PS2 on a vga lcd monitor

Pompa

so i have a monitor just sitting here all alone and my tv upstairs is being used with my bros 360 constantly. i thought it might be cool to play some PS2 while waiting on downloads or reading forums and wonderd how i would go about it. its just a standard VGA monitor (lcd) no other inputs. it isn't connected to anyting other than the mains. i did a brief search and only found some things that confused me alot, (like a cable that only works with certain games) so i guess it would help if someone could share some knowledge on what do get.

er yeh. thats all i guess. bit of a boring op so i guess ill put in some pics of awesome ps2 games to look cool.

Glal

Might be easier to just get a TV tuner with an S-Video input and use that. It's an extra expense, but they're not very expensive and you do get some extra flexibility with games running in a window (and having filters to deinterlace the image).

Serious_Scrub

Very few ps2 games support progressive scan, which is needed for the image to display properly through VGA.

Pompa

so would i be able to run both monitors off the pc? would i need some sort of SLI setup for that? i dont fancy the PS2 to take over my primary monitor, it was just something i wanted to do on the side.

Willeth

Your best option is probably what I did recently:



You can ignore a lot of that. The important thing is the Mayflash VGA switch (1). Run your PC through the VGA input, your PS2 through component into the switch, and then output that to your single VGA slot.

cliffski

Holy crap, my brain melts just looking at that, although I can't get my TV to connect to a freeview box and the DVD at the same time, so maybe I am just video-cabley-retarded

Pompa

ah sweet, thanks for the diagram.

i have a nvidia 7300 GT inthe pc atm.

so ill have my primary monitor through VGA to the pc, then run a DVI>VGA cable to the switch and the PS2 to the switch (through component) and then VGA output to my second monitor. that would work right? wouldn't i also have dual monitors?

Willeth

You don't need dual monitors. That's the point of having a switch. If you want two monitors it's a lot easier.

The way I'm seeing it, you have your PC spitting out VGA; your PS2, component. They go into a switch. The switch then connects to your monitor via VGA. When you want to play your PS2, you flick the switch from VGA to component input. When you want to go back to your PC, you flick it again.

The only problem then is that of audio, but that's again, simple - just pipe it into your sound card's line-in.

Pompa

yeh i would prefer to use two monitors. or better yet, can i not just use the monitor as if it were a tv?

Willeth

Yeah if you wanted two monitors then your PC need not be involved at all. Again though I think you'd want a component-to-VGA adaptor as more games will work with it.

DHS Odium

You could go the reverse route and force your brother's to get a 360 VGA cable and play on your monitor while you are upstairs with the PS2.

It wasn't mentioned, but it's a plus if the TV they play it on is only SD, you'll be able to get a sharper, much better higher resolution image on the monitor if that's the case. It might be enough to convince them to move the box, even temporarily.

Pompa

nah sorry, he bought a HDTV specifically for his 360. i have been playing on that tv through s-video now and again, but i feel more compelled to play along with him on the 360 when im upstairs. the games i have for the PS2 arn't as 'armchair watchable' as his new games.

halkun

I'm a little foggy on this, but if he does actually output via digital, then the games in this list are only games that he will be able to play right?

Willeth

That's why I'm recommending converting component to VGA.

halkun

But I thought that on a PS2, if you do anything other than standard composite, the game requires progressive scan.

When I had my dev kit, the VGA out I had required a sync-on-green monitor. The only thing that worked back then was Tekken 5 and GT. Anything else would not output video at all. Component allows both NTSC resolution and HD resolutions at the same time?

==EDIT==
Never mind, I found what I was looking for.

Composite


Component



Composite


Component


Ok, I get it, you don't get a true VGA RGB signal out from a PS2 unless you go with a VGA cable and a sync-on-green monitor, and that will only work when progressive scan is turned on, (press triangle on boot for games that support it), if not the video is blank. The componet video is YPbPr and works all the time.... right?

Pompa

so as i understand it, unless the monitor suports sync-on-green it wont display anything unless the games have progressive scan?

halkun

No....

There is a VGA cable that is made for the PS2, but because of the way the PS2 video port is designed in the back, there are not enough pins to make a "proper" VGA signal. (Red, Green, Blue, Hsync, Vsync) To get around the limitation, Sony tied the Hsync, Vsync, and Green signal to a single pin and hoped that a proper monitor could demux the signals properly.

This means that you first need a "Sync on Green" monitor or the VGA cable will not work not matter what.

Now, let's say you own a sync-on-green monitor, and Sony's VGA cable. Well, here is the second problem. All PS2 games default to "interlaced" mode, which is incompatible with VGA. Interlaced puts out a scan line of data every other line twice, (even lines, then odd lines) while VGA is "progressive" and puts out each scanline one right after another.

The PS2 has to be programmed by the game developer to be put onto progressive (VGA) mode. If the PS2 is never put into progressive mode, video will never come out of the VGA cable. While the PS2 is in interlaced mode, (the default mode) video doesn't come out of the VGA cable at all

Games like Tekken 4 have been programed to check if the triangle button has been pressed on boot and switch into progressive (VGA) mode when it loads. However, when you first turn on the PS2 with the VGA cable installed, there is no video. You do not see the system start, you only hear it. This is because the PS2 defaults to interlaced mode.

So to use the VGA cable from Sony, you need...

1) The VGA cable itself... (Very rare, and was only sold with the Linux Dev kit)
2) A sync-on-green monitor. Only about 15%-20% of the monitors produced have this ability.
3) A game that runs in progressive mode.
4) A game that allows you to blindly switch modes if the game doesn't understand the VGA cable.

Now the other option is to use a PS2 component video cable instead. However, this does not output RGB and Sync, it outputs YPbPr (luminescence, blue/luma, and red/luma) This video format is completely incompatible with VGA and must go though a converter box to be turned into an RGB signal. The problem is you will not get the clarity of a straight VGA signal, but it at least supports both interlaced and progressive modes.

If you want to be REALLY cool, you can also grab the raw RGB, Hsync, and Vsync signals right off the EE chip and pass it though some filter caps so you can have a true VGA signal, but that's being a little drastic.

Pompa

wow, thanks for typing all that up and explaining it all. it all seems like more trouble than its worth though to be honest.

Dis

Get a cheap silly VGA BOX.
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-86-77-2-49-en-15-VGA+BOX-70-2707.html
This for Example.

jimmy8091

halkun:

Are you sure the PS2 can't output RGB? In the component settings in I have the option of outputting YPbPr or RGB.

Willeth:

I wanted to pick up a Mayflash VGA switch. How does the video signal look? And can output PAL signals to your LCD?

Willeth

Regarding the Mayflash box, PAL signals work fine. The output is a little blurry from it, but it's better than the 12" SD CRT that's my only other option right now. When I'm playing games I don't notice.