Widescreen HDTV making my PS2, Xbox, etc games look horrible

[PDorr3]

When I first got my HDTV (Widescreen) I was so excited because it was for my 360, which just makes the games look amazing. A few months later I figured I would see what my PS2 games looked like, first game I tried was Grandia 3 (just had bought it) and I noticed it didnt look to clear or crisp, so I figured well maybe its just the game.

To put it to the real test I put in Ico on ps2, and I know this game in and out, and I could tell right away that the games graphics looked worse than ever, blurry and pixelated.

By no means are any of the games unplayable, but they looks os damn bad compared to how they used to look on my regular old TV, not to mention none of them support widescreen so they are all stretched out.

My question is, is there any way to fix this problem on HDTV's? such as new cables or settings to clear things up a bit? what about older systems like saturn, genesis, etc?

[Anthony1]

When I first got my HDTV (Widescreen) I was so excited because it was for my 360, which just makes the games look amazing. A few months later I figured I would see what my PS2 games looked like, first game I tried was Grandia 3 (just had bought it) and I noticed it didnt look to clear or crisp, so I figured well maybe its just the game.

To put it to the real test I put in Ico on ps2, and I know this game in and out, and I could tell right away that the games graphics looked worse than ever, blurry and pixelated.

By no means are any of the games unplayable, but they looks os damn bad compared to how they used to look on my regular old TV, not to mention none of them support widescreen so they are all stretched out.

My question is, is there any way to fix this problem on HDTV's? such as new cables or settings to clear things up a bit? what about older systems like saturn, genesis, etc?

There isn't anything that can fix the OAR situation. OAR = Original Aspect Ratio. Games prior to Xbox were pretty much designed with 4:3 TV's in mind. Even a ton of Xbox 1 games have a 4:3 OAR. The vast majority of PS2 games have a 4:3 OAR as well. Same thing with GameCube. However, on all those systems, make sure that you go into the settings and check for a 16:9 mode because some of the games require you to select it in the options. I mainly remember that with the Playstation 2.

Old School games like Genesis and Super Nintendo and Playstation 1 and Saturn and all that, all of those games are all designed with a 4:3 aspect ratio. So anytime you play those on a Widescreen TV, it's not going to be totally ideal. Certain games won't look to bad stretched out, other games look pretty bad that way. It depends. But one nice thing is, that as time goes by, you will notice the distortion less and less. It won't bother you as much. But if you want things absolutely perfect, then you need to play 4:3 games on a 4:3 display and "true" widescreen games on a 16:9 display. That's just the way it is. No getting around that. Pick your poison. The 360, PS3 and Wii are all going to look much, much, much better on a 16:9 tv, but the old school stuff is going to look dramatically better on a 4:3 TV. You can't have your cake and eat it to.


Ok, now, before we are done, I'm just talking about the issue with widescreen TV's and 4:3 games, but there is good news for your other dilema. The picture quality dilema. There is definitely something that can improve that. It's called a XRGB2+, and if you don't have a VGA input on that HDTV you will also need that Audio Authority adapter to go along with the XRGB2+, so that it will work on Component. (don't have the model # of the top of my head, it's like 9A28 or something like that).

You will also need somebody to build you a little Euro to Jap Scart adapter, and then just get Euro rgb Scart cables for all your systems and your Golden.

As for the Aspect Ratio, unfortunately nothing you can do about that, unless you want to play your games with big grey or black bars on the sides, which looks even worse than the streched and distorted picture.

[l_lamb]

How did you hook up the PS2? I'm using the component video cables and mine looks as sharp as the PS2 can get. If you don't like the stretched look, try setting your TV to show the game without filing the screen. Most sets have a standard NTSC setting that grays out the sides to keep the aspect ratio at 4:3.

[meancode]

It has nothing to do with aspect ratio.

Pete, are you still using Composite (Yellow, Red, White) to hook your PS2 up to your HDTV? If so, that would probably look pretty bad. You need Component cables, if you don't have them already.

I would recommend the Mad Catz universal (works on PS2/Xbox) just because they are so cheap. I have two myself for my PS2 and Xbox.

A couple PS2 games, like God of War, support Progressive Scan, which make them look even better (for a PS2 game).

As for the screen stretching, you need to change that in your HDTV settings. It would be under video picture or something or something. My Samsung HDTV lists it as Size and has a 4:3 option.

Good Luck!

[jdc]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

[Ry Jon-Jinn]

Yeah, i played Perfect Dark on my 64 the other day on my new 32inch Samsung LCD, and it looked blurry as heck. But i donot have S-Video for the 64, Dreamcast, or Super Nintendo. But my 360, Gamecube, and PS2 look amazing, because i am using Componet with all of them. And the Saturn looks great with S-Video. Super Nintendo is the only one that looked fine with just Composite, but for the Dreamcast and 64, i will need to invest in S-Video. And games like God Of War look even better because you can set it up for widescreen in its options menu. And is it true that newer Gamecubes do not accept Componet anymore? If so then i am lucky, because S-Video is not as good.

