Well, the only game I've been able to really try on an LCD HDTV (my sister's) was Rock Band and it looks pretty good through component with progressive scan and widescreen enabled. The image definitely doesn't look worse through component, it looks better. However, 480i games (and, seemingly, the startup process), have that weird jagged lines problems, which is awful. It's most noticeable with text - the letters are funky looking and harder to read. Does anyone know if the later fat PS2s had this fixed? Specifically model SCPH-50001? I would like to stick with a fat PS2, but only if they fixed this problem in the later fat PS2 model(s).
Also, regarding component video making games look worse on an HDTV in general, I call bullshit on that because we've tried a bunch of Gamecube games through component and they look much better than when run through RCA cables. Perhaps if you're seeing worse picture quality with component video on the PS2, then maybe what you are really experiencing is the PS2 bug with 480i sources on older PS2s?
Also, regarding component video making games look worse on an HDTV in general, I call bullshit on that because we've tried a bunch of Gamecube games through component and they look much better than when run through RCA cables. Perhaps if you're seeing worse picture quality with component video on the PS2, then maybe what you are really experiencing is the PS2 bug with 480i sources on older PS2s?