Blu ray player picture quality (cool story bro thread) - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

icecube · 03-05-2011, 06:48 PM

A few weeks ago I bought a panasonic blu ray player (bdt350) and the picture quality was absolutely flawless. I wanted to weep when I laid eyes on it.

It was an open box at future shop regular price 500 bucks, which I got my hands on for 300.

The problem is the damn thing wouldn't play discs half the time and it was becoming very frustrating.

Today I returned it for A PS3 and just popped in the social network. The picture quality didn't come close to matching up for me. It still looked great but after seeing it a week earlier on the other machine and having eyegasms, it feels like I can't go back.

I admit I'm a noob to this format but my eyes dont deceive me. Is anyone aware of big leaps in pic quality on different players?

I had to vent on this. I'm seriously thinking of taking the ps3 back and biting the bullet on a new 500 dollar panasonic and hoping it works this time.

Cecil Terwilliger · 03-05-2011, 07:02 PM

Is your PS3 set to display images in 1080p?

If yes, then I don't know why it doesn't look as good.

TurnedTheCorner · 03-05-2011, 07:04 PM

Most players need firmware updates and stuff too, this may apply to the PS3? Dunno.

icecube · 03-05-2011, 07:15 PM

fully updated firmware and displaying images in 1080p. It looks great, but it's aint the same.

It's like going from a bentley then having to trade it back in for a lexus.

You still got a great vehicle but you want the old one back.

Tyler12 · 03-05-2011, 07:17 PM

PS3 used to be the Benchmark years ago due to bang for the buck and PQ, this day and age its far from the top in terms of PQ.

Today's Benchmark would still be the Oppo Bdp - 83 http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/

No Streaming however depends what your looking for in a player.

I my self have a Pioneer bdp-23fd No Streaming, not the fastest loading player but still one of the best interms of PQ, build quality and outputs. The new Pioneers are actually Sharp players so not a fan of them hope things change.

photon · 03-05-2011, 08:19 PM

How is your PS3 connected to your TV?

icecube · 03-06-2011, 08:39 AM

Hmdi port 2 into hdmi at the back of the ps3.

It sucks because the blacks aren't as deep and the picture isn't as sharp. Lights would twinkle and you'd be sucked into to the movie immediately with the other one. The ps3 has a tiny bit of grain in scenes, especially dark ones.

My fiancee can only slightly tell apparently, perhaps because I pointed it out to her, but to me it sticks out like a sore thumb and makes me a sad sad man

photon · 03-06-2011, 09:28 AM

Was that the same HDMI port on the TV that the other Blu-ray player was plugged into?

With my TV it remembers the picture settings on a port-by-port basis and one time I had something similar where all of a sudden things didn't seem right, and finally I figured out it was because I'd juggled the ports and was using factory default settings.

DownhillGoat · 03-06-2011, 09:56 AM

^This.

TSXCman · 03-06-2011, 01:31 PM

whats with the title of the thread?

Prototype · 03-06-2011, 06:27 PM

I already sent a bluray player back to Samsung due to it losing the ability to read discs. They replaced it with a newer model which has problems reading DVDs on the first try, but plays blurays right away. It's on our alternate TV, as we have a better set up downstairs, ironically enough using a PS3 as the bluray player.

I vote for Photon's port-by-port theory, as I just switched the settings on our older alternate TV today, and had to do it on all the ports we are using. I just searched the model number, then "calibration" and found settings that made the picture quality so much better.

And as I said, I had to go on to the 3 ports that I have inputs running to change the picture to the new settings.

As for the PS3/Samsung quality, I haven't noticed a difference, although they are on to different TVs (720p vs 1080p).

Bob · 03-06-2011, 07:34 PM

Check the PS3 output settings when playing a Blu-Ray.

If it's RGB, you can toggle between Limited and Full-range signals (i.e. RGB 16-255 or 0-255), which can make a huge difference in apparent black levels depending on what your TV is anticipating.

You can also set it to YCrCb mode and see if that helps.

icecube · 03-07-2011, 11:15 AM

Thank you to everyone who replied in this thread. Extra special thanks to Bob. I can now have multiple eyegasms again. The blacks are darker than dark and the whites pop again. Wooohooo!

Diemenz · 03-07-2011, 09:44 PM

what settings did you end up going with?

Diverce · 03-08-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icecube

Thank you to everyone who replied in this thread. Extra special thanks to Bob. I can now have multiple eyegasms again. The blacks are darker than dark and the whites pop again. Wooohooo!

I'm curious about your settings too

icecube · 03-09-2011, 09:07 AM

RGB Full range - limited

y pb/cb pr/cr - on

deep colour output- automatic

Jimmy Stang · 03-09-2011, 09:12 AM

Although I have never had a complaint about my PS3 blu-ray picture quality, I'm going to check these settings and see if I can get a little extra punch like what you're describing.

Diemenz · 03-13-2011, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by icecube

RGB Full range - limited

y pb/cb pr/cr - on

deep colour output- automatic

The RGB setting gives drastically different pictures when set.

I personally use RGB set to full (full enables deep blacks and vibrant colors). Limited is a bit too washed out for my liking.

The long and short of it is that the Full setting expands the intensity range of the output signal by 10% in both ends of the spectrum. If your TV supports the option to use the RGB Full Range in the "full" setting this will result in the best colors, whites and blacks.

Mad Mel · 03-13-2011, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diemenz

The RGB setting gives drastically different pictures when set.

I personally use RGB set to full (full enables deep blacks and vibrant colors). Limited is a bit too washed out for my liking.

The long and short of it is that the Full setting expands the intensity range of the output signal by 10% in both ends of the spectrum. If your TV supports the option to use the RGB Full Range in the "full" setting this will result in the best colors, whites and blacks.

Using a Red/Green/Blue colour scale, black is 0-0-0, and white is 255-255-255, so it makes sense that the dark will get washed out if the output has cut off the lower range; 16-16-16 is a very dark grey, but not black. Similarly, pure red is 255-0-0, where 255-16-16 will be a bit lighter in colour.