XMB

Description

The Xross Media Bar (XMB) is the graphical user interface for the PS3

The first Sony product with a XMB interface was the "Sony PSX" in 2003 (an hybrid of a PS2 + DVR player with recorder capabilityes only released in japan, see: [Wikipedia PSX] [PSX sony.co.jp], later was used by the PSP, then PS3 and some Bravia TV's

The word "Xross" (actually the "X" itself) is a reference to the order of the icons aligned in rows and columns, each of this columns in a category: Users, Settings, Photo, Music, Video, TV/Video Services, Game, Network, PlayStation Network, and Friends.

Installable Content (games or apps in .pkg format), and PS3 Disc contents, can be placed in some of this columns, for this purpose each column has an identifyer, see CATEGORY

The dynamic lines on the background are more condensed into a 'ribbon' rather than the PSP's large waves, unselected icons shrink slightly and every selectable background color has been made a shade darker. The PS3 includes the ability to store various master and secondary user profiles, manage and explore photos with Photo Gallery or an ordinary musical/non-musical slideshow, rip audio CDs, rip iTunes AAC protected files, play music and copy tracks to an attached storage device, play movies and video files from the hard disk drive, an optional USB mass storage or Flash card, or an optical disc (Blu-ray Disc or DVD-Video).

It also has compatibility for a USB or BlueTooth keyboard & mouse which can be used for navigate on the xmb or navigate to the web browser. It can be use also for homebrew such as MultiMan (since 1.11.01) or even launch a BD game. Unreal III is the rare example of this feature.

Web browser can download multiple file types but with somes restrictions set by the type of the files or web site. The Friends menu allows email with emoticons and attached picture features and video chat which requires an optional webcam (although the PlayStation Eye and the EyeToy are official webcams, most USB webcams will work). The PlayStation Network menu allows online shopping through the PlayStation Store. Also, the PlayStation 3 adds the ability to multitask in ways such as listening to stored audio files while surfing the web or looking at pictures. The PlayStation 3 XMB supports a variety of file formats. The PS3 reserves 48 MB of RAM at all times for XMB functions.

VSH

The Virtual Shell (VSH) encapsulates the XMB interface. It is loaded at:

/dev_flash/vsh/module/vsh.self

And has numerous modules and descriptor files. The VSH does not directly load the XMB interface, it loads support modules to do that instead. The modules directly responsible for the XMB interface include:

/dev_flash/vsh/module/
explore_category_friend.sprx
explore_category_game.sprx
explore_category_music.sprx
explore_category_network.sprx
explore_category_photo.sprx
explore_category_psn.sprx
explore_category_sysconf.sprx
explore_category_tv.sprx
explore_category_user.sprx
explore_category_video.sprx
explore_plugin.sprx
explore_plugin_ft.sprx
explore_plugin_game.sprx
explore_plugin_np.sprx

Those modules are responsible for processing the XMB descriptor files (.XML format), used to generate the XMB interface. All of the above modules except for the "explore_plugin_game.sprx" and "explore_plugin_np.sprx" contain a full list and location of XMB configuration files and the "root" entry which is to be loaded for the root of the category, for each FW type CEX/SEX/DEX. Exactly which root XML entry is used depends on the FW type (CEX/SEX/DEX) of the VSH.self. It's important to note that the explore_plugin.sprx is capable of managing many of the XMB categories, and thus, not all of these modules might be in use at any one time. (The explore_plugin.sprx is actually kept available to the VSH.self and other modules through the xmb_plugin.sprx and xmb_ingame.sprx see Module Action)

XMB Configuration Files

These are .XML files which outline the logic of XMB categories. For information on the structure of the files, see XMB XML Coding. All of the XMB .XML configuration files are located in path: /dev_flash/vsh/resource/explore/xmb/

XMB Category	Retail XMB (CEX)		Debug XMB (DEX)		Shop XMB (SEX)
	<filename>.xml	View id	<filename>.xml	View id	Demo Mode		Unlocked Mode
					<filename>.xml	View id	<filename>.xml	View id
Users	category_user.xml	root	category_user.xml	root	category_user_shop.xml	root	category_user.xml	root
Settings1	category_sysconf.xml	root	category_sysconf.xml	root	category_sysconf_shop.xml	root	category_sysconf.xml	root
Photo	category_photo.xml	root	category_photo.xml	root	category_photo.xml	shop_root	category_photo.xml	root
Music	category_music.xml	root	category_music.xml	root_for_dex	category_music.xml	root	category_music.xml	root
Video	category_video.xml	root	category_video.xml	root_for_dex	category_video.xml	root	category_video.xml	root
TV/Video Services	category_tv.xml	root	category_tv.xml	root	category_tv.xml	root	category_tv.xml	root
Game	category_game.xml	root	category_game_tool2.xml	root_dex	category_game.xml	shop_guest_root	category_game.xml	root
Network	category_network.xml	root	category_network_tool2.xml	root	category_network_shop.xml	root	category_network_shop.xml	shop_staff_root
PlayStation Network	category_psn.xml	root	category_psn.xml	tool_root	category_psn.xml	shop_guest_root	category_psn.xml	shop_staff_root
Friends	category_friend.xml	root	category_friend.xml	root	category_friend_shop.xml	root	category_friend.xml	root

• ¹The VSH heavily regulates the Setting Category and the .XML file is only used by when accessing the XMB "in-game", even then it restricts what parts of the .XML are actually shown. It is not possible to modify the Settings Category to any effect by editing the .XML configuration file

• This table is not inclusive of other PS3 firmwares, but their root entries are present in all PS3 Firmwares. All PS3 Firmwares (CEX/DEX/SEX/...) contain the *same* XML configuration files for any given firmware version.

Other XMB Configuration Files

These are XMB Configuration Files which are used in the 'behind the scenes' of running the XMB.

Configuration File	Directly Dependent Modules	Module Use
category_user_login.xml	Found in all "explore_*.sprx" modules, except "explore_plugin_game.sprx" and "explore_plugin_np.sprx"	XMB Configuration File for the 'Log In' XMB Category, which only shows when no user is logged in.
category_widget.xml	-	RSS Related
download_list.xml	data_copy_plugin.sprx, download_plugin.sprx, friendim_plugin.sprx, photolist_plugin.sprx, playlist_plugin.sprx, scenefolder_plugin.sprx, sysconf_plugin.sprx, videodownloader_plugin.sprx, webbrowser_plugin.sprx, webrender_plugin.sprx	Used For the Download of Photos/Music/Video to various external and internal locations.
null.xml	Found in all "explore_*.sprx" modules	Dummy File/Testing Purposes?
playlist.xml	filecopy_plugin.sprx, playlist_plugin.sprx	Creating Playlists
registry.xml	-	Used for the organisation of User Data which is accessible from the XMB
savedata_list.xml	ps3_savedata_plugin.sprx, ps3_savedata_plugin_game.sprx, ps3_savedata_plugin_psp.sprx	Outlines the XMB entries for creating new saves, for both PSP and PS3 games.
upload_list.xml	-	Photo/Music/Video Locations for Upload
videodownloader_list.xml	videodownloader_plugin.sprx	For downloading videos, to both 'secure' and 'not secure' locations. USB Mass Storage devices are not included in either.

Sony Documentation

http://us.playstation.com/support/manuals/ps3/index.htm

About the XMB (XrossMediaBar) menu

Users Category

Settings Category

Photo Category

Music Category

Video Category

TV / Video Services Category

Game Category

Network Category

PlayStation Network Category

Friends Category