I've seen so many mixed messages so far, that I'm unwilling to consider anything a guarantee until hardware and firmware are coexisting in consumer's homes. If both fat and slim PS3's have the video bandwidth to do it, that's great, but I still worry that we're going to run into some really weird issues with any existing v1.3 hardware elsewhere in the signal path.
Good point. It has been widely reported (that's "reported") in the tech press that most TVs are not 3D compliant, and cannot be firmware upgraded to be so, as they are only built to accept signals up to 60Hz and 3D is a minimum 120Hz. The fact is that the PS3 is a unique situation in this matter - it is the biggest selling (by far!) BD player out there, it's design included a LOT of room for updates and expansion of content to extend its service life, and since BD is Sony's standard, they're going to squeeze every ounce of horsepower out of the hardware therein to accommodate. However, while you're getting 3D game and movie content on your PS3, you're not getting HDMI 1.4.
As for OPPO, I've heard the exact opposite: they don't believe it will be possible to add 3D support to either of their existing players via firmware.
HT magazine in the
83SE review : "To make sure we bleed at the edge, up to the minute, I asked Oppo as we went to press whether the BDP-83 or BDP-83SE will be firmware upgradeable to 3D Blu-ray. At press time, the answer was no. We don’t anticipate a yes answer to this question, but I suppose we’ll keep asking for a while. Just in case. "
I was talking specifically about existing surround receivers and processors. If the internal bandwidth doesn't exist to handle two 1080p signals concurrently, a firmware update won't fix it. Likewise, video processing that wasn't meant to pass such signals may not be able to be "fixed" after the fact to support it.
And that's assuming that the implementation of hard/software for v1.3/a in receivers/prepros was done properly. Which we all know did not happen for the most part.
I still think that putting Ethernet in HDMI is the silliest idea I've heard in a long time. The implementation makes no sense to me, and I don't see the benefit of doing it.
Personally, I like this idea. In my HT I have one network drop at the rack. I have a all 3 consoles, a prepro, and my HTPC to connect, and wireless is spotty there. I wish this had been part of 1.3, it does me no good in 1.4.
Which titles that are already out are compatible with the new 3D protocols? (I don't mean the red-blue junk that a few existing 3D releases have used, I mean the active shutter glasses.)
None. The first ones are planned for release this summer when hardware starts to hit the stores, and even then they're talking about only 2 or 3 titles so far.
Despite all of the hubbub about this, I don't see the benefit of 3D except in a handful of films. Maybe games would be a more natural fit, but with so many "3D" films actually being "upgraded" 2D films (I'm talking to you, Harry Potter), it doesn't give me the urge. Most 3D films I've seen are no more 3D than a viewmaster slide - everything looks like cardboard cutouts in a diorama.
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