After visiting the PS2 Scene forums I was turned onto this product, the Xploder HDTV. At the Xploder website they have a page for it here:
http://www.xploder.net/products/148/Xploder-HDTV-Player.htm (http://www.xploder.net/products/148/Xploder-HDTV-Player.htm)
Apparently they found a way to trigger progressive scan output for a lot of games and DVD movies without messing with the game software. From what I can gather they found these hidden modes, kind of like dipswitches, buried within the PS2 hardware that they were able to access. These were hinted at on some of the Linux PS2 stuff I read some time before.
So this product, in effect, when used, will trigger these "dipswitches" and will allow you to play up to (currently) 95% of all PS2 games in Progressive Scan output. They are also supposed to have a VGA cable for the PS2 to be used with this product. However, I do not know if it is a simple cable to be used with Sync-On-Green monitors (like the official PS2 Linux VGA cable) or that they have a sync separator plus sync remover built in.
This product is supposed to be out this month but the various EB Games/GameStops here in the US don't have any info on it at this time. Man, I can't wait to try this out with my "Grand Theft Auto" discs.....
In addition, I am curious as to whether the box that came with the Blaze VGA (PS2) disc did sync separation/sync removal.
if it works 1/2 as well as they say i'll do backflips.
I have been waiting for this product all summer. It was supposed to be available in August. Then it was delayed. It was then supposed to be available before the end of September. Then it was delayed. Now it's supposed to be available before the end of October. Hmm.
Anyway, this is a product that is doing something that's been done before. Google for the Blaze VGA cable for PS2. You will probably find a few hits right here. The software that activates it is not really enabling "hidden modes," they've always been there. They've just not been used. Doing this can wreak some form of havoc on the game you are attempting with. Sometimes it isn't fullscreen. Sometimes the graphics glitch. Sometimes the game plays twice as fast--that's right it speeds UP rather than slowing down, because typically the output is 60 fields per second, the hardware rendering a full frame each second and tossing half of it away for the field. When it juxtaposes this you have 60 frames per second and the thing just plays too fast. And let's not forget, that's when a game actually functions. The Blaze VGA cable and its accompanying boot disc wasn't the only thing to do this, it is also a feature of the O2 mod chip as well as the Matrix Infinity.
The reason that the Xploder product is significant, when ever they get around to giving it to us, is that it is purported by them to be geared specifically to fixing some/many/all of these problems with titles that it can support. There is a preview of Xploder on IGN.com where the mention that before loading the game you have the option of zooming and centering the screen. From my experience this will be necessary. I don't have a lot of information on how 720p and 1080i will be achieved, or if it will impact performance. It just might though, as they mention that they prefer 480p for full compatibility, and let's not forget most PS2 titles are 4:3, whereas all 720p and 1080i resolutions per ATSC spec are 16:9.
Anyway. Sounds great. Not entirely new, just tackling the quality control issues that the previous offerings did absolutely nothing to combat.
Just give it to us already and . . . that would be nice.
XPloder's software is finally available. I just ordered mine. It was about $40, another 14 and some change to ship to the USA.
can i expect a super informative, wayyy over my head review? (with pics!)
Not from me. I'll be glad to tell you how it works though.
I know you guys never want to lock up this forum to keep out the spam trolls, and you hate forums that actually do that, but over at ps2-scene.org two people have received theirs already, both in the U.K. where it is shipping from. One guy loves it and noted the issues, the other guy hates it and is selling it on ebay, it appears the latter hinges his opinion on the 720p/1080i modes which do not work as expected. (Sounds like it's also very possible he has a crap HDTV.)
QuoteOriginally posted by twoism:
Right, got mine in the mail this morning.... so far the good news is, IT WORKS! and works very well... I tried FFXII in 720p and it looks amazing. Of course it wont get rid of the jaggies (heh) but the image is much, much crisper and the colours are much more vibrant.
The bad news: It doesn't seem to work from HDLoader/HDAdvance. The screen just stays black when you try to load a game... but it's fine with backup discs using swap magic. I'm not sure what might be causing this but for now its a small trade-off for the better image quality. I'll do some more testing in a bit.
