PS3 Firmware 1.80 - DVD, PS2, PS1 upscaling, DLNA3 media streaming and more

LookingFor

This is most excellent news - the highlights are DVD, PS2 and PS1 upscaling to 1080p, DLNA3 media streaming from other devices and remote play with your PSP over the internet. It's available tomorrow.

http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2007/5/23-52

Latest PLAYSTATION 3 Firmware Update Provides PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and DVD Upscaling Remote Play on PSP (PlayStation Portable) via the Internet and DLNA transfer of media content also enabled London, 24 May 2007 – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) announced today availability of the latest version of the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) firmware. Version 1.80 features upscaling of PlayStation® and PlayStation 2 games, and DVD movies up to full 1080p HD resolution when viewed on a compatible HD TV set.

The capability to upscale DVDs to HD quality is a feature normally only associated with top range DVD players, and its inclusion in the latest firmware upgrade now allows PS3 owners with an existing DVD collection to dramatically enhance the viewing pleasure of their DVD collection when viewed through a compatible HD TV set1. Not only can DVD movies be enhanced to full 1080p HD quality but so too will PlayStation 2 and PlayStation games be upscaled to provide much improved gaming pleasure.

In a comprehensive update to PS3’s already impressive capabilities, Version 1.80 also allows users to enjoy Remote Play on their PSP across the internet, allowing them to access their PS3 anywhere in the world where a broadband internet connection is available2.

Version 1.80 also allows users on a home network to seamlessly view and play rich media content such as images, music and video on their PS3, that is stored on their DLNA3 enabled devices such as PCs and laptops elsewhere in the house, reinforcing PS3’s credentials as a home entertainment hub that truly deserves pride of place in the Living Room.

A host of other enhancements include the ability to print photo images stored on PS3’s hard disk or inserted storage media to a selection of Epson printers.

PS3 owners will be able to upgrade their PS3 with the latest Version 1.80 firmware from 24th May 2007.

swalsh

Woo Hoo sounds really good especially the upscaling of the ps1 and ps2 games

notahappycamper

LookingFor wrote:

This is most excellent news - the highlights are DVD, PS2 and PS1 upscaling to 1080p, DLNA3 media streaming from other devices and remote play with your PSP over the internet. It's available tomorrow.

http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2007/5/23-52

Wonder will it improve the backwards compatibility also?

Julez

Do gaming age ever release Bull$hit storys by any chance? Just sounds a bit to good to be true, don't wanna get to happy about it.

LookingFor

notahappycamper wrote:

Wonder will it improve the backwards compatibility also?

I'm guessing it probably will since they say they'll update backwards compatibility on an on-going basis.

Julez - this is on Sony's own site also: http://www.scee.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4372&NewsAreaID=2

Zombrex

Isn't the Remote Play over internet thing a pretty big security risk?

Still great news about PS2 upscaling. A reason to play GoW 2 again (as if I needed one)

savemejebus

wonder will this work on downloaded ps1 games. Wipeout looks terrible currently (though it's still a kick ass game)

Zapp Brannigan

Will the upscaling make my PS2 games play full screen on my TV. As it is when I play PES6 or GoWII there ar tiny little black borders on the edge of my screen (vertical ones).

AnCapaillMor

Wicknight wrote:

Still great news about PS2 upscaling. A reason to play GoW 2 again (as if I needed one)

My first thought when i read the article, that and watching Revengle of the sith again.

Actually i got the component cable instead of the HDMI, it supports 1080 as well, will the upscale work on this?

LookingFor

DVD upscaling won't work over component. The DVD Forum doesn't allow it, as it would make it easier to capture HD upscaled versions of movies for pirating etc, or that's the excuse at least. But upscaling of PS2/PS1 games will work over component I think.

AnCapaillMor

Feck looks like i need a DVI to hdmi convertor and HDMI cable then.

steviec

So what's the remote play actually useful for? Streaming videos?

I just don't see there being many functions that aren't going to be hopelessly throttled by the sort of upload speeds any normal broadband connection will provide for the PS3.

Still, some nice functions there, I want to play SotC upscaled! I played that game on my PS2 on a HDTV and the fuzziness was a little annoying at times so it'd be nice if it's upscaled properly.

