The Playstation 3 has just received a firmware update - adding Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.1 support, voice modification, DivX support (though copyright protected files, v3.11 encoded videos and files larger than 2GB cannot be played) and WMV support.
I wrote a feature for our sister site Gizmag this morning, testing out the DivX and XviD playback capabilities that were added to the Xbox 360 as part of the recent Fall Dashboard Update. The one word version? Sweet. More at the link below.
Xbox 360 gets DivX/XviD playback, we put it to the test [Gizmag]
The rumors that the PlayStation 3 will be getting DivX functionality have been confirmed. Though many of your eyes are lighting up at the prospect of playing all that downloaded content you have stored away, there are many legitimate uses that Sony can use DivX for. With GT TV and other services Sony plans to offer, DivX integration would be a boon, saving bandwidth and storage space. Game developers can also reap the benefits of saving space with DivX encoded FMVs, though that has never really been a problem with the size of Blu-ray discs.
Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 are rumored to be getting DivX support. The PS3 support is more anecdotal, with users noticing that 2.00 firmware PS3s now recognize DivX files, display an icon and show the length of the video - although they cannot play the file.
Xbox 360 rumors are a little more substantial, with this excerpt from a routine financial earnings call with DivX setting it all off:
Coster - “Just a minor point here, but there was a recent Microsoft (MSFT) conference where I believe their media extender now incorporates the DivX codec on it, is that correct? Can you confirm that and does that mean we’re soon going to see Xboxes with DivX on them?
Hell - “Yes! that, uh, we’re in discussions with Microsoft on that at this point in time, so I can’t go into any great detail on that. Um that is not a certified, that is not a certified or licensed product at this time.”
Fingers crossed on both counts.
via Kotaku