QuoteOriginally posted by twoism:
I was already using component cables before, and as far as I can tell there definitely seems to be a difference. The component cables supplied in the box also appear to be good quality, but I haven't tested them yet (I don't know if they're even going to make a difference tbh). On my LCD TV/Monitor the interlaced effect is gone, makes it a lot easier on the eyes... no more squinting at objects in the distance for example.
The problem so far is that on 1080i the picture is tiny. It seems to be displaying the original resolution of the game, just on a 1080i background... kind of like watching a low res movie at 1280x1024 desktop setting, only not full screen. I suppose if you have a zoom function on your tv this can be fixed, but right now it kind of sucks. 720p doesn't quite reach the edges of the screen, but at least it fills about 90% of it.
Also to be expected, some games don't work on 720p/1080i at all, Xenosaga II just freezes after I tried to load the game..menu is fine in all resolutions however. Dragon Quest 8 gives a blank screen and doesn't load. I suspect that most games will run just fine in 480p however... which is still better than your standard 480i. It's just icing on the cake when games are actually able to run in the higher resolutions.
Looks like it's working as advertised to me--it isn't magic and cannot fix problems inherent in trying to display a 4:3 image over a 16:9 fixed resolution. 480i and 480p have been used for both 4:3 and 16:9 and programmers can do this at will; 720p and 1080i on the other hand must always broadcast 16:9 per ATSC spec.
And the guy who hates it.
QuoteOriginally posted by mrsquare:
Just played around with this for a good half hour or so.
Overall impression - its a pile of crap, save your money.
Using a modded PAL PS2 (sorry, dunno what chip), couldn't get any NTSC games to work. God Hand oddly got to the 'checking memory card' screen and then crashed - also tried with no memory card in, but no joy at all that time. Okami was a no-go too.
PAL games - tried Rez, Dragon Quest 8, MGS 3, DMC3 and Frequency. Only one of those that didn't load was Frequency.
Tried Rez in 720p first - 720p makes it horribly squashed vertically, so its like watching through a letterbox. 1080i is even worse, condensing the view down both horizontally and vertically to a tiny box in the middle of the screen. Bizarre. Presumably it might be alright if you can force your TV to stretch the image outwards, but I would have thought that would just destroy the image quality and negate any benefits. The actual game doesn't increase in resolution either, so you're not getting rid of jaggies or actually making it look any better than 480p would.
Tried Dragon Quest in 480p, and it was quite noticably better than it usually looks thanks to the non-interlaced signal. Its one of the worst offenders for combing artefacts on my TV though, so I wasn't surprised by that. The downside is you lose a noticable chunk of your viewing area - there are really big old-school Square-style borders on each side. It also didn't put the viewable window anywhere near where I said it should, and you can't seem to adjust the screen postion from within the game options (maybe the Blaze HDTV overrides them or something)
The rest actually didn't look that great at 480p - not sure if it was just me getting pissed off with the thing, but things like DMC3 looked a hell of a lot better when I whacked them back on at fullscreen 480i.
The worst thing though, as Zero9X said, is that everything gets output at 4:3. I *think* its putting out a 16:9 signal, but the game gets rendered in a 4:3 window in the middle. As the actual signal is 16:9, my TV can't then can't even strech the image to fill the whole window, as from its view, it already is.
So yeah, if you have a fancy TV that can stretch and move the picture around to your heart's content, you may have more luck - as I said though, I doubt you really want to be stretching the image as it makes upping the res a bit pointless.
I'm off to stick it on eBay. Unless anyone on here wants to buy one? All of the above was a lie by the way, its great! Honest!
There seem to be so many things wrong with this guy's perception about how ATSC/HDTV res works, I don't even know where to begin.
Note his very first negative reaction is due to not having an NTSC boot disc. The Blaze product previously forced VGA mode. VGA mode is neither NTSC or PAL, so there it did not much matter. When starting up a video signal for a television though, even progressive y-pb-pr, you need a little something more, and it makes a bit more of a difference how the video outputs, long story short the PAL and NTSC boot discs do not output the same video just because they don't need to.
