PS2 on an HDTV

[doctorx0079]

Is there a way to connect a PS2 to my HDTV and not have it look like ass? Connected my PC to the HDTV with HDMI and everything looks good. Eventually I will mess around with PSX2 but I'm not ready to do that yet.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Low resolutions look bad on LCD displays and that's it. Make your PC output something in 640x480 and it won't look great either. Interlaced low resolutions look even worse, obviously. You just need a CRT with either component or SCART socket, and a proper cable to do your PS2 justice.

[D]

Use Component cable.
Hell some games even support 480P!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pl ... HD_support
Have a blast!


The best solution would be to just get a damn SECOND HAND ps3 which plays your ps2 titles. (only older second hand systems will have that backwards compatability) and use the HDMI cable and have the best imaga available.
The ps2 480p games can also be put on native 480p on the ps3. Just hold triangle * X as soon as your controller is recognized.

[evil_ash_xero]

The only way is to get an upscaler. Other than that, no. And even with an upscaler, it isn't as good as a CRT.

[emphatic]

If you have a Plasma TV, just use an RGB scart or Component. If you have an LCD though...

[evil_ash_xero]

If you have a Plasma TV, just use an RGB scart or Component. If you have an LCD though...

I've never seen a PS2 on a Plasma. How much better does it look?

[D]

480p will look awesome
480i will not look as awesome.

depends on the upscaling qualities of your set.

[louisg]

480p will look awesome
480i will not look as awesome.

depends on the upscaling qualities of your set.

Yeah, I've seen some which have horrible interlaced signal handling. I think some TVs might just give you 30 full frames from an interlaced signal, which beats flickering all over the place!

[emphatic]

I tried ESPGALUDA (240p) in TATE on my Panasonic plasma and it looked very nice. A bit too colorful for my taste, but quite nice. This was using a scart. I've also tried component, and Tekken looked really nice in 480p. Gradius V was very nice as well (480i?).

[Obiwanshinobi]

The best solution would be to just get a damn SECOND HAND ps3 which plays your ps2 titles. (only older second hand systems will have that backwards compatability) and use the HDMI cable and have the best imaga available.

In my book upscaled image doesn't make for the best image available. PS3 isn't really rendering PS2 games in high resolutions, is it? Rather it's just upscaling.
Cheaper and genuinely better solution is getting a hold of one of the last SDTVs on the market (even cheap portable ones have excellent CRTs). On my mom's 14'' CRT with a SCART socket even Psyvariar (with AFF set to 0) looks clean and sharp in tate mode, interlacing in Sengoku Ace is barely noticeable and 240p blows your socks off. Such a wee telly is easy to put safely on its side too. SCART leads for the PS2 are dirt-cheap (it's worth getting one with a separate audio output as the TV might not have a socket for stereo jack). Bear in mind that some PS2 games look best on a small SDTV, simply because a bigger screen would reveal their graphical shortcomings. PAL TVs usually have a SCART socket and display NTSC as well, so even in NTSC territories they should work a treat, provided you have some kind of power supply converter (I don't know how those things are called).
Last but not least, apparently a handful of CRT HDTVs has been manufactured. If you have some money to burn, you can look around for one. Such a thing should handle every kind of signal with flying colours.

[doctorx0079]

My Samsung LCD just blows it up to full-screen 4:3, apparently multiplying the pixels and attempting to anti-alias a little. It looks terrible and there is no way to adjust it. It does the same thing with my NES. I have the PS3 component cables and PS2 games won't even use them. I can play DVD's on the PS2 with the component cables but it looks like ass. With PC I have none of these problems. I can tell MAME to not resize, and the game runs in a nice little box, no problem. With DVD's I just use Windows Media Player and they look fine, even at full screen. One of the reasons I got this TV was so I could play FFXII in widescreen.

[Obiwanshinobi]

One of the reasons I got this TV was so I could play FFXII in widescreen.

Ouch. If I remember correctly, FFXII supports prog-scan (you just need to hook up a proper cable and tell your PS2 in system settings to output adequate signal). That being said, FFXII is exactly the kind of PS2 game that would look best on a not too big SDTV. LCD is no good for PS2 games.

[doctorx0079]

Ouch. If I remember correctly, FFXII supports prog-scan (you just need to hook up a proper cable and tell your PS2 in system settings to output adequate signal).

Nope.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Must have confused it with Valkyrie Profile 2 then. Still, even prog-scanned it would look worse than on SDTV. FFXII's native resolution is low even by PS2 standards.

[ZOM]

I found tha VP2 looks really terrible on anything that is not CRT. Some effects just don't display properly.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Low resolutions look bad on LCD displays and that's it.

Not true. A number of PS2 games - especially, it seems, 2D ones - look great on my HDTV via component. The bemani series, for example (lag, on the other hand, is another matter entirely):

[doctorx0079]

None of my PS2 games want to use the component cable. Are there only certain games that will use it?

