What's the benefit to a Harmony that only operates one piece of equipment?

Adding BluTooth doesn't take away IR.

Adding BluTooth doesn't take away IR.

Gotcha

They included something better than IR: BlueTooth. Whats really amazing is that the thing has been out over a year, and Logitech still hasn't got off their ass and produced a Harmony with bluetooth.
I think Logitech are scared of doing anything that could help BT become the next standard in CE devices. Free BT remote control applications in cell phones could eat a lot of their business.

I think Logitech are scared of doing anything that could help BT become the next standard in CE devices. Free BT remote control applications in cell phones could eat a lot of their business.

It may consume a small portion of the universal remote market, but people are also paying for the extensive device database, additional control features (smart state, activities, macros, etc) so I doubt they're all that worried about it.

More than likely, Logitech couldn't justify the cost increase to incorporate BT in a way that it could pair with more than a couple devices - especially considering the severe lack of CE devices which use BT as the control mechanism. Also, Harmony's (and most universal remotes) center around users learning the IR codes... how would that work with BT?

I hope we start seeing more BT controlled CE devices and I think Sony was smart to put it in the PS3... they were just short-sighted in leaving out IR.

It may consume a small portion of the universal remote market, but people are also paying for the extensive device database, additional control features (smart state, activities, macros, etc) so I doubt they're all that worried about it.

I don't think it's a stretch to think that someone with the resources of, say, Google, might support all that on their Android platform. But speculation aside, I don't believe it was an oversight on Sony's part to omit IR on PS3, they must have their reasons. And there must be good reasons other than cost for Logitech to resist adding BT support. And since I don't really know what they are it's fun to speculate :).

Adding BluTooth doesn't take away IR.

But it adds cost to Harmony/URC/etc. To date, PS3 is the *only* device that uses BT (that remotely comes close to being a HT equipment).

So I don't know that there is any incentive for Logitech and URC to add BT support. I saw one model from URC that added 802.11g support, but that was more for data streaming etc.

So I go back to saying that Sony missed the boat by not adding IR.

Sony's logic is what? That PS3 shouldn't support EVERY remote out there that works on IR. Instead, they are asking EVERY remote maker to support their one and only device running on BT PS3.

For the same reason, not every HT device supports RF. Only some.

I think Logitech are scared of doing anything that could help BT become the next standard in CE devices. Free BT remote control applications in cell phones could eat a lot of their business.

I think any free BT remote apps would control only 1 product. I don't think anyone is going to introduce a universal BT remote app for cell phones that offers the functionality of remotes like the Harmony and release if for free.

What I like about my Harmony is that I can set it up to control an activity which involves several components with different buttons affecting different components. I don't have to "tell" the Harmony to swap to the button set for my receiver when I adjust the volume and to the set for the player when I want to control a disc function and to the set for the TV when I want to change the aspect ratio. I can do all of those things from within one button set.

If I have a pile of single component apps on my cell phone and I have to swap applications when I want to control a different component, then I've lost the main convenience the Harmony provides for me. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't all that much gain in being able to use one remote instead of several if you have to choose different applications or modes on that one remote when you want to control different components.

Of course a decently thought out universal BT remote application for cell phones might be able to be sold for less than a separate BT universal remote with similar capability because the app doesn't have to include the hardware price of a remote in its cost but many people will opt for the separate remote anyway because they would be happier with a remote that's physically bigger than their cell phone so that they can better navigate buttons by feel in the dark, and because they don't want the extra drain on their cell phone's battery.

I think phone apps certainly have a place but I don't think a universal BT remote application for cell phones is a significant threat to Logitech's business and, in any event, they could also introduce a competing application themselves for those who preferred to use their cell phone instead of a separate remote.

For those wanting to use the PS3 with large files, just replace the internal hd and then no more 2 gig file limit. Then just copy whatever media you want to the PS3.

I think any free BT remote apps would control only 1 product. I don't think anyone is going to introduce a universal BT remote app for cell phones that offers the functionality of remotes like the Harmony and release if for free.
...
I think phone apps certainly have a place but I don't think a universal BT remote application for cell phones is a significant threat to Logitech's business and, in any event, they could also introduce a competing application themselves for those who preferred to use their cell phone instead of a separate remote.
It's hard to predict, but I was imagining a free, open source project that could quite quickly build up support for a critical mass of devices --- if BT became the norm for CE products (thus explaining why Logitech don't want to encourage BT at all). Admittedly it's a big if, and probably not worthy of derailing this thread any further.

For those wanting to use the PS3 with large files, just replace the internal hd and then no more 2 gig file limit. Then just copy whatever media you want to the PS3.

What??? Pray explain this miraculous maneuver in more detail.

I don't think it's a stretch to think that someone with the resources of, say, Google, might support all that on their Android platform. But speculation aside, I don't believe it was an oversight on Sony's part to omit IR on PS3, they must have their reasons. And there must be good reasons other than cost for Logitech to resist adding BT support. And since I don't really know what they are it's fun to speculate :).

I think it's more a case of the left hand not talking to the right hand and SCEI not talking to SCE. If Sony TVs and AVRs (at least isolated SKUs) would have done bluetooth, not only would this be a sign of a larger coordination from Sony corporate but I would own them, as well. :D

Forget logitech. Why doesn't Sony revamp their Remote Commander line and do a metallic remote (like came with my SXRD) and had a color screen with a bunch of soft buttons? If Sony or Monster or UniversalRemote would do it, Harmony would be forced too... Before upgrading my AVR and HDTV, etc I would certainly be getting bluetooth blasters in the meantime!

Bluetooth is undeniably a better technology for remotes than IR and RF...

Bluetooth is undeniably a better technology for remotes than IR and RF...

Just a minor thing: Better than RF...why? Bluetooth *is* RF. Where "security" isn't required, like in a home remote control, why would one need BT? RF controls can work in the same frequency range as BT, can be encoded so they won't interfere with your neighbor in an apartment, have similar range, and are less complicated not to mention somewhat cheaper due to not needing licensing. I get the point re the flexibility of (any) RF remote, but I'm just saying... :) BT is a little bit over-hyped for some apps nowadays, and thus quite a lot over-priced (because it's the "latest" thing).

One obvious reason is building in BT allows you to also use existing BT accessories already on the market, i.e. keyboards, in the PS3's case.

A plain vanilla RF implementation wold not have done so.

One obvious reason is building in BT allows you to also use existing BT accessories already on the market, i.e. keyboards, in the PS3's case.

A plain vanilla RF implementation wold not have done so.

like your BT ear piece for your cell phone can be your gamming ear piece which means it's one less accessory you have to buy..

My PS3ToothFairy arrived today... it took me about 5 minutes to get it unpacked and up & running. The Harmony 720 now fully controls the PS3. Power on/off works great.

I feel like I am actually using a BluRay player now :) Although, I am missing the SixAxis already... NOT.

One obvious reason is building in BT allows you to also use existing BT accessories already on the market, i.e. keyboards, in the PS3's case.

A plain vanilla RF implementation wold not have done so.

Yes, but we were talking remotes... I'm not at all saying the BT doesn't have its uses, just unnecessary for a remote, and more of a nuisance at this stage where IR rules (for better or worse).

Somebody talk me out of buying the new 5000ES BDP from Sony. Does my PS3 still sit at the top of the heap?

I'm not sure what your setup it, but that would probably determine the blu-ray player you buy more than anything.

Overall I would say the PS3 is still one of the best values you can get in a CE device.

Somebody talk me out of buying the new 5000ES BDP from Sony. Does my PS3 still sit at the top of the heap?

Looking at the link on the Sony website, there's not much to dislike on that player.

Apart from not knowing the price (and I bet it ain't cheap), just about the only thing missing is the ability to accept streamed media....

Seggers

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665532071

Looking at the link on the Sony website, there's not much to dislike on that player.

Apart from not knowing the price (and I bet it ain't cheap), just about the only thing missing is the ability to accept streamed media....


The MSRP is going to be ~$2000. That is a big dislike to me....

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-03-2008/0004878411&EDATE=#

Somebody talk me out of buying the new 5000ES BDP from Sony. Does my PS3 still sit at the top of the heap?

So is this the first standalone Profile 2.0 player? Seems to have all the requirements: internet connection, decoders, and 1gb local memory...

So is this the first standalone Profile 2.0 player? Seems to have all the requirements: internet connection, decoders, and 1gb local memory...

I own [Quantity TWO ]- standalone Profile 2.0 Blu-Ray Players.
What model and brand are they?
The model number is in this thread title :D

Total investment for BOTH - $598. http://www.rx8web.com/smilies/bouncy.gif

Why would I need to spend $2000 each for this wonderful
new Sony Blu-Ray Player.

couple of issues that makes me want to go SA over PS3, and one of them is already taken care of via the PS3 Toothfairy.

1st one was the bluetooth issue, not being able to get all the functions programmed to my universal remote is very annoying.

2nd one is the fan noise, tho this one isnt much of an issue once the movie starts.

a player would also need to be able to decode TrueHD and DTS-HD:MA for me to consider it since my receiver is not capable of decoding. from what i've seen players that can decode dts-hd:ma start at $500, too expensive for a machine that just plays BDs.

couple of issues that makes me want to go SA over PS3, and one of them is already taken care of via the PS3 Toothfairy.

1st one was the bluetooth issue, not being able to get all the functions programmed to my universal remote is very annoying.

There are any number of IR to BT solutions for the PS3 now. You mentioned one above.

2nd one is the fan noise, tho this one isnt much of an issue once the movie starts.

That problem does not exist if you buy the 40Gb PS3.

a player would also need to be able to decode TrueHD and DTS-HD:MA for me to consider it since my receiver is not capable of decoding. from what i've seen players that can decode dts-hd:ma start at $500, too expensive for a machine that just plays BDs.

The PS3 decodes all the advanced lossless codecs and is only $299.

So why look at Stand-Alone players? The PS3 is my Stand-Alone Player.

Oh and BTW - it loads FAST AS H-LL ;)

I own [Quantity TWO ]- standalone Profile 2.0 Blu-Ray Players.
What model and brand are they?
The model number is in this thread title :D

Total investment for BOTH - $598. http://www.rx8web.com/smilies/bouncy.gif

Why would I need to spend $2000 each for this wonderful
new Sony Blu-Ray Player.

Bingo! My thoughts exactly. I would much prefer a stand alone player but, until someone offers an advanced full featured (superior up-scaling, SACD and full bitstreaming) unit for less than $400 I'm keeping my two PS3s. I suspect it will be a while..........and besides I'm extremely happy with the PS3's performance.

Yes, but we were talking remotes... I'm not at all saying the BT doesn't have its uses, just unnecessary for a remote, and more of a nuisance at this stage where IR rules (for better or worse).

OK. It sounded like you were asking why did they use it for the remote in the PS3, not why would one use it for some generic device's remote application. For the PS3, it did make sense, as it kept costs down, as opposed to increasing them.

For me it is not a nuisance, as my PS3 still responds when my projection screen is pulled down in front of my audio rack.

[snip: regarding noise level]
That problem does not exist if you buy the 40Gb PS3.


My 40GB blows like a vacuum cleaner. I actually just purchased a cooler for it. Like I said, it started with a FW about two versions ago. one of these days, I'll call Sony. I just having to deal with CSRs who are not well trained.

I own [Quantity TWO ]- standalone Profile 2.0 Blu-Ray Players.
What model and brand are they?
The model number is in this thread title :D

Total investment for BOTH - $598. http://www.rx8web.com/smilies/bouncy.gif

Why would I need to spend $2000 each for this wonderful
new Sony Blu-Ray Player.

There are any number of IR to BT solutions for the PS3 now. You mentioned one above.

That problem [fan noise] does not exist if you buy the 40Gb PS3.

The PS3 decodes all the advanced lossless codecs and is only $299.

So why look at Stand-Alone players? The PS3 is my Stand-Alone Player.

Oh and BTW - it loads FAST AS H-LL ;)
Amen! You guys beat me too it. Why buy a two grand player when you can get a PS3 for less that $400?

any insider firmware info regarding 1080p/24 upconverting output for SD DVD playback on the PS3

seems Sony would want to add this as they have gone LCD 120hz/240hz only

My 40GB blows like a vacuum cleaner. I actually just purchased a cooler for it. Like I said, it started with a FW about two versions ago. one of these days, I'll call Sony. I just having to deal with CSRs who are not well trained.

Yours must be an exception - because in GENERAL
those with the 40Gb have no fan noise and people
with either 60 or 80 have the fan noise problem.

The usual reason the 40's are quiet is because they
do NOT have the PS2 Graphic Chip and they use the
newer 65nm Cell processor versus the Gen-1 90nm
Cell Processor.

any insider firmware info regarding 1080p/24 upconverting output for SD DVD playback on the PS3

seems Sony would want to add this as they have gone LCD 120hz/240hz only

My non-insider prediction would be: don't hold your breath. There's no benefit to it.

Brandon

Yours must be an exception - because in GENERAL
those with the 40Gb have no fan noise and people
with either 60 or 80 have the fan noise problem.

The usual reason the 40's are quiet is because they
do NOT have the PS2 Graphic Chip and they use the
newer 65nm Cell processor versus the Gen-1 90nm
Cell Processor.


Mine used to be pretty quite. Then it started sucking wind pretty bad. It's about as loud as XBOX360 (for those of you who have that). When the fan kicks in, there is NO DOUBT the fan is on. I'll try to SPL it tonight after everyone goes to bad.

Mine used to be pretty quite. Then it started sucking wind pretty bad. It's about as loud as XBOX360 (for those of you who have that). When the fan kicks in, there is NO DOUBT the fan is on. I'll try to SPL it tonight after everyone goes to bad.

How old is your unit?

I did read in SOME POST - that some people had
their fan effected by the firmware glitch.

I never updated either of my 40's with the version
of firmware that was only out for 24 hours before
Sony pulled it down.

My non-insider prediction would be: don't hold your breath. There's no benefit to it.

Brandon



Oh - my apologies

I thought it helped eliminate judder , pull down and such

how are film based dvds encoded ? 480i/30 ?

How old is your unit?

I did read in SOME POST - that some people had
their fan effected by the firmware glitch.

I never updated either of my 40's with the version
of firmware that was only out for 24 hours before
Sony pulled it down.


Hmmm, I guess Feb08 is when I picked it up. I didn't pull down the FW that was quickly pulled down. IIRC, it happened one or two FW before that one.

Oh - my apologies

I thought it helped eliminate judder , pull down and such

how are film based dvds encoded ? 480i/30 ?

I've yet to hear of anybody with knowledge or evidence of DVDs being authored in anything other than 480i/30. So even if the player outputs 1080p/24, it's doing an internal 3:2 pulldown to achieve it, which is where jutter is introduced. The only real benefit of 1080p/24 is if the entire chain can replicate it: source material recording/source material authoring/player outputting natively/display device accepting natively.

As far as I know there's never been talk of Sony bringing this feature to the PS3 in any rumored firmware update.

Brandon

Hmmm, I guess Feb08 is when I picked it up. I didn't pull down the FW that was quickly pulled down. IIRC, it happened one or two FW before that one.

It sounds like it might be still under warranty.

It is possible the heat sink grease has become defective.

Sony has fixed excessive fan noise for other owners.

As you know from the Beginning - the 40 is a quite unit.
Something Changed.

