My Playstation 3 has two displays connected – a flat panel TV and 3D helmet. Both of them are 720p, however, the TV can receive up to 1080i, while the glasses can process 1080p.
The problem is the game console doesn’t allow to enable 3D mode in custom video settings, and in automatic mode it sets up the best possible resolution which is 1080p for the 3D glasses, and the TV cannot process this signal and goes to black screen. In the end, each time I want to switch between the glasses and the TV I have to put on the glasses, browse through the menu, lower the resolution (which automatically disables 3D) and only then turn on the TV. I fail to understand the need to first upscale and then downscale in the first place, as according to HDMI 1.4 specifications 3D games are 720p, which is the native resolution for both my TV and the 3D-helmet.
Anyway, having to switch the options looses time and a lot of nerves, so I decided to put an end to Sony’s firmware thinking it is smarter than the user.
To do that, first enable QA flag, browse debug settings for 3D and switch it from automatic to On.
Now, making sure your current display is the inferior one, which is the flat panel in my case, go to Video Settings, then HDMI and select Automatic settings. Agree to whatever resolution it detects as best, which is 1080i in my case, and then go to the next screen. It’s a miracle! It asks you to setup 3D output for a TV that actually doesn’t support 3D. Select the appropriate screen size, which is 150 inch in my case and finish the setup. It’s done. Now I don’t have to browse through options whenever I need to switch output to another display.