GT4 in 1080i on an LCD monitor

[defbond]

How do I do this? I want to hook up my PS2 to my computer and play GT4 from the 19" LCD monitor I have, and I'd like it to run on the 1080i mode that GT4 supports. I don't really care if the picture quality is better just as long as it's not worse, because I can't use the PS2 on my TV anymore and would like to have it hooked up to my computer.

This is the video card I have:
http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgrgtx260896e.aspx

If you click on detailed specs it will show what in/outputs it has.

My monitor is an HP w1907 with digital and VGA inputs, the digital is connected to the video card and the VGA is not being used.

So, has anyone done this? If so what do you need to get it working? Anything that might be available at Radio Shack? Also i would like to stay away from TV tuners because I heard there is a delay in what is rendered by the PS2 and what shows up on the monitor, but if you have good experience with these do tell.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Smallhorses]

I've not tried this, but there's some stuff in this thread that may help:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=104912&highlight=1080i

Let us know what the exact issue you're having is?
We're going to assume you've already been into Options->Screen->Video Output and set this for 1080i, right? You will have to do this each time you start GT4 as it will not save this setting in case you ever go back to a normal non-1080i TV or you'd never be able to see anything when you started the game up.

 

[defbond]

I've not tried this, but there's some stuff in this thread that may help:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=104912&highlight=1080i

Let us know what the exact issue you're having is?
We're going to assume you've already been into Options->Screen->Video Output and set this for 1080i, right? You will have to do this each time you start GT4 as it will not save this setting in case you ever go back to a normal non-1080i TV or you'd never be able to see anything when you started the game up.

If your referring to why I need to do this, it's because I just bought a DFP wheel and I don't have anywhere to mount it if I was using the PS2 with the TV. But the computer desk has a nice place right in front of the monitor.

Thanks for the thread but it refers to using PS2 with a TV that has component input. I don't think think this really applies to connecting the PS2 to a monitor/video card.

 

[defbond]

Ok, I've done some research and I think I will settle for this:

http://hardware.teamxbox.com/articles/xbox/934/VDigi-Electronics-Enhanced-VDZ3-Review/p1/

It's basically a box that will convert signals from a component cable to VGA so it can be hooked up to a monitor. And the best part is that it supports 1080i and the 480p that GT4 is capable of putting out, so I'm hoping to get some HD on the cheap with a PS2!

Also I will need a component cable for the PS2 to replace the RCA cables that I use to connect to my regular TV, luckily they can be found at your local gamestop or best buy.

http://www.us.playstation.com/PS2/Accessories/SCPH-10100U

I should have this setup by next week and will post some screenshots when its all done but if anyone has tried a similar setup I'd like to hear some reviews. Thanks.

 

[KingArthur]

You have to be careful with these things. Most of them will not convert interlaced signals to non-interlaced (or progressive) signals. Most monitors do not accept interlaced. It looks unclear whether this one does or not. I have not been able to find one that converts interlaced to progressive. I've been looking for the same thing with no luck. If you buy this, let us know how it worked.

 

[defbond]

You have to be careful with these things. Most of them will not convert interlaced signals to non-interlaced (or progressive) signals. Most monitors do not accept interlaced. It looks unclear whether this one does or not. I have not been able to find one that converts interlaced to progressive. I've been looking for the same thing with no luck. If you buy this, let us know how it worked.

Your right, I dont think modern LCD monitors will accept interlaced mode however GT4 also has an option to output 480p, so it should work. Hopefully the 1080i mode will work as well, since I have been reading a few forums and it's possible that some monitors will convert the 1080i signal into 1080p.

I just ordered all the stuff from ebay, the converter and cables ran about $65 w/shipping so I will let you know the results in a few days.

 

[the.hatter]

It's a small world

I just bought a driving force GT and didn't have a good place to mount it in my living room, so I hooked my ps2 up to my 19" LCD in my computer room.

I used this converter box off Ebay to hook it up:

High Resolution Standalone VGA TV Tuner Box LCD PS3 Wii

My ps2 is currently hooked up via S-video 👎, but I ordered a set of component cables so I can hook it up via YPbPr, and then should be able to do 480p. Don't know if it will really look better or not.

My LCD monitor supports a max resolution of 1280x1024 so I don't think I can do 1080i (which would be a 1920x1080 resolution?).

I did notice that sitting 2 feet away from the monitor the graphics aren't as good as they were in my living room sitting 15 feet away, but the game is still playable. Gives me an excuse to get a ps3 and a new hi-def monitor though

Here's my setup (sorry the pic is so dark, the glare from the monitor made my camera adjust the brightness way down):

 

[defbond]

Thats freakin awesome, I'm glad it works too.

