The Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEJ) today released a new version of the PS3 console, the CECH-3000B, which is lighter and consumes less power that the company's previous model. In addition, the new PS3 does not stream Full HD video through its analog ports.

Shipping in Japan in the end of the month, the CECH-3000B consumes 200W, which is 30W less than the CECH-2500B model released by Sony last October. The new PS3 is also lighter, weighting 2.6 Kg, (3.0 Kg for the previous model) and most importantly, it limits analog video outputs for Decrypted AACS Content to SD Interlace Modes only. (i.e., composite video, s-video, 480i component video).

Actually, this is a global restriction for all the AACS licensed Blu-ray players and recorders that have been manufactured after December 31. This is part of the "Analog Sunset" rules, which describe the sunset of all analog outputs in devices and are part of the AACS is the copy protection scheme used by Blu-Ray devices. Starting from January 2014, all the Blu-ray devices will not feature any analog video outputs at all, according to the AACS licensing agreement.

Other than these changes, the CECH-3000B console has not changed comapred to the CECH-2500B model. It has a 320GB HDD, 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1x HDMI, it is powered by the Cell Broadband Engine CPU and the RSX GPU and has ethernet, IEEE 802/11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity.

The will CECH-3000B retail in Japan for YEN 35,980 ($448)