Sony confirms PS3 will be able to play 3D Blu-ray

[Clare Newsome]

Yep, just come from the Sony press conference here at CES, and they confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will be able to play 3D Blu-ray discs - as well as 3D games - via a firmware upgrade.

Story on all the other Sony announcements - including 3D TVs, 3D Blu-ray player, home cinema systems and more - to follow in our News section

 

[d4v3pum4]

The PS3 just gets better and better with each evolvement.

 

[Anonymous]

A major problem though Clare will be the inability of current receivers to passthrough a 48Hz or 120Hz 3D signal. Unless 3D manufacturers make their players with dual HDMI outputs (one of which can carry HD audio +/- 2D picture to a receiver, with the other carrying the 3D picture direct to a 3D TV), I and I suspect many others will be sitting this one out for a long time. The other option is to utilise the audio passthrough feature of HDMI 1.4 TVs - i.e. audio being passed through the TV, to a receiver.

Panasonic have gone even more bonkers, proposing to make their 3D blu-ray players with a single HDMI 1.4 output, completely incompatible with current HDMI 1.3 displays, even for 2D conent. That's really gonna persuade uptake, good one chaps!

 

[JonnyD]

How likely is it then, that other Sony Blu-Ray players (360 760 etc) will also be compatible after a firmware upgrade??

 

[Anonymous]

d4v3pum4:The PS3 just gets better and better with each evolvement.

The PS3 is indeed a remarkable piece of equipment

 

[Andrew Everard]

amita: Panasonic have gone even more bonkers, proposing to make their 3D blu-ray players with a single HDMI 1.4 output, completely incompatible with current HDMI 1.3 displays, even for 2D conent. That's really gonna persuade uptake, good one chaps!

Surely an HDMI 1.4 output is back-compatible with earlier versions: it'll just deliver lower-spec content such as standard HD TV into a non-3D device.

 

[Anonymous]

You may be right about that one Andrew. The potential problem with receivers still remains though.

 

[Andrew Everard]

I'm sure the next generation of receivers will be able to handle the content, and some may already be able to pass it through to a TV, even if they can't process it. Not that I'd imagine you'd want to use a receiver's video processing with one of the new 3D capable players; or if you would, probably only for lesser content.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

I may be one of the few who just can't get excited about sitting at home wearing 3D glasses

For me the whole 3D at home shreiks of "Betamax syndrome"

 

[professorhat]

I agree for films - having seen Avatar I did enjoy the 3D experience in the cinema on the big screen but can't help but feel it just wouldn't really work at home unless you were using a projector and there doesn't seem to be any talk of 3D projectors.

3D games on the other hand could be interesting...

 

[Andrew Everard]

D.J.KRIME:I may be one of the few who just can't get excited about sitting at home wearing 3D glasses

Couldn't agree more, however whizzy the Panasonic glasses may look...

 

[Anonymous]

It's not the video processing features of my AV receiver which i'm concerned about. Rather that if I can't connect a 3D blu-ray player to the receiver (so it can handle the HD audio, while passing through the video to the TV), then that makes my receiver redundant for HD audio, at least as far as 3D blu-rays are concerned. The current crop of AV-receivers may not even be capable of 'passing through' a 3D picture signal due to the 48Hz or 120Hz nature of these signals.

 

[Andrew Everard]

No specific information issued on that as yet.

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:
I agree for films - having seen Avatar I did enjoy the 3D experience in the cinema on the big screen but can't help but feel it just wouldn't really work at home unless you were using a projector and there doesn't seem to be any talk of 3D projectors.

3D games on the other hand could be interesting...

The 3D Gaming does sound very interesting. I am sure Gran Turismo 5 was delayed especially for 3D.

 

[bballtom]

You can get 3D gaming on a PC now with a new monitor, glasses and graphic cards, will be good to see how popular it is. Would love to have a go, looking to build a new PC myself but can't really afford 3D at the moment.