Techfilter - Making my pc monitor play with my playstation 2.
October 21, 2015 6:28 AM Subscribe
How can I make my p2toHDMI bit work with my computer monitor?
Most specifically, I have this monitor (link), and when I plug it into my raspberry pi through the HDMI port it works fine.
I recently bought a PS2, and a PS2 to HDMI convertor (link) bit so I can play through my monitor.
The ps2 is correctly set up, and when I plug it into the tvs (not computer monitor - is this the problem?) at university through the HDMI port it works.
However, when I try and do the same at home... no dice. Worst comes to worst I'll buy a component to VGA adapter, but I'd really like to make it work with the bits that I have!
What am I doing wrong, and can I make this work? Thanks.
Most specifically, I have this monitor (link), and when I plug it into my raspberry pi through the HDMI port it works fine.
I recently bought a PS2, and a PS2 to HDMI convertor (link) bit so I can play through my monitor.
The ps2 is correctly set up, and when I plug it into the tvs (not computer monitor - is this the problem?) at university through the HDMI port it works.
However, when I try and do the same at home... no dice. Worst comes to worst I'll buy a component to VGA adapter, but I'd really like to make it work with the bits that I have!
What am I doing wrong, and can I make this work? Thanks.
Best answer: Reading through the Amazon reviews, some people report that the solution is indeed to set the PS2 to component (YPrPb) output, so you should start by trying to blindly change video output on the console:
Looking at the specs from the monitor manual, as expected the only interlaced signal it accepts on its HDMI input is 1080i. So if your convertor is feeding it 480i/576i (a straight analogue to digital conversion of the PS2 signal) it will never work, regardless of what colourspace you set the PS2 to.
Worst comes to worst I'll buy a component to VGA adapter, but I'd really like to make it work with the bits that I have!
Be warned that the VGA input on your monitor won't accept any interlaced signals at all (this is common for PC monitors) so keep that in mind before going this route. You'd need a linedoubler and/or upscaler device or else limit yourself to playing only progressive scan compatible titles.
posted by Bangaioh at 10:24 AM on October 21, 2015
Turn on console or reset, wait 15 secondsHowever, one reviewer states that this only works for the PS2 startup screen and not for gameplay, and rightly complains that the product description isn't too clear in exactly what the convertor is actually doing to the video signal.
Press down on the joypad
X
Down three times
X
Left
X
O (to return to main menu)
If this fails, try the above but press Down twice instead of three times. This is dependent on the version of PS2 you have.
Looking at the specs from the monitor manual, as expected the only interlaced signal it accepts on its HDMI input is 1080i. So if your convertor is feeding it 480i/576i (a straight analogue to digital conversion of the PS2 signal) it will never work, regardless of what colourspace you set the PS2 to.
Worst comes to worst I'll buy a component to VGA adapter, but I'd really like to make it work with the bits that I have!
Be warned that the VGA input on your monitor won't accept any interlaced signals at all (this is common for PC monitors) so keep that in mind before going this route. You'd need a linedoubler and/or upscaler device or else limit yourself to playing only progressive scan compatible titles.
posted by Bangaioh at 10:24 AM on October 21, 2015
Best answer: tl;dr: you need a different HDMI convertor for your monitor, or need to plug it to a display that accepts interlaced video on the HDMI inputs. Ask here if in doubt. Both your convertor and your monitor are actually very decent devices for gaming purposes, they're just badly paired together.
Long version:
I've done a bit more digging and it seems the device you have is just a rebranded version of this one, discussed in this informative thread at the excellent Hardware section of the Shmups Forum (emphasis added):
Translation: being a pure transcoder means it only converts the analogue component signal to HDMI as I suspected above.
The PS2 can output 3 different analogue video signals: 480i (or 576i in PAL regions, 15 kHz interlaced Standard Definition, the overwhelming majority of games), 240p/288p (15 kHz, progressive SD, very few PS2 games support this, and those that do usually support 480i as well) or 480p/576p (31 kHz, progressive ED, few games support this mode).
The HDMI converter you have will take any of these, convert them to digital video signals and pass them through otherwise unaltered to the monitor/TV. So analogue 576i becomes digital 576i, etc.
Flat panel displays are inherently progressive and have a fixed display resolution (your monitor's is 1080p), meaning that any signal sent to it that's not already in their native resolution will have to be converted by the internal display electronics, and exactly what inputs signals are accepted varies between displays, with TVs usually being a lot more lenient.
