Sony PS3 2.53 firmware update arrives with full screen Flash
New firmware update for the Sony PS3 enables full-screen playback of Flash videos found on sites like YouTube and Hulu.
Although Sony's firmware update 2.53 for the PlayStation 3 failed to arrive before Thanksgiving as expected on November 26th, the update is available now and comes with support for fullscreen playback of Adobe Flash videos via the PS3's web browser.
If you own a PS3, this means that you can now watch both YouTube and Hulu videos fullscreen on your television via the PS3's browser. Between the Xbox 360 supporting Netflix streaming and the PS3 now supporting fullscreen playback of Flash videos, options for getting rid of your cable box continue to increase.
Sony has full details of what improvements are included in the update on their official software update site (and ignore the 2.52 graphic that hasn't been updated, because all the info below the graphic is about 2.53).
UPDATE: I just installed the update on my PS3 and went to Hulu to test the playback. First problem: the "full screen" playback goes the full width of Sony's browser when in normal view, and 480p videos from Hulu don't fill the full screen of my Sony 1080i 32-inch Bravia HDTV. Second problem: the playback is choppy, although admittedly this could be a problem with the bandwidth making it to my PS3 from my WiFi connection. Have you installed the update? If so, try loading Hulu, YouTube, and a few other Flash video-savvy sites on the console and let us know what you experience in the comments below.
- Around the Web:
PS3 2.53 firmware finally shows up but… [CrunchGear]
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PS3 2.53 Firmware Shows Up Fashionably Late,… [Gizmodo]
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Sony PS3 Firmware 2.53 released [I4U News]
Comments (7)
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ps3user (12:49 PM on Tue Dec 2, 2008)
HULU is letterboxed for me on all sides. Very disappointing.
C.K. Sample III (3:36 PM on Tue Dec 2, 2008)
Yeah that's what I'm experiencing too. It's really too bad.
Anonymous (10:30 PM on Wed Dec 3, 2008)
You can set your browser to be fullscreen... I don't remember which option, but when you're browsing, through the triangle menu, you can set the window size and get rid of the ridiculous letterboxing.
C.K. Sample III (6:22 AM on Thu Dec 4, 2008)
Yes, but it still reverts to letterbox when you choose to play Hulu videos full screen.
Dan-0 (1:28 AM on Thu Dec 4, 2008)
Just installed 2.53 and now my connection to my media server/NAS is kaput. No pictures, no videos, no audio. So much for keeping your system patched as a good practice. Thanks Sony - please fix.
ganj0r (12:35 AM on Sat Dec 27, 2008)
After installing 2.53, my ps3 stopped reading any disk i put in. I hope SONY is working on a solution to this.
Anonymous (6:26 PM on Fri Dec 26, 2008)
I think the problem comes from the PS3 OS using only one of the CPU's cores. Not enough processing power for smooth high quality video playback? My thought.