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Blu-ray Profile 2.0 update coming to PS3 this month

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

March 20, 2008, 12:45 PM

Sony detailed its plans Thursday to deliver the long-awaited Profile 2.0 update for Blu-ray to its PlayStation 3 later this month. Sony expects the PS3 to have a 10-year lifecycle.

Because the Blu-ray specification was incomplete when Sony launched the format to compete with HD DVD in 2004, consumers have had to wait for more advanced features already found in the rival -- and now defunct -- format. Picture-in-picture wasn't added until Profile 1.1 -- known as Bonus View -- and Internet connectivity and local storage come with Profile 2.0, which has been dubbed BD-Live.

Sony's PlayStation 3 entertainment console already featured Internet connectivity and local storage as part of its video game capabilities, making it the only Blu-ray player that could be upgraded to the new specifications. That's one of the major reasons why the PS3 has dominated Blu-ray sales, as existing standalone players are about to become obsolete.

The PS3 firmware update, version 2.20, is scheduled to be delivered to owners before the end of the month. Movies designed for Profile 2.0, which will have a BD-Live logo on them, can make use of the Internet and local storage to download content such as trailers and ringtones, and even play movie-themed games.

In addition, the update will allow the PS3 to resume a Blu-ray movie from the point it was stopped, even if the disc is removed. However, Sony notes that this feature -- which is standard in most regular DVD players these days -- will not work with all Blu-ray movies.

Along with BD-Live, version 2.20 of the PS3 software will also enable users to copy photo and music playlists from the PS3 to Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld device. "With these regular firmware updates and future-proofed technology, SCEA is making the 10-year lifecycle of PS3 possible," stated Scott Steinberg, vice president of product marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America.

The first BD-Live enabled movies will be released on April 8 to coincide with the software update rollout. "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" and Arnold Schwarzenegger's "The 6th Day" will feature downloadable content that can be stored on the PS3.

Separately, Sony has improved the Web browser on the PS3 so it is faster and able to stream video files. DivX and WMV support has been bolstered as well with the ability to play back files larger than 2GB.

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By davidlerner

posted Mar 21, 2008 - 10:11 AM

Well its just a about time they do this. On the other hand I wont be buying a bluray player till they drop below the 200 line, even then I will really have to debate if its worth my money.

Wonder when spec 3.0 will come out? *sarcasm*

Like this? www.talkprice.net

Score: 0

By mshulman

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 5:02 PM

Has the article been edited?

Seems like a well written article stating the facts. The only part where HD DVD is mentioned is the first paragraph.

What exactly don't you like?

Score: 0

By nate

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 7:05 PM

No, it hasn't been edited.

Score: 0

By MinuteMaid

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 3:33 PM

Another sad loaded review from the king of the Sony haters, Nate Mook.

Get over it, Sony did not kill your beloved HD DVD, Toshiba did, by not including region coding and reliable DRM, and hence movie studios dumped it.

Score: 0

By marrix

posted Mar 21, 2008 - 7:10 AM

Dave,
A reliable DRM, what like a rootkit? We know you are a fool and a moron, but do you know what an oxymoron is, stupid?

Score: 0

By siryak

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 9:05 PM

You are so full of s*** it is ridiculous. The only thing in the article is the facts. Just because the facts make Sony look bad does not make him a "Sony hater." Do yourself a favor. Get out of mothers basement, go get some sunshine, and take a break from pointless b****ing for a few hours.

Score: 0

By nate

edited Mar 20, 2008 - 7:15 PM

I like Sony, they make good products. I was very fond of my first Sony Walkman. There is nothing negative about Sony in this article, unless you consider Sony rushing out Blu-ray (they've admitted they had no choice due to HD DVD) negative.

But it will be interesting to see how long it takes for Blu-ray to take off in the mainstream -- if it ever does. They've made it to 2.0 finally, but consumers haven't been willing to pay the premiums. HD DVD faced the same problem, but it had two advantages to push mainstream adoption: price and combination discs. Of course, those things don't help you when you don't have movies available, which is why Toshiba pulled the plug.

To be clear, the studios didn't dump HD DVD because of region coding and DRM. They dumped HD DVD because they received financial incentives from Sony and because they wanted the format war to be over.

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Mar 21, 2008 - 2:25 PM

Financial incentives? Prove it. Thats right you can't can you?

Score: 0

By terminalx

posted Mar 24, 2008 - 3:55 PM

and you can prove they didn't?

Score: 0

By SGD

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 6:36 PM

Sony doesn't have reliable DRM its been broken.

Score: 0

By BrokenHALO

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 5:12 PM

Don't forget he thinks Sony is EVIL. Way to be unbiased.

Score: 0

By SlapShot

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 7:57 PM

replying to yourself again dave

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 4:17 PM

reliable DRM. That's funny. Blu-Ray's DRM is just as broken as HDDVD's.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 4:13 PM

Dont forget to log in later under a different name and enforce your pathetic rantings.

