How can I make my old stuff look good on a Samsung LCD?

[toythatkills]

Sorry to post this here, only I'm a complete 'tard with this stuff and couldn't figure a better place to ask! Tried a search too, but no luck...

So anyway, I just got a Samsung LE26R41BD as have a lot of people. So anyway. At the moment I've got my PS2 connected with an RGB Scart cable, and my Xbox connected with regular ol' Scart. My PS2 looks nasty, and my Xbox dashboard, for some reason, is hugely screwed up. Is there some settings I can mess with, or a better way to connect them?

I realise it's still not gonna look brilliant, but I figure it should at least look better than it does at the moment!

[sj33]

Component should be the prefered method. I also find RGB Scart to look subpar on LCD screens.

Component also gives you the advantage of 480p and HD modes (you will have to patch your XBox if it's PAL).

[toythatkills]

Thought that might be the case! Another question:

Is there something akin to a SCART splitter for component signals so I can connect a bunch of stuff that way?

[MikeRox]

if there isn't already (I don't know too much about component as I ain't got anything thats capable of using it yet) Joytech are bringing out a dedicated gaming component switcher sometime soon, basically same as their brilliant AV Centres for SCART switching. They're powered so that there is no visible loss of picture quality.

[HaHaUK]

heres a component splitter from playasia, i remember someone on here saying its not too bad:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-n-70-3cb.html

[Dock]

What consoles do you have?

For xbox I highly recommend component, ideally with the prog-scan mod, but it will look pretty good even without it.

For PS2, use SVHS. I've been completely unable to find a component PS2 cable that will give me anything other than a horrible signal, with red smears everywhere. Anyone else suffering this? Nevertheless, I'm finding that SVHS looks really good with my PAL PS2! It looks great with that signal.

So with my Samsung LE32R41BD I avoid using SCART RGB at all, it just looks crappy, and I use SVHS, component, or RGB converted to VGA with an XRGB2+ box.

[HaHaUK]

Sorry to butt in, but what about the older consoles, eg. PS1/DC/N64/SNES and all those, what connection is best on those?

[Dock]

Sorry to butt in, but what about the older consoles, eg. PS1/DC/N64/SNES and all those, what connection is best on those?

The Dreamcast has a VGA output box available which will give the best signal.
Otherwise, ideally (if its 60hz) use an XRGB2+. Otherwise, try for SVHS.

[sj33]

heres a component splitter from playasia, i remember someone on here saying its not too bad:

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-n-70-3cb.html

That one is excellent, I use it myself.

For PS2, use SVHS. I've been completely unable to find a component PS2 cable that will give me anything other than a horrible signal, with red smears everywhere.

You tried the official one? Works lovely for me. Straying from official cables is invariably a bad idea, no matter how ghastly expensive the Sony ones in particular are - it's a one off, long term purchase.

[Dock]

I have official cables for xbox and gamecube, but can't for the life of me find an official Sony component cable.

[gIzzE]

I realise it's still not gonna look brilliant, but I figure it should at least look better than it does at the moment!

Why?


Sorry I don't get that comment at all, why would you buy a set expecting it not to look brilliant?

I got ripped to pieces on the avforums with my review of the Samsung LCD, however I had so many owners PM me saying that they really regreted buying it, only ever had more PMs from Samsung Plasma owners.

The deinterlcaing and the scaling is not good in this screen and really screws things around with loads of artifacts, but even when fed with native rate using a ?2.5k video processor it still causes problems as the processing does not turn off completely.

Considering you can buy a Panny plasma for under a grand that blows it away I just don't get why anyone would bother.

[mid]

I can't get one, though, as even the 37" is really too big for my viewing space. Is there a different 32" screen I should be getting instead?

[Dock]

I can see why people would be disappointed with this set. When I hooked up my RGB-Scart splitter to the unit and tried out the consoles via that, the signal was very poor indeed, and incredibly disappointing. If you leave your experience there, then yes - you'll hate this TV. However, by changing my cables to Component, VGA and SVHS I'm now really happy with my image quality.

(just found an official sony component cable on ebay, yay!)

[vertigo]

For your pre-VGA cable stuff, take the TV out of 100Hz mode and turn any optional picture processing and smoothing options off.
I hate plasma and flat TV picture processing, it makes everything look like a turd unless it's a perfectly encoded DVD.

[VurtHed]

Seems like this thread is as good a place as any to ask my questions. I've just got my 32" HD-Ready LCD (Hitachi 32LD7200 - very happy with it) and am hooking up my consoles. The three I want the best picture with are: PAL GC, PAL PS2, PAL XBox (all unmodded).

GC

I've got hold of the official component cable (from Play-Asia) and it is soooo much better than the composite connection I was using on my old TV. Can I get prog-scan from either PAL games, or NTSC with freeloader?

PS2

I've tried RGB SCART and S-video and they're both pants! It seems from comments above that component is better, but how much better? Can I get prog-scan from PAL games (with or without modding)? If so - at what resolution?

BTW Dock - Play-Asia seem to have the official component cable for a better price than I can find on eBay.

XBox

Currently using S-video and it look good, but I know it could be sharper.

I've found the Hi Def AV pack at Play-Asia . I know I can soft-mod my Xbox to get NTSC and prog-scan, but all my games are 480p at best. Is 480p better than 576i? You're losing 16% of the lines, but gaining image quality - how does the trade-off affect the picture? Can you use the component cable without a) having to soft-mod, and b) use prog-scan? (Obviously this depends on how 480p stacks up against 576i).

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I have no connection with Play-Asia!