Second, he's telling us again that it's annoying when a 4:3 game outputs in 16:9. But, if he's got some magical way to allow us to undo design decisions that were made when each and every individual game was programmed which do not allow us to display 16:9, I'd love for him to share it with us. Even the XBox has several if not most games only supporting 4:3. If you run the XBox games on a 360 you can get HD resolutions of 720p or 1080i, and microsoft accomplished this upward resolution through the hardware specifically by keeping black borders on the sides, reverse letterboxing. I did not miss the mention that the screen looks squashed, I can imagine that Rez did not get tested with this product at all (how many people do you know who own it?) and I have seen similar problems with the Blaze product. Hopefully that's not an issue with very many games. At the Leipzig show the rep said that he had personally tested over 500 games.
More from twoism.
QuoteOriginally posted by twoism:
non 16:9 games will obviously get stretched while displaying it in 720p/1080i.
HD resolutions are just like that, you can't change it as there is no 4:3 aspect ratio because it's either 1280x720 or 1920x1080i, fixed 16:9 resolutions. If your monitor has options/profiles to tweak the screen, then the better. That's why they recommend displaying most games in 480p.. at least the lines are gone. It simply gives you a progressive mode for games that didn't support it in the first place.
The app also supports movie playback, but it works exactly as it does on the games. It doesn't do any upconverting, just forces the ps2 to display in those modes since the hardware isn't powerful enough to do that.
480p is fine with me since that is what I am used to when playing around with my DreamCast or GameCube. Not surprised that it wouldn't work with HDLoader (although I still want HDLoader to use with my PS2). Need to go to GameStop to see if it has shown up on their systems.
fyi, I doubt you will hear a thing about this in domestic (USA) store outlets for a while. Fire International, the company that owns Xploder, has an American arm as well, known as (drum roll please) Mad Catz. The product will almost certainly be rebranded under the Mad Catz name before you see it here, and while I'd expect it to happen sooner or later I haven't seen any hint of that occurring yet.
Here is a comparison photo, 480i at top, 720p at bottom (http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/6258/comparehj9.jpg).
I went to GameStop today to see if it was in their systems yet (fortunately somebody there is also interested in it so he checks for it for himself) and it wasn't. The manager was there and he also informed me about the Mad Catz deal. It sucks that the UK gets to play with it before we do but at least some of them have been posting their findings so we Americans can determine whether or not this is the real deal or shitware.
Since the PlayStation 2 games were designed with 480 or 525i/p in mind what I don't understand is why you would want to try to display them in 720p or 1080i. Of course those images aren't going to look right. I will just stick to 480p since that is what those games were mainly designed for imagewise.
I really should go and try to find another Version 3 motherboard and RGB modify it (and do the sync-on-green disable mod I read about on the PS2Scene forums). And maybe try to see if there is a way to trigger 480p on the actual hardware (again).
QuoteIt sucks that the UK gets to play with it before we do but at least some of them have been posting their findings so we Americans can determine whether or not this is the real deal or shitware.
Since the PlayStation 2 games were designed with 480 or 525i/p in mind what I don't understand is why you would want to try to display them in 720p or 1080i. Of course those images aren't going to look right. I will just stick to 480p since that is what those games were mainly designed for imagewise.
1. You know you can still order it right? I'm in the USA as well. The email I received Monday told me to expect it in 5-10 days.
2. Because all PS2 games were made with NTSC or PAL modes in mind, there are still games that don't look right with this mode turned on. Devs used lots of tricks with overscan, something that you never see in your TV mode, and which has no analogue in progressive mode. So certain games may not be fullscreen even if they are 4:3, although Xploder has purported to fix some of these issues. It may be able to kludge with the DAC to centre/zoom things so you have a better experience.
When it works though, it works very well. I have a feeling games that the dev already allowed for 16:9 (TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, Final Fantasy XII, etc.) will work well with the higher-res modes.
thanks for the info. 480p would be fine for me. i don't ahve a widescreen anyway.
Another comparison showing the various modes with the game Bully (http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200610/N06.1026.1718.09967.htm). I am starting to get very impatient to receive mine.
