PS3 firmware v2.30 walkthrough: DTS-HD MA support / new PS Store included

Oh sweet mercy, what have we here? A sneak peek (on video) of the looming PlayStation Store revamp and a confirmation of DTS-HD Master Audio output in the next PS3 firmware update, that's what. Over on the PlayStation Blog, we're casually walked through the impending v2.30 update, and just as we had heard, Blu-ray fans can shout in unison as the inclusion of their favorite audio codec (as well as DTS-HD High Resolution Audio) is just days away. Word on the street has v2.30 headed down the pipes on April 15th, and if you're eager to catch a glimpse of some more stills from the made-over PS Store, head on over to Joystiq.

Read - PlayStation 3 firmware v2.30 walkthrough video
Read - Revamped PlayStation Store images
Read - DTS' own confirmation of the good news (Thanks, sTeViO!)

[nickels @ Apr 10th 2008 11:23AM]

looks muuuccch better and nicer than the one we have now :)

[Lars @ Apr 10th 2008 4:22PM]

Doesn't really seem much different to me. Same organization, slightly different layout. I had no real complaints with the old store though.

Although I did notice the button layout on the "buy" page is a bit more streamlined. I didn't like having to scroll through the description and legal junk before hitting the buy button (yeah, I know I could have moused over it, but I'm lazy). There were just a couple complaints about the old store from me, but for the most part I liked it. I hope they keep the navigation the same, with buttons that match the browser's navigation. I liked that consistency.

Hopefully when I actually get to play with it then it will all seem worthwhile, because right now I'm thinking they could have better used their programmer's time.

[shawnmos @ Apr 10th 2008 11:24AM]

Wow, I thought for sure the PS3's processor was too slow for software DTS-MA decoding. Guess I was wrong.

[tom @ Apr 10th 2008 11:28AM]

well, it will load, at the expense of the cooling fan blowing constantly

[kuromiko @ Apr 10th 2008 11:35AM]

The CPU in that thing has in addition to it's main hyoperthreaded core, 7 SPUs, which all kick ass at floating point math. The CPU demonstrated the ability to decode 12 HD streams simultaneously at E3 '06. DTS-MA is child's play at that point.

[John @ Apr 10th 2008 4:26PM]

The PS3 uses a CBE chip, which is a total of 9 3.2 GHz processors, although one of the 8 SPEs is disabled to increase chip yields. It's got a bit of power goin there.

[John @ Apr 10th 2008 11:26AM]

On Tax Day...How am I suppose to find time to download this?

Just kidding, mine is done, just speaking for other half of the US.

[Andy @ Apr 10th 2008 11:28AM]

Sweet jebus, two birds with one stone.
But why is it not Widescreen optimized?

[nathan.wong @ Apr 10th 2008 11:30AM]

And all these people were discounting the PS3 because it didn't have DTS-HD. I guess they have no excuse for not wanting a PS3 now.

[lettcco @ Apr 10th 2008 11:33AM]

I think the group that discount PS3 because of no MKV support is bigger, me including.

[shawnmos @ Apr 10th 2008 11:34AM]

I still won't buy a PS3. It's too expensive. I paid $150 for my Blu-ray player used.

[Nick @ Apr 10th 2008 12:31PM]

Yeah, those who discount it due to no DTS-HD will have to shut up now....wait...a lot of them will now switch to the fact that the PS3 can't bitstream DTS-HD. Some people will NEVER be satisfied, like those who want mkv support on everything.

Seriously guys...mkv? No normal person uses this! Hell, I'm somewhat of a computer-savvy person and I didn't even know what this was until 2 weeks ago, and now I just convert anything encoded in this obscure file format to something familiar like avi or wmv (so I can stream to my X360 AND PS3). Be happy we've even gotten DivX support!

[jntaylor @ Apr 10th 2008 12:45PM]

lettco,

MKV2VOB is all you need.

It can take MKV files with H.264 & 5.1 AC3 and wrap it into a VOB file. (No recoding.) You can then rename it to .mpg and the PS3 will play it back.

Wish the 360 did this; its time to get a Ps3 and use the 360 to games only.

[Jake @ Apr 10th 2008 3:03PM]

No they will find a different lame excuse.

Most of them were 360 owners and Microsoft viral marketing trolls who don't even have 7.1 amps...

[Jason @ Apr 10th 2008 11:31AM]

This really cements the PS3 as the best BD player on the market, bar none.

IR remote limitations can now be seamlessly handled by the ir2bt (www.ir2bt.com) so this folks is it for a Profile 2.0 compatible player that can output all the advanced audio formats over HDMI.

[Hooterman @ Apr 10th 2008 1:08PM]

@ DEEZ

Don't hide in your closet anymore. With your history of comments on the PS3 anybody paying attention knows that your "cause as a non Sony fanboy" comment is completely untrue.

Even after this update the PS3 will not be the ultimate BR player for me. My 3 year old $1,000 AVR doesn't have HDMI so I need a player that will decode DTS-MA over analog outs. So I'll still be getting a proper BR player later this year. Plus that one will work properly with my Harmony.

