Jun Hey everyone, you told us you wanted to hear about updates a few days in advance, so here’s a quick heads up that we have a PS3 firmware update in the works. [UPDATE: it's available today]
Firmware 1.82 is an update that enables the playback of AVC High Profile (H.264/MPEG-4) files. As most of you know, these are high quality files that you’ll now be able to play on your PS3. Hopefully this update is moving us closer to the audio playback features many of you commented about in my post the other week. We’re continuing to evaluate and improve things across the board, including PS2 software compatibility. Thanks for all of your support and feedback, keep it coming!
(Average: 4.29 out of 5)
201
+ purchaser on June 27th, 2007 at 4:50 am said:
I’m waiting for the update you allow to play AO ratings on the Sony consoles. This will be the day I grab my PS3 from the shelf.
Come on guys, make the PS3 attractive for adults.
202
+ Globox82 on June 27th, 2007 at 4:56 am said:
CAN SOMEONE TELL ME HOW TO PUT PICTURE FOR MY AVATAR?
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+ MasterCharged on June 27th, 2007 at 5:02 am said:
@213 globox82. just sign up here and then upload you picture and wait at least 24 hrs for it to show up
http://site.gravatar.com/signup
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+ kamiboy on June 27th, 2007 at 5:10 am said:
Ok, here is what I want from a future update. It is very simple. I want full mpeg2 video playback support. Right now mpeg2 support crippled by the fact that mpeg2 TS files can’t have AC3 sound and so on. I painfully transfered a bunch of HD satellite grabs from my laptop to the PS3 and before transferring them I painstakingly converted them all from mpeg2 TS to PS.
I could watch them, but it turned out that PS3 can only get 2 channels out of a multichannel AC3 soundtrack, why it doesn’t just pass it on to the receiver through optical just like with dvd’s is beyond. What is worse is that from v1.6 and on I could no longer play back those files I transfered. When I start them they start to stutter and then I get an error message.
All in all the PS3 need better video playback capabilites to be able to be called a Media Center.
205
+ Duke on June 27th, 2007 at 5:11 am said:
nice this is a wicked update keep the good news coming and add some more midway classsics online >:]
206
+ sirnh1 on June 27th, 2007 at 5:17 am said:
The playstation 3 is only getting better and better with every Firmware update.
I agree with the person who said that it’s time to discontinue the PS2…
Oh, and that browser in the Playstation3 really can use some good updates… Why don’t you guys ask the people from the opera browser to create a special version from their browser that would work on the playstation3? (They have a version for mobile phone, smartphone, desktop. They even created one for the wii. If they did that then they must be able to create a better browser for the ps3 )
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+ Calvert on June 27th, 2007 at 5:18 am said:
I would more like to see Quicktime or WMV support than this. These are the two main formats that PS3 is lacking.
Afterall, Sony Erricson mobile phones do use the Quicktime format and apparently Sony have a good relationship with Apple so I don’t see why it can’t be done at leat for Quicktime.
Please bring WMV, Quicktime and .3gp compatibility in an update soon!
208
+ linton on June 27th, 2007 at 5:30 am said:
They cant discontinue the ps2 yet – its selling waaaaay to well and they only stopped making the ps1 early 2006(maybe 2005?), i agree also that the ps3 will get better n better with these new firmware updates, being a firefox user id love to see it running on my beloved ps3 or even opera(not quite got my head round that yet), i think a lot of people still forget the ps3 is only 7 months old and 4 months old in the uk(young) and i know there are some very very good things to come from the girls n boys in sony(hooyaa!) never mind the other games companies…….
as for the video playback – BRING IT OOOOON!, there are so many types of video out there, if youcould make just half of them work on the ps3 we’d be happier, AVC is the lick – well looking forward to that.
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+ Fantatier on June 27th, 2007 at 5:31 am said:
better browser compatibility would be nice, especialy full Flash support.
