backtop

Gadgets DivX Playback Coming to the PlayStation 3
Marcus Yam (Blog) - November 13, 2007 3:08 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 51 comment(s) - last by EclipsedAurora.. on Nov 15 at 5:44 AM
PlayStation 3 will soon support DivX video playback

The PlayStation 3 is a media hub like few others. It can handle high-definition movies, upscale DVDs, read pictures from memory cards, not to mention play PlayStation games. And it seems that soon the PlayStation 3 will gain the ability to playback DivX-encoded media.

DivX Inc. today announced that its video technology will be integrated into the PS3, adding to the over 100 million DivX Certified products shipped into the market.

"We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring DivX to PS3," said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. "Our technology will expand the multimedia functionality of PS3 by enabling users to enjoy access to the broad library of content in the DivX digital media format."

DivX is currently working to certify its software on the PS3 and current PS3 end users will be able to add DivX functionality to their systems via a separate system software update at a forthcoming date.

Furthermore, game developers are now able to utilize DivX's decoder technology in the latest version of the PS3 Software Development Kit. Of course, with the whopping 50GB made available to developers thanks to Blu-ray Disc, one has to wonder if video compression is yet necessary.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Just Divx or Divx HD?
By Mitch101 on 11/13/2007 4:28:53 PM , Rating: 3
Will this be Divx only or will it support Divx HD? If its can do Divx HD then I might consider a PS3.

Can you stream media to the PS3?

I wonder how Microsoft will respond to this? This is a big announcement.




RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By SirLucius on 11/13/07, Rating: 0
RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By Torched on 11/13/2007 5:18:08 PM , Rating: 5
PS3 is a DLNA device and can play a stream from any DLNA server. So yes it is built in as of FW1.8 I believe.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By Torched on 11/13/2007 5:18:56 PM , Rating: 2
RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By SirLucius on 11/13/2007 5:33:00 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah I realized that was poorly phrased. I meant that Sony doesn't provide it's own streaming software similar to TVersity. You have to go to third parties.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By Torched on 11/13/2007 6:40:41 PM , Rating: 2
WMP11 with the latest updates works as a DLNA server. You just need to own a licensed copy of Windows.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By SirLucius on 11/13/2007 6:48:24 PM , Rating: 3
The problem with WMP is that it doesn't support formats like FLAC and ogg. Certain video formats aren't supported either. Most people over at the Playstation forums use TVersity because it supports all media. You're right though, I forgot that WMP does work.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By MGSsancho on 11/14/2007 5:18:25 AM , Rating: 2
installing dbpoweramp fixes the flac and ogg issue, yet the point of third party software withs the argument =/


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By Funksultan on 11/14/2007 7:38:26 AM , Rating: 2
Lucius, the PS3 fully supports streaming.

I think the feature you're referring to is "transcoding", which is the realtime conversion of one format to another, and serving of it.

Streaming just means fostering a stream of data (in this instance, video).

TVersity rocks, as does Nero Home. Still, DivX support is gonna be great. HD is implied, as it's just a resolution. There's nothing else mysterious about "HD", we're just talking about lines of resolution. :)

D


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By rmaharaj on 11/14/2007 10:19:44 PM , Rating: 1
It's not implied - many set-top DivX Ultra certified devices do not support DivX files with resolutions in excess of 480p. Thus, I would not consider a DivX-certified device to support HD content unless it is explicitly stated.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By FITCamaro on 11/13/2007 4:53:56 PM , Rating: 2
According to the net, Divx support might be coming to the 360 soon as well. So I may not need to buy a PS3. :)

Of course now it's looking like TVersity can accomplish everything I want anyway. Will be looking into this when I get home tonight.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By sibbor on 11/13/07, Rating: -1
RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By MGSsancho on 11/13/2007 6:36:02 PM , Rating: 3
ehhh with out tvversity the ps3 is crap for streaming. audio is fine and video, only mpeg2 (which tvversity transcodes every video file to and sends it as mpeg2) and some mp4 files play on it. it really isn't that useful. unless you enjoy tie up the resources on your comp and saturating your LAN (~70mbs when you set tversity to 1920x1080). for some yeah i guess great awesome. but the quality is dismissal even with a HD source. its nice to watch your videos on a big screen yeah i admit. but not that great.

