cardaway

Since I didn't expect getting one I am at a loss on the best way to hook it up given the other pieces in my setup. The main issue is I only have a Akai PT50DL14 TV which I believe is only 720p and only has one HDMI input. I also have a Sony upconverting HDMI SD DVD player and a Comcast DVR.

Before the PS3 was added to the mix I had the DVD player hooked up via HDMI and the DVR conected via component. To test the fuctionality of the PS3 I quickly took off the HDMI from the DVD player and the optical sound from the DVR. In the next couple of days I would like to buy an extra wires I will need and get everything set up for good, and do it right the first time. It's not easy to get everything out and put back.

I basically have two main questions:

1) Given the 720p TV with only one HDMI input, which if the three (PS3, DVD player, or DVR) is best to connect via HDMI.

2) What should the PS3 be set at given my TV (Akai PT50DL14). I quickly accepted the 1080i that it defaulted to after connecting via HDMI, but is that the best choice or should it be 720p?

I'm also wondering if there are any issues with the PS3 being used as a BD player before I go investing in BD discs. Not talking about the format war. I've read diffferent things about some BD players already not working with newer discs.

Thanks in advance for any help. Totally caught off guard since I wasn't looking to upgrade to HD until after the end of the war and I got a better TV.

The Bus

Set the PS3 to 720P. Connect it via HDMI, since it is already an upconverting DVD player as well as a BD player.

Keep the DVR on component.

cardaway

Is the PS3 known to be a good upconverting player? My current Sony player is supposedly one of the best at upconverting to 1080i and I'll be watching my very large SD DVD collection more than anything else. In the past I had the DVD player hooked up via HDMI and set up to upconvert to 1080i.

Jim

The PS3 is one of the best BD players - no issues there. It also does a good job of upconverting regular DVDs so you can use it for that too since you are short on HDMI connections.

RockyMtnBri

Upconverting is superb and it goes up to 1080p.

The_Cube

Is 720P better than 1080i? I had my PS3 set to 1080P even though my tv is only supposed to handle 1080i or 720P. I just assumed that the 1080P automatically changed to 1080i on my tv.

The Bus

If you have an LCD set, your set only really does whatever native resolution it is at. Not many games are 1080P. Ratchet & Clank, for example, is 720P.

cardaway

Like Cube, I may be confused. My set is a 720p DLP. Isn't the higher setting (1080i vs 720p) better if the player will output the higher resolution via the HDMI connection?

Jim

I found this thread at AVS: PS3 for Upscaling SD DVDs
While there are no scientific evaluations in that thread comparing its ability to upscale, several people sold Denon 5910s because they felt the PS3 was about equal. Several others said it was better than their Oppo. While some I'm sure will disagree with those findings, it does show the kind of company its being considered in.

cardaway

Thanks for the link. I'm quite surprised that it's one of the better SD players.

I did end up with one more quesiton however. Does the PS3 only upconvert via HDMI? Some of the posts mentioned it but were not clear.

The Bus

Here's the thing: if you only have one HDMI input, put the highest-quality source content on there. That would be your BD player / PS3, not the compressed HD broadcasts of cable, and certainly not an upconverting SD DVD player.