So your running it in 480i on the S-video, as I understand it S-video isn't capable of progressive scan so I guess you would need the component cables. I wonder what would happen if you tried 480p on it though.

My monitor only does 1440x900 so I'm not really sure what results the 1080i will produce, it might just show a blown up image of the game where the borders run outside the monitor screen, that would suck.

Also does anyone know of a list of PS2 games that support 480p and 1080i?

 

[Tornado]

AFAIK, GT4 is the only game on the system that displays in an HD resolution, but there are dozens that support progressive scan. I'll look for a list, but the thing about the PS2 is that not all of the games that support progressive scan have a menu option for it, so you may actually own a few anyways.

Also, there are going to be problems if you are going to display the game on a monitor with that resolution. It won't be the problem you describe, though.

 

[defbond]

AFAIK, GT4 is the only game on the system that displays in an HD resolution, but there are dozens that support progressive scan. I'll look for a list, but the thing about the PS2 is that not all of the games that support progressive scan have a menu option for it, so you may actually own a few anyways.

As for not having a menu option for it that would be no good because I have an older model PS2 that doesn't allow change to progressive scan via the console menu.

Also, there are going to be problems if you are going to display the game on a monitor with that resolution. It won't be the problem you describe, though.

What problems are you referring too? Like the monitor shutting off when its being sent a resolution that it doesn't support, or picture distortion?

I think i found a nice list of games too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_2_games_with_HD_support

 

[the.hatter]

Thats freakin awesome, I'm glad it works too.

So your running it in 480i on the S-video, as I understand it S-video isn't capable of progressive scan so I guess you would need the component cables. I wonder what would happen if you tried 480p on it though.

My monitor only does 1440x900 so I'm not really sure what results the 1080i will produce, it might just show a blown up image of the game where the borders run outside the monitor screen, that would suck.

Also does anyone know of a list of PS2 games that support 480p and 1080i?

Yes it's running in 480i mode. If I switch to 480p or 1080i, then the screen just goes black for a few seconds, before switching back to 480i (same thing that happens if you try to switch to those modes on a standard def TV). If I had a high def monitor that supported 1920x1080 resolution, then I think I could try 1080i via the menu and it would work.

I'm think once I connect the ps2 with component cables then 480p mode will work. I think my converter box just converts the signal so that my monitor will accept it with a VGA input, without messing around with the resolution (no upscaling, etc).

Here's a list of ps2 games with better than 480i support:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HD_Enhanced_PS2_games

EDIT: defbond you beat me to it lol. I had never seen that list before today, apparently some games you just hold down the triangle and x buttons during load to activate 480p. News to me!

 

[Tornado]

As for not having a menu option for it that would be no good because I have an older model PS2 that doesn't allow change to progressive scan via the console menu.

It is done with a button combo, I believe; though I've honestly never tried it (I play my PS2 games through my PS3, and that is rarely hooked up to an HDTV anyways) so perhaps that is what you are talking about.

What problems are you referring too? Like the monitor shutting off when its being sent a resolution that it doesn't support, or picture distortion?

A combination. Your monitor won't likely accept a 1080i signal, both because it is too large and because it is interlaced. There is a slim chance, but even if it did it would be risky. So you will probably be playing at 480P. With that in mind, you monitor may do one of three things:

1. Stretch the 480P image to all 4 sides of the screen. This is probably the best thing to do, because then you can set the game to widescreen and it will look fine. There will be slight vertical distortion because the game's faked widescreen function is 16:9 and the monitor is 16:10.
2. A 640*480 image stretched from top to bottom but not from left to right. This means the image source aspect ratio is preserved but the image is zoomed in on. This would still look better than an interlaced signal, but you couldn't use widescreen.
3. A 640*480 image sitting dead center in the screen with borders along all sides. This is the worst image in screen size used, but also the best in picture quality as it is the native resolution without being blown up to fit. No widescreen for this either.

There may be internal settings in the monitor to switch between the three views, but you will not be able to use widescreen without screen distortion in any of them.

Yes it's running in 480i mode. If I switch to 480p or 1080i, then the screen just goes black for a few seconds, before switching back to 480i (same thing that happens if you try to switch to those modes on a standard def TV). If I had a high def monitor that supported 1920x1080 resolution, then I think I could try 1080i via the menu and it would work.

I'm think once I connect the ps2 with component cables then 480p mode will work. I think my converter box just converts the signal so that my monitor will accept it with a VGA input, without messing around with the resolution (no upscaling, etc).

