Hello all, I haven't posted for a while, as not as clue up as most on here, but always enjoy a good read to built my b&o and AV knowledge and will take this chance to say what an excellent forum this is,

Im currently running an early beo 4 65 (around 2006 at a guess, it came with the house so not 100 percent) with a beosystem 2, beo9s, beo 8000s and beo2 and have other beovisions and music players in other rooms connected by masterlink,

The panel was upgraded to what i think was 1080i, and after a nitemare with connections for about 12 months (as the upgrade menu setting for dvi port was taking the best connection for the non hd channels until resolved) we were finnally left with an excellent set up, where as, I use my ps3 for movies using the optical for sound and direct hd connection and to turn the hd on I have to flick to pc on the beo 4 remote which I am very happy with, picture and sound are 100 percent to me.

My B and O dealer, which I have a very good relationship with, have now suggested I try the beosystem 3 out on loan from them on a 3 week demo, I accepted, when they arrived to plumb in the demo unit they could not get the tv to work as the set up menu for the beosystem 3 is displayed in 1080p which my beovision4 does not have so they have took the sysytem 3 away for tweeting and will return soon,

My questions are, do I need a beosystem 3, will I notice any difference on normal sky (non hd) or on the HD picture my ps3 produces through my direct connection to the panel, is it worth 5k to upgrade, is there any resale value in a beosystem2, will i get teething problems as last time I changed something problems continued for months and months.

From what i can see is, my gain will be I can have skyHD, which didnt work on the direct link as I am now, ( which i found very strange as the ps3 works fine apart from a bit of white noise on the screen on start up for about 2 minutes which clears completly (the skyhd had very bad constant white noise on the screen and had to be rejected, sky may have not connected it correctly though)

also at the moment I only get 5.1 sound through the ps3, so sometimes we do not get sound on menu pages of movies discs as it is not always played in 5.1 and I dont get any sound on the Iplayer on the ps3 as im guessing that isnt 5.1 either.

I would like to have the beosystem3 if I am going to see improvements and ease of use of the tv for the wife,

Thanks again for reading my post, and it would be great to get as many comments as possible and will update here when the demo finnally gets connected and works I hope.

thanks in advance,

rental:

 

also at the moment I only get 5.1 sound through the ps3, so sometimes we do not get sound on menu pages of movies discs as it is not always played in 5.1 and I dont get any sound on the Iplayer on the ps3 as im guessing that isnt 5.1 either.

 

To solve this problem.

Connect both the digital and analog audio from the ps3 to the bs2.

Then set the ps3 up for having simultaniously digital and analog audio in the audiosetup. (You must have updated the ps3 for that some time ago as it wasn't always possible to set both analog and digital at the same time)

Once done, the bs2 will switch automatically between analog stereo and digital 5.1 or dts.

rental:

I would like to have the beosystem3 if I am going to see improvements and ease of use of the tv for the wife,

If you afford it, go for it!

You'll get several extra (digital) inputs. Each source gets his own menu-overlay (PUC). That's a big argument for the wife.

The scaling done by the bs3 is far better then the scaling by the panel itself.  

Make sure that the dealer looks at the native resolution of the panel. It doesn't make sense to send a 1080p signal to the panel while it's native reolution is 1280x720 for instance.

Yes I will get that done in a bit, is there an easy way to make sure you are still geting 5.1 or is pulling the analog out and checking the sound does not change the only way.

I can afford it, but after being skint for most of my early life, I always worry about spending money, and have to warrant in my head that im  doing the correct thing when buying items like this,

I will mention that the dealer checks the native resolution, although I have no idea what this means, at least I can pretend I know what im talking about, its either 1080i or 720 but it would make sense to get something in writing from them so Im covered and confirmed as to what upgrade the screen got  when they done the upgrade in 2007/2008.

Has anyone else on here had the older beo 4 50 or 65 upgrade then opted for the beosystem 3 at a later date.

rental:

Yes I will get that done in a bit, is there an easy way to make sure you are still geting 5.1 or is pulling the analog out and checking the sound does not change the only way.

That's one way to check. Another way is to pull the optical lose.

The bs2 looks first at the stereo analog input(scart or camcord). If there a digital signal on the accompanied input RCA, then the stereo analog will be overruled by the digital.

You talking about 5.1 DD. Does the bs2 respond to DTS? Of not, upgrade the sw on the soundboard to the highest version. If I'm right 2.5 is available. (AC3 sw in the servicemenu)

rental:

I will mention that the dealer checks the native resolution, although I have no idea what this means, at least I can pretend I know what im talking about, its either 1080i or 720 but it would make sense to get something in writing from them so Im covered and confirmed as to what upgrade the screen got  when they done the upgrade in 2007/2008.

 

The native resolution is the resolution of the panel itself. It isn't the resolution the panel can handle, because that's always higher and scaled down by the internal scaler from the panel itself.

Native resolution are: 852x480 (SD panel), 1366x768, 1024x720, 1280x720, 1920x1080 etc.

Several years ago, the first hd-ready panels of the BV4 and BV5 were 1024x720. (which isn't even hd-ready as hd-ready means the panel can't display at least 1280x720p).

I think imho that a bs3 is a good investment. It is possible to upgrade the systemsoftware in future, the PUC controller gives you more supported settopboxes etc, it gives you the new sound options like AST, capable of handling more audioformats.

http://www.bang-olufsen.com/beosystem3