GREAT news for PS3 owners!

mutelight

Today Sony released an excellent new firmware upgrade!

• The PS3 can now upscale your DVDs up to 1080p resolution. :cool:
  
• Also for people with 720p native sets (like myself) can playback Blu-ray movies at 720p.
  
• PS/PS2 games can also be upscaled to 1080p resolution.
  
• Then they have added the ability to use the Remote Play with a PSP over the internet and some DNLA streaming features for media which I haven't checked out yet.

Just got a chance to tinker with the new update and I must say it is GREAT. My DVDs look multiple times better! I tried Lemony Snickets on DVD since it has such great art direction and cinematography and you can switch between the different upscaling options during playback and what a difference!

Also the 720p Blu-ray playback looks phenomenal! Pirates of the Caribbean looks amazing!

The PS3 is now a really strong Blu-ray/DVD player which makes me simply ecstatic which is great because it certainly is lacking the games department. Nonetheless, I am very happy with it as a movie player.

Man, between this update on the PS3 and the audio update on the HD DVD addon for the 360 I am one happy camper. Never really thought consoles could make such good movie players. (Especially happy about the PS3 improvements since it is practically nothing but a video player for me.)

scottvamp

Thanks for the update. I heard it was coming. I am at work right now. But i am all over it when i get home. Is it the 2.0? I heard their were may other additions. I guess my PS3 is going on my projector system today. Good thing i just bought a 3 HDMI selector. My Pirate Blu-Ray's come in tomorrow.
This is SWEET!!!!! Hell yeah!:D

cheddar

Update 1.80. Yep, the ps3 is back at the top of the heap feature wise for HD players. About the only thing it's missing is analog outs and DTS-MA which no other player has anyways...but if they include that, no other player right now could touch it for included features...

jdhdiggs

Oh, you dirty ****, I might just have to go buy an HD set and a PS3 now....

mutelight

cheddar wrote: »

Update 1.80. Yep, the ps3 is back at the top of the heap feature wise for HD players. About the only thing it's missing is analog outs and DTS-MA which no other player has anyways...but if they include that, no other player right now could touch it for included features...

I hear that man. God, how I want analog outs to enjoy lossless audio goodness.

After going through a few of my DVDs I must say that the upscaling feature does an absolutely fantastic job! Just watched a few scenes from The Incredibles and it looked exactly that. :cool: If you were to watch the movie at HD resolution you would definitely be able to see more texture detail in the wider shots but, wow, the image is so unbelievably sharp and the colors are vastly improved. I also was watching X-Men 3 when my roommate came home and he said, "Ah you finally caved in and bought it on Blu-ray". When I told him it was my DVD copy he was floored. I have seen the Blu-ray version and it does look better but boy Sony really nailed this update.

My friend has a Oppo DV-981HD and that is the best looking upscaling DVD player I have seen in action and while it is better than the PS3s image quality, the PS3 still gets pretty close to the image quality. For a gaming console's video playback capability I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

I'm telling you, these internet connected next gen system across the board never cease to amaze me how they can update and upgrade all these features simply through the internet with minimal hassle. Not only that these companies really seem to be listening to the users feedback and requests. I was just thinking earlier how the 360 has improved feature wise throughout its lifecycle. They improved the somewhat mediocre DVD playback across the board and then offered upscaling capability through VGA, numerous dashboard updates including the Video Marketplace (which is a fantastic idea, although I never really use it), backwards compatibility improvements, and last but not least the HD DVD audio update which was an exponential improvement in the audio quality, especially the dynamic range.

Then you have the PS3 with these current updates which seriously make me happier than a pig in **** putting life back into my DVD collection. Not only that, right after it was released it had some serious scaling issues with PS2 games which produced extremely sub par image quality, to being able to scale games up to 1080p resolution.

Good times.

Oh yeah, can't forget the Wii, got the browser update, I can vote channel (or whatever) and they are adding more virtual console games all the time. All three companies are delivering without a doubt. Competition is good. (Yeah, they are taking smaller steps but I gotta love Nintendo.)

venomclan

This sounds great. I thought that the PS3's major flaw was its inability to upscale, thus creating a nedd to have a seperate upscaling dvd player. With this update, it seems that the PS3 is now a do it all hub.

