PS3 Firmware Update v1.80 Impressions

The PlayStation servers have been getting hammered all morning, as it took unusually long to download this firmware update. I think everyone is pretty excited for the new features added.

There’s some new menu options now to help with the new features. Under Settings, there is now a Game Settings option, which allows you to change the PS1/PS2 Upscaler settings to Off/Normal (Default)/Full Screen and also allows you to change PS/PS2 Smoothing either On/Off (Default). I set mine to Full Screen and Off. Under the BD/DVD Settings option, there is now an option to change the DVD Upscaler settings from Off/Double Scale/Normal (Default)/Full Screen. I left this one at Normal. There’s also a Printer Settings option to allow you to setup and configure a printer connected via USB to your PS3. This one doesn’t seem like a huge benefit for me. Finally, under Network Settings, you have an option to Enable/Disable the Media Server Connection.

Moving right along, there is now at least one new option added under Photo, Music, and Video. The first is Search for Media Servers, which will browse your LAN for any streaming servers. For me, I already had one detected, which most people will as well: Windows Media Player. That’s right, your favorite hated media player’s sharing capabilities will work perfectly with the PS3. Just make sure you tell WMP11 (you need version 11 to get the media sharing features) where all your files are, so it knows what to share. There’s many other media server applications out there, like Twonky Media, which may be a better fit than Windows Media Player as it supports more codecs.

Now, how does it actually work. Surprisingly well! The media streaming is quick and easy. I had to go into Windows Media Player and allow the PS3 (it shows up as Unknown Device). Once that was all done, I was easily browsing my Music, Photos, and Videos from my PS3 to stream across the LAN. I ran into a problem with video streaming, as none of the file types I have are compatible. This could potentially be a problem, as Sony hasn’t really provided a good way to encode videos that work on the PS3. I have H.264, XViD, DiVX, Windows Media, and MPEG files that didn’t want to share very well with the PS3. I will say this could be due to Windows Media Player not supporting or allowing streaming of these codecs. I will be trying Twonky Media a bit later. Hopefully Sony addresses this. I also ran into a bit of an issue with getting to my music files by Folder. You can’t drill down too far, and apparantly my iTunes folder is too many levels deep (Documents and Settings -> User -> My Documents -> My Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Music -> all music folders). I can’t select iTunes Music. Oh well, I might have to move that around a bit. Selecting All Music or any other search feature does load up everything, so it’s not too much of a problem. Streaming over wireless was speedy with no noticeable lag.

The upscaling feature is terrific as well. DVDs look better than on the Xbox 360 Elite over HDMI at 1080p. It’s fairly well known the 360 DVD player isn’t that good, and I’ve preferred the look from the PS3 for DVDs even before the upscaling. Now they look even better. Doesn’t match the level of my Oppo Digital reference player, but that isn’t expected from a console. Either way, it does come close, and I will be using the PS3 as my main DVD player. As an extra bonus, all videos you downloaded from the PlayStation Store will now upscale to your maximum resolution. Videos that once showed at 720p are now running at 1080p on my HDTV. On the games avenue, it’s like breathing new life into your old games. God of War looks fantastic in 1080p. Here’s a bit more good news: the upscaling works on the PS1 Classics you download from the PlayStation Store. I fired up Crash Bandicoot from my hard drive to see it rocking out in 1080p. Kudos on that one, Sony.

Overall, I think this is a terrific update for the PS3. Because of the ease and speed of streaming, I will most likely use the PS3 as my new media center if I can get the file type issue working with Twonky Media. Otherwise, I’ll stick with the 360.