PS2 "Widescreen" fix - try a cheap TV tuner!

Ryan Fenton · Post by **Ryan Fenton** » 25 Oct 2006, 05:49

I think I've got a nice suggestion for folks looking to get low-res consoles like the PS2 working with widescreen monitors like the Dell2405 and such: TV tuners with svideo input + Media player classic or another video tool to catch the stream and manipulate it. Works great for PS2 games - should make FFXII look very nice compared to the direct connection. Total cost: $15 for a nice USB tuner with an S-Video input + a couple minutes time to learn to use the ctrl+ number pad in MPC to adjust the screen size and position for the PS2's lame widescreen. I find it a better solution than progressive scan component cables for my uses, actually.

You may also need to get a seperate cable going to your audio card, depending on how the tuner you get works. I'd already done that when I set up my PS2 directly to my 2405.

If you use Media Player Classic, here's how to get things working:

1. Install the drivers for your TV Tuner, get it working with the lame default software.

2. Get Media Player Classic installed - the K-Lite Codec pack is good for that (http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm) or get it directly from it's sourceforge site (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358)

3. Open MPC up, go to the file menu - choose open device. You should be able to pick the TV Tuner as a video source with almost any TV Tuner. I've got a cheap ultra-generic korean model (it just says "TV Box on it", no brand name, no company), and MPC picks it up fine. Pick a country code and audio source, and click OK. If you have your TV tuner hooked up, you should see some channel.

4. Go to the View->Capture menu option. A panel should open up with some details about your tuner. At the top left, is the video source - click it and go from Tuner to S-Video. If you have the PS2 on, you should see the console's output.

5. (You just need to do this once) Disable some options... unless you want to record what you're seeing (which is nice if you want to do the YouTube thing), uncheck the record video checkbox, but leave preview. If you have your audio hooked up through your sound card, then unmute that input through Windows Volume Control, and disable preview in MPC. This should keep video realtime.

6. Now, you'll want to fiddle with the aspect ratio. Right-click on the video to get the context menu. Play around with the Video Frame options - you'll quickly see the standard ways to get the basic aspect ratio options to show up... but the PS2 has some lame framing issues, especially with "widescreen" content it produces by using less pixel real-estate. To deal with this, use the menu called 'pan & scan" (don't worry about the name)- you'll see a number of options to move the video around, and stretch it.

The easiest way to deal with these adjustments at this point is to to enable number lock on your keyboard, then just use the number keys on the right. That adjusts vertical/horizontal scaling. Then hold down control and use the same keys to move the screen around. In a few seconds, you'll have a pretty good screen layout for widescreen content.

I'm sure there are other bits of software out there too - anyone else do something along these lines, and have any further suggestions?

PS2 games with widescreen content:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Progressive_Scan_PS2_Games
Then, there's also games like FFXII which will have widescreen aspect ratio, but no progressive scan.

Anyway thought I'd share all that for those who have a nice widescreen monitor, but have had bad luck with getting a good solution for PS2 games given the PS2's odd way of behaving on most wide-screen monitors.

Note: There are no known HD TV Tuners with Component In inputs within a reasonable price range - that's why S-Video is the choice in this mini-guide.

Ryan Fenton

Ryan Fenton · Post by **Ryan Fenton** » 25 Oct 2006, 05:56

I may make a tutorial out of this for the Tutorials forum here.

Ryan Fenton · Post by **Ryan Fenton** » 25 Oct 2006, 06:08

Oh, and this topic may also help for when Wii comes out... all games there should be low-res, but widescreen, meaning this technique may help to get the most screen real-estate for Wii setup on a nice Widescreen monitor... it'll be interesting to see how the remote and scanner bar work in that situation. It should also help for when you want to have a video for Youtube of something in a Wii/Ps2/other console game.

Ryan Fenton

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 25 Oct 2006, 21:11

I may make a tutorial out of this for the Tutorials forum here.

Do it. :) Or neaten this up a little, and I'll move it. :)

Ryan Fenton · Post by **Ryan Fenton** » 28 Oct 2006, 06:22

Shall do - but first, I want to gather more data. The 'GameBridge' device works excellently, actually. It's cheap, mega-small, and superior in visual performance. I'll have to make some special instructions on how best to use the device - the default software really, REALLY stinks compared to MPC with some nice DirectX9 shaders applied at 1920x1200. A pity the GameBridge itself has been discontinued - get it while you can if you're interested.

Anyway, I'm getting a YouTube account, and should be able to produce some nice examples of getting MPC to use the device in a nice widescreen mode.

I've emailed a picture in, and it should be in the screenshots area before too long.

Ryan Fenton

vivasawadee · Post by **vivasawadee** » 07 Nov 2006, 08:39

Good Work Ryan.

