Need some help with my new HDTV please...

[cooldrum3]

I picked up one of those Sanyo Vizon 32" jobs at Walmart for my bedroom/computer room. It's 720p and 1000:1 contrast ratio. I don't have digital cable yet, but will be getting it eventually. For right now, I'm ok with just having the analog signal for my cable. I have hooked up my PS2, however, and despite fiddling with all the settings for 16:9, etc. the picture is really quite poor...at least as bad as the analog cable if not worse. I have read that I should get the Sony component cables and use those instead of the A/V inputs. Fine and good, but what settings should I be using on the PS2? Note: I have the old, fat one, not the slimline job...in case there's a difference.

My second question is, what would be the best way to hook up my laptop the the TV? It doesn't have a VGA input, but does have a composite video in as well as HDMI and the component inputs. My laptop has a composite video (s-video) out.

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Thanx!

[nakatalee]

component cable will give you better PQ, but if the TV scaller engine is not up to the task, you will still get a bad PQ on a blown 480p picture on 32" LCD.

in term of your laptop, i would use S-video since your TV doesn't have VGA or DVI-D input. I have not tried this out but you could, in theory, use VGA out, convert to DVI, then convert to HDMI.

[PhysX]

yeah regular cable / sat on 32" lcd doesn't look good. we have some setup on sat at work "sell them./.." anyways it just looks bad. blurry too.

[splat]

you MUST use DVI or Component Video cables in order to get a resolution bigger than standard definition (480i). Regular RCA (red, white, yellow) can only output 480i video (yellow), and stereo sound (red, white). SVideo can be a little better than the standard RCA cables, but it still can only do 480i. Just to touch on the topic of surround sound, you need to either use an Optical cable (6 channels of audio in 1 cable) or get component audio cables (1 cable for each channel of audio = 6 cables). I can't remember if digital coax (s/pdif) can deliver surround sound too or not. I think PS2's can only do 480p output at most (i'd have to double check that, it might be 720p), which depends on teh game, but it will need to be upscaled to display natively on your 720p screen. So, on some tv's this can create lag between when you push a button and when the action appears on the screen. My friend noted that on games that require precision button timing, like some golf games, it makes the game unplayable because you will constantly be missing your mark.

in short: the best way to connect your PS2 is component video, the best way to connect your pc/laptop is HDMI (basically DVI w/ audio included in 1 connector).

[cooldrum3]

Thanx for the input. Since I originally posted, I have gotten cComponent cables for the PS2...wow, what a difference. The scaling works well on the TV and I now have a much better picture without all the artifacts. DVD's look much better too. The PC problem I think I have found a solution for as well. I do have a DVI output on my laptop, as well as the s-video, and I found an adatper cable at Wal-Mart to convert DVI to HDMI. The only problem...it's like 60 bucks! Methinks I'm gonna hold off on that until I build a media PC.

Anyway GT4, while not awesome, is pretty damn sweet, and my DVD quality is better than my analog cable...so I'm happy, for now.

[Sonny]

Anyway GT4, while not awesome, is pretty damn sweet, and my DVD quality is better than my analog cable...so I'm happy, for now.

If GT4 = Gran Turismo 4, you can set that game to output 1080P.

[cooldrum3]

If GT4 = Gran Turismo 4, you can set that game to output 1080P.

Can you tell me where?

[bchur83]

Thanx for the input. Since I originally posted, I have gotten cComponent cables for the PS2...wow, what a difference. The scaling works well on the TV and I now have a much better picture without all the artifacts. DVD's look much better too. The PC problem I think I have found a solution for as well. I do have a DVI output on my laptop, as well as the s-video, and I found an adatper cable at Wal-Mart to convert DVI to HDMI. The only problem...it's like 60 bucks! Methinks I'm gonna hold off on that until I build a media PC.

Anyway GT4, while not awesome, is pretty damn sweet, and my DVD quality is better than my analog cable...so I'm happy, for now.


http://www.monoprice.com

Go there for a DVI-HDMI converter/Cable. Best prices around.

[Sonny]

Can you tell me where?

OPTIONS | SCREEN | VIDEO OUTPUT | 1080i

Well, I made a mistake, it's 1080i.

[nakatalee]

OPTIONS | SCREEN | VIDEO OUTPUT | 1080i

Well, I made a mistake, it's 1080i.

I was about to say, hmmm... 1080p?? no need for GT5 then. :)

Pretty lady on avatar!

[splat]

i didn't think the ps2 itself was capable of outputting 1080i. interesting.