[JT @ Apr 10th 2008 1:31PM]

@ Hooterman

Don't fault the ps3 for your lack of having an "ultimate" AVR . And to play nice with your Harmony, invest in an IR2BT, works wonderfully.

[Inshakoor @ Apr 10th 2008 11:43AM]

Good Gravy! As soon as my rebate for my HC4900 comes in, I'll give my buddy back his PS3 and buy my own! Thank you Sony!

[senyl @ Apr 10th 2008 11:49AM]

You mean someone actually posted pictures/videos of upcoming technology, and its NOT blurry? What is the world coming to?

[Michael @ Apr 10th 2008 11:55AM]

It's directly from Sony, what were you expecting?

[phoomp @ Apr 10th 2008 12:30PM]

How is Sony able to add new features without charging *their* customers for them???

[Kiwi616 @ Apr 10th 2008 1:12PM]

i see what you done here

Cough...Apple....iPod Touch...cough cough

[Michael @ Apr 10th 2008 12:35PM]

Stupid question- Is the PS3 adding DTS-MA DECODING, or just bitstream output? I don't see them ever actually using the word "decoding" in this article, and as my high-end Denon receiver does everything I need it to but decode DTS-MA and DD HD, bistream output doesn't help, since I need on-board decoding!

[h0mi @ Apr 10th 2008 12:39PM]

Decoding. The ps3 cannot bitstream.

[Andy @ Apr 10th 2008 1:28PM]

It can bitstream just fine, it does it now, its just that TrueHD and now DTS:MA will be decoded only for now. Perhaps in the future it will bistream those two as well.

[JT @ Apr 10th 2008 1:34PM]

@ Andy

From my understanding, existing ps3 won't be able to bitstream these advanced codecs due to hardware limitations

[Andy @ Apr 10th 2008 2:15PM]

@JT

After further research, you are correct.

However, BD profile 1.1 requires that the player decode internally in order to take advantage of BDJ features, so reencoding to advanced codecs for bitstreaming may be redundant when it can just output the same sound as 7.1 PCM. Its not like there is any loss. The only drawback would be to receivers that cannot properly apply all their fancy algorithms to PCM sources as they do when they decode themselves.

[Jake @ Apr 10th 2008 3:08PM]

Don't let the idiots fool you. Anyone that says the PS3 will never be able to bitstream due to hardware limitations, is talking out thei ass. Nobody know the spec of the PS3's HDMI transmitter, it's certainly HDMI 1.3a, but thats it.

Anything else is fanboy "i read on AVS..." nonsense...

[Wisam @ Apr 10th 2008 12:49PM]

Hey Engadget! I miss the gray color from the posts !
It was easier to read between the comments

[Russell @ Apr 10th 2008 12:58PM]

Looks like someone from sony finally bought an xbox and figured out that their PS Store was an abomination compared to marketplace.

Also Mike, the PS3 has no multichannel analog out so you won't be able to use the PS3 to decode DTS-MA to analog.

It may be possible for it to decode DTS-MA and wrap it back up in DTS or AC3 for your receiver, but what would be the point.

2ch users will be able to get DTS-MA decoding on the 2ch analog out though.


Then again, the PS3's audio dac is decent, but not exactly high end, son.

[Michael @ Apr 10th 2008 3:03PM]

Russell-

My Denon receiver has multiple HDMI inputs and I have a 7.1 speaker set up, so I have no need for analog use- the receiver simply can't decode the HD audio codecs internally. However, since it sounds like the PS3 will now decode Master Audio internally, I think I can cancel my plans to buy the Sony S550 later this year- huzzah! Now my fiance will stop rolling her eyes...

Thanks for the comment, though!

[david tieman @ Apr 10th 2008 1:16PM]

Wow soon i can do with blue ray what i was doing with my toshiba HD DVD player over a year and half ago, and it only cost twice as much.

[Andy @ Apr 10th 2008 1:30PM]

Too bad its a dead format...

[phanbouy @ Apr 10th 2008 1:56PM]

dead shmead. my $50 xbox HD DVD player i got last month has paid for itself already

[JT @ Apr 10th 2008 1:59PM]

@ phanbouy

how's that now? does the thing print money?

[phanbouy @ Apr 10th 2008 2:23PM]

actually it makes a fantastic bootable USB DVD drive for my macbook pro. oh yeah, it also plays the existing ~500 HD titles out there i can rent from netflix or blockbuster, or get on amazon at a steep discount from equiv. BD. plus i can backup the movies to my HDD using eac3to and megui/x264 in case the drive ever failed. yep. really missing out.

[phanbouy @ Apr 10th 2008 4:51PM]

ha.. look at the fanboys modding me down. you guys are really insecure, eh? btw, i didn't say anything negative about BD or PS3, nor am i an "HD DVD fanboy". apparently everyone should have a giant bonfire orgy where they burn all their media and players to satisfy you guys?

[Mike @ Apr 10th 2008 5:31PM]

@ phanbouy

So when's the last time you rented an HD-DVD from Netflix? Doubt it's anytime since February. Blockbuster online yes, does still carry them, but how are you going to watch any new movies that come out on your 360 add-on?

