What is Blu-ray Profile 1.1?

by Andrew Yoon { Dec 18th 2007 at 4:00PM }

One of the big new features of yesterday's 2.10 update is the upgrade of PS3's Blu-ray capabilities. PS3 is now one of the few Blu-ray players in the world that can playback Profile 1.1 discs. But, what does that mean, exactly?

Also known as Final Standard Profile, the biggest new feature of Profile 1.1 is the ability to do PIP (picture-in-picture). This means a smaller video can be played on top of a high definition video -- a feature not included in any commercial BD release so far. However, things will change in 2008 as more and more movies release with the 1.1 profile. Fox's Sunshine, for example, is the studio's first film to take advantage of such functionality.

Unfortunately, most BD players on the market today that aren't named the PS3 won't be able to access any 1.1 content. The PS3 has ready access to the internet and has frequent firmware updates that enhance its capabilities. While early adopters of other BD players are getting beaten with the stick of obsolescence, PS3 owners can be confident that their system will always meet future standards. In fact, PS3 already meets requirements for the upcoming Blu-Ray Profile 2.0 (also known as BD-Live).

Tags: 1.1, blu-ray

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Shinogu @ Dec 18th 2007 4:10PM

Don't other Blu-ray players have firmware upgrades themselves?

Scorking30 @ Dec 18th 2007 4:18PM

cool

ruibing @ Dec 18th 2007 4:19PM

Not like I care much about movie special contents, whatever helps a PS3 is good for me. But Sony needs to promote a lot of these new firmware functionalities. People don't know about Divx/Xvid, Remote Play, or even Blu Ray.

Gareth Burleigh @ Dec 20th 2007 9:47AM

People who dont know about Divx dont care about it my friend, I might even go so far as ditto on remote play. However Blu Ray is good not only for the PS3 but creating awareness and thus adoption for Sonys HD format.
Then again do Sony play up the PS3's Blu Ray capabilities and then cannibalise the stand alone player market?
I know Id be furious to find Id dropped over a grand on a Blu Ray player to find it had been surpassed by a Playstation that was released before I bought my Blu Ray player.

pual @ Dec 18th 2007 4:33PM

"beaten with the stick of obsolescence"

I lol'd...

Solace @ Dec 18th 2007 4:55PM

yeah, now if only HD-DVD can catch up to BRDs in sales, i guess they'd totally be even, no?
/sarcasm.
when's the last time the HD-DVD add on for the 360 got updated or new features?
oh HD-DVD - you're the "betamax of hi-def discs"...

xboxhater @ Dec 18th 2007 4:58PM

Firmware upgrades could be put on the Blu-Ray disc. So before your Profile 1.1 movie start the machine could be updated

Zim @ Dec 18th 2007 5:10PM

Blueray is already winning anyway, has anyone ever been into HMV or Virgin mega stores recently ?

When looking at the Bluerays and HD DVD section there seems to be a greater number of blue ray disks for sale.

Akamaru @ Dec 18th 2007 5:24PM

Blu-ray already pretty much won already. MS keeps throwing money at studios hoping they will support the inferior HDDVDV but in the end it is the consumer who will declare Blu-ray the winner.

Claude @ Jan 28th 2008 1:43PM

HD DVD is not less good, to start I have both a HD DVD player and a Blu-Ray player (no PS3 I am not a gamer). All the interactivity fonction that are now possible with 1.1 have always been available with the first generation of HD DVD wich means that no matter when somone bought a player HD DVD they will get the picture in picture acces and it is cool (I have used I ironicly on a Warner HD DVD Posseidon) but you will need a player of the third generation to get acces to those. I tells me that all the early adopters got screwed by the blu-ray camp. They have bought a machine that was just a beta tester and if it was going to work they would upgrade the format. That is not what HD DVD did and unfortunatly is has been forgoten or ignore. I'am sorry but blu-ray made a major mistake that is not cool and remember not everybody that have bought a blu-ray player have a PS3. I have checked with Samsung to see if there will be a possibility of creating a firmware for 1.1 for my model I think not but will wait their answer.

Token White Guy @ Dec 18th 2007 5:31PM

Sweet. Blu-ray keeps getting better and better. I hope Sony keeps updating this for a long time.

tabs @ Dec 18th 2007 5:38PM

the news are wrong in terms of "there is no commercial blu-ray with profile 1.1 in the market".
Here in Germany we already have one movie featuring profile 1.1 functions.

So Europe's ahead, at least at this point :o)

never$$hort @ Dec 18th 2007 6:18PM

How can I put this lightly??

Duey Cheatham & Howe... your are an ignorant douche-bag.. LOL

Do be such a sore loser just becuase you bought into the losing format, HD-DUD which is soon going to have the final nail pounded into its coffin come CES 2008 when Warner goes Blu... Dry those tears up and move on already!!

TheEnd187 @ Dec 18th 2007 6:20PM

Yes so many studios switching, of course i'd switch 2 if i was given a 150 million dollar bribe, and then told to tell everyone that i was considering the benefits of HDDuD for a long time and then switched, and for some strange reason while i was thinking about switching i still made a master and printed hundreds of thousand of Copies of Blades of Glory, and then had to tell the stores not to sell them,because they didn't exist because i had already made the desicion. BTW im talking about Paramount.

