UPDATE: The Firmware 1.90 update is available now; I’ve also included an update below that addresses some of your comments here.
Firmware 1.90 brings with it several new features, many of which readers of this blog have requested – I’m happy to report.
Customization is one new feature: you can now personalize the wallpaper on your XMB with a photo. This was one of the top three requests we received via the blog’s contact form. When viewing a photo, simply bring up the options screen by pressing the triangle button and selecting “set as wallpaper” from the options displayed. Additionally, you can now change the order of the games displayed under the game icon on the XMB.
Another new feature focuses on added communication elements: When you’re sending messages to friends on PLAYSTATION Network, you can now use emoticons. We’ve added a bunch of emoticons that can be easily accessed from the virtual keyboard. Also, another cool addition is, when an avatar is displayed during voice/video chat, the avatar will move in response to audio.
Finally, on the more technical side, you can now play AVCHD videos saved on a Memory Stick or digital video camera, and we’ve added the ability to upscale audio CD output from your PS3. Now, there are two requirements for this feature: the device you’re outputting to must support a sampling frequency of 88.2 kHz or 176.4 kHz, and your PS3 must be connected to that device with an HDMI cable or digital optical cable.
Oh, and one more thing: you can now eject discs using your controller by selecting “Eject Disc” in the options menu after you push the PS button.
Several other minor options will be included in 1.90 including a few new display options that will allow you to adjust your display while playing PlayStation, PlayStation2 and Blu-ray movies.
We’re working on additional features for our next update that will incorporate more of your feedback, so as always thanks for all of your support, and please keep those suggestions coming!
[UPDATE]
The link on the SCEA website is now live, you can get the full info on firmware 1.90 here. Also, I noticed a lot of your comments were directly related to accessing XMB features in-game. We understand this is something you want and we are working on it. For the sake of keeping all the comments below on topic, please understand that we hear this request and are working toward a solution. When I have some more info to share on this, know that I will do so here on this blog.Now, with all of that said, thanks for the feedback. I decided to address some of the consistent comments in the body of this post instead of within the comments. One thing you have noticed is that under sorting your games, when you sort by creation date, it sorts by the date you downloaded the content. Sorting videos is done by the date that the videos were added to your hard drive. You can also ‘go-to’ a specific time in any of the videos on your HDD, by hitting triangle and then selecting the specific time from the clock at the bottom.
Something a few of you have noticed as well is that you don’t need to have the SIXAXIS controller connected to PS3 through the USB cable anymore to complete the update, which I know is something some of you were asking for.
Wow.
Wallpapers.
Emoticons.
Thank god this update is something substantial.
Heaven forbid there be…..demos….or more games for PSN….or anything.
C’mon guys…. this really isn’t the place to spam your immature crap. Sony knows you guys want that so just shut it until they respond. Posting it over and over a million times is just going to annoy the blog viewers.
Please ban them Sony plskthx.
I saw only one comment talking about the problem with the 24hz with “old” Full HD and HD ready TV,LCD,Plasma or projector. The best thing to do for the firmware 2.0 is to update the blu Ray setting with a 48hz for 720p and 1080p and every body will have fluid Blu Ray disc without “judder” effect. 24hz is out of range for thes diffusors where 48hz would be the best way to watch a blu Ray Disc. I hope.
It looks like the single best feature they omitted to mention.
They added the ability to “go to” in videos. It’s immensely useful and far better than wallpaper and emoticon crap they are touting.
@Nephlabobo
You know there is a demo or 2 coming this thursday so I dunno why your complaining still.
Yeah it might be 600+ comments but did you see the time frame in between each comment? Not much of a gap in between so there could be 10 comments made at 1 time. So the fact there are alot of comments doesnt mean that they are all meaningful. So the point of X amount of comments shouldn’t factor in on how fast someone will reply to us.