I've yet to hear of anybody with knowledge or evidence of DVDs being authored in anything other than 480i/30. So even if the player outputs 1080p/24, it's doing an internal 3:2 pulldown to achieve it, which is where jutter is introduced. The only real benefit of 1080p/24 is if the entire chain can replicate it: source material recording/source material authoring/player outputting natively/display device accepting natively.


As far as I know there's never been talk of Sony bringing this feature to the PS3 in any rumored firmware update.

Brandon



thanks for the info -
I'm just trying to get the best out of my small sd dvd collection as I wait for more Blu-ray catalog titles to be released (which is taking forever )

Ok, this has nothing to do with the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player, but I am about to explode with joy as I have finally gotten Apple Lossless (ALAC) files to stream to my PS3!!!

Go here (http://www.dsp-worx.de/?n=1) and read about "Apple ALAC goes WMP"

the specific download URL is:
http://files.dsp-worx.de/dsmp3source_aac_alac.zip

Literally, all I had to do was download and extract the zip file and then run the .bat file by double clicking on it. Once I restarted tversity, its was on like donkey kong.

So is this the first standalone Profile 2.0 player? Seems to have all the requirements: internet connection, decoders, and 1gb local memory...

No, the Panasonic BD50 was (and the PS3 with the FW update). But at $2000, no thank you!

FWIW, ever since I bought my Onkyo 805 back on 6/06, I have been on the quest for a BD player that would bistream DD THD and DTS HDMA to my 805, not only to see the lights lite up, but also because on the 805 the bitstream DID sound better to MY ears (that is most relevant, to me, not always others). I have gone through the SONY S300/500 and S350, the Panasonic BD30, Samsung 2550, and most recently the LB BH200. Each player had something great about them (except the S300 & S500 = both extremely slooooooow!!!), but I also found some things about each that were not so great.

But now, with getting ticked off at the poor (and uncaring attitude!!!!) customer service at Onkyo concerning FW updates for the 805 (mine is a very early model, so too old of a loader version to be able to do the update at home), I decided to get the brand new Pioneer VSX-03TXH A/V receiver. All I can say about this new Pioneer is WOW!!!! When I hooked up the PS3 to it, and used <<<GASP>>> LPCM to it, the way the VSX-03TXH and the THX Cinema mode handles the PCM soundtrack, the PS3 now sounds totally amazing and breath taking. The surround sound is spot on, and envelopes you into the movie extremely well. For over a year now, I have hated the PS3 for its lack of bitstreaming the HD codecs, so for me to now say I am back on board with the PS3 because of this new Pioneer receiver, well, I hope you take that as an extreme compliment to the VSX-03TXH!!!

I've yet to hear of anybody with knowledge or evidence of DVDs being authored in anything other than 480i/30. So even if the player outputs 1080p/24, it's doing an internal 3:2 pulldown to achieve it, which is where jutter is introduced. The only real benefit of 1080p/24 is if the entire chain can replicate it: source material recording/source material authoring/player outputting natively/display device accepting natively.

As far as I know there's never been talk of Sony bringing this feature to the PS3 in any rumored firmware update.

Brandon

Oh, and FYI in case Jitter and Jutter are meant to be the same? The new VSX-03TXI is the only Pioneer receiver to offer "HDMI Jitter Reduction". If that is the same, then this might be of some help?

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/AV-Receivers/EliteReceivers/ci.VSX-03TXH.Kuro?tab=A

Oh, and FYI in case Jitter and Jutter are meant to be the same? The new VSX-03TXI is the only Pioneer receiver to offer "HDMI Jitter Reduction". If that is the same, then this might be of some help?

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/AV-Receivers/EliteReceivers/ci.VSX-03TXH.Kuro?tab=A
I would say not the same.

And isn't it "judder", not "jutter"?

Oh, and FYI in case Jitter and Jutter are meant to be the same? The new VSX-03TXI is the only Pioneer receiver to offer "HDMI Jitter Reduction". If that is the same, then this might be of some help?

What about Jidder?

Seriously though, HDMI jitter is something entirely different from judder due to showing 24fps material at 30fps. And jutter is just a misspelling of judder, while jidder doesn't exist (but it sounds nasty :)).

Apparently there are some DVD players that reconstruct and output the original 24fps without judder. The only problem is that they might get it wrong on a badly authored DVD and show artifacts, but in theory it should work. By coincidence this just came up in another thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14628935#post14628935

No, the Panasonic BD50 was (and the PS3 with the FW update). But at $2000, no thank you!

FWIW, ever since I bought my Onkyo 805 back on 6/06, I have been on the quest for a BD player that would bistream DD THD and DTS HDMA to my 805, not only to see the lights lite up, but also because on the 805 the bitstream DID sound better to MY ears (that is most relevant, to me, not always others). I have gone through the SONY S300/500 and S350, the Panasonic BD30, Samsung 2550, and most recently the LB BH200. Each player had something great about them (except the S300 & S500 = both extremely slooooooow!!!), but I also found some things about each that were not so great.

But now, with getting ticked off at the poor (and uncaring attitude!!!!) customer service at Onkyo concerning FW updates for the 805 (mine is a very early model, so too old of a loader version to be able to do the update at home), I decided to get the brand new Pioneer VSX-03TXH A/V receiver. All I can say about this new Pioneer is WOW!!!! When I hooked up the PS3 to it, and used <<<GASP>>> LPCM to it, the way the VSX-03TXH and the THX Cinema mode handles the PCM soundtrack, the PS3 now sounds totally amazing and breath taking. The surround sound is spot on, and envelopes you into the movie extremely well. For over a year now, I have hated the PS3 for its lack of bitstreaming the HD codecs, so for me to now say I am back on board with the PS3 because of this new Pioneer receiver, well, I hope you take that as an extreme compliment to the VSX-03TXH!!!

I have an 805 (not a 1.00 SOL club member) and my PS3 was LPCMing to it long before I did the DSP and FW updates.

Why the decision to ditch the 805?

Seggers

Right now I'm trying to figure out this whole Limited vs Full issue.

I've seen it mentioned several times that it should be set to Limited. Yet the folks in the owner's thread for my television suggest Full. I've been testing it trying to see the difference, but I'm not sure which is better yet.

It's either Full with HDMI Black Level on Normal or Limited with HDMI Black Level on Low.

Hey guys, I have a problem I'm hoping someone can help me with. Have had a PS3 for a while and never had a problem with it. I just recently bought the 42 inch Toshiba Regza for my office and everything works fine with it (Directv, Games, etc.) EXCEPT for movies played through the PS3. For some reason the only audio I get is background noise. No dialogue comes through the tv speakers at all. I've tried both Blu Ray and SD movies. Same thing happens with both.

Any ideas?

eh...Jitter, jutter... jidder, judder...

let's call the whole thing off :)

Brandon

No, the Panasonic BD50 was (and the PS3 with the FW update). But at $2000, no thank you!

FWIW, ever since I bought my Onkyo 805 back on 6/06, I have been on the quest for a BD player that would bistream DD THD and DTS HDMA to my 805, not only to see the lights lite up, but also because on the 805 the bitstream DID sound better to MY ears (that is most relevant, to me, not always others). I have gone through the SONY S300/500 and S350, the Panasonic BD30, Samsung 2550, and most recently the LB BH200. Each player had something great about them (except the S300 & S500 = both extremely slooooooow!!!), but I also found some things about each that were not so great.

But now, with getting ticked off at the poor (and uncaring attitude!!!!) customer service at Onkyo concerning FW updates for the 805 (mine is a very early model, so too old of a loader version to be able to do the update at home), I decided to get the brand new Pioneer VSX-03TXH A/V receiver. All I can say about this new Pioneer is WOW!!!! When I hooked up the PS3 to it, and used <<<GASP>>> LPCM to it, the way the VSX-03TXH and the THX Cinema mode handles the PCM soundtrack, the PS3 now sounds totally amazing and breath taking. The surround sound is spot on, and envelopes you into the movie extremely well. For over a year now, I have hated the PS3 for its lack of bitstreaming the HD codecs, so for me to now say I am back on board with the PS3 because of this new Pioneer receiver, well, I hope you take that as an extreme compliment to the VSX-03TXH!!!

WRX, do you have a 7.1 or 5.1 setup.
Also, did you try the THX mode over LPCM on the 805?

I decided to get the brand new Pioneer VSX-03TXH A/V receiver. All I can say about this new Pioneer is WOW!!!! When I hooked up the PS3 to it, and used <<<GASP>>> LPCM to it, the way the VSX-03TXH and the THX Cinema mode handles the PCM soundtrack, the PS3 now sounds totally amazing and breath taking. The surround sound is spot on, and envelopes you into the movie extremely well. For over a year now, I have hated the PS3 for its lack of bitstreaming the HD codecs, so for me to now say I am back on board with the PS3 because of this new Pioneer receiver, well, I hope you take that as an extreme compliment to the VSX-03TXH!!!

Rocky,
Now that you have a new receiver can you compare the PS3's PCM output for DTS-MA to another player's bitstream output for the same sound track? With my Yamaha RX663 the PCM output has always sounded identical to the bitstreamed output when adjusted for volume difference (I was only able to compare DTS and DD due to PS3's limitations.)

Hey guys, I have a problem I'm hoping someone can help me with. Have had a PS3 for a while and never had a problem with it. I just recently bought the 42 inch Toshiba Regza for my office and everything works fine with it (Directv, Games, etc.) EXCEPT for movies played through the PS3. For some reason the only audio I get is background noise. No dialogue comes through the tv speakers at all. I've tried both Blu Ray and SD movies. Same thing happens with both.

Any ideas?

Was it hooked up to an AVR, and if so, does that AVR have a setting to push out sound to the TV. From your post, I suspect that this isn't the case.

What about the sound settings in the PS3's XMB? If you've changed the TV, then maybe some of the audio out settings on the PS3 need changing/resetting too?

Also, are you using HDMI or optical for audio out?

Seggers

I've yet to hear of anybody with knowledge or evidence of DVDs being authored in anything other than 480i/30. So even if the player outputs 1080p/24, it's doing an internal 3:2 pulldown to achieve it, which is where jutter is introduced. The only real benefit of 1080p/24 is if the entire chain can replicate it: source material recording/source material authoring/player outputting natively/display device accepting natively.

As far as I know there's never been talk of Sony bringing this feature to the PS3 in any rumored firmware update.

Brandon

For the purposes of this post, I am only talking about DVDs derived from 24fps material:

The fields encoded on these DVDs are simply every other line of a frame from the (scanned) film, each stored once, and marked with repeat flags to achieve the 480i/60 (not 30) playback of normal NTSC. It would be completely possible to take the fields, de-interlace them, NOT apply 3:2 field sequencing, and end up with 480p/24 playback that did eliminate some of the judder displaying at 60 fields per second causes, IF your display can handle 24p input. Good video processors have been doing this for a while (and HTPCs)

This has not happened in the past, because virtually no consumer displays could accept it. So many do now, however, it would actually be a worthwhile feature.

I do agree, however, that we probably won't see it. I doubt Sony will do anything to push the DVD performance envelope when they want Blu-Ray to prosper.

The Other Brandon

Answering my own question.

I have cleaned lens with lens cleaner bought from BB. Voila!, it fixed the problem. Now it can read all disc format with no problem.

I found PS3 uses magnified lens and lens is very very sensitive for dust.

FYI, keep in this mind and don't waste your time to call Sony or send back to them before you try what you can do. :)

My PS3 suddenly cannot read any disc but only DVDs.

No Blu rays, no SuperCDs, no CDs ,

BUT it plays DVDs no problem....

What is going on?/ Anybody has idea?

wala=voila

For the purposes of this post, I am only talking about DVDs derived from 24fps material:

The fields encoded on these DVDs are simply every other line of a frame from the (scanned) film, each stored once, and marked with repeat flags to achieve the 480i/60 (not 30) playback of normal NTSC. It would be completely possible to take the fields, de-interlace them, NOT apply 3:2 field sequencing, and end up with 480p/24 playback that did eliminate some of the judder displaying at 60 fields per second causes, IF your display can handle 24p input. Good video processors have been doing this for a while (and HTPCs)

This has not happened in the past, because virtually no consumer displays could accept it. So many do now, however, it would actually be a worthwhile feature.

I do agree, however, that we probably won't see it. I doubt Sony will do anything to push the DVD performance envelope when they want Blu-Ray to prosper.

The Other Brandon

Thanks for clearing some of this up for us.

Brandon

Answering my own question.

I have cleaned lens with lens cleaner bought from BB. Wala, it fixed the problem. Now it can read all disc format with no problem.

I found PS3 uses magnified lens and lens is very very sensitive for dust.

FYI, keep in this mind and don't waste your time to call Sony or send back to them before you try what you can do. :)
Rather than cleaning the lens it probably just banged it back into slightly better alignment. I.e., you lucked out. I wouldn't be at all surprised if your problem returns.

At the speed the optical disc turns, no dust is going to adhere to the lens. The airflow from the disc would blow that away. What usually gets on the lenses is tobacco or cooking smoke/grease if you've got the player in a location suffering from those. Removing that filming from the lens does require cleaning.

But the commercially sold cleaning discs are more likely to damage the alignment of the lens assembly than do any good. Cleaning the lens properly involves disassembly so you can get to the lens.
--Bob

That makes sense as well. The lens cleaner states that it is safe for Blu-ray player.... The cleaning disc has multiple soft brushes. The brush might have fixed alignment. But.... does "alignment" explain that I could only play standard DVD???

I used this (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8814394&st=lens+cleaner&lp=5&type=product&cp=1&id=1206749395959)

product's official website (http://www.digitalinnovations.com/lens_cleaning.php)

Rather than cleaning the lens it probably just banged it back into slightly better alignment. I.e., you lucked out. I wouldn't be at all surprised if your problem returns.

At the speed the optical disc turns, no dust is going to adhere to the lens. The airflow from the disc would blow that away. What usually gets on the lenses is tobacco or cooking smoke/grease if you've got the player in a location suffering from those. Removing that filming from the lens does require cleaning.

But the commercially sold cleaning discs are more likely to damage the alignment of the lens assembly than do any good. Cleaning the lens properly involves disassembly so you can get to the lens.
--Bob

I have an 805 (not a 1.00 SOL club member) and my PS3 was LPCMing to it long before I did the DSP and FW updates.

Why the decision to ditch the 805?

Seggers

Yes, I have used the LPCM from the PS3 to the 805, there was no other way to get the advanced audio to it. I did not like the sound from the PS3 via LPCM as much as I did with the other players I have tried that could bitsream the audio to the 805. As I have stated - this is all to MY ears, so is most relevant to my hearing and tastes - which cannot be used as a benchmark for anyone else, just as an FYI for people to digest and use how they will.

I had setup the Audessy on the 805 and had it do 6 different seating positions, even though it is only me using it most of the time :) With the Pioneer and its MCACC, it only uses one test, and so I ran it at exactly where I sit and at my ear level.

When I play the PS3 through my new VSX-03TXH, even though it is an LPCM signal, the whole surround experience is just simply amazing and imersive. Again, to my ears, the new Pioneer made the PS3 enjoyable again. Remember, every receiver has its own way of mixing and tweaking the sound. I enjoy the Pio more than the 805.