WTangoFoxtrot @ Dec 18th 2007 6:20PM

HD-DVD player for the 360 doesnt need any updates. unlike Blu-ray which is still "Beta" ( i.e its unfinished tech ) HDDVD was finalized upon release and has hence enjoyed all these features since inception.

jango fett @ Dec 18th 2007 11:59PM

you were right. hd dvd supporter or blu ray supporter you were right. yet they didnt like what you said becaused they voted you down. but your right. i think it was because the blu ray laser was already more expensive as it is, if they forced all the companies to put all those things at the start it would be too expensive for it to gain any adoption. (blu ray supporter for life)

WTangoFoxtrot @ Dec 19th 2007 1:03AM

true mate but what u gonna do. i own a 360 but dont support either of the formats cos i think its bad for consumers to promote such greedy business strategies but saying simple facts out aloud may give others the impression i am a fanboy or something and this behaviour simply proves it.

either way enjoy ur new blu-ray profile!

Extinction @ Dec 19th 2007 2:30AM

"HD-DVD player for the 360 doesnt need any updates."

Yes it does. They still haven't fixed the poor audio quality, or put the web functionality in. When I got Transformers on HD DVD a big message blade slid in saying none of the web features were supported

HD DVD is as much a beta product as Bluray.

Ray @ Dec 18th 2007 6:56PM

Well, I don't know about you people, but my stand Alone HD DVD player has needed a few updates as well, so it's far from a "finished" product. No product in this day and age will ever been "finished". I love my Blu Rays and HD DVDs, though I will admit, had it not been for Paramount/Dreamworks signing up with HD DVD, I would have been happy with just my Blu Ray, since it's storage capacity capabilties makes me hope it wins the war.

The 360 add on is not worth it to me IMO. It does nothing for gaming, and whle I love my 360 also, it's questionable reliablility makes me hesitant to rely on it for movie playback as well.

XanthouS @ Dec 18th 2007 9:22PM

Douchey Cheatham, you really are as stupid as you sound. I'll break it down for you all simple-like, so as your mind can comprehend:

XBox 360s overheat and RRoD when they are powered on for too long.

Watching an HD-DUD on your XBox requires the 3fixme to be running.

Consumers, like the one above, worry about playing games for long periods of time because of this chronic overheating problem. Watching a HD-DUD, or even a DVD only escalates this problem.

Who is going to pay $180 for an accessory that just speeds up your hardware failure?

jango fett @ Dec 19th 2007 12:02AM

what does IMO means?

TripleTags @ Dec 18th 2007 7:45PM

Great post andrew .. how many steps are from here to BD-Live?

TheEnd187 @ Dec 19th 2007 2:24AM

Well the first BD-Live title I am going to buy will be National Treasure which will also be Disney's 1st BD-Live Blu-ray, supposed to come out in May, i don't know if any other studios will be releasing any BD-Live before Disney tho.

HDDuD combo discs don't work on many HDDuD player and they have to BOIL them for them to work. go Google HDDVD+Boiling discs

GamerGuyX @ Dec 18th 2007 8:26PM

There is no *e* in Blu-ray.

Eddie @ Dec 18th 2007 9:03PM

What is Blu-Ray Profile 1.1?

Imaginary?

BlueFrog007 @ Dec 19th 2007 2:32PM

Duey, please...show me the same movie available where the suggested retail price is more on Blu-ray. It's actually the opposite, since there are HD DVD combo discs (DVD on one side, and HD DVD on the other) which carry a suggested retail price (the price set by the studio) that's $5 higher than Blu-ray. There are also reported problems with many of the combo discs, so you're paying more for something that some people have problems with.

Please stop spewing incorrect information - you're making HD DVD users look bad.

Joostin @ Dec 18th 2007 10:03PM

Duey Cheatham & Howe...you are hanging on to absolutely nothing. Oh wow Paramount crossed over to hddvd for 150 million for trnsformers but oh wait the ceo has alreay said it was a timed exclusive and that they would be returning to the BD camp in 08. Warner Bros is doing this as wel because they really don't want to be on the 17% market share side. BD has won or will have the final win in 08 and hd dvd users can keep crying but you will be on the losing side. BD already has third party manufactuers which will drop the production costs, toshiba has signed a deal with sony to manufacture the new cell chips. Hey weren't they on M$ side? They want to win the format war in any way, joining the winning team is one way of doing that.

BD will have uncompressed audio which hd dvd cannot do because you only have a 15gb disc. Good luck keeping up when TVs make the jump to 1440p and people want HD movies at that resolution. BD has the storage capacity.

TpM @ Dec 19th 2007 4:58AM

" toshiba has signed a deal with sony to manufacture the new cell chips. Hey weren't they on M$ side?"

Good points otherways but I have to comment little for this. Cell chips has nothing to do HD format war. Companies have no sides. They only exits for making money. Cell is orginally developed by Sony, Toshiba and IMB. Sony and Toshiba have been partners for making CELL at the begining. They are "enemies" in HD format and I think HD DVD is much more important to the Toshiba than to Microsoft.

HD format "war" is agaist Sony's format and Toshiba's format. Microsoft is really small player in this section and they can easily change "camp" if / when it's good for their business.

But yes future really seems to be blu and I'm happy about it.