3 replies to this topic

[Universal Ruler Supreme]

So I bought my first HDTV this week and am having fun toying with it, but I'm not a tv tech. I've been tweaking it here and there, and just can't get it to look AMAZING! Especially the BIG $$$$$ amazing I am expecting from this monster. It's a Samsung 6900 55", and some games look fabulous on it. Like my Super Street Fighter 4 is totally sick. But I'm having trouble just finding the right tweaks for others. For instance Oblivion just isn't giving me that perfect look I want. I've got my PS3 setup correctly as far as I know. And I've found the extremely elusive Game Mode that is hiding in this particular model. But although that gets rid of the lag troubles I was having, it isn't giving me the best picture I require.

So I was hoping one of you guys is a wiz with this stuff, and could give me some tips or suggestions for an all around perfect custom gaming setup. Hope that makes sense. I can't really explain it the way I want, but I think you can get the picture.

(In case someone is web searching trying to find the game mode for the Samsung UN55C6900 model like I was, then it is under the Settings/General area. And not in the Picture settings like other Samsung Models.) <-- Crappy manual doesn't even mention a Game Mode.

[Soupie]

Make sure your HDMI (or DVI) cables are high quality.

[Universal Ruler Supreme]

Well, I'm starting to think maybe oblivion is just uglier than I thought it was originally. The HDMI cable I have seems pretty high quality, though I have heard arguments that the alleged ratings for cables is bogus. And that any HDMI will work fine. Though I doubt this claim. Been through plenty of connectors through the years off and name brand, and the quality is quite visible on a standard TV. I tried running my cable through TV/VCR just to see, and it looked Terrible.

Heavenly sword also looks fabulous on this thing. Anyone know why so many PS3 games are only 720 instead of 1080? My brother has the GOTY Ed. of Oblivion and it is 1080 on the 360, but mine is only 720 for the PS3. Weird.

[koppenschevelle]

First off, there is a logical reason why oblivion doesn't look that great, and is in 720 vs 1080 like the xbox version. Many multi-platform games written for pc, xbox 360 and ps3 early on were a bit inferior on the PS3 for one main reason. The architecture. The way the processors work in a 360 is very similar, almost the same as the way a processor is going to work in a pc computer. However, the PS3, using it's cell processor, works in a very different way. Since most develops are the most experienced on pc, they would often write a game for the pc and the 360 first since they are so similar and architecture that is more understood. Then, they would figure out a way to get it to work on the cell processor of the PS3. Heavenly Blade, other original PS3 games and a lot of new multi-platforms are written specifically for the cell, rather than being a port. If it's written for the PS3, then it will run smoother and will be able to run at a higher resolution that games written for pc/360 and ported over.

As for HDMI, as long as you stay away from the really really cheap cables, than any other cable will work just fine. Honestly, the really expensive cables, like Monster, are very very over priced and a waste of money. Right now, HDMI signals are not near the max capacity of an HDMI cable, so a cable made to HDMI cable specs are still well above the actual capacity needed for an HDMI 1080p signal. The most important thing would be to get an HDMI cable that is at HDMI 1.3 specs. Don't go with any lower than that. You will lose out on some functionality at anything lower.

Another thing that can make a big difference is not relying on the internal scaler on the TV. If your screen is displaying at 1080p, and it gets a signal that isn't 1080p, it has to scale the image up to 1080 by means of expanding and copying pixels through a processor. If you can use external devices to scale the image to the resolution the screen wants to see, it will less work that the tv has to do, and thus will look like a cleaner picture.

Finally, there is a BIG difference between 720 and 1080. You may intially think that there's only about 300 pixels difference, but total resolution is calculated kind of like square footage. 720 or 1080 is only the vertical resolution. 720 is actually 1280x720, which yields 921,600 total pixels of resolution. 1080 is actually 1920x1080, which yields 2,073,600 pixels of resolution. That means that 1080 is more than double the amount of resolution than 720. So when you are going back and forth between 720 and 1080, you are going to see a big difference.

For setting up your PS3, have your output signal through HDMI set to the exact resolution of your TV (probably 1080p). Also, check your RGB color settings on your PS3. There are two different settings, RGB Limited and RGB Full. For most TVs, I recommend the RGB Limited, while RGB Full is good if you are hooking your PS3 up to a computer monitor. And check the exact resolution and color space settings of your TV.