Samsung 225bw 22" Monitor connected to Playstation 3

[Darth_Spud]

Hi all, I haven’t posted here for a while but it feels all nostalgic to come back here again

Ok before i ask my question - I’m a PC gamer as much as a console gamer so please could we not do PC vs. Console flames!

I have connected my Samsung 225bw PC monitor to my PS3 via HDMI - DVI. Looks great in 1080p but alas the games for the most part are 720p which on my monitor looks sh*t. Reminds me of how Crysis looks with the graphics on low. the edges are quite jaggy and the textures look bland. The game in question here is Farcry 2. When playing this on my 32" HD TV it looks sharp and crisp but on my PC monitor it looks crap. Is this normal or do i have to do something in the display settings on the PS3?

Any help here would be much appreciated!

Thanks

[shaithis]

Have you set the PS3 output mode to HDMI/1080p?

[Darth_Spud]

Thanks for the swift reply shaithis -
Yeah the PS3 is set to display 1080p but it downscales the games to 720p as they are made in this resolution, I just expected them to look a lot better on a PC monitor but they look worse if anything, I would post a screenshot but I don’t think I can do that on the PS3. Has anyone else used a PC monitor for his or her PS3? What were the results?

[Webby]

What resolution is the PS3 out putting and what resolution is the monitor running at? These are the important questions.

Firstly your monitor does not support 1080p the resolution is not high enough so you need to be running at 720p (or if it will allow it the native resolution of the monitor). Next your monitor when recieving a 720p signal will stretch the image to fit the screen since the aspect ratio of a monitor is 16:10 and the aspect ratio for HD content is 16:9 not only is the image stretched it is distorted as well.

Both issues come down to pixels and how they respond if your PS3 can output a custom resolution (I don't have one so don't know) then set it to 1680*1050 if it does not then set it to 720p and then if possible set the monitor ro 1:1 pixel mapping or maintain aspect ratio this will mean that with 1:1 mapping that only the exact number of pixels are used and with maintain aspect ratio that you will not encounter distortion due to the aspect ratio being different.

I do not know what options your monitor supports you will have to check to find out.

[Darth_Spud]

Hi Webby, thanks for the input – The native resolution of my monitor is 1680x1050, When I turn the PS3 on a monitor message pops up saying that the resolution is not supported but the PS3 menu does display and looks fine. When I go into the display setting of the PS3 it shows the display as being 1080p, I’m not sure if there is an option to customise the resolution – I will look tonight when I get home and check. If I do set the PS3 to display 720p wont it look worse? I was always of the belief that the higher the resolution the sharper the picture. If I can customise the resolution should I set the PS3 up to display 1680x1050? The same as my monitor’s native resolution?

[Webby]

The resolution for 1080p is 1920*1080 since your monitor does not support that resolution I'm surprised it displays anything at all. I can only imagine that either the monitor is scaling the image (and if you have no black bars top and bottom stretching it as well) or it has centred the image and you are missing pixels on each side and a few top and bottom.

Higher resolutions are only better if the device displaying them can accurately output them, the ideal resolution would be 1680*1050 however I am doubtful that the PS3 will offer this option.

[shaithis]

Higher resolutions are only better if the device displaying them can accurately output them, the ideal resolution would be 1680*1050 however I am doubtful that the PS3 will offer this option.

With regards to image scaling the consensus seems to be that its always best to scale down and only scale once.

Hence, if you have 1050 lines on a display and the choice at the source is between 720p and 1080p, 1080p wins.


There are some very specific situations where this doesn't hold but they are few and far between.

AFAIK, the PS3 does not have a custom resolution setting (I went through the setup screens again at the weekend after getting the latest update and don't remember seeing a custom option at least), so if the games force a 720p output you may have to go with that (if it gives a better picture during games) and have a lesser PQ when using the dashboard or playing videos.

The other thing may be that you need to fiddle with the other HDMI settings on the PS3.........both are to do with how colour is displayed.......I think one is called "dynamic range" (on/off toggle) the other is colour mode (or something similar) where you can choose between YUV/RGB/Auto (or similar)