Playstation 2 or Wii to HDMI adapter?

[Greg2600]

http://www.playvision.biz/PS2_to_HDM...l#.UPSWd2dUMYk



While I read mostly good things about the Nintendo Wii HDMI adapter (looks like that one, all from China), what little I've found on this PS2 one is highly negative. Anyone try one? They're mainly sold on Ebay

[PreZZ]

I may be wrong, but i dont remember many ps2 games outputting in 480p. So 480i through hdmi must be like regular composite... I have component cables and ps2 image always seemed muddy no matter what connection (the dreamcast looked a lot better to me through vga and the colors were a lot clearer) oh i found this list of games in HD (sorta...) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ith_HD_support

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Does it carry the audio signal over the HDMI cable or do you NEED to use a 3.5 stereo cable? Some TVs don't have a 3.5 input or any option to allow for that audio feed to be run with anything other than the DB9 monitor cable that the 3.5 jack is typically paired with.

I think the Wii version of this didn't send audio over the HDMI.

[jonjandran]

3.5mm to Rca jacks are a dime a dozen. Can be found literally anywhere.

[Greg2600]

They all carry the audio on HDMI cable, at least they're supposed to. I found some more info on them. Quite confusing, but not a surprise since these come from somewhere in China. Seems they are manufacturer adapters which merely transcode into HDMI, and some that also upscale. I found this forum to be helpful in reading user experiences with them.

In terms of Wii2HDMI adapters, I think you have to get one that has a 720/1080P switch. Not sure if there's a great difference in quality in any case, but I'd figure 720 or 1080P is better than 480P! Though I've watched videos on YT for the non scaling Wii adapter and it looked fine to me.



Unlike the Wii2HDMI, the PS2 to HDMI adapters seem to be transcode only. There are upscaler versions, but they don't seem to be on Ebay or Amazon right now. The other issue is that PS1 games may or may not work, as not sure if 240P mode works.



Bottom line is you really need to get the version that upscales, which will have a 1080P label on it. Not that you can probably trust the Chinese sellers....

[jonjandran]

I just tried to buy the PS2 one on Ebay that says it upscales.

Here is a message I just received.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Our manager just told me that we have to stop selling this item because of it is poor quality. So we have no choice but fully refund you , then you can bid items from other sellers. Any ideas please feel free to let us know .

Thanks a lot for your consideration and understanding in advance.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Best Regards
Yoyo

Guess it is junk.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

They all carry the audio on HDMI cable, at least they're supposed to.

Ah.

Good to know. I recall when the first Wii ones came out I had read discussion that you had to use a set of audio cables to handle sound (hence the 3.5 jacks on the device). But I guess they got that worked out or the people in the discussions were wrong.

3.5mm to Rca jacks are a dime a dozen. Can be found literally anywhere.

Oh, I've got a million, but some TVs that have HDMI don't have 3.5 inputs nor do they allow you to mix/match what audio inputs you're pairing with which video feeds.

Typically if it has a 3.5 input it's going to pair it with a DB9 monitor cable input.

[megasdkirby]

About the Wii version... does the Monoprice version upscale the image?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

I purchased this and the image does look clearer, specially when playing Netflix. So far, it has worked great but I havent used it much to make a fair comparisson.

[jonjandran]

Oh, I've got a million, but some TVs that have HDMI don't have 3.5 inputs nor do they allow you to mix/match what audio inputs you're pairing with which video feeds.

Typically if it has a 3.5 input it's going to pair it with a DB9 monitor cable input.

Ahhh. I just assumed they all have the 3.5mm input that works on one of the HDMI. My Samsung and LG do. But I guess some might not.

