PS3 can now play Blu-Ray movies at 720p, thanks to 1.8 (it’s official)

May 24, 2007 Carl Nelson

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Naturally, this 1.8 system update just keeps getting better and better. We told you about the 1.8 features that everyone knows about, we told you about the feature that nobody expected. We told you about some wacky workarounds that the 1.8 update introduces, allowing streaming media from your PC to your PSP.

We were getting reports from some people that the 1.8 update was allowing people to play Blu-Ray Disc movie content in 720p. I tried it, and it looked like it worked (my TV doesn’t display current resolution; it’s a native 720p screen), but I wanted to get the official word on this from Sony before reporting it as truth.

As it turns out, yes, the Playstayion 3 now downsamples Blu-Ray content to 720p, and it is official. Why is this a good thing? For people (like me) with a smaller LCD TV (mine is 32″) which has a native resolution of 720p (well, 1366×768), we can now have the PS3 downsample the movie to 720p, keeping it as a progressive stream (60 fps). This is preferable to having the TV downsample a 1080i image, and also deinterlace it. Along with new Blacker Than Black support and Whiter Than White, the PS3 just became an even better Blu-Ray player.

So there you have it; +1 to Sony for adding another unexpected bonus in the 1.8 update.

Now, if they could only do the same for PS3 games…

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Filed under: Video Game Hardware

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Comments

Matt
Posted on May 25th, 2007

no mention to the fact that ps3 fans in dvd/bd up/down-scaling mode now are much noisier

Suzanne
Posted on June 6th, 2007

How do I get the Blu-ray movie to start in the PS3? I put in the movie and get the screen for selection but it won’t allow me to select play or anthing else.
Thanks

andrew
Posted on June 22nd, 2007

when i put a blue ray in now the screen goes black and it says it can’t find a signal… it worked fine before the update! what the hell

Joseph
Posted on December 6th, 2007

Same as Andrew, Superman worked before, but when playing Pirates 3 I get a no Signal.

andy
Posted on December 11th, 2007

i have the same problem, can’t play Pirate 3 on my PS3. i wonder anyone know what happen to my PS3?

clark
Posted on December 22nd, 2007

same exact thing here. i got my ps3 today and it instantly started doing online software updates. after updates finished, i put in pirates 3 or spiderman 3 and it kicks off and then the tv goes into “no signal” mode. once i eject, the ps3 menu pops back up. plays ps3 game and regular dvd’s ok, though. weird.

Flea
Posted on January 11th, 2008

So I had the same problem too. I rented Pirates 3 and it wouldn’t play, saying no input. So here’s what I did to make it work.
Under BD/DVD Settings, i changed the BD 1080p 24Hz Output (HDMI) setting from automatic to OFF. Then played the blue ray disc and it worked! Hope this helps!

tom
Posted on January 15th, 2008

mine does the same thing… i’ll try your method out flea. does that mean it wont play in 1080 if you turn it off??

ruben
Posted on April 3rd, 2008

you are the man!!!! the same thing happened with the movie troy tried what you said and the movie worked thanks!!!!

Josh
Posted on August 25th, 2008

I tried your suggestion flea, but my PS3 still won’t play Blu-ray or regular DVD’s, but it luckily will play games. And when I put the movies in the screen goes black like it’s loading the disc, but doesn’t do anything further, it locks up and I have to shut it off completely to get it to unfreeze.

youngstah
Posted on November 1st, 2008

i heard that if you download an update and it loses a connection, the ps3 doesnt keep track of the contents adn can sometimes corrupt the data in the Bios rendering the blueray player bad. Not sure what the remedy is.

Scott
Posted on November 10th, 2008

Flea You ROCK!!!

glenn
Posted on November 10th, 2008

THANK YOU FLEA!!!!
I wish I would’ve found your post about 4 hours ago…
I just bought a new Pioneer receiver and a PS3 and trying to troubleshoot different components was driving me insane…

thanks again!!

Adam L
Posted on December 3rd, 2008

Ya i got the same question cause I had to do what flea suggested , it worked but does it mean it wont come in full 1080i .

Xercxes
Posted on December 16th, 2008

Thanks for that mate.

I think I would’ve got it eventually but you saved me a shitload of time.



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