PS3 1.80 firmware is out and streaming your media

The PS3 1.8 firmware is out and making its way global in Sony's typical rolling release cycle: APAC, Europe, then the Americas. We'll be testing it ourselves later but we thought you'd like to peep the first screen shots of DLNA-enabled media sharing in the PS3's XMB interface. In this case, Hardcoreware turned on media sharing within Vista (Home Premium or Ultimate, we presume) and voila, their updated PS3 detected and played music, pictures, and video stored on their networked PC -- just like their Xbox 360. Of course, this should work on any DLNA-supported PC (yes, Macs too) or media device including PSPs when the firmware update is released next month. A nice shot in the arm for the Digital Living Network Alliance and good news for PS3 owners everywhere. Hit the read link for more pictures.

[lowlight @ May 24th 2007 4:06AM]

No support for lossless WMA :(

[Tyme @ May 24th 2007 4:10AM]

anyone know how to get it workin with a mac?

[papo @ May 24th 2007 6:39AM]

Yes..any hints for the mac?

[Chris @ May 24th 2007 4:32AM]

Do you guys have a 1080i TV that you can test the upscaling of PS3 games on? I can't imagine them deciding to upscale PS1, PS2, and DVDs to 1080p but still downscaling PS3 games to 480i.

[Mak @ May 24th 2007 5:31AM]

Mate, you seriously need to go out an buy a decent TV, and stop blaming Sony....

My old black on white TV only displays a black and white picture on it, when I connect it to my PS3.. Your argument is just as silly.....

[Dp462090 @ May 24th 2007 3:35PM]

Sadly, it doesn't. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for 1.90, or 2.00, though.

[Chris @ May 24th 2007 4:33AM]

I meant 480p there, sorry.

[Mak @ May 24th 2007 4:48AM]

Twonkyvision works on Windows/Mac/Linux and works pretty well with the PS3.

Video of it in action:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DzteEgl-BSo

The server needs a couple of tweaks, as it's serving unsupported content, that PS3 can't play. But i'm sure that will be fixed soon. You can also use Twonkyvision and VLC together to transcode video on the fly to a suported format, so in theory, you should be able to watch any format supported by VLC (ie. XVid, DivX WMV and most other formats).

Seems Sony have outtrumpted Microsoft on this one, and it's not even a major update, it's a .1 incremental. Lots of good things in Firmware 2.0 I reckon....

[Wizzy @ Sep 13th 2007 7:23PM]

How do you do this? - I can find no details anywhere of using vlc and twonky to stream divx to a ps3. Looks to me like that is just nonsense.

[Paul @ May 24th 2007 4:48AM]

so uh now that ps3 has media streaming and upscaling i geuss xbox fans can stfu now

[Mike Jenkins @ May 24th 2007 8:38AM]

Until the PS3 can run Media Center, it's still just a $600 paperweight.

[boing @ May 24th 2007 6:23AM]

i hardly think a 1080i tv is cheap, it's almost top of the line equipment and i thin it's fair enough to critisise sony for not supporting it.

[ste cox @ May 24th 2007 5:00AM]

Anyone know if it can stream AVI/DIVX video files?

if it does it would kick my Xbox's arse :)

[Wizzy @ Jul 16th 2007 4:41PM]

Yes according to the above, but sadly no, according to my own investigtions. Knowing Sonys position on intellectual property, not anytinme soon either.

[Chris @ May 24th 2007 5:26AM]

I don't recall blaming Sony for anything or making any arguments. I asked a question. "Go buy a new TV" is not an answer.

[Mak @ May 24th 2007 5:33AM]

"Anyone know if it can stream AVI/DIVX video files?"

Twonkyvision with VLC can convert anything on-the-fly to PS3 compatable stream. I havn't personally tried, but I believe it works...

So, yes, it kicks 360 butt

[Mak @ May 24th 2007 6:29AM]

1080i only... So not HDready then....

[Chris @ May 24th 2007 6:42AM]

"HD ready" refers to any TV capable of displaying 720p or 1080i/p. Trying to say that 1080p is the *only* HD resolution is ludicrous, and something Sony only crowed about because the 360 didn't support 1080p at launch. Oh, but lo and behold, the only PS3 games that support 1080p are Ridge Racer 7 and Virtua Fighter 5. Nothing else even does above 720p. My God, if 1080i isn't "HDready" how old and busted is 720p?