I'm a prophet.
My Xploder was in the mailbox when I got in today. If anybody wants me to test a specific game just ask, I have around 200 PS2 titles.
Update, and this is going to be a big one so bear with me: I've only used this thing for the past five minutes and I can already clarify a few things. First off, this is from the same team that made the previous boot disc for VGA mode. Although it's branded "Xploder," from Fire International, Inc., it's got the BLAZE logo right on the disc, just like the previous offering. A lot of people were pissed about the older product's cut-and-run tactic, doing nothing more than turning on the progressive bit and setting to RGB(VGA), and it was rightly frustrating and one of the reasons so few people heard of it or used it much. That's really good news here because I can tell already that they have applied a lot more in the way of quality control with this sucker. It appears that they have tweaked a lot more in the intervening years and Metal Gear Solid 2 is now running 4:3 on my HDTV.
Things to note:
1. When the game first started up, I was under the impression it had some of the same faults that the older Blaze VGA disc had. MGS2 with that boot disc was not fullscreen, and only the upper-left portion was drawn. It seemed to overlap on the right (i.e. part of the left-end was off the screen there, and reappeared on the right-side) while the bottom portion of the screen was blank. That was not the case here, but the entire screen appeared "pinched" horizontally. At the time I had the set on 4:3 mode with borders at left-right; all I did to remedy the weird pinching was to zap the set into 16:9 mode. This "stretches" the image as I'm sure most of you with HDTV sets are aware, but as this image was pinched already, it spread it out to its perfect dimensions, and if you know me at all you should be able to trust me on my ability to gauge MGS2 graphics to scale accordingly. ;)
It's perfect!
2. Because of this I believe that the Xploder unit expects you to set your television to 16:9 mode, regardless of resolution used. This is a good thing. The software does work, but it is relying on the HDTV set to stretch it to the proper ratio. This might sound like a kludge, but after seeing the original Blaze disc, I call it smart programming. They are getting help where it can be used, not for a performance issue, but in order to keep the ratios consistent and proper.
3. MGS2, as I just mentioned, is perfect. It looks even better than MGS2 Subsistence in progressive mode on the XBox. There are zero graphical glitches, no flickering, and absolutely no combing whatsoever from the old interlacing mode that the title was designed for. The Blaze disc, in VGA mode, was not looking this solid, if you can pardon the pun. Best of all the animation is just the most wondrous sight to behold.
I should test more titles to confirm my theory about the 16:9 use for 4:3 titles, but I'd hazard a guess that's the way this thing is meant to work the best, as there is no artifacting at all from stretching this game.
QuoteI'm a prophet.
My Xploder was in the mailbox when I got in today. If anybody wants me to test a specific game just ask, I have around 200 PS2 titles.
i am
amazed. hmm can you try dmc3!
I already did, DMC3 and the special edition both have . . . issues. They function, but for some reason they look even worse than they do interlaced. It appears as if the DAC is having trouble aligning the fields into a single frame properly, and the horizontal lines have a strange jitteriness to them as well because of this. It's certainly playable, but it is annoying enough that you do not want to look at it this way. Virtua Fighter 4 did this too while Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution did not. TimeSplitters (1) has the same issue with respect to the way it looks, yet it plays twice as fast! It's as if turning on progressive scan simply juxtaposed frames for fields, and the time governor goes out the window, it is literally twice as fast and completely unplayable. Although, it is very funny to see.
I tried running some games in VGA mode at 1280x1024. Running games this way did not stretch them as the 720p/1080i modes did. I need to play with the screen reticle and one of my screen's saved settings, but it does seem that for the games which work but appear unacceptably stretched, with vast expanses of the screen left empty, these modes are worth going to, although for the typical HDTV user this may not be possible--my plasma can take RGB or VGA over the component inputs.
How readable are Japanese kanji characters with 480p and VGA modes?
I've got some Japanese games, but the words are unreadable due to the blurries of standard TV.
Does the Xploder make Japanese characters much easier to read?
Also, you can tell me how VGA modes are for let's say 640x480?
If possible, can you try Okami or some Japanese RPG?
