Sony now says they won't fix PS3 1080i upconversion problem!

[JoeSp]

jgantert, It is unconceivable that Sony might not be able to do a software fix. The CPU is definately powerful enough to handle a software upconvert if the HDTV cannot accept a 720p signal. It might be the software fix is to taxing on system resources. However, I believe they would be using the same resources that they use to downgrade the signal to 480p. I hope they fix this for those whose sets cannot accept and convert/display 720p signals.

 

[jgantert]

Joe, sounds like (from what I've read over at AVS) that the games are actually coded to go to 480p if 720p is not available. So it might not be as easy as just a firmware fix. I hope this is not true, tho.

Any idea how many non-720p displays there are out there? I'm guessing most HD displays from 2000-2003 were 1080i only.

-John

 

[Digital Dude]

Yes, about 5 million.

 

[kb7oeb]

My 1 year old mitsubishi will not accept 720p signals. I can watch ABC or Fox on the internal tuner just fine but the inputs have to be 480 or 1080i.

I don't understand why interlacing wasn't a problem at 480 since forever but it is a problem for the new consoles to do 1080i. I was able to get my nvidia 5200 to do 1080i

 

[JoeSp]

Guys, if you do not understand HDTV specs please post your model numbers so that I might have the chance to post your HDTV's specs. Reason is very simple.

Just because your HDTV only displays 480p or 1080i does not mean it cannot accept a 720p signal and upconvert. Almost all current HDTVs in the last 2 to 3 years will accept a 720p signal. Only the very cheap ones might not ( and I doubt that).

kb7oeb, I assure you that if your Mitsubishi is a 2003 or newer set that it does accept a 720p signal. Most manufacturers' HDTV sets since 2003 will do this. Your HDTV might only display in 480p or 1080i but your HDTV can accept 480i and upconvert to 480p and accept 720p and upconvert to 1080i.

This upconversion is very confusing. When I purchased my Pioneer 57" Elite DVI it did not meantion that it did 720p upconversion in any manuel. The only place you could find it was on the schematics of the drive board included in the technical manuel. And then it was not printed out in the tech manuel to read. You had to follow the circuits. Why manufacturers did this no one knows. But on my Pioneer when you display the access information it will give you the 720p input information. Some HDTVs display this and others do not. But my set always upconverts to 1080i.

As I have said before a simple way is to input a 720p signal. If your set cannot receive a 720p signal at all and upconvert you will get no picture or sound. If you do receive a picture and sound you have a HDTV that can accept a 720p signal and I am willing to bet that signal is upconverted to 1080i or 1080p if that is the native display of your HDTV. I hope this will help in clearing up if your HDTV can accept a 720p signal.

 

[LOBO2999]

I have a Diamond Mitsubishi 65712 I got between 2002/2003 and it cost alot and it does not do 720P and has no HDMI or DIV ( upsetting yes ) anyway I know it does not do 720 P I have tried it on my 360 setting it at 720P and have set my HDtivo to 720 P and when viewing Fox or ESPn HD there is no picture , maybe I am doing something worng?

 

[jgantert]

I have the RCA D52W15B (Mfg Nov 2003).

Joe, as much as you think most TVs accept 720p, they just don't. Almost all CRT HDTVs don't accept 720p.

Here's a blurb from the manual:
..."The DVI-HDTV connection is designed to display either progressive scan (48Op) or HDTV (1080i) signals"...

-John

 

[jgantert]

I have a Diamond Mitsubishi 65712

A co-worker of mine has that model (or simular) as well. I think he paid over 3 grand for it at the time. No 720p inputs on that one either.

-John

 

[Brewer4]

Just because your HDTV only displays 480p or 1080i does not mean it cannot accept a 720p signal and upconvert. Almost all current HDTVs in the last 2 to 3 years will accept a 720p signal. Only the very cheap ones might not ( and I doubt that).

My TV's do NOT accept 720p. I think most here understand if their TV can do 720p in. We get that newer ones MIGHT. Sorry to get a little short but you've mentioned it several times now and I think folks can determine if the TV can accept or not accept 720p in. One that I bought 2 years ago does NOT accept 720p. It might be an older model but its a great CRT picture and not necessarily considered cheap. I strongly believe that the majority of 1080i only HD sets in folks homes can not automatically convert 720p signals.

 

[JamesJ]

mhy kp46wr500 SONY CRT RPTV does either 1080i, or 480p, it does accept 720p signal, but downconverts it to 480p, did I mention this was a sony tv, that is only 3 and 1/2 years old.

 

[korsjs]

doesn't the xbox 1 released in 2001 do what the ps3 released in 2006 can't?

i remember my xbox upconverting everything to 1080i on my crt tv.

 

[jgantert]

doesn't the xbox 1 released in 2001 do what the ps3 released in 2006 can't?

i remember my xbox upconverting everything to 1080i on my crt tv.