So, with that aside, does the new firmware also upscale PS3 games?

[Mak @ May 24th 2007 6:33AM]

http://www.eicta.org/fileadmin/user_upload/document/document1160753216.pdf

A display device has to cover the following requirements to be awarded the label “HD ready”:

1. Display, display engine
· The minimum native resolution of the display (e.g. LCD, PDP) or display
engine (e.g. DLP) is 720 physical lines in wide aspect ratio.


2. Video Interfaces
· The display device accepts HD input via:

o Analogue YPbPr1, and
o DVI or HDMI

· HD capable inputs accept the following HD video formats:
o 1280x720 @ 50 and 60Hz progressive (“720p”), and
o 1920x1080 @ 50 and 60Hz interlaced (“1080i”)
· The DVI or HDMI input supports content protection (HDCP)

[Chris @ May 24th 2007 6:47AM]

According to Wikipedia 'In the USA, "HD Ready" refers to any display that is capable of accepting and displaying a high-definition signal at either 720p, 1080i or 1080p using a component video or digital input, and does not have a built-in HD-capable tuner.' so that may explain some of the confusion.

[Mak @ May 24th 2007 7:10AM]

720 AND 1080i (or 1080P)

[boing @ May 24th 2007 6:56AM]

high def is anything above 480p 1080 is the highest resolution on the market whether it's progressive or interlaced and as such is obviously HD ready, it's just not supported by sony for some bizzare reason.

[Kevin @ May 24th 2007 11:20AM]

Until the xbox360 can play Blu-ray movies, its just a $479 paper weight

[Mike Jenkins @ May 24th 2007 11:29AM]

Why would you want to play Blu-Ray discs? Until The Matrix is on Blu-Ray they're just $40 coasters.

[Charlie @ May 24th 2007 12:09PM]

Until PS3 adds Media Center it is a paperweight?

What a dumb ass statement!

Build a media center PC if you want that function!

Who's to say that there won't be a Sony Media Center inferace down the road anyway?

Sony is moving along at clipper speed with improving both the PS3 and PSP as well as making them integrate with each other.

Of course when the M$hit box comes out with their a portable you fanboys will be singing their praises and an incredible innovation.

Sony we love you!

[Mike Jenkins @ May 24th 2007 12:21PM]

I did build a Media Center PC, and I love my 360 because it extends the Media Center experience to my living room and throughout my house. Media Center is one of the best things Microsoft has made, next to the Xbox 360. Even without Media Center, the 360 has been able to play media content stored on your PC since day 1, as well as play it back in your game. Sony is just now catching up, and they've still got a long way to go before they catch the 360.

[Jason Brown @ May 24th 2007 9:27AM]

what is so difficult to understand? sony will make far more money selling 1080p and buyers who have the money will not stop at half way buying the ps3 and will buy a 1080p.

[lowlight @ May 24th 2007 9:56PM]

BTW it will also stream media to your PSP now (via RemotePlay)

http://www.hardcoreware.net/ps3-18-firmware-already-streams-windows-media-to-your-psp/

[DannielG @ May 24th 2007 9:59AM]

Hi,

Does anyone knows how the Upscaling works? Also, PLEASE can anyone comment on how it works with Macs?? I have my music in an externaal HD shared via the wireless network (Airport Extreme) will it works that way?? I'M AT WORK AND I'M DYING HERE!!... :D

Cheers

DG

[Randy @ May 24th 2007 10:16AM]

AVS is all abuzz on the new PS3 firmware, the upshot is the PS3 is the new KING of Media Servers and Upscaling DVDs. My .02 worth is the same, the upscale is VERY good, flexible, also the addition of 24 frame BD playback, YESSSSSS.

Check AVS here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10618271#post10618271

[NickP @ May 24th 2007 10:21AM]

For Macs use EyeConnect from Elgato....

