Blu Ray PS3 - dare I say disappointed?

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stumpywalnut

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Hi,
I have had SKY HD for over a year and am familiar with the variation in quality 'HD' programming can present.
I've found one of the best programmes to do HD justice is the BBC 'Proms' series with the likes of Paul Weller, Kasabian, Springsteen etc - really beautifully shot as a promo for what HD material can look like.
I have a Panasonic PW7 so while these pictures may be displayed slightly better on a 'newer' panel, they still look great until I am in a position to upgrade.
I finally bit the bullet after much indecision and plumped for a Blu ray player, PS3 seemed to be the best option.
Connected it up component (no HDMI available) the same as SKYHD, set it to 1080p and put 'Ghost Rider' on to finally experience Blu Ray.
Im afraid it was a huge disappointment, soft pics, so soft my wife even commented, nowhere near the quality of the HD stuff we had seen on sky.
It was barely a step up from the Denon DVD player the PS3 was supposed to replace.
I truly hope Ive got a setting wrong somewhere, or maybe that film isnt a good example, either way, £270 to watch films in marginally better quality than I had done previously is more than a tad expensive.
 
Component is soft, HDMI is sharp.
 
Hi,
I have had SKY HD for over a year and am familiar with the variation in quality 'HD' programming can present.
I've found one of the best programmes to do HD justice is the BBC 'Proms' series with the likes of Paul Weller, Kasabian, Springsteen etc - really beautifully shot as a promo for what HD material can look like.
I have a Panasonic PW7 so while these pictures may be displayed slightly better on a 'newer' panel, they still look great until I am in a position to upgrade.
I finally bit the bullet after much indecision and plumped for a Blu ray player, PS3 seemed to be the best option.
Connected it up component (no HDMI available) the same as SKYHD, set it to 1080p and put 'Ghost Rider' on to finally experience Blu Ray.
Im afraid it was a huge disappointment, soft pics, so soft my wife even commented, nowhere near the quality of the HD stuff we had seen on sky.
It was barely a step up from the Denon DVD player the PS3 was supposed to replace.
I truly hope Ive got a setting wrong somewhere, or maybe that film isnt a good example, either way, £270 to watch films in marginally better quality than I had done previously is more than a tad expensive.

Blueray looks sperb to me, sammy 720p/180i 40" LCD over HDMI, I agree that BBC HD stuff is absolutely superb also, Blueray is equally eye popping, I bougt the springsteen live in dublin after seeing him on BBC HD, absolutely breathtaking video and sound. equally impressive is the upscaling abilities of the PS3., very impressive.
 
Exactly what model is your TV and what is its native resolution? I don't think it supports 1080. Set the PS3 to output as close to your TV's native resolution as possible.
 
Have you tried hooking up the PS3 via HDMI? As far as I know component wont do 1080p anyway on most TVs (due to copy protection), even if Ghost Rider supported it.

Could also help to change the TV settings for the PS3, as SKY might be different. Also try downloading some HD content from the PSN Store for free, as Ghost Rider might be not be a great showcase for HD.





.
 
TBH the BR stuff I've seen so far has been a tad disappointing.

Casino Royale
Layer Cake
Spiderman 3

All of these films didn't seem any better than an upscaled DVD imo. Perhaps I'm expecting too much, and that the PS3's DVD upscaling is so good I've nothing to compare it against?

This is connected by HDMI to a 1080p Sammy too.
 
Component is soft, HDMI is sharp.

Not true.
HDMI may be slightly better, the point I was making is that the blu ray was nowhere near as good as the SKYHD stuff we have watched VIA COMPONENT on the same panel.

Exactly what model is your TV and what is its native resolution? I don't think it supports 1080. Set the PS3 to output as close to your TV's native resolution as possible.

Panasonic PW7.
Not an 'HD' panel in the true sense, but it has been displaying beautifully the (occasionally) good HD material at 1080i from my SKYHD box.
Again, my point is that I can look at 1080 material, but I dont know why the SKY box should be SO MUCH better than the blu ray.

Have you tried hooking up the PS3 via HDMI? As far as I know component wont do 1080p anyway on most TVs (due to copy protection), even if Ghost Rider supported it.

Could also help to change the TV settings for the PS3, as SKY might be different. Also try downloading some HD content from the PSN Store for free, as Ghost Rider might be not be a great showcase for HD.





.

As pointed out in my original post, this panel doesnt accept HDMI, but displays great pictures at 1080i over component from SKY HD. I have set the PS3 to 1080p and it looks totally inferior to the decent HD Ive seen on SKY previously.
 
As pointed out in my original post, this panel doesnt accept HDMI, but displays great pictures at 1080i over component from SKY HD. I have set the PS3 to 1080p and it looks totally inferior to the decent HD Ive seen on SKY previously.

Can the PS3 do 1080p over component? Have you tried forcing 720p to see if that looks any better?
 
Can the PS3 do 1080p over component? Have you tried forcing 720p to see if that looks any better?


On the display(?) settings menu of the PS3 I only selected for it to output 1080p, (i.e didnt tick 576, 720 etc) as I still got a picture I can only assume that this panel displays it?
 
or maybe that film isnt a good example

I think that is where your problem is. Haven't seen ghost Rider on BR so can't comment on PQ but unfortunately not every disk will blow you away. Try the Pirates trilogy which is impressive. I guess it's just like SkyHD in that respect....some programmes/channels are far superior to others.

