Getting high on high-def

The main draw for me in getting a PlayStation 3 was the fact that not only was it a top-tier console for gaming, but it also doubled as a Blu-ray player. In fact, I was after the Blu-ray player more than I was the gaming. As a big movie buff I had been wanting to get my own high-definition home video player for a while, but since Blu-ray discs were still a relatively new media costs were still, shall we say, prohibitive. Not to mention, access to Blu-ray discs was not easy. Even now, the titles available locally are a far cry from what you can find online, and the price discrepancies are considerable as well.

Then again, what was our HDTV for? No one here does any “broadcasting” in HD (except in expensive premium cable packages). The entire time our family has had an HDTV the only high-definition content we’d actually seen on it was when the guy who delivered and set it up gave us a digital copy of an HD Pacquiao fight he got from the Internet.

With the introduction of the PS3 Slim at a reduced price, it helped seal the deal. Reviews online said the PS3 was actually a good Blu-ray player (just last Friday Sony announced they had moved 50 million units worldwide), and in my mind, the actual gaming aspect was just a nice, huge bonus. I convinced myself I was getting a bargain.

Being a techno-idiot I didn’t know I had to familiarize myself with a new set of cables. Where for years all I had to worry about were the ubiquitous three-pronged RCA cables, I now had to get myself an HDMI cable and a digital optical cable, for picture and audio respectively. Though HDMI could also carry audio, it wasn’t as dynamic as the digital optical. Being a frugal sort I did a little reading online first as to what I was getting into in terms of types and prices. Finally when I got everything connected; that is, PS3 to TV via HDMI and to 5.1-channel surround sound system (which came with the TV) via digital, I called in the family and announced in my best Emperor Palpatine throat-croak, “Now witness the firepower of this fully-armed and operational home theater!”

Saving Private Ryan was one of the blu-ray discs used to convince my dad the home theater system was a good purchase.

I had prepared two Blu-rays for the initial presentation to the family: Saving Private Ryan and Inception. One film over a decade old, another released last year. Both were crisp and sharp, lovely to look at, with a detail I hadn’t seen even in theaters. The audio was massive, particularly Saving Private Ryan’s battle scenes, with the soundtrack using all the channels so that you felt you were being bombarded on all sides just like the Allied forces storming Normandy. If you’ve been used to the tinny audio of a TV’s in-built speakers it’s a veritable revelation to re-watch familiar films with a subwoofer that can handle the lower end of the bass spectrum. There’s a bit of grain in the picture but that’s to be expected with older films using older cameras. Also, it was part of the film’s gritty style. With Inception it’s cleaner, the blacks are especially solid and contrast is sharper. As expected, my father gravitated toward the war film and my brother preferred the mindbender. But as for the home theater set-up, both gave a thumbs-up.