LookingFor

AnCapaillMor wrote:

Feck looks like i need a DVI to hdmi convertor and HDMI cable then.

A straight up HDMI-to-DVI cable would do the trick. Just make sure it's HDCP compliant.

steviec wrote:

So what's the remote play actually useful for? Streaming videos?

Yeah, that and music/photos. You actually have pretty full access to the XMB from your PSP with this, at least in the local version. You can even go into the PS3 browser and the Playstation Store with it, start downloading things etc. Video streaming would likely be the most bandwidth intensive feature, and that'd probably require some decent up-bandwidth. I think Sony's locationfree hardware requires something like 350kbps to allow for video streaming, so this would probably be about the same.

Over time it would be nice if there's a sleep mode for your PS3 that allows remote play too.

Skyuser

I am missing something? A DVD upscaled to 1080p......what is the need for blu-ray then? Just more space....

monkeyfudge

Skyuser wrote:

I am missing something? A DVD upscaled to 1080p......what is the need for blu-ray then? Just more space....

Because a regular DVD isn't mastered at 1080p... but if it's an older film then it won't have been filmed in high definition either.

As such there isn't much point buying older films on Bluray, as the upscaling is doing just about the same job.

ricey

upscale ps1 games to 1080p lol

pyzon

I've a Bravia 32" V-Series TV which only allows 720p/1080i - will the upscaling work to these, I ask as there is only mention of upscaling to 1080p and nothing else on the way. cheers.

Ciaran500

monkeyfudge wrote:

As such there isn't much point buying older films on Bluray, as the upscaling is doing just about the same job.

Any good HD-DVD/Blu-ray release of an older film will be remastered from the orignial film and will give you more detail.

pyzon wrote:

I've a Bravia 32" V-Series TV which only allows 720p/1080i - will the upscaling work to these, I ask as there is only mention of upscaling to 1080p and nothing else on the way. cheers.

It'll work fine

notahappycamper

I've updated - has anyone actually noticed a real improvement in picture quality?

You would probably need to tellys side by side one with the old update and one with the new running the exact same application to notice any real difference.

culabula

notahappycamper wrote:

I've updated - has anyone actually noticed a real improvement in picture quality?

You would probably need to tellys side by side one with the old update and one with the new running the exact same application to notice any real difference.

Really? Does this update exist? I tried at 0300 this morning and there was nothing. Does the PSP need to be updated too? Remote Play is what I've been waiting for....whoo-hoo.

pyzon

ok upgraded this morning and went to try the dvd upscaling with a harry potter dvd and the polar express.

When I played the DVD the display went to 576p (component quality!!!) blegh I thought!. [the Bravia shows you what mode you are in when it changes in the top left of the screen]

Soooooooooooo...not giving up I grabbed the PS3 remote DVD controller and pressed [options]-->[image quality settings] and would you believe it there is an 'upscaling' option that was turned 'off' by default - switched it to on and immediately the TV switched to 1080i and the image greatly improved!!!

As it's a 32" I guess I don't require the full 1080P as I sit about 10-12 from the TV anyway.. excellent feature!! Can't wait to try LOTR on it!

shinzon

aye fell into the trap of not actually turning the upscaling on, but by god when ye do its bloody brilliant, and the upsacling on ps2 games is brilliant with a smoothing option as well, gow 2 never looked as good, if this is the quality of the firmwares that sony are going to release in the future then things are looking way up

Shin

jamieh

Version 1.80 also allows users on a home network to seamlessly view and play rich media content such as images, music and video on their PS3, that is stored on their DLNA3 enabled devices such as PCs and laptops elsewhere in the house, reinforcing PS3’s credentials as a home entertainment hub that truly deserves pride of place in the Living Room.[\QUOTE]

Hey all,

I don't have any DLNA3 enabled devices but is it possible to stream music\video over my wi-fi network, or do I have to buy special kit to do that?

