Normally, when hooked up to a HDTV the PS2 would produce a hideously blurry picture. But the Xploder HDTV Player disc fixes this problem, allowing you to play any PS2 game in pin-sharp resolutions.
For those who are on their tech-speak, this disc allows you to put the PS2 into 480p, 576p, 720p and 1080i modes. That's high-res, for the techno newbies out there. It also includes VGA support, so you can hook your PS2 up to a PC monitor.
All you do is plonk the CD into the PS2 and up pops a menu screen. Set your desired resolution, insert your game and off you go. We tested it with two Sony HDTVs, both running OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast. With the HDTV Player pre-loaded on one PS2, the difference was immediately noticeable. We're talking Xbox 360 sharpness, and absolutely no effect on frame-rates at all.
It works simply by unlocking a high-def mode that already exists within the PS2's hardware. The Xploder HDTV Player comes bundled with a PS2 component cable needed for a HD signal, and will hit shops for £29.99.
An exact release has not yet been set, but it's due to hit shops before the end of October.
So what your saying is that the PS2 can out put 1080i with no hit on the frame rate of the game.
So how come not all PS3 games are 1080p
Does it work with every game?
PS2 has always been able to do HiDef. Gran Turismo had a 1080i option, If you look at the shots of God of war 2 you will see they are in 780p ( I think p anyways )
PS2 has always been able to do HiDef. Gran Turismo had a 1080i option, If you look at the shots of God of war 2 you will see they are in 780p ( I think p anyways )
yes i know, those games were designed from the start to play at high rez. Most games designed for the PS2 struggle to work at 640 x 480. It takes a really hot developer to get more out of it.
My point is, if im playing a game on the PC which is pushing it to its limits at 30 fps and then double the rez the frame rate would take a big hit.
If this thing works it will be bloody great. It just seems a little bit too much like magic to me lol.
Looking at the list of PS2 games that support progressive scan modes shows that only a handful of titles support 480p and only one has 1080i support namely Gran Turismo 4.
That means that all PS2 games with that CD are only being upscaled to 720p and 1080i in the same way that backward compatible Xbox games are on the 360 but at least they get added anti-aliasing to smooth over the jaggies. That said, since when did the PS2 have a built in image scaler???
Apart from the sharpness of being able to use component video for all PS2 games I can't imagine that the games actually look any better graphically. In fact, if my experience of playing Xbox games in 480p on a softmodded machine is anything to go by the games will look jaggier as the native resolution is so low.
* Is the HDTV Player changing the code within games so that they display in HD? No, the Xploder HDTV Player does not change the code within games. It enables progressive scan, so instead of outputting odd/even fields it outputs 448/512 lines to the CRT output. * Does the HDTV player use additional hardware? The Xploder HDTV Player does not use any additional hardware in converting the signal; it is purely a software product. The disc does comes bundled with a PS2 component cable for the HDTV output, and a VGA Adaptor cable is available separately for those who wish to use a VGA connection. * Does using the software slow games down? Games render at their native resolution - therefore Xploder HDTV Player does not take-up any additional processing power. * The PS2 hardware isn't capable of outputting 720p and 1080i * Contrary to popular belief, the PlayStation 2 can output 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i modes via a Component cable. In addition the PS2 supports the following VESA modes (via VGA adaptor): * 640 x 480 (60,72, 75, 85hz) * 800 x 600 (56, 60, 72, 75,85hz) * 1024 x 768 (60, 70, 75, 85hz) 1280 x 1024 (60, 75hz) * Will games suffer from stretching and distortion? For optimum display on TVs with limited aspect ratio controls, we recommend the 576p display option. Some games may experience distortion in the higher resolution modes. * Doesn’t my HDTV already up-convert lower resolution signals to High Definition, regardless of the source? Displaying interlaced video on progressive displays (LCD, Plasma) results in motion artefacts called “combing�, the Xploder HDTV avoids this by sending video frames in progressive mode (where possible). * Do the games have to be formatted in HD? No, the games do not have to be formatted in HD to be used with the Xploder HDTV Player. * You can't increase the quality of the source. Progressive mode sends twice the number of lines per frame (game permitting), so the resolution is increased vertically (interlaces games need 2 screen updates, or twice the amount of time to send the same video data). * There has been a lot of reference to up-converting/up-scaling and de-interlacing. Which of these best describes the HDTV Player? Progressive mode and up-scaling best describe the method used by the Xploder HDTV Player. * Does the device interpolate (or add pixels). The Xploder HDTV Player does not interpolate. It works by enabling progressive scan output, so instead of sending half the lines per frame it sends all of them. This has noticeable improvements in movement, especially on HDTV sets; artefacts such as combing are no long present. The software does not create extra lines (or interpolate). * Will this work with all PS2 games? We have already successfully tested Xploder HDTV Player with hundreds of games, however there may ultimately be a small number of games that the Xploder HDTV is not compatible with due to circumstances outside of our control. Our comprehensive testing programme will continue as new games are released. Compatibility is around 95% of all PS titles.
