Technical Help

[goatrage]

Hi all

Been having a headache with a friends PS3.

He got a 160gb PS3 for xmas and so decided to go out and buy a 5 series 46" full HD (not hd ready) 1080p Samsung and he is plugged in via a pureav HDMI which is also a 1080p cable.

The problem is that whenever the PS3 tries to display in 1080p the screen just goes blank and the tv displays a "searching for signal" message or occasionally displays a "mode not supported" message, the best resolution it displays in is 1080i.

Now, this is where i'm stumped...... I have a 40gb PS3 which I brought round to his house and just unplugged the power lead and HDMI from the back of his 160gb PS3 and plugged them into my console and it works just fine in 1080p, we hold down the power button to reset the resolution, go through the automatic optimal display process on both consoles, my 40gb goes straight to 1080p no probs, his 160gb just makes the screen go blank for 30 seconds and display the "searching for signal" for 30 seconds.

The first thing i said was that his console was knackered so today we went and swapped it for another brand new 160gb console and guess what....still the same problem.

I have been searching these forums and people are saying that cables are a problem but if so then why does my console work perfectly using his cable?

I've tried all three HDMI ports, no joy.

I can only assume there is some hardware difference between my 40gb and the newer 160gb units.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Message Edited by goatrage on 18-01-2009 04:19 PM

[goatrage]

No one?

[Inzoum]

I have a Samsung Series 5 32" (it's also Full HD), and a Euro-release 60GB PS3. It works fine for me in 1080p, with all the extra features like x.v.Colour... The only thing I can suggest is to use a high-grade HDMI cable (no matter what everyone says, there's A LOT of data to pass through in 1080p, so a high-quality cable can help reduce the amount of data errors), and don't exceed 2m in length, there's really no reason it shouldn't work.

what I do have however, is that occasionally, shortly after turning both my TV and PS3 on together, the screen will start flickering, lose signal, get it back, and then everything will work perfectly for hours on. Sometimes also, when stoping a DVD, the signal gets lost, but then it's just a matter of turning the TV off and back on, or switching sources. I assume the PS3 interrupts sending data to the TV when loading software, and may change display modes depending on the software. This means a certain amount of HDMI handshaking that may or may not always work right...

These are very occasional, easily fixed (or fixes itself without intervention) and I love every second of my time using that TV. Full HD looks great for the games that support it and Blu-ray

[goatrage]

Thanks for the reply Inzoum

He's using a pureav 1.3 HDMI and he paid £50+ for it, so it can't be that.......surely?

I'm not sure if it's kudos on here but could I point you to my thread on the AV forums? it's just that i've gone into a bit more detail there which will help explain the situation a little better.

Thanks again. 

http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-televisions/914786-ps3-not-displaying-1080p-samsung-2.html#post86... 

[goatrage]

UPDATE!

Finally! we have reached the end of this merry dance and I feel that I simply must inform you all of what I have just found out...

This morning we went back to where the TV was purchased from and explained this whole conundrum to the guy in there, we asked if we could try the 160gb PS3 on the display model Samsung and sure enough no 1080p on a 1080p set from the PS3.

So..... we called Sony up to speak to them about the problem, to which the support guy informed us that the 160gb PS3's were part of a campaign to get them on the shelves for xmas, hence why they were all sold as bundles.


As a cost cutting exercise the new PS3 units do not have handshaking hardware that previous models have, therefore Sony cannot guarantee that 1080p will be possible on other brands of tv, i.e. tv's that are not made by Sony, alarmingly he also said that there is no intention to re-introduce this as it doesn't effect all brands. Software updates will have to be rolled out over time for each of the known tv models effected to get them working again. 
He then went on to say "to get the best possible experience from your PS3 we recommend that you use it in conjunction with a SONY tv" a pre indoctrinated response no doubt.

He then went on to unofficially say "just go and get an 80gb PS3 because they still have the necessary hardware to use 1080p on all sets" he also murmured "Sony are having a few problems at the moment"

Basically; if you want a 160gb (or any future models for that fact) PS3 to display in 1080p on your set then go buy a Sony tv as apparently the bravia sets already have the necessary software to do without the handshaking. If this causes problems on other brands of tv's then the "to get the best possible experience" line is being force fed to their customers.

He also said that because the 160gb units are so new, this is not really effecting enough people for it to be on the net yet. As I said before; it's not all brands that are doomed, just Samsung so far by the looks of it. When we replied "it won't take long before this is more widely publicised" he said "yeah, give it time"

So there you go ladies and gentlemen; I have either just been fed a load of flannel just to get me off the phone or this may be the breaking news on the beginning of a raft of issues Sony are about as a result of this economic crisis.

To top it all off and to lend some credence to this whole story, we have just plugged in the 80gb PS3 and we are basking in 1080p glory as I type this!

[Inzoum]

Hmmm... Then again, maybe an update on the TV's side could also help with the handshaking... There's a firmware update for that series of LCD TVs available on samsung's website (my TV was shipped with firmware 1008 I think, the new one for that series is 1019 I believe, I just recently updated), you could try updating your TV and see if it helps. It's a very simple process, but be warned that all picture adjustments will be lost, so you'll have to set everything back as it was afterwards.

[goatrage]

We tried updating the firmware, still no joy 

Apparently its up to Sony to inlcude the patch in future firmware updates to get new consoles working on existing sets. 

[Cruton77]

Have to put it down to 'get u off the phone' ness - - required info is contained in updates along with DIV-X codecs etc etc. Youve update TV so not sure on root cause but handshakes are dealt with as they tend to be universal between suppliers - the software is by and large universal its jsut certain parts of the chips that are unique bettwen makers.

Lots of companies buy thier panels/ chips from a certain supplier n then mod them to thier own - this along with FW negates this as a cause.

Gree

[JudgeFredd]

My brother got a 160GB PS3 at Christmas and a Samsung LE40A5 which is series 5 and that displays a 1080p image fine, but occasionally the screen begins to flash when playing a game or watching a video but when you unplug the HDMI cable from the telly and plug it back in it cures the problem, so maybe this problem is also caused by the removal of the handshaking hardware.

I was wondering if there was a problem with the telly, PS3, or cable.

[Inzoum]

---

JudgeFredd a écrit:

My brother got a 160GB PS3 at Christmas and a Samsung LE40A5 which is series 5 and that displays a 1080p image fine, but occasionally the screen begins to flash when playing a game or watching a video but when you unplug the HDMI cable from the telly and plug it back in it cures the problem, so maybe this problem is also caused by the removal of the handshaking hardware.

I was wondering if there was a problem with the telly, PS3, or cable.

---

I have that with my LE-32A558 and Euro release day 60Gb PS3. You don't even have to unplug the HDMI cable, just turn the TV off and on again and it'll be fine for rest of the day. It tends to happen once after turning both the PS3 and TV on, then after it settles it doesn't happen again.