Why is my PS2 so... jaggy?

Roufuss

Roufuss

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I mean, espically in Kingdom Hearts 2... all the characters are so jagged and its really starting to get on my nerves. I'm running S-Video into a Sony Wega flatscreen... is there something I'm not doing right, because it seems like something is really off.

Its seriously taken away from my enjoyment with everything being so damn jaggy.
 
is there another tv you can try running it on?

I'm trying to imagine exactly how jaggy it would be to have to take enjoyment away.

I mean, you seem to have played a PS1.
 
Have you tried to put the TV into different settings? If you turn the sharpness down it might help.

I also heard from some people that running a PS2 with S-video makes it look worse than if you just used the regular cable
 
[quote name='maddfrog']
I also heard from some people that running a PS2 with S-video makes it look worse than if you just used the regular cable[/QUOTE]

Maybe this could be it... I'll try running it through a standard cable to see if that clears it up. Maybe the extra clarity with an S-Video actually hurts it in the long run.
 
Well I switched from S-Video to RGB, and the jaggies are not even noticable anymore. It looks 10 times better.

Colors are bit muted and washed out, but at least everyone dosen't look like a 4 year old cut them out of a piece of paper.
 
Roufuss does KH2 support PS? Maybe that would help, Component and PS. Besides I'm also wondering because I'm planning on bagging it soon enough.
 
[quote name='Sarang01']Roufuss does KH2 support PS? Maybe that would help, Component and PS. Besides I'm also wondering because I'm planning on bagging it soon enough.[/QUOTE]

Not sure... I don't think you can do PS through S-Video.

Trakan, I think it is some kind of three in one cable for S-Video (one cable for 3 consoles), I'd have to double check.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Not sure... I don't think you can do PS through S-Video.

Trakan, I think it is some kind of three in one cable for S-Video (one cable for 3 consoles), I'd have to double check.[/QUOTE]

It maybe the mad Catz one which does, in fact, suck noodles from what I gathered. Looks like you already made the jump to RGB which is better anyhow, but while I don't think there's an official S-Video cable, the Monster Cable version did a very nice job on my Samsung LCD.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']I mean, espically in Kingdom Hearts 2... all the characters are so jagged and its really starting to get on my nerves. I'm running S-Video into a Sony Wega flatscreen... is there something I'm not doing right, because it seems like something is really off.

Its seriously taken away from my enjoyment with everything being so damn jaggy.[/QUOTE]

is it a tube or flat panel... any LCD or plasma will look super Jaggy...

anyway.. it's a PS2 watchu expect...
 
I have the Mad Catz component cable, and it honestly made a big difference in games like Madden - where I can actually read the guys names now.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']It maybe the mad Catz one which does, in fact, suck noodles from what I gathered. Looks like you already made the jump to RGB which is better anyhow, but while I don't think there's an official S-Video cable, the Monster Cable version did a very nice job on my Samsung LCD.[/QUOTE]

Shit... I meant I went back to red yellow white, same cables (composite) that shipped with the PS2. The color is muted, but the games don't look so jaggy and shitty, and I can actually read the text.

That link is pretty good Trakan. I'm just worried if I do get a decent S-Video cable it will still look like shit, since it's a PS2, and that the added clarity is just showing the faults of the hardware.

I thought I had a MadCatz one, but the one I do have just looks like a regular old PS2 S-Video cable. It might very well be the official one, I got it used at a Gamestop a long time ago. I was just confused, because I thought S-Video would be such an improvement, but it makes PS2 games look worse, at least for me.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']'m just worried if I do get a decent S-Video cable it will still look like shit, since it's a PS2, and that the added clarity is just showing the faults of the hardware.

[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I think this is what you are noticing.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Shit... I meant I went back to red yellow white, same cables (composite) that shipped with the PS2. The color is muted, but the games don't look so jaggy and shitty, and I can actually read the text.

That link is pretty good Trakan. I'm just worried if I do get a decent S-Video cable it will still look like shit, since it's a PS2, and that the added clarity is just showing the faults of the hardware.

