Newbie questions - advice needed re purchase of TV for purpose of game playing on PS2

[Azuma]

As my questions will demonstrate, I'm terribly ignorant of the finer points of home theatre et al so apologies for that ... anyway, I'm from NZ and am deciding on the purchase of a new TV - it will be used for playing PS2 (and future XBOX) games and for some limited DVD viewing (via Sony DAV-S500 - or is it 550?). Although some PS2 games (& many XBOX) have widescreen options, the vast majority don't - given I wish to maximise my viewing area for game playing, and given that in NZ 16:9 ratio braodcasts are non-existent AFAIK, I'm inclined to get a 4:3 telly around the 34" mark.

I have a preference for Sony and Panasonic (on no rational basis really other than previous ownership of these brands) and have been particularly looking at 2 Sony Wega tvs - the XA34 and the ES34 - I guess model numbers may be different for us in the colonies so here's the URL to the Sony NZ site showing the spec's on these two tellies (and try not to laugh at the limited range of widescreens heh):

http://www.sony.co.nz/visual/product...sid=1327610752

Anyway, I have become a bit confused about contradictory statements I've read regarding the usefulness of 100HZ, how good is the Sony DRC thing (which I believe sharpens up the picture?) - so it would be hugely appreciated if anyone could look at the specs on the link, and make some comments about these 2 tellies in the context of their utility for PS2 games playing and some limited DVD movie watching (i.e. is 100HZ actually useful for gamesplaying?). And BTW, the PS2 is hooked up to the DVD playing for sound so the sound quality of the telly is not a big concern. There is an obvious large price difference between the two and I'm a bit stuck as to whether there would be a significant picture quality improvement to warrant the additional dosh for the more expensive variant.

So some guidance would be great, cheers ...

The board is mainly made of contributers from the UK and many of the items posted relate to UK models or UK specification.

There is not the range of 4:3 sets here anymore that there used to be and there is no guarantee that any sets that do get recommended are available outside of Europe.

As for 100hz, i play PS2 games on it and it is fine in Natural mode (a Toshiba setting) but flickering in 100hz mode (another custom Toshiba setting). Light guns will not work on 100hz sets.

However, 100hz may not be available where you are as it only appears on widescreen sets over here (at least i'm sure it does but i haven't seen a 4:3 set in ages).

You may be lucky and find someone else from NZ on here who can help but you mind find it more useful to post to a board which is suited for your region.

[Azuma]

Thanks for the reply Doubledoom - I appreciate the sense in your recommendation that I seek a similar message board for my region but unfortunately, the only NZ ones I've found are like ghost towns.

Nevertheless, the comments you made were helpful in respect of the 100Hz matter - 4:3 sets may have this feature - out of the two sets I'm considering the more pricey one does have 100Hz.

I had figured that DRC-MF etc was a feature common to Sony TV's in other markets as well and hence was interested in comments regarding what it is and it's applciation to PS2 games.

Anyway, thanks again and I'll keep on reading thru sites and forums trying to come to grips with the finer points of television models ....

[John Jennings]

Originally posted by Azuma
Although some PS2 games (& many XBOX) have widescreen options, the vast majority don't -

FYI

Any PS2 game that's in 3D can be forced to run in Widescreen mode. In the PS2 set-up menu (the one you get when you turn on with no disc) just set the TV mode to Widescreen/16:9. Whilst 2D graphics (menus, sprites etc) won't alter, the PS2 will render a different screen size for 3D graphics (it'll produce an anamorphic render window). This is entirely automated within the PS2 and the software doesn't need to do anything specific to cope with it. The only way it won't work is if the software deliberately disables widescreen 3D rendering.

John

[Azuma]

Cheers for that John - I'll have to give it a try because if it works out alright then maybe a Widescreen would do the job for what I'm after.