Betanumerical
Veteran
I tried out the noise reduction on a couple of low resolution, low bitrate XVIDs/DIVX videos didn't seem to actually do anything.
Firmware 2.41 available... *
- Thread starter patsu
- Start date
I tried out the noise reduction on a couple of low resolution, low bitrate XVIDs/DIVX videos didn't seem to actually do anything.
I think you'll find the improved video is a part of Sony's integration of the cutting edge Placebo technology. They've integrated it into all firmwares and this fabulous system provides all sorts of minor upgrades at very little developer cost. Great stuff!
Okay, maybe there really is a video upgrade, but it can be easy to fool your head into perceiving things that aren't there. A shiny new firmware, especially one that isn't rigorously documented, is likely to 'create' all sorts of little improvements.
Okay, maybe there really is a video upgrade, but it can be easy to fool your head into perceiving things that aren't there. A shiny new firmware, especially one that isn't rigorously documented, is likely to 'create' all sorts of little improvements.
In 2.41 (and 2.40) it is now possible to enable noise reduction for video other than DVD.
Video
- You can now use the [Frame Noise Reduction] and [Block Noise Reduction] settings for video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media.
- You can now play upscaled video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media. When the video content is played, it is upscaled automatically to fit the screen size.
I checked some avi's in my HDD too, and with those settings enabled, it cleaned the videos noticeably.
It's no placebo, the improvement is there at least for video that's on your HDD or other removable mass media: I'm not sure if they improved the DVD upscaling too, haven't tried any yet with the new firmware, and I doub't if I'd be able to reliably tell the difference anyway.
I think they actually did something this time though. I had a test case all ready, in the SD Fast Time At Ridgemont High dvd, theres a scene in a classroom where there are vertical blinds on a window. When I play the dvd, it looks fine (well, as 'fine' as a regular dvd can look). Prior to 2.40, when I'd play the same scene from a .vob file I dumped from the same dvd, there would be flickering on playback. Now though, that flickering is gone when playing back the .vob.
On the other hand, it looks like they broke divx. I have a bunch of divx files that worked prior to 2.4, and now no longer work
I'm now convinced that the worlds hardest tasks are 1) world peace, 2) cure cancer, and 3) being able to properly play back video files on a video game console. Why this is such rocket science I'll never understand.
Just to be clear, I wasn't saying they hadn't, so much as 'be aware of the placebo effect'. Any case where someone says 'PSN seems a bit faster' or 'the browser isn't quite so slow' - without actual comparisons, is quite possibly just people's imagination, or some other improvement (less people accessing the service for example) rather than a firmware upgrade to the system.
Really can't complain about this update after playing around with the game specific stuff.Sony is listening which is good.
Now get a comprehensive video service going and it will be where I expect it to be. Some titles I really only want to watch on Blue-Ray but most are more than fine at SD quality upscaled,so the downloadable movies will be good.
Now get a comprehensive video service going and it will be where I expect it to be. Some titles I really only want to watch on Blue-Ray but most are more than fine at SD quality upscaled,so the downloadable movies will be good.
Uncharted Trophies mid-August
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/16/naughty-dog-uncharted-trophies-coming-very-soon/
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/16/naughty-dog-uncharted-trophies-coming-very-soon/
That's nine months off. 
I remember even flOw was delayed at one point (Shifty made some noise about it)
Did a quick check. November 2007 was 2.0x where we got custom XMB themes and Remote Start.
2.10 was DivX, VC-1 support and BD 1.1. (Dec 2008)
2.20 brought BD-Live and PSP Playlist Sync (Mar 2008)
2.30 was DTS-HD and PS Store (Apr 2008)
2.40 was in-game XMB and trophies. (Jun 2008)
We finally got the Video Store (also long talked about since last year) yesterday.
They said this FY's focus, starting April 2008, is PSN. Hopefully we will get more goodies in Aug and Oct 2008.
Since the in-game XMB multitasking framework is released, I expect higher level PSN updates to go quicker. Besides Home, they have also announced "Life with Playstation" by end of the month. I think Home beta is supposed to be expanded this month too.
EDIT: I remember reading about a new beta sign up site for Europeans last week. Perhaps it is related to the Home beta.
I remember even flOw was delayed at one point (Shifty made some noise about it)
Did a quick check. November 2007 was 2.0x where we got custom XMB themes and Remote Start.
2.10 was DivX, VC-1 support and BD 1.1. (Dec 2008)
2.20 brought BD-Live and PSP Playlist Sync (Mar 2008)
2.30 was DTS-HD and PS Store (Apr 2008)
2.40 was in-game XMB and trophies. (Jun 2008)
We finally got the Video Store (also long talked about since last year) yesterday.
They said this FY's focus, starting April 2008, is PSN. Hopefully we will get more goodies in Aug and Oct 2008.
Since the in-game XMB multitasking framework is released, I expect higher level PSN updates to go quicker. Besides Home, they have also announced "Life with Playstation" by end of the month. I think Home beta is supposed to be expanded this month too.
EDIT: I remember reading about a new beta sign up site for Europeans last week. Perhaps it is related to the Home beta.
That may very well be the case. Even for the trophy support I'm making fun of, the delay was probably due to in-game XMB and usability concerns without it.
Apparently, Play TV is also in firmware 2.41!
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=191896
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=191896
Not sure what you mean by that, but DVB-T is mpeg2 or h.264 etc in mpeg2 transport streams, so basically the unit can just save it to disk as it gets it. No encoding or anything cpu intensive like that is needed.
