PS3 Fat has sharper image quality over Slim?

[austin532]

So I recently hooked up my original 60gb fat PS3 and I think I immediately noticed a difference in sharpness compared to the slim. I'm using the same tv with the same settings. Has anyone else noticed this?

[Taiyaki]

I have both (original and first slim) and I never noticed any difference no.

[ZellSF]

Over HDMI? No.

Over analog connections, potentially, but if you want sharper image quality you can just go HDMI.

[Unseen]

So I recently hooked up my original 60gb fat PS3 and I think I immediately noticed a difference in sharpness compared to the slim. I'm using the same tv with the same settings. Has anyone else noticed this?

Bluray playback over component? Models manufactured after a certain date scale down Bluray video to 960x540 when the component is used, due to requirements from the Blu-Ray Disc Association.

[austin532]

No, this is over HDMI. Original 60gb Made in Japan model. Maybe sharper is not the right word but it definitely looks cleaner. Other people have mentioned this as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony removed some things that would effect the image quality to save a few bucks on the slim.

[Guspaz]

There should be no difference, but keep in mind that the PS3 has several options that impact the HDMI output, such as the RGB range setting, the Super-White setting, the x.v.Color setting, the deep color setting, the RGB vs YCbCr setting, the upscaler setting, etc. Some of these settings only impact BD/DVD playback, some of these settings impact all video output. To perform a valid comparison, you would need to ensure that all settings were exactly the same.

[austin532]

All of these settings are the same using the same tv and same hdmi port. I noticed it right away with the XMB. I did not test any movies and only tried one game on both, Super Stardust HD.

[Ikaruga11]

There is no difference.

[atheistgod1999]

HDMI is digital. Why does this thread exist?

[Unseen]

Why does this thread exist?

Sometimes it feels as if the hunt for image quality and/or minimal lag is turning into a religion ;)

[austin532]

So are you saying it's impossible for two completely different models to have a difference in quality just because the signal is digital? I find that hard to believe.

[atheistgod1999]

So are you saying it's impossible for two completely different models to have a difference in quality just because the signal is digital? I find that hard to believe.

Well, if it's digital, then no image information is lost. What the display receives is an exact replica of what was generated internally.

[bobrocks95]

So what's stopping it from generating a slightly different image internally? Digital just guarantees no information loss over the cable.

[atheistgod1999]

So what's stopping it from generating a slightly different image internally?

The internal image is also digital. The only way it could be different is if Sony added an n64-syle blur filter, or something similar, to the slim. I seriously doubt they did that.

[ZellSF]

So what's stopping it from generating a slightly different image internally

I think the better question here is why would it generate a slightly different image internally. I really can't think of any logical reason.

What exactly are you imagining could make any difference?

[citrus3000psi]

So what's stopping it from generating a slightly different image internally

I think the better question here is why would it generate a slightly different image internally. I really can't think of any logical reason.

What exactly are you imagining could make any difference?

The original 60GB models and slim are quite a bit different internal. The emotion engine / graphics synthesizer are missing from all but the early model ps3's. Perhaps the cell broadband chip does something different in these later consoles?

austin532, do both your slim / phat have the same Firmware installed? Sony could have dialed something down in later firmware versions to handle with idle heat etc.


I have about 8 A01/B01 consoles and have been fixing slims for a long time and can't say I've ever really noticed any difference. But I'm not looking for it either.

[austin532]

Same FW. It's very possible that the slim uses cheaper parts to cut costs and thus effects the image slightly. It doesn't look like anyone has put much time looking into this so perhaps we could be onto something?

[blizzz]

The first step would be to take some digital captures of your consoles to see if there's a difference.

[austin532]

I would if I had a decent capture device.

[Lawfer]

When you say "Slim" are you talking about SUPER Slim?

Differences in quality between revisions is not unheard of:

Sega Saturn Model 1 has better visual quality compared to Model 2

Nintendo Wii RVL-001 has inferior visual quality compared to RVL-101

Difference here is those are analogue while the PS3 over HDMI is digital.

[atheistgod1999]

It's very possible that the slim uses cheaper parts to cut costs and thus effects the image slightly.

With digital, the quality of the parts doesn't matter unless the 1's and 0's are unreadable, in which case the image wouldn't even display. As long as the 1's and 0's are readable, the image will be exactly the same. What don't you get about that?

This thread:

[austin532]

When you say "Slim" are you talking about SUPER Slim?