[Greg2600]

Woah, monoprice sells the Wii ones? I have a lot of personal faith in that site. Megas, I think the Wii ones that have that tiny button hole on the side are all okay. You switch between 720p/1080p using that. I was a bit confused about the "generations" of the devices. However, I think that ONLY pertained to PS2. The Monoprice one should upscale, as it says it will. However, what do we consider upscaling? If I plug my Wii in on component, it's 480p at most. That's really all it is, the device tells the TV you're at 720 or 1080, but we know it's not. The comparisons I've seen for Wii show slightly brighter colors with HDMI. All I wanted was to not lose quality.

Jon, as I was saying, the PS2 adapters are definitely junk, in that they have lots of compatibility issues and do NOT upscale. The user SkyNet on that PSX-Scene forum found that the 3rd generation of the device works much better. As of yet, I can't find anyone in the US or Ebay.com selling those.

[Leo_A]

Does the Wii one have a button to go between 16:9 and 4:3? Or is everything stretched to 16:9 proportions?

[Greg2600]

Does the Wii one have a button to go between 16:9 and 4:3? Or is everything stretched to 16:9 proportions?

No, it's a 720/1080 button, assuming some older HDTV's are not 1080P just 720P. Since 720 and 1080 are 16:9 formats, that's what it's going to display. However, I'm looking and it seems like every person on YouTube reviewed it using Wii Widescreen mode. I can't tell you a clear answer. Maybe MegasKirby can test that out. I have my Wii on WS with TV on wide zoom myself with component cables.

[BlastProcessing402]

I'm not surprised the PS2 to HDMI is crap, sounds like whatever it was doing to the signal was very similar to the PS3/Wii to VGA cable I got to use on a monitor before I had an HDTV. It was utter garbage for PS3 (but worked alright for the Wii.)

[Leo_A]

No, it's a 720/1080 button, assuming some older HDTV's are not 1080P just 720P. Since 720 and 1080 are 16:9 formats, that's what it's going to display. However, I'm looking and it seems like every person on YouTube reviewed it using Wii Widescreen mode. I can't tell you a clear answer. Maybe MegasKirby can test that out. I have my Wii on WS with TV on wide zoom myself with component cables.

For starters, an HD signal can still display a pillarboxed image. See thing's like classic collections on HD consoles like the recent Midway Arcade Origins collection, classic movies like Casablanca and Mrs. Miniver on Blu-Ray, or the Dick Van Dyke Show and Twilight Zone Blu-Ray sets for some easy examples. Just because a 16:9 HD signal is being sent out doesn't mean that the original aspect ratio can't be respected.

As for the rest of it, you don't understand. The Wii's widescreen setting simply triggers anamorphic widescreen in compatible games. The signal always sent out by the Wii is 4:3 no matter what is selected in the Wii's options. But when this setting is selected in your Wii's setting screen and you're playing a 16:9 capable game, a widescreen image is compressed via nonsquare pixels into the Wii's normal 4:3 video output which your tv (Or in this case, the external scaler) re-expands by stretching to fill your screen. But to your tv or external scaler, it always sees a 4:3 signal from the Wii no matter if 4:3 or 16:9 is selected in the Wii's setting screen.

It's not a problem when your HDTV is receiving a SD/ED signal. It sees it as 4:3 and and if you want it to be pillarboxed to maintain that AR, you simply press a button on your television's remote control to turn off stretching. But by using this device, that often isn't an option since your tv is receiving a HD signal that is natively widescreen and many sets will always display it as widescreen with no option to narrow it back down.

So with your 4:3 games on your Wii, you want a button on this device that instead of stretching the image during the scaling process, applies pillarboxing to the image to maintain the 4:3 AR. Otherwise your 4:3 games like your Virtual Console games will be stretched to 16:9 proportions right along with your 16:9 games, unless your HDTV has the unusual capability to compress 16:9 HD signals into a 4:3 frame (which is a rare feature).

So what I'm asking is if this has a switch to go between 4:3 content and 16:9 content. Otherwise, it either displays everything as pillarboxed 4:3 or stretches everything to 16:9.

