Rear Projection TVs and the PS2

VGA out on the DC looks simply amazin.  Sony should have been thinking more of the future of home entertainment and added some type of 480p+ output on the ps2.  I would agree with the statement made above in that vga out on the DC looks better than anything on the PS2 when shown on a 55"+ rptv.

And the ps2\'s playback of DVDs is just crappy.  I notice it right off the bat, and I\'m comparing it to my entry-level Toshiba sd-1200.  For a detailed explanation and actual testing check out HT Hifi.

"We need to say up front that the PS2 is a game console first and foremost. Its performance as a DVD player does not even match DVD players costing $100 less. So, if you are looking primarily for a DVD player, you can do better. If you want a game console that can double as a DVD player for the sake of convenience, then the PS2 might be what you are looking for. We are not reviewing this as a game machine here, only a DVD player."

"The video output is below par for a DVD player, and if you factor in that it plays games, it\'s still a poor DVD player..."

As for the Toshiba TheaterWide HDs, I was saving up for the 40H80 myself.  I got to about $700 and said screw it I\'m gonna upgrade my computer.  Nonetheless Toshiba is always a good choice.  Also take a look at the Mitsubishi Platinum Plus line which have VGA inputs.  And yea the Mitsu\'s do look crappy in the showroom, I even said this to the salesman.  Once you get it, you\'re supposed to use it regularly for about a month to break it in, then get it calibrated by an ISF-certified technician.  Have to get rid of that damn red push among many other things.

Of course I\'m talking best case scenario here (aka- you have moolah to waste).  From what I\'ve gathered at HTF, an ISF calibrated Mitsu is more preferred than a Toshiba.  Happy hunting!

How do you hook a VGA adapter up to your TV..??  I have a serial port in the back, but I think its for HDTV controller..

Maybe I can\'t, maybe I need a VGA port, maybe I have one and don\'t know...

Any more info on this subject, video or THX..??

You need to have a vga input to get the picture. As far as big screens go I would look at the Elite line from Pioneer as well depending on your budget.

Thanks to everyone who replied on this thread.  THX, that site you mentioned, http://www.hometheaterhifi.com is very cool.  Their testing procedure for DVD players was really fascinating.

I purchased the Toshiba 65H80 on Sunday from a local retailer at a VERY good price.  It will be delivered sometime this week.  I investigated Mitsubishi, Sony, and Pioneer alternatives, but eventually decided on the Toshiba based on owner testimonials.  Spec-wise, none of the manufacturers seemed to offer obvious advantages over the others.  While the Mitsubishi models do feature VGA input, I couldn\'t imagine an immediate application for this.  The Toshiba ended up being quite a bit less expensive than a comparable Mitsubishi, so I think this was a good trade-off for a VGA input that may or may not be used.

If anyone\'s interested, I may post my comments here after a week or two of break-in.  My emphasis on this forum will be on functionality with the PS2, but I\'ll mention my DVD playback experiences as well.

One more question to give you all something to think about:  Have any of you used the video calibration DVDs like Video Essentials or Avia?  I\'m considering buying one, but I\'ve been seeing an even distribution of positive and negative comments about each.  Which do you prefer?

[videoholic]

Enjoy it.  

Where are you getting your HD from?  You get the RCA DC100?  Do you live in a city with OTA HD content?  You will love it.......

There have been many reports that CBS is going to offer a lot of NCAA football content this year in HD...  YAHOO!!!  GO GATORS!!!

CBS\'s full slate is in HD (Just about) and from what I have heard, ABC is going to be transfering there programming to HD this fall as well.  Should be real nice.  Only thing ABC does now is NYPD Blue and that show in HD makes me sick to my stomach.  

Let us know how you like it.

Oh, and pray for more widescreen games.  SSX is great in Widescreen. I wish Football would follow suit.

All this talk of Big screens and HDTV makes me wish I bought that 32in WEGA over my Dell but then again I would have failed computer school....oh the choices:(

I agree that the 16:9 squashed mode can look dumb on some sets, but the Toshibas have a so-called "theater wide" mode that stretches the image at the edges more than it does at the middle.