My decision to ditch the 805 is due to the attitude of the CS that I got from Onkyo. That, and the fact that I will have to send it over 3 states away, and for a minimum of 15 days (and you have to have read the horror stories about this???). And that would mean 15 days without the ability to watch movies or cable - at least in the proper way I paid to do so. With Pioneer, they have a service center almost 15 minutes away from me. Also, I had bought the 805 because it was the first receiver out there to have HDMI 1.3a and internally decode (I came from the days of the old Onkyo 939 which had the original AC3 decoder built-in, in the days when players did not decode, and thus thought that was the way to go), as well as have HDMI inputs. This was to replace my old Pioneer Elite 56AVi which I had loved for ages, but only had component inputs. And so now that there was finally an affordable Pio, it is an Elite model, and has the latest THX Select2 PLUS (which means has the new THX Loudness Plus), I bought it.

WRX, do you have a 7.1 or 5.1 setup.
Also, did you try the THX mode over LPCM on the 805?

Yes, I had tried all the modes on the 805 with the PS3. And I will say this - I did not really care for the sound of the 805's THX mode, it felt less "lively" (more "muffled") when playing BD/HD movies. I actually preferred the Multichannel mode, even more so for the players that could bitstream. But the THX Cinema mode on the new Pio 03TXH is amazing!!!!! It is so lively, and even when switching between (what is now called -) Auto/Direct and THX Cinema, they both sound so similar, that I just leave it on THX Cinema now for all my equipment. Perhaps it is because the newer THX Select2 PLUS is better than the old THX Select2 EX of the 805, or maybe it is the new THX Loudness Plus that makes the Pio better? Either way, it sound great, and made me appreciate the PS3 once again. The same might go for the new Denons as well, with their use of the new 3 versions of Audessy in them?

As for a setup, I currently only have a 5.1 at the moment. Not having my condo anymore, and having had to move to TX from SoCal, I don't have many options for cutting holes in the walls and mouthing things :( But, my system is no slouch. I have the Definative Mythos One columns for front (looked better, almost elegant, than huge cabinet speakers sitting in the middle of the wooden floor at my old condo), Definative Mythos Three (I think?) for the center channel, some old Energy Connesuire bi-polar surrounds (hey, they may be old, but they were top of the line in their day and still work GREAT LOL), and my prized possesion for a sub woofer that NO OTHER can compete with = a Carver Sunfire MKII. It may be small, it may be old, and it may not look elegant as it is just a black cube, but it is heavy and packed with power that could rip wallpaper off your walls hehehe. It has both an active and passive speaker, I have it on 5" thick styrofoam to prevent it from shaking the downstairs ceiling, and have never ever set the volume to move than a 1/8" from zero, yet it can still shake the building :)

Rocky,
Now that you have a new receiver can you compare the PS3's PCM output for DTS-MA to another player's bitstream output for the same sound track? With my Yamaha RX663 the PCM output has always sounded identical to the bitstreamed output when adjusted for volume difference (I was only able to compare DTS and DD due to PS3's limitations.)

That is what I am saying - with the new Pio VSX-03TXH, the PS3 through LPCM now sounds as good as the other players using bitsream. And when testing the LG BH200 through bitstream on BD movies (the LG has problems with HD DVD movies with this 03, I think it is an HDMI handshake error, so can't play HD with the LG), they sound the same now. As for HD DVD, my Toshiba A35 can play them just fine, so the BH200 is going back shortly. Too bad though, it was an awesome unit, and could honestly take the place of THREE units on your rack as it played BD very good, HD DVD, and upscaled regular DVD movies very good too. Not to mention the cool blue lights on the face plate - though does nothing for performance, it was a nice "cool" touch to view :)

WRX_Rocky, doesn't this prove that it was the AVR all along and not the supposed poor quality of the PS3's LPCM output or poor decoding of HD audio formats? If you had bought the Pio VSX-03TXH first, you would have noticed no difference between the PS3's LPCM output and, say, the LG BH200's bitstream output. If you had then bought the Onkyo 805 later, you would have noticed the difference and, since the PS3 is the only constant, you would have blamed the new AVR for the change. After all, we all know by now that the PS3 does the decoding properly and doesn't do anything funky to the outputted signal (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=14601864&postcount=21936).

That series of posts should be the end of the discussion (or at least educate some people as to why they're hearing a difference if they are), but as recent history has taught us, it will not be. In another couple pages this will be rehashed.

Brandon

I'll set the over/under line at 15 posts, from this one. Smart $$$ will be on the under :)

You win, bplewis24. I couldn't resist. ;)

WRX_Rocky, doesn't this prove that it was the AVR all along and not the supposed poor quality of the PS3's LPCM output or poor decoding of HD audio formats? If you had bought the Pio VSX-03TXH first, you would have noticed no difference between the PS3's LPCM output and, say, the LG BH200's bitstream output. If you had then bought the Onkyo 805 later, you would have noticed the difference and, since the PS3 is the only constant, you would have blamed the new AVR for the change.

With great humbleness, I will now admit my mistake. But in my defense, back around 6/06 when I bought the 805, it was the only receiver available at that time with the new HDMI 1.3a specs and internal decoders. The Pioneer VSX-03TXH has only just recently come out. Also, the Onkyo 805 has now been discontinued, and is being replaced by the new 806. Who knows, with the newer capabilities of the 806 (newer version of Audessy and THX as well now), I may have found this out? But I am through with Onkyo and their poor CS!!!

So until now, I would not have noticed this. And honestly, I am very glad to be back to a Pioneer receiver too! :)

Maybe someone could answer this for me...I had the ps3 hdmi going into my harmon 247 and out to my 6020 kuro...I was never really pleased with the picture after both the ps3 and 247 were firmware updated...So I unplugged the ps3 from the 247 and just ran the hdmi to tv and now the kuro displays 1080p and 36 bit in the top corner it only use to say 1080p but the picture does display better but now I am missing the better sound without having the ps3 hdmi hooked up through the avr 247...has anyone had any luck with the splitter from monoprice and what does it mean now saying 32bit and why was I not getting that before?

You win, bplewis24. I couldn't resist. ;)

All's well that ends well

Kinda/sorta :)

Brandon

eh...Jitter, jutter... jidder, judder...

let's call the whole thing off :)

Brandon

Not to mention the different types of jitter and jutter, which should not be confused with stutter (a panel/source problem...OT for this thread) which gets misspelled as studder...and then there's ......

Not to mention the different types of jitter and jutter, which should not be confused with stutter (a panel/source problem...OT for this thread) which gets misspelled as studder...and then there's ......

Yep enough.

is there anything I need to change in the ps3 settings for SACD playback?

is there anything I need to change in the ps3 settings for SACD playback?

You may have to set the audio output to PCM if your receiver does not support DSD. Last time I tested it, it worked just fine for me. Which PS3 version do you have? The later units don't support SACD playback at all which may be why you're having a problem.

is there anything I need to change in the ps3 settings for SACD playback?

what model do you have?

I dont have any problems playing back SACDS. I have one of the early model PS3's connected through hdmi to an onkyo 805. I was just looking through the setup and seen that there are different settings and don't really know what they do. It sounds good as it is so I guess I won't even try changing anything.

The 20, 60, and 80G version all support SACD playback.

The 20, 60, and 80G version all support SACD playback.
The initial 80gb does - the new 80gb doesn't. Thanks, Sony!

The easiest way of remembering is "if it has PS2 backwards-compatibility, it has SACD support". In fact, it makes you wonder if they aren't using the PS2 bits to do the SACD support...

Now heres' a HD for the PS3!!!

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/09/12/wd.scorpio.blue.ships/

Quick question...

I did something stupid. My TV stand does not have enough ventilation. I have to keep the doors open when using the PS3 or else it gets very hot and very loud. Last night when I went to bed I shut the doors...but left the PS3 on all night long. It was very hot this morning.

Now, I didn't notice this. I was already at work and my wife called me. She shut it off and left the door open to allow it to cool.

Should I be worried about any possible damage?

The easiest way of remembering is "if it has PS2 backwards-compatibility, it has SACD support". In fact, it makes you wonder if they aren't using the PS2 bits to do the SACD support...

Nope. There is a connection but it's more along the lines of Sony getting serious about cutting production costs. What can they remove that isn't essential for PS3 and Blu-ray content? Answer: the Pit Signal Processing features of the Blu-ray drive necessary to read SACDs and the PS2's Graphics Synthesizer. Both represent additional hardware cost, so both had to go.

It's sad, really. I bought an MGS4 bundle as a backup for my original 20GB model to ensure that I'd have an SACD capable version for the foreseeable future.

Quick question...

I did something stupid. My TV stand does not have enough ventilation. I have to keep the doors open when using the PS3 or else it gets very hot and very loud. Last night when I went to bed I shut the doors...but left the PS3 on all night long. It was very hot this morning.

Now, I didn't notice this. I was already at work and my wife called me. She shut it off and left the door open to allow it to cool.

Should I be worried about any possible damage?

The PS3 interior seems to have been engineered very well. Although some models can put out some heat and can get very loud, there aren't a lot of failures due to internal components overheating or warping the PCB. I would say you're going to be fine as long as you don't notice any problems immediately. "Immediately," being within the first 24-48 hours of gameplay/movie watching.

Most of the PS3 failures are with "moving-parts" hardware that is going to fail eventually regardless (hard drives and optical drives).

Brandon

The PS3 interior seems to have been engineered very well. Although some models can put out some heat and can get very loud, there aren't a lot of failures due to internal components overheating or warping the PCB. I would say you're going to be fine as long as you don't notice any problems immediately. "Immediately," being within the first 24-48 hours of gameplay/movie watching.

Most of the PS3 failures are with "moving-parts" hardware that is going to fail eventually regardless (hard drives and optical drives).

Brandon

Thank you very much.

What about Jidder?

Seriously though, HDMI jitter is something entirely different from judder due to showing 24fps material at 30fps. And jutter is just a misspelling of judder, while jidder doesn't exist (but it sounds nasty :)).

[/url]

Umm...Now I'm in the mood for a peanut jutter and jetty sandwich. :p

Now heres' a HD for the PS3!!!

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/09/12/wd.scorpio.blue.ships/

Jeez...I remember when I bought my first hard drive. It was 40 MEGAbytes. It cost nearly $800. Now, 2.5 inch SATA 1/2 terabyte drives are a little over $200. Those were the days and I'm glad they're gone. I guess the price of gasoline makes up for it...Will

Now heres' a HD for the PS3!!!

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/09/12/wd.scorpio.blue.ships/

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/206951/how-to-supercharge-your-ps3/

Does anybody know the speed of the ps3 hdd? Would putting a brand new fast hdd in improve any kind of performance? As in install times and such? Installing is ridiculously slow on the ps3.

I got a 80 gig ps3 and hooked it up to my samsaung 40-81(led) the ps3 was bad it would just play dvd no blue ray or games
when I unhooked it from my 40-81 a black line of dead pixel showed up from the right of the screen to the middle.
I called sony and they told me the dead pixels was the tv not the ps3 I wanted to post this to see if anybody had this happen to them and if you did please post or if you heard about this on any other forum.

Jeez...I remember when I bought my first hard drive. It was 40 MEGAbytes. It cost nearly $800. Now, 2.5 inch SATA 1/2 terabyte drives are a little over $200. Those were the days and I'm glad they're gone. I guess the price of gasoline makes up for it...Will

Hehe, I hear ya. It is pretty amazing.

wtf is a psp3

Does anybody know the speed of the ps3 hdd? Would putting a brand new fast hdd in improve any kind of performance? As in install times and such? Installing is ridiculously slow on the ps3.

Probably 5400 ... the 120 I put in mine is 5400. I doubt putting a faster HD in would help install times much, certainly not worth the trade-off in heat generated. I don't find install times to be all that bad. *shrug* I think 7200rpm notebook drives jump in price a bit too.

I got a 80 gig psp3 and hooked it up to my samsaung 40-81(led) the psp3 was bad it would just play dvd no blue ray or games
when I unhooked it from my 40-81 a black line of dead pixel showed up from the right of the screen to the middle.
I called sony and they told me the dead pixels was the tv not the psp3 I wanted to post this to see if anybody had this happen to them and if you did please post or if you heard about this on any other forum.

1. If you just bought a bad PS3, return it and get another one.
2. If you have dead pixels on your TV when the PS3 isn't hooked up to the TV, then yes, it would seem to be your TV.

wtf is a psp3

That thing is gonna be sweet dude. 2011!

Brandon

wtf is a psp3

wow!

Does anybody know the speed of the ps3 hdd? Would putting a brand new fast hdd in improve any kind of performance? As in install times and such? Installing is ridiculously slow on the ps3.

Faster drives also generate more heat so be cautious

I got a 80 gig ps3 and hooked it up to my samsaung 40-81(led) the ps3 was bad it would just play dvd no blue ray or games
when I unhooked it from my 40-81 a black line of dead pixel showed up from the right of the screen to the middle.
I called sony and they told me the dead pixels was the tv not the ps3 I wanted to post this to see if anybody had this happen to them and if you did please post or if you heard about this on any other forum.

How do you like your LCD tv with a LED back light? Is it this model LN-T4081F ?

A PS3 can't damage pixels on your TV no matter what signal is sends. It was just a coincidence that you got a bad PS3 and a bad LCD TV.

In the days of CRT displays yes, a signal that exceeded your scan rate of the CRT could damage the CRT. Now the signal is just a series of 1s and 0s and the processed by the display. There is no combination of 1s and 0s that instructs the LCD cells or LED back lights to DIE.....

Does anybody know the speed of the ps3 hdd? Would putting a brand new fast hdd in improve any kind of performance? As in install times and such? Installing is ridiculously slow on the ps3.

the limiting factor is the speed that data can be pulled off of the Blu ray drive. So a fast HDD will not improve things.

Does anybody know the speed of the ps3 hdd? Would putting a brand new fast hdd in improve any kind of performance? As in install times and such? Installing is ridiculously slow on the ps3.

Here's a link to an article that did exactly what you're asking. The stock HD is 5400rpm and either a 40, 60 or 80 gb.

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/138288/7200rpm-vs-5400rpm-does-ps3-hard-drive-speed-matter/

the limiting factor is the speed that data can be pulled off of the Blu ray drive. So a fast HDD will not improve things.

Not all things on my ps3 come off a blu-ray disc.

wala=voila

My Gramma's name was Viola.

Here's a link to an article that did exactly what you're asking. The stock HD is 5400rpm and either a 40, 60 or 80 gb.

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/138288/7200rpm-vs-5400rpm-does-ps3-hard-drive-speed-matter/

That drive they use for comparison is not the fastest thing out there but did show that there is performance differences. If ever so slight. The faster drives are really not that much more expensive and I've got money to spare so I'll be picking one up. Probably a western digital.

Jeez...I remember when I bought my first hard drive. It was 40 MEGAbytes. It cost nearly $800. Now, 2.5 inch SATA 1/2 terabyte drives are a little over $200. Those were the days and I'm glad they're gone. I guess the price of gasoline makes up for it...Will

I can top that one. In 1984 or 1985 I had an Apple IIc with dual 5.25" floppy drives. I added a 20mb hard drive, including paying someone to install it the cost was $1500.

My Gramma's name was Viola.

My Father's name was Gern Blenstin.:D

How do you like your LCD tv with a LED back light? Is it this model LN-T4081F ?