Thanks.
480p is a VGA mode, it's 640x480...
actually, with even 480i using component, it should be clear to read too.. (the only real reason it would be blury, is if your using composite.. S-video, maybe, don't know..)
1. ALL characters are much more readable (not just the Japanese ones) because everything is much, much BRIGHTER in progressive mode. Honestly, the difference is very like that between using s-video/composite and then RGB, it is that much better.
2. If I were you I would not bother with VGA modes a great deal, unless you either have a very large (and very configurable) TV (like mine), or if you have no choice but to use a computer monitor.
3. I don't own Okami although I do have a few other Japanese games, no RPGs though sorry.
I tested a lot of games over the weekend playing with this, posting a lot of details and answering a lot of questions here (http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/39309975/m/272006341831?r=884003171831#884003171831).
Have you tested FFXII by any chance? 480p
I haven't because I don't own that one, but I know from someone else who does that it does work, and very well.
Hello
I recently purchased an Xploder and I have a question for you.
I own an LCD Sharp Aqous. I tried ff12 on 720p and the screen becomes very small and stratched. I don't see any options for the sharp tv to manuely stretch the television. I set the ps2 settings to the proper cabling output and to 16:9..
480p works but I'd like to try for 720p. I tried 480p on games that don;t support 16:9 and the screen wasn't properly fitting the screen. It appears games that only support 16:9 work properly in 480p...is there a way to get 720p to fit the screen properly?
No--and this is due to your TV, not the output that the PS2 is giving.
Several games will output, pinched horizontally, so the only way to run them properly will be to set your television to 16:9 and use 480p mode. This will give you a perfect 4:3 image and it will be 480p, as opposed to 480i. Some games do not pinch horizontally and will stretch fullscreen, like Kingdom Hearts for instance, but there is another problem--Kingdom Hearts was never programmed in 16:9, so the image will be stretched, all squares will be rectangles, all circles will be eggs, people will look shorter and fatter, etc. Some games were programmed to fill the screen with 16:9 modes in the PS2 software, just set your television to 16:9 as well and it's the perfect ratio, but with the Xploder activated it will only output 4:3, even in 480p. Other games made for widescreen still have no problems in 480p and fill the widescreen properly.
So the moral of the story is:
1. It depends on the game, there is no hard-fast rule as they spent a lot of time working on this and tweaking for things.
2. Use 480p mode. It, or 576p for PAL, is the only mode that will preserve the proper ratio. Doing it any other way, you are only allowing yourself to be disappointed.
3. Be happy it works. Progressive scan at the same resolution gives a vast increase in detail for nearly every title, and the colours are so much brighter and clearer that it is truly a joy to game on the PS2 again.
Side note, almost every person I have heard of completely dissatisfied with the Xpoder HDTV player has pirated the thing, I love the sweet, sweet irony.
I didn't priate it, I bought it off Ebay.
Anyways, 480P is still good I figured 720p would be a problem.
I have an NTSC ps2, so I can't set it to 576P? When I try to the screen just stays black and nothing happens...Would be nice to get it to that size ah well
I wasn't implying that you had pirated it--but if you look at ps2-scene.org you will see a few early positive reviews of the software such as my own, a week or so later after someone finally iso'ed it to the world all the holdouts who "want to try it first" hate it. It is really funny to see. Edit--and those are the few who manage to get it to work, a lot of people had problems with getting it to even function, probably not so well understood how or what to copy from the disc.
576p is a PAL mode but I would think you should be able to set it to NTSC when using it--notice the button to force NTSC before you change to 576p. If it still doesn't work it's possible your telly just doesn't like that resolution.
Yeah I did research and other people with a sharp TV weren't able to use 576 either. Ahh well, I wish I my TV had a way in which I can manuely set my screen size, I can't seem to find a way, theres only presets to chose
anyways thanks for the help
I have a question.
What would the advantage be in using The Xploder HDTV to run PS2 games at a higher resolution? Is it going to increase the resolution of the actual game or just use stretching/zooming/interpolation. Would this not be the same as using your HD TV to upconvert the 480p signal to something higher? Or would the Xploder work better since it might have better hardware/algos for this?