Differences in quality between revisions is not unheard of:

Sega Saturn Model 1 has better visual quality compared to Model 2

Nintendo Wii RVL-001 has inferior visual quality compared to RVL-101

Difference here is those are analogue while the PS3 over HDMI is digital.

Original slim. 320gb Uncharted 3 slim to be exact.

[bobrocks95]

It's very possible that the slim uses cheaper parts to cut costs and thus effects the image slightly.

With digital, the quality of the parts doesn't matter unless the 1's and 0's are unreadable, in which case the image wouldn't even display. As long as the 1's and 0's are readable, the image will be exactly the same. What don't you get about that?

This thread:

Obviously they look different to him for some reason or another, and it's interesting to figure it out regardless; no need to be a dick about it.

[Lawfer]

Well I can tell for sure that there is performance differences between the original PS3 and the revisions, typically revolving around many FPS dips throughout the game or even the game freezing for a second or two. The most obvious examples would be Folklore and Armored Core: For Answer, also the original PS3 lacks some AV options that the revisions have.

[nissling]

With digital, the quality of the parts doesn't matter unless the 1's and 0's are unreadable, in which case the image wouldn't even display. As long as the 1's and 0's are readable, the image will be exactly the same. What don't you get about that?

Yet you do realize that i.e. video on Blu-Ray is in fact stored as YCbCr 4:2:0, meaning that the chrome must be up-sampled in order to be shown on a monitor? Different units perform differently in this regard. Whether you notice it or not is a completely different question though.

[Ikaruga11]

With digital, the quality of the parts doesn't matter unless the 1's and 0's are unreadable, in which case the image wouldn't even display. As long as the 1's and 0's are readable, the image will be exactly the same. What don't you get about that?

Yet you do realize that i.e. video on Blu-Ray is in fact stored as YCbCr 4:2:0, meaning that the chrome must be up-sampled in order to be shown on a monitor? Different units perform differently in this regard. Whether you notice it or not is a completely different question though.

If that's the case, then wouldn't Component be better than HDMI?

[bobrocks95]

Well I can tell for sure that there is performance differences between the original PS3 and the revisions, typically revolving around many FPS dips throughout the game or even the game freezing for a second or two. The most obvious examples would be Folklore and Armored Core: For Answer, also the original PS3 lacks some AV options that the revisions have.

Does the fat perform better, is that what you're saying? I remember playing Heavy Rain on a friend's fat (I have a slim) and it ran much better, but I assumed it was because I had downloaded the update and he didn't bother to.

The game also completely broke his PS3, so there's that too lol.

[ZellSF]

With digital, the quality of the parts doesn't matter unless the 1's and 0's are unreadable, in which case the image wouldn't even display. As long as the 1's and 0's are readable, the image will be exactly the same. What don't you get about that?

Yet you do realize that i.e. video on Blu-Ray is in fact stored as YCbCr 4:2:0, meaning that the chrome must be up-sampled in order to be shown on a monitor? Different units perform differently in this regard. Whether you notice it or not is a completely different question though.

OP already specified he's not talking about blu-rays, so this doesn't apply.

Games output RGB, which HDMI can carry without problems, so the PS3 doesn't have to do any internal color space conversion. All the PS3 needs to do is display the image, exactly as rendered.

There's really no room for anything to be "different" here and if OP says it is, he should probably come up with something stronger than "I think" or he's really just wasting our time.

He needs to VERY thoroughly verify that all his PS3 and TV settings are identical, then failing a capture card he needs to take some closeup camera shots of images with very discernible pixels on a large display and show us the difference. It's not hard as the PS3 has an image viewer.

[nissling]

If that's the case, then wouldn't Component be better than HDMI?

Why would it?

OP already specified he's not talking about blu-rays, so this doesn't apply.

My point was that a digital signal isn't always going to be unaltered. For instance, many GPUs in consumer products have massive issues in terms of white balance and colors even when outputting RGB.

[austin532]

Look, if someone told me there was a difference between the two even though there wasn't and I noticed something then I would blame it on the placebo effect. Something like this never even crossed my mind. I simply turned it on to see if it still worked and what was on the HDD. It had a YLOD so the fact that it still worked was surprising. I use my ps3 slim almost daily so I noticed right away that "something" was different with the image of fat.

Maybe there is a difference or maybe there isn't. Maybe it's just me. There is no need to get upset about this. If I get some captures that I feel show a difference I'll be sure to post them.