A PS3 can't damage pixels on your TV no matter what signal is sends. It was just a coincidence that you got a bad PS3 and a bad LCD TV.

In the days of CRT displays yes, a signal that exceeded your scan rate of the CRT could damage the CRT. Now the signal is just a series of 1s and 0s and the processed by the display. There is no combination of 1s and 0s that instructs the LCD cells or LED back lights to DIE.....

I got the 40-81 on the blow out sale at BB and I have a sharp 46-64 on black Friday sale both are grand TV's
I can tell you the samsung out does the sharp in black and motion
H-T mag has a article on motion and the 81 came out with 800 lines compared to the sharp 480 lines the best plasma are 900.
sharp says it is 4ms it is not.
I believe the led last 100,000 hrs and with 3 yrs no interest on the samsaung it should last till I pay it off.
I guess it was just a coincidence with my first 81 but as you can see with 6 at home I don't have a lot of money but I'm glad I picked up the 81 and it makes me less happy with the sharp!THANKS!

So, if the PS3 is just a mini-computer, is it possible to add extra RAM (memory)? This usually speeds up game play.

I added a 10,000 rpm WD Velociraptor drive to my PC. It made a noticeable reduction in access time. It is quiet and fast. Of course, that drive cost almost as much (~$300) as the entire PS3, but who's counting?

So, if the PS3 is just a mini-computer, is it possible to add extra RAM (memory)? This usually speeds up game play.

I added a 10,000 rpm WD Velociraptor drive to my PC. It made a noticeable reduction in access time. It is quiet and fast. Of course, that drive cost almost as much (~$300) as the entire PS3, but who's counting?

Why does your PS3 need to be faster? It's a console, not a gaming PC. The games are designed to run at a specific frame rate and within the specs of the machine.

Now if you wanna run CrossFire on your PC w/ 4G RAM, SATA Raptor RAID, and a quad core, I'd understand that. But I don't think COD4 on PS3 will get any better by upgrading the units HD or RAM.

That drive they use for comparison is not the fastest thing out there but did show that there is performance differences. If ever so slight. The faster drives are really not that much more expensive and I've got money to spare so I'll be picking one up. Probably a western digital.

The point of the article is that a faster harddrive doesn't really increase much in performance as it's not a computer. If money isn't the issue
then by all means go for the faster drive, but what I would be looking for is the drive that runs coolest. That's where you'll get a benefit as the PS3 has a tendency to have issues with heat.

The point of the article is that a faster harddrive doesn't really increase much in performance as it's not a computer. If money isn't the issue
then by all means go for the faster drive, but what I would be looking for is the drive that runs coolest. That's where you'll get a benefit as the PS3 has a tendency to have issues with heat.

Where did you get the idea that I didn't "get" the article? I pointed out in my post that it was a slight difference but I'm willing to pay an extra $20 or so for more speed. Plus there are newer drives out now that are a bit faster than the one in the article. I'm not concerned with heat as I keep the ps3 properly ventilated and my house is around 70 F at all times. Also I haven't heard too much about the ps3 having heat issues? It's my 360 that I worry about heat issues with.

So, if the PS3 is just a mini-computer, is it possible to add extra RAM (memory)? This usually speeds up game play.

I added a 10,000 rpm WD Velociraptor drive to my PC. It made a noticeable reduction in access time. It is quiet and fast. Of course, that drive cost almost as much (~$300) as the entire PS3, but who's counting?

PS3 RAM is part of the machine, you can't expand it (at least not without some major soldering, etc).

Since PS3 games are designed specifically for the hardware in the box, in all likelihood more RAM would do nothing for performance.

Where did you get the idea that I didn't "get" the article? I pointed out in my post that it was a slight difference but I'm willing to pay an extra $20 or so for more speed. Plus there are newer drives out now that are a bit faster than the one in the article. I'm not concerned with heat as I keep the ps3 properly ventilated and my house is around 70 F at all times. Also I haven't heard too much about the ps3 having heat issues? It's my 360 that I worry about heat issues with.

Settle down tiger as you're free to do whatever you want but the PS3 is prone to running warm, even in well ventilated areas. I just returned one that stopped working and the diagnosis was heat and it was mounted in an open rack with about 8" clearance on top and open on all sides. I'm not saying all PS3's will have this problem but rather that it's something to be aware of. I hope your hard-drive of choice works out for the best, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's very negligible performance increase if at all. :)

By the way, where do you live that your house never gets above 70 F?

By the way, where do you live that your house never gets above 70 F?

Psst. Location is under his name.

I think what people forget when they say the PS3 is slow to install a game is the file size its actually transfering. On average its around 4 to 6 gigs.... Thats alot of data to transfer and no matter how fast any drive is [ be it on a PC or console ] its going to take a good bit of time.

The general consensus from PS3 mod sites aswell as alot of people over at the official playstation forums is that 7200RPM drives do nothing to lessen install times as the PS3 data transfer rate is a fixed value.

I recently put a Western Digital 320gig Scorpio drive in my PS3 so its quickly turning into a proper media server now that I have room for various sorts of rips.

In the end a big install upfront is worth the time you will save from that point on.

By the way, where do you live that your house never gets above 70 F?

Psst. Location is under his name.

.....and he might have one of those new fangled things they call an HVAC system.:D

Quick question...

I did something stupid. My TV stand does not have enough ventilation. I have to keep the doors open when using the PS3 or else it gets very hot and very loud. Last night when I went to bed I shut the doors...but left the PS3 on all night long. It was very hot this morning.

Now, I didn't notice this. I was already at work and my wife called me. She shut it off and left the door open to allow it to cool.

Should I be worried about any possible damage?

want some good advice? move the ps3 to a well ventilated area otherwise you are going to do this again and again. there may be that one time that the ps3 will not restart and there goes 4-5 bills down the toilet.

I can top that one. In 1984 or 1985 I had an Apple IIc with dual 5.25" floppy drives. I added a 20mb hard drive, including paying someone to install it the cost was $1500.
I remember a day when ram was king and a tape drive was the only storage method.............look how far we have come in just 28 years and imagine where we will be in 28 more!!! all this from some ones infatuation with a little box, some switches and a primitive processor...

the PS3 data transfer rate is a fixed value..

In the end a big install upfront is worth the time you will save from that point on.

candycab - I did not know that about the transfer rate, that sucks. On the second point, totally agree.

.....and he might have one of those new fangled things they call an HVAC system.:D

Stevetd - button, you hit it.

Question about audio levels when you are in the Main Menu area of the PS3 (not a movie main menu, but the PS3's main menu itself... the "XROSS" interface as Sony calls it).

If you have your system volume set to a reasonable level for a Blu-ray movie or playing a Game, and you enter the XROSS PS3 menu and happen to land on an icon for a Game... one that's on a disc in the player or a Demo you loaded onto the hard drive... the volume level for the audio that comes up when you land on that gam icon in the XROSS interface is loud beyond belief...scared the crap out of myself more than once already (this is a new 80GB PS3 selling for $399, not the previous higher-priced 80GB model, more like the 40GB unit than the previous 80GB unit). Is there any way to dial back that volume setting in the main menu so it's not 2 or 3 times louder than the normal level for a movie or actual game play?

Question about audio levels when you are in the Main Menu area of the PS3 (not a movie main menu, but the PS3's main menu itself... the "XROSS" interface as Sony calls it).

If you have your system volume set to a reasonable level for a Blu-ray movie or playing a Game, and you enter the XROSS PS3 menu and happen to land on an icon for a Game... one that's on a disc in the player or a Demo you loaded onto the hard drive... the volume level for the audio that comes up when you land on that gam icon in the XROSS interface is loud beyond belief...scared the crap out of myself more than once already (this is a new 80GB PS3 selling for $399, not the previous higher-priced 80GB model, more like the 40GB unit than the previous 80GB unit). Is there any way to dial back that volume setting in the main menu so it's not 2 or 3 times louder than the normal level for a movie or actual game play?

no sir,

not that i know of, and of course i'm on the lower firmware 2.30, whatever you do try to refrain from updating because the last 3 most current firmwares are giving problems, version 2.40 was leaving the some ps3 "bricked" and the latest one seems to be messing up BD/game PQ.

i myself tend to download many other demo games and use a quieter icon in case i happen to scroll accidentally.

Motorstorm icon doesn't care if we have neighbors.

no sir,

not that i know of, and of course i'm on the lower firmware 2.30, whatever you do try to refrain from updating because the last 3 most current firmwares are giving problems, version 2.40 was leaving the some ps3 "bricked" and the latest one seems to be messing up BD/game PQ.

i myself tend to download many other demo games and use a quieter icon in case i happen to scroll accidentally.

??

whatever you do try to refrain from updating because the last 3 most current firmwares are giving problems, version 2.40 was leaving the some ps3 "bricked" and the latest one seems to be messing up BD/game PQ.

The latest version 2.42 is messing with the PQ? Anyone else noticing this?

The latest version 2.42 is messing with the PQ? Anyone else noticing this?

First I've heard of it and I believe I'm running the latest as well. I wonder what they changed that would ruin the picture quality. I wish there was a service menu so you could calibrate the colors.

First I've heard of blu-ray PQ being messed with too.

no sir,

not that i know of, and of course i'm on the lower firmware 2.30, whatever you do try to refrain from updating because the last 3 most current firmwares are giving problems, version 2.40 was leaving the some ps3 "bricked" and the latest one seems to be messing up BD/game PQ.

i myself tend to download many other demo games and use a quieter icon in case i happen to scroll accidentally.

Do you have an official link about this or is it something you read on a blog somewhere?

Do you have an official link about this or is it something you read on a blog somewhere?

Thee was a poster that swears his picture quality isn't as good as it was before he updated. It appears now another poster or so has falling into that belief. Nothing scientific or direct comparisons from a PS3 with the older firmware and the newer firmware so I discount it as paranoia or something's wrong with the posters PS3 as mine doesn't show any degradation of the picture.

Thee was a poster that swears his picture quality isn't as good as it was before he updated. It appears now another poster or so has falling into that belief. Nothing scientific or direct comparisons from a PS3 with the older firmware and the newer firmware so I discount it as paranoia or something's wrong with the posters PS3 as mine doesn't show any degradation of the picture.

Heard of one example. The new FW de-interlaces 1080i to 1080p for the few bluray titles that have 1080i. To disable that and let your display de-interlace you turn off upscale and the image quality should be identical to previous releases.

Not an issue that would stop me from updating.

Heard of one example. The new FW de-interlaces 1080i to 1080p for the few bluray titles that have 1080i. To disable that and let your display de-interlace you turn off upscale and the image quality should be identical to previous releases.

Not an issue that would stop me from updating.

I think if 1080i deinterlacing was in a FW update more people would've known about it by now. Do you have a source/link for this?

And to the other posters, the hubbub about 2.40 bricking systems is way overblown. It's more of a media/internet creation than reality. There is no evidence of the software itself bricking systems, but rather the normal probability that the process of updating can brick the system if it fails to execute properly. The same thing has happened in Denon AVR threads just as much as here in the PS3 thread.

Brandon

Thee was a poster that swears his picture quality isn't as good as it was before he updated. It appears now another poster or so has falling into that belief. Nothing scientific or direct comparisons from a PS3 with the older firmware and the newer firmware so I discount it as paranoia or something's wrong with the posters PS3 as mine doesn't show any degradation of the picture.

Ah, the good old annecdotal evidence again. Lots of those lately...

I think if 1080i deinterlacing was in a FW update more people would've known about it by now. Do you have a source/link for this?


SONY: http://www.us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3
Upscaling of Blu-ray Disc (BDAV) video content is now supported.How about here: http://www.amazon.com/tag/blu-ray/forum/ref=cm_cd_et_md_pl?%5Fencoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2R11KXGJPWBTU&cdMsgNo=1&cdPage=1&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx2C3KB7AXXXFHL&cdMsgID=Mx3GQO8029PUH9W#Mx3GQO8029PUH9W

Here is a user with a image difference for a 1080i Planet Earth Bluray disc:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14665308#post14665308 You can see here it is encoded at 1080i http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/planetearth_us.html

SONY: http://www.us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3
How about here: http://www.amazon.com/tag/blu-ray/forum/ref=cm_cd_et_md_pl?%5Fencoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2R11KXGJPWBTU&cdMsgNo=1&cdPage=1&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx2C3KB7AXXXFHL&cdMsgID=Mx3GQO8029PUH9W#Mx3GQO8029PUH9W

Here is a user with a image difference for a 1080i Planet Earth Bluray disc:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14665308#post14665308 You can see here it is encoded at 1080i http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/planetearth_us.html

Thank you. I'm going to check this out when I get home. I have the HQV disc which tests deinterlacing of 1080i Video & Film content. Before, I could only use it to test my display since the PS3 can't do deinterlacing. Now, I should be able to test to see if this works on the PS3 which should be sending a 1080p signal to the TV now if this works. I'll chime back in with my results, but it won't be til later.

Also, I noted this on that first link which is interesting:

Hints
This feature is not available on Blu-ray Discs in which the video is recorded in BDMV format, including BD-ROMs (most of the Blu-ray Disc titles currently on the market).
Depending on the recording conditions of the video, upscaling may not be possible

So it's only capable of upscaling BDAV content, and I'm not sure what the HQV disc is authored in. But it sounds like BDAV content is mainly for home made Blu-ray discs without menus and interactivity whereas most commercial BDs are BDMV. That would mean that the poster who thought upscaling affected Planet Earth was likely mistaken.

Brandon

That would mean that the poster who thought upscaling affected Planet Earth was likely mistaken.

Brandon

Here is another report of the PS3 outputting 1080i Planet Earth at 1080p:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=27403419&postcount=4

I have Planet Earth at home as well, so I'll check that out tonight. I wonder if there's a way to tell if the disc is authored in BDAV vs BDMV?

Brandon

I have Planet Earth at home as well, so I'll check that out tonight. I wonder if there's a way to tell if the disc is authored in BDAV vs BDMV?

Brandon

Remember: the Planet Earth BBC Video series is indeed in 1080p, whereas the Discovery Channel series is in 1080i.

Remember: the Planet Earth BBC Video series is indeed in 1080p, whereas the Discovery Channel series is in 1080i.

You are correct, and I have the BBC Video Series.

Brandon

It sounds like it might be still under warranty.

It is possible the heat sink grease has become defective.

Sony has fixed excessive fan noise for other owners.

As you know from the Beginning - the 40 is a quite unit.
Something Changed.

My 40gb model was also pretty quiet - then a firmware update came out and I started hearing it get pretty loud. I am not sure if it is causal or coincidental.

I did a bit of drive experimentation a number of months ago. Took out my original 5400rpm 40GB model and hooked up a 7200RPM 3.5" 750GB drive in an eSATA case alongside the PS3. There was a noticeable improvement in boot time, but I don't recall the measurements I did. Fearing the fragility of the solution, which involved a SATA cable coming out of the PS3 to a SATA-to-eSATA cable which then hooked up to the external drive, I soon replaced it with a 320GB 7200rpm drive. This was slower than the 750GB, but I never compared it directly to the 40.

I have also run into the problem of how to get large files (like 10GB DV dumps or large AVC compilations from my camcorder) onto the PS3 drive. I used red kawa's webserver for downloading some, but always ran into some error on the big files.

I can confirm 2 things:

The HQV Benchmark BD is authored in BDMV (it says so in the PS3 XMB. The Icon states "BDMV BD-ROM").

