In a post to PlayStation.Blog, Peter Dille, Senior Vice President, Marketing & PLAYSTATION Network, lists a number of updates, games, and features coming to the PlayStation3 in 2008. The one I’m most interested in is the long-awaited downloadable content. Sony has been talking about providing real, full-length entertainment video downloads (not just trailers and such) for a while now, and it sounds like it is finally getting close:

Many of you have been hearing rumblings about a video service that will allow you to download full-length TV shows and movies via PLAYSTATION Network for North America. While I don’t have any new announcements here for the PlayStation Nation, it’s already been confirmed that we’ll be offering a video service for PS3 in a way that separates the service from others you’ve seen or used. Ultimately the goal of the PLAYSTATION Network service will be to break through the overwhelming clutter of digital media to give you the TV, movies and gaming content you want. More on this very soon …

I’m very curious as to what Sony will offer, especially if they offer HD downloads with better quality than what the others are offering today.

Just last night (or this morning) I posted about word that DTS-HD MA (and the lesser DTS-HD HR) support would be coming to the PlayStation3 in a future release. Well, now comes word that that ‘future release’ will be the next release, 2.30. DTS themselves has confirmed the inclusion of DTS-HD MA in the next PS3 firmware update, to be available April 15, 2008. Again, it is almost certainly going to be internally decoded and output as PCM - no bitstreaming.

The 2.30 update will also include a major overhaul to the PlayStation Store, and it looks a lot better. Joystiq has images of the new store, and PlayStation.Blog has a walk-through video and also confirms the inclusion of DTS-HD MA and DTS-HD HR. Hey, Ben Drawbaugh, would you recommend the PS3 for Blu-ray now?

Picked up from EngadgetHD.

Blockbuster is rolling out Blu-ray to all of the corporate stores in the US and Canada, as well as select franchise locations. They’ll be installing Blu-ray kiosks in over 5,000 stores. The kiosks feature a 42″ HDTV and a PS3 for playing Blu-ray movies, and will help introduce customers to the features and capabilities of Blu-ray, They’re also adding a Blu-ray preference setting to the Blockbuster online rent-by-mail service.

They dropped a press release to tout the changes:
Read the rest of this entry »

AV Watch managed to sit down with the PlayStation3 firmware developers and came away with some interesting information. Two of the features that are in the works are 1080 deinterlacing and DTS-HD MA support on Blu-ray. DTS-HD MA is the only BD audio codec not currently supported by the PS3, so support for it would make the PS3 the most comprehensive Blu-ray player available. Now, due to the HDMI hardware limitations it will almost certainly be handled like Dolby TrueHD, internally decoded and output as PCM. There are a number of other details about the current and future software, the Beyond3D Forums and PS3 Fanboy both have summaries (in English).

Picked up from EngadgetHD.

Well, that was fast. Less than a week ago Sony announced that the PlayStation3’s 2.20 firmware would include BD-Live support, amongst other things, and it is now available. So gentlemen, and ladies, start your upgrades!

Via EngadgetHD.

Sony has announced that the next firmware update for the PlayStation3, 2.20, will include BD-Live support, aka Blu-ray Profile 2.0, and it will street in ‘late March’. Since there are only 11 days left in the month, that means we’ll see it very soon. In one fell swoop this will make the vast majority of Blu-ray players in the world BD-Live capable, which should encourage more studios to make use of the technology. And it should help put pressure on the standalone player vendors to step up and release BD-Live enabled decks.

Unfortunately, this firmware update does not include the hoped for addition of DTS-HD Master Audio support. DTS-MA is the one major audio codec the PS3 lacks. It will internally decode Dolby TrueHD and output it as uncompress PCM, but there is no support for DTS-MA at this time. The PS3 will not bitstream TrueHD, and this is believed to be a limitation of the HDMI chipset used. So it is unlikely that the current PS3 HW could ever bitstream TrueHD or DTS-MA, but it could internally decode DTS-MA and output the uncompressed PCM, as it does with TrueHD, for the same end result. Perhaps Sony will update the HDMI chipset in future PS revisions to allow bitstreaming.

BD-Live isn’t the only addition in 2.20. PSP owners will be able to copy their photo and music playlists from the PS3 to the handheld. And there are other new additions:

• “Resume play” will enable PS3 system to start playing a Blu-ray disc and DVD at the point it was stopped, even if the disc had been removed.(*1)
• “Audio Output Device” will be a new Remote Play setting, enabling PSP to serve as a remote control for music played through PS3.
• PS3 system’s Internet browser will be enhanced: Video files directly linked from a Web page will be able to be streamed, and the browser’s view speed will be improved.
• DivX and WMV format videos that are larger than 2GB will be playable.
• “Mosquito Noise Reduction” will be added as an AV setting in the control panel of the DVD/BD player for improved movie playback.(*2)

*1 BD-J format disc is not supported.
*2 BD discs recorded with BDMV format are not supported.

Here’s the full press release:
Read the rest of this entry »

Dave Zatz spotted another PS3 deal from Sony. This time around you get $100 back if you apply for a new Sony Card and purchase a PS3 at any authorized retailer. Actually, if you read the fine print it looks like you don’t necessarily have to purchase a PS3 - though Sony would clearly like you to. It looks like the $100 card credit applies to your first single purchase with a total of $299 or higher, even though the promo material repeatedly stresses the PS3.

Your first single sales receipt purchase equal to or greater than $299 (”Qualifying Purchase”) will automatically qualify you for a $100 card credit and will be posted to your Sony Card statement within 8-12 weeks from Qualifying Purchase.

They’re also offering 12 months of no interest financing on all purchases over $299 made within the first 45 days the account is open. Be sure to read all the offer details and fine print if you’re interested.

Sony’s semi-official ThreeSpeech blog has posted a video teaser of the forthcoming PlayTV add-on for the PlayStation3. The PlayTV is a DVB-T dual-tuner USB module that gives the PS3 TV tuning and recording functionality. As previously announced the PlayTV will be released first in European countries, with other DVB-T territories to follow. To be clear, DVB-T is not used in North America, we use ATSC. So the PlayTV, as announced, will not work here. However, there have been rumors of an ATSC version.

The video provides a few brief glimpses of the PlayTV UI. Looks like pretty standard fare, though I am intrigued by the thumbnail navigation of recordings. That’s something I haven’t seen before. Personally I don’t think it is as useful as titles - I’m far more likely to remember the title of something than I am a 15-second clip of the show - but it is interesting. The built-in place-shifting over the Internet to a PSP is also a nice feature.

One thing though, it seemed to be a glaring omission, but the video doesn’t mention scheduled recordings at all. They show an EPG, tuning live TV, and mention recording what you’re watching now - but not a word on setting up scheduled recordings. There’s also the question of the PS3 recording if it is doing something else - like gaming or playing a BD/DVD. I’d suspect the answer there is no, since PlayTV is utilizing the PS3’s CPU.

Picked up from PVR Wire @ TV Squad who noticed it at TG Daily.