I wonder the same thing about DVD players that upconvert. Is it not ALWAYS best to use the source resolution of the game or DVD? I thought pixel for pixel was the best way to go.
This boot disc increases the actual drawing resolution of the game output from the PS2 RAMDAC.
Please, do not think "oh! HDTV! 720p! 1080i!" It will draw to the screen in those resolutions, but appears to draw the image in its original resolution. Pixels are desner and the image does look nice, but it will likely not be to scale. You can fix this if you have an HDTV which has extensive calibration control over the area of the screen, but I can tell you from experience, my $4000 plasma monitor does not, and thus I do not use those modes.
What the Xploder does best is flip the bit to turn on progressive mode. The game outputs a 480i signal, and Xploder makes it output 480p. The resolution does not increase, but the frame is drawn in a single pass, instead of two fields. Combing is eliminated and the detail clarity increases greatly. This is not the same as allowing your TV's deinterlacer to do its work. It looks miles and away much better because of this. It isn't a hardware device. It is just activating a mode that the PS2 has always had.
I don't want to ask a wacko question here but how does it work with older PSX games? Point in case the Castlevanias. (The only ones that matter) ;) Other than that were there any PSX games that ran in 16:9 at all? I never ran into one but I didn't have too many games back then. Just though I would ask.
Really need some help! Have just bought the Xploder PS2 HDTV player but it doesn�t load in my PS2. Have tried it loads of times and it's loaded about 2 times. When I Re-start the PS2 with the disc in it goes to a black screen, then straight back to the browser (where I can see my memory card and a PS2 disc). My playstation loads all my other games fine. Could it be anything to do with the fact my PS2 is an early version?? Any help on this would be great. Thanks
The Xploder is for PS2 games, so it does not work with PS1 games. It works by enabling the back framebuffer in the DAC hardware, so there is little-to-no-chance this will work in a PS3 either.
Chris G--is your PS2 modded? If it is chipped, what chip do you have installed? Some people with crappier/older mod chips had problems getting this to work, and folks who have attempted copying the disc have had buttloads more problems still, so just deserts to them I say, although some have managed to get it to work with persistence.
i have 2 ps2s with crappy old mod chips that dont work.
one with a nova the other with magic 4(i think).
they will boot the copied xploder hdtv.
none of the systems will start the game when start is hit.
now i wounder if a real xploder would work? i would guess no.
i
Quotei have 2 ps2s with crappy old mod chips that dont work.
one with a nova the other with magic 4(i think).
they will boot the copied xploder hdtv.
none of the systems will start the game when start is hit.
now i wounder if a real xploder would work? i would guess no.
i
Same problem, with a o2mod and a h2o mod (the o2mod is definately not crappy though).Could be just a bad ISO floating around though.
I wish the o2mod or Matrix infinity guys would add in the extra modes that the xploder HDTV uses.It would be pretty simple to do as the extra modes have been known for ages, and it would allow usage through HDL.Xploder HDTV's lack of HDL support is a dealbreaker for me.
Thanks for the reply. Nah my ps2 has no mods, its just an early version of the console and i heard somewhere that this may affect the xploder program working properly. this could be absolute rubbish and i may just have a faulty disc!
I�m italian.
I have a o2 mod, but the disk xploder hdtv and the game disk are all original.
I have a problem with the new xploder hdtv product PAL version.
After I have inserted the game disk and pres start for launch the game, the game not start and the ps2 to stop in the �STARTING GAME� inscription.
I have run 5 games included in the compatibility list, but don�t� work. The problem is �STARTING GAME� inscription in my samsung LER76B and block the console with this word.
Do you have a solution? Please I have pay 50 euro for the xploder hdtv.
Tanks for my bad English
There's no solution yet sirago, however you might be able to get it to work by running the o2mod in disable mode (press square during boot).You won't be able to run imports or backups though.Have a look in the www.ps2-scene.org forums too, there has been some discussion about this there.
Here's some good questions. Has anyone tried hooking their Xploder equipped PS2 to a computer monitor?