210
+ zgamer on June 27th, 2007 at 5:37 am said:
Please update the scaler to output 1080i for 720p game. The PS3 downscales these games to 480p for many rear projection TVs. Thank You.
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+ cmsj on June 27th, 2007 at 6:08 am said:
This doesn’t make much sense, H.264 AVC High Profile is the format BluRay discs are in, so the PS3 can already play them. Are you saying that they are now available for playback of user-encoded files?
I’ve not examined which profile I used in detail, but all of the AVC files I’ve created thus far have played perfectly on my PS3.
What would be really far more useful to most people is support for other MPEG-4 formats such as DivX and XviD, but I expect that patent issues and fears about piracy will prevent that and force us to keep transcoding media for the PS3 :(
212
+ Hixxy on June 27th, 2007 at 6:08 am said:
What I’d like to see in future updates:
In game XMB access is definitely gonna be a must have.
Downloads to continue in background while playing games, watching movies etc. This would be a good patch as it will be required when more and more content becomes available on PSN.
AAC is supported but when connecting the iPod it cannot understand file names. Also, difficult to network from pc as Windows Media Player does not fully recognise AAC as a music format. It would be nice to be able to access my AAC library on the PS3 and also play music whilst browsing photo libraries etc.
MOST IMPORTANTLY I would like to see full RGB available through the scart connector when playing back movies. I will be getting HD but not for at least a year yet and it is totally unfair that I cannot watch DVD’s in the best quality available on SD. Even if there was some converter available so I coud use HDMI to Scart would be good, but as far as I am aware there is no such thing! So it is simply impossible for me to watch DVD’s at RGB quality!
213
+ el_equardo on June 27th, 2007 at 6:20 am said:
thanks for the update!
but, we need divx and xvid support!! your not stopping piracy by not supporting those formats.
also wmv would be nice, even if it is m$. it is not our war, we want a mediacentre that can play all formats.
214
+ tielo on June 27th, 2007 at 6:30 am said:
Great update, thanks Sony.
And now for my list:
- AVI and DIVX playback
- Update the web browser (try to go to orlandosentinel.com and the PS3 will lock).
- Backgrounds
Thanks.
215
+ Vikyel on June 27th, 2007 at 6:36 am said:
As nagus69 said,
please ad 24p “ON”
We can’t enjoy 24p with some TV wich are able to display 24p simply because this mode isn’t forced =(
216
+ liquid_dreams on June 27th, 2007 at 6:41 am said:
keep the updates rolling sony!
xvid is free so surely that can be added (hopefully)
for the other file formats that arnt free; maybe sony can get a deal to sell them on the PS Store, would be cheap for only the codecs and i certainly would buy.
i still think we need a better file system. no option to play hd files bigger than 4gig, bit poor for a HD media centre, and my pc monitor sucks compared to tv
i think a better media player would be nice, maybe one that is in one place too…….
im all for XMB in game too
liquid
217
+ BennyD on June 27th, 2007 at 6:45 am said:
cool, more ps store stuff would be good though
218
+ cduran02 on June 27th, 2007 at 6:52 am said:
Looking forward to the update, keep em comming. But what about the PSP? I own both a PS3 and a PSP. I also want some love for my PSP, what new updates are in the work for it? What type of PSN connectivity is in the works? etc.
Also on a side note, I read that Sony is redirecting their marketing efforts for the PSP to a much younger demographic. This would be a big mistake imho, Im 35 years old and I love my PSP and I would like to see more features for it that would apeal to me. Forget the DS the real PSP competition is the Video iPod and soon the iPhone. PSP is in a unique possition to actually beat Apple at portable video.
Sorry to get off topic, just felt like getting that off my chest.
219
+ jlocker on June 27th, 2007 at 6:53 am said:
Great Job Sony, I love the updates keep them coming.
