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Thread: How good is the PS3 at upscaling PS2 games?

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    Kirby (Level 13) norkusa's Avatar
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    Default How good is the PS3 at upscaling PS2 games?

    For the past couple years I've been telling myself that I'll only get a PS3 if I can find an original 60GB model with full BC. Now that the new slim model is out though, I'm having second thoughts.

    The main reason I wanted a BC model was for the PS2 upscaling but since I've never seen one in action before, I have no idea how it looks. Can you see much of a difference with the upscaling? If it's not that great, I could live without BC and get a slim + leave my PS2 hooked up. But I'm seeing a lot of 60GB PS3's for sale now cheap, so I figure if I'm going to buy one, now is the time.
    Last edited by norkusa; 08-28-2009 at 08:40 PM.

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    Great Puma (Level 12) c0ldb33r's Avatar
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    I'm also interested in this. I'd love to be able to pack my ps2 away.

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    As an owner of a 20 gig, I would say that the upscaling is minimal, but notacable. I do have to say it is nice to be able to play all the games on one system.
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    I have my PS2 hooked up with component cables on my 52" HDTV. On PS3 I still notice a pretty big improvement in picture quality.
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    I could not stretch the screen on my TV which I found to be an annoyance. Not sure if it was my TV or what, but with the PS2 it stretches just fine.

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    ServBot (Level 11) slip81's Avatar
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    you're porbably gonna get a slew of different responces here because everyone has different size sets.

    the basic rule of thumb is that the smaller the set, the less you'll notice any improvement, and you really don't start to see a big difference with any upscaling till you hit the 48" or so mark.

    so, if you have a smaller tv you're not really gonna notice a big difference unless your eye is super discerning or you're a videophile.

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    If you're interested in a PS3 with 60GB, not getting one will always leave you wondering. "What if."

    Truthfully, though. The upscaling is pretty noticeable depending on the game. If you play games like the DBZ Budokai, the Tenkaichi games, and also alot of cell shaded games or anime games, it's extremely noticeable due to their style in art.

    Other games such as the Armored Core series, the GTA series, and Castlevania Lament of Innocence are noticeable, but no too much other than character models.
    Everything in the above post is opinion unless stated otherwise.

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    Kirby (Level 13) norkusa's Avatar
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    Thanks for the replies. I've only got a 37" tv right now with no plans of upgrading anytime soon, so I guess the slim PS3 + PS2 combo will work for me. My PS2 is modded too, so I probably would have left it hooked up regardless if I got a BC PS3 or not (I play a lot of import Bemani on it). And it's a slim model too, so it doesn't take up much space anyway.

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    It makes games look nice, but be aware that when playing any PSX or PS2 games on a PS3 hooked up to an HDTV (Component or HDMI; doesn't matter) there will be a noticeable amount of lag that's actually built into the system itself and has nothing to do with TV response time. Has something to do with poor deinterlacing in the system, not entirely sure what causes it, but the fact that I can hook up my PS2 to the same TV with the same component cables and experience no noticeable lag but can't do the same on the PS3 is annoying nevertheless.

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    Apple (Level 5) RPG_Fanatic's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by -SuperYoshi- View Post
    It makes games look nice, but be aware that when playing any PSX or PS2 games on a PS3 hooked up to an HDTV (Component or HDMI; doesn't matter) there will be a noticeable amount of lag that's actually built into the system itself and has nothing to do with TV response time. Has something to do with poor deinterlacing in the system, not entirely sure what causes it, but the fact that I can hook up my PS2 to the same TV with the same component cables and experience no noticeable lag but can't do the same on the PS3 is annoying nevertheless.
    I've never noticed any lag on my tv with my PS3. Maybe your running on a LCD with a slow refresh rate. I'm running on a plasma 50" and never noticed any lag.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RPG_Fanatic View Post
    I've never noticed any lag on my tv with my PS3. Maybe your running on a LCD with a slow refresh rate. I'm running on a plasma 50" and never noticed any lag.
    I've also never noticed any lag on my LCD, or any lag that has affected any game that I've ever played.

    I'm no Street Fighter frame-counter, so there may be lag, but it's so microscopic that it's essentially meaningless.
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    Kirby (Level 13) norkusa's Avatar
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    I always thought that lag had to with the upscaler inside the hdtv and didn't have anything to do with the system. I've got my PS2 hooked with component cables and when playing games like DDR and IIDX, I always have to adjust the timing to -1 or -2 or else it's out of sync and unplayable.

    There's people with the same setup that don't have to adjust any timing settings because they have a better tv that doesn't lag or at least have one with a 'game mode' feature.

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    Quote Originally Posted by norkusa View Post
    I always thought that lag had to with the upscaler inside the hdtv and didn't have anything to do with the system. I've got my PS2 hooked with component cables and when playing games like DDR and IIDX, I always have to adjust the timing to -1 or -2 or else it's out of sync and unplayable.

    There's people with the same setup that don't have to adjust any timing settings because they have a better tv that doesn't lag or at least have one with a 'game mode' feature.
    This may be accurate because unlike all of my friends, my HDTV my Rock Band delay settings work best on ZERO, where everybody else I know with an HDTV setup has to use +/- 1 or 2.
    Last edited by Frankie_Says_Relax; 08-29-2009 at 11:23 PM.
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    I've had the 60GB for almost 2 years now and can tell you PS2 games look virtually the same on the PS3. I think they look even shittier on an HDTV because they weren't made for them. If you want to play PS2 games, play them on your PS2 hooked up to an old tube T.V. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to get a 60GB to play PS2 games on, that's what I did and I barely use it for PS2 games. Going after the 60GB as well, you could potentially be paying a premium price for it or you might be getting a system that's had the shit played out of it. My advice, just get the slim.