Ah that sounds right and pretty much what I expected so basically C&VG have misreported this, which is nothing new!
What they should have said is that the CD allows all those resolutions but the game has to support the higher resolution ones in the first place in order to use them otherwise all games will be 480p only, i.e. the same resolution as on a standard definition TV only in progressive not interlaced mode, giving a sharper but jaggier looking image.
Only one games supports 1080i, Gran Turismo 4, and to my knowledge no PS2 games support 720p unlike on the Xbox, where there are about a dozen or more native 720p games including Soul Calibur, Tony Hawk's Underground and Amped 2 among others.
Personally I'd stick with blur-o-vision RGB SCART as it masks the jaggies better. Believe me, I've seen Xbox games with component video and unless they use anti-aliasing they look awful.
i need something like this for the original xbox cos that is really blurry,i spent a thousand pounds on a samsung tv microsoft endorsed,so i was well p**sed when i hooked my original xbox up and the picture was like that.
i need something like this for the original xbox cos that is really blurry,i spent a thousand pounds on a samsung tv microsoft endorsed,so i was well p**sed when i hooked my original xbox up and the picture was like that.
Ah that sounds right and pretty much what I expected so basically C&VG have misreported this, which is nothing new!
What they should have said is that the CD allows all those resolutions but the game has to support the higher resolution ones in the first place in order to use them otherwise all games will be 480p only, i.e. the same resolution as on a standard definition TV only in progressive not interlaced mode, giving a sharper but jaggier looking image.
Only one games supports 1080i, Gran Turismo 4, and to my knowledge no PS2 games support 720p unlike on the Xbox, where there are about a dozen or more native 720p games including Soul Calibur, Tony Hawk's Underground and Amped 2 among others.
Personally I'd stick with blur-o-vision RGB SCART as it masks the jaggies better. Believe me, I've seen Xbox games with component video and unless they use anti-aliasing they look awful.
The post above says that it works with 95% of games.
Still hard to believe though. Why hasnt Sony used this "hidden feature" as a marketing ploy?
I would steer well clear of this. The company making this had a similar device out ages ago with just a VGA adapter included, and it was rubbish. While it would enable high-res output for most games, often you would end up with black borders and flickering artefacts at the edges of the screen. In-game movies would also have problems displaying properly as they would often be encoded at a different resolution to the in-game graphics meaning the movie would be distorted or half of it would be cut off.
This basically forces the PS2 into a certain resolution, but it doesn't have any control over how much frame buffer etc that the PS2 uses, so most games end up looking rubbish. If you want sharp output for PS2 games, it's probably best to cross your fingers and hope the PS3 does a decent upscaling job. They claim it will work with 95% of games, it probably will load 95% of them without crashing, but how many of those won't have graphical problems is another matter entirely.
I wanted to know when you tested the HDTV player did you use the RGB cable provided or a VGA cable, because the company recommends the VGA cable for better picture quality which is an additional Ł10. Also why is it that Xploder and CVG have not used brief video footage to showcase the difference in quality as this would rectify any reservations people might have towards this product.
I have to say i'm not impressed with this i got it yesterday and every game i tried with it played in a 4:3 window even at 480p when the PS2 can play back 480p full screen without the player, it was the same for every res i tried with the window getting smaller and smaller 1080i was impossible the window was just way to small, the strange thing was DVD movies would play back in 480p and 576p ok 1080i was still a very small window and this was with the TV set to max ratio at 16:9, i have emailed Xploder support but they haven't got back to me, I would like to know what settings thet CVG used etc to get theirs running full screen if at all.
Total waste of money. First i couldn't get it to load at all ('Please insert a Playstation2 disc' was the message) then, when i finally did get it working, the first game i tried (Scarface) wouldn't show a picture at all, just a black screen. Finally, i tried Black, only to find out that you have to zoom in using the tv's aspect ratio controls to get a full screen picture, thus completely negating any benefit of having increased resolution. It sounded too good to be true & it is, this horrendous pile of crap is going straight back. *spits on floor*
I did take a couple of comparison photos... http://MrE27.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/regular480i.JPG 1st is the regular ps2 picture on an HDTV via a component cable.
http://MrE27.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/720p.JPG 2nd is the upscaled 720p picture, with no zooming.
http://MrE27.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/720pstretched.JPG And this is the final 720p picture, once the aspect ratio has been zoomed in to make it fill the screen.
Hi I bought this the other day and I am also getting the red insert a compatible disk screen every time. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? If it is just a case of keeping trying then this pretty much sucks as I can't just turn on and play guaranteed.
the main reason i wanna have this is that it could possibly help the incredible lag on my lcd tv. can someone confirm that it does? Try music games, like ddr, pop'n music, beatmania, beatmania iidx, guitar freaks, drummania or guitar hero.
the main reason i wanna have this is that it could possibly help the incredible lag on my lcd tv. can someone confirm that it does? Try music games, like ddr, pop'n music, beatmania, beatmania iidx, guitar freaks, drummania or guitar hero.
