Sony details PS3 firmware 2.50 upgrades: DivX VOD support, AV tweaks

Sony didn't want to make a big deal about this (so humble, that Sony) but the PlayStation 3's recent 2.50 firmware update has a few extra additions aimed straight at home theater buffs. First up is a place to enter your DivX VOD Registration code -- necessary if you want to get any of that Sony Pictures or Warner Bros. DivX-encoded video that's on the way -- along with new Sequential Playback and 50Hz video output settings, plus support for chroma upsampling & Mosquito Noise Reduction video enhancement on homemade Blu-ray discs and DVDs. On a more minor note, the BD/DVD settings section has been renamed just Video Settings, while the Cinema Conversion and Upscale options are getting all their mail delivered to BD/DVD Cinema Conversion and BD/DVD Upscaler, respectively. Peep the PlayStation site for the rest of the exciting details (there's a German keyboard layout change that is not to be missed), and then go back to watching Hulu in a tiny box with a poor framerate in your newly Flash-enabled browser.

[Via PS3 Blog]

[Dave Chappelle @ Oct 17th 2008 3:46AM]

FiR5T!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good news. PSN is always being updated.

[waiownsyou @ Oct 17th 2008 3:53AM]

Please just die in a fire.

[mick @ Oct 17th 2008 3:59AM]

WOW there's still kids that think its cool to be first. this update is a dam good one. third to the in-game xmb and the divx support one

[Bjsfreaked @ Oct 17th 2008 4:30AM]

bet he's like only 10 - i'm suprsied he hasn't quoted something like - "i've taken this threads wall cherry" or something

@ mick - i think its a good one too. question is - what can they do now to make it better? better interface?

[mick @ Oct 17th 2008 5:04AM]

a ps2 emulator (they already have the EE down it would not be that hard to emu the GS plus its looking likely now that they completely dropped ps2 support) and low level homebrew. the latter will NEVER happen in this generation of consoles legitly

[mick @ Oct 17th 2008 5:08AM]

EDIT: he most likely is to young to know what a cherry is let alone taking it. i miss the days of cherry popping. you dont meet too many girls in there 20's that have there cherry's still

[Dave Chappelle @ Oct 17th 2008 5:36AM]

@Bjsfreaked

wow great username i must say and also im sure you know a lot about cherries, i mean your so cool youve gone beyond sex, now you criticise 'first' comments on a fkn tech blog. and ACTUALLY think that people that say 'first' are doing it because they seriously think its beneficial to themselves. in actual fact just do it so asswipes like you come along and think your awesome by saying 'wall cherry' WTF who says "WALL cherry"? its pope the cherry nothing else, go back to the drawing boards... old man.

[Information Central @ Oct 17th 2008 5:55AM]

"i mean your so cool youve gone beyond sex... you come along and think your awesome"

And you're so goddamned ignorant that you can't spell "you're" (or "you've", for that matter). You proved that by misspelling it twice.

It doesn't matter what your point is when your illiteracy stops you from communicating it. It'll be sad when, should you happen to think of something intelligent to say, no one will take heed of it because you can't deliver the message.

Your best bet is to log the fuck off, read a book, and make other efforts to get educated before you embarrass yourself further.

[NHAnimator @ Oct 17th 2008 8:03AM]

"and ACTUALLY think that people that say 'first' are doing it because they seriously think its beneficial to themselves"

Hey Chappelle: Would you then care to enlighten us as to why you actually do say 'first', because I'm clueless.

[y3k.nik @ Oct 17th 2008 9:08AM]

@Bjsfreaked

If you have a PS3 and if you have ever tried bringing up in game XMB, its slow as hell because all the icons and their thumbnails want to load up again from scratch. Its especially painful if you have a ton of demos or PSN games not sorted into folders.

They should really do something about that.

Ability to play videos through in game XMB without actually turning off the game would be nice too. That ways, when i need a break I can just start of a movie or something and come back after an hour to the exact same place where i left the game and not start it up again.

[Bjsfreaked @ Oct 17th 2008 9:29AM]

@ y3k.nik

Yeah got the 60GB ps3 - i have to admit, yes, the XMB is very slow - specially if you get a message, i've had several times that its taken a min or two and it has really got on my nerves cause first you have to wait for the friends to load up and then wait to be able to get into it. Videos would be a cool idea as well but i can't see that happening as it'll probably make it crash and burn.

@ chappele

The only reason I say anything about wall cherries etc is because there are people out there who do what you just did which is really, really pointless - leave that kind of rubbish for myspace or facebook, bebo or whatever people like to use now. Now i'm really really curious to why you actually put 'first' if it was not to do that childish thing that myself and a few other people say happens?

