HDtv + SD = crap!!!

My friend has a 40" 1080p Samsug HD LCD TV and the PS3 game and blu-ray movies look great on it, but when we connected the PS2 via components it looked like sh!t, I mean it looked worse than having a PS2 connected to a SD tv.

So my question is, are their any good HD LCD tvs out there than can make PS2 games look just as good as if it were on a SD TV?

Or are all HDtv scalers crap when it comes to SD sources?
 
make PS2 games look just as good as if it were on a SD TV?
Try changing these settings on the PS3.
Or are all HDtv scalers crap when it comes to SD sources?
HDTVs vary widely in their ability to scale low res content. Coincidently, the reason PS2 games look so crap could be because the TV is tuned to scale video content by default which tend to have quite different properties than a rendered scene. The ability to control/tweak various such image processing features also vary from TV to TV. If available, disable these 'enhancements' for the input the PS3 is hooked up to, and/or if the TV in question has a 'game mode' this often bypasses features that'll be detrimental to IQ when used for games.
 
Try changing these settings on the PS3.
HDTVs vary widely in their ability to scale low res content. Coincidently, the reason PS2 games look so crap could be because the TV is tuned to scale video content by default which tend to have quite different properties than a rendered scene. The ability to control/tweak various such image processing features also vary from TV to TV. If available, disable these 'enhancements' for the input the PS3 is hooked up to, and/or if the TV in question has a 'game mode' this often bypasses features that'll be detrimental to IQ when used for games.

My friend has the 40GB ps3 so he can't use it to upscale PS2 games, and that's why he has his PS2 connected but of course it looks really bad, that's why I asked if there were any HDtv's with really good internal scalers that make the SD source look as good on a 1080p tv as they did on 480p tvs.

also, are there any dvd's or set top boxes out there that the PS2 could be plugged into to have it upscalled with out introducing heavy lag?
 
SD looks pretty good on my 50" Panny Plasma - one of the reasons I picked it. Is your friend using progressive from the PS2 or just video/s-video? Can he change the aspect or sharpness?
 
SD looks pretty good on my 50" Panny Plasma - one of the reasons I picked it. Is your friend using progressive from the PS2 or just video/s-video? Can he change the aspect or sharpness?

well he has his PS2 connected to his LCD HDtv with component cables, and we put in God of war 2 and set the aspect ration to 16:9, also GoW2 wasn't progressive, it was just 576i, and the game just looked like crap.
 
My friend has the 40GB ps3 so he can't use it to upscale PS2 games
Ah, sorry. For some reason the mention of the PS3 in the first post had me entirely blinded to the fact that you were talking about an actual PS2...

Anyway, upgrading the TV to play PS2 games might seem a bit excessive ;), so do have a look at the menus on the TV to see if there are any advanced picture processing settings that can be enabled/disabled. These can have a pretty significant impact. As for more general settings, I always find that dialing down the sharpness and increasing saturation a bit helps for low-res rendered images unless you're sitting too close to the screen.
 
Yep, GH3 PS2 on my 46" Aquos looks pretty crap, a bitty mess. I'm not too worried about TV scalers, my PS2 won't be around for much longer and will be relegated to the basement setup.
 
you can set the PS2 to progressive on many games, right?

their are barely any PS2 games that can run in progressive and even less that run at 576p.

So are their any DVD players or set top boxes that my friend could be able to plug his PS2 into that would provide some decent upscaling for his 1080p tv, or do no such devices exist apart from dedicated scalers?
 
Or are all HDtv scalers crap when it comes to SD sources?
No. I have a Panasonic plama 42" HDTV (1024x768 resolution G10 panel) and it looks great with SD, DVD and BDs :smile:

I have it connected to a PC, PS3 and SD sources and at normal viewing distance (7' which translates in 24 degree viewing angle) there is no SDE and all images looks great. Beautifull colors and good calibrated contrast.

If you are in US you have interresting options like the Pionner 4280 (kuro) which should look better. Kuros are famous for high quality, great contrast and blacks, and minimal image retention. http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Pioneer-PDP4280XD/

The relative resolution of full-hd LCD TVs with motion is reduced and dont pass 600 lines. See this topic: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=44619
 
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My friend has a 40" 1080p Samsug HD LCD TV and the PS3 game and blu-ray movies look great on it, but when we connected the PS2 via components it looked like sh!t, I mean it looked worse than having a PS2 connected to a SD tv.
Are comparing to a 32-35" SD tv? Or a 20" SD TV?

SD looks like crap when enlarged regardless of the display device (although some are crappier than others).
 
Are comparing to a 32-35" SD tv? Or a 20" SD TV?

SD looks like crap when enlarged regardless of the display device (although some are crappier than others).

My friend had the PS2 connected to his 40" Samsung 1080p LCD HDtv and it looked like crap, so I was just wondering is their was anything on the market that is cheap but provides good upscaling for external devices like the PS2.
 
My friend had the PS2 connected to his 40" Samsung 1080p LCD HDtv and it looked like crap, so I was just wondering is their was anything on the market that is cheap but provides good upscaling for external devices like the PS2.
You're missing my point.

Have you ever seen the PS2 look good on a screen 35" or bigger?
 
and a smaller screen 32" or less 720p screen would look better with SD game than a 40" 1080p screen simply because its a sharper large screen highlighting the low resolution as Mintmaster has said.
 
Yup. A friend of mine got an HDTV recently and told me that it sometimes shows up things he doesn't want to see, like the facial hairs on his favourite female presenter.

Maybe what you are seeing is the low res pixels from the PS2 in all it's glory, which the SDTV nicely blurs for you.
 
You can always try a VGA adaptor for the ps2... most come with a S-video output as well... the adapter seems to scale PS2 games quite decently.
 
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