Thread: Is PS3 a good 3d bluray option?

You are too damn picky LMAO!

That's my job :D

Keep in mind that I do a lot of DVD and BD encoding and authoring work for some studios so I deal with uncompressed telecine masters. I am a resolution *maniac*. If the PS3 was softening the image I'd have unplugged it and put it on eBay in the space of 10 minutes.

Okay, so claim one, sharpness. I used an Oppo BDP-83 in source direct mode and a Playstation 3 with the latest firmware. I used a tripod and a Panasonic GH2 camera, and took pictures on long exposure mode, low ISO, to avoid CMOS noise in the images.

Test patterns used were the high frequency luma bursts and luma zone plate from Spears & Munsil. The camera was focused once, then set to manual focus to avoid it shifting. It was locked off on a tripod. 2 second delay timer was used to avoid the camera shaking when pressing the button and skewing the results. Images were captured RAW and exported in a batch in Adobe Lightroom using identical settings.

Because the camera was zoomed into the screen, the area captured is horizontal burst, and the extreme high frequency edge of the zone plate.

Because the output is the same, I put a sticky note on the TV screen (it's a Sony KDL-55HX853 that I'm reviewing at the moment) with the name of the player.

I know that some people are not going to like this, so if you want me to repeat the test with the player's own on-screen displays on screen to prove they're different players, I'm happy to do that in the interests of science.

Oppo Burst: http://davidmackenzie.me/temp/bd/_1020694.jpg
Oppo LZP: http://davidmackenzie.me/temp/bd/_1020695.jpg

PS3 Burst: http://davidmackenzie.me/temp/bd/_1020696.jpg
PS3 LZP: http://davidmackenzie.me/temp/bd/_1020697.jpg

Thanks buddy. Out of curiosity, how do you test for added edge enhancement? With a standard sharpness pattern or something else?

I like the sharpness pattern on Spears & Munsil, and also the bursts and LZP I used in the above test.

Some real world test images from Warners' How The West Was Won, one of the most detailed BDs. The camera actually moved a tiny bit in this one, but not enough to make the images useless. I'll redo them if anyone wants.

http://davidmackenzie.me/temp/bd/_1020700.jpg

http://davidmackenzie.me/temp/bd/_1020701.jpg

When it gets darker I'm going to investigate the claims re shadow detail. I've already done 10 point Grayscale and Gamma tests comparing the Oppo and a cheap Panasonic player and they're both identical. Because the claim made was near-black details, I'm going to do very precise (5-point or better) measurements with the PS3 and the Oppo in a dark room with the Klein K10.

Just using my eyes. I don't go crazy with measurements. Though I appreciate when others do.

I don't use any extra processing on my Elite. It puts out a fantastic picture. Better than my PS3.

The PS3 does a fine job, I just prefer my standalone player.

That was quick. Can't wait to get home and look!

I used one of the spears and Munsil tests and you could see how bad motion smoother on was mucking things up.

Originally Posted by Disco Batman

I don't use any extra processing on my Elite. It puts out a fantastic picture. Better than my PS3.

As the test patterns indicate, there's no way it can do any better with resolution because there's nothing more to resolve.

Some expensive players add things like 10-point gamma controls, which are nice features. If you have it calibrated with these, it can correct quirks in the display, so it could be seen as better in that sense.

Most of the thinking that expensive = better is rooted in the analog days where more money could buy better DACs. HDMI has been the leveller (which lets me forgive all the copy protection annoyances it adds).

And, the idea that a powerful CPU with a software video decoder implementation can't compete with a custom-built hardware solution is misguided. Just because something is built to do one task specifically doesn't mean it's better at it.

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

As the test patterns indicate, there's no way it can do any better with resolution because there's nothing more to resolve.

Some expensive players add things like 10-point gamma controls, which are nice features. If you have it calibrated with these, it can correct quirks in the display, so it could be seen as better in that sense.

Most of the thinking that expensive = better is rooted in the analog days where more money could buy better DACs. HDMI has been the leveller (which lets me forgive all the copy protection annoyances it adds).

And, the idea that a powerful CPU with a software video decoder implementation can't compete with a custom-built hardware solution is misguided. Just because something is built to do one task specifically doesn't mean it's better at it.

In your logic we should all be using first gen Blu players because they can't do any better.

You can throw all the test patterns you want at me. My eyes tell a different story. My BDP-23 looks better than my PS3. Just as I'm sure a new Panny or Oppo will look better than my current player.

Originally Posted by Jason Whiddon

I had the Pioneer 320, other than being buggy sometimes, the image was quite remarkable.

I dont think we will get past this lol, so I will digress and leave the "IMO" as my clause.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Jason Whiddon

... the players have surpassed the PS3 as a blu-ray player with 1080p content.

I'd like to know technically how they do that. With direct 1080p/24/YCbCr over HDMI is just math, and if the player sends all the bits to the display without modifications, that is the best it can do as far as accuracy. It's just a data pipe.

Interesting, I'll just chalk it up to mass hallucination.

Originally Posted by Disco Batman

In your logic we should all be using first gen Blu players because they can't do any better.

You can throw all the test patterns you want at me. My eyes tell a different story. My BDP-23 looks better than my PS3. Just as I'm sure a new Panny or Oppo will look better than my current player.

If you have one and your happy with the functions available on it yes no reason to ditch your first generation player as PQ on BR will be the same.