Official PS3 FAQ Master Thread - Page 34

Also, in addition to my last post.

What DOESN'T the PS3 offer as a Blu Ray player? As in what would be the drawback against other stand alones?

Price really isn't an issue for me, I just want the best quality (video and audio) Blu Ray player. The only "extras" I really care about are commentary. I care less about BD Live stuff but do want the ability to upgrade firmware via download.

The PS3 can run video over HDMI and then audio over optical if that is what you want.

Why would you worry about quality loss of a digital signal any way.?

The draw backs are:
1) Your DTS-MA or TRUEHD lights on your AVR will not light up because the PS3 can't bitstream HD codecs over HDMI (but decodes them and send them as Multi-channel PCM over HDMI).
2) SONY offers no IR input on the PS3 and you have to purchase a 3rd party IR solution to use a universal remote.
3) The PS3 only outputs sound and video on one of its outputs at a time (ie no analog and HDMI video at the same time, no HDMI audio and spdif or analog audio at the same time.)
4) The PS3 only supports 2 channel analog output and not 5.1 or 7.1 analog out that some stand alone players offer.
5) The PS3 draws more power and generates more heat than stand alone players. (This can lead to more fan noise and limited installation locations.)
6) The PS3 appearance doesn't match standard AV equipment.

All that being said it is still the best BD player available.
1) Fastest (http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=74197)
2) Most up to date FW releases
3) Decodes all BD HD sound formats
4) Plays HD video from various media (uPNP server, CD, DVD, BD, USB, etc)
5) Has wireless BD live access
6) Has access to SONY's VOD via the internet.
7) All/most new releases are tested for playback compatibility on a PS3.

I'm very happy with my PS3, especially after the Sonystyle discount of $150
The one output at a time was the most noticeable for me but not a deal killer.

I haven't had the pleasure to use it for Blu Ray yet!

Have an issue. Even I have HDMI set to bitstream, when stream from PC (using TVersity) PS3 still decode legacy DD, I have to uncheck all the PCM 5.1 and 7.1 options under sound to make it bitstream legacy DD. It is a Pain, when stream PCM, I have to go back and make the change in the setting to include 5.1 and 7.1 PCM.

BTW When play from a Bluray Disc or DVD it work as expect, I can change the setting from Bitstream to PCM on the fly when playing.

Will it play files from a network share without a streaming media server? (I mean natively; I presume it will do it with Linux.)

This is where I'm confused. Earlier I asked if I could go HDMI to my TV and digital audio to my AVR. The answer was yes. But the above quote sounds like I can't since HDMI also carries sound. Wouldn't that be two sound sources being outputted?

Also, does profile 2.0 have all the 1.1 features? Mainly does the PS3 have Bonus View?

No, simply because there is no mechanism within the PS3 interface to specify a network share to connect to. DLNA servers broadcast that they're there, so the PS3 detects that and shows that the server is available.

When you configure the PS3 for audio output, you must choose between HDMI, analog, and optical. You can choose only one.

When you configure for video, you can choose HDMI and analog. Again, you can choose only one.

HDMI can carry sound. It doesn't have to.

Yes profile 2.0 has all previous features.

The PS3 has independent settings for video and sound.

If the sound is set to optical output, the HDMI video output has no sound just video. Why is that so confusing? The PS3 can even do sound over HDMI and video over component (the HDMI sound is carried with a blank HDMI video signal.)

Yes, profile 2.0 includes everything in profile 1.1.

You can use HDMI video to the display and optical digital audio to the AVR if you wish. Use "bitstream" for the optical digital audio format. When playing Blu-Ray you will get the traditional, lossy DD5.1 or DTS tracks that are on the disc for just such compatibility purposes as this. They may not be listed in the disc's setup menu, but they are there nonetheless. The will be sent as a "lossy" bitstream to the AVR for decoding in the AVR just as you would do with a traditional standard-DVD player.

The restriction you quoted says you can't have audio active both on the HDMI and the optical digital outputs at the same time. So when hooked up this way the TV will see no audio coming in on that HDMI cable. If you want to turn off the AVR and hear audio via the TV's speakers, you will need to change the audio output of the PS3 to HDMI and adjust the allowed audio output formats to what your TV can accept.
--Bob

That is the way the PS3 works.

