Foster City, Calif. — Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation 3 video game system with built-in Blu-ray Disc player now supports the Blu-ray Profile 1.1 specifications, including support for picture in picture viewing as well as secondary streams of audio and video for narrative/interactive features.
The company also said firmware 2.10 update, which supports the added capability, also supports playback of DivX and VC-1(WMV) encoded file formats.
There are currently 2.7 million Blu-ray players in North American homes today with 74 percent (2 million Blu-ray players) being PS3s, meaning that today 2 million Blu-ray players will now support Blu-ray Profile 1.1.
Sony said the new firmware update for the PS3 “makes it one of the most up-to-date Blu-ray players on the market today.”
The first Blu-ray movies to support Blu-ray Profile 1.1 in 2008 will be “Resident Evil: Extinction” from Sony Pictures, “Sunshine” from 20th Century Fox, and “War” and “3:10 to Yuma” from Lionsgate.
