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Forums - Gaming Discussion - PS3 hardware problems???

superchunk said: I was initially expecting issues similar to PS2 or 360, however, I have been pleasently surprised at what seems to be a really solid hardware from Sony. I would say buy it without much worry. The only issue I have seen noted were to do with older HDTV's that only had 1080i (ie no 720/1080p) resolution capabilities where the initial PS3 would downgrade the picture to 480p, or Standard Def. But, if I'm not mistaken Sony fixed that issue with a firmware upgrade. If you got the $$ and want Sony games go for it.
As far as I know, they still haven't fixed that. The HDTV in my living room is a projection model and whenever my brother hooks his PS3 up to it. Resistance runs in 480p. CRT and Projection HDTV's only do 480p/1080i in my experience. Games that are coded to run in 720p down scale to 480p on these units. Sony did fix the scaling issue with Blu-Ray movies though.



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Kwaad said: First. When the emotion chip comes out and they do a firmware upgrade. The only diffrence is the old units will have better cooling. (as the chips will be turned off) Second. superchunk you are wrong about that. It only effects the firstgen panel TVs that only ran at 480p and 720p. The PS3 does not re-sample a BluRay to 720p. It only does from 1080p and 1080i. However 99% of LCD HDTVs out there right now have a 'sort' of 1080i. So you dont need to worry about that. And that is only effected by the BluRay player. I do not beleive they have fixed it yet in a firmware update.
I do not think they will shut down the emotion chips any time soon in the old PS3s. Until they have 99% compatibility with the software (which btw would allow them to offer downloadable PS2 games since they have software emulation), there is no reason to turn off the emotion chip. Also, I Sony fixed the issue by re-ordering the resolutions: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, and then 480p. I think the only fix for the future would just be allowing you to choose on your own (since some things look better in 720p instead of 1080i). The other problem was if the TV didn't have 720p, but all the games should be in 1080p soon anyway. Finally, DVDs will be upscaled soon as well. It took Microsoft a year to get that working, but since Sony is behind they need to get that out soon.



Darc Requiem said: As far as I know, they still haven't fixed that. The HDTV in my living room is a projection model and whenever my brother hooks his PS3 up to it. Resistance runs in 480p. CRT and Projection HDTV's only do 480p/1080i in my experience. Games that are coded to run in 720p down scale to 480p on these units. Sony did fix the scaling issue with Blu-Ray movies though.
yeah, that's the real problem. soon all games should be in 1080p so I'm not sure if they will fix the issue by scaling it up to 1080i or p. I believe only the older models don't also support 720p, though.



Every Projection TV I have seen in the last 6 months has 720p. You cant buy a old CRT Projector anymore. There is the LCD, and DLP. Both of those run 720p/1080i (or even 1080p if you get a expensive one) I'm not sure if the PS3 down samples BluRay to 720p. I'll experiment with it. I'll post back in a bit.



PSN ID: Kwaad


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100% positive that it does NOT display at 720p. So BluRay still supports. (on the PS3) 1080p, 1080i, 480p, 480i



PSN ID: Kwaad


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Kwaad, you are absolutely correct. Newer tube and projection HDTVs do display 720p. Still sucks for early adopters though. My brother is looking into getting a Samsung HD for his PS3. I think he is getting a 720p unit. He wants a 40" model and I honesty don't think paying an extra $500 for the 1080p unit makes sense at that screen size.



Darc Requiem said: Kwaad, you are absolutely correct. Newer tube and projection HDTVs do display 720p. Still sucks for early adopters though. My brother is looking into getting a Samsung HD for his PS3. I think he is getting a 720p unit. He wants a 40" model and I honesty don't think paying an extra $500 for the 1080p unit makes sense at that screen size.
He would be much happier with a DLP Projection. If you check Pricegrabber.com, the 50" 1080p samsung DLP is only $1500 shipped. My dad owns the 61" Samsung 1080p DLP and a ps3 and it looks amazing. It puts my 42" 1080p Westinghouse to shame. Seriously. GET IT, unless you need to hang it on the wall of course. I have yet to see a TV that compares to the Samsung DLP for the money. Especially since the contrast ratio is much better and there is no ghosting on a DLP. Oh year did I mention it's 1080p? Check it out here Seriously, go check them out at Best Buy and compare to other sets in person. -redsock



PSN ID: redsock

I have that 40inch Samsung 1080p TV. I got mine on a killer sale for 1750$. I dont know if the 1080p and 720p makes a very big diffrence. But let me say this. Looking into the diffrence from 1080p and what a Digital movie theater runs at... I'd pay the extra 500$. 1080p = 1080x1960 theater= 1080x2048 I dont think 1080p is going anywhere for the next 5-10 years. It's not that big of a diffrence visually. But you CAN tell a diffrence. 1080p looks flawless from 3feet. 720p looks flawless from about 6feet. I like LCD becuase of what LCD is. I dont like DLP becuase of size/image. I think LCD has the best "image" DLP has great colors. But I personally like plasma's colors. But I dont like plasma... it has problems. What I am looking forward to is Laser. EDIT: Dont compare CRAP at best buy. They have a video optimizer on the video feed. HHGregg is the best I've seen. All TVs are always hook up right. And are on a un-optimized feed. I can assure you, the 720p and 1080p 40inch samsung are in a class alone with sony. (for the LCDs) (the samsung and sony are beautiful. I think the sony looks SLIGHLY better, but it costs ALOT more) EDIT2: What I mean about HHGregg is they carry tons of diffrent TVs and have them all hooked up the exact same way, on a un-optimized video feed. Some TVs just look like CRAP. (seriously) Some of the Sony's dont look as good as some of the others. Some of the Samsungs look like CRAP. I was at wal-mart and looked at a magnavox, and it looked better than a sony/samsung. And went to HHGregg, and the SAME magnavox looked like ASS compared to the same sony/samsungs. That's becuase of the video optimizer used. That's why I keep my distance from bestbuy/wal-mart/sears when it comes to TVs. (Best Buy is not as cheap as they advertise)



PSN ID: Kwaad


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Yeah I have too many games as well. I just recently quit EQ2 and Vanguard because MMOs take too much of my time. With those two out of the way, I've actually had to time to play my console games.
Haha! Me too, the day they announced the price increase for Station Access. Anyway, I know 4 people who have PS3s, myself included, and none of us has had any hardware problems. And if you have an XBox 360, you'll be stunned by how QUIET the PS3 runs!!! Since I got the PS3 I always shudder when I turn on the 360 and the fan and disk spin up.... I recently replaced a 50" Samsung DLP that was 720P/1080i with a 52" Sharp Aquos LCD that is 1080P. There's a pronounced difference, in my experience. And after watching Blu-Ray Movies for a few weeks, regular DVDs look like crap to me. Sony has ruined me for DVDs!!! :)



Actually, I have had a problem with the ps3. The safety strap broke on it and it got accidentally tossed out my window on to my concrete driveway..... Im not sure if anyone else had this problem, but I called Sony to report it..... They wouldnt give me a new system. :P