What is wrong with the PS3 decoding the DD5.1 signal? It as a perfect DD decoder. It sounds the exact same with the PS3 decoding on my system.

Sony fixed the old bug of outputting all decoded sound as PCM 7.1 on video playback and now outputs the appropriate number of PCM channels to allow your AVR to apply PLIIx.

Suspiciously absent from your list is "picture quality", which is really all I care about. The PS/3 does terribly on the Secrets of HT Shootout test, and that says a lot.

I have a ps/3, but i can't imagine it's the "best" BluRay player with sub-par picture quality and playback.

-Mike

I can't imagine that its D/A converters hold a candle to those built into a dedicated pre/pro.

-Mike

WTF?????

There is no D/A involved in the decoding of DD5.1 to PCM multi-channel. It is just mathematics. Both the AVR and the PS3 will make the exact same PCM stream (bit for bit identical).

Some people..... The only time the PS3's D/A converters are used is for the 2 channel analog output via RCA cable.

The PS3 outputs the BD disc exactly like the movie was mastered via its HDMI output at 1080p/24Hz. If you like your player to add filters and modify the image of the disc go ahead and purchase another player. The PS3 turns off all image modification filters during Bluray playback. I don't like sharpening filters or color modifying filters. This is a quote from the site you reference about the PS3 1080p playback - "and merely passes along the 1080p content of the pre-recorded disc (albeit very well)."

Here is another opinion from UltimateAVmag.com (http://www.guidetohometheater.com/hd...lu/index3.html)

Now if you are talking about SD dvd playback. The PS3 has trouble with a very small percentage of old DVDs that are miss-mastered (flags are set incorrectly). This was important 6 years ago but is no longer a issue. If you base your Bluray player buying discussions on how it handles SD DVD that the manufacture can't even master correctly, good for you. Here is the opinion of the reviewer's you mention: "However, it is far and away one of the best Blu-ray players on the market today and an outstanding value for those looking to add HD support to their home theater system."

What is the purpose of your posts here? I hope it is not to show your lack of A/V knowledge. But if that is your intent, you are doing a great job

Not exactly true as far as the Secrets Review goes. The significant issue with the PS3 they had was in upscaling of DVDs. They did have a minor complaint that the PS3 does not upscale non-1080p content on BDs. Thus for playback of BD movies, which are virtually all in 1080p, Secrets didn't have an issue with PS3 video quality. As for the issue they had with upscaling performance when playing DVDs, there major issue had was "it just cannot lock onto a high resolution test pattern for any of our cadence tests. This is worse performance than we see with even sub-$50 players at your local big box store." It my understanding that the PS3's limitation, with the firmware version that Secrets last tested (i.e., version 2.1) was that the PS3's cadence detection method can be fooled with certain specific video content and the test pattern that Screts uses for this test happens to cause the PS3 to incorrectly detect the cadence of the video. This is not typical of playing most commerical DVDs on the PS3. Sony has issued several firmware updates since the most recent Secrets review and it is known (based on a report out of Japan a few months ago in a interview with a PS3 program manager at Sony) they are working on a firmware upgrade to enable upconversion of non-1080p BD content to 1080p. I don't know if any of the firmware updates since the Secrets review had improved the cadence detection when using their test pattern, or not. Bottom line is that for the playing of BDs with 1080p content (just about all movies), the PS3 is on a par with the better standalone players, and generally has had less issues in playing all available BDs. For DVD playback, side-by-side comparisons show for the majority of cases the PS3 is better at upscaling that the sub $100 upconverting DVD players but falls short of the players that use the higher end upscaling chips, such as the Reon.

FYI, I currently own two PS3s and two standalone BD players plus one HD-DVD player.

I was thinking there is a bug when stream from PC, because HDMI is set to bitstream but PS3 still decode DD, but when playing from Bluray or DVD it will work as expected, bitstream will output DD as it Bitstream.

Anyway I just prefer the sound for DD when bitstream, when PS3 decode DD, the PCM output is about 5-7 db lower, and on my system even I compensate for the volumn different, I just like the sound decode within the Receiver, bass seems like more tight and mid and high are clearer (may be it is in my head). I am using a Onkyo 876 as preamp, and using a Denon 5803 Receiver as Amp. only, driving JM lab speaker.