Now if they would only get some killer PS3-only titles, and drop the price by a buck or 2, they can finally send the 360 packing.
v

mutelight

I had known for a while that at some point they would be releasing an update with that feature but I wasn't aware that it would be so soon which was a pleasant surprise. Let alone be executed so well in regards to performance. For a while now I used my PS3 simply for BD playback but now I see myself going back and revisiting a good amount of my DVDs. You are right in saying that is a fantastic media hub as well as them needing to get some exclusive titles out because they truly do. (The game department is really lacking especially in regards to the 360 games which get ported over and image quality is reduced because they aren't designed for its specific hardware.)

I definitely don't want it to send then 360 packing, rather give it a good run for its money which in turn will keep each company continually improving their respective system over their lifespans. Close competition is what keeps companies at the top of their game. Not only that they both offer very different experiences in regards to features (e.g. 360 Video Marketplace vs. PS3's Home.) as well operation. (Dashboard vs. XMB)

Sherardp

Have to admit that the PS3 has become more feature rich than some stand alone players. Damn never knew they would get so many updates out for the console, good on Sony though for it, unlike microsoft with these addicting **** 360s crashing all over the place. Thats a whole new thread though, I wont vent, you guys have fun with the updates.

cheddar

Anyone tried the media streaming yet? I've been using redkawa software

http://www.redkawa.com/

to convert avi's to AVC files and transfer them from redkawa's fileserver to my ps3. Pretty good for free software. I even put a 200GB hard drive in the box, but it would be nice to have other options. Media hub is right - you can even print photos to epson printers with the new update.

mutelight

Sherardp wrote: »

unlike microsoft with these addicting **** 360s crashing all over the place. Thats a whole new thread though, I wont vent, you guys have fun with the updates.

I hear ya man, believe me, I am on my 2nd and my roommate is on his 3rd. :mad: I truly have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of my 360 and it is a great console it is just the build quality is abysmal. But you are right, that is for another thread.

Cheddar: I was thinking about messing around with that program but the MCE function on the 360 is what I use now it it works very well with transcode 360. It is cool that they added the Epson printer function as I have one myself but it isn't really practical in my case since I already have it attached and networked on my main computer. I remember that GT4 on the PS2 has the ability to print out images taken in photo mode. :cool:

scottvamp

I was just going through the motions in my head about connecting the PS3 to my projector. How am i going to get digital audio from the PS3? I do not have a HDMI preamp yet. How are you guys doing it?
My PS2 and Wii are using component. I don't remember the PS3 having a digital audio connection................

cheddar

scottvamp wrote: »

I was just going through the motions in my head about connecting the PS3 to my projector. How am i going to get digital audio from the PS3? I do not have a HDMI preamp yet. How are you guys doing it?
My PS2 and Wii are using component. I don't remember the PS3 having a digital audio connection................

Scott,

It has a standard optical out but you can only use it for DD and DTS. You need HDMI for the lossless audio formats such as LPCM and TrueHD.

scottvamp

cheddar wrote: »

Scott,
It has a standard optical out but you can only use it for DD and DTS. You need HDMI for the lossless audio formats such as LPCM and TrueHD.

Thanks, i just got home and realized it had the Optical out. Like many others i'm waiting on a solid HDMI preamp with the new formats to hit the market. Now to upload the new firmware.

cheddar

I've been spot checking a few titles and the super-bit disks really upconvert well. I mean OMG :eek:, underworld looks almost high def when before I thought it had a very soft picture.

Shizelbs

Hmmmm, I could sell off my current DVD player and be 1/3 of the way to a PS3.

scottvamp

You can dooooo it!!!

scottvamp

Shizelbs wrote: »

Hmmmm, I could sell off my current DVD player and be 1/3 of the way to a PS3.

