As I own a 1080p native HDTV monitor that displays the video output 1:1 mapped, I was able to begin the Quality Analysis safe in the knowledge that no details were being lost or obscured.
Blu-ray FILM: 1080p/24 output as 1080p/60
The first disc we tested the PS3 with was the incredibly impressive "Silent Hill" (USA release from Sony). Reviews on this title have been mixed due to the fact that there are sometimes compression artefacts visible, but nevertheless, it is an appropriate test disc thanks to the incredibly high level of detail present, as well as its inclusion of a hidden resolution test card (gained by typing the numerical equivalent of "SONY" – 7669 – on the menu screen).
Prior to testing the PS3, we had had experience of playing this same disc in a considerably more expensive standalone Blu-ray Player. On the standalone, some fine details during the film and the test card twittered up and down lightly due to the internal 1080i-to-1080p conversion. This fault was not present on the Playstation 3, which keeps the signal as 1080p from start to finish, allowing much less room for error.
Using the red Warning screen at the beginning of a Twentieth Century Fox Blu-ray Disc, we also confirmed that the BD playback does not suffer from the Chroma Upsampling Error as some standalone players do. Although the error – which results in the edges of colours appearing jagged – is hard to spot at HD resolutions, the fact that it is not here is still excellent.
The test card allowed us to confirm that the PS3 was not adding any additional edge enhancement, or other intrusive video processing, during playback. The fact that it doesn't, and that we could detect no other problems with the playback, means that we are confident that the PS3 is the best Blu-ray Disc player available today.
Unfortunately, the Sony test card does have one flaw, and that is that the darkest shades of black are crushed into one shade, due to an error in the video encoding process (what a blunder!). This means that we were unable to check whether or not the PS3 passes Blacker Than Black video during Blu-ray playback. The fact that it does not for Standard Def NTSC DVD playback means that we can *ASSUME* the same holds true of the BD playback.
Blu-ray VIDEO: 1080i/60 output as 1080i/60
When we played the Panasonic Blu-ray Test Disc in the Playstation 3, the video was output exactly as it was stored on the disc – as 1080i/60. Some standalone players, such as the Panasonic DMP-BD10, use their own internal deinterlacing circuitry to convert the signal to 1080p/60 before it reaches the TV. The PS3 outputs exactly what it plays from the disc, meaning that there is nothing more to add in this area – the quality of the rare 1080i/60 content will depend entirely on how your TV set Deinterlaces it.
