How to make PS2 Games look good on HDTV?

I have a component cable and S-video cable. I also try playing it on PS3 and that's even worst. I hope PS3 will come out with some Anti-Aliasing for PS2 games. I might try lowering my TV sharpness tonight. Hope it work.chatri10

I have a component cable and S-video cable. I also try playing it on PS3 and that's even worst. I hope PS3 will come out with some Anti-Aliasing for PS2 games. I might try lowering my TV sharpness tonight. Hope it work.chatri10

[QUOTE="chatri10"]I have a component cable and S-video cable. I also try playing it on PS3 and that's even worst. I hope PS3 will come out with some Anti-Aliasing for PS2 games. I might try lowering my TV sharpness tonight. Hope it work.XboxUnderground

I heard that Sony was patching the PS3 but I haven't heard how well it worked out? Have you or anyone else tried the BC with a patched PS3 and how did it look?

Also, one other thing to remember, not only does the PS2 look bad in HD, but the issues tend to be even more exagerated because most times someone upgrades to HD, they are also upgrading the size of their screen. If you looked at a PS2 game on a 13" SDTV and then looked at it on a 37" SDTV, you would notice more jaggies.

The quality of 480i signal games (like PS2 games) on an HDTV is greatly determined by exactly what -kind- of HDTV you have. The types of sets that will generally look the worst are going to be fixed resolution HD sets with a low native resolution (like many plasmas). Next best will be 720p or 1366x768 native fixed res displays (most LCDs, DLPs, and some plasmas) . Next best will be 1080p sets as the higher resolution sets tend to scale better. Then finally the best quality sets for displaying older signals will be non-native resolution displays like CRT or CRT-RP HDTVs (although these are not ideal for PS3 owners because most all lack the ability to display 720p).

-Byshop

The quality of 480i signal games (like PS2 games) on an HDTV is greatly determined by exactly what -kind- of HDTV you have. The types of sets that will generally look the worst are going to be fixed resolution HD sets with a low native resolution (like many plasmas). Next best will be 720p or 1366x768 native fixed res displays (most LCDs, DLPs, and some plasmas) . Next best will be 1080p sets as the higher resolution sets tend to scale better. Then finally the best quality sets for displaying older signals will be non-native resolution displays like CRT or CRT-RP HDTVs (although these are not ideal for PS3 owners because most all lack the ability to display 720p).

-Byshop

Byshop

HD CRT's can't display 720p? Is there something wierd with their design where they just can't display 720p but can display other HD Res. or do they only go up to 780i ( because isn't 480p really not HDTV?)

HD CRT's can't display 720p? Is there something wierd with their design where they just can't display 720p but can display other HD Res. or do they only go up to 780i ( because isn't 480p really not HDTV?)

Working_Stiff

I honestly don't have an explination for -why- this is, but it's the case sadly. Early model CRT-HDTVs weren't progressive scan and only offered 480i and 1080i. 480p support was added with later models, but 720p support was not. Newer models will take 720p signals, but will either upscale the signal to 1080i or downscale to 480p. While I'm certain there are probably -some- models of CRTs that can display 720p, the vast majority of them do not.

This is why the PS3's lack of upscaling ability is an issue. 720p native games cannot upscale to 1080i on the PS3, so if you have a CRT-HD set that doesn't take 720p (or downscales 720p signals) then you are forced to play games in 480p.

-Byshop

[QUOTE="Working_Stiff"]

HD CRT's can't display 720p? Is there something wierd with their design where they just can't display 720p but can display other HD Res. or do they only go up to 780i ( because isn't 480p really not HDTV?)

Byshop

I honestly don't have an explination for -why- this is, but it's the case sadly. Early model CRT-HDTVs weren't progressive scan and only offered 480i and 1080i. 480p support was added with later models, but 720p support was not. Newer models will take 720p signals, but will either upscale the signal to 1080i or downscale to 480p. While I'm certain there are probably -some- models of CRTs that can display 720p, the vast majority of them do not.

