If you have already hooked up your PS2 to your new tv and are happy with the results, then I would recommend the component cables because they should make things look even better. Otherwise, I would recommend hooking it up with your s-video cable first to see what you think of your games at 50" before buying any new cables.
With the exception of one game that I know of, (GT4) 480p is the highest resolution you will get with a PS2. This is only available on the relatively few games that have progressive support. The majority of PS2 games (including many of the best ones) support neither 480p or 16:9 widescreen, so the graphics will be slightly blurrier, and you will either have to stretch or pillar-box the image for a widescreen display.
If you have ever seen a magazine under a microscope you know that it starts to look more like a bunch of dots than a clear image. PS2 games are similar, and some of them don't hold up well when enlarged beyond certain sizes. At 50" the graphics are probably going to look chunky and pixelated the same way 320x240 PSX games do on normal tvs.
I'm not saying its all bad, even with magnified flaws, games like Shadow of the Colossus, God of War, or Burnout on a big widescreen hdtv are going to be awesome. It may end up being a trade off between the few games that are really fun to play that large, and the other games that may not look as good.
I personally think the PS2 looks best on small standard resolution (480i) tvs, but then again that's also something I tell myself so I wont be tempted to spend money on a better display.
EDIT: I think EDTV means 480p maximum, which will display progressive scan signals but not HDTV resolutions (720p, 1080i). As far as I know component cables do all function on the same level, (although some may have slightly better signal quality than others) and like Terami said, should transmit any signal between 480i and 1080p.
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