Playstation2 & HD TV
- Thread starter thoron
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BladeWolf
Member
Get the Component Cables, big improvement. It's how I have mine hooked up to my Vizio flatscreen. They plug into the same spot on the system but go to the red/blue/green spots on the back of the tv. It seperates the video signal into three different waves producing better picture quality instead of one general plug like the rca cable (yellow)
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thoron
Member
This will work on an older model of the playstation 2 right?
Runefox
Kitsune of the PC Master Race
The PlayStation 2 does indeed have component cables, and they will improve the quality of the graphics as much as possible, though it won't be a dramatic difference. What you will notice is a more dynamic colour range (deeper colours), a more stable picture (no "dot crawl", more definitive lines), and less grain. However, only some games support 480p output - This means that unless your TV has good filters, the image for games that don't support 480p will still flicker slightly and have some of that "DVD-eque" "motion blur" effect. 480p-enabled games will have a stable image.
The major reason for the downgrade in quality is the difference in technology - The flickering that you'd see on an LCD screen with a standard AV connection is not present on a standard definition CRT TV, mainly because the image's flicker is synchronized with the TV's own (it's more technical than that, but that's the gist of it). There is also a degree of blur inherent in an old-style TV that masks the low resolution display of the PS2.
The major reason for the downgrade in quality is the difference in technology - The flickering that you'd see on an LCD screen with a standard AV connection is not present on a standard definition CRT TV, mainly because the image's flicker is synchronized with the TV's own (it's more technical than that, but that's the gist of it). There is also a degree of blur inherent in an old-style TV that masks the low resolution display of the PS2.
thoron
Member
Thanks! Before i forget to ask, does GameCube also have a component cable that I can buy?
BladeWolf
Member
Assuming you mean the brick model. It's the one I have and that is how mine is hooked up. Not a huge difference, just a little clearer and sharper than standard analog connection.
thoron
Member
Thanks! That all I needed to know.
AshleyAshes
Arcade Snowmew Of Doom
The AVMulti connectors on the PS2 and even the PS3 are interchangable between all models. (Excluding HDMI of course) Infact, excluding component and the VGA AVMulti cables, all the PS1 ones are interchangable as well. Composite cables from the PS3 work on the PS1 and a PS1 RF adaptor will work on the PS2 or PS3.
And if you ask me, composite looks like crap on SDTVs too.
And if you ask me, composite looks like crap on SDTVs too.
Runefox
Kitsune of the PC Master Race
Hey, it's better than RF. 8D
Anyway, Gamecube component cables exist, but they, like most Gamecube merchandise, aren't being manufactured any more, and the Wii uses a different connector for its A/V / Component outputs, so you'll probably only be able to get them online or used.
Anyway, Gamecube component cables exist, but they, like most Gamecube merchandise, aren't being manufactured any more, and the Wii uses a different connector for its A/V / Component outputs, so you'll probably only be able to get them online or used.
hitokage
Acinonyx jubatus
Gamecube component cables also go for a heck of a lot of money on eBay (over $60 last I saw), but if you can track one down a used one at a GameStop you can get it for $5 (this is incredibly hard to do, and I'm sure people are picking them up to resell on eBay). Your Gamecube must have a digital AV port (not all of them have this), so check before buying a cable. This cable also gets used with the regular AV cable, as the component cable doesn't have audio connections. Your other options are to buy a Wii and it's component cable and play Gamecube games that way, or the next best cable you can get is s-video.
Watch out for third party cables for the Gamecube that claim or may unintentionally lead you into thinking they support component video from a Gamecube (this confusion can come from multisystem cables that support component video on other systems - then there are the scammers). There aren't any that actually support it due to the use of a proprietary chip in the cable to convert the digital signals from the digital AV port to component video (which is analog).
Watch out for third party cables for the Gamecube that claim or may unintentionally lead you into thinking they support component video from a Gamecube (this confusion can come from multisystem cables that support component video on other systems - then there are the scammers). There aren't any that actually support it due to the use of a proprietary chip in the cable to convert the digital signals from the digital AV port to component video (which is analog).
net-cat
Infernal Kitty
PS2 Component
Gamecube component is hard to find and, as hitokage said, not all Gamecubes support it. If you've got access to a Wii, however, that's easy.
(And LOL at the component connection being on the "Digital A/V" port. Component is far, far from being a digital signal.)
