Ok, I posted a question involving a new home theater in the home theater forum, but this is mainly for the PS2 part of it, so please excuse this extra post, mods, as I figured I'd have better luck here.

So anyhow, my friend has a 51 inch TV, and a PS2, and he wants to play PS2 on it. How can he do that? We tried different inputs and whatnot, but nothing seems to work. It's a Hitachi 51F510 if that makes any difference

There are 5 inputs (4 rear, 1 front) and we tried all 5 and changed the inputs on the input selector, yet nothing seems to work.

Any advice?

Uhh... make sure you turn the PS2 on? It should work and it shouldn't be that difficult to get working. Have you kids been drinking tonight?

Have you switched the video settings on your PS2 prior to hooking it to the bigscreen (if you are using component cables)? Uhh...

Actually, no drinking but it turns out the cable was loose on the PS2....so yeah we were dumb

Does S-Video really make a big difference when playing games? I might pick up a cable tomorrow.

If you're using the composite cables now (red, white, yellow for video and audio), S-Video will make quite a bit of visible difference for a video game and would be worth the money, in my opinion.

However, if the big screen tv supports component cables (red, green, blue for video), that will improve the look of things even further and would be a better choice if your buying a cable anyway.

/Benjamin

Go with the component video cables. Not as big of a jump as from composite to s-video, but might as well go all the way.

I'm pretty sure the component cables allow for 480p resolution. Not sure if S-Video can do that on the PS2.

I'm using component with my PS2, in a regular input slot. It's not night-and-day difference, but there is a difference, and I got the cables for like 6 bucks, so not a big deal.
You would need the component cables to get a 480p/progressive scan picture. They would need to be in the 'HD' or 'DVD' inputs in your TV.
My question regarding that is--It seems to be a PITA to use the prog scan feature of the PS2? Do you have to switch inputs each time you go between Prog Scan and regular?
Is there a visible difference between Prog Scan and non-prog? If there is, i think I just figured out a way to get it set up through my switchbox, but not sure it's worth the hassle.
especially since according to HDTVarcade.com, there's not a whole lot of Ps2 games that support it, and I don't have many of them.

No, you dont have to switch inputs as long as the component input on the tv supports 480p. On my Hitachi S700, there is a difference, things look more sharp than with 480i. But most games dont work with 480p on the ps2, and some games can, but you have to hold down triangle and square to get it working (Burnout 3).

But it all depends on your TV"s deintelacer on how good 480i looks, some are better than others, so you might no see as big of a difference at 480p on your tv than somebody elses.

There's only a handful of 480p games on the PS2, whereas most GameCube and Xbox games are 480p.

I've just purchased a Sammy HLP5674 and am in the process of buying cables for all of my components. I've looked at the PS2 and Xbox component cables (from Sony and MS and also Monster). I know people seem to think of Monster as overpriced (good but overpriced), but the Sony and MS cables look a little on the cheap side. There aren't really that many options when selecting component cable for video game systems.

Has anyone found the Monster cable to be that much of an improvement over the Sony and MS cables? Actually the MS ones (HD advanced AV pack) I saw looked pretty good, but not the Sony version.

I have *heard* that Monster are a few percentage points better than non-cheapass cables; but they also cost many percentage points more. that is, the pricing is not in line with the improvement in quality. I think I'm using a Sony cable, but it might not even be that. It's been fine, as far as I can tell, I've never used Monster cables.

I'm using a Monster S-Video cable connected to my 100" screen (Sanyo PLV-Z2 projector) and it looks big but PS2's dated graphics really show

Lampei let me know if you notice any display lag on the HLP when you use a PS2. I've read on different forums that the Samsung DLP's have a little bit of lag while upconverting PS2 images for some reason. Makes some games unplayable. I'd be interested to hear your first hand results.

The Franchise
I read over at AVS that the PS2 games are mostly in 480i, so getting good cable may be overkill. I may just be getting the xbox HD cable. If I do end up getting component cable (if I get the Sony brand it's only $20), I'll let you know.

>But most games dont work with 480p on the ps2, and some games can, but you have to hold down triangle and square to get it working (Burnout 3).

Is this just a Burnout 3 issue? I just picked up Component cables (mad catz makes some for $14.99 now) and besides switching the dashboard to bet set correctly, do you need to hold down triangle and square every time you start?

Hmmm, I think you misunderstood. I think there is a lag between when you do something on the controller and when your actions are shown on the screen. This is regardless of the cable used and has something to do with the upconversion on the Sammy DLP. Anyway, when you try it out let me know how it looks and plays.

I can confirm that there is lag on the dlp sets, not just samsung either. Spoke with Texas instruments and samsung regarding this at CES this year and they stated that they are aware of the problem, something to do with calculations being made in the chipset, and that the next gen of dlp chips will resolve this (due out this june from samsung). Unfortunately, no solution for Legacy chips. Only time you really notice this is if you are playing beat games in my opinion. Don't try playing taiko drum master or donkey konga on a dlp....will drive you mad!!!