I would like to see better keyboard and mouse functions, I have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse I use with the PS3 and the interface needs a little improvement with better keyboard key function support and mouse game support. The browser interface could use some work. It would be nice to have the PS3 use fairplay file support to play iTunes songs that I have purchased from the Apple. More video and audio support for DLNA. I like the idea of Samba support so my Macbook Pro could talk to the PS3 better. I think that you should lend out your PS3 systems developers to software developers for a week or two seminar to show the major game developers what the PS3 system can do in software code to make the PS3 games better then the xbox 360 system.
Would like to see a few more midway games on SOE.
I like the idea of SOE creating online role playing games, if that created a great game like Everquest, they can do it again. If you could have a game were PS3, PC and Macintosh players could all play at the same time this would be cool, this is were keyboard and mouse on the PS3 is important.
Thanks for letting me talk, if i think of any more cool things I will let you know
Thanks for the good updates.
220
+ West End Matt on June 27th, 2007 at 6:57 am said:
A few fixes for the browser would be nice such as a Google addition or some kinda search engine
221
+ ecchichuu on June 27th, 2007 at 6:58 am said:
Hey Eric, thanks for the update.
I hope you guys can put some E3 content on the PSN promptly after it gets shown at E3. Like trailers or even clips of the Sony press conference. Game sites only tend to offer low quality HD video or good quality low res video, so I’d love to get the high quality HD movies off the PSN.
222
+ KatanaKing on June 27th, 2007 at 7:01 am said:
Now this is what i’m talking about, this blog is really taking shape and i am so pleased that SONY is acutally LISTENING to what the public say and want.
Wat to go SONY, that is one of the reasons why i bought a Sony product in the first place.
Keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
223
+ jlocker on June 27th, 2007 at 7:08 am said:
Oh I remembered something, it would be nice if you could allow Draft-N USB 2.0 dongle support in the future so you could upgrade your existing PS3 to faster WIFI, which would support HD files better, the Draft-N can do 300mbps with all three antenna’s working at the same time.
Thanks
224
+ Senfgeist on June 27th, 2007 at 7:10 am said:
And what about the 24p-Update? Very many owners of LCD-TVs were waiting for an SONY PS3-Update, that forces 24p-Playback? I am disappointed, that this “simple” function is still not implemented in this update… :-(
225
+ slerch666 on June 27th, 2007 at 7:42 am said:
Can you PLEASE add support for playing other region PS2 games? If you added support for Japanese PS2 games I could sell off my Japanese PS2.
226
+ EliasAlucard on June 27th, 2007 at 8:15 am said:
Sony, please do not include AVI support. DivX and XviD support are already supported, just stop encoding to the AVI container and start encoding your DivX and XviD stuff to the mp4 container.
Here’s my firmware codec request for Sony:
* B-Frames, GMC and QPel support in MPEG-4 visual (MPEG-4 ASP).
* Support for very high AAC bitrates (they become corrupt files because the PS3 doesn’t support high AAC bitrates over 320 kbps. Ironically, the PSP supports higher AAC bitrates than PS3).
* Support for custom resolutions in mp4.
* Anamorphic Aspect Ratio support in mp4 (PAR/DAR).
* MPEG-4 Timed Text support (MPEG-4 Part 17)
That’s all for now.
227
+ afrosheen on June 27th, 2007 at 8:17 am said:
Nevermind EliasAlucard’s suggestion, we need avi support with all common codecs. Not all of us want to re-encode everything we’ve downloaded or compressed from the last 5 years.
We also need a better browser with faster Flash support. The current browser runs Flash content with all the muscle of a Pentium 90.
228
+ Moby on June 27th, 2007 at 8:19 am said:
Thanks for the heads up. I really only miss one feature. Folders. The way files are organized now makes it hard to have lots of music, videos and photos on the ps3. There should be a way to have folders to organize all. Please fix this asap.
229
+ PSheddy on June 27th, 2007 at 8:27 am said:
Though I agree with a lot of these requested firmware upgrades, like in game XMB and playing your own music, and custom backgrounds .. (Only reason is I’m saying this is because I have a reason you’re keeping a tally over there, to see how many people want certain things).. It’s great to see Sony is continually trying to improve and keep people happy…
Also shows great patience to deal with some of the people on here, and constantly being bugged with the same thing minute after minute, haha.
