I missed the part where you said you had a Samsung HDTV. With Band of Brothers, you shouldn't be seeing any black bars. The show is filmed in 1.78:1 so it will fill your whole TV. Your TV is 1.78:1/16:9. You should be seeing little or no black bars with a movie like Saving Private Ryan. Saving Private Ryan is shot in 1.85:1 so the black bars will be very small. It sounds like the PS3 is working properly and your old RCA DVD player was not set up correctly. You should only be seeing black bars when the film has a 2.35:1 or 2.40:1 apsect ratio.
1.78:1 Apsect Ratio (No black bars on a widescreen TV)
2.35:1 Aspect Ratio (Black bars will show on a widescreen TV)
