Ps2 and Wii upscalers

[rhillfake]

I recently got a old tube tv to use with my Atari 2600, Playstation 2, Gamecube, and Sega Genesis due to noticing that things looked weird and hard to see on flatscreens. My old tv seems a little hard to see so I was looking for some other alternatives. I recently found these upscalers (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D875R5K?keywords=ps2%20upscaler&qid=1445052322&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1) and was wondering if anyone here has tried them. If it works good, this would be great for bringing my systems to play with friends.

[theclaw]

I haven't used this kind of upscaler. As a portable budget priced option, the consensus looks alright.

Sega Genesis will be different to work with. Its advanced video is RGB (like SCART) rather than component.
Atari 2600 of course only has RF.

[rhillfake]

The AV/S to HDMI upscaler would probably work with my Genesis because I do not own one of the original models. I have an AtGames licensed model that only has a yellow and white output. And then I found this (http://www.amazon.com/E-More%C2%AE-Extender-100-500m-Transmitter-Receiver/dp/B00T5ZED6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445102605&sr=8-1&keywords=rf+to+hdmi) which could possibly work with the Atari.

[Leo_A]

None of these budget upscalers provide the option via including a mode button, for selecting between 4:3 or 16:9 output. So unless you're okay with all your PS2 4:3 titles being stretched to 16:9 proportions or you have a relatively rare HDTV that actually allows you to narrow a 16:9 HD signal down to 4:3 proportions, stay away.

Unlike stretching 4:3 SD material to 16:9, there's not much demand to take a HD signal the opposite direction, so few sets have that feature. TV manufacturers assume that if the source material is supposed to be pillarboxed, that it's logically already presented that way from the video source with no need for the user to ever intervene at their tv to get it looking correct.

It's not such a problem with something comparable for a platform like the Xbox or Wii since 16:9 was much more commonplace, but it's very much an issue on the PS2 since 4:3 was the norm rather than the exception (Plenty of 16:9 PS2 titles, but they still only represent a fraction of its library). Same with the GCN with its scores of 4:3 Nintendo published releases, with extremely few exceptions like F-Zero GX. Nintendo embraced progressive scan on the Cube despite extremely poor distribution of the cable necessary to enjoy it, but not 16:9 (Situation is a tad bit better with 3rd party GCN games, but not much).

Also, I have my suspicions that while this might be a halfway decent option for progressive scan enabled widescreen releases, I bet it's not so hot with deinterlacing 480i releases. Since those also were common on the PS2, it's another good reason to be leery. Not too commonplace on the Wii though, but both Resident Evil Archives releases and MadWorld are some of the notable exceptions that lacked progressive scan.

And there's an excellent chance that it won't play nicely with 240p. So if you're thinking of utilizing backwards compatibility on your PS2 with this (Despite everything being stretched to 16:9 proportions by the scaler), keep that risk in mind. Not much of an issue with native PS2 software at least, although there are a few exceptions that utilize that resolution like Ico.

[Leo_A]

Here's a past thread on this same topic that might be helpful.

http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?165850-Playstation-2-or-Wii-to-HDMI-adapter

[Greg2600]

The stretch-o-vision (4:3-16:9) would turn me off.

[rhillfake]

The stretch-o-vision (4:3-16:9) would turn me off.

Yeah, that turns me off as well. Thanks for the help guys.

[rhillfake]

So if the Wii one would work well, would the GameCube backwards compatibility look good or like if a regular GC was upscaled?