230
+ navysealrb on June 27th, 2007 at 8:28 am said:
No need to be an Ass, but can you guys please put up an update with a couple things we really want… i don’t care about 1 codec. I mainly want XMB-in game access with music in games… if I see that really soon, i will be extraordinarily happy!
231
+ KeanosMagicHat on June 27th, 2007 at 8:33 am said:
Very disappointed, like many others on here, that there is no talk of a 1080p24 “ON” option for Blu-Ray.
Especially as there are now two Sony manufactured standalone Blu-Ray players, the BDP-S300 and the BDP-S1E, that have a forced 24Hz ON option.
If the PS3 is not updated soon then it would appear to be more to do with marketing strategy than technical capability or user demand.
Please sort this ASAP.
Thank you.
232
+ moog on June 27th, 2007 at 8:35 am said:
These incremental upgrades are nice, and a step in the right direction. Thank you.
What I’d like to see is the artificial restriction of blocking playback of PAL DVDs in the US. The PS3 blocks them even if they’re region free.
Has it not occurred to sony that families live in different countries and send each other home movies.
Sure, I can use a cheap DVD player instead, but that’s yet another device to keep hooked up and another input lost on the HDTV.
233
+ aaquib on June 27th, 2007 at 8:38 am said:
I think I can sum it up when I say we want the following features:
-In game XMB with accessbility to Music, Photos, Friends list, and Settings
- All PS3 games upscaled to atleast 1080i
- Custom wallpapers
- More refined Playstation Store, with lots of 3rd party content
- Clock on the XMB
234
+ EliasAlucard on June 27th, 2007 at 8:42 am said:
No, we do not need AVI support. AVI is simply a container. There is already DivX/XviD support in the PS3, it’s called MPEG-4 Part 2. There is no good reason to hassle Sony for AVI support. It’s too much work, it breaks standards, and it would only hurt the industry standards, in this case, MPEG-4, if Sony added AVI support. I don’t care if you have been encoding with the AVI container for years, it’s not worth breaking standards over it.
Why do you want Sony to act like Microsoft by breaking standards?
Also, telling Sony to “never mind” my statements is arrogant. I know what I’m talking about when it comes to codecs, you don’t.
235
+ jlocker on June 27th, 2007 at 8:45 am said:
Here are some more thoughts, would like to see some namco games and other arcade games on SOE, Online needs to come up quickly to the level or closer to the level of xbox live. I would like to see some popup clock in the xbar and in the game to find out what time it is when I am playing games late at night with the lights off, like you do with popup menus when you are watching a DVD or Blu-ray movie. Other features could popup over the game and pause the game to halt the game while you read the information.
I like the idea of using your own image for the xbar background interface.
Compatibility with Apple iChat for chating online. Better email support sync with mail systems.
Thanks for the great system updates keep them comming.
236
+ gumbico on June 27th, 2007 at 8:46 am said:
XVID – for the love of god, is that too much to ask for?
237
+ spangles 2 on June 27th, 2007 at 8:47 am said:
CUSTOM SOUNDTRACKS OVER ALL GAMES. DO NOT LEAVE THIS UP TO DEVELOPERS AS THEY WANT US TO LISTEN TO THEIR MUSIC ONLY.
NO CUSTOM SOUNDTRACK EQUALS HEADACHE FROM THE TERRIBLE MUSIC IN MOTORSTORM
238
+ Darkpitiless on June 27th, 2007 at 8:49 am said:
Sony r u kidding us?????? a new update with some video codecs which is good but not enough ,im still loading my ps3 with music and getting ready for the day im gonna use them as a custom soundtrax in some game which is a dream to me ..
PLZ SONY GUYS DO THE CUSTOM SOUNDTRAX THING :”(
239
+ aaquib on June 27th, 2007 at 8:50 am said:
Oh yea, we also want DIVX/XVID video support. For you guys asking for AVI support, it’s already there. I was watching an AVI video yesterday.