Got it to work with Music (uses Itunes - non protected tracks!), Pictures (for some reason Iphoto needed to be running in the background) and movies (plays MPEG1/MPEG2, can't get it to play MPEG4 or H.264 - if anyone gets that to work on Windows or Mac post here).

File copying works really well. The streaming performance could be better - don't know if that is the EyeConnect or the PS3. Previews of images take some time and song playback takes 10 seconds or so (assuming it's transcoding on the fly)

[Rick Lyon @ May 24th 2007 11:22AM]

I used TwonkeyVision.com and it was fast, very fast.

[Brent @ May 24th 2007 10:22AM]

I played with the new firmware a little bit last night, but I couldn't really get everything working. Audio streamed fine from windows media connect, but video would not. I tried it with TVersity, but I had even less luck with that. I'm pretty sure there should be a way to get TVersity to work with the PS3, as it will transcode video/audio on the fly to the correct format. Anybody know how to get it to work correctly? I'm sure there is some setting that I'm missing that will magically make it work (at least I hope so).

[mackzilla @ May 24th 2007 10:29AM]

""Anyone know if it can stream AVI/DIVX video files?"
Twonkyvision with VLC can convert anything on-the-fly to PS3 compatable stream. I havn't personally tried, but I believe it works...
So, yes, it kicks 360 butt"

So how does doing something the xbox 360 has been able to do for a while (play video thats been transcoded to a supported format) mean someones butt is getting kicked?

[ducas @ May 26th 2007 12:08AM]

How does this kick 360's butt?

IMO it's exactly how the 360 works, but over a year later. So if anything, 360 kicks PS3's butt because it beat it to market and it didn't need a firmware update.

Think before you type dude.

[Sam @ May 24th 2007 10:37AM]

I've been able to play Divx/Xvid (and many other unsupported formats) for over a year using Transcode360.

[fl @ May 24th 2007 10:52AM]

HELP on the streaming feature !
I got the download and the PS3 can see my PC, but as soon as I request a screening of the music folder -or pictures or videos - it gives me a message that rights/connection settings do not allow me to access files.....

I have Windows XP with WMP 11. In WMP I chose to enable media sharing and I can see my PS3 as unknown device.... I even granted folder network sharing in Windows Explorer...

Anybody got the same problem? Solution to solve it?

[techyted @ May 24th 2007 1:00PM]

I am running a XP PC with Windows Media Connect 2.0 that I downloaded for my 360 and it did the same thing as what you are describing. I just rebooted the PC and turned off the PS3 and turned it back on and it worked just fine.

I do have to say that the up conversion DVD to 1080P looks amazing, I put in LOTR The Return of the King and I almost soiled myself it looked so glorious. I didn't have a chance to check out the PS2 up conversion, but I have high hopes.

[Rick Lyon @ May 24th 2007 11:16AM]

Works on macs. You need TwonkeyVision. It's $30 shareware but it works. I already set it up, got itunes music, testing iphoto (don't think it likes all caps extensions which is how iphoto makes file names) but displays lowercase jpg extensions just fine. Plays videos mpgs I think, haven't verify a HD clip, mostly low rez stuff. But pretty cool so far.

There is also a linux media center- http://elisa.fluendo.com/screenshots/ but I have no idea about compiling r if it will even install on a mac.

http://www.invertedpixel.com

[Rick Lyon @ May 24th 2007 11:26AM]

mac users-
'gradthawn' at avs posted this from wiki-

Fuppes - free open source UPnP MediaServer, supports transcoding of diverse audio formats to mp3. Only directory browsing supported.
TVersity - free closed source UPnP MediaServer, currently in beta, which allows on-the-fly transcoding to wmv.
Philips Media Manager is a free closed source UPnP AV MediaServer for Windows and Macintosh that is based on Streamium
MediaTomb - free, open source (GPL) UPnP AV MediaServer for Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD and Cygwin which also runs on NAS devices. Allows users to define a custom container layout by the means of JavaScript, has a nice AJAX based UI.
FreeNAS, a free operating-system/software, enabling you to turn any x86-based computer into a dedicated stand-alone NAS (Network-Attached Storage) device. (FreeNAS UPnP server code is from the Portable Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) SDK project).