[slip81]

Like others have said if you're not already using component that should help you out a lot.

As for the aspect ratio thing, that's the main reason I'm going to go with a 4:3 HDTV when I get one (hopefully in a few months). I know I'll still have black bars on the top and bottom when dealing with 16x9 stuff, but I've been watching letterbox so long it doesn't bother me. Something I don't think I could deal with though would be stretching or sidebars, especially since me and my friends do a lot of 4 player splitscreen mario kart and goldeneye, and I watch a lot of tv on dvd.

[meancode]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

Whoa, I would take that Sharp back! I just bought, in January, a Samsung HDTV that does 720p and 1080i for less than $1200.

But yes, everything looks like shit on a HDTV if it is using old composite. It is sad, but is the truth.

I know a couple people who have gotten 4:3 HDTVs because of their old systems. I would put up with the black bars on the left/right if I were you, since the 360, PS3, and Wii are all going to be widescreen.

[phantomfriar]

he Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

My friend you sound a bit confused...if you mean you're annoyed the original Xbox games only come out in 480p then that's NOT the fault of the TV!

Basically every LCD on the market right now over $600 (or from like 24-26 inches up) is at least going to do 720p!

I bought last year's Sharp Aquos 26' and it had 720p, 1080i and looked great...I returned it only because 26' wasn't big enough (you'll be surprised the huge difference between a 26 and a 32!). It was only like $899 on Amazon at the time.

If this Aquos is only capable of doing 480p, you must have a sub-26 inch model OR a model from a couple of years back or something...and if that's really what the TV is capable of outputting then return it. (on the other hand if you spent $2000 and 360 games look fine as you say, then the TV is indeed fine -- it's the old Xbox's limitations that are the problem, NOT THE TV).

Just remember when it comes to most original Xbox games, it wouldn't matter if you spent $3000 on a TV or $300...if the Xbox game is only capable of outputting 480p then 480p is all you're going to get, period, regardless of the TV's capable resolutions.

[meancode]

The difference between 26 and 32 is pretty amazing, I too opted for the 32 as it was so much more screen for only a couple hundred dollars more!

[ckendal]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

What size Sharp Aquos are you talking about? I have a 32" Sharp Aquos for my gaming TV and everything looks great. My Aquos does do 720p and 1080i easily, but the games do have to support the resolutions. Try loading up GT4 on PS2 using component cables and going into options and setting it to 1080i. You'll be pleasantly suprised how fucking awesome Gran Turismo 4 looks. You will think you were playing it on a 360. Most PS2 games though are 480i or 480p and while it is not the greatest, having the component cables will help these games look much more vibrant and crisp.

If you need any help configuring your TV jdc, lemme know!

Hope this helps!

-Carl

[PentiumMMX]

Yeah, i played Perfect Dark on my 64 the other day on my new 32inch Samsung LCD, and it looked blurry as heck. But i donot have S-Video for the 64, Dreamcast, or Super Nintendo. But my 360, Gamecube, and PS2 look amazing, because i am using Componet with all of them. And the Saturn looks great with S-Video. Super Nintendo is the only one that looked fine with just Composite, but for the Dreamcast and 64, i will need to invest in S-Video. And games like God Of War look even better because you can set it up for widescreen in its options menu. And is it true that newer Gamecubes do not accept Componet anymore? If so then i am lucky, because S-Video is not as good.

Something to point out concerning N64 and HDTV:

A few later N64 Games (Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64, and Banjo-Tooie are all I know of right now with this) offer Wide Screen Support. Try checking the Options Menu on the game you're playing to see if it's avalable.

...And on the Gamecube Question: Yes, newer GCNs don't have Componet Video Output. This started in 2004 to keep the price down. To tell if you have a newer Gamecube, look at the back to see if there is a Componet Video Output, and on the bottem, the model number should be "DOL-101". The origenal obviosly has the Componet Video Output and the model number "DOL-001".

[phantomfriar]

What size Sharp Aquos are you talking about. I have a 32" Sharp Aquos for my gaming TV and everything looks great. My Aquos does do 720p and 1080i easily, but the games do have to support the resolutions.

Yeah he sounds a little confused. Basically I think he's just pissed that the original Xbox games only do 480p (or at least a lot of them). You're not going to get higher resolutions with a $2000 set...they don't work miracles if the game can only 480p!

[lucavi]

as far as i know ps2 games will look like crap no matter what you do on a large hdtv. component cables help a little but not much. the picture is a little more clear but all the better to see the "jaggies" with. 16:9 ratio never helps either.

[The Manimal]

On my new DLP set, even Nintendo looks fine on it. Though when I run "Game Mode", it looks somewhat crappy...need to find a way to make this mode look better. The colors are "off" and can't seem to get them to watch the way they look with "Game Mode" off.