240
+ Insane_Rooster on June 27th, 2007 at 8:55 am said:
I registered just to say I like Sony’s new approach to its customers.
You’re stepping down from your high pedestal and finally start to talk directly to us. We like it! (Only Nintendo left now I guess :-P)
I also like how this is not just a way to print press releases, which I hope you’ll never do here. (Don’t you dare turning this into a simple PR-machine!)
I’m liking the “new Sony”. Keep it up, and don’t be afraid to open up more. Your customers will appreciate it and be more understanding and loyal.
Of course, one can only look at some of the comments in this post, to see that some people do have some issues. I’m glad that you’re facing those difficult people head on as well. I’m mighty impressed!
241
+ Insane_Rooster on June 27th, 2007 at 9:01 am said:
Also, just to chime in on some demands:
# The friends list should be accessible in game.
# You should be able to send/read messages in game.
# You should be able to send cross game invites, i.e send a RFOM invite to someone playing Motorstorm.
I think these have higher priority than many other features, although better support for Mpeg4 is of course nice as well.
242
+ NumeroUno on June 27th, 2007 at 9:02 am said:
I agree with #244, please give us a forced “ON” option for Blu-ray 1080p24.
My TV accepts 1080p24 but fails inte the handshaking with the PS3.
243
+ klx99v on June 27th, 2007 at 9:12 am said:
It would be nice if a future firmware update could add 48p output capability in addition to 24p. Why would this be useful? Current high-end Sony TVs such as the XBR2/XBR3/X2000 series do not feature 24p input processing, but they could take 48p input without problems, thus reducing the 3:2 pulldown judder effect with BD playback.
Additionally, what is the reason for downconverting DD5.1 tracks to stereo when playing back .m2ts files from the XMB? DD5.1 plays just fine via the optical output when playing back BD disks.
244
+ SPARDA on June 27th, 2007 at 9:12 am said:
Thanks for the constant updates. This Blog is one of the best things I have seen Sony do this generation to get closer to the gamer.
Now, since I know you [SONY] are listening, please make the XBM accessible via in game for messaging and voice chat.
A perfect example on how frustrating the current set is the fact that last night I kept having to quit playing “the Darkness” to invite/message my PSN buddies to join me in an online game.
I hope his comes SOON.
Keep up the great work
245
+ nuck44 on June 27th, 2007 at 9:17 am said:
Can you make .trp and .ts files playable as well?!
246
+ WYK on June 27th, 2007 at 9:20 am said:
Wow! thanks for the update!
My wish is if possible please also support rm, rmvb format playback from DNLA servers, please…
247
+ RexNox on June 27th, 2007 at 9:31 am said:
Thanks for the information, but why is support limited to AVC?
248
+ Jayspikes on June 27th, 2007 at 9:36 am said:
SONY!!! I HAVE A BIG PROBLEM WITH MY LEXSOR LCD HDTV!!! HERES THE LINK FOR IT
http://www.lexsor.com/products/lc32w18s.htm
WHENEVER I START A GAME THE SCREEN FLICKERS AND MY SPEAKERS MAKE A LOUD CRACKLING NOISE. PLEASE FIX IT! THIS ALSO HAPPENS DURING GAMEPLAY ALSO JUST NOT VERY OFTEN BUT IT CAN REALLY EFFECT MY GAME IF IM PLAYIN AN ACTION GAME I.E RESISTANCE/MOTORSTORM
PLEASE SONY FIX THIS HDMI CABLE PROBLEM!! MANY PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF IT
GREAT WORK ON THE UPDATES THOUGH AND AWSOME WORK ON THE PS3 AND PSP
249
+ B4K4 on June 27th, 2007 at 9:37 am said:
Keep up The good work
250
+ MarkyMark PS3 on June 27th, 2007 at 9:48 am said:
Good news! Now where’s Twisted Metal?!!