The Ghost of SCARTmas Past

[Daigohji]

I'm having a weird video quality issue. I use a third-party (Blaze) RGB SCART cable with both my PS1 and PS2. I tend to only have one hooked up at a time, so it's the same cable, plugged into the same port on the TV, with the same picture settings on the TV (minimal sharpness, and all optional image processing switched off). However, I get noticeably different results between the two consoles, and oddly it's the PS1 that provides superior image quality.



As you can see, the PS2 introduces a ghosting effect to the right of objects, which is quite a bit more noticeable in person than it looks on the photo. That's a static menu screen I've photographed, and I have the TV's image interpolation switched off, so it can't be motion blur or interpolation. I now have two PS2s, a PAL v12 and an NTSC v13 (both slims), and both have the same ghosting. It's also the same regardless of whether the PS2 is on its system menu or running a PS1 or PS2 game.

It is possible to minimise the problem with a combination of noise reduction filtering and resolution enhancement filtering on the TV, but that applies a lot of post-processing to the image.

Does anyone know why this would only be happening on the PS2s? Would buying a different cable fix the problem, and if so, any recommendations? Bear in mind that my TV doesn't seem to support NTSC colour mode, as US games come out black and white when I tried a composite cable.

[Richtr8]

I have a similar issue with a cheapo set of PSX component cables for use on my Sony WEGA. The PS2 is fine, but the PS3's got ghosting like it's halloween. I read somewhere that if you get gold-plated cables or something that it'll be able to handle the 'higher-frequency analogue signal', but that sounds like bullshit.

Maybe try cleaning the cables/input jacks? I'm not 100% sure, but good luck either way, hopefully the solution isn't to drop $30 on a set of gold-plated cables.

[Daigohji]

I'm surprised that I've run into a hardware problem that the Shmups forums can't solve with their hands tied. My best guess is that it's either poor shielding on the cable or something to do with the unused attachments on it (it has twin male RCA cables for audio that I don't use, plus a female RCA port that I think might be for a lightgun). Still, I don't see why I would be getting a clean signal from the PS1 in that case.

I've ordered a different SCART cable to try out, but there don't seem to be any quality-looking ones in circulation. None of those on Amazon or eBay at the moment inspire confidence, so I'll just have to try my luck and see what happens. I've gone for one that doesn't have any mid-cable attachments.

Regarding component cables, I've heard that they won't output video for PS1 games running on a PS2, except on a very small number of TVs. Is that true? My TV is a Panasonic L37G20.

[Fudoh]

Regarding component cables, I've heard that they won't output video for PS1 games running on a PS2, except on a very small number of TVs. Is that true? My TV is a Panasonic L37G20.

Some LCD TVs can't show 240p over component, but that's certainly not the majority.

[Richtr8]

Regarding component cables, I've heard that they won't output video for PS1 games running on a PS2, except on a very small number of TVs. Is that true? My TV is a Panasonic L37G20.

That could also have something to do with the console trying to output RGB via component cables, or maybe that's through an actual PS1.

[muckyfingers]

My best guess is that it's either poor shielding on the cable or something to do with the unused attachments on it (it has twin male RCA cables for audio that I don't use.

This happens on a CRT I have, once I plugged the RCA's into the TV the ghosting issue went away. It's some sort of ground loop.

[ApolloBoy]

Try opening up your SCART cable and see if all the ground pins are connected together. If not it could be the cause of the problems you're having.

[22point8]

Have you made sure texture filtering is off in the ps2 settings?

[headlesshobbs]

That's certainly a cord with bad shielding.

Another solution that might help is to adjust your sharpness settings. If you have separate Horizontal/Vertical features, you could try that as well. Having a picture too sharp will more often then not bring out interference that you normally wouldn't see on a crt.