The 1080i resolution tests are output in 1080i to my display with "Upscale" turned to "normal" on my PS3 settings.

Brandon

I have the ps3 80 Ps2 compatible Motorstorm. the audio is connected to my AVR with optic cable 5.1 DB
firmaware 2.42 fan noise=non existent

Great PQ, while watching, a couple of time the sound just faded for a split second. I went back again to the same place and no fading.

then no problem afterwards. Any suggestion to what could be. TIA

My 40gb model was also pretty quiet - then a firmware update came out and I started hearing it get pretty loud. I am not sure if it is causal or coincidental.

I have seen your kind of response from others.

I have the ps3 80 Ps2 compatible Motorstorm. the audio is connected to my AVR with optic cable 5.1 DB
firmaware 2.42 fan noise=non existent

Great PQ, while watching, a couple of time the sound just faded for a split second. I went back again to the same place and no fading.

then no problem afterwards. Any suggestion to what could be. TIA
The usual cause of dropouts when using optical cable is a loose, dirty, or damaged cable.

Fingerprint oil on the tip of the cable or dust in the socket could be the cause. The optical cables can also be damaged internally if they are stepped on or bent too sharply.

Of course if this is the case, it should be happening on more than one disc.
--Bob

My 40gb model was also pretty quiet - then a firmware update came out and I started hearing it get pretty loud. I am not sure if it is causal or coincidental.
Keep in mind that if your 40GB unit has become noisy, Sony will replace it under warranty as a defective unit.

If you have any sort of reasonable ventilation around the 40GB unit, and it kicks up to high fan noisy when just playing Blu-Ray discs then it is definitely defective.

Sony will ask you to check whether the unit's air flow has become blocked with dust or the like.
--Bob

hi there

With 22000 posts it's almost impossible to find anything in here if you're new.
So apologies for repeating anything if that is the case
My kids are pestering me for a PS3
Are there any stories about new versions coming out, price drops, etc
or can you point me in the right direction

Thanks
Rob

hi there

With 22000 posts it's almost impossible to find anything in here if you're new.
So apologies for repeating anything if that is the case
My kids are pestering me for a PS3
Are there any stories about new versions coming out, price drops, etc
or can you point me in the right direction

Thanks
Rob

Hi Rob. In the past month or so, Sony has released a slightly updated version of the PS3. It is an 80GB model and retails for $399. This version does not have PS2 backwards compatibility, only has 2 USB slots (can be expanded with a USB hub for a few bucks though), and does not play SACDs. I say this because the previous 80GB models did have these extra features (but also cost $100 more). Since this version has recently come out, they likely won't reduce prices on them anytime soon.

However, you should be aware that they will release a "bundle package" in November that includes a PS3 with a 160GB hard drive (instead of 80) and the game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (great game, btw), along with a voucher for a downloadable game (I forget the name of it). The price on this will be $499.

So basically, now's a good time to go ahead and get one of the new 80GB models.

Is a sony style store a good place to buy the ps3?
If i get a loud one(knowing my luck) or other defectiveness(?) would they be willing to take it back as much as say a BB or CC or even a gamestop?
I work 4 mins from a SS store.

Games, schmames - buy it because it is a GREAT Bluray player.

Games, schmames - buy it because it is a GREAT Bluray player.

And a great media extender also. Streaming music, photos and videos from your PC to the PS3 is a breeze and I use this function the most.

Is a sony style store a good place to buy the ps3?
If i get a loud one(knowing my luck) or other defectiveness(?) would they be willing to take it back as much as say a BB or CC or even a gamestop?
I work 4 mins from a SS store.

I bought BOTH of mine from SS.

One Needed to go back.

They were great with their repair service.

thanks for that quick response.
i'm guessing there is no more need to wait. :D
nothing too new on the horizon.
Also, can video be output via composite and hdmi at the same time, or do i need to make that change manually.

Jumping back to the DVD 24p topic, it appears Toshiba's new super upconverting DVD player (I have forgotten their current name for it), will have 1080-24p output for SD DVDs over HDMI. So maybe Sony will feel enough pressure after all to add it as a feature.

On the PS3s growing noisier front, mine (60GB bought the March after launch) began going into a higher fan mode fairly frequently some months ago. I do not think it is a firmware or defect related issue though. I am pretty sure it is just a matter of internally accumulated dust reaching the point of reducing airflow to the point it has an effect. I put the vacuum on all the vents and cleaned the thing out as thoroughly as possible and it is now only doing it about one fourth as often.

So those of you with noise issues might want to try that. One thing to be a bit careful of, though, is not letting the vacuum over rotate the built in fan at too high a speed as it can ruin it. Probably not an issue if you just vacuum one grill at a time with the others open, but if you seal most of them off with tape or something temporarily trying to get high air flow to get more dust out, you could tweak it.

BB

thanks for that quick response.
i'm guessing there is no more need to wait. :D
nothing too new on the horizon.
Also, can video be output via composite and hdmi at the same time, or do i need to make that change manually.

Only one video output can be active at a time, and only one audio output can be active at a time. They can be different (eg, HDMI for video + optical for audio).

These questions and many more are answered in the FAQ:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1058533

On the PS3s growing noisier front, mine (60GB bought the March after launch) began going into a higher fan mode fairly frequently some months ago. I do not think it is a firmware or defect related issue though. I am pretty sure it is just a matter of internally accumulated dust reaching the point of reducing airflow to the point it has an effect. I put the vacuum on all the vents and cleaned the thing out as thoroughly as possible and it is now only doing it about one fourth as often.

Same here. I was hosting some folks for the USC game this saturday so I was dusting down all of the furniture and the PS3. It had a ton of dust accumulated and I cleaned it all out and it does seem to be having the same effect as your situation.

Brandon

Is a sony style store a good place to buy the ps3?
.

Don't forget Walmart.

Pretty lenient about returns too.

Don't forget Walmart.

Pretty lenient about returns too.

Thanks.
The SS style may work better cuz i can sign up for the credit card upon checkout. And its closer to me than a walmart.
I'd hope the SS store would have better support than most other retailers for the ps3.

Seeing the PS3 more than held its own in the most recent shootout, and my calibrator(kevin miller) still loves the ps3, its now a go for me.
Just have to get the kehones to bring it home and have the wife give me an earful... again. :D

Thanks.
The SS style may work better cuz i can sign up for the credit card upon checkout. And its closer to me than a walmart.
I'd hope the SS store would have better support than most other retailers for the ps3.

Seeing the PS3 more than held its own in the most recent shootout, and my calibrator(kevin miller) still loves the ps3, its now a go for me.
Just have to get the kehones to bring it home and have the wife give me an earful... again. :D

Just remember this..walmart has extra warranty cheap..I got 2 yrs after manufacturer for $30..covers the controller as well

thanks for that quick response.
i'm guessing there is no more need to wait. :D
....

In case you need a good excuse for your wife (when you buy your new PS3), here in AVS you will find very creative members that can recomend you some of the most incredible ones...!:D

Jumping back to the DVD 24p topic, it appears Toshiba's new super upconverting DVD player (I have forgotten their current name for it), will have 1080-24p output for SD DVDs over HDMI. So maybe Sony will feel enough pressure after all to add it as a feature.

On the PS3s growing noisier front, mine (60GB bought the March after launch) began going into a higher fan mode fairly frequently some months ago. I do not think it is a firmware or defect related issue though. I am pretty sure it is just a matter of internally accumulated dust reaching the point of reducing airflow to the point it has an effect. I put the vacuum on all the vents and cleaned the thing out as thoroughly as possible and it is now only doing it about one fourth as often.

So those of you with noise issues might want to try that. One thing to be a bit careful of, though, is not letting the vacuum over rotate the built in fan at too high a speed as it can ruin it. Probably not an issue if you just vacuum one grill at a time with the others open, but if you seal most of them off with tape or something temporarily trying to get high air flow to get more dust out, you could tweak it.

BB

You should only use compressed air to clean out electronics hardware, vaccuuming can be an electrostatic hazard.

Jumping back to the DVD 24p topic, it appears Toshiba's new super upconverting DVD player (I have forgotten their current name for it), will have 1080-24p output for SD DVDs over HDMI. So maybe Sony will feel enough pressure after all to add it as a feature.



That would be a nice feature. Somehow I suspect they want us to buy more BD's though and not DVD's.:)

I've had my PS3 for approx. middle of July. It's an 80GB Metal Gear Solid bundle version. Recently, while watching Blu-ray movies, the screen would flicker to black and stop playback. The movie won't come back on, as I would have to eject the disc and power down the system.

A few days later, I was watching another movie and it did it again. Flickering to black, but this time the movie came back on immediately. Later during the same movie, it occured again, but the screen flickered a purple screen, green screen, then back to the movie. Later again, it flickered to a snow/white noise screen, then back to the movie.

Any ideas on what this could be?

I've had my PS3 for approx. middle of July. It's an 80GB Metal Gear Solid bundle version. Recently, while watching Blu-ray movies, the screen would flicker to black and stop playback. The movie won't come back on, as I would have to eject the disc and power down the system.

A few days later, I was watching another movie and it did it again. Flickering to black, but this time the movie came back on immediately. Later during the same movie, it occured again, but the screen flickered a purple screen, green screen, then back to the movie. Later again, it flickered to a snow/white noise screen, then back to the movie.

Any ideas on what this could be?
An HDMI connection periodically checks to make sure copy protection is still in effect. Normally this happens in the background and you don't notice, but if it fails then the HDMI handshake is done all over again to try to re-establish things. At a minimum that's about a 2 second scrambling of video. If retries are necessary before it's working again it will take longer.

If this is what's happening to you, then the thing to do is double check your HDMI cabling. Make sure it is fully inserted straight into the socket at each end. Even a tiny bit of looseness -- as from the weight of the cable for example -- is enough to screw things up.

If you are using 1080p from the player, check whether your HDMI cables are designed and tested for a high bandwidth HDMI signal like that. If not, replace the cable(s) with ones labeled as HDMI V1.3 for 1080p. Cables labeled like that are supposed to pass the strictest testing standards. HDMI cables NOT labeled that way may very well work depending on how well they were designed and made, but the new labeling is supposed to mean you can rely on them having been tested for high bandwidth use such as with 1080p.
--Bob

netflix streaming update? I'm about to get the roku box, but I thought I'd check in on the PS3 front since I already own one.

After tons of research on this forum and other places I'm still confused about the output audio performance of my PS3 when playing the Blu-ray "Transformers" disc. The issue is, when PS3 is set to BITSTREAM, the audio sounds much more detailed, crisp, bassy, and tight, as compared to when it's set to PCM. On PCM it sounds, well...pretty flat.

So, knowing that the PS3 decodes the Dolby TRueHD and sends it to the receiver through PCM, or sends a regular Dolby digital non-decoded audio through BITSTREAM, I am led to believe that perhaps my Pioneer Elite 7.1 HDMI AVR is doing a MUCH better job decoding regular old 5.1 dolby digital than the PS3 is doing decoding the all awesosme Dolby TrueHD! Is this possible because Transformers REALLY sounds much better on BITSTREAM with this Pioneer AVR. To make it even more confusing, RAMBO which is MASTER AUDIO track sounds much better using PCM and crappy on BITSTREAM.

Anyone have any ideas what the heck is going on here?

First, I apologise if this topic has already been covered. I did some searches but had no luck finding the info I needed.
I have a 60gig PS3 that I bought about 16 months ago. It's been fine until a few weeks ago.
I noticed that it would jump ahead one chapter, by itself, while I was watching either a standard dvd or a blu-ray. Tonight I watched a blu-ray and twice it jumped to the next chapter out of the blue.
As a test, I took the batteries out of my PS3 remote and put my PS3 controller in another room of the house. The intermittant chapter jump still occurred, which makes me suspect it's the unit itself, as opposed to a faulty remote signal, or weak batteries, ect.
Has this happened to any other PS3 owners? Any suggestions? I do have a Sony extended warranty, but what worries me is the problem is still in the intermittant stage. In fact, I had watched several movies problem free until tonight...
The PS3 is situated on an end table in my living room. Lots of space around it...

I looked at a new 80GB PS3 at one Sony store and it was running really loud. When I say loud I mean you would definitely hear it while watching a movie during quieter scenes from 10' or even 15' away.

I looked at a new 80GB PS3 at another Sony store and I couldn't hear any noise from 3 feet away.

I've read a couple of posts hear explaining that it may be from dust build up or from different firmware upgrades or it's just getting lucky to get a "quiet one" when you buy it.

When watching a movie does the fan actually need to be running full throttle?

For the amount of posts about this topic maybe there should be a seperate thread for this one.

I looked at a new 80GB PS3 at one Sony store and it was running really loud. When I say loud I mean you would definitely hear it while watching a movie during quieter scenes from 10' or even 15' away.

I looked at a new 80GB PS3 at another Sony store and I couldn't hear any noise from 3 feet away.

I've read a couple of posts hear explaining that it may be from dust build up or from different firmware upgrades or it's just getting lucky to get a "quiet one" when you buy it.

When watching a movie does the fan actually need to be running full throttle?

For the amount of posts about this topic maybe there should be a seperate thread for this one.


The key maybe whether the first one was an 80gb from MGS4 bundle ..this will run much warmer and the fan will be louder

I had a 80gb MGS4 and could hear the fan when playing Blu-ray or upconverting DVD in quiet scenes....returned it and got a the newer sku 80gb...much quieter in dead silent room you can hear the fan from a few feet but it is different pitch, whine and much better

I cant hear the new sku 80gb with quiet movie scenes

An HDMI connection periodically checks to make sure copy protection is still in effect. Normally this happens in the background and you don't notice, but if it fails then the HDMI handshake is done all over again to try to re-establish things. At a minimum that's about a 2 second scrambling of video. If retries are necessary before it's working again it will take longer.

If this is what's happening to you, then the thing to do is double check your HDMI cabling. Make sure it is fully inserted straight into the socket at each end. Even a tiny bit of looseness -- as from the weight of the cable for example -- is enough to screw things up.

If you are using 1080p from the player, check whether your HDMI cables are designed and tested for a high bandwidth HDMI signal like that. If not, replace the cable(s) with ones labeled as HDMI V1.3 for 1080p. Cables labeled like that are supposed to pass the strictest testing standards. HDMI cables NOT labeled that way may very well work depending on how well they were designed and made, but the new labeling is supposed to mean you can rely on them having been tested for high bandwidth use such as with 1080p.
--Bob

Thanks Bob. Connection seemed tight, so I'll hit up monoprice for a new cable to see if that fixes it.

netflix streaming update? I'm about to get the roku box, but I thought I'd check in on the PS3 front since I already own one.

You may want to hold off on that unless it is something you must have, the price is nice, though.