I thought I had a MadCatz one, but the one I do have just looks like a regular old PS2 S-Video cable. It might very well be the official one, I got it used at a Gamestop a long time ago. I was just confused, because I thought S-Video would be such an improvement, but it makes PS2 games look worse, at least for me.[/quote]

I guess it depends on the person. I can't stand the picture while using composite cables. I'm using S-Video now, and while the PS2's graphics aren't great, I can live with them. I'm pretty sure that the component cables are the ones that really add clarity but show some major faults, just as you said. Maybe it really is just a shitty cable, and you can pick up a new 3rd party one for cheap.
 
S-Video is pointless in most cases... the quality increase isn't that noticeable in most cases.

I'm thinking that the reason why you notice the jaggies is becuase the TV can't upscale the picture from the S-Video too well.
 
I dunno Vinny... I thought playing something like Final Fantasy X on a TV with S-video as opposed to composite made a huge difference... you can just see so much more detail.

I do think that in the OP's case, the TV is more of the problem than anything. I've played a lot of games on my PS2 with S-video, composite, and component and I have not noticed an increase in the amount of jaggies.
 
[quote name='Chacrana']I dunno Vinny... I thought playing something like Final Fantasy X on a TV with S-video as opposed to composite made a huge difference... you can just see so much more detail.[/QUOTE]

Well, if you get some quality S-Video cables then it's worth it. There is a noticble difference in color clearity and contrast. We've had those Monster-S cables for the PS2 since launch and they do a damn good job and I'd expect it to for the $50 we paid for 'em during the PS2's launch. But we've also had some other ones (for use with other TVs, it's a paid to pull out cords from the back) which cost around $20 and completely sucked.
 
S Video is a great improvement over standard on a standard def. tv. (so long as the cable aint crap)

The jump from SVideo to component isnt as great. Color seperation is much better and detail improves (a bit) but backgrounds tend to go to crap (as programmers dont spend the time needed to make them good most of the time (and why would they when a small % of the userbase uses Comp cables)

The roughest of all though is upscanning. The foreground can look great but the backgrounds suffer (and its even more noticeable when the foreground looks so much better) And I wont even get into GT4s 1080i mode. The cars are really hot and the trackside features are horrific. The contrast is so stark I cant even play the damn game. (and this is the racing freak who ran the Forza Motor Club for CAG)

I think for most games the best compromise is the s-video. Its a noticeable bump up but not terribly off from its component big brother. All in all though, Ps2 is not a pretty looking console anymore. Servicable, yes. But dont expect more than the oldest console of the gen can deliver.
 
weird.. i can barely play with the regular cables.. as soon as you switch to svideo you notice how much better everything looks...

svideo makes a big difference for the gamecube.. and the only ps2 i play is smackdown and that looks super sharp

im using svideo on 360 and i still get wowed! cant wait till i can afford a nice tv
 
[quote name='Chacrana']I dunno Vinny... I thought playing something like Final Fantasy X on a TV with S-video as opposed to composite made a huge difference... you can just see so much more detail.

I do think that in the OP's case, the TV is more of the problem than anything. I've played a lot of games on my PS2 with S-video, composite, and component and I have not noticed an increase in the amount of jaggies.[/QUOTE]

Maybe... Gamecube runs and looks great on S-Video, though, so maybe it really is the cable.
 
You need to adjust the potentiometer knobs so that your analog oscilloscope is aligned with the voltage set by cathode-ray tube's electron gun. It should look like this:



Pic was really big, made it a link. -Trak
 
[quote name='guyver2077']weird.. i can barely play with the regular cables.. as soon as you switch to svideo you notice how much better everything looks...

svideo makes a big difference for the gamecube.. and the only ps2 i play is smackdown and that looks super sharp

im using svideo on 360 and i still get wowed! cant wait till i can afford a nice tv[/QUOTE]

Bleh! The car in PGR3 looks great, wish I could say the same for the backgrounds. Granted this game has less it has to throw up in backgrounds but I prefer looking at the graphics for RR6 instead.
 
