Fudoh wrote:
My Pioneers also shift the doubled fields against each other - forgot about those.
You know, actually my favorite handling of 480i Ive seen on an HD/Progressive display the Panasonic TC-P50-X60 I used to own. Though the display was inferior to the late model Samsung F4500 in almost every other way, I preferred how 480i games looked on it vs the Sammy. It very much looked like 480i on a CRT. Im not sure but it may be the same method as what you are describing with the Pioneers. Angled lines would exhibit the same "line crawl" you would see on an SDCRT, even though the image was scaled to fit the 768p screen. It appeared to be two different fields shifting and even had that distinct 480i CRT flicker.
I absolutely loved how Dreamcast and PS2 looked through RGB>Component to it. It was fantastic and I didnt feel any additional lag vs progressive from the DC's VGA, but I didnt perform any measurements.
I've been trying to achieve the "perfect" 480i look for PS2 games for YEARS now. Have dropped a lot of money into different processors, capture cards and A/V equipment in general and have never really come to what I'd consider a flawless solution.
The closest I've ever come to perfection is using an XRGB-Mini framemeister, but the solid-colour noise that processor produces on analogue sources can be downright annoying at times. Other than the noise though, the framemeister's deinterlacing and processing is top notch for 480i content from a PS2.
The next best thing was using a software known as HDTV Xploder. It manages to push almost every game to 480p; has much higher compatibility than GSM. That, coupled with an OSSC lead to some great results, but the added pain of swapping discs becomes quite tedious.
Lastly, a highly impractical yet intriguing solution was using GSM to push games to 1080i (games always boot up, only Silent Hill 2 has weird visual artifacts using 1080i in my experience) and then using an AJA Kona LHI Card to downscale 1080i to 480p on its output (there may be other, cheaper devices that can do the same. Maybe Fudoh can shed some light on this). Couple that with an OSSC and you're golden, but it causes a weird "jittery"effect where the entire image shakes ever so slightly. Maybe that effect is only caused by how the AJA card handles 1080i <> 480p
Long story short, every solution has its caveats that Fudoh has covered in great detail in the past. It all comes down to personal taste and what's available to you. An XRGB Mini is the simplest solution that is closest to achieving what you want, but its price tag can be a deterrent, coupled with the noise issue.
The_Guffman, is there a particular game (or type of game) that's giving you trouble in 480i that you'd like to improve the visuals for? Maybe I can help out with experimenting using some of the different devices I have and see if I can come up with an image that is to your liking, then propose a solution.