"Video quality is so-so. Definitely worse than a DVD and not even quite up to a standard def Apple TV vid. But it's certainly passable, and Netflix seems genuinely interested in bumping up the visual fidelity in the future."

read this:
http://hdtvtechnology.blogspot.com/2008/05/roku-netflix-player-hands-on-first.html

I was going to purchase it last week. I am on the 1080p/uncompressed audio kick and would rather wait for the BR Disc to arrive in my mailbox.

slightly OT, but anyway. (for those of you that have minimal interest in games)

Next Thursday Sony are releasing Wipeout, download only. $20.

it is 1080p/60 and looks stunning.

would make an awesome screen demo.

piccies here.

http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/driving/wipeout/images.html

New Firmware just out. Apparently you have to manually trigger the DL

Info on the new firmware v2.43 from PlayStation.Blog (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/09/16/ps3-firmware-update-v242/):

Hi, everyone, I wanted to give you a heads up about PS3 firmware update (v2.43). Unlike previous updates, firmware v2.43 is specific to the Japan region, and only PS3 users there will be required to install the update. PS3 users in all other regions will not be prompted to download v2.43. However, if you manually initiate a firmware update by clicking on "System Update" under the XMB’s Settings icon, the v2.43 update will be available, regardless of where you are located.

Users outside of Japan do not need to perform this update if your PS3 system software is on version v2.41 or later. However if you do perform the update, it will not cause any issues with your system or add any new functionality.

So what exactly is added by the new update? According to comment #53 from the blog:

To quote the Japanese PlayStation site:

...

Rough translation:
Functionality was added on the Japanese Playstation Store to support the download of rental contents. From Wednesday, September 24, it will be possible to download carefully selected high-quality titles such as Anime which all game users can enjoy, in a rental format that makes them viewable for a limited time.

--this is the only functionality it says has been added.

I am picking up an 80GB PS3 tomorrow on my way home along with the new John Mayer Live concert Blu-ray at the Best Buy in the Mall of America.

Should go great with my 50" Panasonic Plasma.

After tons of research on this forum and other places I'm still confused about the output audio performance of my PS3 when playing the Blu-ray "Transformers" disc. The issue is, when PS3 is set to BITSTREAM, the audio sounds much more detailed, crisp, bassy, and tight, as compared to when it's set to PCM. On PCM it sounds, well...pretty flat.

So, knowing that the PS3 decodes the Dolby TRueHD and sends it to the receiver through PCM, or sends a regular Dolby digital non-decoded audio through BITSTREAM, I am led to believe that perhaps my Pioneer Elite 7.1 HDMI AVR is doing a MUCH better job decoding regular old 5.1 dolby digital than the PS3 is doing decoding the all awesome Dolby TrueHD! Is this possible because Transformers REALLY sounds much better on BITSTREAM with this Pioneer AVR. To make it even more confusing, RAMBO which is MASTER AUDIO track sounds much better using PCM and crappy on BITSTREAM.

Anyone have any ideas what the heck is going on here?


Just some ideas...

Your receiver may have separate or independent settings for DD and PCM. So your DD settings may be calibrated properly, but your PCM settings may be at default 0 trims.

There's a volume difference level on the disc, with the PCM track being quieter in volume than the DD track. If it's 2-4dB quieter, it will sound like you describe in comparison. This could very well be the case, with the TrueHD being more dynamic and requiring the user to turn it up a bit more to get the full dynamics of the audio track.

^^That's what I was thinking....

I am picking up an 80GB PS3 tomorrow on my way home along with the new John Mayer DVD at the Best Buy in the Mall of America.

Should go great with my 50" Panasonic Plasma.

The PS3 or the DVD? ;):p

essogas, I have noticed the same results with my Yamaha v663.

Just some ideas...

Your receiver may have separate or independent settings for DD and PCM. So your DD settings may be calibrated properly, but your PCM settings may be at default 0 trims.

There's a volume difference level on the disc, with the PCM track being quieter in volume than the DD track. If it's 2-4dB quieter, it will sound like you describe in comparison. This could very well be the case, with the TrueHD being more dynamic and requiring the user to turn it up a bit more to get the full dynamics of the audio track.

Or it could just be that he likes the over compressed sound of DD to the sound of PCM.

I have a fairly modest rig, but to me the difference between any of the advanced audio codecs (True-HD, DTS-MA, PCM) and DD is pretty amazing.

I was going to buy the ps3 during lunchtime, but i hear a difference from my HD-a3 from PCM and DD bitstreamed...
I need another post to convince me to go buy one in an hour!

I was going to buy the ps3 during lunchtime, but i hear a difference from my HD-a3 from PCM and DD bitstreamed...
I need another post to convince me to go buy one in an hour!
Get it because it's a great all-around media client/extender. Seriously, I'm a hardware geek, and I'm still very impressed by what they've managed to build in the PS3.

I was going to buy the ps3 during lunchtime, but i hear a difference from my HD-a3 from PCM and DD bitstreamed...
I need another post to convince me to go buy one in an hour!

"Another Post"

Now go buy the thing and be done with it :)

"another post"

now go buy the thing and be done with it :)

lol

Hey rr330i:

My wife talked me into buying a PS3 (no kidding) when we were shopping for a Blu-ray player last July. I've thanked her MANY times since then. As a Blu-ray player, state-of-the-art gaming system, media player, media streamer and online device, it has incredible bang for the buck. Even without it's prowess with games, it would be one of the most useful devices I've ever introduced into my home theater.

So just buy it. Buy. It. :)

And if you've got a couple bucks left over, check out "Ratchet and Clank" and "Uncharted:Drake's Fortune" -- two great games that really show off the PS3's graphics engine.

One of my coworkers was mentioning using the PS3 as a dedicated BluRay player will burn out the optical drive faster than just using it as a game machine as the servo motor wasn't rated for continious BluRay playback. Can anyone confirm this or is it just an urban legend/hear say?

Now that Oppo has thier BluRay player prototyped I'm going to eventually purchase one of those and I'm hoping my PS3 will hold out long enough playing BluRay to hold me over until then.

One of my coworkers was mentioning using the PS3 as a dedicated BluRay player will burn out the optical drive faster than just using it as a game machine as the servo motor wasn't rated for continious BluRay playback. Can anyone confirm this or is it just an urban legend/hear say?

Now that Oppo has thier BluRay player prototyped I'm going to eventually purchase one of those and I'm hoping my PS3 will hold out long enough playing BluRay to hold me over until then.

Considering the games are on Blu-rays, too, I really don't see how this claim can have any merit.

Now that Oppo has thier BluRay player prototyped I'm going to eventually purchase one of those and I'm hoping my PS3 will hold out long enough playing BluRay to hold me over until then.

You saw this... where?

You saw this... where?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1063625

There's a whole thread devoted to it. I don't believe anyones actually seen it working as it was at the Anchor Bay booth at CEDIA. Lots of rumors and pics.

One of my coworkers was mentioning using the PS3 as a dedicated BluRay player will burn out the optical drive faster than just using it as a game machine as the servo motor wasn't rated for continious BluRay playback. Can anyone confirm this or is it just an urban legend/hear say?

Now that Oppo has thier BluRay player prototyped I'm going to eventually purchase one of those and I'm hoping my PS3 will hold out long enough playing BluRay to hold me over until then.

That is a left over urban legend from the early days of the PS2. They had a bad batch of DVD drive back in the day. People are mixing the two console up. Except for noisy fan issue I don't see too many people complain about the reliability of the PS3 especially when you compare it to its competitor the xbox 360 which has a near 15% failure rate still.

You should only use compressed air to clean out electronics hardware, vaccuuming can be an electrostatic hazard.

A good point. I am not touching the PS3 with the vacuum when I do this generally, though.

i hear water works well for cleaning too!;)

After tons of research on this forum and other places I'm still confused about the output audio performance of my PS3 when playing the Blu-ray "Transformers" disc. The issue is, when PS3 is set to BITSTREAM, the audio sounds much more detailed, crisp, bassy, and tight, as compared to when it's set to PCM. On PCM it sounds, well...pretty flat.

As others have said, it has to be something in your settings for the processing when receiving multichannel PCM. The DD track on Transformers is actually quite good (lived with the SD VD until a couple of weeks ago), but there is no question the TrueHD track is hands down better in every way. Maybe DRC is being activated with the TrueHD track?

BB

Originally Posted by Skippman
One of my coworkers was mentioning using the PS3 as a dedicated BluRay player will burn out the optical drive faster than just using it as a game machine as the servo motor wasn't rated for continious BluRay playback. Can anyone confirm this or is it just an urban legend/hear say?
That is a left over urban legend from the early days of the PS2. They had a bad batch of DVD drive back in the day. People are mixing the two console up. Except for noisy fan issue I don't see too many people complain about the reliability of the PS3 especially when you compare it to its competitor the xbox 360 which has a near 15% failure rate still.
Urban legend, indeed! I did a lot of research before buying my PS3 and saw nothing to indicate that they were plagued with premature drive failures if used exclusively for Blu-ray. In fact, the consensus was that they are the best Blu-ray player for the money.

After tons of research on this forum and other places I'm still confused about the output audio performance of my PS3 when playing the Blu-ray "Transformers" disc. The issue is, when PS3 is set to BITSTREAM, the audio sounds much more detailed, crisp, bassy, and tight, as compared to when it's set to PCM. On PCM it sounds, well...pretty flat.

So, knowing that the PS3 decodes the Dolby TRueHD and sends it to the receiver through PCM, or sends a regular Dolby digital non-decoded audio through BITSTREAM, I am led to believe that perhaps my Pioneer Elite 7.1 HDMI AVR is doing a MUCH better job decoding regular old 5.1 dolby digital than the PS3 is doing decoding the all awesosme Dolby TrueHD! Is this possible because Transformers REALLY sounds much better on BITSTREAM with this Pioneer AVR. To make it even more confusing, RAMBO which is MASTER AUDIO track sounds much better using PCM and crappy on BITSTREAM.

Anyone have any ideas what the heck is going on here?

I'll jump on the "it must be your AVR, or the settings on your AVR" bandwagon. I am not positive, but I think there are separate settings on the Pio Elites for PCM processing. Check your manual and see if you might have to tweak them.

My Denon 2807 is HDMI connected to the PS3 and TrueHD blows away DD on this (and every other) film. Not even close. The 2807 does not have separate PCM input tweaks and applies processing universally across input modes, based on what you set up for that input (at least HDMI inputs).

Or it could just be that he likes the over compressed sound of DD to the sound of PCM.

I have a fairly modest rig, but to me the difference between any of the advanced audio codecs (True-HD, DTS-MA, PCM) and DD is pretty amazing.

When I hear these comments, I always like to ask what people think about this article?

http://www.hedmag.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM

HD audio tracks no doubt sound good, but legacy DD & DTS tracks sound good as well. There have been times I have thought the HD tracks sounds better, but it is slight at best. And any differences may be more due to a different mix than anything.

When I hear these comments, I always like to ask what people think about this article?

http://www.hedmag.com/node/Dolby_Tru...compressed_PCM

HD audio tracks no doubt sound good, but legacy DD & DTS tracks sound good as well. There have been times I have thought the HD tracks sounds better, but it is slight at best. And any differences may be more due to a different mix than anything.

That link doesn't work.

I found the page (http://www.hedmag.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM?page=0%2C1)using google.

Brandon

Hey rr330i:

My wife talked me into buying a PS3 (no kidding) when we were shopping for a Blu-ray player last July. -- snip --.


I'm afraid we'll have deduct 30 points from your mancard for that statement :D

When I hear these comments, I always like to ask what people think about this article?

http://www.hedmag.com/node/Dolby_Tru...compressed_PCM

HD audio tracks no doubt sound good, but legacy DD & DTS tracks sound good as well. There have been times I have thought the HD tracks sounds better, but it is slight at best. And any differences may be more due to a different mix than anything.
There's already a decent size thread on that article (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1044085), complete with flamebait subject line.

When I hear these comments, I always like to ask what people think about this article?

http://www.hedmag.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM

HD audio tracks no doubt sound good, but legacy DD & DTS tracks sound good as well. There have been times I have thought the HD tracks sounds better, but it is slight at best. And any differences may be more due to a different mix than anything.

IMHO, with my HT gear, in my room, to my ears...

When possible, I have always tried to compare the HD formats with the Non-HD formats on discs. In almost every case, I can hear some level of improvements in sound with the HD formats. Yes, there are some where the differences are not so significant. OTOH, there are some (Transformers, in keeping with the original discussion) where the HD format is (again IMHO) significantly better than the non HD format.

No,not scientific, fact based, measured nor certified - just what my two ears tell me :)

As for what I think about the article... I think they did a nice job with it. I do not have the basis to refute nor agree. If it spurs intelligent conversation, leading to more research on the subject great. My suspicion, however, is it will just lead to more flame wars on the forums.

Sorry for continuing this OT discussion.

The PS3 or the DVD? ;):pGrr, I meant to say Blu-ray.

Never went and got it though - was getting late so I thought I'd look at product replacement plans and if anyone decided to get one or not.

I'll jump on the "it must be your AVR, or the settings on your AVR" bandwagon.

It's also possible that your AVR is set not to use dynamic range compression (the classic "nighttime mode") when it's doing the decoding, while your PS3 IS set to use dynamic range compression. Make sure this is turned off in both before comparing.

Sorry for the retread, I know there's been LOT'S of discussion on this topic, ie toothfairy, nyko blue-wave doggle, etc, but I haven't been convinced which solution I should go for.

I'm about to buy the ps3 and i want to control it with my harmony one.

I need full control of the ps3 for both blu ray playback as well as regular dvd's, cd playback, and if possible, control of streaming music and internet browsing.

Of the many solutions for control with a harmony, what's the best simplist one?

Sorry for the retread, I know there's been LOT'S of discussion on this topic, ie toothfairy, nyko blue-wave doggle, etc, but I haven't been convinced which solution I should go for.

I'm about to buy the ps3 and i want to control it with my harmony one.

I need full control of the ps3 for both blu ray playback as well as regular dvd's, cd playback, and if possible, control of streaming music and internet browsing.

Of the many solutions for control with a harmony, what's the best simplist one?


I use the IR2BT and it works great!

Of the many solutions for control with a harmony, what's the best simplist one?

I use the PS3ToothFairy. It took about 5 minutes to set up, including unpacking from the box :) All the codes are in the Harmony database (I assume this is also true for the other options) and I did the set up on my Harmony in advance, so once the thing arrived - it was ready to go.

I don't think you'd go wrong using any of the IR -> BT products.... except the Nyko, only because that does not do power off. The others all have some form of macro, that will power off the PS3.

My PS3ToothFairy has been working flawlessly for several weeks, with lots of use.

YMMV.

Of the many solutions for control with a harmony, what's the best simplist one?
I know that IR4PS3 works well, and it uses the electronics from the Sony BT remote, so there's no chance it's going to stop working properly after a PS3 firmware update (this happened once with IR2BT).

I bought a Nyko remote for my PS3 because I had learned that the Nyko USB dongle worked well with Harmony remotes. Indeed it does, I could not be happier, and the Nyko was cheap, to boot. Check it out at Amazon's Web site and you will see what I mean.

I bought a Nyko remote for my PS3 because I had learned that the Nyko USB dongle worked well with Harmony remotes. Indeed it does, I could not be happier, and the Nyko was cheap, to boot. Check it out at Amazon's Web site and you will see what I mean.

Just checked amazon- didn't find it - what item is this?

Just checked amazon- didn't find it - what item is this?

I don't know what you were doing, but typing "nyko" in the Amazon search bar produced this as the 1st hit;

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-Blu-Wave-Remote/dp/B000R5H7KE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1221793978&sr=8-1

for you people who use the PS3 as a multi purpose beast

Life with Playstation is now available. it is a program that has news weather and a webcam from around the globe. you fly into the destination and choose your poison.

only 60 cities so far.

the news is from AFP but if you ask for more news it takes you to Google.

to get it, update the Folding at Home client.

for you people who use the PS3 as a multi purpose beast

Life with Playstation is now available. it is a program that has news weather and a webcam from around the globe. you fly into the destination and choose your poison.

only 60 cities so far.

the news is from AFP but if you ask for more news it takes you to Google.

to get it, update the Folding at Home client.