I do see rainbows though, and it can bug you in some games, where there's white on black.

[Ry Jon-Jinn]

Yeah Wind Waker looks beautifull using componet cables, so does Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2. The colors are very vibrant, and the reolution is much more crisp. I think they are running in 480p now if i am not mistaken?

[Trebuken]

Most TV's that upconvert all incoming signals provide a superior image. Many sets will only upconvert over component connections which is why the Xbox 360 may look so sweet and the PS2 on composite or S-video does not.

I playing everything stretched on my sets and I only notice a problem with MAME, evereything else looks natural.

Older systems get stretched more because of their lower resolutions, a good set can upconvert it nicely, or you can use the XRGB2+ or similar device if your set is not up to the task.

Xbox games played through your 360 will look nicer, as I imagine PS2 games on the PS3 will (I've actually stopped playing PS2 games because I'm waiting for the superior hardware). I realize the 360's compatibility is limited but I've elected to play the good games on the compatibility list that I have missed (KOTOR for example).

One crazy solution is to run your console into a computers TV input (if you have it), then play it on your HDTV through your video cards output, you can tweek this to death.

Of course if you upgrade to HDTV you might as well save your old set for your old systems...

Later,
Trebuken

[Anthony1]

Good thread. I was wondering the same thing.

I have a new Sharp Aquos and EVERYTHING looks like shit .....with the exception of my Xbox 360, which looks astounding, obviously because of the component cables. (We had my friend's PS2 hooked up with S-vid and it was nice as well). Even television looks like shit. I swear that if someone saw the lousy quality of the Dreamcast running on this thing, they'd NEVER buy a Dreamcast......and I wouldn't blame them. It's fucking horrible. Ditto for the N64 and PSX. They look a bazillion times better on a normal tube tv.

I'd like to beat the salesguy who sold me the Aquos over the head with it. He KNEW that I was going to be using it for gaming, I freakin' told him what I wanted.....after I got it home, and after much reading of manuals and trying this and that, the cold reality hit me. The Aquos doesn't do 720 or 1080......it just does 480p (or whatever the numbers are). It looks REALLY good.....but I wanted the higher resolutions that I assumed you'd get for the $2000 that the tv cost. You can adjust a million and one things on the Aquos.....but you can't change the resolution.

Still, you can do a helluva lot with 480p. Does it have a VGA input on it at all, or just component? If it has a VGA input, then the Dreamcast should look outstanding on it, relatively speaking, via the VGA box. If it only has component, then the VGA box along with an Audio Authority VGA to component adapter would do the trick. Pure 480p bliss. Also, 480p is a great resolution for the XRGB2+. So you can use all your retro consoles on it in the equivalent of 480p rgb. Of course, you need to get your hands on a XRGB2+ which is extraordinarily expensive right now and hard to find. And finding the Japanese rgb scart cables is hard too. But there are still some things that can be done with 480p.


The two best are the Dreamcast via the VGA box, and all previous systems via the XRGB2+. Hopefully you have a vga input on the back of that, so you don't have to shell out $$ for the Audio Authority box to transcode the vga back to wide band component.

[Anthony1]

One thing I want to mention to everyone, is that to truly have things ideal, you need two completely different displays. One of them needs to be 16:9 and support either 720p or 1080i or both. One of them needs to be 4:3 and can be a HDTV (if you use a XRGB2+ with it) or a super large computer monitor (if you use a XRGB2+ with it) or a big ass Sony PVM rgb monitor, or something like that.


Then you can have the best of both worlds. One display simply isn't going to do it, because in some way or fashion you are going to be compromising something. That's just the way it is, and the sooner everyone realizes that and makes adjustments accordingly, they are always going to be slightly bugged by the fact that something just isn't quite right.


My suggestion is to have a widescreen HDTV in the living room, for use with wife and family and widescreen video games. Then in a home office room or computer room or room of Doom or something, to have a 4:3 set for classic games. Either use the XRGB2+ with a progressive scan 480p 4:3 TV or get a large 4:3 analog rgb monitor like a Sony PVM or Mitsubishi MegaView. Play your classic games primarily on your 4:3 set, if you want the perfect experience. Still play them on the widescreen too, for convience sake, but when you really want a solid experience, you go with the classic 4:3 display. As for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and even many Xbox 1 and PS2 and GameCube games, you want to be playing the native 16:9 games on a real deal widescreen. It's a big waste of the 360 to not be playing it on a widescreen.



Bottom line, you have to have two seperate displays somewhere in your house or apartment or whatever. One for old schools, one for next-gen, and you can of course play next-gen on the old school monitor and old schools on the next-gen HDTV, but if you really want everything to be perfectly proper, you have to play the particular game on the display that would be best for it. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but I've learned that ultimately this is the way to do it.

[KingCobra]

PS2 has to on Componet cables period on a HDTV or it's ass.