Nope, 720p games on my xBox show up as 480p, just like the PS3. So 2006 technology is only as good as 2001 technology for my TV. Whoopie.

-John

 

[CDH]

I won't be buying a PS3, but I thought I'd add that I'm pretty sure my Panasonic HDTV won't display 720p either. If it does, it down-converts to 480p, but I seem to remember that it would balk at 720p broadcasts when I was using my Voom box in the "native format" setting for OTA.

CDH.

 

[JoeSp]

Brewer4 I can understand why you might be upset and if your HDTVs cannot accept a 720p signal then I applogize for upsetting you. But there still seems to be confusion over weather a HDTV can use a 720p signal or not. In the last two years (2005 & 2006)ALL major manufacturers have supported either upconverting 720p to native 1080i and 1080p sets or downconverting 1080i to native 720p sets. Manufacturers that have been supporting this are, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubshi. These are the major players.

With the HDTV signal the FCC has now mandated that all sets be able to receive both 720p and 1080i as either a native or a converted signal. Your set does not have to display 720p or 1080i to comply -- it only has to be able to convert the signal to the native resolution of your monitor. Some sets downconvert 1080i to 720p and some sets upconvert 720p to 1080i. Early adopters to the HDTV market (Prior to 2004) purchased sets that were CRT HD RPTVs that did indeed only accept 480i, 480p and 1080i. FOX, ABC and the FCC have changed that market forever.

The point I am trying to make here is HDTV does not have to display 720p to be able to receive a 720p signal and do something with it. I keep reading from posters who say their sets only do 480p and 1080i. Those are the native display resolutions. The majority of these sets (2004 and later) can receive other signals and either upconvert or downconvert to a native resolution.

I also want to say that if Sony can correct this problem they should and will. However, if the program running is checking to see if your HDTV can accept a 720p signal and if not is downrezzing the output of the software and this is the program software doing this and not the PS3 then whoever wrote that software is going to have to issue a patch before anything Sony does with the PS3 will work.

I can understand that those whose CRT HDTVs can not receive a 720p signal for converting at all will not be looking to play games on the PS3 till this is fixed. Nobody can blame them for this. I think that those publishing studios whose games do this might just be as responsible for the resolution downgrade as Sony is for the PS3 not coming out of the box and upconverting 720p games to 1080i. I hope this downrezzing problem can be resolved.

 

[minorthr]

My 65" hitachi crt HDTV that is a 2003 model accepts 720p and upconverts it to 1080i. I almost bought a mitsu model but heard of the issue like this with the original xbox and decided to go with the Hitachi instead.

 

[Yo Howdy]

2003 Mitsubishi series

Here's the link to the product manual for the 2003 Mitsubishi HD sets:

http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com/img/220728

The relevant part is page 67 where it says the outside source needs to convert 720P to 1080i (or 480i/p) in order for the set to display it.

Needless to say, those of us who had an HDTV on or by 2003 are generally a fairly affluent demographic. For Sony to show such disregard for those early adopters is not an insignificant error on their part. I will certainly not buy a PS3 or a Sony HDTV.

Also, don't give Sony a pass by saying that they just aren't properly supporting "old" HDTVs. The PS3 has been in development a long time (was unveiled at E3 in May 2005 well into its development) so sets that couldn't accept 720p signals were still reasonably new when Sony was putting together the PS3 specs. Given this, the conspiracy theorists' speculation that Sony wants to sell more TVs can't be entirely dismissed as they had to be well aware of their forcing obsolescence of even their own installed base of HD sets.

 

[hpman247]

I have a 3 year old Sony KP51WS520 that does not display a 720p signal, but it accepts it and converts it to 1080i. In the servicemenu, it shows that it is accepting the 720p, and in the manual it says that it will accept the 720p and show it as that in the service menu, but will actually be converting that 720p signal to 1080i.

 

[kb7oeb]

I think my set is the WS-65615, it does not accept 720p I've tried it and it says no signal and the manual said that it would not accept 720p.

I don't think any FCC mandates apply here, the internal tuner has no trouble tuning Fox or ABC and their 720p signal.

 

[general487]

My RCA CRT RPTV (see below) does NOT accept a 720p signal (either to upconvert or natively display).

The PS3 is really a joke. Every day on Google news I have been checking to see what the headlines are, and it seems that the Wii is really taking people by storm. I am holding out a little longer, but I think the PS3 is out of the race right now.

The PS3 doesn't have an internal scaler, so I believe that the problem lies in the hardware and not the software. The only thing I think Sony could do is to require programmers to do something on their end with the game, and then provide some kind of software update on the PS3 end to work it all out. It is NOT a simple fix.

I think most of us on this forum understand our HDTV's and their features.