quite so needy!
roll, stick, stick
Comment by katamari-ball — Mar 20, 2008 @ 4:00 pm
@23 - **SPANG!!!!**
Comment by lxd — Mar 20, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
The one missing here for me is Audio output to both HDMI and Optical at same time, as I want to fire and forget, choose to switch on AV amp or not - PS2 could do it…
Comment by MrJimmy — Mar 20, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
does anyone know if there will be an update this week on the psn? or are they just not bothering this week.
Comment by manley — Mar 20, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
Pain is on the PSN today, plus extra characters and the Motorstorm video.
Comment by Dave Vincent — Mar 20, 2008 @ 6:22 pm
Pretty cool, but bring on In Game XMB please!!!
Comment by mark — Mar 20, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
Dave Vincent
cheers
Comment by manley — Mar 20, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
@20 - Got my BD copy of Rat today! It’s almost edible… nom nom nom
Also, please can some of you guys start playing UT3? The servers are looking a tad sparse. Thanks!
Comment by rooee — Mar 20, 2008 @ 6:46 pm
Nice little update, Saw IV is the first BD-Live title I’ve seen.
I’m impressed that they’ve added Mosquito Noise Reduction, that should make the image quality look even better. This is a real update for AV fans, with the new noise filter and BD-Live it is still proving to be the best Blu-ray player on the market…
If you search for Mosquito Noise Reduction you will see that it does a really good job at cleaning up the image.
Comment by Apnomis — Mar 20, 2008 @ 10:06 pm
I am dreading trying to remotely view “special” videos while out and about only to have the sounds blasted around at home. Still, at least the neighbours will assume I am having a GREAT time.
Comment by Bentley — Mar 20, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
Oh, and here’s a firmware update request I’ve not seen anywhere else yet:
I want to be able to control the XMB… with my body. Using the PSEye. So it feels like “Minority Report” and the like.
I’d also like to be able to view my PSEye camera remotely so I can see if anyone is rifling through my underwear. In fact, wouldn’t it be great if you could get PSEye to contact your PSP via the PS3 if anyone walks in front of it? Like, an instant video burglar alarm…. until they nick your PS3 anyway.
Comment by Bentley — Mar 20, 2008 @ 10:48 pm
@43 I just want the PS3 to power the PSEye down when it isn’t in use. I have to unplug the thing when I’m watching a movie. The blue light, it burns my eyes, precious.
Comment by NSI — Mar 20, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
@ JohnSketch:
Forget the monitors, mate!
Get yourself one of these instead:
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/659/866/3-/RegionHome.html?searchtype=genre
Nothing compares to a 90″ display on a plain wall.
You won’t be playing GT or MGS or WIPEOUT - you’ll be IN THEM!
Comment by Zed Zee — Mar 20, 2008 @ 11:31 pm
Nice to see updates but most of the stuff I don’t really care about. Surely they could have put a simple in game messaging system by now. Just 2 little options under when you press the PS button i.e. “Create Message” and “Inbox”.
Comment by Jacko — Mar 21, 2008 @ 1:30 am
I still second the AVC high profile level 5.1 support..
Even when using GOTSent or MKV2VOB, you’re still stuck if a true level 5.1 is found, not due to bitrate limitations, but due to the decoding screenbuffer size used by frame references ,b-pyramid etc, being larger then 12 MB. It will just give you a black screen.
It shouldn’t be that hard to use a larger decoding buffer, right ?
Comment by xtc — Mar 21, 2008 @ 10:01 am
@monitor craving lunatics on here -
Must say those monitors dojo and andy - very nice indeed!!!
Looking for a decent monitor with hdcp for both dvi and hdmi, component inputs, vga and svideo (don’t ask for much do i!)
and ZedZee - chris almighty!!!! was thinking small discreet monitor for all my xbox/wii/ps3/computer/tv needs.
Don’t think I even have a wall with 90″ of screen space free!!!
Comment by JohnSketch — Mar 21, 2008 @ 4:20 pm
Maybe I’ve missed this but when can we expect the release of 2.20?
Comment by TheShirts — Mar 21, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
@TheShirts
within the next few days
Comment by JohnSketch — Mar 22, 2008 @ 1:22 am
Good to see video format support improving. Looking forward to MKV-support.
Comment by Zap — Mar 22, 2008 @ 9:05 pm
This is great and all but did I buy a Blu-ray player that plays games, or a Games console that plays movies? It’s important to clarify because there are clear gaming issues (well messaging while gaming) to sort out.
Comment by WestcountryDad — Mar 23, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
I DON’T LIKE THE NEW WIDE LOOK OF THREE SPEECH.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way. I hear that 2.20 will also allow copying a SD version of a Blu-Ray movie to your PSP. Well, I don’t want a PSP. I have another portable movie device. Is Sony trying to go all monopoly on us by forcing a PSP on me? I don’t get it.
Comment by Spence — Mar 24, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is targeting April 8 as the date it will release its first batch of Blu-ray Disc titles that can be connected to the Internet for more bonus materials and features. The musical spoof “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story†and the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi thriller “The 6th Day†will be the studio’s first two BD-Live titles. Their release coincides with the launch of a new software update for Sony’s PlayStation 3 that makes the game console the first Blu-ray player with Internet connectivity, an ability known as “Profile 2.0.
Comment by JohnSketch — Mar 24, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
I have it through, it works. Well I think it does. Ha!
Comment by LordOfRuin — Mar 25, 2008 @ 8:15 am
I just noticed that the blue lamp on the Playstation Eye doesn’t stay on anymore when the PS3 is on standby in Remote Start. It used to be on when I had it plugged in untill 2.17. Nice feature addition.
Comment by Ves — Mar 25, 2008 @ 9:25 am
2.20 is now live
Comment by sabs — Mar 25, 2008 @ 10:13 am
Just download firmware 2.20.
Still not able to view content on BBC “flash” iPlayer.
Shame ;(
Comment by aMIGA_dUDE — Mar 25, 2008 @ 10:36 am
Be nice if playlists worked on external drives, even if they are locked to the drive itself. Same with the alternate auto-indexed views of content.
My internal hdd is full of demos (or worse, stupid caches of the whole game disc), so all my media is on an external drive. But the ‘browse all’ function is very clumsy for navigating and playing content.
Comment by michael — Mar 25, 2008 @ 10:45 am
AAAGH Still no photo randomiser!!!
Comment by Simon Cumming — Mar 27, 2008 @ 11:56 am
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