Gears are turning.........;) Also an FYI, EB are still taking PS2's for $100 off the PS3, if that helps any.
Just revamped the Home Theater and added the PS3 with the new firmware. Starting to test everything. Setting all to 720p and setting up the new audio options. Satellite is now analog, screw those DD digital drops in audio with the HD channels. Much more consistent sound with analog and many DSP's to choose from. FUN, FUN!
So now i have the Sanyo Z4 on Projector duty, Panny on DVD, Modded Tosh on CD, PS3 multi-media, PS2, Wii and DTV Satellite. Thats alot of freaking wiring and power.:eek:

Sherardp

scottvamp wrote: »

Gears are turning.........;) Also an FYI, EB are still taking PS2's for $100 off the PS3, if that helps any.
Just revamped the Home Theater and added the PS3 with the new firmware. Starting to test everything. Setting all to 720p and setting up the new audio options. Satellite is now analog, screw those DD digital drops in audio with the HD channels. Much more consistent sound with analog and many DSP's to choose from. FUN, FUN!
So now i have the Sanyo Z4 on Projector duty, Panny on DVD, Modded Tosh on CD, PS3 multi-media, PS2, Wii and DTV Satellite. Thats alot of freaking wiring and power.:eek:

All youre missing now is a Toshiba HD DVD player my friend. After that youre GOLDEN.

scottvamp

Sherardp wrote: »

All you're missing now is a Toshiba HD DVD player my friend. After that you're GOLDEN.

All i need now is a 1080p projector. My jaw has been on the ground for the last two hours. The PS3 has just blown my socks off. Watched a couple Blu-Ray scene's, HD trailers and SD DVD's (Cars) which looks almost HD already. I'm wireless internet and BlueTooth Remote for a rear component Theater is priceless. Playing MotorStorm right now. A new slice of HT heaven today. And pizza................:D

m00npie

I use Windows Media Server on my Denon to play my lossless rips in 2.1 channel. Last night, I noticed that my PC detected a new device for Windows Media Server after I updated the PS3 to the latest version. It had not seen it before so working nicely with a Microsoft product must have been apart of the update.

The interface is much better than the Denon but the PS3 is playing the music in 5.1 and I don't feel like changing it on the receiver to play 2.1 Anyway, if your receiver has an Ethernet port and you have not looked into streaming music from your PC, this is just another way to do it for those that may be interested.

cheddar

Just a note on two advanced options that are available in the update. Every post on other websites seems to be gushing about the upconversion without mentioning two options that may significantly improve image quality for those affected.

There are basically two types of monitors in the US, NTSC TVs and Computer Monitors. Some idiot standards people decided that the US would be the only region in the world not to set black at 0 IRE and instead set black at 7.5 IRE. So blacks will not display properly if output at 7.5 IRE on a computer monitor (which conforms to international standards) and video output at 0 IRE will not display properly on an NTSC TV. This results in your video either looking washed out or overly dark.

But this update allows you to choose either limited RGB (for NTSC TVs) or full RGB (for computer monitors) to properly set your black levels in the display options. The default is for limited RGB. So this only affects people using computer monitor type displays or people like me who converted their HDTV to the larger black space.

And of course what's good for blacks also applies to whites. NTSC broadcast whites are 100 IRE and computer monitor whites are 109 IRE (super-white). Same problem. But the update has the same fix. It allows you to enable super-whites in the display options.

This is a very comprehensive video option update. They've buried some real jewels in the fine print.

scottvamp

Thanks again Cheddar i had the full RGB on and was wondering about some of the other setting. Keep the info coming. I got my PiratesOTC's in today and i am blown away with everything about these two new Blu-Rays. I also just noticed i did not have the audio set to bitstream. Oppppsss.... now the house is rocking. Are the DTS and DD tracks less compressed that SD DVD's? I am understanding they are. Sounds and looks amazing. JOY! JOY!:D
Back to the HomeTheater............

cheddar

Yes, the DTS and DD tracks are encoded at higher bitrates than DVDs. Although the theoretical limit is the same on SD DVDs, the SD versions are usually much lower, sometimes cut in half. On blu-ray, DD is at a full 640kbps and DTS is at 1.5mbps. SD is usually 400 or 800 something respectively. So DD on blu-ray actually compares well with DD+ on hd-dvd. And the DTS core from the DTS-MA encodes of Fox sounds much better than a normal DTS SD encode.

cheddar

Scott,

There are a couple of older things you can do to see what your ps3 is capable of. You probably already know about the select button that brings up the stats of movies. Useful if you want to campare different transfers to each other.

But more importantly, if you use the triangle menu while watching sony blu-rays and enter 7669, you will get high-def video calibration screens. There is a black rectangle in the lower right of the color bars that should actually be three separate smaller black bars. This only showed up correctly after I got the black levels figured out. Have fun with your gear this weekend!