You need component cables to do Progressive Scan. All the box you have does is convert the image to RGB so the VGA port will accept it. It probably switches it to progressive scan as well, but even if it does the image quality will take a hit compared to outputting a progressive scan image from the PS2.

 

[the.hatter]

Good info Toronado!

I was thinking that although not all monitors support 1920x1080 resolution, almost any modern one supports 1280x720 (i.e. 720p). It's too bad that the 1080i option in GT4 isn't 720p

But then I guess you'd need the monitor to be a widescreen or you'd get some weird scaling effect / black bars.

 

[HEAVYSET]

I have the VD-Z3. The best you can hope for on your monitor is 480p. Well, I shouldn't say that, because my experience was with a CRT monitor. Maybe your LCD can switch between interlaced and proscan on the fly. The problem is you have to go through several menus in the game until you can set it for 480p. Meaning 480i until that point. Meaning you won't see squat until that point. And then it won't truly go into and remain in 480p until you're ready to race. Very stupid design on PD's part. The good news is, 480p looked pretty decent, although a bit dark. The VD-Z3 works best with the Xbox.

I figured out a pain in the butt workaround to navigate my way through the 480i menus so I could set it for 480p. It involved using a small tv. I took the green component lead from the PS2 and split it with a female RCA to double male RCA Y-cable, one male going to the tv's video (yellow) input, and the other male going to the green jack on the VD-Z3. This gives you a black and white 480i picture on the tv so you can go through the menus.

Here's the step by step:

1. Switch both tv and monitor on
2. Start GT4- You'll see it on the tv only
3. Navigate to the proper options menu
4. Choose progressive scan- The picture will go out on the tv and will appear on the monitor
5. The game asks that you confirm you can see the proscan image. Once you select yes, the idiotic thing goes back to 480i. Now you can't see anything on the monitor, but there it is on the tv again. Hold on, don't panic. All will be good in a moment.
6. Select your event- still in 480i
7. I can't remember exactly, because it's been so long, but I think it's at the prerace screen with all of the icons at the bottom of the screen (start race, choice of B-spec, tune, etc.) that the game finally puts itself into 480p.

So, now you can race in 480p. But I still needed that damn tv to see the menus after leaving the event.

I said it was a pain. Which is why I finally sprung for an HDTV earlier in the year, actually for the PS3 and Xbox 360, but can also now play GT4 in 1080i without hassle because it does the switching between rezzes for me.

I'll also add a personal, possibly flameworthy note. Finally being able to play GT4 in all it's 1080i glory is why I gave up on GT5 and got rid of my PS3. From what I've seen, I personally feel that PD shot its collective wad with GT4. GT5 may or may not deliver the same goods, but at what price?

-I don't like the penalty system for the special conditions races in GT4, and now they want to expand that in GT5. No.
-I don't like multiple choice physics engines
-Then there is the speculation for a lower track location count in GT5.

Sure 1080i on the PS2 ain't next gen golly gee whiz graphics, but GT4 at 1080i is still everything I'd want in GT land. Period.

 

[the.hatter]

^ Ouch

(your old method lol)

I bet GT4 does look fantastic in 1080i though!

@defbond - Hopefully you won't have to hook up an external TV to navigate menus like HEAVYSET did. Let us know how it works for you!

 

[GTP_joeninety]

Hi - great information in this thread.thanks
Starting to get abit sick of the tracks in GT5P so i thought jumping back into GT4 would cure the bordom....but the graphics suck.

@Heavyset - the way you got the CRT to 'hack the system' was cool but you lost me on how you are playing GT4 at 1080p?

Be easy on me cause i can be abit slow on the uptake.

 

[HEAVYSET]

@Heavyset - the way you got the CRT to 'hack the system' was cool but you lost me on how you are playing GT4 at 1080p?

First, if you can, please take the time to read my post again. I know it's alot of info, but it might make more sense the second time through.

Now, to touch on your specific points. I didn't really hack anything. I read somewhere that the green colored lead of a component cable (the Y part of Pb/Cb Pr/Cr Y) will give you a black and white picture on a regular tv with a composite (yellow) video-in jack. So, I just used a Y cable to split it, one side to the tv and the other to the VGA transcoder (VD-Z3). It was a cumbersome setup, just to be able to play GT4 at 480p, because no one at PD thought it would be a good idea to have the complete game from the title screen, to the menus, and onto the gameplay, support proscan.

And it's 1080 i I'm playing GT4 in now, not 1080 p. And that's with an HDTV, not with the VD-Z3.

