Find file version

I've been recently toying with the idea of creating a php script to emulate the function of File Hippo's program checker (checks certain programs for their version, and then uploads to file hippo to compare with what it is released to show a list of available updates. I've hit a brick wall though. I know binary files have version information available, but can't find anything for php to read this. Has anyone run across something like this in the past? Anyone have any hints of where to go to start reading this info? Thanks Matt