Lucas McCain

This might be a dumb question but I'll ask anyway as I am a HDTV newbie.

I just bought my first HDTV, a 37' Samsung 720p LCD HDTV that looks great. I have a normal DVD player and I just bought a PS3 (80 GB Metal Gear Solid Bundle). I bought the PS3 HDMI cord and will soon get an optical cable for it for audio. I have seen Blu-ray discs played on displays and a movie (Pirates 2 is the one I saw) looked awesome and looked like it was basically a live shot on the news or something. I was under the impression that is how it would look on my PS3 with an HDTV and HDMI cable. I rented Batman Begins on Blu-ray from blockbuster last night and from what I can tell, other than the picture looking really good and super clear, I can't see the "live shot" effect. Earlier in the day at Sam's, they had Batman Begins as a demo and I watched it for a minute and saw the effect I'm talking about. So here are my questions:

1)When I hooked up my PS3 to the HDTV does it automatically work correctly in regards to that type of a display or do I have to manually adjust either the PS3 or the TV to make it look like that? If so, how?

(2)Also, will I get that effect on a 37' 720p LCD or is that only for 1080p OR plasmas? In other words, was I mistaken on what my picture would look like based on me seeing it on a gigantic demo TV?

Any help is appreciated.

terrym4

A 720p picture on a 37" HDTV should not be appreciably worse than a 1080p on a larger set.
The PS3 does need to be set to display correctly on your TV. Normally, if you do a hard reset (power off the unit for at least 30 seconds from the rear power switch, then turn on from the rear switch while holding down the front power button until you hear the chime TWICE), it detect the HDMI connection and ask you if you want it to set up automatically. Just say yes. Alternatively, you can go under settings and check to make sure it is set properly for your set. Also, you don't need the optical cable. You can get audio over the HDMI as well.

Willh51

I may not be very helpful with this because I don't remember a lot of the terminology, but I know exactly what you're talking about.


Some larger HDTVs have a setting that makes things looks "live," although this is not how the Blu-Ray is intended to look. For example, at Best Buy the Pirates movies looked incredibly too life-like because of some setting on the TVs.

They do this to make people see a "huge difference" on the showroom floor. This is not the way the movies were intended to look and, as far as I know, is only a cheat by the TV.

I believe there is a long thread with a better, non generic, reply but this is the gist of what I think you are seeing.

Abe.

I think it's called 120 Hz technology.

kefrank

The effect you're referring to is present on some 120Hz HDTVs and is usually called something like "Adaptive Motion Enhancement." It takes the 24fps frames and interpolates frames in between to provide a smoother look to the motion in the movie. It has nothing to do with your PS3 or with Blu-ray in general. It is simply a feature of some displays.

That being said, my personal opinion is that it's a terrible, distracting feature that destroys the film-like quality of movies, so don't be too disappointed that your display doesn't have it.

rfduncan

He does if his tuner does not have an HDMI passthrough or his HDTV can't pass that audio signal to his tuner. Since he has connected the PS3 directly to his HDTV, the best sound he's going to be able to get would be through the optical cable to his tuner (5.1 surround as opposed to 7.1).

Lucas McCain

I was going to use an optical cable to run the audio through my surround sound system. The HDMI audio works fine through the TV I just want to pipe it in a to my Surround Sound System. These replies are very helpful, particularly the one by Willh51 and kefrank.

I did change my PS3's output setting to 720 and I still don't see the "live effect" but after comparing the 2 movies (my old normal Batman begins DVD and the blu-ray) the blu-ray is DEFINITELY clearer, sharper, and even sounds better. Thanks for these replies. Keep them coming!

rdclark

As noted, the effect you're talking about is generated by the TV, and your TV doesn't have that feature.

Don't get too worked up over it. Ultimately, it's just distortion, in the sense that adding or removing data from the original signal is distortion. It might be fun on a movie like Pirates, but it eventually makes you lose touch with what video is actually supposed to look like.

The PS3 is a great Blu-ray player. IMO the best way to use it is with a display that can get everything that's on the disc onto the screen -- no more, no less.

If your audio receiver lacks HDMI, then connecting an optical cable to it from the PS3 is the right choice. Note that you will have to choose between the optical connection and the HDMI connection for audio; the PS3 can't do both at the same time.

nateman

I didn't have to do a hard reset when I turned the PS3 on. It detected the HDMI cable and it was the first thing that came up on the screen. I accepted the automatically option.

I learned this yesterday. When I plugged in the HDMI cable from the PS3 to the Sharp 32" 1080p HDTV I was getting sound from it. I didn't understand why for a minute, but then I realized that you have to go to the settings and manually switch your audio to optical cable so the sound will come out of the HT receiver.