If so how does it compare to the XRGB2-PLUS? This would be a great comparison revview!!
Is the output possible using a Sony VGA cable that came with the Linux Kit. Is a monitor with sync on green still necessary? Or do you have to stll use component. I believe they mention a vga cable on the Xploder HDTV website but it is not listed for sale yet, and I wonder about the quality.
1. Yes, the Xploder works with a computer monitor. You still need to have a VGA cable, and your monitor has to accept sync on green--or else you need to make a circuit to strip it.
2. The quality is better than the XRGB2+ because it is VGA and the XRGB2+ upscales by line-doubling (which looks better on some games than others, and can be "fixed" sorta by using the fake scanline feature).
3. See #1.
4. See #1.
5. See #1--the PS2 allows you to change from RGB to y-pb-pr via its settings menu, and by doing this, it will send either of those signals over the same lines. So you can actually make your own VGA cable from a component cable, or use certain screens that allow RGB/VGA over the component lines. (My plasma does this.)
6. Xploder said in an email that their VGA cable would be ready "by next week," last week. It is so easy to make your own it is probably not worth waiting for them to sell it to you.
"6. Xploder said in an email that their VGA cable would be ready "by next week," last week. It is so easy to make your own it is probably not worth waiting for them to sell it to you."
Unless it has a sync separation/removal circuit. Then it will be worth it.
Unless they make the VGA cable available at the same "coming soon!" pacing that they made Xploder available with, could easily be another six months in that case. ;)
I'm also having the same prob as Chris G. It just wont load at all...
QuoteI'm also having the same prob as Chris G. It just wont load at all...
My PS2 tells me to insert a PlayStation or PlayStation 2 format disc?!?! It just won't load..
What the heck is wrong? Is my disc messed up? Cause all of my other games works perfectly with my PS2
PS2 in vga are bad =(
I need to run it in my TV, but this shit called XPLODER don't run in my PS2 ...
Many people said that can only run ORIGINAL DISKS.
what now??
Do you know another way to apply the progressive scan for all the ps2 games?
my tv accept many resolutions except 720p !! :blink:
As I see the other resolutions only scratch the screen :lol:
If the PS2 accept these resolutions, why did SONY didn't put this options in the PS2 bios??
Brace yourself dude.
The wonderful product that is the Xploder?
It only runs ORIGINAL DISCS.
wonderful??
I can't see where it is wonderful
It's pretty awesome on my PS2s and Plasma HDTV. :)
<_<
so, show mor pics to us!
that game that you show I didn't know, :lol:
and help us to play it in our ps2 . my TV supports hd tv !!
:)
Does your PS2 support original discs? ;)
How about an original Xploder?
I had a question that maybe someone here can help me with. I was thinking about buying the Xploder with the VGA cable from the UK website to use with a widescreen computer monitor.
Do you know if their VGA cable will work with most widescreen monitors or does it need to be a special "synch on green" monitor?
Will this setup play my PS2 games in 4:3 correctly because I can't see how you would be able to adjust the aspect settings on a monitor unless it was hooked up to a PC?
Will my PS1 games play on the PS2 through the monitor? I don't mind if they don't look better but I do want them to at least look as good as they do on my Tube TV.
Should I just go ahead and get an HDTV and forget about trying to play my games on a computer monitor?
Thanks. Any help would be appreciated!!
my ps2 only accept generics :rolleyes:
Hey Endymion,
I am thinking of getting the xploder for christmas but I only have a computer monitor to use. Have you (or anyone else) tried a computer monitor? Think it would be worth it?
Also how can I figure out if my monitors support sync on green?
http://www.monitorworld.com/ (http://www.monitorworld.com/)
I haven't used the Xploder with a computer monitor--only with my plasma set.
I do not have the Xploder VGA cable that is now available--but I do have the previous Blaze cable. The photos of the Xploder cable appear identical to me. If it is the same on the inside, then it will have to use a sync-on-green monitor, but please do not count on me as some kind of definitive source. I don't have that cable and do not plan on getting it.
