New PS3 firmware brings Blu-ray bonus and more

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 20 December 2007 02:08

Your IT - Entertainment

Playstation 3 system software update 2.10 brings support for Blu-ray Profile 1.1 to the console along with additional multimedia facilities.

Discs using Blu-ray Profile 1.1 will begin to appear in January 2008. The main difference between 1.0 and 1.1 is that the latter requires secondary audio and video decoders to support the Picture In Picture feature, also known as Bonus View.

Bonus View allows the playback of supporting content such as storyboards, video commentary and behind-the-scenes clips at the same time as the main movie.

Also new in system software 2.10 are DivX and VC-1 video codecs. DivX support will be especially welcomed by PS3 owners due to the widespread use of the format for dowwnloadable content.

2.10 also tweaks the PS3's Voice Chat feature with the addition of a voice changer to alter pitch and tone.