PS3 firmware 2.80 avaiiable

[patsu]

Not a big update according to the official blog:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/06/23/ps3-firmware-v280-update/

People are looking for hidden improvements now. Some claimed faster in-game XMB access. I'm still at 3% download.

 

[Arwin]

Apparently there are all sorts of performance upgrades, for Trophy comparing, in game XMB and such. I've just installed it now and personally the thing that strikes me most right now is that the web browser seems quite a bit faster again. Maybe they improved the overall netcode, or maybe they just tweaked a whole lot of smaller bits. But the browser is definitely a bunch faster. Also the update may in fact be optional this time - at least that's what I'm reading on GAF. I also just updated, didn't get a notification.

 

[Grall]

I've wondered ever since the feature launched, why exactly the in-game XMB is so slow to show icons. And why it is that even though quit the current app is always the top button in the first column that appears, but you can't click it for several seconds until the little spinning arrows have changed into a proper icon... Blah. When they fix THAT, I'll upgrade in an instant!

 

[patsu]

Yes Arwin. I think they optimized the browser because they reset my home page
... and it does feel faster now, Youtube pauses less often. However when I quit the browser, it crashed the PS3. Subsequent access seems fine.

The Trophy comparison is snappier too. [size=-2]Holy cow, inefficient is at level 12; highest I have seen yet[/size]

I've wondered ever since the feature launched, why exactly the in-game XMB is so slow to show icons. And why it is that even though quit the current app is always the top button in the first column that appears, but you can't click it for several seconds until the little spinning arrows have changed into a proper icon... Blah. When they fix THAT, I'll upgrade in an instant!

I believe it depends on the app/game. e.g., If you press the Playstation button in Photo Gallery, the XMB pops up immediately with all the icons intact. Most games probably gives in-game XMB the least amount of memory to run. So you'll have to wait for 4 icons to load.


It looks like Photo Gallery had to re-cache something. May be they updated the file system (cache) ?

 

[vazel]

With people claiming every update improves speed I'd expect the XMB and browser to move at the speed of light by now.

 

[Arwin]

With people claiming every update improves speed I'd expect the XMB and browser to move at the speed of light by now.

In this cases it's always wiser to assume that the initial speed for some of these things was, well, slow. By comparison, I don't think you'll ever hear anything about improvement in the speed of image rotation in the picture viewer, for instance.

 

[patsu]

... or quite simply, there were a few performance regressions over time. Things don't have to happen in one direction only.

 

[vazel]

In this cases it's always wiser to assume that the initial speed for some of these things was, well, slow. By comparison, I don't think you'll ever hear anything about improvement in the speed of image rotation in the picture viewer, for instance.

And they still have been slow like they have always been. The current update is still installing on my PS3 we'll see but I'm not going in with expectations.

 

[Arwin]

Well let me know what your experiences are!

 

[vazel]

Browser speed/rendering is still the same, no difference from when I was using it for the past week because my desktop GPU is on the fritz. And it still struggles with hulu video. In-game XMB is the same too.

 

[Grall]

I believe it depends on the app/game. e.g., If you press the Playstation button in Photo Gallery, the XMB pops up immediately

Photo gallery isn't a separate app tho, it's part of the "OS". Every actual application I've tried the in-game XMB with it takes the same amount of time for the icons to appear (as well as I can judge with my own eyes anyway).

Most games probably gives in-game XMB the least amount of memory to run. So you'll have to wait for 4 icons to load.

The icons should be preloaded. I shouldn't have to wait. Or at least I should be able to quit the game without first having to wait for the damn icon to show up...

 

[patsu]

Hmm... I got disconnected from PSN 2-3 times for the past 30 minutes.

Examiner has a brief writeup. Not sure how they learned about the improvements:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-...iner~y2009m6d23-Firmware-280-Release-Tomorrow

There are a few fixes to increase performance such as faster Trophy synchronization and faster XMB loads.

 

[patsu]

Photo gallery isn't a separate app tho, it's part of the "OS". Every actual application I've tried the in-game XMB with it takes the same amount of time for the icons to appear (as well as I can judge with my own eyes anyway).

What do you mean by not a separate app ? If you press ^, you can uninstall it like Life with Playstation. But in the latter, it takes time to load the icons while Photo Gallery doesn't.

The icons should be preloaded. I shouldn't have to wait. Or at least I should be able to quit the game without first having to wait for the damn icon to show up...

Well, if there's not enough available memory given to the in-game XMB, then the images probably won't be pre-loaded.

 

[vazel]

Then it looks like Photo Gallery is the only lucky app. There is the same icon lag in SF2 HD Remix and Puzzle Quest which aren't exactly demanding games.

 

[patsu]

It's probably by design rather than luck

e.g., The PS Store has a different behaviour when you press the PS button.

 

[vazel]

Obviously. I was being sarcastic because you earlier said it depended on the app/game and how most games probably give the in-game XMB the least amount of memory(I believe the in-game XMB is part of the allocated OS memory). It's apparent that the icons have to be loaded in no matter how many resources the game is using.

 

[patsu]

???

In Photo Gallery, the XMB icons are preserved. There is no network loading for the icons at all. Try it yourself.

 

[vazel]

I'm talking about in-game.

 

[patsu]

[more confused] Life with Playstation is not a game, but it still has the brief lag for loading the icons. 2D games like Everyday Shooter also has similar lag. A 2D app like Photo Gallery should have lag too. I'm just saying perhaps it's possible for the dev to overwrite the default behaviour.

 

[vazel]

*Sigh* I knew i should've mentioned that too but I thought it being complex 3D rendering(and thus treated like a game) it would be obvious. But okay thanks for pointing it out it's a problem with Life with PlayStation too.

The Photo Gallery is a true app. And even though it can be uninstalled I do think it's more closely integrated with the OS. When you delete it the icon is still there.