PS2 coming in worse than PS1 on HDTV?

[Cinder6]

Well, I was somewhat interested by this. Yesterday, I pulled out my old PS1 (which hadn't been turned on in over 6 years) and connected it to my HDTV to play Chrono Cross. After turning it on, I was struck by one fact: it came in a hell of a lot better than my PS2.

The PS2 comes in extremely pixellated. The PS1 looked very smooth, though text was a little blurry. Actually, it looked almost like the PS3 upscaling + smoothing option for PS1 games (the PS3 represents text a little better). The PS2 is connected via component, while the PS1 was connected via composite. I'm guessing that's the difference, but I really don't know why that would be the case. The PS2 isn't outputting in progressive, so shouldn't it look the same as the PS1? Would it look the same if I plugged in composite cables? (I'd rather not try it until somebody gives me the affirmative.)

Anyone know anything about this? If my PS1 didn't have an obnoxious skipping issue (it's one of the older models with the melting parts), I'd probably hook it up permanently. I might even go to a flea market and pick up a PSOne.

[otaku]

I've heard of Ps2's looking like crap on some of these new HDTVs but not of a psone looking great on one while a ps2 looked poor....

[FantasiaWHT]

To be clear, are you talking about playing Chrono Cross in both your PS1 and PS2?

[Cinder6]

Yeah, I used Chrono Cross in both cases.

[Mr. Smashy]

I get the feeling that composite signals are subject to more filtering than component signals. Composite signals on my HDTV look very filtered. Component signals look quite blocky in 480i on my HDTV most of the time when I have the sharpness cranked to its maximum. I'm using my PS3 more often for PS2 software and it does a pretty nice job.

[tritium]

The ps2 enhancements on ps1 games makes some of them unplayable. Chrono Cross is hard to read on a regular tv with the enhancement.

[Mason P.]

so how does a ps1 game look on a ps3 on a hdtv?

[Cinder6]

I get the feeling that composite signals are subject to more filtering than component signals. Composite signals on my HDTV look very filtered. Component signals look quite blocky in 480i on my HDTV most of the time when I have the sharpness cranked to its maximum. I'm using my PS3 more often for PS2 software and it does a pretty nice job.

I usually use my PS3 as well. Unfortunately, Chrono Cross won't play on the PS3 (freezes whenever somebody uses an element, which is every battle).


The ps2 enhancements on ps1 games makes some of them unplayable. Chrono Cross is hard to read on a regular tv with the enhancement.

I'm not using any enhancements. It probably is the component cable, as Smashy postulated.

[Poofta!]

the component video signal is much clearer so you see each pixel as though it should be viewed. the composite signal is smudging (and always has) hte picture -- it simply isnt as sharp and detailed so the pixels blend together.

[Kid Ice]

Is your HDTV upscaling? That might have something to do with it.

[Retsudo]

My PS2 games look great on my HDTV. I use the GameMode on my Samsung. And Im using S-Video.
Too me PS1 games look worse.

[Cinder6]

Well, sounds like it's the component cables, then. I'll give the regular AV cables a try in a couple days and see if that makes any difference.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Well I have a sony tv, and on my set they have a variety of picture modes from: vivid to standard to movie... And I know certain TVs save picture modes to certain inputs, so say you are using game mode on the composite input you may be using vivid on the component. I have found that vivid, despite all the great colors and high-contrast, really amplifies the flaws in an image... for example, even if your "picture" and "brightness" appear to be the same on say, vivid and game modes, they have different factory settings which are unavailable for tweeking on a standard TV without entering the "service mode." So, check and make sure your PS2 component isn't set to vivid mode, because although it will make it bright, but you'll notice a lot of noise and artificial enhancement. Set it to "standard" or a comparable video mode, and tweek your TV levels from there. This really helped a lot, when I got a new TV with component inputs- I wondered why the picture looked worse (on my DVD player) when I had it hooked up via component, when I used to have it hooked up s-video on my old TV... I searched some online forums, and the first thing I learned was vivid mode=bad. If you are a more advanced user, you may want to look up service modes, as there are further tweeks you can't reach by yor standard picture menu. But use those at your own risk, because you could royally fuck up your set. I searched and found what certain service mode settings did what on my set and it helped out. And lots of times there are people who list what they did on their TV in the service mode, which also may work out for you (which is the route I went). Or you could look into getting your TV professionally calibrated, which is the best method, but could cost you several hundreds of dollars. Worth it if you have an expensive set, and a little money to blow. Hope this was of some help.