I don’t know where I can post this but I would like to see an option to turn on automatic downloading of free stuff… I think it would be great if you could set the system up to download the items that are free on the Playstation store, and with enough options you can even tell it to grab only the new items, etc… :)
@638
I’m not sure auto-downloading would work out so well. Works ok on 360 since it’s downloads are pretty fast. On PS3, it’d take hours to get you that free demo of Nucleus.
Er… 631… sorry… that’s weird, I coulda swore it said 638…
I appreciate the update and am looking forward to applying it. I find that this process is much more benevolent than the PSP updates that seemed like thinly veiled security lock-downs. Beyond that, I imagine that the XMB access in game would be hard to implement but there is obviously a demand for it.
I think you need to look at updating the browser first. Primarily, how about a flash player and the ability to download videos. That is really driving me nuts. I imagine that Sony wants to keep their HD hardware showing only HD images/videos. But c’mon! There is a ton of HD content out there now and no practical way to get it directly to the PS3. Copying it down to the PSP and then across to the PS3 seems archaic.
Get on that.
Applied the update last night and was very impressed with the ‘helpful’ button icon appearing on the bottom right hand corner of the screen now for those not as familiar with the XMB that is good to see.. I was also impressed that there is a sort option for the Games icon, however, a grouping feature would also be nice. Lastly, can we get the ability in the future for the ‘Themes’ to customize the brightness, translucency and contrast for the XMB icons? Some of my backgrounds make it so that the XMB is not easy to see anymore. Thanks!!
Oh i dunno who mentioned it in the previous 630+ comments but you CAN indeed trim your wallpaper and a couple other things. So I guess that works out well for you.
@621
I agree with you about creating folders… that would really clean things up in the XMB when you have a ton of games/demos and videos on there.
Dear Eric Lempel;
I just wanted express thank you for the most recently firmware update 1.90
However I would have loved the ability for installable theme packs based upon your Playstation 3 Software Library.
On the Playstation 3 any time you allow the cursor to hover over a software title, for example take Dynasty Warriors Gundam. An animated short of the game’s trailer appears along with a new wallpaper is displayed.
Another good is example is Ninja Gaiden Sigma Six when the cursor is left over the game Blu-Ray Disc Icon. Another animated trailer is played along with picture of game main character is displayed.
In addition improved mouse support should be a must for both Sony’s Home and Playstation 3 web browser.
Well I know if you have an external hard drive attached you can do the same thing as the Media thing (forgot what its called but your connected to your PC) and create folders from your PC to show up on the PS3…but creating from the PS3 would be easier to do just from the XMB i would figure
there is no new in-game options ?. the best thing is the Wallpaper option ;(
Dear Sony Representative;
I just wanted express thank you for the most recently firmware update 1.90
However I would have loved the ability for installable theme packs based upon your
Playstation 3 Software Library.
On the Playstation 3 any time you allow the cursor to hover over a software title, for example take Dynasty Warriors Gundam. An animated short of the game’s trailer appears along with a new wallpaper is displayed.
Another good is example is Ninja Gaiden Sigma Six when the cursor is left over the game Blu-Ray Disc Icon. Another animated trailer is played along with picture of game main character is displayed.
In addition improved mouse support should be a must for both Sony’s Home and Playstation 3 web browser.
Hey we need a 2nd page of comments started!!! The sidebar isn’t even on the side anymore its more of a corner bar :-P
Great update!!
… now if you can just do something about the PSN friend list limitations!! How’s about allowing us to add folders with additional PSN friends for games that require us to use the PSN list as our ingame buddy list (such as R6:Vegas). Soon people will be creating multiple PSN ID’s for various games in order to get around the 50 person restriction (people such as myself are already doing this) – this simply gets confusing! I can understand that you may want to limit message traffic… so how’s about the 50 friends can message you… but sub folders only show messages when you access them (like having a second ID… you have to log in as that ID to get messages). This would provide a clean, useable interface.
More and more people are going to run into this problem… better to deal with it now, rather than deal with people that have multiple PSN ID’s and the resulting problems this could create!
Thanks!
How about a larger friends list? 50 is just no where near enough.
