Audio Video News

Sony announced on Thursday that the next firmware update for the PlayStation 3 (v. 2.20) will add BD-Live capabilities, sometimes called Profile 2.0, to the game console that also happens to be a Blu-ray player. Scheduled for release in late March, this update will make the PS3 the first BD-Live device to become available since the format launched over a year ago.

BD-Live provides access to online resources such as trailers, bonus content, games, ringtones, and so on directly from the player, which must be connected to the Internet via Ethernet. In addition, the update will allow users to copy photos and music playlists on the PS3 to a PlayStation Portable (PSP).

Other features in the update include "resume play," which enables the PS3 to start playing a Blu-ray disc or DVD at the point it was last stopped, even if the disc is removed in the interim—though this doesn't apply to BD-J titles. Also, mosquito noise reduction will be added to the AV settings in the player's control panel—though this won't be available for discs recorded in the BDMV format. So much for standardization...

In conjunction with the firmware update, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced its first two BD-Live titles—Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and The 6th Day—both to be released on April 8. In addition to downloadable content such as theatrical and home-video previews, Walk Hard will also provide access to a video of Bill Hader as Derek Stone, a historian and expert "Coxologist."