It wont help with lag all it does so they say is run games in Progressive scan speed is still handled by the TV so if you have a slow TV response you still will with this.
I'd be interested to know what the performance is like on a pc monitor once the vga adapter is available.
You can't go above 60hz once you pass 640*480, i can't look at anything at 60hz on a PC monitor without getting major headaches so i have mine set to 75hz which this player doesn't support so VGA is out for me, as for performance who knows, if their TV support is anything to go by then i would say just as crap.
It will perform exactly the same using VGA as it does using progressive, i.e. very badly. I wouldn't put this in my PS2 if you paid me.
Apparently the backwards compatibility of the PS3 doesn't upscale like the 360's BC does, so sadly PS2 games will have to remain blurry until a decent emulator comes out.
Hi guys, just thought i'd report my findings as i've seen both good and bad comments on this software. I've had it since last Thursday and my opinion so far is it's good, I really like it. I have a slimline 70003 and a Sony Bravia KDL26S2010, and have played the following games so far (i'll be trying some more tonight) Outrun 2, GTA San Andreas, SOTC, NFSU and PES 6. Unfortunately PES 6 didnt work which is a bit of a bummer.
All the games (bar PES) look miles better on my TV (LCD). Just simple stuff like actually being able to read text, and there is some nice detail in the game graphics that i didnt notice before, but can see now using this. I've been using the 576p mode on my TV which is a good fit, 720p was a bit stretched.
I was expecting a bit of slowdown, but there doesn't seem to be any on the games i've tried so far, but we'll see if there is on any of the games tonight.
Like I say, I'll probably try some more games tonight and if i do i'll let you know which ones work or dont work.
So maybe I've just been lucky with the games i've tried so far, but I really like it
Hi guys, just thought i'd report my findings as i've seen both good and bad comments on this software. I've had it since last Thursday and my opinion so far is it's good, I really like it. I have a slimline 70003 and a Sony Bravia KDL26S2010, and have played the following games so far (i'll be trying some more tonight) Outrun 2, GTA San Andreas, SOTC, NFSU and PES 6. Unfortunately PES 6 didnt work which is a bit of a bummer.
All the games (bar PES) look miles better on my TV (LCD). Just simple stuff like actually being able to read text, and there is some nice detail in the game graphics that i didnt notice before, but can see now using this. I've been using the 576p mode on my TV which is a good fit, 720p was a bit stretched.
I was expecting a bit of slowdown, but there doesn't seem to be any on the games i've tried so far, but we'll see if there is on any of the games tonight.
Like I say, I'll probably try some more games tonight and if i do i'll let you know which ones work or dont work.
So maybe I've just been lucky with the games i've tried so far, but I really like it
Well you seem to be the only one so far that likes it, you have a bravia, when i emailed Xploder support they refered to the bravia also which suggested to me that they only tested using that make of TV therefore it only really works with that Make of TV hence why your not getting the problems everyone else is having.
Hi I bought this the other day and I am also getting the red insert a compatible disk screen every time. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong? If it is just a case of keeping trying then this pretty much sucks as I can't just turn on and play guaranteed.
hi everybody, i keep getting the same message too! i have done everything i was supposed to, change the output to Y Cb/Pb Cr/Pr.
given that no one has relpied to wildhart's post, i thought i bring it back to the top. i hear marc_26 had this problem, but he managed to get the software working. maybe he knows...
Hi, I tried a couple more games last night, these were: Burnout Revenge and Hitman Contracts. Both of these worked great again.
Terranova, I also have a Samsung LN-S2341W in my kitchen I can try it on, I'll try that tonight and see what happens. I'm sure they wouldnt have only tried it on 1 TV? i'll see how the Samsung works.
On a side note to the guy who was talking about lag on music games earlier, someone over on the NTSC-UK forums last week was saying he'd played Frequency and the HDTV Player had sorted out the Lag and timing issues. I dont own any music games myself so wouldnt know about that.
Hello people, i've tried a few more games, here are my findings. These were tried on my Samsung, not my Sony Bravia:
The Getaway BM- Looks tons better Timsplitters FP- Ditto, ace Spiderman 2- Didnt load Killer 7- works good Killzone- Looks great The Getaway- Same as above
So all in all more good results for me. I think basically you have to do a little playing around with the settings, but this is small price to pay if you have an HD LCD TV like me, displaying an interlaced non HD signal on LCD looks awful, so enabling progressive scan as this disc does is miles better.
Theres also some interesting comments from people on these forums (quite technical, but i'm sure some of you are!). Some of the posts are a little over my head but theres some good info on what games people have tried and also the best modes:
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