A re-review of my PS3 blu experience

So after getting a little bit of flame from posting and agreeing with some others about how grainy PS3 playback can be, I took a bit of general advice and bought a BD of a more recent movie to try out. The wife and I have been playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance a lot, and one of our favorite toons is Ghost Rider, soooooo, despite the atrocious reviews, I said what the heck and picked it up. I have to retract my grainy picture comment. The movie looked fabulous (and was just bad enough to render it a good 12-beer night movie). There was very little grain, which I don't care if it is supposed to be there or not, is irritating. The detail was exceptional. This is the first experience with my PS3 that made me say wow.
That being said, here is one thing to keep in mind for anyone looking into a PS3. I think it's been well documented that a lot of people have seen some skipping/start-stopping during playback when there is a lot of motion in the scene. In Predator, I got a lot of that, and also had a fair share with Ghost Rider. My PS3 does NOT like scenes that do a lot of panning around. Action scenes flow just fine, but slower scenes in which the camera pans over a large area (ie, in Predator whenever a character is looking around at the jungle) have a lot of jump in them.
Besides the motion issue (which can hopefully be taken care of in later firmware revs), I finally have been at least partially converted from doubter to satisfied.

Judging by your loggon name I can assume that you can't wait for Paramount's release of the Transformers to hit BD 09/02.

Quote:
"That being said, here is one thing to keep in mind for anyone looking into a PS3. I think it's been well documented that a lot of people have seen some skipping/start-stopping during playback when there is a lot of motion in the scene."

Depends on your PS3 and HDTV settings.

What is the native resolution of your HDTV - 720p, 768p, or 1080p? Are you sending the HD signal that your TV can process the best (presents the best image quality) - ?

Is your PS3 set to output a 720p signal, 1080i signal, or 1080p signal?

If 1080p, is it set for 1080p/24 - can your TV accept a 1080p/24 signal (requires no additional 3:2 pulldown compensation, since the signal is not at the 60hz of 1080i/60 or 1080p/60)

If sending a 1080i/60 signal to your TV, just how good is your TV's processing quality in DEINTERLACING that 1080i signal? You may not be aware but many HDTVs still fail 1080i deinterlacing tests, which means you will notice "jaggies", "noise", "stuttering", "wavy lines", etc, especially on slow pans... (and/or fast motion) - that's why it's preferred to output "p" (progressive) signals from your disc player(s).





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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

Ya dude it totally depends on your tv, just do a little research and set it up properly. However if you have a crap tv its gonna skip.

Ok, I just wanted everyone to know (if you even care) that lucky for me, I have my 40th birthday and fathers day right next to each other. I have been looking into getting a BD player (even though I still love my HD A3) and every where I looked they were close to $400 a pop. So tonight my wife got me a 40GB PS3!!!!! The circle is now complete on my HD movie experience.


-JS

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[Post edited by Jedi_Soljah on May 31, 2008 - CDT 11:10 PM]

It's really too bad that you had to use Ghost Rider as the movie of choice.

Bill Hunt over at "The Digital Bits" is a complete moron sometimes. I read his article about film grain claiming that it is SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE FILM and will never read anything else he publishes on his site. I have seen recent films where the film grain was so bad in the darker night scenes that it was like a cloud of locusts swarming the screen. You can't tell me that the movie is supposed to be that way. It's almost like he's just trying to find some sort of excuse.

Sorry hoodaguy...

Bill's right - and you're wrong.

Read the various posts (I've got 2 with explanations, also John, Skyhawk, etc) on this recent DVDTOWN thread (<link) - "PS3 - Blu-ray playback seems GRAINY"

EDIT: and near the end of the ^thread, you get to view a pic Skyhawk posted of his beautiful wife (he ought to re-post it on that "DVDTOWN's Sexiest Ladies Ever" thread)

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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

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[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Jun 1, 2008 - CDT 5:04 PM]

I have read them. I don't have a PlayStation so I can't speak for that player, but I do know the difference between grain that is natural and unnatural. I've seen plenty of unnatural grain that just isn't supposed to be part of the movie. I don't care what anybody says, I've been watching movies for 30 years.

So no, I'm not wrong. It's like going down to buy a new car and you notice a scratch on the driver side door. It would sound kind of dumb if the salesman told you the scratch was supposed to be there.

Grain is not unique to just the PS3 and BD. Try watching The Sting on HD DVD. The film is crisp. The transfer looks fantastic, but there is grain galore and IMO intended.

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[Post edited by wolfen on Jun 2, 2008 - CDT 12:57 PM]