Official Playstation 3 Blu-Ray player Thread (2 Viewers)

[Grant H]

Anyone else having blacker-than-black issues like Robert?

 

[Brian Kaz]

So, Brian, PS3 passes decoded PCM over HDMI right out of the box?

Yep. My Elite shows "PCM" and a 7.1 speaker display (I have it set to add my Surround Backs for all 5.1 sources) for True HD, DTS MA & 5.1 uncompressed. Though I'm not sure what's happening with DTS MA seeing as it's not supported yet. Kingdom of Heaven sounds awesome regardless.

 

[Grant H]

I would think it's passing the DTS core signal, like the Toshiba. Since it's firmware upgrade it can do multichannel PCM for Dolby True HD, but just the core of DTS MA.
Hopefully firmware upgrades for DTS MA aren't far away.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I'm sending my audio to an old DSP-A1 though a fiber-optic. Waiting for the new years receivers before finishing off my HD revamp (which has cost me a pretty penny in the 4th quarter of FY06)
But the video playback of the PS3 has been truly exceptional. Better than I expected, so it was worthy $600 investment for BD movies. I can't wait until I can just use the HDMI for video and audio.
Soon, soon...
And Kingdom of Heaven is a great-looking disc. Top-shelf.

 

[Cory S.]

Chuck,
That's great to hear about the video quality of the PS3. I guess that means I'll have to get one in March...right around the time Casino Royale hits Blu-Ray!

 

[Brian Kaz]

But the video playback of the PS3 has been truly exceptional. Better than I expected, so it was worthy $600 investment for BD movies. I can't wait until I can just use the HDMI for video and audio.

I agree. After watching 4 films so far, the PS3 has exceeded my expectations in both audio and video. The wait for 1080/24p & DTS MA support is on. Hope it doesn't take too long.

 

[riouxda]

I read somewhere that if you only have a HDTV with 1080i and that you try to play a game at 1080p, the game is downgraded to 480p instead of 1080i or 720p. Is that right?

And what happens when you watch a Blu-Ray movie with a 1080i HDTV? At what resolution does it really play?

 

[Dave W]

Yes - The information available so far is that the PS3 will not currently scale any content although Sony has said that a future patch should allow for this. So if your game is 720p and your TV is 720p then you are o.k. However if your TV is 1080i/p and your game is 720p it will only display in 480p. The same has been confirmed for Blu Ray content as well (all current releases are 1080p). This means that if your display is 720p then Blu Ray movies will be downsized to 480p during playback. So to correctly display both games and movies, your display must have an input capable of all resolutions 480p/720p/1080i/p or some "sources" will be downrezed.

Another alternative is (assuming your display supports mutiple resolutions but, on different inputs) to hook up the PS3 to a 480p input for movies or content off SD/CF/MS cards, unhook/rehook it up to a 720p input for games and unhook/rehook it to a 1080i/p input for movies. Hope that helps...

 

[Grant H]

Has anyone been able to confirm or deny that the PS3 passes blacker than black?

 

[Brian Kaz]

However if your TV is 1080i/p and your game is 720p it will only display in 480p. ...

What do you mean by this? I have a 1080p display and Resistance displays at 720p. Or are you talking about non-HDMI sources?

 

[riouxda]

content although Sony has said that a future patch should allow for this. So if your game is 720p and your TV is 720p then you are o.k. However if your TV is 1080i/p and your game is 720p it will only display in 480p. The same has been confirmed for Blu Ray content as well (all current releases are 1080p). This means that if your display is 720p then Blu Ray movies will be downsized to 480p during playback. So to correctly display both games and movies, your display must have an input capable of all resolutions 480p/720p/1080i/p or some "sources" will be downrezed.
Another alternative is (assuming your display supports mutiple resolutions but, on different inputs) to hook up the PS3 to a 480p input for movies or content off SD/CF/MS cards, unhook/rehook it up to a 720p input for games and unhook/rehook it to a 1080i/p input for movies. Hope that helps...

Well, I'm must admit that I'm quite new to all this HD stuff! But, I've seen a HDTV that I'm tempted to buy, and it says:
HDTV ready – 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i
What would it mean exactly if I connect my PS3 to it? If I get a HDMI cable and plug the PS3 directly to my TV, wouldn't it play correctly except if the game or movie is in 1080p? If the game is in 720p, wouldn't it show correctly on the TV? And as for Blu-Ray movie, how would it be shown? I'm not sure I understand this resolution on different inputs thing? I thought that the TV would be able to recognize the signal and select the right one? Am I wrong? Sorry if I sound so newbie in all this...