Such a Wii ripoff. I deleted it after a few hours :)

I bought a Nyko remote for my PS3 because I had learned that the Nyko USB dongle worked well with Harmony remotes. Indeed it does, I could not be happier, and the Nyko was cheap, to boot. Check it out at Amazon's Web site and you will see what I mean.

SO you bought the Nyko remote and the USB plug for the PS3 works with your Harmony remote? Thank you for the person who sent me the amazon link - i was looking for something that didn't come with a remote. Were the codes discreet for the Harmony or did you just program in the Nyko into your Harmony?

SO you bought the Nyko remote and the USB plug for the PS3 works with your Harmony remote? Thank you for the person who sent me the amazon link - i was looking for something that didn't come with a remote. Were the codes discreet for the Harmony or did you just program in the Nyko into your Harmony?

JUST KNOW - FYI - The Nyko will NOT power the PS3 on or off

JUST KNOW - FYI - The Nyko will NOT power the PS3 on or off
It can power it off. You just have to go to the 'turn off' menu item in the XMB.

I have a question about the compatibility of ps3 LPCM format. Will the Pioneer VSX-1018AH Receiver http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-VSX-1018AH-K-7-Channel-Receiver-HD-Audio/dp/B001BNLTYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=audio-video&amp;qid=1221443456&amp;sr=1-1 will be able to process the LPCM from the ps3 ?

Is the ps3 capable of 7.1? Thanks

Just checked amazon- didn't find it - what item is this?
I don't know what you were doing, but typing "nyko" in the Amazon search bar produced this as the 1st hit;

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-Blu-Wave-Remote/dp/B000R5H7KE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1221793978&sr=8-1
Yeah, that's is. As noted earlier, it's really cheap and it works well.

It can power it off. You just have to go to the 'turn off' menu item in the XMB.

I have a Harmony One for which I can create macros. While the Nyko doesn't have a pre-programmed macro which will turn off the PS3, couldn't I just create one myself? How many button pushes does it take to turn off the PS3? Also, what about turning the PS3 on? Could I do that with the Nyko dongle coupled with a Harmony One?

I have a Harmony One for which I can create macros. While the Nyko doesn't have a pre-programmed macro which will turn off the PS3, couldn't I just create one myself? How many button pushes does it take to turn off the PS3? Also, what about turning the PS3 on? Could I do that with the Nyko dongle coupled with a Harmony One?

I just insert a disk to turn it on ;)

I have a question about the compatibility of ps3 LPCM format. Will the Pioneer VSX-1018AH Receiver http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-VSX-1018AH-K-7-Channel-Receiver-HD-Audio/dp/B001BNLTYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=audio-video&amp;qid=1221443456&amp;sr=1-1 will be able to process the LPCM from the ps3 ?

Is the ps3 capable of 7.1? Thanks

Yes - PS3 does 7.1 PCM if your receiver supports it. I believe the 1018 does.

I've had my PS3 for approx. middle of July. It's an 80GB Metal Gear Solid bundle version. Recently, while watching Blu-ray movies, the screen would flicker to black and stop playback. The movie won't come back on, as I would have to eject the disc and power down the system.

A few days later, I was watching another movie and it did it again. Flickering to black, but this time the movie came back on immediately. Later during the same movie, it occured again, but the screen flickered a purple screen, green screen, then back to the movie. Later again, it flickered to a snow/white noise screen, then back to the movie.

Any ideas on what this could be?

I find the PS3 is a little less susceptible to fingerprints and scratches than some standalone Blu-ray players, but it still has problems... just last night a rental disc had a greasy fingerprint on the perimeter. With about 20 minutes left to go in the movie, it did just what you described... black momentarily, then the movie picked up again. I knew the fingerprint was there before starting the movie, I left it on purpose to see how the PS3 would do reading through it. After that first bobble, the PS3 went black again for a long time (40 seconds maybe) then a still frame from the movie appeared and the PS3 just would not play any deeper into the fingerprint. I ejected the disc, wiped the fingerprint off with a chean cloth (I usually wash dirty discs in the sink and dry with a soft towel, didn't even bother with that this time) and the rest of the disc played without a problem. Blu-ray is more sensitive to fingerprints and scratches than DVD... which is not surprising... Blu-ray discs hold much more data than DVDs so the encoded Blu-ray data is much smaller and easier to obscure even with read-error recovery schemes in place.

I have a Harmony One for which I can create macros. While the Nyko doesn't have a pre-programmed macro which will turn off the PS3, couldn't I just create one myself? How many button pushes does it take to turn off the PS3? Also, what about turning the PS3 on? Could I do that with the Nyko dongle coupled with a Harmony One?

I've just been using the XMB, but I'm thinking of creating a macro for my 720... It's a max of what... 7 or so to the left? If you go "too far" (you're only 2 or 3 over from the Users category) there's no harm other than a slight delay perhaps, then 1 or 2 up and select X/enter twice. Would be interesting as an intellectual excercise, if not a reason to go back into the Harmony software, since I haven't made any changes to my setup in the last year.

But realistically, using the 'manual' XMB method to turn off isn't that bad. AT least not bad enough that I've felt the need to pony up for a PS3toothfairy... Turn on, I have to put a disc (whether it be movie or game) anyway... unless I'm playing one of the downloaded games... in which case I have the DS3 in my hand anyway...

Yes - PS3 does 7.1 PCM if your receiver supports it. I believe the 1018 does.http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-VSX-1018AH-K-7-Channel-Receiver-HD-Audio/dp/B001BNLTYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=audio-video&amp;amp;qid=1221443456&amp;amp;sr=1-1

can someone please confirm this does this receiver process ps3 LPCM?

I bought a Nyko remote for my PS3 because I had learned that the Nyko USB dongle worked well with Harmony remotes. Indeed it does, I could not be happier, and the Nyko was cheap, to boot. Check it out at Amazon's Web site and you will see what I mean.

Can anyone confirm that this will work with the MX500?

Appreciate it.

I've just been using the XMB, but I'm thinking of creating a macro for my 720... It's a max of what... 7 or so to the left? If you go "too far" (you're only 2 or 3 over from the Users category) there's no harm other than a slight delay perhaps, then 1 or 2 up and select X/enter twice. Would be interesting as an intellectual excercise, if not a reason to go back into the Harmony software, since I haven't made any changes to my setup in the last year.

But realistically, using the 'manual' XMB method to turn off isn't that bad. AT least not bad enough that I've felt the need to pony up for a PS3toothfairy... Turn on, I have to put a disc (whether it be movie or game) anyway... unless I'm playing one of the downloaded games... in which case I have the DS3 in my hand anyway...
I, too have passed on a ps3toothfairy because the Nyko USB dongle is good enough for my purposes. My Harmony can do everything I want with it, except turn on the PS3. Even that is no big deal because I usually want to load a disk when I turn on the PS3. The Nyko is very useful and in the immortal words of Gilda Radner's old SNL character, Roseanne Rosannadanna, "It was ril chip." :)

Correct Setting for Dynamic Range Control?

In this post in the BD shootout thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14696564#post14696564

respected ISF calibrator Jeff Meier (poster UMR) makes the assertion that Dynamic Range Control (an audio output setting) must be turned OFF in the PS3 to avoid screwing up certain audio tracks. It is set to ON by factory default.

What's the consensus here? Does anyone have any reason to contradict what Jeff is saying?

If not, we should get this added to the FAQ sticky thread, yes?

Personally I've left it ON in my PS3 and haven't noticed any issues so far.
--Bob

Correct Setting for Dynamic Range Control?

In this post in the BD shootout thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14696564#post14696564

respected ISF calibrator Jeff Meier (poster UMR) makes the assertion that Dynamic Range Control (an audio output setting) must be turned OFF in the PS3 to avoid screwing up certain audio tracks. It is set to ON by factory default.

What's the consensus here? Does anyone have any reason to contradict what Jeff is saying?

If not, we should get this added to the FAQ sticky thread, yes?

Personally I've left it ON in my PS3 and haven't noticed any issues so far.
--Bob

I've noticed nothing and mine's on too.

Correct Setting for Dynamic Range Control?

In this post in the BD shootout thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14696564#post14696564

respected ISF calibrator Jeff Meier (poster UMR) makes the assertion that Dynamic Range Control (an audio output setting) must be turned OFF in the PS3 to avoid screwing up certain audio tracks. It is set to ON by factory default.

What's the consensus here? Does anyone have any reason to contradict what Jeff is saying?

If not, we should get this added to the FAQ sticky thread, yes?

Personally I've left it ON in my PS3 and haven't noticed any issues so far.
--Bob

Bob, Jeff's findings have been confirmed elsewhere on AVS. You may want to look into the BD Software forum for the Iron Man (9/30) thread. In there, I believe Dave Vaughn and Ralph Potts both confirmed that when DRC was left to "automatic", it muffled the dynamic range of the TrueHD track. It has to be turned to off, according to them and a few others.

Here are the pertinent posts:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14655334#post14655334

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14655462&highlight=drc#post14655462

I don't remember the specific reasoning as to why it only applies to certain tracks (specifically IronMan's), but it does not affect all TrueHD tracks if I remember correctly. See the thread for more info.

can someone please confirm this does this receiver process ps3 LPCM?

You may want to try the owners thread of that AVS for better responsiveness.

Do you think turning off DRC in the PS3 is confirmed enough at this point that it should be added as a recommendation in the FAQ?
--Bob

Do you think turning off DRC in the PS3 is confirmed enough at this point that it should be added as a recommendation in the FAQ?It should never be used unless your wife screams it's too loud from the other end of the house! :)

Bob- YES! at least, IMHO.

Correct Setting for Dynamic Range Control?
...
What's the consensus here?
I must say I hadn't noticed that the default was ON, because I definitely would not want to be compressing the dynamic range (of course it's hard to know what Sony really means by this and whether it applies to TrueHD as well as legacy DD). I always bitstream DD anyway, partly to avoid weird things like this cropping up with new firmware.

I must say I hadn't noticed that the default was ON, because I definitely would not want to be compressing the dynamic range (of course it's hard to know what Sony really means by this and whether it applies to TrueHD as well as legacy DD). I always bitstream DD anyway, partly to avoid weird things like this cropping up with new firmware.
I had assumed it was actually enabling the "Dialog Normalization" function in DD5.1 tracks. This is the first I'd heard that it might be screwing up anything.
--Bob

First off, my PS3 is outputting in 1080p. The dash and games are 1080p. Now...

I first noticed this when I played my first Blu-Ray movie. I have an HP w2408h monitor that I'm using as a display. I have it because it has 1:1 and keep-aspect-ratio scaling options (which I didn't expect other monitors to not have, especially a Samsung!). I had it on 1:1 before trying to watch a movie. When playing a Blu-Ray, there was a small (~50 pixels?) border of blackness around the entire image. This is because it was being displayed at its native resolution (right?). For the sake of stress and movie-watching, I quickly turned it to the keep-aspect-ratio-but-stretch option. That's where it's been for a while.

So again, the PS3 is most definitely set to output in 1080p. Only when playing a Blu-Ray disc, it appears to be sending a '1000p' signal, or something... because it doesn't fill up the screen at 1:1. Has anyone ever heard of this, or am I just worrying? Because according to common sense, the monitor is scaling the image a little bit, and ruining 1:1 goodness.
Ok, so maybe no one has seen this or cares, but I figured it out:

PS3 has BD-specific settings. When I change it to do RGB instead of Auto, it works fine! YPbPr seems to do this just-under-1080p thing, I have no idea why. I had the PS3 on RGB so I did not expect this.

Just putting this up in case another poor sap happens to have the same issue.

Do you think turning off DRC in the PS3 is confirmed enough at this point that it should be added as a recommendation in the FAQ?
--Bob

I would say yes, Bob. Reason being that even audio/video experts, so to speak, with high-range audio systems didn't realize that this could potentially be a problem until fiddling around with the Iron Man TrueHD track and observing that the legacy Dolby Digital track had more dynamic range than the TrueHD track.

On other sites some reviewers thought there was a problem with the IronMan soundtrack and/or disc and were considering bringing the problem to Paramount's attention.

It sounds like the default should be to "off" because when on "automatic" it is turned on when playing the TrueHD track of Ironman. Most casual audio/video hobbyists will never know to turn it off, so having it in the FAQ seems logical to me.

Brandon

Ok, so maybe no one has seen this or cares, but I figured it out:

PS3 has BD-specific settings. When I change it to do RGB instead of Auto, it works fine! YPbPr seems to do this just-under-1080p thing, I have no idea why. I had the PS3 on RGB so I did not expect this.

Just putting this up in case another poor sap happens to have the same issue.

Maybe this has to do with RGB being for computer displays? It makes sense now that you bring it up.

Brandon

I would say yes, Bob. Reason being that even audio/video experts, so to speak, with high-range audio systems didn't realize that this could potentially be a problem until fiddling around with the Iron Man TrueHD track and observing that the legacy Dolby Digital track had more dynamic range than the TrueHD track.

On other sites some reviewers thought there was a problem with the IronMan soundtrack and/or disc and were considering bringing the problem to Paramount's attention.

It sounds like the default should be to "off" because when on "automatic" it is turned on when playing the TrueHD track of Ironman. Most casual audio/video hobbyists will never know to turn it off, so having it in the FAQ seems logical to me.

Brandon

I've updated the PS3 FAQ recommended setting for the audio dynamic range control to Off. Of course for the most accurate audio reproduction it should be set to OFF since this feature is a compression function intended to limit the dynamic range of the audio. It can be useful for some people and certain situations to turn on compression, but again for highest fidelity it should be Off.

Ron Jones

It should never be used unless your wife screams it's too loud from the other end of the house! :)


+1

Why would anyone consider this a normal feature to enable or use this unless someone is sleeping or working in the same space/home while you watch a movie? I imagine it's quite like ripping a SACD to a 128k MP3/AAC in terms of lost dynamics.


Charles:

Earplugs are cheap. Just be sure they are attached to a dozen roses.

Is anyone else having trouble playing the Transformers BDV? Every once in a while when I start it up it says "This video cannot be played", but if I try again it's fine.

DRC does not always do anything to a recording. It depends on the recording and whether there are instructions in the encoded track on how to implement it. If they are missing DRC is a placebo otherwise it is a mess.

The PS3 menu says it's only for Dolby decoded to PCM or something like that?

Is anyone else having trouble playing the Transformers BDV? Every once in a while when I start it up it says "This video cannot be played", but if I try again it's fine.

I've started it up 3 different times over the past week and it's played fine every time.

The PS3 menu says it's only for Dolby decoded to PCM or something like that?

Yes, it's for Dolby audio which is decoded in the player. If you bitstream the audio to the AVR then the setting will not affect it. Most AVRs have their own setting for Dynamic Range compression.

Brandon

I recently picked up a new PS3 80GB unit. Using HDMI (with Pioneer Elite VSX-91TXH to SXRD 60A3000) just before the disc fully loads there is a slight click/popping noise heard through my speakers and the "Option" icon appears briefly in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Does anyone know if I can remove the noise or what's causing it?

