Sony retracts 1080i fix statement, leaving customers in lurch
[Thanks, Matt]
Filed under: Other hardware, Sony
[Thanks, Matt]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andy @ Nov 25th 2006 5:47PM
Although several TVs can't output 720p, most can accept a 720p signal and upconvert it to 1080i. CRT HDTVs usually only output 480p and 1080i, but they usually accept a 720p signal and upconvert it to 1080i. Without the ability to do this, they would likely not pick up a lot of HD channels that way.
Andy @ Nov 25th 2006 5:53PM
If you know your TV can accept a 720p signal, try setting your TVs maximum resolution to 720p. For some reason, the PS3 thinks 720p is superior to 1080i in resoluton, so when you select 1080i as your maximum resolution, it only selects 480i/p and 1080i, but when you select 720p as your maximum resolution, it chooses 480i/p, 720p and 1080i. That should fix most people's problems.
Ed @ Nov 25th 2006 9:38PM
Ah $ony they care so much about their customer. And i love the fact that people keep buying their piece of sh** products.
balck_gustavo @ Nov 26th 2006 1:00AM
way to go Sony! You're only helping microsoft
Jimmy @ Nov 26th 2006 1:02AM
Wow Ed, a little upset? Please tell me what company's products I should buy? Samsung, Sharp, Microsoft, Sanyo, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Hitachi, Denon, Toshiba, ...
Tell me which one of these has my best interests in mind. Please enlighten me.
If you RTF statement all Sony said was they were not certain they could fix the problem with a firmware patch - thats all.
Ed @ Nov 27th 2006 6:12PM
OK buy Sony.
siva @ Nov 26th 2006 3:23AM
Actually, my Toshiba HD-Ready TV can only accept 1080i or 480p/i. It cannot accept 720p. I have tried that using my HD set-top box. If I set the HD set-top box to output 720p, I cannot see a picture on my TV. There are several CRT TVs that have this similar limitation. These TVs may be able to convert an ATSC signal using the built-in tuner, but using component video inputs, it may not be able to convert from 720p to 1080i.
GhostDoggy @ Nov 26th 2006 8:11AM
This is going to be bad news for Sony, because there are a lot (millions) of displays out there based on limited electronics that prevent them from being able to accept 720P or 1080P. I have a five year old rear-projection television that listed for $5500 during its day, and it was limited to 1080i and 480P.
The limitation is usually in the area of video bandwidth in the electronics. For video bandwidth consideration, 1080i consumes about the same amount of video bandwidth as 540P, but both 540P and 1080i consume a lot less than 720P. And its not the 1920 vs 1280 aspect, either. Some call this scanrate instead of bandwidth.
For Sony not to be able to handle this issue in a firmware patch is puzzling. First generation tandalone Blu-ray players use a broadcom chip that was only capable of 1080i output and not 1080P. In fact, Blu-ray player manufacturers had to employ another processing chip to deinterlace the 1080i video.
Initially, I would have thought that all video processing would be done in software mode. This minimizes costs by not buying the broadcom chip, but this would lend itself to being able to provide 1080i. Introducing interlacing is not process-intensive (deinterlacing an interlaced video stream is process-intensive).
Anyone betting that this is more of a licensing issue?
Jon @ Nov 26th 2006 12:56PM
I have a five year old Sony CRT based HDTV. It only takes 1080i and 480p / 480i. The internal ATSC tuner converts 720p to 1080i...but my Xbox 360 for instance must be set to 1080i to work with my TV. My best friend just bought a TV last Chritmas that is a CRT based HDTV from Panasonic. It also only accepts 1080i and not 720p.
Sony is attempting to minimize the reality of the huge amount of existing HDTV sets that this issue will affect.
And what's more is that it has been reported that Blu-Ray movies will not playback in 720p...only 1080i and 1080p. If you have a 720p TV set that only accepts 720p (many flat panel and plasma LCD sets) then the PS3 will down rez the image to 480p. 480p is clearly not a High Def signal but a standard DVD signal.
So it looks like Sony is screwing over gamers with 1080i sets and Blu-Ray movie watchers with 720p sets.
The 360 properly upconverts or downconverts High Def content to work with any HD TV set whether it's 720p, 1080i or 1080p. So there is no reason folks should not expect the same out of a much more expensive PS3.
Joseph R @ Nov 26th 2006 2:56PM
Jon said "If you have a 720p TV set that only accepts 720p" ...??
Well, unless you can reference some strange or perhaps older model, I've never heard of a 720p-capable TV display" that ONLY accepts a 720p high-def signal (and not 1080i).
