Laurence, I believe that JohnnyRoy has described the problem correctly, this is a copyright protect issue concerning 1080 content. I thought Sony was going to let DVD -r play 1080i without downconverting, but HD-DVD is so close to DVD, they may have opted to limited the pirate disk market issue. tho, pirated HD-DVDs are out there and in large numbers, why Sony cares about Universal being ripped off in the format wars is a good question when it limits PSP3 owners from playing general DVD-r's with 1080 content.

My understanding was that there is a flag that can be set to force the Blueray or HD-DVD player to downres over component, but that this wasn't always set. I certainly did not set it.

It is just so frustrating. I (foolishly) spent a fortune on this HD-TV just a couple of years ago when HD TVs were first introduced. I'm not busting anyones copy protection. I just want to watch my own stuff the way it is supposed to play!

I'm not even certain it is being downrezzed. I do know that the video quality was just wonderful over HDMI on my lower resolution 720p LCD TV. What I'm seeing now just looks like a regular DVD.

Recent reports like this one made me think that it was going to work:

http://www.digg.com/movies/Sony_Will_NOT_Downconvert_HD_Movies_On_Old_HDTV_s

Laurence, the late battle over AACS standards delayed the PSP3 for a long time. I think Sony programmed the PSP3 for the most likely minimum standards to protecting general copyrighted media material, so they would be in a legal battle with HD-DVD and DVD content producers. Sony has a major software patch coming out soon concerning some new format features, maybe they will let DVD-r play 1080i out the components, but with Ms Visa setting the tone about AACS, Sony may not officially permit it, but keep it as a hidden option, ie with the PSP playing movies.

Aside from this one glitch, the PS3 is an amazing machine. Games and Bluray movies look wonderful, as do jpegs and slide shows. Yeah, hopefully this will be fixed with an update.

the downsizing was done on "purpose." I quote that because it wasn't something that was officially planned (like anything about the PS3 was!) but that's what they decided to do. That's what the HDMI interface is there for: so it won't down convert (Sony put hte HDMI & that down convert thing in at the last minute to give the HDMI an advantage over component... so articles have said)

I would have to say that more than 90% of all my problems with computers, video and music production have something to do with copy protection in some way, shape or form.

I've got a question: Since the component outputs only go up to 1080i and the HDMI goes up to 1080p, could the difference in quality I'm seeing be because of the 1080i vs 1080p rather than because of downconverting?

> Since the component outputs only go up to 1080i and the HDMI goes up to 1080p, could the difference in quality I'm seeing be because of the 1080i vs 1080p rather than because of downconverting?

No. 1080 is 1080 regardless of whether it was acquired progressive or interlaced. It is still one thousand and eighty lines of resolution. There is no difference in video quality between HDMI and component. The only difference is that HDMI carries the audio too, and copy protection handshaking. But the video signal in HDMI is the same resolution as component.

~jr

in 6 months theyll reverse engineer it and bring out a chip that let u do everything.. theyve just done it with XBox360, have been doing it for ps2 for over 5 years and PSX for as long as its been in existance..

its time like this that makes me wonder why they bother trying to control the way a consumer uses their equipment..

"in 6 months they'll reverse engineer it " Don't hold your breath. Programming the cell is not differcult but appears to be outside MS theory in coding and tough for the average programmer. Since the controls ( sorry Sony) are software controlled in the cell sub cpus, one needs to know what code seqment and what sub-cpu is assigned that IO channel (Someone is going to be pissed). IBM and Sony are actively trying to generate more interest from designers and programmers in the general market, but currently, basic theory training falls short, so a lot of tech people are confused. bloated design is not in the cell world, small and clean coding is required. Programmers from Assembly and Fortran backgrounds will fair better than C++ and Basic coders. Future cells will have more program space, but never enough for MS bloated coding theory. OT: Intel ran a series of tests using the 2duo and their 4core vs. the cell in late Nov, they decided not to publish the results because of poor third party coding problems.

game programmers in general aren't thrilled about the cell. Well, not really the cell, but the PS3. It's a lot harder to dev then the 360 and only slightly faster (in real world game terms). It's going to be interested what dev's decide to do with it. Just because it's a superior technology doesn't mean it will last. SGI made far superior products to any PC manufacture but nobody wanted to spend the $$ on them.

I'm starting to realize that my videos are being played at full HD resolution over component. If I play videos that are indeed SD, I can see the scan rate changing before the video plays whereas if I play the 1080 m2t files, it stays at what I now know is 1080i. I guess I just expected more out of the TV with this arrangement. Also the contrast on the TV needed to be toned down a little for the analog HD input as it seems to be more saturated.

On a side note, I've been downloading HD movie trailers of the Playstation Store site. These definitely are playing back in HD resolution over my component setup, though I can't see much difference between the 720 and 1080 versions. These are in 720 and 1080 AAC mp4 codec formats that won't play in WMP but will play in Quicktime 7 or PowerDVD. MP4 files encoded by Quicktime Pro or DivX will not play in the Playstation however. I'd love to be able to render in the Sony HD MP4 format from Vegas. Is that possible yet?

The more I mess with the PS3, the more I like it. I can play downloaded 1080 HD video off a thumb drive or DVD-R for instance. I can easily copy between the internal drive and a USB device or copy from a data DVD to either the internal drive or a USB device. It is obviously set up to download and play movies so I'm sure that that will be a service in the future. There is one free downloadable game that is pretty good and a bunch of downloadable games that cost less than $10. Cool stuff!

TheHappyFriar, SGI and the cell are not similar. The cell has already pass the total number of ic's produced by SGI. And the current software apps for the cell by IBM and Sony have exceeded the SGI installed base, but you are correct about SGI being a bright company in concept/design, but they were not really a PC company.

One of more interesting MS 360's "false" facts, is that the "only slightly faster (in real world game terms)". Using real physics calculations in gaming is possible with the cell, where on every other system requires special secondary cpu chips. The claim is base on the theory that only powerchip code will execute the code, a false claim, because it is true that the powerchip manages the gaming controllers, loading the games, scheduling of resources, but the sub cpus are in use. The current games are not pushing the envelope much, but new spiderman game for spiderman III should open a lot of eyes.