I will add I saw Sky Sports HD for the first time the other day after I was chomping on the bit to upgrade and was totally and utterly underwhelmed, in my experience BR finest gives the far better PQ, but then I have a ton of disks and I've only watched one programme on one HD channel......
 
It may be that Sony invested more in the HDMI output than the component output on the PS3, and as such when viewing content via component it may not fair well when compared with other sources. Over HDMI the picture is very sharp, noticably so compared to DVD (though upscaled via the ps3 is still V impressive). Also i believe the PS3 limits resolution to 720p and 1080i over component, try setting it to the same as your SkyHD and do a direct comparison.
 
Surely the problem is HDCP? With the PS3 going through Component, it'll do 1080p in the menus, but when it comes to a protected Blu-Ray, it will reduce the output quality.

Unlike Sky HD, where it doesn't downscale.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this...
 
Haven't seen ghost Rider on BR so can't comment on PQ but unfortunately not every disk will blow you away.......

I have ghost rider on blu-ray and the picture quality is excellent, so i doubt its the disc that's the problem.
 
It may be that Sony invested more in the HDMI output than the component output on the PS3, and as such when viewing content via component it may not fair well when compared with other sources. Over HDMI the picture is very sharp, noticably so compared to DVD (though upscaled via the ps3 is still V impressive). Also i believe the PS3 limits resolution to 720p and 1080i over component, try setting it to the same as your SkyHD and do a direct comparison.

Thanks for that.
I will try 1080i, as that seems very nice when watching (some) of the SKYHD stuff.
If its an issue with the component output, maybe spending (even more) to get an HDFURY will get better results? (i.e. 1080i into the VGA on this panel).
I did ask this question on the forums before buying the PS3 and the answer I got was that component and HDFury to VGA would give exactly the same result???
 
Surely the problem is HDCP? With the PS3 going through Component, it'll do 1080p in the menus, but when it comes to a protected Blu-Ray, it will reduce the output quality.

Unlike Sky HD, where it doesn't downscale.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this...

That would make sense.
The menus on the PS3 look pin sharp, the film looked like a standard DVD.
Hopefully selecting 1080i will cure it?
If not investinbg in an HDFury?
 
Surely the problem is HDCP? With the PS3 going through Component, it'll do 1080p in the menus, but when it comes to a protected Blu-Ray, it will reduce the output quality.

Unlike Sky HD, where it doesn't downscale.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this...


I think you are wrong (on the downscale) ;)

I believe the PS3 will only output bluray at 1080i (same as SkyHD) over component. If the OP only has 1080p selected as an output god knows what he's getting over Component? 567i?

Also I don't think the PS3's component output is that great, When I connected it up to my Dell 2407 I was very unimpressed but connected via DVI it was very sharp. Although that could be down to the Dell's poor implementation of component :rolleyes:

As has already been said try it with the PS3 ouputing at 720p and 1080i. What is the native res of your panel?
 
Also does your TV have the option to hit a button to see what resolution is being displayed?
 
Your screens max res is 852 x 480. Of course you won't see any benefit from blu ray. It must just be a fortunate conicidence that your sky hd box gives you a good image. I think that sky broadcast in whatever format the programme is filmed in. If you have the box set to 1080 it will still only put out 720 if that's how it is broadcast.

Set the ps3 to 480 to get the best picture, but it won't be hd. Fact is you have never seen a hd image on your tv.
 
It must just be a fortunate conicidence that your sky hd box gives you a good image.

Set the ps3 to 480 to get the best picture, but it won't be hd. Fact is you have never seen a hd image on your tv.



The 'SKYHD' I watch is really SD is it?
Absolute nonsense.
 
Techincally 480p is ED (Enhanced Definition). You are getting a slight benefit over a standard broadcast, but not much.
 
I wasn't blown over with Blu-ray picture quality. Compared to HD-DVD I always thought it was a tad behind. But watched The Rock on saturday night and thought it was amazing. The best picture quality I have yet seen and easily on par with any HD-DVD. Sound was excellent too.

As with all kinds of comments about not being impressed with Blu-ray o HD-DVD, you must remember there are crap discs and good discs. Watch a crap Blu-ray film, then a good HD-DVD film and you will think one format is better than the other or vice versa.

Also the settings on your equipment are very important to get the best out of it.
 
Without showing pics of the difference in quality between the SD and HD versions of the same channel on Sky, any argument I make is purely subjective.
Going back to my original point, the difference in "HD" material I see coming from my SKYHD box and from my Blu Ray player is vastly different,
Putting the PW7 resolution debate to one side if possible, I would be happy if the Blu Rays looked as good as the Sky Hd stuff. At the mo its a long way off, so any suggestions to improve the Blu Ray pic quality would be greatly appreciated.
 
Yes, it really is SD. You can't get a HD picture on a SD TV.
 
Yes, it really is SD. You can't get a HD picture on a SD TV.


So the pics I see when I switch from Sky1 to Sky1Hd and Sky Sports1 to Sky Sports 1Hd are exactly the same?
Well blow me down.:rotfl:
 
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