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ May 24th 2007 11:37AM]

I own an Xbox 360, my friend owns a PS3.. I wish I was my friend. Sorry to all the 360 fans out there, but I have played them both and the PS3 wins. 6 axis controlers, WiFi, Blu Ray Player, 3 card slots, 3 times bigger hard drive, soon to arrive Playstation Home, and eventually more users and more games, and the fan is pratically silent - which is probably the biggest kick in the but for me. "360 for sale!!"

[Castle @ May 24th 2007 11:42AM]

works perfect on Nero Media Center, it'll even play Divx on the PS3 (via on the fly transcoding).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76pqhVDhiCg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egameswank%2Ecom%2Fcontent%2Fview%2F114%2F1%2F

[mcepat @ May 24th 2007 12:24PM]

@makSeems Sony have outtrumpted Microsoft on this one, and it's not even a major update, it's a .1 incremental. Lots of good things in Firmware 2.0 I reckon....

you not reallt serious are you? The XBOX360 support way more formats, has a better UI, PS3 looks like dos on the screen in order to access all you stuff

Idunno should I keep my 360 that can stream, music, videos, pictures and one of the only if not only places to download HD quality videos? or should I get a PS3?

[Dp462090 @ May 24th 2007 3:46PM]

By-the-way, is anyone else having trouble getting video to be recognized? I've got music working fine.

[Dystopia @ May 24th 2007 5:33PM]

where is the album art!!! why bother having an icon beside the file if you are not going to display the album art. It only shows up music / video / picture files in their own list anyway.

Why do the 360 and ps3 continue to overlook such a simple thing? And apple tv has drawbacks also.

apple tv - no playlists on the go. Still tied into a computer to sort out playlists. Rubbish
360 and PS# - no album art from streaming media (that i can see)
PS3 no playlist support of any worth.

[Calvin @ May 24th 2007 7:52PM]

Can anyone answer Chris's question? Will the new fw properly output PS3 games to 1080i or not? I have two older models tv's that work fine but are both 1080i only and they are not that old that I feel like going out and spending cash on more TV's when it's not necessary.

So does it?

Cal

P.S. (I'd upgrade myself but I loaned my PS3 to my bro for the week)

[Jon @ May 25th 2007 11:21AM]

So what setting do i use for upscale ? theres like 3 or 4 .. something like normal , double scale and full ? i have a 60" 1080P sony SXRD XBR2 .. what scaler setting do i use ?

[UP PIDDY @ May 26th 2007 12:30AM]

Comparing the Xbox360 to PS3 is not fair in the sense that 2007 the 360 has a unf?ccable game line up and not to mention that their bread and butter is due out in Fall Halo3.PS3 lost 545million 1st quarter of 2007 and last year 130million for patent infringement regarding the rumble pad application and Laptop battery incident at 595.5million,Operational losses 949.2 millon from 1.42 billion a year ago.Sony is staying afloat by other areas like phones,blu ray,camera's and movies like spiderman3.PS3 has no name hittin games for 2007 and 2008.No games means no players equals nice big black blue ray paper weight.Xbox is not shielded from my criticism, large part of Xbox360 owners consistently have console failure issues.Refurbished Xbox360's are delivered to them after a 2month waiting period and 6months down the road Xbox360 anna nicholes on you(dies).Talk about a dilema what to choose what to choose.The wii is just 2gamecubes duct taped together.

[Vectorsword @ May 26th 2007 11:46PM]

Ghee Whizards there, 360 Fanboys!

When you geeks talk about the Blu-Ray all you say is "We don't want to watch movies or play music, we want to play games!!!" Now that the PS3 just whipped your sorry asses all you can say is "until PS3 can run media center it's nothing! Whaaaa, Whaaaa, Whaaaa, my pussy hurts!"

STFU, 'cause you sound like morons

[dunner @ May 28th 2007 9:30PM]

I have a 480p/1080i only TV. I don't want to get ripped by people saying "Get a real HDTV" I'm happy with what I got. Until they have DirecTV in 1080p, i don't need it. Anyways, I've come to understand that PS3 games like Resistance will not be scaled from 720p to 1080i. My question is will PS2 games and DVDs play at 1080i? If I stick LOTR in my PS3 will I get 1080i resolution?