Automatic video thumbnailing like in many desktop operating systems these days. I perfer the thumbnailing in Linux’s nautilus file manager, which represents aspect ratios and more very well with the icons. Film borders on the icons with a small overlay of a format logo would be nice too. ^^
Another thing that would be nice is a grid layout option for media. If you had auto thumbnails and a small caption below you could find movies faster. I think I have over 100GB of series now, so browsing by thumbnails is very useful. You can have dozens of episodes in a season, and you might not remember the name of a certain show number.
Another cool idea would be to bring back DVR — perhaps ala the PSX. I seem to recall it did have a recorder feature. It’s possible with PS3Linux now, but it would be nice to have an officially supported tuners for the Playstation 3 OS. Perhaps sell the software over PSN.
ok I don’t have 50 friends on my PSN list..probably cuz i’m not much of a fan of multiplayer but umm…yeah when Home comes around, I’m expecting a larger friends list for obvious reasons
one request that i like
by playing any game we can put music
i would like to have that also
that mexico appear in countries please
THIS IS GOING NO WHERE THEY MIGHT AS WELL CLOSE THIS POST… 645 POST?????
Eric,
The new firmware update has broken the web browser. Now when I enter in text in the dialog box the [Alt] + [Enter] function doesn’t work and I have to press start on the control pad to close it.
Furthermore when I do that the browser automatically sends the data even if I have other text to input in other fields on a web page.
This is annoying because I’m not unable to log onto web forums because I can’t bring up the “cancel” option fast enough.
Generally speaking though the web browser is in serious need of repair/update. It’s crippled, broken, and overall kind of sucks.
Do us all a favor and dump Netfront in favor of Firefox or Opera or something.
Awesome update as usual. Loving the wallpapers, finally.
I have a quick question for the posters here. Is it possible to change the regular BG color of the PS3, like with the PSP? I looked around a little, but didn’t see an option for it.
Yay! finally wallpapers :)
I hope you release wallpaper packs on PSN Store, i would spesificly like to have the wallpaper that loads when i select The Darkness Demo on the XMB.
or how about just having a “save background” option when highlighting demos/games and pressing triangle?
[…] customers will receive the update “in the next few days” according to […]
I say I need folders for photos. I have now 350+ photos that I got on the forums for Wallpaper, and there is no way to separate them from the family photos I also copied onto the PS3. I can live with for now, but folder-making option in the future please.
how about a sony ps3 messenger
Wow that was fast and sooner that expected, yesterday I got the surprise that it was already available. Thanx again
I’ll take these frequent updates any old day over the bi-yearly 360 updates… rock on.
Just a note… but I too am having problems with the web browser since the update. On some sites it runs fine… but for example on the GAP website, I can’t click on the links to access the individual blogs – it just goes to an error and a white screen.
?????
Is it me, or did Sony remove the comments copy and pasters wrote on here? If so, thats the greatest thing to happen on this blog. I’m sure most are aggravated by the comments some leave here repeating the same feature more than 20 times on one comment. Thank you Sony!
@ 627
Nope it changes automatically with the corresponding month/time of day. Currently the way to set is is adjust your clock/calander to correspond with what you like.
So for exanmple if your home always at night and see the black background set it 12 hours ahead and youll see it as if you were there in the morning.
By the way, it would be really cool to get a double dip this week getting Heavenly Sword and Ratchet and Clank demos since both are complete. I’ve never been into Ratchet and Clank games, but seeing how the PS3 version is turning out to be, I may just enjoy it now. The demo would really help for those who haven’t experienced this franchise.
@Dave Karraker
Are we going to see this demo this week or next week on the PSN?
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/07/24/ratchet-and-clank-demo-hitting-ps-store-shelves-soon/
I’d say atleast 30 comments were taken down and yet still no response from Sony about our concerns…or even so much as a “We’re sorry but we had to remove posts so we look better in the public eyes”
Oh well…still doesnt change the fact that we know the posts were up…all almost 650 of them…and Eric Lempel and Sony still ignoring us…what else is new!!!