 

[Grant H]

Brian,
If your TV can't natively display 720p, the PS3 would downconvert Resistance to 480p. If your TV supports 720p, you get 720p, or maybe your TV will upscale for you automatically with a 720p input. Not all HDTV's handle things the same way. If you have a newer TV, it's probably a non-issue. Based on the setup I did with a Cox HD cable box, my (old) HDTV won't handle 720p from component. Were it pulling it in off the air, or via DirecTV through its built-in tuner, it would upscale to 1080i. Does 480p and 1080i natively.
I just have basic cable, and I run it through my iScan for 480p display, rather than letting the TV upscale it to 1080i, even though it does a fair job of it. I just prefer the more film-like look of the iScan, and the fact it eliminates jaggies for the most part. Not that you needed to know that. But, as others have pointed out, if you had a very sophisticated sytem such as an iScan HD working for you you could work around this PS3 shortcoming (which may be eliminated in the future anyway) by letting the processor upscale the 720p image to 1080i for the display. But only people who already have this gear and have been using it will do this. Too expensive to do just for the PS3.
Riouxda,
You'd have no issues whatsoever with that TV, nor would most who buying a new HDTV as far as I know. You'd set the PS3 to output 1080i, since that's what your TV supports. BANG, DONE! 1080p games and BD movies will display at 1080i.
Games like Resistance that are only 720p will display at 720p. I don't know the interface of the PS3 at all, but I assume it switches modes automatically in this case. The TV should automatically sync to 720p when it gets that signal.
Standard DVD's will display at 480p. No upscaling. Though you might want to try the upscaling of the TV. I don't know how much the scaling engines in TVs have improved over the years. I always run 480p, but if I had a larger display, upscaling (of high quality) would be worth considering.

 

[Dave W]

As Grant said, most newer HDTV's will support 480p/720p/1080i/p with no problems. So...
riouxda, the PS3 should look great and you should not have any problems on that TV.
Brian Kaz Yes, this discussion refers to HDMI output from the PS3 and this problem only occurs on displays that do not accept 720p or 1080i/p and you display obviously does.
From what I understand (latest write up was on IGN) this issue mainly affects older HDTV sets that were 480/1080 only and sets that were 720p only and offered no internal scaling - which was a surprising number of displays a few years ago. Hope that helps - Sorry if I didn't clarify enough in the original post.

 

[Troy*H]

Hey guys, I just finished watching the bundled in blu ray disc they give you with the ps3 and I am not sure the downscaling thing is right. I have a sony 42a10 (720p native) and during the movie it displayed at 1080i. I believe/hope that the only downscaling problem is with crt that are 1080i. I am gonna be ticked if games that are 1080p get downscaled to 480p...well actually I believe that NBA game sony put out is in 1080p and at Best Buy the monitor said 720p...let me go down load the demo and check.

BTW the guy playing resistance in 720p, the game was made in 720p. They couldn't get a steady frame rate at 1080p even though they initially said thats what it would ship using (hmm another sony lie lol???)

Ill post back after I download the demo

thanks

Troy

 

[bschell]

I'm having the blacker then black issues. Also experiencing audio dropouts with dobby digital. Audio is fine with DTS.

 

[Grant H]

Troy, only 720p material would be downscaled on those sets.
1080p (which is what all blu-ray discs are) would not be affected, other than being 1080i if that's all the set can handle. 1080 sources would NOT be downscaled.
The main thing to remember is the PS3 can't UPSCALE. Hence 720 material is displayed at 480 rather than upscaled to 1080, again, IF the TV can't handle the 720p signal itself.

 

[Michael D. Bunting]

I'm also fairly impressed with the Blu Ray playback on the PS3!
I had the first Samsung player - returned it within 2 days!
What I like:
- Very-fast loading, alot faster than HD-DVD (thus far) anyway
- Picture via HDMI *rivals* HD-DVD
(Sorry, but I watched "King Kong" last night on my RCA HD-DVD player and I don't think it can get any better than that....)
- Doesn't lose HDMI synch/connection while switching to other sources (via HDMI switcher)
Everything is being displayed on a 106" Screen via my Panasonic AE900U PJ and I love it!

 

[Mark Butler]

I had a PS3 shipped to me from Canada because I didn't believe Sony about their promise of regions and open games. I hooked up my PS3 to my Sony TV via the D4 connector and it looks amazing. I only have Talladega Nights which came with the system and Fantastic Four that I bought here at Tsutaya. Both work perfectly so the region thing isn't a problem. I am still a little bit worried about it though because movies are released about a month or 2 later here (sometimes longer) than they are in North America so I am not sure if this region thing is going to last considering how paranoid the studios are about their products being sold where there is not an official release. At least I dont have to worry about Downrezzing because you are not allowed to implement the ICT in Japanese releases until 2011. Anyway I haven't had a problem using the connectors that I used with my PS2. I am waiting for the new receivers to come out to buy so I haven't been able to get the full quality audio using my now outmoded DTS ES Discrete system. I hope to test some games later today.

If you have any questions about the Japanese release or anything just ask.

 

[SherardP]

Hey Mark B, from reading ya post sounds like youre in Japan. What part of Japan are you in? PM and lets talk, Im out in Japan also.

 

[Roger J]

Anyone else having blacker-than-black issues like Robert?

Stacey Spears just reported on AVS Forum that the PS3 clips below black and above white.