I test some 2 channel DD music on DVD as I can change from Bitstream to PCM on the fly in Direct mode no surround apply (and add the volumn different compensation), the sound is definate better when bitstream.

I just feel the PS3 decoding is inferior even I believe decode on PS3 or Receiver should be the same. Now I just don't know about the Lossless audio will it be better bitstream also?

You might be being fooled by level. Set the PS3 volume control in the player's menu to +2 (latest FW, or +1 2.4 or less FW), so the level matches and try to compare again. Onkyo's have been reported to have a hiss/buzz when you crank the AVR volume and maybe you are hearing that. Note don't increase the volume on the PS3 in the music player because you can cause distortion. The movie and disc player volume appears to have been set a few dB low to allow PIP content to be summed in.

If you have a difference, it is in your AVR (pre-amp) not the PS3. I have read about another Onkyo 605 owner that keep saying bit-streaming was better then he finally bought a new AVR and admitted that there was no difference between bit-stream and PCM for legacy codecs. Then I read about other Onkyo owner's that are happy. I wonder if Onkyo have a quality control issue. I know that Onkyo 605 couldn't apply PLIIx to PCM multi-channel so that is one difference. The Onkyo test for hiss/buzz was to pause your movie while on PCM multi-channel input and crank the volume most of the way up and see if you hear hiss or buzz.

My son just bought Star Wars Force Unleashed. When the game is inserted into the PS3 a message appears stating that an update for the game needs to be downloaded. The PS3 begins to download but shortly into the download it stops and and error message comes up. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for your input.....

Sounds like you are having a networking issue. Try to browse various web pages on the PS3 and see how that goes. Are you using wireless? You might need to reset your wireless access point (I have to reset mine occasionally). Didn't the error message have more details to it?

I know the PS3 audio should be set at PCM if I use a hdmi cable which I'am. What should the audio on the Onkyo be set at. I have a 7.1 system, the Onkyo says multi channel now when I watch a movie, is this right.

It does say a lot...it says a lot about Secret's testing methods. Their claim is that the PS3 can't pass simple tests that $50 DVD players can, but other sources refute this claim because the PS3 passes them fine. I can confirm this personally as I have HQVs benchmark testing material.

This has been discussed at length before and quite frankly that link should be at best considered outdated as a reference source because of the impracticality of the test methods or at worst completely irrelevent.

Nevertheless, you claimed it cannot be considered the best "blu-ray player" because of this test, and the negative remarks only covered DVD playback, not blu-ray playback.

Brandon

That was it...............thanks.

Hello,

i just got a used PS3. I have searched for info and found a bunch but i am still having a problem.

If i turn off the PS3 and tv and then back on i loose the picture. I then have to reset the output by holding the power button and go through the display setup again. Now if i just turn the PS3 off and back on again later never turning off the tv i have no problem. Now i have tried 3 different HDMI cables and swapped between HDMI inputs. I just updated the firmware. I have tried different display settings from "auto" and currently have it set to Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr. The tv is a KDF-60XS955.

Thank you

Does anyone out there use Imeem? It's a great site to stream music over without having to download anything. My question is regarding the ps3's ability to use Imeem on its browser. It simply wont work. I'm able to log into my account and view my playlists, but they will not play on ps3's browser. The site uses Flash 9, which is supported, correct? So, why won't it work? Youtube works fine, it uses flash 9, so whats the deal, anyone?

Thanks, Your are correctly, I was fooled by the tiny volumn different on my test. I tried what you suggest, set the player volumn to +2 and I switch bitstream and PCM on the fly and to me on my system the result is 99.999% identical (I tested with Music DVD).

On my Onkyo I don't know it is count toward the hiss you mention, even with nothing playing or Multi channel PCM playing but Pause, I raise the volumn to Max to +9db, I could not hear and hiss or hum, unless I put my ear against the tweeter then I hear a very very low hiss, no hum at all.

Anyway, I am convince decoding done in PS3 or Processor should be identical, but I don't have a chance to check lossless yet, but I have no doubt the result will be the same. Time to move on to enjoy the Movie

Yep. Its right.

Great. If you have to put your ear to the tweeter to hear it, that hiss is normal and not an issue. Now you can enjoy your PS3 more not worrying about bit-streaming...