Cheap Ass Gamer™

PS3 & HDMI Problem + Fix = New Problem

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Like myself, other PS3 users may experience issues with the PS3 “handshaking” with their HDMI-capable TV. Although everything seemed ok while navagating the PS3 menus, upon launching a game, my TV (Panasonic Plasma TH42PX500) would lose the video signal and would not respond for a few moments. After regaining control of the TV, cycling through my TV’s video inputs and coming back to HDMI would restore the picture. The same problem was occuring with DVD movies, but not with PS1 games. To confirm it was an HDMI issue, I did some testing using component cables and everything worked fine.

I was able to find a fix, but it created a completely new problem!

I posted about my dilemma on the AVS Forum and sure enough, a user named blitz6speed had found the following solution:

1. Turn on TV and set input to HDMI port being used.
2. Make sure PS3 is connected via HDMI.
3. Power on PS3 via power button and HOLD IT for 5 seconds (release after the second beep). It should automatically configure your PS3 to the TV's native resolution for all settings.

My video problems were solved, but the solution created an audio complication.

Unfortunately, when you use the auto-setup for HDMI listed above, it configures the PS3 to use HDMI for BOTH video and audio.

I (and I’d guess most other PS3 owners) need to use the optical audio out of the PS3 to connect to my surround sound system.

The bad news is that changing the PS3’s audio settings to optical out will negate the auto-setup that was performed, making it impossible to run HDMI video and make use of the optical audio out when using this auto-setup technique. If your TV and PS3 run fine over HDMI without the use of this auto-setup technique, then you will not encounter this issue.

Since I am relying on the auto-setup for HDMI, this is a major bummer, as I can't run Dolby Digital audio.

I would imagine this would be a pretty easy fix via a PS3 firmware upgrade. I guess the question is, how many PS3 owners will be affected and how soon will a fix be available?
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