Can't wait to play God of War and Bully on my screen. :P

Ryan Fenton · Post by **Ryan Fenton** » 08 Nov 2006, 04:03

Sorry for the delay - my video card on my 2.5+ year-old system blew up, wasting the AGP slot on the system, requiring me to research a whole new system for the holidays, leading to a temporary halt to my work on this mini-project. On the bright side, my parents get a nicely upgraded system this Christmas. In the meantime, I did get the GameBridge unit, and of course Final Fantasy XII.

The GameBridge, cheaper than most TV Tuners, performs superbly with Media Player Classic, once the basic driver disk is installed. My short recommendation is to go on Froogle.com, find the cheapest available GameBridge unit, and use it if you've got a monitor that doesn't handle widescreen inputs on its own. It's a unit that is no longer being manufactured, and you can use a many cheap TV-Tuners just as well, but it's one of the best cheap options available, and it works extremely well.

Of course, it works better if you also have a DirectX9-compliant video card (the DX9 shader effects applied to the PS2 video input rock), but it works better than most TVs just by grabbing and scaling the video even on a PC with just on-board video. I'll have a more thorough revision and content addition, complete with Wii-coverage if I can get one, hopefully during December.

Ryan Fenton

RolloRolf · Post by **RolloRolf** » 15 Nov 2006, 00:32

Hey i've tried your guide with my GameCube. I use composite cables. I've been able to get the picture up, but it's very blurry (with or without widescreen) Also i've got no sound.

How can I improve the picture quality? (My tv-tuner doesn't allow for Component cables, and I'm not sure if GameCube has any S-video cables)
And how can i get audio?

This is the Pal GameCube btw.

THank you in advance

illuminati · Post by **illuminati** » 15 Nov 2006, 12:47

Only NTCS gamecube supports S-Video unfortunately - the PAL only supports RGB cables.

Ryan Fenton · Post by **Ryan Fenton** » 15 Nov 2006, 15:33

One tip if the video freezes if you are using the GameBridge - set the video framerate from 29.997 to 30. For audio, I've had a nice cheap $2 y-spliter to plug the red/white audio cables into my audio-in on my audio card on my system for back when I just plugged the console into the monitor directly.

I'll try experimenting with using the GameBridge audio through Media Player Classic.

Ryan Fenton

hwoarang5 · Post by **hwoarang5** » 27 Nov 2006, 13:01

good guide, but why no use this app instead, better quality imho.... plus no installation is need and switching resolution and fixing size is a breeze, just key in and apply..

http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~fvandenb/tools/tools.html

get the app call "FullscreenTV.exe"
fors for my Viewsonic va1912w, hook up with my ps2 to play tekken 5,

hopes this helps...

Ryan Fenton · Post by **Ryan Fenton** » 29 Nov 2006, 03:21

I'm sure there's a LOT of video tools out there that do the same thing, or will let you latch onto other video inputs. MPC is just the one I know fairly well.

There is a problem with the FullScreenTV tool though - it won't let you select which input you want from the device you select. For instance, with the GameBridge, you can use either S-Video or Component inputs - I've also got another TV card with the same options. You can't change over to S-Video using that tool.

MPC allows you really tweak your inputs rather well, and add a LOT of DirectX and other filters on top of the video, which can be rather nice with some inputs.

Also, the whole point of this whole exersize is that many video inputs, like the PS2 are designed for whole screen display. When put in widescreen mode, stretching them to widescreen, and including all the video input will leave large artificial black bars in the video input. The critical advantage I suggest MPC for is to allow manual tweaking of the size, scale and position of the input, rather than taking the automatic and flawed size of the PS2 output when in its widescreen mode on some monitors.

Also, an update on my status with my computer: Monarch Computer, which used to be one of the very best system builders in the US, with the most consistant positive reviews on reseller review sites appears to have shut out communications with most of their customers unexpectedly, and is planning on releasing a press release. That leaves me out of $1700 paying for a new system, and now I've been waiting a full month for them to even begin to construct my system. It really sucks, and I was hoping to be able to make a nice full how-to on getting this working on the new system. Unfortunately, now I only have on-board video capability with my old system, and am left unable to continue some important explorations until I can get in contact with them to either get my system, or get my money back. Really annoying - that company has provided me with several good computers and extremely good support for over 4 years, and now they've really screwed me over out of the blue.

Ryan Fenton

Ascii_Aficionado · Post by **Ascii_Aficionado** » 29 Nov 2006, 03:59

I had this exact idea, I tried using it with some generic $50 tv tuner my father had at his place. and after 7 installs *the software for *WinTV has to be the stupidest motherf***ing installer I have ever seen in my life* if finally worked, there was a 4 sec delay on video and it wasn't even worth playing.

I imagine it would be better on a high end tv tuner though, I might give it a chance in the future if I am able to do so. I only have this ps2 b/c I am borrowing it from a friend to catch up on FFX/X-2/XII

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