**using tv tuner to play ps2 on PC*plz help!

[Guzardus]

Hi there

I have a question to ask for those who might know abit about TV Tuners.

I'm trying to connect my Playstation 2 to my monitor and a salesmen advised me to purchase a TV Tuner card as he said it would produce results of television, perhaps even better on a monitor.

And so I did

But when I took it home to try it out, the quality was actually very bad. It was no where near as good as a television. It was perhaps only 60% of what a TV can offer in terms of quality.

I don't know why but there must be something wrong i'm doing.
In the tv tuner allplication the video settings are on 640 x 480 with overly mode on, but the quality of it is not good.

Somebody please help?

 

[JammingJay]

I don't believe you're doing anything neccesarily wrong. I'm not a expert about TV tuners, but I've had simiarly bad results from cheaper TV tuners such as a ATI VE TV tuner, or a baseline Avermedia TV tuner regardless of fiddling with settings. Curiously though, what type of inputs are you using? I remember Dreamcast used to have a decent VGA box that you could use for monitors (I heard that was relatively good too), have you maybe tried something similar for the PS2? (if they offer one) I apologize for not being too helpful, but it simply may be the tuner you have, (or computer hardware) is simply not up to the task.

 

[Guzardus]

thanks for helping out
the only thing was that the salesmen assured me that it would bring results as good as the tv. I know, he's a salesmen afterall, but he said I could bring it back if there's anything wrong.
I don't want to, rather I want to ressolve the problem if is there is one.

My friend said a TV tuner with a monitor should bring even better results than a TV because of no flickering etc, but i just don't know why i'm getting such bad results.

Sorry what is this VGA box? I've herd something like that before on ebay, but that was so rare I couldn't even find one now. The one I saw was called 'Playstation 2 BGA Adapter".
ANyway, what are these?

and if there's anyone else who might be able to respond to my initial question, i'd be greatful.
thanks =):beer:

 

[Guzardus]

bump?

 

[GT578]

You could try using Dscaler to run the TV program and use the proper resolution of your input or chip (on the tv tuner card). I use a WinTV-FM (401) and I watch tv using Dscaler.......I have a DirectTV box connected via S-video and when I run the monitor at 720x480 I get a really clear picture.

 

[MasterHoss]

Yup, the sales person lied to you. Connecting ANY device to your TV tuner card will produce horrible results (I don't even like the results of connecting a VCR to an ATI AIW card).

In any case, return that TV tuner card if you're not going to use it for its real purpose and get your hands on something like this. I have something very similar for my Dreamcast and it works beautifully.

You can find that device in most video game stores... just ask for a "VGA box" for your PS2 and they should be able to help you out.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: GT578
You could try using Dscaler to run the TV program and use the proper resolution of your input or chip (on the tv tuner card). I use a WinTV-FM (401) and I watch tv using Dscaler.......I have a DirectTV box connected via S-video and when I run the monitor at 720x480 I get a really clear picture.

DScaler will help a lot BTW. I'd reccomend a card like the Leadtek Winfast 2000XP Deluxe TV Tuner which is like $53 shipped at newegg.com which has much higher quality.

I have both an ATI TV Wonder VE and that Leadtek card I mentioned and my Leadtek is a lot better. The Leadtek software does what Dscaler does on its own without that program but if you'd like to try it with your current card, you may because I haven't tried it to tell you the reults on my TV Wonder VE.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Well what tv tuner card do you have ?

Connecting ANY device to your TV tuner card will produce horrible results

It may not be perfect but I still enjoy TV on my PC.

 

[Guzardus]

thank you people
although I cannot ask for a refund, I will resell it on eBay.

Would this VGA box produce quality of a TV?

I saw on the Internet that there are converters which connects your monitor directly to this box where it can be used as a TV for perfect tuning without the presence of your computer. Will this be better? Will this produce the best quality?

thank you so much

 

[Mday]

.

 

[Mday]

of course it's very bad. the salesman lied to you. tell his boss, and get his ass fired. NOW.

the vga box may very well work.

 

[0roo0roo]

best quality would be a hdtv card obviously. regular tv is low res interlaced which gets muckied up when converted to monitor.

 

[AMCRambler]

I was thinking about doing the same thing you're doing. Getting a PS2 and connecting it to my tv tuner card so I didn't have to get a tv as well but I just don't have the room for it. I had a feeling it might not work to well with the tv tuner card anyway but your the first person I've heard of that's tried this. I've got an ATI TV Wonder Ve and the picture I get in the tv software isn't all that hot. I thought perhaps it was that there were too many splitters on the line, but a tv hooked up to the same line looks much better. I guess the tuners on the Ve cards just aren't that good. It looks alright if you watch it from a distance, but up close, the interlacing and other artifacts are very obvious. Could also be that I've been spoiled by watching dvd's on my computer too, lol!