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    Quote Originally Posted by duffmanth View Post
    I've had the 60GB for almost 2 years now and can tell you PS2 games look virtually the same on the PS3. I think they look even shittier on an HDTV because they weren't made for them. If you want to play PS2 games, play them on your PS2 hooked up to an old tube T.V. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to get a 60GB to play PS2 games on, that's what I did and I barely use it for PS2 games. Going after the 60GB as well, you could potentially be paying a premium price for it or you might be getting a system that's had the shit played out of it. My advice, just get the slim.
    This is kind of what I wanted to say. Playing PS2 games on a 60 gig PS3 isn't always the best choice. A lot of games look too dark on an LCD (even with the brightness maxed). Killzone is a good example. It gets almost unplayable at times because of the overall darkness. Same thing with GTA: San Andreas.

    Most games look great (better?) on a 60 gig + LCD set up, but just know that a few games look worse and are borderline unplayable because of it.
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    Quote Originally Posted by -SuperYoshi- View Post
    It makes games look nice, but be aware that when playing any PSX or PS2 games on a PS3 hooked up to an HDTV (Component or HDMI; doesn't matter) there will be a noticeable amount of lag
    Smells like BS.

    But...what's going on here? Can we figure it out? Yes! It sounds like your set is upscaling (or downscaling) from one resolution to another.

    Some information on this here.

    Also, sanity check - if there were really "lag built in" to the PS3, well, every hardcore gamer would be yelling at Sony to fix it. Nope, it's most likely the well-known built-in scaler lag issue.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Leo_A's Avatar
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    If you turn on any effects the PS3 has the options for (Upscaling, smoothing, etc.), then it's naturally going to cause a certain amount of delay between your actions and what you see on the screen.

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    Quote Originally Posted by heybtbm View Post
    Playing PS2 games on a 60 gig PS3 isn't always the best choice. A lot of games look too dark on an LCD (even with the brightness maxed). Killzone is a good example. It gets almost unplayable at times because of the overall darkness. Same thing with GTA: San Andreas..
    You know, thats exactly what happened to me with San Andreas when I had my PS3 hooked up via an S-Video cable. As soon as I had upgraded to an HDMI cable, everything changed and became crystal clear...

    Reading some of the responses here makes me wonder if we are playing the same system! I have a 32" LCD and PS3 hooked up via HDMI and my PS2 games look damn good on my PS3. I'm not gonna lie and say they look a world of difference but they DO look a little bit sharper and crisper. I've noticed no lag in any game I've played (except when I tried Bust A Groove but that was fixed when they released another version update). When I tried both GTA:San Andreas on my PS3 and PS2 via component hook up, they looked nearly the same except on the PS3 it looked a little sharper...

    The only thing I don't like is the PS2 smoothing option. It's not the same type that the original PS2 has. I know some may hate it, and it is indeed not perfect, but I still like playing Xenogears and MGS on my slim PS2 with the smoothing option turned on
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    Quote Originally Posted by heybtbm View Post
    This is kind of what I wanted to say. Playing PS2 games on a 60 gig PS3 isn't always the best choice. A lot of games look too dark on an LCD (even with the brightness maxed). Killzone is a good example. It gets almost unplayable at times because of the overall darkness. Same thing with GTA: San Andreas.

    Most games look great (better?) on a 60 gig + LCD set up, but just know that a few games look worse and are borderline unplayable because of it.
    You're right, not only do PS2 games look dark on an HDTV, they also look very dull because like I said before, they weren't made for high def T.V. sets. I remember having the same debate with people when the PS2 first came out about playing PS1 games on it and did it make them look better? I never noticed a real improvement in graphics.

    As far as lag goes, I've never really noticed lag playing PS2 games on my PS3...however there are some early PS3 games with serious lag issues like Need for Speed: Pro Street. Of course you're going to have people telling you maybe you're not running the right type of cables on your PS3, and that's why the PS2 games don't look good or you don't have the right T.V. It's all B.S. because I'm running my PS3 through a Monster HDMI cable, hooked up to a Sony Bravia that's about 2 years old and the PS2 games still look dull and dark. It's like playing your PS3 through regular A/V cables hooked up to an old tube T.V., of course the games are going to look watered down, because PS3's and it's game were ideally designed for HD cables and HDTV's. This is where that whole debate about why Sony doesn't pack the PS3 with HD cables comes in.
    Last edited by duffmanth; 08-30-2009 at 09:55 AM.

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    Kirby (Level 13) norkusa's Avatar
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    Welp, I got a slim PS3 yesterday at Best Buy. I had a couple of gift cards, so I only ended up paying $224. Got it hooked up with HDMI and love it so far. PS1 games look pretty bad on it though. With smoothing on, they look too blurry but without it, they look too pixel-y and chunky. Color looks dull too. I imagine PS2 games wouldn't look much different if I had a BC model, so I'm happy with what I've got.

    It sucks that I have to buy a $60 adapter to use my Harmony remote with it though.

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