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"Is a Widescreen TV for PS2 the right way to go???"

As some of you regulars might know, I am getting a Widescreen on Friday, primarily for connecting it to the PS2 and play PS2 games. There is not much else I will be using it for, which is why I am not paying as much as it would cost for a Sony Wega Widescreen.

It is a 28" Toshiba, but is it worth it, and will games on the PS2 be cut off at the sides, or will it match up with the Screen Layout. I know about the PS2 System Config. screen for 19:1 (Or something like that!) but does it make any difference to game playing???

I was also wondering about what cable to use? As I only want to play games, is RGB the best way to go about it, or is S-Video the best? On my DVD Player S-Video is the best, and wondered if it is worth me getting a Monster Gamelink 300 (S-Video)???

That does mean that I have a true RGB Cable then. That is not really good enough for me, and that is why I have decided to make an "Investment" and I have just ordered the "Monster Gamelink 300" which is the S-Video. Even though it costs £59.99, I know that it is the best possible cable of the best quality that you can get, and it will show off my PS2 to the best visual ability than humanly possible!!!

Has anyone else got the Gamelink cable, or am I going to be the first person that is going to get this cable in the U.K? There is 2 different numbers to phone for the cable within the U.K, one of which is on the other String, but the number again is: 07000 028346

> It looks like RGB,
> because I have got a proper Scart connection with the
> Red,White,Yellow Inputs along side the cable in a special block

If you mean that it connects to equipment using red, white and yellow cables, then it is a composite lead, not RGB.

If you mean that it has a full 21-pin SCART connector with sockets for red, white and yellow cables to be connected, then it probably is RGB.



> Also, if I am having my
> Widescreen TV upstairs, how can I connect my TV to an Aerial for
> normal TV Viewing???

I have extended the aerial upstairs myself. You basically need enough co-axial aerial cable to reach from your main outlet to wherever you have your TV, and a signal splitter/booster box. You can get everything you need from Tandy.

I decided to drill through the wall and run the cable outside, up the wall, and back inside, as it required far less cable than running it through the house - but remember to seal the holes if you do this!

Also remember that the more cable you use, the more powerful the signal booster required, or your TV picture quality will suffer.

Tandy should be able to give you all the advice you need.

I did buy another cable especially for the PS2. It looks like RGB, because I have got a proper Scart connection with the Red,White,Yellow Inputs along side the cable in a special block, and it did say "RGB" on the Box, and it was from Virgin Megastores, but if I get a better display with my DVD Player with S-Video, would that also be the case with my PS2, or is that a different issue altogether? I just want to make sure before I splash out on a £50 Monster Cable.

Also, if I am having my Widescreen TV upstairs, how can I connect my TV to an Aerial for normal TV Viewing???

cool!

Ho baby... I've just seen the best plasma screen availible! It's a Sony, but I dunno what model.

I have a 28" wide screen TV and don't have any problems with distrotion or trimming pictures. DVD's look FAB as well. The only problem you'll have is playing games with the guns, as the pixels are stretched, you hit a much larger area of the screen. You can either cheat and leave this as it is or adjust your screen size so it's not WS. On the other hand, there aren't any gun games for the PS2 yet and therefore no guns, I don't think you can use the gun from PSX on PS2 so it may not be an issue!

I don't know about other brands, but Sony Wega Widescreen TV's give you several picture options.

You can have Widescreen (16:9), normal (4:3), Zoom (where you lose some from the top/bottom, but can scroll the picture accordingly), or a special 14:9 mode.

In 'normal' mode you get the full 4:3 picture, with black borders on the left and right; Wide will stretch a 4:3 picture to fill the screen, which results in a distorted picture unless the game supports widescreen; Zoom is ideal if you want a 4:3 picture to fill the entire screen, but you do lose some of the display - whether or not this is acceptable depends largely on the in-game display. 14:9 is a hybrid display which I'm sure has its uses for some people, but I have rarely used.

Trust me - once you watch a DVD movie in Widescreen without the borders, you'll never go back.

i have a SONY KV28WS2 widescreen number , and after fiddling with the settings on my PS2 i managed to get the picture to fill the whole screen ......no borders or nuffink

That's because the cables supplied with the PS2 are not actually a SCART cable, it's just composite leads with an SCART 'interface'. I'm just using the out of the box cables at the moment as well, and they are fine for me. Mind you, I am a bit shortsighted 8-)

Well I've got a 32" Hitachi widescreen and I've been playing PS2 games on 16:9 on the TV settings. You sometime loose a little bit on the top of the screen but not enough to complain about. Dropping it down to the normal ratio will fit the entire screen in but won't be widescreen.

I use the standard Scart cable that comes with the PS2 and its really good. DVD playback is especially good.
S-Video will probably be better but I'm more than happy with the quality of the Scart cable.

I don't get this green screen issue people are talking about but my tv is NTSC and PAL compatible (which a lot of UK TV's are at the moment)