Having played composite, s-video, and component through several different sets and systems, I can say, at least on my TVs and with my consoles and cables, everything looks much better from composite to s-video. But jumping from s-video to component, there isn't that much of a difference. Now, the two TVs I'm comparing are different and the TV running component just looks better than the other TV anyway.

By the way, I've played Kingdom Hearts II on both the s-video set and the component set and not noticed a significant difference.
 
I play on s-video for my ps2 simply because very few of the games I play support progressive scan ('cept god of war and resident evil 4) and I play my xbox games on component. Since I don't have a TV (poor grad student), I play on my monitor with transcoders. I totally agree with the people who say s-video looks a lot better than composite. True you see some more jaggies but it looks better overall. Component makes halo 2 look like it's running off the PC because the sharpness/clarity is downright astounding. RE 4 looks fine in progressive scan but somehow the ps2 PS games don't get quite the graphical boost that xbox games over s-video. But yeah, for anyone who says there's hardly any gaps between composite/s-video/component, they're either crazy, blind or just used really shoddy equipment because the quality jump is CLEARLY noticeable.
 
[quote name='zola']I play on s-video for my ps2 simply because very few of the games I play support progressive scan ('cept god of war and resident evil 4) and I play my xbox games on component. Since I don't have a TV (poor grad student), I play on my monitor with transcoders. I totally agree with the people who say s-video looks a lot better than composite. True you see some more jaggies but it looks better overall. Component makes halo 2 look like it's running off the PC because the sharpness/clarity is downright astounding. RE 4 looks fine in progressive scan but somehow the ps2 PS games don't get quite the graphical boost that xbox games over s-video. But yeah, for anyone who says there's hardly any gaps between composite/s-video/component, they're either crazy, blind or just used really shoddy equipment because the quality jump is CLEARLY noticeable.[/quote]
What transcoder are you using? Any particular ones that I should look for or avoid? I'm looking for a good but reasonable priced one that I can use to hook up my LCD display (has both VGA and DVI inputs) to my PS2. Thanks!
 
My TV has two inputs, 1 S-Video/regular RCA and one RCA.

Should I use S-Video on my GC instead of PS2?

Currently I have PS2 on S-Video and GC on RCA.
 
Sony designed a crappy system that doesn't support hardware anti-aliasing. Thats why your(and my) ps2 is so jaggy. If you hate the jaggies so much, play games on xbox, xbox 360, gamecube, heck even Dreamcast has AA.

If a game is only on ps2, you're stuck with jaggies. I still have em on GT4 at 1080i with monster cables. Looks amazing, but theres still jaggies.
 
I have a PS2 running component cables to a LCD HDTV, and I've noticed a big improvement from composite, although I think the colors are a little bit washed out. It may be the step up to HD that is making the imperfections stand out more. I wonder if any of the consoles are going to support the HDMI interface. Supposedly it's going to be the next standard in 2-3 years.
Anyone have any insight on what that is?

And is they're any point in getting component cables for the Gamecube?
 
I have my slim PS2 running with Monster Component cables on my HDTV and it is a massive improvement over the analong cables. Picture is a lot brighter and cleaner.

I am currently trying to finish the Kingdom Hearts before I play part two and the picture for the first game is great. It is not perfect but is much improved over the plain analog signal. If you have a way to run component cables that might help you out.
 
[quote name='eau']What transcoder are you using? Any particular ones that I should look for or avoid? I'm looking for a good but reasonable priced one that I can use to hook up my LCD display (has both VGA and DVI inputs) to my PS2. Thanks![/QUOTE]

Well for the games that don't have progressive scan, I use this old old thing called 'Jam!!' by Aims Lab which is no longer in production - I found it for 10 bucks off of ebay. I'm sure you can find similar things.

For progressive scan stuff though, I use the VD-Z3 by vdigi electronics. It's really crisp and dafoomie has a long post on it under some thread entitled like "cheap ass HDTV setup". It got really good reviews from several places including teamxbox and god of war and RE 4 look great along with GT4. Shadow of the Colossus doesn't look quite as good though but I think that's just the game itself. Xbox games are gorgeous.

