Firmware 2.80’s Hidden Cinematic Feature?
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Article written by nofi in PS3 Rumours, on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 8:00.
We suggested back on the 24th of June that the latest PS3 firmware, version 2.80, has a couple of hidden features only of use to a select group of users and developers. It has “at least one thing” in it that people will want, said Gaming Age’s Jim speaking on NeoGAF, and then inferring that the feature won’t be immediately useful. We speculated at the time that this feature would present itself at some point, and this morning we think that Sony, being the audio visual company they are, might have had their eyes on getting the PS3’s firmware ready for 21:9 gaming before the competition.
The first 21:9 TV was unveiled this year and is now available if you’ve got the cash to splash, and whilst the 2560 x 1080p resolution set sounds like a blessing for movie fans not happy with black bars on their ‘regular’ widescreen TVs, game developers surely won’t pick up the better-than-HD resolution for some time. That won’t stop Sony pushing the actual XMB display out further than 1920 pixels, though – as far as we know HDMI 1.3 – the format used in the PS3 firmware at the moment – can support the resolution just fine and hopefully there’s no reason why the PS3’s OS can’t too.
Naturally there’s no evidence to support this at the moment: developers are under strict agreements not to reveal the contents of developer versions of the PlayStation 3’s firmware and the firmware itself still appears to be entirely optional (rather than pushed like the older firmware updates) so mark this strictly as a rumour just now. If anyone happens to have such a television set we’d love to hear from you (use the contact link at the bottom of every page) but in the meantime rest assured that we reckon firmware 2.80 did something, it’s just that nobody seems to know what…
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Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
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Watchful | 07/07/2009 08:23
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2037 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Extra wide TV might get rid of the black bars at the top and bottom on some films to replace them with wider black bars at the sides for everything else. I think I’ll wait until a need a new TV for 3D gaming to upgrade.
Imagine the kind of setups we could have had if the PS3 had kept the two HDMI ports that were present on the early prototypes. Multi-screen PS3 gaming!
X_Yoshy_X | 07/07/2009 17:22
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432 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
iv actually seen a preview of a 3D tv……… its brill u dont have to wair those stupid glasses
cc_star | 07/07/2009 08:51
Team TSA: Writer
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I saw a preview of the 21:9 TV the other day, it is true cinema proportions and plays films in the format they are recorded in.
Apparently you can buy Blu-ray and DVDs in this format and roughly 60% of BD movies are available, and about 45% on DVD if you’re prepared to hunt them down
As with all new tech it costs a fortune.
CaptainMurdo | 07/07/2009 09:59
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1543 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
Someone watched Something for the Weekend. The TV looked great though. Great news if the PS3 can do it.
BioEye | 07/07/2009 08:54
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841 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Surely protecters are the true future of television screens? They could resize for whatever resolution the video running is. Future projectors could also deal with 3D.
DarthSharkey | 07/07/2009 09:26
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1038 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
I’m quite happy with my black bars on screen, I don’t like how the new model looks. I’d rather have black horizontal bars for a film every now and then rather than dealing with a squashed picture or vertical black bars.
cc_star | 07/07/2009 12:12
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But the point is you don’t have a squashed picture, this is the aspect ratio that movies are originally recorded in.
Cerberus64 | 07/07/2009 14:07
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339 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Actually film are not recorded in 2.35:1 or 2.40:1, they are filmed on 35mm film and then ‘matted’ to the proportions that the Director chooses.
I’ve seen the new ‘Cinema’ displays and they look ridiculous – only fully wide-screen films will fill the display and everything else (1.77:1, 1.33:1 films and broadcast Freeview TV) will have black bars to the left and right.
killocity | 07/07/2009 09:42
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69 TSA Points | Member since: Jun 2009
Sounds like it was good timing for my current TV to go screwy. Started getting a weird red ‘mist’ over the image after about half an hour or so, which gradually gets worse. First mistook it for some colour correction on LBP lol
So if I can find a relatively cheap 21:9 TV I’ll be alright…
…hey, you can always dream :p
Kaizer83 | 07/07/2009 10:37
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102 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
You might struggle unless you consider £4500 pocket change!?!?
BrendanCalls | 07/07/2009 11:06
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc - YOHIMBÉ!!!
1156 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Have you tried changing your scart cable,
My tv started doing the same except it was greean and all that was needed was a new scart cable, worth checking unless you really want a new tv
Richie | 07/07/2009 19:20
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28 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
LBP went red on me before and it wasn’t the TV – you sure it’s your TV that’s playing up? LBP bugged at times for me and it was either the game or the PS3 doing it.
deepmenace | 07/07/2009 09:47
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245 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
ah! see now i’d love a tv like this if it had 2 separate video inputs which could have half the screen each…i remember an old sony tv a mate had did that – i could bring round my ps1 and we could play 2 player linkup wipeout on the same tv…half the screen each, a playstation each.
awesome.
other than that – i think the proportions on that pictured tv look pretty silly.
teflon | 07/07/2009 09:52
Member
1600 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
So are they going to add XMB support for all us people with 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, and 1920×1200?
Of course, none of this will affect games themselves, which will still letter and pillar box you when you play (unless you love streeeeetching).
Oh, and there are loads of films out there that dont use this aspect ratio. This might be an attempt at a solution, but aside from a slight majority of films, everything will still be letter boxed…
Delriach | 07/07/2009 11:30
Member
15 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
The last sentence makes it seem as if nobody found out what 2.80 does do visibly. The text chat limit increased to 64 characters and you can go back and forth between a game when the keyboard is activated. Before you had to close the keyboard to go back to a game as shown in this comparison video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXYxEIU5e_M
It made some changes to the text chat and that’s all we really need to worry about right now until another update comes and we get new features.
BerackyWack | 07/07/2009 12:47
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232 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I also found it made my trophy syncs alot quicker and reliable.
Jas-n | 07/07/2009 12:08
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966 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
7:6 that’s a nice ratio for split-screen
cc_star | 07/07/2009 12:14
Team TSA: Writer
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Anyone who buys an expensive new TV in advance of 3D Stereoscopic displays being available is nutcase
SiNTAX | 07/07/2009 13:10
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16 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
2.80 also blocks ‘Open Remote Play’
Snebjnr | 07/07/2009 18:50
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1532 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
That is a nice tv! =o Me likey.
Sony’s possibly moving ahead of other companies, a goos move imo
name | 08/07/2009 08:42
Member
116 TSA Points | Member since: Jun 2009
when the ps3 eventually supports 3d games.
are we going to get the option to use 3d glasses or will you have to buy a 3d compatible tv?
because i need to get a new tv,its slowly going to tv hell.