Kiith

I've seen a few pictures of the difference, and it seems to be pretty good. Its another reason for me to go buy one. SotC will look even better now. Kudo's to Sony for this.

anto1208

jamieh wrote:

Version 1.80 also allows users on a home network to seamlessly view and play rich media content such as images, music and video on their PS3, that is stored on their DLNA3 enabled devices such as PCs and laptops elsewhere in the house, reinforcing PS3’s credentials as a home entertainment hub that truly deserves pride of place in the Living Room.[\QUOTE]

Hey all,

I don't have any DLNA3 enabled devices but is it possible to stream music\video over my wi-fi network, or do I have to buy special kit to do that?

Ive no idea what a DLNA3 is but if you download ORB it might help you use your PS3's internet browser to link onto your machine and watch stuff i reckon its more trouble than its worth to be honest .

Shadow of the colossus looks like a completely different game with the upscaling. It looks awesome, a new excuse to play through it again. They also made MGS:Subsistence playable which is excellent, now i would be really happy if they could get the hitman games working on ps3.

jones

this is great news! for once sony is getting good press!!!! i didnt think they would ever enable upscaling - or else they would and it'd be horrible

WarZoneBrother

am i the only person that cant update? btw im using ps3 atm upscaling seems class anyone tried pes6?

Zapp Brannigan

WarZoneBrother wrote:

am i the only person that cant update? btw im using ps3 atm upscaling seems class anyone tried pes6?

Tried PES6 this morning? Didn't notice any difference? Maybe I havent turned it on or something?

WarZoneBrother

Slurms wrote:

Tried PES6 this morning? Didn't notice any difference? Maybe I havent turned it on or something?

ye probably not...got update anyway seems class..

Desecrator666

My GoW2 is still playing at 576p even with Upscaling turned on.
Also, my Wireless signal keeps on going down then coming back on.
Only started happening after i updated.
Anyone else experiencing this?

xanthor

Mixed results; Wip3out looks marginally better. As for DVDs, Spiderman looks very sharp, LOTR pretty good, Bladerunner barely any improvement at all.

LookingFor

jamieh wrote:

Version 1.80 also allows users on a home network to seamlessly view and play rich media content such as images, music and video on their PS3, that is stored on their DLNA3 enabled devices such as PCs and laptops elsewhere in the house, reinforcing PS3’s credentials as a home entertainment hub that truly deserves pride of place in the Living Room.[\QUOTE]

Hey all,

I don't have any DLNA3 enabled devices but is it possible to stream music\video over my wi-fi network, or do I have to buy special kit to do that?

You don't need any DLNA devices as such - if you want to stream media from your PC, you just need to install media server software like TwonkyMedia, TVersity or Nero MediaHome. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, different people have reported different levels of success with them. TwonkyMedia seemed to work well for me, but I was only able to playback files that the PS3 itself supports. If you want to playback files other than just those PS3 supports (e.g. DivX/XVid), you need something like Nero MediaHome, since it has a transcoder in it that will convert video on the fly to a format the PS3 can playback. It seems to work well for videos in SD resolutions (i've got SD divx vids streaming to my PS3 fine), but most PCs would probably be too slow to do it in realtime for HD videos.

Also, I'd recommend people trying out the "RGB Full Range" option, changing it to Full, if you have a HDMI or HDMI/DVI cable. It makes a huge difference on my LCD, colours are much better, blacks are much blacker.

Gerard_Smith

Kiith wrote:

I've seen a few pictures of the difference, and it seems to be pretty good. Its another reason for me to go buy one. SotC will look even better now. Kudo's to Sony for this.

Could you give a some links to the pictures?

Dac51

Backward compatibility list seems to be updated too. I can now play my PS2 copy of Black on the PS3. Couldn't do this last week!:D

When I go into the upscale option in the display settings I get a number of options (Normal, Doublescale, Full etc.) What is the difference between these and which is the best?

WarZoneBrother

Dac51 wrote:

Backward compatibility list seems to be updated too. I can now play my PS2 copy of Black on the PS3. Couldn't do this last week!:D

When I go into the upscale option in the display settings I get a number of options (Normal, Doublescale, Full etc.) What is the difference between these and which is the best?

would also like answer to that question

bush

Desecrator666 wrote:

Also, my Wireless signal keeps on going down then coming back on.
Only started happening after i updated.
Anyone else experiencing this?

