Sony: PlayStation 3 will support Full HD 3D

Apr 23, 2010 11:24 AM

There’s been speculation that Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console won’t be able to support “Full HD” 3D resolutions, or dual 1080p video stream for each eye, because of its legacy HDMI 1.3 connector. (That's also true of some cable and satellite settop boxes.) But Sony says that the second of two planned software updates will enable the PS3 to support Full HD resolution for playback of 3D Blu-ray movies.

However, there's one caveat: To enjoy the movies in full 1080p resolution, your TV will have to be able to accept 24p input. Most new TVs can accept 24p signals, but many older model may not.

The first firmware update, expected in a month or two, will provide support for 3D games, which will be in 720p (dual 1280 x 720) resolution. Sony is developing 3D games to coincide with the launch of its Bravia 3D TVs early this summer, so it's likely the first update will occur in the same time frame.

The second update, which could be as late as the fall—Sony hasn’t yet announced a firm release date-- will enable 3D movie playback from the system's built-in Blu-ray player. Sony says the firmware will update the HDMI 1.3 connection to support the mandatory Blu-ray 3D formats required by HDMI, including:

“Frame-packing" 1080p (1920 x 1080p/24Hz)
“Frame-packing” 720p (1280x720p/60Hz)
“Frame-packing 720p (1280x720p/50Hz)

The 3D format being used by Sony for PS3—“3D over HDMI”—supports only a subset of the full HDMI 1.4 specification. However, Sony says the PS3 upgrade enables “frame-packing,” a term indicating that both the left-and right-eye images are packed into one video frame with twice the normal bandwidth. Cable and satellite boxes will use either a side-by-side or top-bottom format, where left and right images are packed into a normal single video frame. As a result, either the horizontal or vertical resolution of the images has to be cut in half to fit within the frame.

Sony also says the PS3 will be able to output the side-by-side and top-bottom formats, but it won't support 1080i/60Hz for 3D. So to receive the full 1080p 3D resolution, your TV will have to accept 24p input from the PS3. Since 24p output is a feature on all Blu-ray players, most newer TVs should support this. You'll have to check the TV's menu to see if that's an option.

We're looking forward to upgrading the firmware on the PS3 we have in our labs as soon as the updates are released, so check back here for our reports on how well the PS3 works for 3D games and movies.

—James K. Willcox