I have a Denon 3808 Receiver and PS3 and 5.1 speakers using PCM which works great. I noticed if I leave the audio settings on the PS3 at auto it selects all options including 7.1 and 5.1....and looks like it send a 7.1 signal to my receiver which outputs at 5.1...but if i make the ps3 audio settings manual and only select 5.1 it my receiver just shows 5.1...

Does it make a diff which setting I use in the end? :)

I recently picked up a new PS3 80GB unit. Using HDMI (with Pioneer Elite VSX-91TXH to SXRD 60A3000) just before the disc fully loads there is a slight click/popping noise heard through my speakers and the "Option" icon appears briefly in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Does anyone know if I can remove the noise or what's causing it?
I got a new 80 gig ps3 and it wouldn't play blue ray or any games.
I had to send it back because it was bad but I then notice a black line of dead pixels on my brand new samsung 40-81.
my question is if the new batch of 80 gig ps3 are bad? I been told the ps3 did not make the tv go bad but your popping noise makes me wonder?

I got a new 80 gig ps3 and it wouldn't play blue ray or any games.
I had to send it back because it was bad but I then notice a black line of dead pixels on my brand new samsung 40-81.
my question is if the new batch of 80 gig ps3 are bad? I been told the ps3 did not make the tv go bad but your popping noise makes me wonder?

I used to own a 20GB PS3 a while back and never had the "popping" issue, so I do wonder if the unit is faulty.

can someone please confirm this does this receiver process ps3 LPCM?

There's no such thing as PS3 LPCM... LPCM is a "standard" audio format. The only question is whether the Pioneer model you are looking at can process 7.1 LPCM or not. If it is a 5.1 channel AVR it may or may not process a 7.1 input, but I believe you can set the PS3 to limit output to 5.1 (don't have the menu right in front of me though, I could be wrong). If the Pioneer is a 7.1 AVR, it will process a 7.1 input with no problem. There's no 7.1 channel AVR I know of that can't process a 7.1 PCM input.

Ok, so maybe no one has seen this or cares, but I figured it out:

PS3 has BD-specific settings. When I change it to do RGB instead of Auto, it works fine! YPbPr seems to do this just-under-1080p thing, I have no idea why. I had the PS3 on RGB so I did not expect this.

Just putting this up in case another poor sap happens to have the same issue.

There is no problem with the YCbCr from the PS3... it produces full pixel-for-pixel 1080 images. If your display isn't handling it properly, it's the way your display works and has nothing to do with the PS3. The data on the disc is in YCbCr format anyway so the PS3 does nothing to it.

There is no problem with the YCbCr from the PS3... it produces full pixel-for-pixel 1080 images. If your display isn't handling it properly, it's the way your display works and has nothing to do with the PS3. The data on the disc is in YCbCr format anyway so the PS3 does nothing to it.
Agreed. The PS3 puts out a clean 1080p image in YCbCr -- right to the edge.

It is not unusual for computer monitors that accept YCbCr input to do something unusual with it. A border like this is one such symptom. Some computer monitors offer a setting to turn off things like this. However if the monitor does not let you do that, then switch the PS3 to the RGB output the monitor likes better. That's a perfectly acceptable solution.
--Bob

I recently picked up a new PS3 80GB unit. Using HDMI (with Pioneer Elite VSX-91TXH to SXRD 60A3000) just before the disc fully loads there is a slight click/popping noise heard through my speakers and the "Option" icon appears briefly in the lower right hand corner of the screen. Does anyone know if I can remove the noise or what's causing it?

More than likely you are hearing the AVRs internal switching as the AVR picks up the first audio track (stereo, 5.1, 7.1, etc.). You may also hear a little switching noise when you switch from the menu sound which may be stereo to the movie sound which will probably be 5.1 or 7.1 - special features may be stereo also and there may be another audible click if you engage a special feature while the movie is playing as the AVR switches from multi-channel to stereo. Some AVRs will not click if you set them to a surround mode that creates 5.1 or 7.1 channels from every input, including stereo... BUT, those modes may not be the best choice for the advanced surround formats that don't need the extra processing of DD PLIIx or DTS:Neo6 et al.

There is no problem with the YCbCr from the PS3... it produces full pixel-for-pixel 1080 images. If your display isn't handling it properly, it's the way your display works and has nothing to do with the PS3. The data on the disc is in YCbCr format anyway so the PS3 does nothing to it.
I wasn't saying it was happening for everyone, or else surely it would be known. I was merely chiming in with my solution that I know I wasn't alone in having. I posted it a month or so ago. Monitors always have poor options for scaling and whatnot, that's why I sold my Dell and returned the Samsung I bought to replace it. This HP is apparently handling the YPbPr strangely, and I totally did not expect that... because I thought that was only a color thing.

First off, my PS3 is outputting in 1080p. The dash and games are 1080p. Now...

I first noticed this when I played my first Blu-Ray movie. I have an HP w2408h monitor that I'm using as a display. I have it because it has 1:1 and keep-aspect-ratio scaling options (which I didn't expect other monitors to not have, especially a Samsung!). I had it on 1:1 before trying to watch a movie. When playing a Blu-Ray, there was a small (~50 pixels?) border of blackness around the entire image. This is because it was being displayed at its native resolution (right?). For the sake of stress and movie-watching, I quickly turned it to the keep-aspect-ratio-but-stretch option. That's where it's been for a while.

So again, the PS3 is most definitely set to output in 1080p. Only when playing a Blu-Ray disc, it appears to be sending a '1000p' signal, or something... because it doesn't fill up the screen at 1:1. Has anyone ever heard of this, or am I just worrying? Because according to common sense, the monitor is scaling the image a little bit, and ruining 1:1 goodness.

Ok, so maybe no one has seen this or cares, but I figured it out:

PS3 has BD-specific settings. When I change it to do RGB instead of Auto, it works fine! YPbPr seems to do this just-under-1080p thing, I have no idea why. I had the PS3 on RGB so I did not expect this.

Just putting this up in case another poor sap happens to have the same issue.

The resolution of your monitor is 1920 x 1200, so a standard HDTV signal at 1920x1080p is 120pixels smaller then your display's native resolution (60 pixels top and bottom). Next time buy a monitor that has a 16:9 resolution. Your HP w2408h has a 16:10 aspect ratio.

If the bar is gone, you didn't fix it, you are streching the image to fit your display. Must be a bug in your monitor's display circuit or firmware when it decoded RGB it disables 1:1 mapping.

My setup: New 80GB PS3 sw ver. 2.43 (HDMI) => Onkyo HT-S6100 (HDMI) => Optoma HD65 Projector.

My Onkyo HT-S6100 receiver is not outputing blue ray movie signals to my Optoma HD65 projector, and no sound either, but outputing audio & video for DVD and ps3 games from my ps3.
When I connnect the PS3 (playing BD movie) directly to the HD65 pj using the same HDMI cable it works fine, I see the video. But when I connect the ps3 back to the receiver to ouput to the pj, nothing happens, the pj stays on of course. Once, the receiver displayed a "no signal" message on the receiver's display, not on the screen).
When I change the media from BD Movie to regular DVDs and PS3 games, audio and video is ouputed fine.
My only problem right now is the receiver outputing BD Movie from my PS3 to the HD65 PJ
I've tested with and used 4 different HDMI cables that currently work fine, so the problem is with the receiver I think.

PS3 is the new 80GB edition with software update version 2.43, BD set to output LPCM, is there anything else that needs to be done in the settings. PS3 was delivered last week, so can be returned/exchanged.

I'll like to know if anyone else have this setup or experienced similar problems. How did you fix it? or does anyone have any advice? before I return the HT6100.

My setup: New 80GB PS3 sw ver. 2.43 (HDMI) => Onkyo HT-S6100 (HDMI) => Optoma HD65 Projector.

My Onkyo HT-S6100 receiver is not outputing blue ray movie signals to my Optoma HD65 projector, and no sound either, but outputing audio & video for DVD and ps3 games from my ps3.
When I connnect the PS3 (playing BD movie) directly to the HD65 pj using the same HDMI cable it works fine, I see the video. But when I connect the ps3 back to the receiver to ouput to the pj, nothing happens, the pj stays on of course. Once, the receiver displayed a "no signal" message on the receiver's display, not on the screen).
When I change the media from BD Movie to regular DVDs and PS3 games, audio and video is ouputed fine.
My only problem right now is the receiver outputing BD Movie from my PS3 to the HD65 PJ
I've tested with and used 4 different HDMI cables that currently work fine, so the problem is with the receiver I think.

PS3 is the new 80GB edition with software update version 2.43, BD set to output LPCM, is there anything else that needs to be done in the settings. PS3 was delivered last week, so can be returned/exchanged.

I'll like to know if anyone else have this setup or experienced similar problems. How did you fix it? or does anyone have any advice? before I return the HT6100.

Have you tried disabling the 24Hz option under BD/DVD settings? Your AVR may have trouble passing that signal. If that doesn't work, toggle resolution settings (1080p unchecked, etc) and see if that makes a difference.

Brandon

The resolution of your monitor is 1920 x 1200, so a standard HDTV signal at 1920x1080p is 120pixels smaller then your display's native resolution (60 pixels top and bottom). Next time buy a monitor that has a 16:9 resolution. Your HP w2408h has a 16:10 aspect ratio.

If the bar is gone, you didn't fix it, you are streching the image to fit your display. Must be a bug in your monitor's display circuit or firmware when it decoded RGB it disables 1:1 mapping.
I don't mean to insult you, but you clearly did not read the previous information I put out. I am not that ignorant. I don't care to explain the phenomenon again.

can someone please confirm this does this receiver process ps3 LPCM?

I have a Pioneer VSX-LX70 and it does. Just watched 'The Golden Compass' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/) on Blu-Ray via my PS3, last night.

Have you tried disabling the 24Hz option under BD/DVD settings? Your AVR may have trouble passing that signal. If that doesn't work, toggle resolution settings (1080p unchecked, etc) and see if that makes a difference.

Brandon

Disabling the 24Hz option under BD/DVD settings solved the problem. I can't thank you enough.
Thank you very much.

I don't mean to insult you, but you clearly did not read the previous information I put out. I am not that ignorant. I don't care to explain the phenomenon again.

If you have a 1920x1200p monitor then a 1080p signal won't fill the screen without scaling the image.

If it's filling the screen, then the image is being scaled somewhere.

More than likely you are hearing the AVRs internal switching as the AVR picks up the first audio track (stereo, 5.1, 7.1, etc.). You may also hear a little switching noise when you switch from the menu sound which may be stereo to the movie sound which will probably be 5.1 or 7.1 - special features may be stereo also and there may be another audible click if you engage a special feature while the movie is playing as the AVR switches from multi-channel to stereo. Some AVRs will not click if you set them to a surround mode that creates 5.1 or 7.1 channels from every input, including stereo... BUT, those modes may not be the best choice for the advanced surround formats that don't need the extra processing of DD PLIIx or DTS:Neo6 et al.

Your explanation seems to be the case. Interestingly enough, it doesn't happen on every disc; and sometimes it even doesn't happen every time on the same disc.

I have read through a few posts to see if I have my stuff is set up correctly.
I have a 80GB that I received last X-mas and I thought I was told to have it set to Bitstream for everything. I just got a Denon 3808 and have just a few Blu Ray movies...one is Harts War in True Hd DTS sound...when the ps3 is set to Bitstream..... DTS shows up on the 3808 and it sounds better than when its set to LPCM.
Which is odd cause when I switched it back to Bitstream from LPCM it said that some sound may be lost from Blu Ray...but it was actually better in bitsteam.
So I am a little confused about how to do all this....

I have read through a few posts to see if I have my stuff is set up correctly.
I have a 80GB that I received last X-mas and I thought I was told to have it set to Bitstream for everything. I just got a Denon 3808 and have just a few Blu Ray movies...one is Harts War in True Hd DTS sound...when the ps3 is set to Bitstream..... DTS shows up on the 3808 and it sounds better than when its set to LPCM.
Which is odd cause when I switched it back to Bitstream from LPCM it said that some sound may be lost from Blu Ray...but it was actually better in bitsteam.
So I am a little confused about how to do all this....

Are you using HDMI or optical?

If you are using HDMI, make sure you have the receiver calibrated, levels set and everything, for PCM as well as DTS/DD.

And note that there may be volume level differences between soundtracks. If one is 3dB quieter than the other, the louder one will seem "better." There is no reason DTS should sound better than Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio.

I have read through a few posts to see if I have my stuff is set up correctly.
I have a 80GB that I received last X-mas and I thought I was told to have it set to Bitstream for everything. I just got a Denon 3808 and have just a few Blu Ray movies...one is Harts War in True Hd DTS sound...when the ps3 is set to Bitstream..... DTS shows up on the 3808 and it sounds better than when its set to LPCM.
Which is odd cause when I switched it back to Bitstream from LPCM it said that some sound may be lost from Blu Ray...but it was actually better in bitsteam.
So I am a little confused about how to do all this....

The PS3 cannot send HD codecs over bitstream, so you were hearing the DTS "core" track from the disc (which still should sound excellent). The Denon used the settings you had configured for it when doing DTS decoding in the receiver.

When receiving LPCM from the player, the Denon will used the settings you configure for LPCM mode. These are not necessarily the same as those set up for DTS, which would account for the difference in sound.

The most likely culprits are (a) whether there is a DSP mode selected for one of the inputs but not the other, or two different oner, and (b) whether the Denon's room-equalization processor is bypassed ifor one of the inputs. If the LPCM inputs is using a "pure" or "direct" mode, for example, it's possible that all post-processing is bypassed.

By the way, this situation accounts for pretty much all of the urban lengendry about audible differences between in-receiver (bitstream) vs. in-player (LPCM) decoding.

FYI, firmware version 2.43 is now available at
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/About/SystemUpdate
I know you could previously force it using the PS3, but if you want to download on your computer you can now do it.

I don't mean to insult you, but you clearly did not read the previous information I put out. I am not that ignorant. I don't care to explain the phenomenon again.

I am not insulted. Everything I post is correct. You on the other hand started this post and continue to post miss-leading information. You started this post off blaming the PS3 for sending a underscanned image.

EDIT: it's like the PS3 is wanting to compensate for overscan (the more I read). I wish I could simply 'disable' this.

The PS3 image is 100% sized accuratlly in RGB or YPbPr modes. If you read the links you included, you will see that your monitor has a firmware feature (bug?) that it chops incomming HDMI signals to a lesser resolution and then scales them to fill the 16:10 resolution 1920x1200 (just like the Benq monitor). It doesn't do this with computer sources. So when you press 1:1 it disables the scalling but still performs the overscan chopping. Why don't you call HP and ask for the same feature of overscan disable that Benq added 6/07 in their firmware?

When you post about this issue you should state that you can work around a "bug" in my HP monitor using RGB output setting. It is still not clear from your posts whether or not the bars are on the top and bottom of your image. Since you say you are not an idiot then I assume there are bars only on the top and bottom when you are in 1:1 mode with RGB PS3 input.

thanks for the info...I'll have to go in and check all that out I don't remmber what the settings I have put in right now.
I am using HDMI between the two...


I don't rember seeing the LPCM mode in the settings on th denon but I probably just wasn't paying attention. I'll check it out when I get home..thanks again.