[Frankenstein Black @ Oct 17th 2008 12:04PM]

Forget about Mom, Grandma and little snot nose “Lakethrop the Wii addict”. Is there any geek out there that doesn’t think the PS3 Pwns by now? Please, please, show me where he is and I will show you a geek poser!

[Jonosono @ Oct 18th 2008 10:11PM]

Dave Chappelle @ Oct 17th 2008 5:36AM
@Bjsfreaked

"its pope the cherry nothing else, go back to the drawing boards... old man.

Did no one else catch "pope the cherry"?

[Aaron @ Oct 17th 2008 4:09AM]

How about Sony gives users access to the RSX core and recognize NTSF file formats - is that really too much to ask for? It would make for a much better media player, especially for HD content.

[Gokie @ Oct 17th 2008 10:54AM]

NTFS is a proprietary Microsoft file system, so that really doesn't look to be happening anytime soon.

[akgrown @ Oct 17th 2008 4:13AM]

Actually, you can zoom in on that tiny Hulu window and make it full screen. It's not Blu-Ray resolution, but it's good enough for internet video.

[VeganTnT @ Oct 17th 2008 4:22AM]

I agree, it's not bad at all considering it's just a nice side effect from flash being added to the browser.

I just tap r3 and zoom in tight with r2

I just wish I could sign in to my account and view in 480p.

Also, I have ZERO framerate issues, which is odd cause I get them all the time on both the laptop in my home.

[Ayrkain @ Oct 17th 2008 5:44AM]

I get framerate issues via wifi, but it looks fine when it's wired up to the router.

[buzzbean @ Oct 17th 2008 10:48AM]

Or use playon which engadget posted on earlier. PS3 automatically zooms in and does a great job of smoothing out the pixels. It's free to try and if you have netflix worth the $30 to keep.

[Knives_Out @ Oct 17th 2008 4:42AM]

Will it support DivX 3.11 Alpha?

[Terrence Newton @ Oct 17th 2008 2:33PM]

nevaaaaaarr!!

[Ixon @ Oct 17th 2008 4:54AM]

I've taken this walls sloppy 8ths... SCORE!

Yay Another update that adds to the system. I like this, it's getting more for your money. Versus buying something then buying another something just for the smallest of things or new features.

Thumbs up sony.. Now if those rumored features were true, I'd love you.

[Robert @ Oct 17th 2008 4:55AM]

All I want for christmas is Matroska support.

[Blastar @ Oct 17th 2008 5:06AM]

I agree !
MKV Files must be fully supported from the PS3 Video Player.
We all know that when it comes to High Resolutions MKV seems to have a big advantage against Divx or Xvid.
So PS3 as a HardCore HD Video Player Should support it.
Thats why I say and agree with Robert that MKV is a must for the PS3 !!

[tranzparentl @ Oct 17th 2008 8:56AM]

sorry but MKV ain't coming to the PS3 anytime soon. That's why I'm getting a popcorn hour.

[GanzHimself @ Oct 17th 2008 9:30AM]

I agree... Seems like the best HD content is wrapped in MKV. Most times I get luck enough that I can convert it effortlessly, and other times I have to just give in and re-download the content or just plug my laptop into the TV via HDMI.

[Harry @ Oct 17th 2008 12:49PM]

Blastar's comment is inaccurate. MKV is a *container* whereas divx and xvid are video codecs. You will often find xvid video inside a mkv container, for example. A better analog of mkv is the avi container which most people are familiar with.

So it's meaningless to say "mkv is better than xvid". However, I doubt anyone would argue that on technical merits, mkv is superior to avi.

[lettcco @ Oct 17th 2008 1:23PM]

@harry
that may be true, but 99% of the time .mkv files are using x264 codec, which is great I think since this is less confusing for everyone. I don't have ps3 or xbox360 so I am waiting for either one to have a solution of mkv on their camp and then I will jump in.

[Stephan @ Oct 17th 2008 5:02AM]

Just tested tonight: v2.50 indeed supports playback of 50i HDV without the 50/60 Hz conversion that plagued footage with judder and resolution loss previously. It took you 18 months Sony, but you finally did it at last. Thank you, in the name of all PAL land inhabitants!

[rufioh @ Oct 17th 2008 7:00AM]

Well it's broken my video playback. It might be this 'chroma upsampling' lark - the contrast flickers and dark bands appear next to moving objects, making it look like all my lovely x264 and divx files look like they were badly videoed in a cinema. Also get a resolution change effect whenever I start a video.
This is on a standard def CRT via the AV multi out or whatever it's called.
How am I supposed to enjoy Heroes now!?