I have a Toshiba widescreen TV and the "theater wide" mode does not stretch out the edges more than the middle, it actually has three theater wide settings.  All three of them  zoom into the image so that it takes up the whole screen.  Two of the three theater wide settings stretch the picture in different ways so you can use whichever you prefer.  The third setting doesn\'t stretch the picture in anyway and is best used for widescreen movies that aren\'t 16:9 enhanced.  For 16:9 movies and games you have to use a completely different mode, the "full" mode.  That mode just stretches the compressed image out to fill the screen up with no loss of resolution.  Since the image is already compressed by the dvd player, it looks normal when the TV stretches it out to fill the screen.

You probably already knew a lot of what I just said, but I just wanted to clear it up for anyone that gets confused by all that crazy stuff.

Raze: Thanks for the clarification.  Actually I did not know that the "Theaterwide" mode was just a zoom mode, so I must have misunderstood a post on one of the home theater forums.  It\'s ok, I wasn\'t really looking forward to that feature anyway... :rolleyes:  Which Toshiba model do you have?  How do you like it?

Videoholic:  I don\'t have any of the infrastructure to start viewing High Definition, but I don\'t really care about it that much either.  I don\'t watch much television, so my main priorities are DVD playback and (or course) the PS2.  I\'ve seen HD demonstrations at the showrooms, and they certainly look impressive.  My roommate is an aspiring television writer, and he watches quite a bit of prime time programming.  Maybe I can get him to spring for the HD decoder and split the DirecTV service...  Yeah right

Raze: Thanks for the clarification. Actually I did not know that the "Theaterwide" mode was just a zoom mode, so I must have misunderstood a post on one of the home theater forums. It\'s ok, I wasn\'t really looking forward to that feature anyway...  Which Toshiba model do you have? How do you like it?

I was an early adopter of DVD and a widescreen TV so I had a chance to learn about all that stuff right away.  You should hear me trying to explain all that stuff to someone at a party when I\'m drunk.  It\'s amazing how popular DVD has become considering how complicated 16:9 enhanced, 5.1 channel dolby digital and everything else sounds to the common consumer.

Anyway, to answer your questions,  I have the Toshiba 40" Theaterwide television.  I don\'t remember the exact model number and I\'m too lazy to find the booklet to see.  It\'s not an HDTV, but I still love it.  I\'m a big home theater junkie so that\'s where most of my money goes.  The picture is amazing on it especially with DVD movies.  I\'d like to have a bigger one, but for now it\'s pretty sufficient for my apartment.  You can split the screen in two and watch two shows at once or flip through the channels on one side while you watch the other.  As for video gaming......well I don\'t really use it for video games much.  I have a 27" sony trinitron that I use for my PS2 and DC.  Sometimes I hook up the PS2 to my toshiba to play SSX in split screen mode and take advantage of the widescreen option in the game.  I will definitely use it more when I get GT3 since it is 16:9 compatible.  Right now I can\'t suggest getting a widescreen tv just for gaming since not many games take advantage of them yet, but if you are into DVD movies then you can\'t go wrong with one.  They are definitely great to use with a PS2 for the movies and for the growing amount of games that take advantage of widescreen.

Well I tried hooking ps2 up to are big projection screen tv and said forget it. I read in the manual that is can very well harm the tv. I hate you have to turn the power off ever time you hook in this wire and that wire. I could not get it too work on the tv. We even tried going in direct, and through the dvd  player. And it just would not work . So it is hook up to a  standard 32" tv with a/v jacks and it will have too do until I figure out someway to get the ps2 to work on it or wait and see  will it work on other next gen systems:D

Are you telling me that BOTH SSX and GT3 have widescreen options?  I can\'t believe I haven\'t heard that before!  This is definitely going to rock, m\'man.

To be honest, the PS2 is only about 20% of my reason for buying the new television.  My main application will be DVDs, but of course I need to replace my crappy Toshiba SD-3109 player with a progressive player sometime soon.  That\'s going to be a big decision judging from the test results reported on the hometheaterhifi.com website.

I just got the One For All "Cinema 7" universal remote, and I\'m even excited about THAT!  It doesn\'t look like much, and it\'s dirt cheap, but it does everything.  I\'m looking forward to entering some macros as soon as my collection of components has stabilized.