[Greg2600]

I am ordering the Wii adapter from monoprice, so I'll check back in with my thoughts. The Wii menu on widescreen I know is still 4:3, but doesn't the system squeeze the output (while still in 4:3)? So that it looks better when stretched to 16:9? I still "think" that it retains 4:3 aspect if that's what you're inputting. Because I did see a video of someone playing a VC game that was 4:3. I understand the concern though because wasn't there a device people were talking about recently which upscaled everything to widescreen with no way to change?

[Leo_A]

I am ordering the Wii adapter from monoprice, so I'll check back in with my thoughts. The Wii menu on widescreen I know is still 4:3, but doesn't the system squeeze the output (while still in 4:3)? So that it looks better when stretched to 16:9?

That's what anamorphic widescreen is. A 16:9 picture is sent out as a 4:3 signal which your tv has to re-expand to 16:9 proportions via turning on a setting on your tv like stretch, full, or fill to have it completely fill your screen.

The Wii's dashboard is 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. Leave your Wii set to 4:3 and have your tv fill your 16:9 screen and the large circular buttons will look like ovals instead of circles. But set it to 16:9 and they're going to be circles like they should be.

I still "think" that it retains 4:3 aspect if that's what you're inputting. Because I did see a video of someone playing a VC game that was 4:3. I understand the concern though because wasn't there a device people were talking about recently which upscaled everything to widescreen with no way to change?

Are you sure it was a Virtual Console download? There's a bit of classic content on the Wii (And several modern releases done in the style of 80's games) that apply their own pillarboxing to maintain the correct 4:3 AR when your Wii is set to 16:9. But Virtual Console downloads don't outside of some (all?) of the arcade downloads, even though Nintendo's emulators have that capability on retail releases (Super Mario All-Stars and Kirby's Dream Collection self pillarbox themselves).

The Wii only outputs 4:3. There's no way for any external device like this adapter or your television to tell if the 4:3 signal should be displayed as pillarboxed 4:3 or stretched 16:9 because it sees it as identical either way since they are. There's no resolution difference, no widescreen flag on the signal, etc.

So this HDMI adapter with a built in scaler either stretches everything to 16:9, doesn't stretch anything to 16:9 and instead applies pillarboxing during the HD upscaling process, or has a switch of some form on it for the user to select between stretching and pillarboxing. There's simply no way for it to automatically select if stretching is appropriate (Most of the popular retail releases) or if pillarboxing is appropriate (Primarily for the Virtual Console and most GameCube games but also for the occasional quality Wii retail release).

[Greg2600]

I've gotten some responses on YouTube of all places, with a couple people saying Wii2HDMI retains whatever aspect ratio the system outputs. Whenever mine comes, I can test myself.

[Leo_A]

I've gotten some responses on YouTube of all places, with a couple people saying Wii2HDMI retains whatever aspect ratio the system outputs. Whenever mine comes, I can test myself.

Then that means everything is pillarboxed 4:3 because 4:3 is the aspect ratio of the signal that the Wii always outputs. Wii can't do real widescreen, only fake 4:3 widescreen called anamorphic widescreen. Non-square pixels compressed into the normal 4:3 frame that are re-expanded to 16:9 when the output is upscaled (Be it by your tv, this scaler, or in the case of the Wii U, by the system itself).

Based on a similar thread over at AtariAge, I'm confident that you're going to discover that everything is stretched to 16:9 with the only 4:3 games displayed correctly with it being the handful of 4:3 releases with anamorphic widescreen modes that self pillarbox themselves.

[Leo_A]

Did you ever test this out? Everything is stretched to 16:9 with no option to have the image be pillarboxed, correct? [Edit: Judging by the lack of a response, it must be.]

Too bad that they didn't accommodate 4:3, but at least 16:9 was pretty much ubiquitous for Wii releases. Outside of the Virtual Console and most GameCube releases (Even most 1st party GCN games were 4:3 only), most content playable on the Wii had 16:9 anamorphic modes to switch to.