Component over composite

[captain ahar]

what kind of visual differences would i see? worthy of the price of new cables. i speak of the PS2 of course.

[Naiera]

You would see a significant increase in picture quality. Go buy those cables NOW.

[captain ahar]

i know that using a jp system will cause no problems itself, but will i get proper results if i buy a cable from the american market for my jp system?

[Neon]

cable region shouldn't make any difference.

To make sure the picture isn't screwed, set your ps2's RGB setting to 'component' and not 'RGB' under the bootup options menu, if it isn't already.

Of course, the best thing to do would be to skip this step and go straight to an RGB monitor. I still play ps2 on my TV via Component just for the bigness of the screen, but the Amiga monitor gives better quality, even though Component isn't that far removed from RGB.

[Dave_K.]

what kind of visual differences would i see? worthy of the price of new cables. i speak of the PS2 of course.

Well if you have a component ready TV or monitor, the difference in quality is quite noticeable. Much sharper lines more vibrant colors...in general just less fuzz/bluring and "dot crawling".

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

After you use Component, you'll never want to go back.

[GaijinPunch]

I say the change is minimal. The PS2 doesn't output progressive scan (in games) and only some models play DVD's in progressive. RGB Monitor/TV with RGB-output is the best option for picture for the PS2.

[matt]

On a low-rez monitor, component is great. Assuming that your TV is calibrated properly, the picture quality will be just as good as RGB (ie the best there is).

On an HDTV, however, low-rez component can look awful.

[Neon]

On a low-rez monitor, component is great. Assuming that your TV is calibrated properly, the picture quality will be just as good as RGB (ie the best there is).

No shit? My tv is fairly high-qual, but I always thought it looked slightly better on the 1084s (mehbe the size difference?)

Another thing is my TV sorta cuts off the left half in tate and the image warps a bit it seems like, maybe I have the brightness set too high.

My Saturn definitely looks better on RGB than S-video, though Svid isn't that bad, been using it for tate (on aforementioned tv). Composite really sucks ass with it though, been playing Samurai shodown 3 and puyo puyo sun at a friends and the colors, especially yellow bleed a lot

[neorichieb1971]

Unless your TV is about $500+ in value it will not perform progressive scanning anyway.

There are some PS2 prog scan games. Namely Tekken 4-5, Burnout 2 and 3 and a few others.

As for watching component on a low resolution display, its much better than composite, but its not as good as RGB.. its just a whisker away though. The reason for this is that RGB is the signal which the CRT understands so no processing is required, component video does require processing between the source to convert to RGB. The theory is that when conversions are performed losses are made, some not so noticable, some really noticable. component does not fall into the latter

[matt]

Assuming that your TV is calibrated properly

No shit? My tv is fairly high-qual, but I always thought it looked slightly better on the 1084s (mehbe the size difference?)

As for watching component on a low resolution display, its much better than composite, but its not as good as RGB.. its just a whisker away though.

Most TVs are not set up properly - typically the contrast is way too high and the colour balance is off. What's more, even though you probably paid a ton for it, consumer TV circuitry is typically shoddy and cheap. On a really good monitor that's been properly calibrated, your eyes or mine probably couldn't tell the difference between the two. You can get an equally off picture on a cheap monitor with RGB, as many Europeans have found out.

The upshot of RGB is that you can use it with old stuff like Saturns, Gennies, and PCBs that predate component.

[Neon]

Assuming that your TV is calibrated properly

Just making conversation

You're currect though, I didn't pay a ton for it either...it's 20 inches, flatscreen, has component, svid...good for gaming but only cost $120 or so as I recall. Probably has the aforementioned cheap circuitry. Off brand too (Daewoo?)

[GaijinPunch]

On a low-rez monitor, component is great. Assuming that your TV is calibrated properly, the picture quality will be just as good as RGB (ie the best there is).

On an HDTV, however, low-rez component can look awful.

Well that was definitely my problem. One question though... what TV has component in, but isn't HD?

[mannerbot]

My 14" Toshiba has component inputs but sure isn't high def.

[Neon]

Quite a few, actually. Perhaps you're confusing flatscreen with HD?

Mine's flatscreen, definitely low def, has component.

[captain ahar]

i have a 20" Trinitron, no S-video output. being that the calibration options suck on this model, would it still be worth it... matt?

[Neon]

calibration concerns to make it closer to RGB notwithstanding, component >>>>>>>>>>> composite and that's really the end of it

Best $7 you'll ever spend. I promise.

[captain ahar]

besides being buttass ugly, will third party cables work properly? no retailers in my area carry first party component cables, and i am lazy enough to not want to hassle with Sony's online store.

[GaijinPunch]

I know what HD and flat screen are. I just thought component kind of came around b/c of HDTV.... I guess progressive scan DVDs would be a reason to have component but no HD. Yeah?

[matt]

I know what HD and flat screen are. I just thought component kind of came around b/c of HDTV.... I guess progressive scan DVDs would be a reason to have component but no HD. Yeah?

You need an HDTV to watch DVDs in progressive scan. The reason for having component on a low-rez TV is the same as anything else - better image quality.

Component video has been around for a very long time (as long as composite), but nobody thought of using it on consumer displays until recently. The popularity of DVD players is probably the reason, not HDTV. Before DVDs, the only things people were likely to hook up to their TVs were VCRs (VHS tapes record the composite signal) and the antenna/cable box which spits out plain old RF (game consoles too, but apparently that didn't matter enough). DVD players, on the other hand, have the potential to play back a very precise image if the video signal is up to par.

besides being buttass ugly, will third party cables work properly? no retailers in my area carry first party component cables, and i am lazy enough to not want to hassle with Sony's online store.

Sure. For the most part, cables are just a bunch of wires with connectors on each end. Some cables are cheaply made and will fall apart/start flaking out sooner than others, though.

[captain ahar]

got any brands i should watch out for (as in, the good ones)?

[icycalm]

Try to avoid buying 3rd party cables with the EB brand name. I've been burned too many times.

They do have a good refund policy of course but the hassle is not worth the few bucks you will save.