@Eric Lempel
Dude…if your going to ignore us can you at the very least have someone else come on here to comment on something…ANYTHING!!!…please!!!!
i hope we get the new MGS4 demo footage
@ EViD
I hope so. This slow DSL in my office does not cut it. Its taking forever to buffer. I’m going to have to wait until I get home. What would be even better is having it down loadable this week on the PSN, along with the Heavenly Sword demo, and hopefully the R&C demo. Boy would that be a good treat for the week.
Thank you very very much. I love the custom backgrounds stuff! You guys DO listen and I love that. Now all we need is custom music and creating new folders for photos so it’s not sorted by month or year.
I’ve been happy with these updates, but there’s one small thing. How about music playback from mass storage devices? I cannot find a way to play an album in track order from a mass storage device, unless you remove the metadata from the files… even if you name the files starting with the track number, it OVERRIDES the file name order by alphabetical track title.
I don’t run any computer all day long just to use DLNA, so an external drive is an ideal media solution until the price of NAT with a built in DLNA server comes down a bit…
i think that it would be cool if we could listen to music no matter where we are and that we could use a picture as our avatar that would be cool……
it would be nice to get a response…
Thank you for the support of the Guitar Hero Guitars in the previous firmware updates. I’ve been very pleased with the 1.8s espically the new DVD fast forward controls.
While Guitar Hero 1 works great, Guitar Hero 2 is hurting on the PS3. Buttons are mixed up, tilting the guitar doesn’t activate star power, and power ons also don’t work. The pelikin adapter only fixes the mixed up buttons. The new 80s version might share the same problems as GH2.
I would be grateful for a fix to that.
Thanks
Firmware ideas:
*During DVD/BD playback, map the six-axis ‘Select’ button to the DVD/BD “Menu” option.
*Allow users to custom assign the on-screen DVD/BD remote options to six-axis buttons, just like in a game.
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WOW. I just now tested the update in action and I’d like to sincerely thank Eric Lempell and the PSN team. This update is awesome! I can now be on the browser or watching a video, while messaging my buddies. That is a very valuable feature to me. The fact that when I set group content to artists, it actually stays there is great. Wallpaper feature is pretty sweet, and my PS3 looks a lot more classy with the VISTA background. All in all, great update Sony. The next update, hopefully, brings more goodies, and thank you very much for your continued dedication to the platform.
I would just like to be able to put all of my pictures and videos in folders I create/edit That’s all I want. I have dozens of videos that I have downloaded from the PS Store and I don’t want to have to constantly look down the list for that one video in the middle. I don’t know if it’s a memory thing or something but I really would like to be able to make any folder that I choose. Thanks.
A number of people have commented that they would like a resume feature for DVD/BD and I agree this is a great idea.
I have a large collection of MP4 files stored on my DLNA drive and I think it would be great if resume functionality could be added for these files too. The bookmark data could be stored on the DLNA drive with the MP4 file too so it wouldn’t use any of the precious on board storage.
Another thing that would be nice to see is the ability to create a playlist whilst browsing through your music files. Currently selecting a file just stops the current file that’s playing and starts the new one. Seems odd that I have to create a playlist on another computer to be able to play it on my PS3.
Having said all that, it’s great to see these updates coming so regularly and with so many new features.
Keep up the good work.
nice update. being able to type in simplified chinese is gonna be really useful. the ‘you can sort your games’ thing is next to useless only allowing an asending or decending list not actually allowing you to move those dodgy demos to the bottom and keep the good stuff near the top. the wallpaper is pretty sweet, allowing you to select a portion of the image to set as the background and keep the animated icons, unlike the old picture/ps button trick of old. theme settings? -huh- pointless codex? i’d put a PS2 disc in to check that side of things too but quite frankly i’m not that bothered. why would i need to eject a disc from the controller?
in summary:- wallpapers good, everything else pointless, as usual.