One-and-Only PS3 as Blu-Ray Player Thread - Page 1059

Dr. hankz, I would like a bit more info on this. I have been using my slim PS3 for blu rays and games. I run it through my Yamaha reciever to my Panasonic ST30. I am wondering if I would actually notice much difference in PQ between the PS3 and the Pansonic player you mentioned to make the additional purchase worth it. I know this is subjective, but anything you can share that will help quantify the quality difference would be helpful. My PS3 is not broken, so i don't need to buy something (as was the case with the individual you directed your comments towards.)

I am however, somewhat of a videophile with champagne taste and a beer budget I can afford $150 purchase if it is a significant improvement in PQ. Also, how well does the Panasonic player compare to the PS3 in terms of upscaling dvd??

I don't have the Panasonic - but between my sony 580 and the Ps3 there is no visible difference in picture quality when watching blu rays - honestly there shouldn't be should there? All it does is read the "ones and zeros" from the disc and send them to the TV, or am I missing something?

It is my TWO CENT opinion you would NOT see a difference for Blu-Ray DVDs.
Most people on AVS will Disagree. Blu-Ray is Lossless Digital. In Theory
all Blu-Ray Players for Blu-Ray movies should output the same strings
of 1's and 0's - that is why it is Lossless.

If you need other services offered by the 220 - that is a different issue.

IMO the latest sony's are a much better replacement for a PS3 than panasonic. They have the following that panny doesn't:

- Quality indicator
- DLNA (panny DLNA is extremely limited)
- Gracenote
- Bravia sync
- XBM

So in making the comment that you felt the panny player blows away the PS3, you are referring to some of the features that it offers, rather than the actual picture quality? Not trying to hold you to your words, just trying to understand better. Thank you for your time and input.

Yes - PQ - Should be the same for Blu-Ray MOVIES.

Cuzed,

I am wondering if you can share your experience with whether or not Bitstreaming to your reciever or letting PS3 decode and send out PCM has resulted in better audio quality? I am making the assumption that your ears are better than mine simply because I see you have a Marantz

I am no audiophile, as my speakers are Bose Accoustimass and my reciever is a low to mid end Yamaha. They sound great to me, but I don't want to miss out on anything, just in case my average hearing might detect it....lol.

Your impression/thoughts?

Thanks Dr, you have been helpful and I appreciate it. One last question for you. When I turn on my tv, but have not yet turned on any sources, it displays a perfectly black screen. When I turn on my reciever and ps3, and a blu ray is loading, for example, I get a black that contains some "noise."

It is kind of like watching "channel fuzz" only much much more mild and the picture is still black. You have to be pretty close to the tv to see it. It also seems to be present when the movie is playing and the scene is really dark. I believe this may be what is called "dithering," and normal for a plasma tv. I thought you might be able to shed some light on this for me.

I am not overly concerned as it is not too visible from a normal viewing distance. i just want to know if this is what they call dithering, or if it is normal. I can't remember whether or not my Bravia LED did this or not.

Figured I'd add helpful tip based on my recent experience.

I turned on the PS3, which is connected to the HDTV with an HDMI connection, and there was no video/audio. I looking in various places an the 1st step was to hold down the on button to restart. That did not resolve my issue. I swapped out the HDMI cable and still was a no-go. Advice varied greatly on how to proceed from there.

I solved the issue by getting out the old RCA type audio/video connector and hooked up the PS3 using that IN ADDITION to HDMI cable. I switched the TV to the RCA type input and I was prompted with a message that stated "The PS3 also has an HDMI connection, do you want to use HDMI instead". If you select that, you can then switch the TV to the HDMI input and you are then prompted with a count down screen(to reset back to RCA) which requires you to accept that you in fact do want to use this HDMI input.

Boom, problem solved. It does not makes sense to me why you have to do that, considering the HDMI was the only active connection. But that is what I have to do to fix my PS3 HDMI connection. I've had to do this twice now in the last three months. I'm not sure if this is an indication that my machine is on it's way out. But I'll keep on doing this when the issue comes up.

Hopefully this was helpful to someone else who faced the dearth of info I found out there when researching the problem.

I am SORRY - I do not know the answer for you.

I still don't understand what you meant by your original post - saying that the Panasonic will "BLOW AWAY" the PS3 in "all" aspects...is picture and audio quality not the most sought-after characteristics of a "good" Blu-ray player? Would you statement that "will blow away in ALL aspects" not include picture quality?

