My Panasonic BD-30 and PS3

[red_5ive]

Ok - let me start by saying that I wasn't trying to attempt any comparison here. This was more an accident than anything. That said, I picked up a Panasonic BD30 a few months back as I was after bitstreaming the HD Codecs (I was glad I did for that reason - very noticeable difference in AQ). The PS3 went upstairs in the game room and to also serve as a 2nd blu-ray player. After picking up Motorstom II the other day and trying to play 4 player split-screen on a 42", I decided to move the PS3 back downstairs for a bit on the 61" which served much better for split-screen. Anyway, I popped in Iron Man on the PS3 last night, and to my surprise I was wondering why the picture looked a little soft/hazy. Even the wife noticed on her own. So I threw it in the BD30 and instantly the difference was noticeable. I checked all the PS3 settings (they were optimal) and went so far as to swap cables/inputs, and the BD-30 was still a bit sharper, and blacks were noticeably deeper. The difference was most notable in the cave sequence. I tried a few other movies (Die Hard 4, Pirates 1), and the results were the same. Going from the PS3 to the BD30 I remember thinking the BD30 looked a little better, but after living with the BD30 a few months and going back to the PS3 the difference was instantly noticeable.

So anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone trying to decide between a PS3 and stand alone. I still love my PS3 as an overall unit, but after seeing the difference the BD30 is surely the unit I'll use to demo Blu-ray for people. If I had to do it again, I'd still probably go with a PS3 first for games and streaming, then get a standalone later.

[crackinhedz]

you would need to adjust picture settings for different devices.

(not saying you won't come to the same conclusion...but the settings would inherently be different.)

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

you would need to adjust picture settings for different devices.

(not saying you won't come to the same conclusion...but the settings would inherently be different.)

Not sure what you're saying. My prepro does all the HDMI switching so they're both playing through the same HDMI input on my TV. The player settings themselves are otherwise matched (i.e., 1080p/24, RGB output, etc.), and prepro is pass-through for all 1080p HDMI sources.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

Not sure what you're saying. My prepro does all the HDMI switching so they're both playing through the same HDMI input on my TV. The player settings themselves are otherwise matched (i.e., 1080p/24, RGB output, etc.), and prepro is pass-through for all 1080p HDMI sources.

im saying that different sources will output differently...in other words...you wouldn't/shouldn't use the same picture settings (brightness,contrast,sharpness,color etc) for your xbox, ps3, bluray player, dvd player, Directv, VHS etc.

They should each (device) be calibrated accordingly. Although this is one setback of using a Receiver, because you have to share settings into the same input on the TV.

[crackinhedz]

again, im not saying you wouldn't come to the same conclusion...but simply switching players is not a fair comparison. You would need to adjust display settings for optimization on each device.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

again, im not saying you wouldn't come to the same conclusion...but simply switching players is not a fair comparison. You would need to adjust display settings for optimization on each device.

That's a good point. I will say, however, that my TV is still calibrated for the PS3. I had spent a good amount of time tweaking it way back when, and I didn't touch the display settings when I hooked up the BD30 since it looked good "out of the box". So IMO the results are conclusive.

[saprano]

i dont know where you guys get these conclusions from, not saying your lying, but the ps3 BD PQ is more than flawless. i still get amazed at some of the movies PQ. someone else did a compairison with a BD50, the guy from that HT site. i forgot his name, he post here alot. anyway he said he noticed no difference between the two, a BD 50 mind you. EDIT- actually it wasn't the guy form the HT site, i thought it was.

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

I compared the PS3 head-to-head against the Panny BD50 using Video essentials for my review of the BD50 at dvdfile.

No difference in PQ. None.

[HumanMedia]

Originally Posted by red_5ive

That's a good point. I will say, however, that my TV is still calibrated for the PS3. I had spent a good amount of time tweaking it way back when, and I didn't touch the display settings when I hooked up the BD30 since it looked good "out of the box". So IMO the results are conclusive.

Well the PS3 cant be calibrated properly unless you are passing Component over HDMI with ultra bright on. Unless you use these settings you wont pass BTB information and wont be able to calibrate it using test patterns and blacks will be murky.

If you are doing this, and have calibrated black levels by trimming out BTB information, and setting the white point using a grayscale, then there are still differences with the way the two players handle color. The Panasonic is superior at chroma upsampling. In the same way that standard def players are all different in the way they upscale spatially, so too are all players as they upscale color information from 4:2:0 into the color space of the output.

