His mention of the operating system install option was a statement of something that was already there (there is an option under settings for that -- there was even in the <.9 firmwares, IIRC).

The "March" update (there will be a smaller one this month too, from what I hear) should include whatever isn't done in the December update (improved SACD playback, CD upsampling, dvd upconversion/improved dvd playback, YCrBr/RGB color space options -- no doubt some of that stuff won't make it in the december update, but was recently talked about in a PC Watch article). Other candidates for March update is access to the XMB from in games/programs, UPnP/DLNA support, Downloadable PS1 games playable on PS3, PS1/2 software emulation finalized (vs. the hardware emulation they have now -- so they can stop making PS3's with PS2s inside them). And whatever other bug fixes they can manage.

Sadly, I wouldn't count on Sony (or MS) to openly support divx/xvid. Although, give it some time and there should be a nice media player app for YDL Linux (something to finally replace that Xbox media center many people are still holding on to).

Hey, I don't suppose the firmware update will make it "more fun"?

Mostly, it'll add features that no one wants. By now, if you have a bunch of Divx movies on your computer, you've found a way to play them on your TV, or you're not that bright. This isn't some major problem the world struggles with - it's something that the 15-19 year olds that haven't figured out how to have a script that re-encodes files (or how to stream Divx through any number of viable means) whine about in online forums.

This isn't a big feature, and it's not something they'll add. Sorry, just the way it is. Either buy your movies, or get a damn streaming setup for like $200, don't expect a $600+ gaming system to do it, any more or less than a $400+ gaming system.

http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=438
http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=318

Or...just legitimately buy your movies. If they're worth your time, they're worth the $15 Amazon sells them for. If not, why watch them to begin with?

I'm remain pleased with my decision to not buy a new console until messes like these shake out. Are we really moving ahead with 2 high definition movie playback mediums....really?

Haven't we learned anything from PSP homebrew? DONT UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE!

Forget xvid/divx. HDTV MPEG2 Playback does not work correctly. I tried two movies in MPEG2 PS format, and both halted abruptly near the 15 minute mark in both ~ 2 hour films.

Other people have reported the same problem.

The PS3 is perfectly poised to become an HDTV media hub, but this issue severely hamstrings that effort.

-Pie

On one hand... has anybody tried to (possibly compile), install and run a linux video player under fedora on the ps3? that would really make divx/xvid possible. Emulators should run too (maybe now somebody will pay attention and make a decent shell that can be controlled via the SIXAXIS?).

Other possible (yes, fake, it's a comment) features that might be comming:
You will be able to use it as an ashtray (as opposed to the wii).
You will be able to use xbox 360 games and the wiimote to move the mouse in linux.
Bittorrenting / transcoding to a file server gets finally implemented.
Mac OSX finally runs out of the box on the PS3 making it the non-gaming-console non-pc non-media-center-per-se black shinny brick.

But the most interesting feature (fake) of all is the ability to read RSS from your TV, just for $600.