I dont use a 360 so i cant say on its media playback capability. but the product list its a media center extender, interesting.

but personally, the PS3 for media is a joke. great for dvds, bluray, and mp3s. i haven't tried flac, ogg, ac3, aac, or wav. im sure wav will work but i have not tried it so i can not vouch for it. anyways thats my experience. oh and i would not call the PS3 silent.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By aos007 on 11/13/2007 7:13:13 PM , Rating: 2
I've been using TVersity and yes, there's just too many problems right now. It crashes left and right, though there's a new update as of this morning I haven't tried yet. Also, as you say PS3 also isn't silent enough for critical music listening, though it's good enough for casual.

However, the photo support is really excellent. And music support could be considered acceptable. It's only video that right now can at best be considered beta.

Network bandwidth isn't really a problem - the PS3 DOES have a Gigabit network jack and it really does work as such.

It's better for media playback than Xbox360, there's no contest there (noise factor for 1st gen of both alone is enough to make a decision). But I still keep a HTPC next to my TV - which can be made silent or nearly silent and yet have more power than either.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By mars777 on 11/13/2007 7:30:56 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
PS3 also isn't silent enough for critical music listening


The 40GB version is less than 30dB so it should be much more silent.

It's a bad that it doesn't play PS2 games but... for me that isn't important...


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By FITCamaro on 11/13/2007 7:54:27 PM , Rating: 2
I just set up TVersity. Streamed my media just fine and the quality was the same as the actual file. And they were direct from DVD rips and converted to Divx. Had to let it buffer for a few seconds but after that, was good to go.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By sibbor on 11/14/2007 4:43:07 AM , Rating: 1
A PS3 can happily stream directly from Windows Vista, due to the Windows Media Connect. It also works with WMP11, just like the Xbox 360: "To share media from your PC running Windows XP to your console, you must have media sharing software installed. Currently available media sharing software includes Windows Media Player 11, Zune, and Windows Media Connect." (Source: www.microsoft.com)

A friend of mine was visiting my place with his PS3. He plugged it into my network. Guess what? My two computers, both Vista driven, was found by the PS3 and put into a list of "streamable units"... I think it was the same list as where you browser for files or so... Can't recall it correctly.

Either way, he was able to stream w/o installation of TVversity - which I/we havn't even tested.

And yes, the PS3 is silent compared to a lot of "media hubs" and consoles out there. And this is the old model; the new 40GB model with 65nm Cell... it should be even more silent!


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By FITCamaro on 11/14/2007 9:35:12 AM , Rating: 1
As far as noise is concerned, I really don't know what people are talking about with the 360 being noisy. Unless you're watching your video with the sound muted, you can't even hear it. Yes the DVD drive can be a little loud but again, unless there's almost no sound, you can't hear it.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By BZDTemp on 11/14/2007 12:35:11 PM , Rating: 2
Either you're deaf or have the 360 in a different room :-)

Seriously - my 360 is so loud that I find my self turning up the volume to drown the noise and that's even when playing racing games.

Looking at how the things is build and comparing it with the PS3 it is clear why the 360 is loud.

- The DVD drive in the 360 must spin faster than the Blue Ray one in the PS3 to deliver data at a acceptable speed.
- The PS3 uses a huge fan so it can run much slower and fan noise raises exponentially with fan speed.


RE: Just Divx or Divx HD?
By darkpaw on 11/14/2007 4:17:27 PM , Rating: 2
Is this something limited to the older 360s? Mine is also very quiet. Seems to be a little cooler then my PS3 as well *or maybe the 360 is just trapping more of the heat*.

If I run my PS3 for a long time, the whole area around it gets quite warm.