I still use the VD-Z3, but with my old Xbox and its own monitor. I don't like the 360's emulation of many Xbox games, so prefer to play them on the machine they were designed for. But my HDTV doesn't do 480p very well, its bread and butter is 720p/1080i, so the VD-Z3 saves the day once again!

The better solution for playing GT4 in 480p on a PC monitor is the X2VGA2. It can take those 480i parts of GT4 and line double them so they can be seen on a VGA monitor. The image isn't that great, but at least it's there, eliminating the need for the crappy setup I had to endure.

 

[GTP_joeninety]

Thanks for that - will go back over the posts and experiment with my set up at home. 👍

 

[BDNeon]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forums, I only recently got into Gran Turismo. Had a copy of 4 for ages but never really got into it. But, since I'm out of money to buy new games, I've decided to jump in properly. Kinda suck at it though ><

Buuuut, anyway, I thought I'd ask this.

Is there any way to get the 1080i working on my Polaroid 19 inch Widescreen 1080i LCD HDTV, if I'm using a 60gig model PS3 with HDMI hookups? Or is it only possible through component cables? Because when I try turning on 1080i mode, the picture suddenly turns horrible. It's like it halves the resolution instead of doubling it. Pixels get bigger, colors bleed and are very dark, just turns into an ugly mess.

 

[defbond]

Got all the stuff in the mail and tried it out for the first time just now.

Basically I'm having the same problems as heavyset, no display on my monitor in 480i 1080i mode just renders a message on the monitor that says display out of range.

I currently am switching between the RCA cables hooked up to the TV to view the menu's at which point when I enter the race I switch to the component cable hooked up to the monitor. The worst part is having to turn around and navigate the menu's from the TV with the steering wheel bolted to my desk which is opposite the TV in my room.

As for the quality I'm running the game in 480p and 16:9 and it looks worse than 480i on the regular TV, very blocky and pretty much like NFS1 in 640x480 resolution. Its still playable, colors are ok with some adjustment to the monitor color profiles via on screen menu(RGB at full worked best for me).

@mad.hatter I think your getting 480i to work on your monitor because of the S-video cable. I dont think you will get much improvement with the component cables and 480p and you may lose your menu screens. Unless your monitor is converting the 480i to 480p with that S-video setup you have then it looks grim.

I guess this will work for now, but its not what I hoped for. To anyone else reading this thread and wanting to do the same, I guess the best advice I can give you is to make sure your monitor supports 1920x1080, then just get a set of VD-P3 cables from http://www.vdigi.com/. You dont need a converter box anymore and the PS3 cables are backwards compatible to PS2. Then you can run GT4 at 1080i which is the only resolution that will look at least as good and better than 480i on a regular TV screen.

 

[HEAVYSET]

That's a bummer. Wish I could've warned you beforehand.

Your tv doesn't happen to have component inputs, does it? I only tried the VD-Z3 with GT4 out of curiosity, as I had bought it for Xbox use. But otherwise (until I got an HDTV) I had the PS2 hooked to a regular old 480i tube tv with component inputs. No, it wasn't 480p, but even so those component cables produced a remarkably better picture than composite, and a slightly better picture than S-video.

I know you said your setup with the wheel makes it difficult to use the tv, but if your tv does have component inputs, you should at least have a look. Maybe some furniture movement might be in order.

 

[Tornado]

I can vouch for that. Even if your TV doesn't support progressive scan, you will still get a vastly better picture if you play it at 480i through component cables.

 

[defbond]

no its a very old tv, I think I'm lucky it has RCA jacks!!

its not a total loss however, the new wheel helped me win some of the S license races with some of the higher performance race cars that i just couldn't handle with the regular controller. As soon as those are out of the way along with some of the driving missions I'll be on my way to 100%
Plus it works great with PC games like rFactor, GTR2, CM '05, RBR, and TOCA 3. Looks like I've got a lot of racing to do!

 

[the.hatter]

My component cable will hopefully arrive this week - bought it off Ebay because I figured it was too specialized to find at the local Walmart, etc., the con is it takes 3 weeks to deliver

I think my converter box takes care of interlaced vs. progressive image and does the proper conversion so my monitor can handle it. Before I tried S-video I had used composite hookup and I could still see all menus, etc. on my monitor.

I'm not greatly hopeful that 480p output will look a lot better than 480i, but like Toronado said, 480i through component cables should look better than 480i through S-video/composite.

I would say right now my graphics look the same as they did in my living room on my 27" std. TV. However I am now sitting 2 feet away from the screen when I play GT4, as opposed to 15 feet, so you see all the imperfections, blocky-ness that much better! I played BLACK yesterday and was able to sit a comfortable 4 feet away from my monitor, and the graphics looked much better.