If one exists, I'd be curious to know the company and model#. AFAIK, any HDTV display ever produced, has always "accepted" a 1080i signal (the most common), whether it being a CRT, Plasma, LCD, DLP, or rear/front projectors models.
Otherwise, supply the name and model and I'll stand corrected.
crmatson @ Nov 26th 2006 3:47PM
I hope this gets fixed soon.
a2 @ Nov 26th 2006 8:17PM
Sharp has a 720p only model from what I recall
http://www.sharpusa.com/products/ModelLanding/0,1058,1584,00.html
Joseph R @ Nov 27th 2006 8:35PM
"a2" - you are misunderstood.
Most all TV displays (including Sharp) feature 720p (or 768p) native resolution when viewing, unless you have a newer set offering 1080p native resolution.
What I'm referring to is the HD signal input [and what signals are "accepted"], of which 1080i is the most common, and is used by cable and satellite boxes, OTA (over the air) HD signals from your local area TV stations, as well as the main output signal from the latest "upconverted" standard DVD players, and the new, 2006 high-definition disc players (HD DVD and Blu-ray).
HDTV displays are mainly capable of receiving not only 1080i signals, but also 480i (interlaced), 480p (progressive), and 720p (progressive) signals; and some models accept 1080p signals.
But some of the older CRT (tude) HDTVs do NOT accept a 720p signal, nor will they offer 720p for viewing, since those sets have interlaced capability only (with no progressive signal viewing).
That said, again I have never heard of any HDTV display that - (for HD signals) - will ONLY accept a 720p signal and not 1080i.
[So obviously, the Sharp HD models accept both 720p and 1080i HD signals, and then scale to the set's native resolution (usually 720p or 768p on most models - with 1080p on their premium models.]
I'm an owner of a Sharp Aquos LCD and can verify this info. Remember there is a difference between what signals a TV accepts, vs the set's native resolution is for viewing.
GioNYC @ Nov 27th 2006 3:37PM
LOL, after seeing all those Sony HD TV Product commercials on Sundays. Makes u wanna think, don't always believe what u see.
I have a Panasonic Plasma 42" and I get 480, 720 and 1080pi.
My channels are crystal clear.
Nlee @ Dec 5th 2006 11:14PM
I'm learning this the hard way and it's really pissing me off. It's absolutely ridiculous that Sony doesn't state these compatibility issues. No where is it listed on the box or documentation. Basically if you don't have 720p and or 1080p you are screwed. Several reports say this affects older HDTVs that don't support 720p/1080p. I have a Sony and Zenith HD tv set. Is a 2 year old and a 3 year old CRT based HDTV set really old school? I run HD cable service and the XBOX360 and run everything at 1080i. ZERO problem and never would have even thought it would be an issue.
Basically - I'm playing Gears of War at 480p - no 1080i support at all. While 480p is not shabby it's not HD and doesn't provide widescreen viewing.
Playing BluRay movies at 1080i makes my Zenith turn on and off every 7-8 seconds. It's annoying because when I can see it running at 1080i it's great for 7 seconds then the screen blanks out for 4 seconds. On occasions I was able to watch a complete BluRay movie without it flicking on and off.
On another note... setting up the wireless connection was a real pain in the butt. I had to completely change my wireless security setup just to get it to connect. It took me two days just to figure out how to get online. It's embarrassing considering I've setup maybe a dozen wireless appliances in the past without a hitch.
I've never encountered a console machine with so many fatal flaws. And I mean "FATAL" flaws. I've already got this piece of sh#$*@t on Craigslist because I simply don't need this much aggravation to play video games.
The new CEO of Sony Entertainment I squarely blame with these problems.
I'm a big Sony fan and was rooting for the PS3. I bought the XBOX360 last year as an "interim" machine while I waited for the PS3. The logic was to sell my XBOX360 after getting the PS3. Now after just owning the PS3 for less than a week, I'm fed up with the continued list of problems.
Observation: I've been switching back and forth between playing the XBOX 360 and PS3 and I'm having a hard time believing that the top rated game Resistance Fall of Man for the PS3 is a "next generation" game. I'm playing Gears of War and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfare on the XBOX 360 and by far they are superior games to Resistance (not just in graphics but in overall gameplay).
FYI - I'm posting this message on as many forums to help other frustrated users. This is not because I want to take it out on Sony. It's my duty to inform others because I've been thankful with all of the useful info I've found on the web which has made my life easier.