Oh, and sure you can back them up, but at 25GB/movie, even a terabyte drive can only store 40 movies. Hardly any if you're looking to stock up before HD-DVDs are unavailable. Which is another thing. Sure, they're discounted now, but how long do you think before you won't be able to find many HD-DVDs out there? Shouldn't be too long now.

No, I'm not a fanboy. I waited out the format war, and then bought a PS3. It's time to admit that HD-DVD is dead, and that Blu Ray is the future.

[phanbouy @ Apr 10th 2008 9:43PM]

sure, blue ray is the future of optical media. didn't dispute that. BUT, for me, crunching the numbers even jumping on board a 'dead' format will save me a bundle and allow me to buy a better cheaper BD drive a year down the line.

plus there's this wonderful thing called "transcoding". for example, i was able to back up my copy of Caddyshack to around 5 GB in full 1080p using the latest x264.exe. it's nice to play stuff back from a hard drive as well for several reasons =)

[Rob @ Apr 10th 2008 1:28PM]

I'm at work and can't access most of the links as they are blocked. I hope the 2.30 update also brings in live USB ports in Standby mode so we can at least charge the controllers while system is off.

Other than that, I have to agree with some here that the PS3 is slowly making other standalone BD players irrelevant.

But if they were to improve things a little, I'd love for Sony to release a PS3 that has standard HT component dimension and flat on top, and maybe make it a little quieter (fans, not the drive) for at least DVD/BD playback.

[BrokenFERN @ Apr 10th 2008 2:49PM]

Try this.

https://kproxy.com/

It works for me :)

[Hotrod @ Apr 10th 2008 3:19PM]

Quieter? That thing is dead silent to me, or maybe I just perceive it that way because my previous system was a 360...
Now that sucker sounded like 3 fighter jets were circling my home.

[Nick @ Apr 10th 2008 3:50PM]

Yeah, the ability to charge the controllers while the system is off would be nice, especially since the system is only in standby and not actually off, meaning there is still a small electric current running through it. Why not redirect some of that toward the usb ports to charge the controllers? I know it would likely charge slower (assuming they didn't make the system draw any more power in standby for this), but at least for the overnight charging this would be useful!

[Simon P @ Apr 10th 2008 1:36PM]

It's a tad off the audio gist of this thread but does anyone know if they've addressed my biggest problem with my PS3, the limit of 50 friends with this update?

[Simon P @ Apr 10th 2008 1:40PM]

yup, plenty more.

[DiscoCat5 @ Apr 11th 2008 6:43AM]

well i live in a small country town in colac were proably only al ittle more than half the population (if that) have boradband (or the intenret for that matter) i currently have one PSN friend, as time goes by im sure many more poeple will buy a ps3, (or for those who already have one work out how to play online) but for now ill just have to be content on joining some obscure COD4 team deathmatch where everyone is like level 43 and kick ass, and to all those popel niggling over the ps3's audio output, STFU! admit that the ps3 is the best blu-ray player ever, (and probably one of the best/coolest pieces of equipment ever) and will probably be one of, if not the best blu ray player ever. but OH NO! it doesnt do this thing which would make the audio ever so slighty different that im listening way to haard for some car driving past in the background to appreciate the movie. jeez people. and by the way i was about a day away from buying a 360, but bought a ps3 instead (went halves with my borhter which made it a good deal) and have never looked back, sure i might get a 360 in the future cos they are pretty cool, but then again most of their exclusive games over ps3 will be or have been released for pc. so moral of this story.... THE FUTURE IS BLU!

[paul @ Apr 10th 2008 1:43PM]

Oh man, this looks so much better. I hated having to flip through ten little slides just to see what content was available.

Any word on when it will be online?

[phanbouy @ Apr 10th 2008 1:51PM]

Wake me when I can put AnyDVD on PS3. W/o HDCP on my main display, it's gonna be PC use for the foreseeable future.

[Hooterman @ Apr 10th 2008 1:56PM]

@ DEEZ

I take that part of my comment back, I believe I was confusing you with an annoying poster on a different forum.

@JT

I didn't fault the PS3 for it's lack of analog outs. I said it wouldn't be the ultimate player for me. There are a ton of people in the exact same boat as me too. They could have a 1-10 year old receiver with 5.1-7.1 analog inputs that are perfectly able to accept the newest of audio formats. I'm not trying to take anything away from the PS3 being the best bang for the buck BR player. But it is not the end all of players like some people keep throwing out there.

And I said a standalone player would properly handle my Harmony. Why should I have to spend an extra $55 to add something that would of cost Sony .02 to add in the first place?

Also, I read that using the various IR to BT converters adds some button lag to the commands, especially with Harmony's. I haven't verified that, but that too would suck if true.

[Andy @ Apr 10th 2008 2:17PM]

The rumor is that the new gen of Harmonys will have BT built in. And that some upcoming TVs will have dual BT and IR interfaces, to allow advanced stuff via BT and traditional remote via IR if needed.