PS2 Upscaling

[RCBH928]

Thanks Hobie wan. Was only curious because sometimes lists can be wrong and was hoping there was one.

This is out of topic, but it popped up in my mind yesterday. We do a lot more of reading/research/discussing games than actually playing the games.

[kerframil]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to achieve, say 720p, upscaling for the PS2?

For upscaling 480i to 720p or 1080p, I'd say that the best option out there is the XRGB-Mini Framemeister. It's currently rated by Fudoh as the best video processor for upscaling 480i. Granted, it's not cheap. But it also happens to be the best 240p video processor in existence, which is useful if you also play PS1 titles (many of which run at 240p/15kHz) or own any other vintage consoles that output as such.

I'm running my PS2 through a Mini using an official component cable. When I first tried this configuration, I was appalled at the results and couldn't figure out why Fudoh had commended it. Eventually, I realized that the settings need to be tweaked as follows:

• Enable the NATURAL picture mode (disables the low-pass filter but retains motion-adaptive de-interlacing support)
• Set V_SCALE = 5

After doing that, the results were outstanding.

For some reason, the Mini doesn't do such a fine job of upscaling 480p. I don't see that as a big issue because few PS2 games support it. Of course, it's possible use programs such as GS Mode Selector to force it, but it only works well with a select few games. Hence, if one can live without 480p support, using a properly wired RGB SCART cable through the Mini would be the better option. I plan to do the same once I source a decent enough cable.

EDIT: I posted the recommended settings in the XRGB Wiki.