Samsung DLP TV and PS3

The Game Room
1

Hey kids … long time no see.

Say, I have a technical question, if anyone is hip. My parents are storing a TV in my basement; it’s a big-ass 50-inch Samsung DLP (model hlp5063wx/xaa, if that helps), so obviously, I’ve set it up in my man-cave.

I’ve got a co-ax cable signal running to it no problem and I have a DVD player hooked up to it - via HDMI - no problem as well. However, if I try to hook up either my Playstation 3 or my hi-def cable box to it via HDMI I get some weird “Not Supported Signal” message.

I was thinking it was because the PS3 and cable box are just throwing out too strong a signal for the TeeVee (like maybe it can’t handle 1080i or whatever), but I could have sworn I’d hooked up the PS3 to this exact same TeeVee up at my parents house in years past.

Anyone know what gives?

2

Sounds like your TV doesn’t support HDCP on the connection you’re using, which would be odd today, but not for an old DLP HDTV.

3

Could be any number of things, up to and including a now faulty digital module on the TV.

But some things you can try first:

  1. Is the HDMI cable really long? While unlikely, it’s possible there’s sufficient signal degradation over a really long cable to cause problems.

  2. Have you tried disconnecting all inputs except the PS3 or cable box? There could be some issue with multiple inputs.

  3. Also unlikely but possible: you can try running the PS3 at a lower resolution like 720 or even 480. You can get the display interface by pressing the power button for 4 or 5 seconds when you power it up.

  4. Try using component cables (if your particular PS3 supports them).

ETA: Oh, and if your cable box also supports lower resolution, you can try switching that to a lower one, too. Some of the older TVs had some real problems with the HDMI handshake, esp with 1080 resolutions for some reason.

4

I don’t think the PS3 needs HDCP to play games, only Bluray movies, though I may be wrong there.

My PS3 has been hooked up to Samsung DLPs (2 generations worth since it came out) with no issue. In fact, the first one it was hooked up to didn’t even have HDMI so it was hooked up via DVI.

5

I was afraid of this … I’ve stumbled upon and/or thought of all of the above, but … there’s only one HDMI slot, so it isn’t a matter of number of things hooked up. When the DVD player is hooked up with that cable in that slot it’s fine, but not the PS3 or cable box. And unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that the PS3 has component cable inputs – a shame, because I have a nasty set of component cables that I could use.

My next step is the attempt to lower the resolution output on the PS3 itself.

Thanks.

6

Normally the PS3 will figure out your supported resolutions via HDMI as soon as the TV and system are turned on. I don’t think that’s it.

Like I said, I had mine hooked up via DVI for years to my older Samsung DLP with no issues. Just had to run audio separately.

7

Yep – just looked up the specs on this model … 720P is the highest resolution it supports.

8

Well, if that’s all it is, I imagine there’s a way to force the PS3 to output in 720P. Certainly, you can do this for an Xbox 360, so it would weird me out if the PS3 couldn’t do it.

9

Yeah - I figured it out. I had to set the resolution down to 720p while it was still hooked up to my 1080i TeeVee. The sound was another issue, but that resolved itself – I had it set for Dolby on the good TeeVee, but this one apparently can’t handle that.

Anyhoo … I’m officially PS3-ing in my man cave. The only real down-side is if I want to watch a Blu-Ray or a Netflix movie, I have to watch them down here instead of in the living room and at a slightly lower resolution.

First world problems, essentially.