Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on January 01, 2010 at 13:22:10

In Reply to: RE: an url link to the info regarding said limitation, if u please... posted by jeromelang on January 01, 2010 at 07:01:57

In order to transmit the full 1080p 3D resolution (two 1920x1080 streams), you need an HDMI v1.4 chipset. All versions of the PS3, from the first 60GB to the latest 250GB model, only have a (version of the) HDMI v1.3 chipset. Like transmission of the advanced audio codecs for the pre-Slim models, full 1080p 3D transmission is a hardware limitation that cannot be circumvented by a firmware upgrade. In the link below, there is press release material and discussion. In the press release, notice the line "The specification is also designed to allow the PS3 to play back Blu-ray 3D content in 3-D.". How can it be done without an HDMI v1.4 chipset? The new Avatar game achieves its 3D presentation by decreasing the resolution to 960x1080 and thus makes (logical) sense as to how Sony will upgrade the PS3 to transmit 3D movie material.

What's rather sad is that some people will endlessly post their hopes that a firmware upgrade will allow what it takes hardware capability to do. Probably many of the same people who held on for an advanced audio codec transmission upgrade through firmware. Some people have even posted that the PS3 is capable of processing 2 HD streams at the same time, so it may be possible. What they seem to forget is that the PS3, while capable of processing 2 full HD streams at the same time even to this day, was shown outputting the video to two displays in pre-release. In its pre-release state, the PS3 had 2 HDMI connections. The release PS3 only had, and to this day still has, 1 HDMI connection. So, while the cell processor is capable, the hardware is not capable of such an output.

See the chart at wiki (about the middle of the page) for a table re: what each version of HDMI is cable of providing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

• PS3-D info   (Open in New Window)