So if you're looking for one specifically for s-video purposes, I can't really help you. The one I got wasn't of particularly high quality but it looks fine and noticeably better when compared with a TV running in composite video next to it. That said, I'd say pretty much any s-video transcoder would do fine - just read some other user comments first. ^_^

Sorry I can't be of more help.
 
Older PS2's don't look quite as good as the newer models either. It could be that as well.
 
when the jaggies on my PS2 get to be too much, I just take my contact lenses out and continue playing. Its like turning my PS2 into an N64! :D
 
[quote name='pinoy530']Sony designed a crappy system that doesn't support hardware anti-aliasing. Thats why your(and my) ps2 is so jaggy. If you hate the jaggies so much, play games on xbox, xbox 360, gamecube, heck even Dreamcast has AA.

If a game is only on ps2, you're stuck with jaggies. I still have em on GT4 at 1080i with monster cables. Looks amazing, but theres still jaggies.[/QUOTE]

I guess I never heard this about the PS2 before (didn't read much about it, bought it for the EyeToy and Katamari and then later realized it had all these great RPG's). I had a GC for 2 years before getting my PS2 about a year ago (so I have the newer model). First game I played was Jak & Daxter and the jaggies gave me a freaking headache. Both my PS2 and GC are hooked up with component cables on a 51" Sony HDTV. It looked so much worse than just about ANY GC game.

Now, it isn't every game that has these problems to such a degree though. Both Jak II and Jak III weren't as bad (though they both run progressive). Radiata Stories looked fantastic (hmmm... also progressive). I don't notice too much difference on the progressive for Gamecube (often the kids forget to turn it on and I can't tell).

But I'm playing Kingdom Hearts right now, Roufuss, (the first one) and it is pretty horribly jaggy. So I guess they just kept the formula :D. On Grandia III (which I'm also playing now) the backgrounds are fantastic (pre-rendered?), but the characters and foreground objects are very jaggy (didn't someone earlier say backgrounds look bad with component but foregrounds look good? I seem to have the opposite problem on this game anyway).
 
On older games for PS1 and first-generation PS2, pre-rendered backgrounds looked worse with component, and the polygonal models looked clearer.

Better quality of signal does not always mean a better image is produced.

If a game's jagged pixels are getting to be a problem, just bump your cables down to S-Video or Composite, or purchase a backup, analog tv set.
 
If better quality connection brings out the imperfections more, can you really fault it? It is a more accurate portrayal of the image, whether the original image sucks or not.
 
[quote name='willardhaven']If a game's jagged pixels are getting to be a problem, just bump your cables down to S-Video or Composite, or purchase a backup, analog tv set.[/quote]
Or, if you're playing PS1 games, just emulate them on a PC. I've been playing Silent Hill lately and I must say PS1 emulation has come a loooong way. It looks frickin' beautiful. Beats anything the PS1/2 could put out with a PS1 game.
 
[quote name='io']I guess I never heard this about the PS2 before [/QUOTE]
That's crazy. It's been one of the PS2's biggest knocks against it, since it was released.
 
[quote name='zewone']That's crazy. It's been one of the PS2's biggest knocks against it, since it was released.[/QUOTE]

Meh, like I said, I didn't pay attention. My last console was the Colecovision before I got a Gamecube for the kids a few years back. Then I decided to pick up a PS2 when I got all that EB credit from their trade 2 get an extra $10 deal about a year ago - I guess this "knock" was old news by then. I mostly got it for the EyeToy and Katamari like I said. Didn't read a damn thing about the hardware.

HOWEVER, I have often read reviews of multiplatform games (mostly to see if the 'cube ones were up to snuff) and not once have I ever seen a reviewer mention this problem with the PS2 versions of games (they will often say the Xbox and Gamecube versions "look better" without explaining). I'm just saying this is the first time I've seen someone specifically mention the Anti-aliasing issue, instead of general statements about the PS2 being less capable than the others.

And no way no how am I downgrading my connections to play games :D. While I might see some more jaggies than with S-video (composite doesn't even enter the picture so to speak) I'm sure the overall quality is much better - plus on those rare occasions when I actually play a progressive scan PS2 game I want to be ready for it :D.
 
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