This is why the PS3's lack of upscaling ability is an issue. 720p native games cannot upscale to 1080i on the PS3, so if you have a CRT-HD set that doesn't take 720p (or downscales 720p signals) then you are forced to play games in 480p.

-Byshop

Listen to this man. From everything I have researched he is spot on.  Component Cables do help on a CRTRP TV even it is not progressive scan.  Almost to the point of say regular RCA cables on a 19" inch TV but remember your image is now 50 to 60".  I personally can accept the slight downgrade in picture quality to play on a 60" inch tv.  For example I changed rooms today with my PS2 as I am getting a 360 at the end of next week and dont want my PS2 on my big screen HD anymore.  The picture was a little crisper but I did not think for one minute it was "that" much better.

If you do have to play older games on a fixed res set, you are better off playing on a 1080p set if possible. Part of the reason older system titles look poor on modern HDTVs (aside from the massive screen size difference for most people) is the fact that fixed resolution displays do not evenly scale. This isn't specifically a size issue, but rather a resolution problem. A CRT display can display a true 640x480i signal across it's screen, but fixed resolution displays like LCD, Plasma, LCoS and DLP have to display in their native resolution.

With a 720p set, the native resolution of the set is 1280x720 or 1366x768 for overscan. This is the number of horizontal versus verticle pixels in the display (with a pixel being the samllest single unit of color). If your original signal is 640x480 and you are scaling that to 1280x720 you run into a problem. 1280 / 640 = 2, which means that in order to scale you have to have two pixels the same color horizontally for each one pixel on the original signal. Vertically 720 / 480 = 1.5, whcih means that for every one pixel of color on the original image you have 1 and a half pixels on the new display.

Say you have one green pixel and one red pixel side by side in the original signal. When you display that on the new display you are stretching those two pixels across three. The first pixel will be green and the third will be red, but the second pixel has to be assigned. It can be either green or red, but since it's 1.5 pixels to every one neither red nor green are techincally correct. The only right answer would be to split the pixel down the middle, but that's not possible since a pixel can only be one color. This is what results in image distortion when using a fixed resolution display.

On a 1080p display, 1920 / 640 = 3 and 1080 / 480 = 2.25. Horizontally it scales evenly and vertically you only have one extra pixel for every 4 instead of for every 2, so the image distortion is not as bad.

In addition to what I'm describing, many TVs have intelligent software for scaling that will use techniques to try to minimize the impact of displaying a 480i signal on a fixed resolution display. For example, to deal with the aspect ratio difference many TVs will keep the orginal aspect in the middle of the display (on the focal point) while progressively stretching the image more and more as it approaches the horizontal edges.

-Byshop

On my 32" LCD HDtv ps2 games look fine in 4:3 aspect resolution.  Even when the options in game are turned to widescreen and the system config output is 16:9

Its blurry on every setting but 4:3

[QUOTE="Working_Stiff"]

HD CRT's can't display 720p? Is there something wierd with their design where they just can't display 720p but can display other HD Res. or do they only go up to 780i ( because isn't 480p really not HDTV?)

Byshop

I honestly don't have an explination for -why- this is, but it's the case sadly. Early model CRT-HDTVs weren't progressive scan and only offered 480i and 1080i. 480p support was added with later models, but 720p support was not. Newer models will take 720p signals, but will either upscale the signal to 1080i or downscale to 480p. While I'm certain there are probably -some- models of CRTs that can display 720p, the vast majority of them do not.

This is why the PS3's lack of upscaling ability is an issue. 720p native games cannot upscale to 1080i on the PS3, so if you have a CRT-HD set that doesn't take 720p (or downscales 720p signals) then you are forced to play games in 480p.

-Byshop

Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

PS2 games look horrible on HDTV. I do not have SDTV anymore and only have HDTV at home. Is there anyway to make PS2 games look good on HDTV?
chatri10