PS2 and underscan on plasma tv's

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HotL3@D

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 5, 2000
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For some reason my PS 2 doesnt fill the screen up on my 43" plasma HDTV.. I've tried every setting with the both the tv and the ps2. Someone on another forum mentioned that the ps2's and most game consoles have built in underscan for conventional CRTs, which is causing the black bars on the sides (and on some games, the top and bottom) of my tv during gaming with my ps2. is this true?

any fixes out there?

The PS2 is hooked up via component cable and i bought it way back when they first came out, so i believe its one of the original ones.
 
Is your TV widescreen?

It may or may not have to do with the issue.

Try booting the PS2 with no game inside. After a few seconds, you'll have the option to chose the Browser or System Configuration. Open the system configuration menu, and scroll down until it shows the display mode information. There should be 3 modes: 4:3 Letterbox, 16:9 Widescreen, and Full Screen.

Try setting it to full screen and see if that solves your problem.

On my 27" regular CRT TV, Full Screen fills up the screen, whereas 4:3 Letterbox gives the black bars on the top and bottom. Since my TV is not widescree, it gives the same effect as 4:3 letterbox but it's more squished.

I hope this helps.
 
Do you have any settings on your TV to turn 4:3 images into 16:9 by stretching them? For me that's not a setting on the PS2, but rather one on the TV. For instance mine has "normal" to show the image in the format sent from the source and "full" to stretch the image to fill the screen regardless. It also has a "zoom" image to make letterboxed 4:3 TV or games (like Resident Evil 4 for the GC) to lose the black bars and display in the proper format.
Even in 480p games for the PS2 (God of War, Tekken 5), I still have to choose "full" to display the image properly. Rather than doing a true 16:9 HD-image, it just changes the 4:3 image to look like 16:9 when stretched.
 
Yes, it is a widescreen tv. Yes, it has different stretch modes, and all of them have the black bars on the sides of games, and even in the setup mode of the ps2 (with no game disk in). even when tv is set to 4:3, still has black barsin the 4:3 image...

If i went to something other than component cables, would this solve the problem?
 
HotL3@D said:
Yes, it is a widescreen tv. Yes, it has different stretch modes, and all of them have the black bars on the sides of games, and even in the setup mode of the ps2 (with no game disk in). even when tv is set to 4:3, still has black barsin the 4:3 image...

If i went to something other than component cables, would this solve the problem?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. You do mean the RGB cable, right? That's what I'm using and I don't have the issue. One thing you might be running into is the type of video input you're using. for instance, 1 of mine won't let me use the zoom functions...it's locked at normal. That's the one my 360's hooked into. Perhaps try an alternate input on the TV? Maybe try toggling your PS2 to 16:9 or 4:3 in the settings?If all else fails, maybe try using the default RCA cable or an S-Video instead?
 
I believe the problem lies within the PS2, and not my tv. I've tried all you have said regarding the tv. It has something to do with underscan coming from the ps2 by default. which i think i've read somewhere you cant get rid of it. I will try to switch to my s-video if i can find the cable for it.
 
i also get the underscan.
i am using a component cable to my widescreen HDTV.
i have tried all the combinations of settings both ingame and in the settings menu of the PS2, as well as using the zoom features of the TV. i have tried several games, even gran turismo 4 which has a 1080i mode which looks very nice.
i have not been able to completely eliminate underscan, and at this point im assuming its "builtin" to the console.
 
Strange. Are either of you using the "slim" PS2?
Mine's the old-school one from 10/26/2000
Maybe it varies on the model?
 
It isn't built into the console, as I have even gotten composite cables to fill up the screen on my HDTV with my PS2. It's definitely a problem with your HDTV. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
 
PWMK2 said:
It isn't built into the console, as I have even gotten composite cables to fill up the screen on my HDTV with my PS2. It's definitely a problem with your HDTV. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Click to expand...


This is not what i've read when i google searched some things. evidently my problem is a common one. You say you've filed the screen with you tv.. Do you have a 43" wide screen PLASMA, or a regular CRT? As i've heard the underscan that is "built in" is because of the overscan commonly built into CRT tv's.
 
I get the underscan on my tv, as well. Though, I get it on some select Xbox games too. mainly the non- progressive ones like Ulitmate Spiderman. It is just the odd borders that don't fit the complete image. Things only look completely right on my 360 and DVD player, or when i play conker on the xbox.

Both these systems have games that overcompensate for overscan. Though the PS2 is the only system I know that not even it's own splash screen fills the frame.
 
I get it on some games, not on others.

I get terrible underscan on FFX for example, then other games it just isn't there.
 
HotL3@D said:
This is not what i've read when i google searched some things. evidently my problem is a common one. You say you've filed the screen with you tv.. Do you have a 43" wide screen PLASMA, or a regular CRT? As i've heard the underscan that is "built in" is because of the overscan commonly built into CRT tv's.
Click to expand...

I have a 46" widescreen DLP.
 
All of the current generation consoles underscan their output, the PS2 is just the worst of the bunch. The underscan varys a bit between titles on the PS2 because developers have complete control over the output mode where on the Xbox its dictated by the system.

Any Rear projection set (CRT/DLP/LCD/LCOS) will have some degree of overscan, since its hard to project an image perfectly alligned with the screen so they overshoot the image. Although typically its a small percentage only 2-3% per side which is less than most CRT displays at around 10% but certainly not enough to cover up the rather huge borders out of the PS2.

Heres a couple of shots on my 50" Panasonic RP-LCD.

Final Fantasy X
FFXunderscan.jpg


Katamari Damacy
katamariunderscan.jpg
 
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