Age old issues: Of shimmeries and jaggies

I probably shouldn\'t be bringing up this topic but I\'d discovered something that I think have some effects on the issue mentioned.

Before I bought my PS2, I was playing it at my friend\'s place. A lot of people has complained about "jaggies" when the PS2 was launched and while playing at my friend\'s place, all this seems to comes true. DOA2 seems to have the worst jaggies(since I owned a DC DOA2 version, I know!). Especially during the cut-scene, the razor edge of the character face is so evident when closed up...yuck!! Even some of the newer games like Jak and Dexter seems to have very noticeable jaggies.

In fact, I was quite dissapointed and put off buying PS2 for quite a while due to this. However, with the lure of so many great PS2 titles, resistance is simply futile...

To my pleasant suprise, the jaggies that seems so evident on my friend\'s PS2 is hardly noticeable on my PS2! I\'ve my copy of DOA2:HC and it looks almost as sharp as the DC version and none of the razor edge is found!!!

I think there could be 2 possiblity to this strange fenomena:
(1) the biggest culprit possibly is the TV. I used a Toshiba while my friend is Philips. Something to do with refresh rate of TV or
just plain quality???

(2) possibly NTSC or PAL makes a difference. I don\'t know, but it could be possible.


But of course the shimmeries(mostly the background) is still there but they\'re not so bad and you won\'t really notice it in the heat of action.

I\'m going to borrow my friends copy of TTT(looks crap on his TV but I\'d saw a very jaggie-less TTT in the shops) this weekend and play it on my PS2/TV to try further explore this theory.


Anyone of you had encounter this kind of fenomena with different PS2/TV set before?? Let me know if you have any theories , coz it\'s really interesting!

Hardware (the PS2) doesn\'t change, different versions are simply tid-bit stuff that we don\'t care about anyway, but for legal issues they have to put a new number on the freakin\' box.  TV\'s definately have something to do with it, but I don\'t know the specifics.

theories:

1) We\'re all just seeing things which aren\'t really there.

2) Sony hates Phillips

3) Jaggies are a sign of better performance

4) Kazumi\'s titties look better with sharp edges


Seriously though, the TV makes a big difference as to what the output looks like.  My Mitsubishi tv here in Japan makes games look a lot better than they did in America on my roomate\'s 36 inch Triniton.

And then I was thinking maybe its slight voltage differences between America and Japan, and perhaps it was simpy cuz of the fact that I was using the Japanese PS2 in America, which may have slight differences in signals, etc.  But to tell you the truth, I basically don\'t know.

Just one thing for certain is that on my own TV, if I have it set to widescreen, anything looks a little crappier, except dvds.  There\'s also differences when I set the image thingy from progressive scan to the other type.... forgot what it was called.  But yeah, little things here and there do seem to make a difference.

But as for the jaggies problem, as newer games come out, there seems less and less problems with it.  Try Xenosaga.  Compare that to the Japanese Ridge Racer V and heck, it looks totally different.  In one you have Female Robots with big tits, and the other you have cars which defy all laws of physics.....   Oh, those weren\'t the differences that you were looking for.....

You\'re friend probably has the sharpness on his TV turned up real high

as well as contrast

some slight adjustments can make a bit of difference

and cheap TV\'s can also look a little worse

You can reduce jaggies by

- not playing up close as you would with a PC monitor
- turn down the contrast and the sharpness (normal settings should do)
- buy good cables (RGB or the Monstercable should make a difference)
- having a 100 Hz TV should also help the shimmering a bit

While games like DoA2:HC and Ridge Racer still have horrible jaggies on my monitor, most games (J&D, MGS2, Wipeout) almost have none.

not sure where you fom (didnt look) but if you play with the cables that come with the ps2, it makes games look worse, if in uk get a scart lead ( the one with the ps2 doesnthave all the pins) it really makes a difference!!!


yeah the tv will makea difference, also doa2 can be played in 50 hz or 60hz, so maybe tha makes a difference, as you are playing in the other one than him