HD-DVD & Blu-Ray

[robruffo]

Check the settings on your PS3 - by default, they only output 480i, and must be set to allow 1080p, 1080i, etc. HD television is WAY less sharp than Blu-Ray from a PS3 - there is something wrong here. Also, you **MUST** use HDMI cables to get HD output from PS3. Good news is Monoprice.com sells them for $10, and they work as well as Monster $200 ones. Monster stands for "monstrously overpriced".

[Fantom]

Old thread, but here's 2 cents.

One reason that DVDs might be looking better is that the PS3 upconverts DVDs to 1080p (as of about a year ago). As to HDTV looking superior, robruffo is right in that Blu-ray should look far better.

HDTV is 15-17mbps mpeg-2 video @ 1280x720p or 1440x1080i.
Blu-ray is around 30-40mbps avc or vc-1 video @ 1920x1080p.

An upconverted DVD will look smooth and will interpolate the chroma subsampling (from the 4:1:1 NTSC encoding), but won't have any new real detail.

You cannot get HD from the supplied standard def PS3 cable. However, you do NOT need HDMI to get HD. You can also get the component PS3 cable (red, green, blue for video and then red, white stereo audio).

Also, there are display settings to allow 480i/p, 720p, 1080i/p. Movies, games, and the XMB (PS3 menu) all use these same settings.

A 1080i TV *MIGHT* not accept a 720p signal, which would force 720p games down to standard def 480i/p. However, a 1080p movie will playback at 1080i no problem.

As for which HDMI cable to get, there are other threads in many places around the net. I'd be warry of $10 cables if you want 1080p and are going more than 6ft (as a very general rule since the cat 1 spec only requires 1080i capabilities). But, ~$15-$25 from monoprice or bluejeans will do just fine until 50ft or so.