My plasma TV accepts 15KHz RGB as well as 31KHz. It accepts component of course, but what's nice about this particular set is that it can accept the RGB or VGA over the same lines that it takes component, so I have been able to use the VGA modes with it that way. Because it is an HDTV monitor, I have extensive control over the geometry and placement of the screen. That is the only thing that makes VGA very usable. If you try to use this on a computer screen, you will want the same kind of control over the geometry and positioning. You get the chance to set the screen position with the software, but for some games and some settings, you may need more. Also, some games do not sync properly at different rates (75KHz, 85KHz, etc.), using VGA at those sync rates/resolutions makes the game run too fast and often unplayable.
So in short, you can use VGA, and it does work fine, but I do not see most LCD screens that are not also HDTVs having the kind of controls necessary to stretch the screen image and give you the the full image in the proper ratio that you would want--even if that proper ratio is 4:3. It's nice that it works with VGA, but I wouldn't use it in VGA for most games, and probably not at all if I didn't have a CRT to use it with. You might just have the kind of LCD screen that would work well in VGA, but do you want to roll that dice and be pissed about it later? You're a lot surer to get a good, working setup with an HDTV using y-pb-pr.
well what I have is a crt
its pretty cheap, but it has SEVERAL controls for geometry (pincushion,H size, Vsize, trapezoid etc.) I have used the x2vga and xbox 360 vga cable and I am very happy with both. (at least if I turn the brightness down on the monitor with the 360)
Your plasma sounds GREAT. Im sure it is a rare find. What brand\model is it?
With almost any CRT you will surely have the kind of flexibility to centre and stretch the PS2 image where it needs to be. You are covered there. The only question mark is whether this new cable gives sync-on-green or if it is standard VGA. Everybody seems to ask about this everywhere but not a soul has yet bought it and reported back, on any forum I read. ps2-scene.org has a great thread on how to add a sync stripper though, and there was a very good walkthrough in a still-googlable page on how to build a VGA cable or dongle converter from a component cable if you care to have a go.
My set is the Panasonic TH-50PHD8UK (http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?displayTab=O&storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=94540&catGroupId=14624&surfModel=TH-50PHD8UK), the high-end model from last year. Not really just an HDTV, it is marketed to video professionals, which is one of the reasons that it has the features that it does. No speakers, no tuner, and removable slots for various inputs. Which reminds me, I still need to get an HDMI/DVI card to install.
Today I went looking around EB Games and lo and behold - Xploder HDTV. I wasn't even looking for it. Just looking to see if they had any cool cheap games.
So I snagged it. I have tried it out on five games so far.
"Bully" looks fantastic in 640x480 (VGA). "Grand Theft Auto III", "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City", "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas", and "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories" also looked relatively good but had one minor issue. The opening title screens for each of those titles are FMV and they weren't meant for Progessive Scan. So they crap out a bit while playing. But once you get past that then there are no additional issues.
Will play around with additional titles later.
Crap out how? A few titles with prerendered cinematics (which are basically movie recordings) still show their inherent combing in some games, but a few titles have problems syncing the fields into a single frame--they seem to be doing it but it is misaligned somehow. The ones I spotted that did this were Virtua Fighter 4 (the original one, Evolution is perfect) and the two Devil May Cry 3 games, there may be others but those were the only three in my nearly 200-game collection so it seems a rare problem.
Play Metal Gear Solid 2 on this if you have it, you'll be shocked how much more beautiful it is. MGS3 is perfect as well.
"A few titles with prerendered cinematics (which are basically movie recordings) still show their inherent combing in some games"
That's probably the problem here. The main title screens, with the Rockstar logo and opening game credits, are prerendered and are having this problem. But when you get past those and into the game loading screens (and into the game itself) then the games look pretty good with no issues to speak of (so far).
I don't have either the MSG2 or MGS3 games so I am unable to try your suggestion. But I do have "Rumble Roses"..... :P
Rumble Roses appeared to have the frame-mesh problem, but that ceased once I actually started playing. Thing is, I am pretty sure that the bits I was seeing which were not aligning properly were not prerendered, but whatever, once the actual game started it was perfect. :)
(P.S. Get MGS2/3. :P )
:blink: and about the generic cds?