Hello

I've got a Sony PS3 player which I've had for about 5 years which I only use as a dvd/blu-ray player, never for games. It's connected to my Panasonic LED television via HDMI cable.

Until very recently it has worked no bother but a couple of weeks ago I noticed that whenever the machine is first switched on the startup screen is grey, rather than the different colours depending on the time of day. I didn't think much of it as it still played dvds/blu ray discs ok, but now the playback quality is beginning to be affected too, with the playback becoming grainy at times before jumping back to a clearer picture, and often the colour goes weird during playback too, with times when characters have purple faces etc.

Does this mean my machine is on its way out? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

I'm not very technologically minded though - like I said I only use the machine to watch films

Well my PS3 is also currently displaying a grey screen on startup-nothing wrong with it, though. Apparently it also changes colour depending on the time of year or season, so it's probably just that, very clever, I think.

As for the technical issues you're having, I'm not so sure. Perhaps you could make sure the HDMI cable is inserted correctly, or change it if necessary.

I appreciate your reply, but my PS3 player would in the past, on start-up, display a different screen colour depending on the time of day, not season (e.g. if I watched something early in the day the start-up would be light green, but if I switched it on late at night it would be a dark purple - very cool) Now it's just grey all the time whereas it's never been grey before.

And yes, I have made sure the cables are inserted properly and have tried with a new cable as well.

A search does suggest it's an HDCP issue, as you have checked and tried a new cable it might be an idea to try a different connection other than HDMI. If normal playback is resumed you will know where the problem lies and will give you a better chance of solving the problem - this could be a full reset or just simply powering the system down and starting it up again but in a different order.