This is sort of a PSA

I got a new projector that handles 1080P. I wanted the PS3 to do all of the scaling, so rather than hitting "Automatic" for the video set up, i did Custom and set only 1080P as the acceptable resolutions.

The PS3 doesn't allow this, so it added 480P as a resolution as well. No big deal, I thought, I'm running HDMI and nothing should be coming out at 480P anyway.

So i fired up Folklore (not a great game, but the only one i was sort of interested in playing that they had in stock at Blockbuster-gorgeous cut screens tho) and noticed that something didn't look right.

My projector tells exactly what resolution is coming in. I expected to see 1080P, of course. Well, it was 480P.

I exited the game and did the automatic set up and the PS3 selected all resolutions (480P, 720P, 1080i, and 1080P).

When I restarted the game it was now running at 720P and looked MUCH better.

Of course, I wanted, and expected, the ps3 to output 1080P and do the scaling itself, but clearly it doesn't do that with games that are 720P native.

So, this PSA is to those people who maybe don't look, or whose tv doesn't allow them to see, what the incoming resolution is:

Set it to automatic. Select all resolutions, even if you have 1080P.

Heh, this was known since November 2006 amigo.

Heh, this was known since November 2006 amigo.

:)

I'm new to the PS3...did a search and didn't see anything specificially stating that.

my bad!

:)

I'm new to the PS3...did a search and didn't see anything specificially stating that.

my bad!

Thanks for the input Grant!

This isn't correct.

What you discovered is that Folklore only outputs to 720p or 480p. Since you disabled 720p, it output to 480p.

Some games are capable of outputting 1080i/p. If you had run the same test using one of those (like Ninja Gaiden Sigma or Ratchet and Clank), you wouldn't have noticed a difference.

The trick here is figuring out what the native rendering of the game is (for example, in R&C it's 720p, even though it will output 1080i) relative to your TV's native resolution. Additionally, you want to be familiar with the relative quality of each device's scaler.

Generally speaking, having all the resolutions selected means the PS3 will do whatever scaling it thinks is appropriate. However, there are situations where it may not do what you want it to. For example, you may have a TV that does a better job of scaling than the PS3 does. In which case, you would force the PS3 into the game's native res, and let your TV do the scaling.

The reverse is also true. Sometimes the PS3 won't scale something you want it to (because it would do a better job of scaling than might your TV), so you force it to scale something.

This can be a lot of trial and error. Personally, I find no reason to force certain resolutions. But that's because I have a 768p display, so it has to scale content no matter what.

So, the PS3 will not scale a 720p rendered game to 1080p? Craziness (if true).

Right now I'm using a 720p native projector, so this hasn't been an issue to me, but I was thinking of upgrading to the AE2000U (1080p). I would much prefer my PS3 to do the scaling than the projector - as I would assume that this would avoid processing lag.

So, the PS3 will not scale a 720p rendered game to 1080p? Craziness (if true).

Right now I'm using a 720p native projector, so this hasn't been an issue to me, but I was thinking of upgrading to the AE2000U (1080p). I would much prefer my PS3 to do the scaling than the projector - as I would assume that this would avoid processing lag.

The lag would still exist in the PS3. It depends on if the game supports scaling, as they're all just software scaled, the PS3 does not have a built in scaler like the 360. Generally the game looks better in its native resolution with your tv scaling, although not always true, so just try each game. Its really put there for the 1080i only users.

also to the best of my knowledge even though a game can be native 720p, the developer can allow the game to be displayed at 1080p (COD4 for example). I have personally disabled all rez's but 480p and 1080p and my 40" samsung lcd will confirm 1080p input even though it is a 720p game.