I know some people out there have HD setups with a PS2 connected. I have a component cable and a regular composite cable, but it didn't matter which I used because it made Klonoa 2 look like fan art from an epilleptic. MK: Armageddon (which supports progressive scan) looks decent, but almost everything else looks like shit on my TV.

Maybe I'm missing something here... can anyone help me out?

PS2 does not have the necessary video outputs to support HD resolutions.  HD resolutions exceed regular composite cable resolution.
At the very least you need component cable (the 5-prong cable: 3 for video, 2 for audio).  That will give you 480i.  Most HD resolutions go above this value, so I don't know if the PS2 will support that.  At the very worst, the TV set will scale back to 480i, so it'll run, but you won't take advantage of the higher resolutions.

Hmm... I wonder if there's a way to manually set the TV to 480i. I'll have to check my TV manual. I'm not looking for an improved picture or anything of the sort, I just want it to look decent enough so that it doesn't look like a downgrade from the older SD TV I used to use. I'll have to check into scaling back to 480i if that's possible.

Me = total HD n00b.

i thought star ocean 3 looked pretty nifty with 42"

How'd you hook it up? Do you have a LCD or Plasma TV? I should add that I have a 34" widescreen CRT HDTV.

Owww, that thing must've taken 3 people to haul in.

Don't forget to hold down triangle and circle or whatever the top and bottom buttons are on the PS2 pad are when you are booting the PS2.  You'll know you did it right if the game goes "bloop beep" and asks you to confirm progressive scan mode, which SO3, Radiata Stories, and VP2 all support.

We have a 56" DLP here, and have absolutely no complaints about any of Tri-Ace's PS2 offerings.

On the other hand, I have a 22" Samsung LCD as my PC monitor, and PS2/GC games on it look like absolute crap.  It probably has to do with the monitor's native resolution and how the PS2 doesn't even come close to meeting it, heh.  Hellooooooooo, pixels!

Edit: None of our other PS2 games look remarkably like crap, so I'm not sure what to suggest for your non-progressive scan games.

Yeah, using component on non-progressive scan games jags things up, but on my 32" JVC it doesn't look THAT bad.
Jagged yes, but not terribly so. Don't play games that don't run on 16:9 in widescreen, cos THAT looks awful indeed.

That said, games that DO support progressive scan and widescreen look great.
Shadow of the Colossus looks fantastic and razor-sharp, Gran Turismo 4 even supports 1080i, which looks practically next-gen. God of War 2 apparently also supports HD, but I haven't played it yet.

Here's a list of which PS2 games support what:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pr … _PS2_Games

480i is sometimes called "SDTV", so see if the manual talks about that.  You should also look on the manual page where the specs are.  It will usually list supported resolutions.

I think resolutions go like this (good to best): 480i, 480p, 720i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p  (p is progressive scan; i is interlaced scan)

Is the screen aspect ratio correct in the PS2 setup menu? Many early PS2 games weren't designed with large HDTVs in mind, Ico looks like a watercolor painting. FF 12 and Okami look fine but are still restricted to 480i. I believe the entire Ratchet and Clank series is 480p-enabled.

It's even worse if you try out anything made before the PS2, although I never did try out a Dreamcast with Soul Calibur running, so I may be wrong. If a system or game is not designed for HDTV, then you should be using a standard CRT set. I know it sucks, but you really need 2 sets these days, if you plan on playing older games without emulation. Once CRT sets are no longer manufactured, then we'll all be stuck with emulation. But I don't see why technology couldn't be implemented to downgrade the picture quality specifically for older gaming systems.

Is that good or bad? I honestly can't tell.

Bad, there's a vague smuginess coating the screen. Elements like wall ledges are difficult to spot.