That said, I picked up a copy of GTR2 with GT Legends for my PC (game is compatible with Logitech wheels ) and the graphics are great with my desktop setup.

 

[ShawnPhillips]

Is there any way to get the 1080i working on my Polaroid 19 inch Widescreen 1080i LCD HDTV, if I'm using a 60gig model PS3 with HDMI hookups? Or is it only possible through component cables? Because when I try turning on 1080i mode, the picture suddenly turns horrible. It's like it halves the resolution instead of doubling it. Pixels get bigger, colors bleed and are very dark, just turns into an ugly mess.

I have the same problem. It runs fine in 480p. but since I have a 1080p TV I would like to run it in 1080i
I do have component cable to use my PS3 with my HD capture card, I'll try hooking it up though that and see what happens. If I can get GT4 running in 1080i with a PS3 I will let you know how I did it.

 

[the.hatter]

HEAVYSET says he's played GT4 in 1080i mode on an HDTV, maybe he can pipe in and let you know his setup.

I splurged yesterday and bought a 23" LCD monitor, 1920x1080 native resolution (1080p ), 1,000:1 contrast ratio,and HDMI and VGA hookups. It's scheduled to deliver this Friday, can't wait!

With any luck my component cables will finally arrive by then, and I'm going to give the 1080i mode a shot. I will let you know how it works, and see if I can find a good way to capture the differences. If it works I'm going to recommend a converter box like I purchased - so far absolutely no problems displaying interlaced output from my PS2, the images look just like they did on my standard def TV.

On a side note, Sony is now offering a new PS3, 160gb model, bundled with Uncharted 1 for $300 shipped. If the new PS3's were backwards compatible with my PS2 games I would buy one in a heartbeat. But since they're not, and I'd feel guilty about the purchase if I still played my PS2 games on my PS2, I'll wait a bit longer. Getting harder to wait though!

http://dealnews.com/Sony-Play-Station-3-160-GB-Uncharted-Bundle-for-300-free-shipping/324826.html

With the YLOD thing, the fat PS3's scare me a little though. Honestly if I get one I'll probably go for the slim model.

 

[HEAVYSET]

HEAVYSET says he's played GT4 in 1080i mode on an HDTV, maybe he can pipe in and let you know his setup.

I'm not using a PS3 though. My setup now is simple: PS2 to component cable to component inputs on my HDTV. Set GT4 for 1080i and done. The game still reverts to 480i for the menus and such, and then 1080i for the race, but the HDTV automatically adjusts itself for the resolution changes, so it's seamless.

When I had a PS3, it wasn't backwards compatible with PS2 games, so I have no idea how well they worked on the PS3. It's my understanding that there were 2 types of PS3 with 2 different methods of running PS2 games. One was hardware based, with the actual PS2 chip, and the other was software based, via emulation.

HDMI can show all rezzies, as far as I know. Why Neon is having a problem with it, I'm not sure. I don't know if his PS3 is using the hardware or software method for GT4. Could be something isn't kosher with PS2 games and HDMI. That is a pure digital signal path start to finish. What that has to do with anything, I don't know, I'm just hoping it makes me sound clever.

Surely someone on this board has the experience. Just have to get their attention. Psst: Hey buddy, over here!

 

[Tornado]

I do have component cable to use my PS3 with my HD capture card, I'll try hooking it up though that and see what happens. If I can get GT4 running in 1080i with a PS3 I will let you know how I did it.

It does run in 1080i on the PS3, though I've never tried it with an HDMI cable. With a PS3 you can actually set it to run at 480p in the menu screens and switch to 1080i automatically in races.

 

[ShawnPhillips]

On my PS3, with the software emulation PS2 compatibility, running 1080i with either the component or HDMI it doesn't look good at all. with smoothing on it f@#ks it up even more. It looks so much better in 480p. plus for some reason if I have it in 1080i the game gets stuck on the loading screens untill I hit the PS button a few times, weird. If Sony would release GT4 with an HD makeover like the God of War collection (and maybe add a GTPSP style blacked out "cockpit view") that is still compatible with my old GT4 game save file, I'dd be willing to drop $20 on that.

 

[BDNeon]

Well, I'm on the 60 gig model, which means emulation via hardware. Normally I have it set to automatically upscale the resolution to 1080p, but all that really does is just fill in the sharp edges between pixels. Logic would say that full 1080i output would look better then smoothed out 480p. I've tried firing up GT4 with upscaling and smoothing off, Upscaling off and smoothing on, and any other configurations. End result is always the same. Downgrades the resolution from 480p to something smaller.