Even with properly calibrated inputs for both players there are still many reports that the Panasonic gives a better image than a PS3.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by saprano

i dont know where you guys get these conclusions from, not saying your lying, but the ps3 BD PQ is more than flawless. i still get amazed at some of the movies PQ. someone else did a compairison with a BD50, the guy from that HT site. i forgot his name, he post here alot. anyway he said he noticed no difference between the two, a BD 50 mind you.

You have to remember I didn't do a side by side comparison, nor was I even attempting to make a comparison. I indicated this in my first post. And to be honest with you I would never have even cared to make comparison. However, I just happened to notice a difference. I lived with the BD30 for about 3 mos and am "used to" what I've seen on screen. I've watched Iron Man at least 10 times all the way through, and have played my bookmarks numerous of times on the BD30. I'm very familiar with what I've seen on screen with the BD30. Crackinhedz did make a good point about different sources not outputting the same, which I admit I didn't take into account. But as I said, I also haven't recalibrated the TV from when the PS3 was initially connected, so I was even using the PS3 calibration with the BD30.

[saprano]

Thats cool im not arguing.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by saprano

Thats cool im not arguing.

No, that's cool, I didn't take it that way. I'm not trying to knock the PS3, and I did say in my first post that if I had to do it again I'd still get the PS3 first. It's an excellent BD player for sure.

Originally Posted by HumanMedia

Well the PS3 cant be calibrated properly unless you are passing Component over HDMI with ultra bright on. Unless you use these settings you wont pass BTB information and wont be able to calibrate it using test patterns and blacks will be murky.

If you are doing this, and have calibrated black levels by trimming out BTB information, and setting the white point using a grayscale, then there are still differences with the way the two players handle color. The Panasonic is superior at chroma upsampling. In the same way that standard def players are all different in the way they upscale spatially, so too are all players as they upscale color information from 4:2:0 into the color space of the output.

Even with properly calibrated inputs for both players there are still many reports that the Panasonic gives a better image than a PS3.

I'm not gonna pretend I'm some kind of pro and did any of this. I initially did everything by eye as I always have. However, I have a buddy who used to work for Samsung's home entertainment division (he got me a deal on the TV), and he actually came over and tweaked it. There was a noticeable improvement over what I set it to initially, mainly with black levels.

[scweb13]

OMG!! It's just too hard to imagine that the PS3 is not the best BD player!!

[HDPlasma]

Originally Posted by saprano

i dont know where you guys get these conclusions from, not saying your lying, but the ps3 BD PQ is more than flawless. i still get amazed at some of the movies PQ. someone else did a compairison with a BD50, the guy from that HT site. i forgot his name, he post here alot. anyway he said he noticed no difference between the two, a BD 50 mind you. EDIT- actually it wasn't the guy form the HT site, i thought it was.

There was a player shoot out a couple months ago with most of the new players and the PS3.
Other than the Samsung being subpar, all other players beat the PS3 in PQ.
But the PS3 was king of bootup and disc loading.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by HDPlasma

There was a player shoot out a couple months ago with most of the new players and the PS3.
Other than the Samsung being subpar, all other players beat the PS3 in PQ.
But the PS3 was king of bootup and disc loading.

Do you have a link or source? I'm not sure if you're referring to the AVS shootout, but that shootout pretty much found the PS3 to be as good as any of the competing units at 1080p/24. I believe the PS3 and Pioneer 51FD were the only units with virtually perfect color while the Samsung 1500, Sony S350, and Panasonic BD50 were just slightly off.

[saprano]

Originally Posted by HDPlasma

There was a player shoot out a couple months ago with most of the new players and the PS3.
Other than the Samsung being subpar, all other players beat the PS3 in PQ.
But the PS3 was king of bootup and disc loading.

Thats nice but how much of a difference are we talking about here? thats always my point.

yea some players might have a bit better contrast, or sharper picture, but is it enough to go crazy over? i mean this is 1080p HD were talking about here. im not trying to defend the ps3, i have no problem with the advancement of SA. i just dont get people ( im NOT talking about you or the OP im talking general ) who love to talk about how some SA have a better PQ than the ps3 like its a mindblowing difference.