Running out of hard drive space on your PS3 (PlayStation 3)? Sony may have a solution. The latest in a long series of proactive firmware pushes, version 2.80 reflects PS3 owners' appetite for a variety of downloads, and the resulting quandary of dwindling storage space.
DRM (Digital Rights Management) restrictions have previously made it impossible for gamers/entertainment buffs to even temporarily move premium content to another location when the HDD was approaching capacity. Now however, we can selectively back up to an external, removable device such as a USB flash drive any content (file type ".MNV") that was downloaded from the Video Store inside the PlayStation Store and can later restore those files to the same PS3 system. This new feature works with both standard definition and high-definition videos, providing a quick and easy way to free up needed space on a rapidly-filling PS3's internal hard disk drive, without the need to delete a single thing.
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| Movies are navigable by studio, although some specific titles are also highlighted. |
In addition, Marlin Digital Rights Management technology allows purchases to be shared across more than one device (such as a PSP) linked to a PlayStation Network account. Traditional DRM restrictions have not been so liberal. At the same time, there's never been a better time to download (or offload), as studio support is at an all-time high, with movies and TV programs from Fox/MGM, Disney, Lionsgate, Sony (Duh!), A&E, MTV plus anime and sports programming, closing in on 2,000 feature films and almost 10,000 TV shows for purchase/rental.
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| What a well-stocked PS3 video library might look like. |
Highlights of other modifications in version 2.80 (which brings with it all of the advancements of versions 2.76 and 2.70):
For digital audiophiles, "Dynamic Normalizer" has been added as an option under Music Settings. Curious gamers can now more easily search the Internet for information about a PS3 title, in just a couple of steps, right from the console. We can now copy and paste text from a Web page viewed in the Internet browser, with the ability to copy addresses of specific pages and links, while Browser Security has also been improved.
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| Shows are organized by network, the better to navigate our many choices. |
PS3 owners can update their system software by several different methods. Simplest is to use the remote control to access the console's "System Update" via wired or wireless internet. If your PS3 is not online, you can use a computer to download and save the update data to a USB Mass Storage device, walk it over, plug it in, copy it to the PS3's hard disk drive and perform the update. And some new games will contain the update data right on the disc.
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