I have heard comparisons between the PS3 and Oppo 93/95 in this regard, and people who owned both said there is not much of a visual difference at all, if any. That is saying something...

I'm not cuzed - but I can comment that I hear no difference between having the ps3 decode it and send it PCM and having my Sony 580 send it bitstream to my receiver.
Everything I've read also states that there should be absolutely no deference as either way.
Hope that helps.

What you hearing is LOUDNESS - Bitstream is either +3db or +6db Louder.

I forget the exact number - turn it down 3db and it will be the same.

I said It sounded the same, maybe you meant to quote someone else.
Edit: I see, my iPhone changed the word "no" into something else. Nevertheless the rest of my post does indicate that there is no difference.

Thanks. I tried bitstream yesterday and for some reason my reciever wouldn't play the sound. Strange....I guess I am stuck with PCM. I only cared because I wanted to make sure I was getting the lossless format and not the standard 5.1.

Is this a common problem with the slim PS3? Maybe something I am overlooking? When I cycled through the audio options during the movie (using triangle button,) I was able to get a spanish version of DTS, but not sure if it was HD. My reciever is a yamaha and has HDMI pass through. It even handles 3D, so I can't imagine it has problem decoding DTS Master 5.1

Ok, so I just learned why I don't get sound when using Bitstream. My Yamaha RX-V367 does not list the losless formats on its feature set on their website. Obviously, this means that it will not decode them, so i need to use PCM.

My question is this: If it won't decode them, does this mean it will not play them? I am wondering if I am getting the lossless audio track out of my speakers or if the PS3 detects that the AVR cannot process those tracks and then sends out only the standard version of 5.1 PCM. Please help.

Thanks,

Dave

Having the PS3 Decode them to LPCM is 100% The Same as Bitstream.

Your PS3 knew your AVR would not handle bitstream - it is part of the
HDMI handshake protocol.

Well that is cool. So what you are saying is that what is being delivered to my speakers is the lossless track?

I know it was a budget reciever, but I find it strange that it will handle the 3D passthrough, but not decode a lossless track. Pretty funny actually. Who the heck has a 3D tv and blu ray player but doesn't want the lossless audio?

For FUTURE reference all PS3 Questions & Answers are HERE - Click On Link

Dr. Hanks, I appreciate it. however, I have already read the FAQ thread (which was very informative and well written.)

My question still remains: Is my reciever actually playing the pcm lossless track? I understand the PS3 is doing the decoding, but because of the handshake protocol, is it actually only putting out the standard 5.1 in pcm form?

Another way of asking the question would be: Is my reciever automatically putting out exactly what it is being given, even though it would have been unable to decode it on its own?

Your receiver can't tell - and doesn't care - which compression format was used BEFORE the signal was decoded and turned into PCM (i.e. if it was lossy (standard DD or DTS) or lossless (DTS HD MA or D TrueHD)). It'll just use whatever PCM signal it gets. In other words you're fine.

To find out the original audio format that the PS3 is decoding, simply press the Select button on the controller while the movie is playing.

Passthrough and decoding are two totally different things. Hdmi 1.4 will passthrough 3D but it has nothing to do with the chip that decodes lossless audio.

Thanks, that is what I wanted to know.

My PS3 won't play certain test patterns from my Spears & Munsil disc. Any ideas??? Everything else plays fine and all but a few patterns play fine. Is it possibly a defective disc? I don't own another blu-ray player to test.

I don't have that disc, so I can't say for sure. However, you could try to turn on the "superwhite" option in the PS3 settings. This is supposed to try to get the tv to display the "below black and above white" portions. Perhaps that will help.

Anyone have any playback issues after the latest firmware update?

I just tried the 1978 Superman I blu-ray, and it now fails to load up.

Since the firmware's the only thing that's changed, I can't help but wonder...

was the SUperman blu ray from australia or us? was it the single disc or from the boxset?

Jacob

Looks like I'm in the same boat as the prior poster: last night while playing Resistance 3 the screen froze. After rebooting it wont play BDs or PS3 games. Sometimes it gets to the load/main screen then it does nothing or goes to a black screen. I trust this must be the laser? I have the original fatty w/the sd card readers, 4 usb ports and PS2 backwards compatibility and don't want to lose all that. I'm going to try playing a game off the HD to make sure it's not the HD. I already went to the service screen to do a 'reset' and thought that worked but it didn't. Any other suggestions?

Australia, just the first-release single disc.