PS3: no blacker-than-black in RGB

[Avalan]

I tried to calibrate my PS3+TV with the DVE disk. To my surprise, the PS3 was not outputting blacker-than-black !? Then, when I switched the HDMI output format from RGB to YCbCr, I do get BtB, but then the colors seem to be softer.
Anyone else seen that problem ?
BTW, I had FullRange on (should try with off). So I'm now wondering whether the PS3 actually remaps the black level info such that black levels are even lower and below BtB. This would of course be incorrect, since it would take away all details when playing back on a properly calibrated TV.

[Jeff]

If you are using RGB full range you shouldn't be able to see BTB or WTW. If you use YCbCr you are meant to calibrate the display so that you can no longer see BTB or WTW. After calibration I would expect RGB and YCbCr to look alomost identical.

[Riz_Mini]

So for a non-teckie like myself.... which is the best option to keep it on?

At the moment ive got it set to Auto.

Switching between RGB and the YcBcR I noticed a big difference, on RGB is really black and you miss some of the details in the dark area`s..... which you can see on Auto mode or YcBcR

Helps

Riz

[Avalan]

I found an extensive thread on this topic on the US counterpart of this forum. Apparently, the best choice for BD/DVD is to choose YCbCr with Super White enabled, while keeping the RGB setting to Limited. It is also the only combination that transmits Blacker-than-Black which is useful/important if you want to calibrate your screen.
Normally DVDs and BluRays are encoded to use RGB values from 16 to 235 for black and white respectively. Calibration DVDs will also contain test screens with values of 0 and 255, which helps in calibrating your TV. Basically you have to set contrast and brightness such that values 16 and 0 look identical (black) as well as 235 and 255 (white). It helps you in determining what is the blackest and whitest you can get on your TV.
RGB Full on the PS3 will remap the 16-235 range to 0-255. This means that there is no longer a difference between black (16) and blacker-than-black since both are mapped to 0. Calibration DVDs will no longer function since you won't see a difference between 0 and 16 regardless of how high you set your screens brightness, since the TV will just receive 0 value for both.
If your TV was properly calibrated, this will also result in dark scenes becoming even darker and detail getting lost (because all values that are mapped to values lower than 16 will look equally black). You can of course recalibrate, but since you no longer have BtB, it is not that easy.
Since there are no actual DVDs that contain RGB values lower than 16 or higher than 235, there is really no point or advantage in choosing RGB Full. Games however, may use the full range of RGB values. But since you probably calibrated the TV already for DVD playback, you really don't want games to be using the full-range of colors since (again) values lower than 16 will all look the same black. Hence the RGB Limited value.

[kingfats]

I have to change the HDMI settings on my TV to get the Ps3 FULL RGB setting working perfectly.
Ps3 Display Settings > RGB Full Range (HDMI) set it to "Full"
and next
2: Settings > BD/DVD Settings > BD/DVD Video Output Format (HDMI) and change it to "RGB" and then on my TV HDMI input changed from AUTO to Colour-4.
Blacks are black but not crushed and shadow detail is excellent.
This is with my TV anyway.