Score: 0

By dvferret

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 3:50 PM

You must be talking about the FACTS that he mentioned.

Score: 0

By FubarJeb

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 2:17 PM

Is there any reason to by a stand alone Blu-ray player over the PS3? The PS3 has more features and upgradable firmware and is cheaper, than a stand alone blu-ray player. Am I missing something?

So Sony will pretty much have corner that market.

Score: 0

By theaterhelp

edited Mar 20, 2008 - 2:31 PM

Stand alone players can access dtsHD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD, can be controlled by a universal remote or automation system and look right in a standard rack space.
Also new BD players have been announced at $299 price points.

Score: 0

By snobord

edited Mar 20, 2008 - 2:46 PM

PS3 supports dtsHD and Dolby TrueHD.

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 2:21 PM

That's the whole point. Sony inflated the price of the Blu-Ray to sell the PS3. Which I also believe is inflated in the first place.

Score: 0

By labomba

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 2:09 PM

Finally the wait is gonna be over soon.

Score: 0

By Adrian79

edited Mar 20, 2008 - 1:54 PM

I love my ps3! execpt the game "armyoftwo" it has crappy fps!!

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 4:44 PM

...and the price of tea in China went down again this week...

Score: 0

By Adrian79

posted Mar 22, 2008 - 11:06 AM

really, too bad I dont live in china, or drink tea :-)

Score: 0

By WeezulDK

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 1:10 PM

"The first BD-Live enabled movies will be released on April 8 to coincide with the software update rollout. "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" and Arnold Schwarzenegger's "The 6th Day" will feature downloadable content that can be stored on the PS3."

What's the point of touting the massive storage capacity of Blu-Ray if you're not going to include the "downloadable content" and USE that capacity? I'm not talking about websites that you can pull up while watching a flick, but actual content that is meant to be downloaded and stored locally. If you're going to download something, then why have the "selling point" of such a large capacity disk?

Does anyone else find this puzzling?

Score: 0

By theaterhelp

edited Mar 20, 2008 - 2:32 PM

No. Extras are always at the whim of the studio. Not the format. Blu-Ray is just providing a feature. It is up to the studio to make use of it. Just like DVD and dts. dts has been available on DVDs for a long time but studios don't always make use of it and for that matter people who have it don't always choose to access it. About 10% of movie watchers use their extra features anyway. Besides the BD Disk capacity has nothing to do with it. They are talking about a separate hard drive in the machine like the PS3 has.

Score: 0

By pdkloeck

edited Mar 20, 2008 - 2:10 PM

Touché, I completely agree.

Score: 0

By Paul Skinner

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 5:10 PM

ARGH!

Look up Touché in the dictionary and then stop misusing it.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 7:51 PM

Unless the was commenting on the the comment to the main article, in which case he would correct. don't you think ?

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 1:09 PM

Thank god about the auto resume. I can't believe they (and by they I mean both HDDVD and BluRay) left that out.

Score: 0

By nate

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 1:21 PM

Current HD DVD players have auto-resume, but it might have been delivered via one of the firmware updates.

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 2:21 PM

Which HDDVD player will auto resume a HD disc. I have a A20, A3, and A30 (haven't taken it out of the box yet) and none of them will resume. You need to set a bookmark then you can go back.

Score: 0

By Galway

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 7:54 PM

Im quite sure the A30 would need to be unboxed and plugged in before this feature to be ascertained.

Score: 0

By yountmj

posted Mar 21, 2008 - 7:42 AM

*high five* :)

Score: 0

By Bogunch

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 3:13 PM

A three time loser????

Score: 0

By mshulman

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 5:06 PM

3 time loser?

Not if he's enjoyed movies and perhaps has picked up even more with all the great deals recently.

In case you didn't know, there isn't some special chip that stopped working in HD DVD players when Toshiba gave up.

And if he bought them at Best Buy, he'll get $50 for each one!

I've got an A2, A3 and Add on. I've also got a PS3 and blu-ray's. I feel like a 4 time winner - especially with all the BOGO's that Blu-ray had simply because of HD DVD.

I shutter to think at what I might have spent if we didn't have a format war.

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 4:20 PM

Why do you say that? My mom has the A3 and the A30 is going to our cabin. It's cheaper to buy an HD DVD player then to replace all the HD DVD's I have on BluRay. Both my mom and I have PS3's too so it's not like I'm missing anything.

Score: 0

By lilchina

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 5:29 PM

PS3 supports dtsHD and Dolby TrueHD only PCM not even capable of Bitstreaming to a 1.3 Reciever like my Pioeneer elite VSX-92txh.
As a player it's only average

Score: 0

By lvthunder

posted Mar 20, 2008 - 6:11 PM

What difference does it make which device uncompresses the lossless compressed files if they both do it properly?

Score: 0

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