Question about Blu-Ray on PS3

I have had my PS3 for awhile I hardly ever rent movies, because I usually will rent HD movies off of my Cable Box. I just recently rented a Oceans 13 on Blu-Ray and I was not impressed at all. To me it looked like a regular dvd. I had a different dvd in my dvd player I was switching back and forth and I couldn't tell a difference in picture quality at all. I have a 1080p lcd with a HDMI cable from PS3 to the TV.

MY questions is, Do you have to change the settings in the PS3 to watch movies in 1080p or does it automatically play in 1080p. Secondly, Is there supposed to be black bar at the top and bottom of the movie? I thought Blu-Ray movies in 1080p there would be no bars.

When I watch HD movies off of my cable box thre is no black bars and the picture quality is alot better.

I have had my PS3 for awhile I hardly ever rent movies, because I usually will rent HD movies off of my Cable Box. I just recently rented a Oceans 13 on Blu-Ray and I was not impressed at all. To me it looked like a regular dvd. I had a different dvd in my dvd player I was switching back and forth and I couldn't tell a difference in picture quality at all. I have a 1080p lcd with a HDMI cable from PS3 to the TV.

MY questions is, Do you have to change the settings in the PS3 to watch movies in 1080p or does it automatically play in 1080p. Secondly, Is there supposed to be black bar at the top and bottom of the movie? I thought Blu-Ray movies in 1080p there would be no bars.

When I watch HD movies off of my cable box thre is no black bars and the picture quality is alot better.

NismoNissan41

Well Oceans 13 isn't exactly the best Blu-ray out there. If you want to watch a film with good picture quality then check out Casino Royale, Crank or even 300. And you don't need to switch to 1080P to watch the film, it should automatically play in 1080P if thats the setting you have on your TV.

The black bars you are seeing is not due to Blu Ray, but in how the movie was filmed, there are different aspect ratios and that is what is causing this. I find it surprising that you haven't seen a DVD do the same thing, or even a movie rented from your cable provider, but I guess you have just been watching movies shot in the 1.85:1 ratio.

Try a movie like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, they are shot in the much larger 2.85:1 ratio and you will see those black bars.

I want to add that the movies you watch off the cable box are edited for your tv, which means you're most likely losing some picture on the left and right edge of the screen. Look at the same movie in blu-ray with the bars on top and bottom - you might be able to see more image on the sides.

Also, I don't know why people keep saying watch 300 - they purposedly added grain to this movie forits effect, given the time period that the movie takes place in (still looks good, but not the best). One of the best blu-ray movies ever in pic qualityis Underworld Evolution - try that one. Of course, make sure your PS3 is outputing video through the HDMI at 1080p.

ps - dont forget to fool around with the PS3's video settings like RGB (full) and superwhite (did I getthat right?) and stuff, until you get the best picture out of your tv.

AND - if you dont see much difference between DVDs and Blu-Ray, then your dvd player is probably upscaling the DVDs to hi-def, in which case, the difference will be minimal - BUT the difference in sound is unmistakeable - Blu-Ray with uncompressed audio will always win hands down.

Actually those movies were filmed in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. 2.85:1 would be extremely wide. There are many different aspect ratios out there. When it comes to movies 2.35:1 and 1.85:1 are the most common though you can see variations like 2.40:1 and a few others. When it comes to an HD signal from your cable or satellite company the industry standard aspect ratio is 16:9 and that is why HD TV's come in that aspect ratio. This is why you won't see those bars while watching broadcast HD programming. Getting a true HD signal can be a tricky thing. Everything must be set and capable of obtaining true 1080p or it will not come through as such. Plus if you were comparing the DVD to the Blue Ray in your PS3 remember that the blue ray player is actually able to make regular DVD's to look better. They won't be 1080p of course because DVD's are 480p but the Blue Ray player can scale pretty well. HD DVD players offer the same feature. I would play around a little bit before sending it to the trash can. Also I'm not sure about the Ocean's 13 movie, but I do know that 300 looks damn good through my PS3. msharki

Oops, that's what I meant to write, must have got caught up in the 1.85:1 train of thought.

Oceans 13 was a pretty bad transfer (picture quality) as far as blu-rays are concerned. Blu-ray.com only gave it a 2.6 for it's video quality

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?id=375

Here is a good thread that ranks them according to picture quality:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=858316

Pirates: Dead Man's Chest is the best I have seen personally.