 

[UncleWai]

Don't bother with ps2 vga box, they are horrible.
If money is not a concern,
you should get viewsonic Nextvision 6, or XRGB-2.
N6 is $250 in newegg.
XRGB-2 is a upscan convertor, should be around the $200 range.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
I was thinking about doing the same thing you're doing. Getting a PS2 and connecting it to my tv tuner card so I didn't have to get a tv as well but I just don't have the room for it. I had a feeling it might not work to well with the tv tuner card anyway but your the first person I've heard of that's tried this. I've got an ATI TV Wonder Ve and the picture I get in the tv software isn't all that hot. I thought perhaps it was that there were too many splitters on the line, but a tv hooked up to the same line looks much better. I guess the tuners on the Ve cards just aren't that good. It looks alright if you watch it from a distance, but up close, the interlacing and other artifacts are very obvious. Could also be that I've been spoiled by watching dvd's on my computer too, lol!

dvds are high resolution. ps2 output is not. dvds tend to be progressive. ps2 is definetly interlaced. some consoles probably even cheat by rendering onyl half the lines of res each frame converting to progressive monitor with resolution enough to see all the muckiness is well.. mucky.

consoles like ps2 rely on the fat blurry slow to fade pixels of a tv to hide their defects.

 

[jacktesterson]

u need a converter (like $45) or a ATI All In Wonder Card (they have TV IN and out).....Then you will see that the monitor does Indeed improve over a TV easily....DO NOT USE TV TUNERS for this because almost 75% of the time the quality of the picture looks like something that came out of the pooper

 

[ellisz]

I am using a VGA box for my Xbox and was not real impressed with the picture quality. My monitor is set for 1024x768. Will this effect it?

Would a ATI all in wonder card or other video card be better for this?

Thanks

 

[MegaloManiaK]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo<br
dvds are high resolution. ps2 output is not. dvds tend to be progressive. ps2 is definetly interlaced. some consoles probably even cheat by rendering onyl half the lines of res each frame converting to progressive monitor with resolution enough to see all the muckiness is well.. mucky.

consoles like ps2 rely on the fat blurry slow to fade pixels of a tv to hide their defects.

Yeah, what he said. I too have tried the tv card to use my ps2 on a monitor with bad results. I would be pissed if someone told me "oh its great, if you aren't happy just bring it back" and then later says "oh, you can bring it back but only for the same item." i promptly returned mine.

 

[bigpow]

Originally posted by: Guzardus
thank you people
although I cannot ask for a refund, I will resell it on eBay.

Would this VGA box produce quality of a TV?

I saw on the Internet that there are converters which connects your monitor directly to this box where it can be used as a TV for perfect tuning without the presence of your computer. Will this be better? Will this produce the best quality?

thank you so much

Be careful!
Only a few PS2 VGA box actually offers similar or better quality picture than TV.
These would be labelled as high-resolution PS2 VGA Box.

But that's not all there is, because the games also have to support this high-res. mode. (I know for sure, Tekken4 supports this).

For me, the best way is to connect PS2 to my TV using component cable. (I heard progressive scan TVs are best for this, but I'll never know since I only have a 27" Phillips)

 

[50]

I did the same thing...the quality is crap and the salesman is a liar, even with the best tv cards you won't get anything great. You could get good quality if you had a HD tv card and an xbox that does hd in games...but other than that, it will only be 640x480 crap. You might want to try a upscan convertor if u can find one...

 

[Guzardus]

Hi people,
Sorry to have kept this thread such a drag. But I felt it rather important to implement some of my experiences in this matter for people who are considering taking the steps I?ve taken.

I've recently sold my TV Tuner card and bought myself a GM3688E Combo TV Box which is an individual external TV tuner device that connects directly to your computer without the real need of your computer.

This sounded good to me because it meant that it didn't need to go through your video card etc... and so I thought it would produce TV quality pictures. Well... it didn't turn out that way unfortunately =(

It was only producing roughly around 70% of what a TV could produce. Then I asked the seller why and he told me simply because my monitor wasn't 100% good (what a load of rubbish).
Anyhow... looks like I got jibbed twice in a row

sigh.... I hope I can find something that REALLY does the job...