Your monitor won't accept anything lower than 480p/576p, so interlaced signals have to be deinterlaced and 240p signals linedoubled to 480p or upscaled to 720p/1080p before being fed to it.
Your convertor, assuming it's indeed the exact same version as the one discussed in that thread, does not deinterlace nor upscale so it's not the right device for using with your monitor. The only games you might be able to play are 480p compatible titles, and for that you need to:
1. set the PS2 to YPrPb output blindly (you only have to do this once, instructions in my previous reply)
2. activate the progressive mode for each game every time you play.
posted by Bangaioh at 4:42 AM on October 22, 2015
Long version:
I've done a bit more digging and it seems the device you have is just a rebranded version of this one, discussed in this informative thread at the excellent Hardware section of the Shmups Forum (emphasis added):
I don't know why there is a USB connector in the first place. Maybe some PS2 models deliver less power on the A/V port than others ? Here on a PS2 slim (revision with external PSU) the dongle works without additional power through USB.
As suspected, it's a pure transcoder. Surprisingly it works with 480i on my Sony TV (surprisingly because the other component to HDMI converters I tried yet did not show any picture with 480i). Once I switch to 240p the screen goes dark though (unrecognized signal). If I connect the HDMI cable to my XRGB instead, it says 240p on the input, so 240p isn't converted to 480i and you can't play any PS1 games (or PS2 240p games) with it, unless you've got one of the few TVs or monitors which can actually display 240p through DVI or HDMI.
Qualitywise it's absolutely fine, 480p looks gorgeous, 480i looks as expected through the TV's processor.
This thing is about $10 cheaper than a universal component to HDMI converter and you save yourself the extra cables from the PS2 to the converter, on the other hand $10 more get you a standalone converter which can be used on many systems at the same time (Cube, Wii, XBox, PS2). None of these solve the 240p issue though.
Translation: being a pure transcoder means it only converts the analogue component signal to HDMI as I suspected above.
The PS2 can output 3 different analogue video signals: 480i (or 576i in PAL regions, 15 kHz interlaced Standard Definition, the overwhelming majority of games), 240p/288p (15 kHz, progressive SD, very few PS2 games support this, and those that do usually support 480i as well) or 480p/576p (31 kHz, progressive ED, few games support this mode).
The HDMI converter you have will take any of these, convert them to digital video signals and pass them through otherwise unaltered to the monitor/TV. So analogue 576i becomes digital 576i, etc.
Flat panel displays are inherently progressive and have a fixed display resolution (your monitor's is 1080p), meaning that any signal sent to it that's not already in their native resolution will have to be converted by the internal display electronics, and exactly what inputs signals are accepted varies between displays, with TVs usually being a lot more lenient.
Your monitor won't accept anything lower than 480p/576p, so interlaced signals have to be deinterlaced and 240p signals linedoubled to 480p or upscaled to 720p/1080p before being fed to it.
Your convertor, assuming it's indeed the exact same version as the one discussed in that thread, does not deinterlace nor upscale so it's not the right device for using with your monitor. The only games you might be able to play are 480p compatible titles, and for that you need to:
1. set the PS2 to YPrPb output blindly (you only have to do this once, instructions in my previous reply)
2. activate the progressive mode for each game every time you play.
posted by Bangaioh at 4:42 AM on October 22, 2015
Response by poster: Thank-you for those very informative posts!
I bought a component to HDMI upscaler that outputs either 720p or 1080p, the 1080p doesn't work, but the 720p does perfectly. (It's this one, if anyone is interested.)
posted by Braeburn at 6:46 AM on October 23, 2015
I bought a component to HDMI upscaler that outputs either 720p or 1080p, the 1080p doesn't work, but the 720p does perfectly. (It's this one, if anyone is interested.)
posted by Braeburn at 6:46 AM on October 23, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
Other guesses: try to change between RGB and component (YPrPb) output in the PS2 dashboard (test it on your TV first to see if the convertor works with both, here are instructions for doing it blind if something goes horribly wrong); it might also be an issue with the PS2 using RGsB (sync-on-green) / YPrPb with sync-on-luma and your monitor requiring separate sync signal(s) (RGBHV/RGBs) but I suppose the convertor should take care of that.
posted by Bangaioh at 7:45 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]