Same here, its doing my head in.

LookingFor

Gerard_Smith wrote:

Could you give a some links to the pictures?

There's a good set of comparisons here:

http://www.gameswank.com/content/view/116/1/

Got everything set up with Nero MediaHome for streaming..really cool, can access everything on my PC with my PS3 now, even has thumbnail video previews and album art etc. Still trying to figure out the best way to do transcoding though.

notahappycamper

Dac51 wrote:

Backward compatibility list seems to be updated too. I can now play my PS2 copy of Black on the PS3. Couldn't do this last week!:D

When I go into the upscale option in the display settings I get a number of options (Normal, Doublescale, Full etc.) What is the difference between these and which is the best?

Is "Black" now playing perfectly with no issues at all? Sony (as of now) haven't updated the BC list yet!

Are there any PS2 games that people have tried that are still not working after the update 1.8?

anto1208

LookingFor wrote:

jamieh wrote:

Also, I'd recommend people trying out the "RGB Full Range" option, changing it to Full, if you have a HDMI or HDMI/DVI cable. It makes a huge difference on my LCD, colours are much better, blacks are much blacker.

I found that as well last night , i tallways got me that the blacks where kinda dark grey rather than black but now its much better .

Is that all you do for the upscaling thing is that and in the dvd section there is an upscaling section i set it to full ?

notahappycamper

Also, Is MGS 3 the 3 disc set enhanced version working does anyone know or just the basic MGS 3?

Gerard_Smith

LookingFor wrote:

There's a good set of comparisons here:

http://www.gameswank.com/content/view/116/1/

Got everything set up with Nero MediaHome for streaming..really cool, can access everything on my PC with my PS3 now, even has thumbnail video previews and album art etc. Still trying to figure out the best way to do transcoding though.

Thanks.

Kevin2006

Dac51 wrote:

Backward compatibility list seems to be updated too. I can now play my PS2 copy of Black on the PS3. Couldn't do this last week!:D

When I go into the upscale option in the display settings I get a number of options (Normal, Doublescale, Full etc.) What is the difference between these and which is the best?

Normal is the best option. Ive tested all 3. Other boards are saying the same.

bush

Its not possible to go back a firmware is it? I cant get online at all since this update, im crackin.

Desecrator666

This update is really wrecking my head.
I can't have the pc and ps3 on at the same time cause my wireless signal keeps on dropping and then coming back on rendering the streaming of music and photo's pointless.
Any suggestions???????????????

Kevin2006

bush wrote:

Its not possible to go back a firmware is it? I cant get online at all since this update, im crackin.

No u cant..

bush

Im going to throw this ps3 out the window. My PC, 360 and DS all connect to my wirelles router. This ps3 is giving me nothing but jip. Im starting to regret buying it. 700 bucks and I cant even play a few games online.

Desecrator666

Presumably its only happening if you have a Linksys Router.
I've had to disable the Media streaming as i can't have the pc and ps3 on at the same time.
Sony better release a fix for this or i'm gonna kill someone.

Dac51

notahappycamper wrote:

Is "Black" now playing perfectly with no issues at all? Sony (as of now) haven't updated the BC list yet!

Are there any PS2 games that people have tried that are still not working after the update 1.8?

It plays almost perfectly. There is a glitch where you get stuck in one spot i.e. cannot move forward or backwards and you have to restart the mission.:mad: This has only happened to me twice. Otherwise just lock and load and get stuck in!:D

WarZoneBrother

Desecrator666 wrote:

Presumably its only happening if you have a Linksys Router.
I've had to disable the Media streaming as i can't have the pc and ps3 on at the same time.
Sony better release a fix for this or i'm gonna kill someone.

I have a Linksys router and its working 100%..

notahappycamper

Dac51 wrote:

It plays almost perfectly. There is a glitch where you get stuck in one spot i.e. cannot move forward or backwards and you have to restart the mission.:mad: This has only happened to me twice. Otherwise just lock and load and get stuck in!:D

Thanks. Yeah, What happened to me is that I kept turning round and around and I couldn't stop!!

Anyone know of any PS2 games that are not still working after this latest update?

Is MGS 3 (3 disc set version) working ok?