Sony has formally announced the firmware update that will bring support for the DivX video format and for the Blu-ray Disc Profile 1.1 - aka Bonus View - to the PlayStation 3.

Firmware 2.10 is available for download immediately, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said - though at the time of writing it had yet to be added to the UK PlayStation website.

In addition to DivX, Sony said the update also introduces support for the VC-1 codec - a key component of the Blu-ray Disc format in addition to MPEG 4. Profile 1.1 essentially adds support for picture-in-picture views, used to enable real-time video commentaries without including two copies of the movie, one with the commentary and one without.

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That said, there's only one BD known to have incorporated this feature, and that's the German disc Neues vom Wixxer. All new BD player models that have come to market after 1 November are supposed to support Profile 1.1, though this doesn't apply to older products. Still, we expect many player makers to update the firmware of older players to support the Profile.

And more discs will soon begin to offer the technology, now that the best-selling Blu-ray box supports it.

Sony announced last month that the PS3 would gain DivX support. At the time, it was hinted that the format would be added to the Xbox 360 too - and, earlier this month, it was, beating the PS3 roll-out by a couple of weeks.

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