[Obiwanshinobi]

EVERY PS2 game supports component; you just need to configure you PS2's BIOS properly. Some HDTVs have problems with games outputting non-interlaced lo-res via component (Ico), but even those should still be alright on a CRT SDTV.
In the System Configuration menu set Component Video Output to Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr (rather than default RGB). Also, make sure your TV is displaying correct channel.

[doctorx0079]

For some reason I can't get the HDTV to pick up the PS2 signal now . .

[Obiwanshinobi]

I suppose your TV displays signal from each socket on a different channel (AV1, AV2 etc.). There should be an exclusive channel for the signal coming in via the component. It's not likely to be displayed on the same channel as composite, SCART or S-Video. Just guessing.

[StarCreator]

This was discussed more in-depth in Hardware, but it's also possible the game(s) you're playing output 240p, which many HDTVs cannot handle via the component input. (S-Video and composite is still fair game, but this won't help the visual quality at all.)

It's also worth checking the Component Video Output setting as mentioned above, even if you have to go down to S-Video/composite to get at the menu.

[solichrez1]

Use Component cable.
Hell some games even support 480P!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pl ... HD_support
Have a blast!


The best solution would be to just get a damn SECOND HAND ps3 which plays your ps2 titles. (only older second hand systems will have that backwards compatability) and use the HDMI cable and have the best imaga available.
The ps2 480p games can also be put on native 480p on the ps3. Just hold triangle * X as soon as your controller is recognized.

For sure get the Sony component cables although be wary of getting a backwards compatible ps3 as I have heard of all kinds of issues with games. Composite cables look like garbage on your LCD and while the component cables aren't the best the quality is still pretty good and over time you'll get used to it. In fact I think it looks amazing.

[StoofooEsq]

I tried out some games that weren't listed on the Wikipedia link.

Gundam SEED Destiny: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. II Plus has 480p support and looks quite exceptional on an HDTV.

Virtual On (Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 31) does have 480p, but enabling that forced the screen size to Type-A (496x384). So the resulting picture looks awkward without being able to stretch out the image. Disappointing, but I can deal with playing in Widescreen 480i.

[doctorx0079]

Right now I can't get the PS2 menu to appear on the LCD with any combination of cables. On my CRT with RCA composite it works fine.

[Cthulhu]

I'll toss out my support for the "get component cables and be happier" idea. One other thing to be careful of is HDTVs with "input lag" for non-HD material. I don't know if more recent sets still have that problem, but my former roommates' DLP was _terrible_ about it. Well over a second of lag for anything not in actual HD resolutions. Bleh. My current Toshiba LCD is fine and has a "video game mode" that makes the picture look a little odd but gets rid of input lag. I have no idea what it's doing technically to make this happen but it works fairly well. (doctorx: does your LCD have any special input modes of any sort you could try?)

[D]

If your tv has input lag, just return it.
Just say it is UN-ACCEP-TABLE!
MY tv perhaps has lag as well, but I never noticed this. Perhaps I should invite Daigo (that fighting game champion) at my house and let him examine. Get plasme for the least amount of lag. Is that even still true?
I have a plasma, very happy with it.

[Fudoh]

Get plasme for the least amount of lag. Is that even still true?

It is. One frame of lag on the current Panasonic plasma lineup - and they're cheap as fuck as well. Current LCD/LEDs, e.g. Samsung or Sony have delays up to 5 frames in normal mode and 2-3 frames in gamemode.

[Ganelon]

I would never get plasma for gaming. Burn-in is still in full effect if you constantly play a single game with a static image. My parents' TV now has a mild burn-in (visible on a dark background) on a Panasonic 54" from a year ago after watching the same channel with a red logo at the top-left corner for a couple hours most days (and that was after 100+ hours of "safe" viewing to prime the TV).

Sure, plasma's colors are overall better, phosphors lasts longer, and there's better anti-burn in technology now but it's still too much risk. Burn-in may be reduced but don't trivialize the problem or believe folks who say you can only get it by leaving the TV on overnight. Playing shooters with counters that sit immobile all the time, you're just asking for burn-in if you spend any continuous time with them.

As for RGB vs. component, I think there's a point to having both depending on whether the game looks better on progressive scan or not. For God of War, I connect to a 16:9 HDTV through component for a more complete and cleaner picture. But for Espgaluda, I connect to a 4:3 monitor through RGB21 (via XRGB) for the optimal picture quality.

[speedlolita]

Low resolutions look bad on LCD displays and that's it.

Not true. A number of PS2 games - especially, it seems, 2D ones - look great on my HDTV via component. The bemani series, for example (lag, on the other hand, is another matter entirely):

Agreed, and now I'm gonna have to play Empress. Damn you!

[E. Randy Dupre]

I feel I should probably point out that since posting that image, my set has developed a problem with image permanence - a great thick line of darker pixels about two and a half inches from the right-hand edge of the screen, precisely where the image cuts off when it's displaying in 4:3 mode. Presumably as a result of having used it more for 4:3 PS2 games and DVDs of old television shows over the last couple of months.



So, yeah. Consider it a cautionary tale