PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

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Jademalo
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PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by Jademalo »

I've got a PS2 that's hooked up to my BVM and XRGB mini with a scart cable. This cable seems to be absolutely fine. When playing PS2 software, the image is crisp on my Mini and there is no issue with the picture at all.

However, when trying to run PSX software on it, the image has a HUGE amount of crosshatching and a generally horrific quality picture all around.

http://i.imgur.com/dq1pNMd.png
http://i.imgur.com/jho1nyu.png

The first is ICO, and the second is spyro, both on the same setup with the exact same settings. I used ICO since it was a 240p game, but the cross hatching is definitely not there. It's also slightly visible on my BVM when playing spyro, so I'm sure it's not an issue with the Mini.
I've also tried different scaler modes with the mini, and none of them affect this pattern.

Has anyone got any ideas? Is it just something weird to do with the PS2's output of PSX games? Is there anything I can do that will easily fix it? This problem is also visible in other games I've tried, mainly Crash Bandicoot. It's 100% not visible at all though when playing PS2 things, be I in menus or in games.

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDwijYJx_f4&t=30 - It's pretty clear that this isn't an issue with the game, and has something to do with some aspect of my setup, though I don't know what. I've tried Component as well, and the same issue happens.
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Thomago
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by Thomago »

The Spyro screenshot looks perfectly fine to me - that's exactly the picture quality you can expect from a PS1 game.

The video you posted is a) extremely blurry and b) maybe captured from an emulator, so that's no benchmark.
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Jademalo
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by Jademalo »

Doh, missed that the video was emulated, mainly because I googled for "XRGB Mini Spyro". Even so, that was edited in after the fact.
Also really? I didn't realise the PS1 had so much dithering - it's pretty insane, especially the sky. I was almost positive there was something wrong with my setup, lol.

Ah well, thanks for the answer!
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austin532
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by austin532 »

Pretty sure that's how PS1 games look like. The crosshatching is very noticeable in games like Silent Hill even on a CRT with composite. I believe it was used to create shadows and make the area appear darker but I could be wrong.
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ZellSF
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by ZellSF »

Maybe not necessary, but to third what's been said: that looks like a PSX game to me.
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Xyga
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by Xyga »

The dithered and pre-rendered graphics found in many (most?) of the PS1 games look great almost exclusively on standard low res tv's.

With those games when it comes to doubling or upscaling to fit on high-res displays, very few filters or shaders will efficiently help giving back the 'original' look of it. It's even harder to 'HD-ify' that kind of content.

Applying 'fake scanlines' is the preferred method (you should try the RetroArch shaders though).
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Jademalo
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by Jademalo »

Alright, thanks a lot for the replies guys. So long as I know it's not my setup then it's not a problem.

Thanks!
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FBX
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by FBX »

Jademalo wrote:Alright, thanks a lot for the replies guys. So long as I know it's not my setup then it's not a problem.

Thanks!
One test you can do is get a game with a lot of classical 2D graphics like Suikoden for example. The graphics in that game should look crisp and clean with no caffeine.
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Thomago
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by Thomago »

Or take Brave Fencer Musashi - for some reason they didn't use dithering in that game.
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Pasky
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by Pasky »

Looks like normal Playstation dithering. I did have some actual cross hatching when I used luma for sync on my SCART cable. Running luma to a LM1881 fixed that. I don't see any crosshatching in your screenshots though, I think you're mistaking it for the PS1's dithering/16-Bit limitation.
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bobrocks95
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Re: PS2 and PSX software, weird jailbar issue

Post by bobrocks95 »

From what I've read the PS1 had various color depths available for developers to use, including 32-bit color, and they almost all went with 16-bit or lower. You could probably change the color depth mid-game, so menus or less intensive areas may switch to 32-bit color- I know in FF9, during battles and on the world map, there's dithering like crazy, but I don't recall seeing any in menus or walking through a town or any other area with a pre-rendered background.

EDIT: Looks like it was 24-bit color max, with optional parsing from the GPU to convert it to 15-bit. There's also a color-lookup table for even lower bit depths from what I understand. See here: http://psx.rules.org/gpu.txt
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