And in case you're considering economizing by buying one of those multi-system cables, I've also found those to be a bad idea. They generally aren't switched and just tie the outputs together internally. Even when off, the other game systems massively change the impedance that video systems expect. If you actually plug in multiple systems into such a cable, it really affects picture quality. They do work if you use one system at a time, though.
Gamecube component is hard to find and, as hitokage said, not all Gamecubes support it. If you've got access to a Wii, however, that's easy.
(And LOL at the component connection being on the "Digital A/V" port. Component is far, far from being a digital signal.)
And in case you're considering economizing by buying one of those multi-system cables, I've also found those to be a bad idea. They generally aren't switched and just tie the outputs together internally. Even when off, the other game systems massively change the impedance that video systems expect. If you actually plug in multiple systems into such a cable, it really affects picture quality. They do work if you use one system at a time, though.
AshleyAshes
Arcade Snowmew Of Doom
Actually that's exactly what Nintendo did. It's a digital RGB output port and the component cable has a DAC built in to convert that to an analog signal. This is why the GameCube component cables are expensive and you don't see third party solutions.
You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_GameCube_accessories
Runefox
Kitsune of the PC Master Race
Wow. That's really actually quite interesting; I wonder why Nintendo felt the need to do it that way?
AshleyAshes
Arcade Snowmew Of Doom
I honestly have no idea, but the digital AV port was removed on later GameCubes as a cost saving measure. So certian GameCubes are incapablle of component. It's not Net-Cat's fault for not knowing, it's a bizarre solution that you wouldn't believe if you saw it. Makes for an interesting bit of video game trivia though.
What I don't get is why there was never any form of actual digital output for the GameCube if they did it this way. Like a DVI cable or something.
Runefox
Kitsune of the PC Master Race
My guess is that digital didn't exactly exist in any real fashion in the consumer market at the time, and the port being digital meant they could match it to any kind of cable so long as it had the proper circuitry. For example, there's SCART RGB and D-Terminal (Japan), too. Maybe if the Gamecube had lasted with digital for a little longer, someone might have figured a way to use the digital signal for, say, DVI/HDMI (non-HDCP/no audio), though I doubt it's directly compatible out of the box.
AshleyAshes
Arcade Snowmew Of Doom
Did you hook it up correctly and not get the red audio and the red video mixed up?
Also, in the PS2's settings htere are options for YPbPr and RGB output. The PS2 will output either across the component cables and if it's set for RGB, your TV likely can't process an RGB signal.
Also, in the PS2's settings htere are options for YPbPr and RGB output. The PS2 will output either across the component cables and if it's set for RGB, your TV likely can't process an RGB signal.
thoron
Member
Changing the settings to YPbPr settings worked.
AshleyAshes
Arcade Snowmew Of Doom
I thought that might be it. Saw that on another TV where the PS2 had been left in RGB output mode. Much better signal, no? And there are SDTVs that can use component cables but people still use composite! D:
thoron
Member
I knew that even before I got the component cables. What the AV cables were doing was creating a double image and moving the second image over a couple of pixles. All I was hoping for was for that to be cleaned up, and it worded.
AshleyAshes
Arcade Snowmew Of Doom
net-cat
Infernal Kitty
That's insanity.
Then you have a crappy HDTV. Most HDTVs I've seen these days display SD pictures as well as SDTVs do. Of course, it won't look like HD because it's not.
Broken cables are broken...
Runefox
Kitsune of the PC Master Race
Let me guess: It looks a lot like this:
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That would be what the "i" in 480i means. Interlaced. It essentially displays two separate images, alternating line by line. It's a method to reduce the amount of bandwidth required to display motion video, and since most CRT/non-SD TV's are tuned to actually display this way, it worked for a long time and nobody really noticed it. Now that we have LCD's and HDTV's, the method for displaying images on a screen have changed. Instead of alternating each line, the entire screen is updated on every frame of video, which means that you'll be seeing those "half-images" and flickering from sources not designed to be displayed "progressively" (the "p" in 480p). Most modern HDTV's have what's known as a "comb filter" to combine the half-images over time and increase picture quality (and usually perform some image processing to clean it up), but cheaper sets still tend to not include this (mostly-standard) feature.
The PS2 is capable of outputting 480p (and I believe in some games higher), but only with games that support it - Otherwise, it will default to 480i and you'll continue to get that ghosted image. There isn't any way around that.
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thoron
Member
It wasn't a distict double image, imagine the point of a spear and instead it havign one distinct point at the tip, there would be two, the second one coming form a shadow image just a pixel or two to the right of it. You'd have to see it to know what I mean, but it wasn't doing that when I was using a normal TV.