You can flame me if you want, but I want to hook up my PSX2 to my Monitor

[HONKER24]

Hi,

I was looking into a new video card that would allow me to hook up my Playstation 2 to my PC's monitor. The current TV screen I am using is just as big as my monitor (19inch 18viewable) but in order to get the proper Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Experience I have to move my TV to where my monitor is which is a big pain. Has anyone done this before? I think I need a ViVo card, but which one? I currently have a voodoo3 2000 that is OC'ed to 180mhz and is doing me fine. Will I gain or lose image quality since the PS2's resolution is so high? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

 

[CompFreak]

Hey What the hell are you doing here honkey!!? It is I Dr.Death! Welcome to anandtech forums.

 

[HONKER24]

I KNEW that was you in the Hot Deals forum!! Damn yo...errrr...Hi.
^Bump^
Come on guys I need someone's experience/ opinion on this topic.

 

[CompFreak]

I Was kinda Drunk like usuall, its not a hot deal. but a ok one.

 

[Deeko]

<< Will I gain or lose image quality since the PS2's resolution is so high >>


lol....640x480 is REAL high Also, some of the games are interlaced, which I heard is bad for your monitor, so therefore it can't be done. Not exactly sure why, cause I don't completely understand interlacing....it's something like running 640x240 and then doubling the lines or somethin? Someone correct me here so I can actually know what I'm talking about here

 

[Traumahound]

<< Someone correct me here so I can actually know what I'm talking about here >>



Well... not correcting so much as helping out.

You're right some (a lot? I don't know the exact number) of the PS2 games are interlaced. Interlacing means that, technically, the resolution is 640x240 however on one vertical refresh the system draws the even scanlines and on the next vertical refresh it draws the odd numbered scanlines. This effectively cuts the refresh rate in half.

One a TV this doesn't look too terrible, but on a monitor it would absolutely horrendous for a couple reasons. First, as I said the refresh is effectively halved (and if anyone has ever seen an old 14&quot; monitor using an interlaced resolution, they'll know what I'm talking about), the screen flash will be eye blistering and headache inducing. Secondly, since only every second scanline is updated on each pass, the image tearing would also be incredibly bad.

But, if the original poster still wants one you can get a VGA Adapter here. (Note: I have absolutely no experience with this company so I don't know how reputable they are. Use them at your own risk.)

Also, a ViVo card is not the same thing as a VGA adapter. I don't know how well that would work, but, again, I think the quality would be worse than TV.

 

[Wag]

All the PS2 games are interlaced.

Unlike the Dreamcast, there is no true progressive output for the PS2, so the Dreamcast will always look better on big screen monitors/HDTV using the VGA box. Check out Shenmue using the VGA box and drool.

Why doesn't Sony put out a real VGA box? This is one mistery that has yet to be solved...

 

[Deeko]

Ahh, I understand now. Thanx

 

[HONKER24]

Thanks for the help guys! You saved me from making a bad buy!!