[mike @ Oct 17th 2008 7:05AM]

What background is that, it looks cool. Oh and They've added some sleep settings to turn off after idol. The best one would be to let you set a sleep time so i could watch stuff going to bed and not have to wake up to turn it off!

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Oct 17th 2008 7:32AM]

Description implies that one would be able to play only VOD content.

But would it support DviX playback off external media? HDD or DVD/BD? That would be a huge plus to me as I wanted to buy some DivX-capable upscaling DVD (or better) player for some time now.

[Nomi @ Oct 17th 2008 9:04AM]

It already did DivX/Xvid from older updates....now it also includes VOD content.

[mick @ Oct 17th 2008 5:13PM]

divx has been on ps3 since 1.7 i think. and yes you can play them off a external HDD

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Oct 17th 2008 5:24PM]

Thanks for the info folks!

PS3 does not have much of my games - but it has a remote control. As BD player, upscaling DVD/DivX player, I think it might find its place under my TV this xmas.

[nxp3 @ Oct 17th 2008 8:34AM]

You didn't mention that they also add more printer support, you got canon, epson, hp, and "ohter network" printer. It's a shame they don't have one for "shared" printer, cause I don't have a network printer. I don't know what I'd be printing anyway from a ps3.

[Chris @ Oct 17th 2008 8:35PM]

Also the "Life with Playstation" feature is available to download. Downloaded it last night, haven't had a chance to really explore but it is a pretty interesting news interface.

[htd @ Oct 17th 2008 9:10AM]

avchd playback from DVD-ROM is no longer supported.

[ColumnWheel @ Oct 17th 2008 11:21AM]

I just tested this and it still works (AVCHD support via DVD-ROM).

[htd @ Oct 17th 2008 12:06PM]

u sure about this? I saw reports about DVDR still can playback but DVDROM cant

[ColumnWheel @ Oct 17th 2008 12:42PM]

Sorry, misread your post - I assume you mean external dvd-rom? I just tried DVD-R using the internal drive. I haven't tried using an external drive.

[mdave @ Oct 17th 2008 10:20AM]

This update makes me very happy. I have a HP Media Server that every file showed up as corrupt but when I load it on the PS3 HD it played fine. The updated fixed all my streaming issues. Finally! Now all we need here in the US is PS3 digital tuner and DVR then I can put to rest my thoughts of getting a HTPC.

[cashoutcurse @ Oct 17th 2008 10:33AM]

"and then go back to watching Hulu in a tiny box with a poor framerate in your newly Flash-enabled browser" or watch it in fullscreen in great quality with the PlayOn media server.... n00b.

[Mr. Fusion @ Oct 17th 2008 10:47AM]

I second that, cashoutcurse. Hulu and Netflix and Youtube, oh my!

http://www.themediamall.com/playon

[Hife @ Oct 17th 2008 1:12PM]

"necessary if you want to get any of that Sony Pictures or Warner Bros. DivX-encoded video that's on the way"

Thank God. I've been all over the internet trying to find this supposed VOD content. Glad to finally have some idea of what the situation is. I'd like to know your source though.

[Terrence Newton @ Oct 17th 2008 2:33PM]

So.. it seems that when i press the PS button during video playback, it pauses the video. i like being able to mess around w/ other stuff in the middle of watching a video, 'cause my attention span is so short, and i don't really appreciate this change..

[archie4oz @ Oct 17th 2008 5:34PM]

"a ps2 emulator (they already have the EE down it would not be that hard to emu the GS plus its looking likely now that they completely dropped ps2 support) and low level homebrew. the latter will NEVER happen in this generation of consoles legitly"

Emulating the GS is actually quite a bit harder than you think...

[will clifton @ Oct 17th 2008 6:11PM]

best "update" to the ps3 yet:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/01/playon-media-server-streams-netflix-to-ps3-xbox-360-today/

who needs flash browser? this thing plays youtube/hulu/netflix fullscreen.... so awesome

[phinn @ Oct 17th 2008 10:27PM]

What the hell do they mean watch Hulu in a tiny box with poor framerate? I dunno what's wrong with Joystiq but you can easily zoom into the video to make it full screen holding R2 and it doesn't slow the framerate down at all. Also I noticed, yea, the framerate is choppy when you mouseover the Ajax overlay that pops up but when you move the curser off it the framerate is fine.

[Mark @ Oct 18th 2008 9:23PM]

really? the framerate was pretty bad when i tried it. i dont remember if i had the cursor over the box. it'd be sweet if it worked good.